The first observance of Labor Day is believed to have been a parade of 10,000 workers on Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, organized by Peter J. McGuire, a Carpenters and Joiners Union secretary. By 1893, more than half the states were observing a “Labor Day” on one day or another, and Congress passed a bill to establish a federal holiday in 1894. President Grover Cleveland signed the bill soon afterward, designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.

Who Are We Celebrating?

154.4 million - Number of people 16 and older in the nation's labor force in May 2010.

Employee Benefits

83% - Percentage of full-time workers 18 to 64 covered by health insurance during all or part of 2008.

DPS wants drivers to make the best—and least expensive—choices as they travel during the long Labor Day weekend.

“We want the end of summer to be a memorable weekend, not your last one,” said Assistant Director David Baker, who oversees the Texas Highway Patrol. “You can start by not drinking and driving, which is a sure invitation to tragedy and expensive legal bills.”

During the Labor Day weekend holiday last year, DPS troopers arrested 715 people for driving while intoxicated, and issued more than 13,000 speeding citations and more than 2,000 seat belt and child restraint violations. In all, troopers wrote 24,618 citations and thousands of warnings to promote safe driving during the Labor Day holiday last year.

A DWI conviction stays on an offender’s criminal and driving record forever. For the first offense, the law allows a maximum of six months in jail, a $2,000 fine and a one-year driver license suspension. A DWI conviction also carries a $1,000 surcharge for three years, in addition to any other fines or costs associated with the arrest.

Gov. Rick Perry announced an incentive for school districts that pool resources and save money by cutting administrative costs that divert much-needed funds from the classroom. Participating districts would receive a grant from the state equaling 10 percent of their total savings from the first year.

“This new school savings incentive rewards Texas school districts that save money by partnering with other districts and entities to share some of these tasks and their associated resources,” Gov. Perry said. “These functions can often be performed more efficiently over multiple districts, representing an ideal opportunity for cost savings.”

Sharing functions such as human resources, accounting, transportation services, technology and facilities improves district efficiency without forfeiting local control or creating additional bureaucracy. These shared services create the economies of scale that benefit larger districts, while maintaining the individual attention available in smaller districts.

If you are looking for quality family entertainment, enrichment and fun, look no further. The Katy Rice Harvest Festival rolls into Katy October 9th and 10th and has become known as a first class, affordable quality family event. This will be the 30th Anniversary of the Katy Rice Harvest Festival and several very special events are planned to commemorate this very special anniversary.

The Festival will feature over 260 unique vendors. Commercial and Handcrafted Vendor booths are still available, but Food Vendor Booths are completely sold out. Booths can be purchased online at http://www.riceharvestfestival.org/Vendors/NonFoodVendorBoothApplicati onContract.

The Rice Cooking Contest will take place on Saturday, September 25, 2010. The
competition is always great to see who can create the most delicious dishes using rice.

Modern Family takes top comedy, Mad Men repeat as top drama; Edie Falco, Jim Parsons, Kyra Sedgwick, Bryan Cranston, score lead acting honors; Temple Grandin grabs five. First-time host Jimmy Fallon brings music and high energy to the proceedings.

A mix of new comedies and veteran dramas dominated the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night, while HBO monopolized the statuettes for movies and miniseries.

ABC’s Modern Family led all series programs with three Emmy wins, including outstanding comedy. It also won for supporting actor Eric Stonestreet and writers Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd.

(NAPSI)-Be on guard when purchasing health insurance. Buying the wrong product could leave you on the hook for sizable medical bills with no way to pay for them.

That's because what sounds like affordable health insurance may not be health insurance at all. It may be a medical discount plan.

Medical discount plans can help some people save money on health care, but discount plans aren't health insurance.

That's the word from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency. The FTC wants you to know that although some medical discount plans provide legitimate discounts, others take your money and offer very little.

The FTC and its state law enforcement partners also found that dishonest marketers selling these plans have tried to make people think they're selling health insurance, or have lied about what their plans really offer.

