Stimulus Desk News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

That we're going to get criticism. >> our josh levs has been looking into this one. and josh, the senators put together quite a rundown, once again. >> they did, yeah, the reports listing 100 stimulus projects. they're calling it summertime blues, by the way. and some of these are projects that i looked into months ago at the cnn stimulus desk, including this one. blackberries for smokers. this got a lot of attention, a program out of washington, d.c. stimulus funds are being used to hand out free blackberries to people in certain areas who rely on quit lines, and the blackberry let's them get...

And it is, in fact, required by law if a new state budget is not reached soon. she says if the cuts are in fact, put into effect, workers would be repaid the difference once a new budget goes into effect. at any moment president obama expected to talk about the new unemployment numbers. he also announced that thousands of new jobs will be created with stimulus money. the president due to speak 9:35 eastern time. we will carry his comments live as soon as he steps up to that mike. you remember the stimulus. you know the $862 billion project supposed to help turn the economy around. minutes fr...

There's one texas pointed to. $693,000 for beef improvement research. this just came out within the hour. so, tony, what we're looking at here, the merits, or not, of these projects, keep in mind. they've create jobs often through this money and people can come up with various justifications. this group is confident this is pork. >> so earmarks and pork as one man stimulus program? how does this group decide -- and i took you right back to the stimulus desk. how does this group decide what counts as pork, josh? >> they look at a handful of criteria, how it was put in, only put in by one person...

Whittled down to just two winners. no, we're not talking about college basketball here. we are talking about the race to the top, where states compete for billions of dollars in education grants. josh levs from the stimulus desk now. i don't know what you were doing last hour, is here to tell us which states won and why. >> i know. tough to keep track of sometimes. you know what? this is actually a really big deal. we're talking about the program the states were clamoring to get their hands on. they all wanted this cash. this is the program that the government has said is being designed to rev...

Let's check the markets and see how they're reacting to this adp report, kyra. not surprising to see we're on the down side, the dow off 28 points, and the nasdaq off about seven at 2403. we'll be keeping our eyes on it. but so far folks not too happy to see this jobs report is going the other direction of what we're hoping to hear on friday. >> thanks, steph. let's talk about saving you some money, shall we? if you've been thinking about taking advantage of that home buyer tax credit, you've got a month left, but depending on where you're house shopping you could gelt maybe an even better d...