Abbott, 16 other attorneys general make request in letter to craigslist

"As presiding officer of the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force, I am very concerned that craigslist refuses to take meaningful measures to prohibit the solicitation of prostitution on its website.

Too often, prostitution cases involve children and other victims who are coerced or forced into prostitution by oppressive human traffickers. As attorneys general, we will continue to demand that craigslist prevents its website from being used to foster human trafficking and other criminal conduct that no decent corporate citizen should tolerate."

HOUSTON - The FBI and Houston Police are looking for a man suspected of robbing at least three Houston area banks. The latest occurred at the Associated Federal Credit Union at 16400 El Camino Real on August 23rd. The robber was nick-named because of his unique large stature which is depicted in the bank's surveillance photos.

At 2:00 p.m., the man entered the bank, and gave a demand note to one of the tellers. The teller provided him with some cash. He fled the bank on foot in an unknown direction. No getaway vehicle was observed. No weapon was observed during the robbery.

The "XXXL Bandit" is a white man, late 28-35, 5'10"-5'11" tall, 275-300 pounds, and cleanly shaven. He wore a white and maroon baseball-type cap, red pull-over shirt, shorts, and sunglasses.

Katy, Texas–CHRISTUS St. Catherine Hospital is pleased to announce it has made a $60,000 grant to Christ Clinic of Katy through its CHRISTUS Fund, a grant program sponsored by CHRISTUS Health that provides funding to community initiatives focused on the poor and underserved.

“Christ Clinic is grateful to the CHRISTUS Fund for once again providing us with much needed resources to continue serving our community,” says Carolyn Works, Clinic Manager for Christ Clinic. “This grant will allow the clinic to hire medical staff and to purchase medical supplies to continue our mission as a reflection of God’s love and healing grace.”

Christ Clinic is a charity health clinic with pharmacy services for the uninsured people in the Katy community. It provides care for both the physical and spiritual needs of its patients

Friday, September 17th 11:00 am – 2:15 pm Lakeside Country Club

The Annual Health & Wellness Luncheon is focused on the constantly changing and evolving realm of healthcare, wellness, and other medical breakthroughs and topics of discussion in West Houston. In existence since 2003, the luncheon is designed to keep the Chamber membership informed and educated with regards to the latest issues in healthcare.

With more than $1.6 billion dollars of hospital investments developing and flourishing in the West Houston community, this influential industry is one that must be fostered and embraced. In fact, the main purpose and goal of this luncheon and of the Health and Wellness Committee is to award two grants in the amount of $1,000 to two adults pursuing careers in health and wellness.

Gov. Rick Perry today announced the creation of Texas Education on iTunes U, which offers a modern approach to keeping teachers and students engaged and informed by providing free, supplementary educational content that can be accessed anywhere.

“iTunes U will easily and efficiently distribute Texas-based educational materials to teachers, parents and students statewide, and will help improve Texas education and secure our position as the best place to live and work in the years to come,” Gov. Perry said. “The quality of education in Texas is steadily improving as we continue to combine tried and true teaching methods with new technology to achieve educational success.”

Texas Education on iTunes U will allow teachers to access professional development and support materials, while giving students access to information to help with understanding concepts or conducting additional research on a subject area.

Humor newspaper The Onion ran a story last year alleging that Google offered citizens a chance to permanently opt-out of having their lives monitored online. If you chose to opt-out, Google would send their minions to your house, remove you from your home and relocate you to a remote concentration-camp like location with no electronics and no contact with the outside world.

While The Onion article was an obvious spoof, Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently said that we can soon count on having "no anonymity" online. Soon appears to be now. This month, Facebook added a feature, Places, that tracks users' physical locations, and automatically opts in every single user (translation: if you use Facebook and haven't changed the settings, it's possible a stranger can see where you are. Right now.).

At the same time, the Wall Street Journal concluded a five-part series on Internet privacy, called "What They Know." The Journal set up a computer with special tracking software to monitor the placement of cookies, beacons, and other monitors as they surfed the web; the results of their investigation sent shock-waves through online communities.