Here’s the OSHA news release.

A snippet:

“Crowd-related injuries during special retail sales and promotional events have increased during recent years,” said acting Assistant Secretary for OSHA Jordan Barab. “Many of these incidents could be prevented, and this fact sheet provides retail employers with guidelines for avoiding injuries during the holiday shopping season.”

Bottom line: if you are a Black Friday shopper, be prepared for changes in how the shopping traffic will be routed through your favorite stores.

A snippet:

There’s another problem with the unemployment extensions signed into law earlier this month: The legislation does nothing to address the fact that all of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits program all expire at the end of the year. …

The tight deadline for applying for the two additional EUC benefit tiers makes it unlikely that many Michigan residents will qualify for the full 20 weeks of added benefits.

Go see what he’s talking about.

Anyone who falls in that demographic knows the background of this program and the impact that state budget cuts are having on it.

But if you are wondering what that letter is all about, The Detroit Free Press is reporting on Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s efforts to revive the Michigan Promise Scholarship program.

CNNMoney is adding to the discussion with its report Few getting long-term mortgage relief.

A snippet:

Under the president’s plan, delinquent borrowers are put into trial modifications for several months to make sure they can handle the new payments and to give them time to submit their financial paperwork. If they qualify for a long-term modification, borrowers can keep making the lower payments for five years, after which time the interest rate is set at the rate at the time of the adjustment, or about 5% today.

The number of permanent modifications reported is expected to be small, industry observers said. Servicers say they are having trouble getting the necessary documents from borrowers, while homeowners maintain that their servicers are repeatedly losing the paperwork.

And, the question remains, how many people will meet the criteria necessary to adjust their loans for the long-term?

Do not stress out yet. You do have other options.

If $100 or $200 off your mortgage payment would make a difference in your household budget or cash flow, does it really matter where that savings comes from?

No.

For a roundup of money-saving tips based on household budget categories, go to my series The Downsized Budget: How and Where to Cut Back.

Many of the cost-cutting steps I outline for working class and middle-class families do require an investment of time and / or money up front to see financial savings later. You’ll find an explanation on how that works at There’s no quick fix for a downsized income.

Well, that’s long been my secret for shopping without seeking out the doorbuster specials on Black Friday. I almost always have to work that day. As it turns out, this year I’ll be doing the Black Friday shopping report for The Monroe Evening News. The focus I want to take is on Monroe, Mich., shoppers who have fun and enjoy the day. I know you are out there. Talk to me.

Now if you want to talk about the deals, The Toledo Blade has this report: Black Friday sales changing – many retailers offer deals ahead of traditional rush.

A snippet:

Following a trend that emerged a few years ago, many retailers now offer Black Friday pricing and “door-buster” specials in advance of that day. The shaky economy, some experts say, means people should not expect to find spectacular savings seen in past years because year-to-date retail sales have been poor. “They really need to add an ’s’ to it and start calling it Black Fridays because it no longer is one specific day anymore,” said retail consultant Jeff Green of Jeff Green Partners Inc.

In other words, you can shop Black Friday if you want to. But if you can’t, or would rather not deal with the busy crowds, you can still find sales.

From now until Christmas Day, I recommend you watch your favorite retailers’ ads either at the stores’ web sites or in your local daily newspaper so you can spot those deals as soon as they are announced. Do not expect to find all the sales ads in the Sunday papers. Sometimes the stores are scheduling sales mid-week with a sales flier issued the day before.

Detroit News has the details.

Detroit Tigers announcement.

The 2010 home opener is April 9 against the Cleveland Indians.

This is the first time in 10 years I’ve covered Black Friday, and I plan to have some fun with the story. The angle my co-workers and I have settled on is:

The Monroe Evening News wants to feature the perspective of someone, or a family, or a group of friends, who are local Black Friday shopping stars.

There are plenty of you out shopping in the area, based on what my co-workers have seen over the years. Mall of Monroe, Meijer and Wal-Mart have announced some of their details for Black Friday 2009. I’m also aware that the unofficial sites are already posting “leaked” information. So I’m sure the scheming for this year has begun.

Here is what I am looking for:

• You must live in Monroe County, Mich., or the county border towns in southern Wayne County, Mich. If you live elsewhere, and would like to be featured in such a story, contact your local newspaper or TV station, ask for the assignment editor and give them a pitch (ideally … this week before the editor comes up with another BF angle).
• You are willing to share the details of your shopping finds with me. This story and photo will run in The Monroe Evening News‘ Friday Nov. 27 afternoon edition. That means if you need to keep Santa’s selections a secret until Christmas, participating in a newspaper story may not be a good idea.
• You will be available before Black Friday for an advance interview so I can find out how you plan out the day. Hint: Black Friday ads will be distributed with Wednesday Nov. 25 afternoon’s edition of The Monroe Evening News. The photographer and I are able to meet up with a shopping star or group of shopping stars that afternoon after you have the newspaper ad stack handy and / or your favorite retailer web sites are bookmarked. That way, you have some “show and tell” material as you explain to us your strategies.
• You will be shopping in Monroe, Mich., on Black Friday. The reason is the photographer and I would like to meet up with you that morning to see how your plan is working out. We will be on a very tight deadline  for that day’s page 1, which means we can’t travel to Toledo, Detroit, Novi or Ann Arbor.

If this doesn’t work out, I’ll end up doing “man on the street” interviews at some of the local retailers. That’s the Black Friday story you find at most media outlets. It works, but it’s getting old.

Contact me at paula@monroenews.com or tweet me @monroeonabudget if you want to follow up.

A snippet:

After you’ve set your bottom-line figure, go to about.com and type in “holiday gift spending budget worksheet” and “holiday spending worksheet.” Use the gift worksheet to list each recipient and a spending limit. Keep the list with you when you shop. If you go over budget on one person, cut back on another.

Here is the Assignment Detroit home page.

The intro:

It’s a city in crisis – but with potential for a big comeback. Despite an ailing auto industry and the highest jobless rate in the nation, Detroiters are determined to make their hometown thrive once again. For the next year, CNNMoney will focus on that challenge.

One of the reports is how the area resources are stretched thin.

A snippet:

Every week, Fran Deering gets requests from residents in the Green Baxter public housing site, in northeast Ann Arbor. They ask for help filling out forms to request food from the food pantry Deering keeps as the director of the Community Action Network’s community center at Green Baxter.

People even ask her for advice on how to best spend their limited money.

Recently, a resident came to Deering with a dilemma. Her car needed repairs so she could get to her job, but she couldn’t afford to make her rent that month and pay to fix her car.

Deering’s advice? Pay for the repairs.

Deering said she could find money to help cover the resident’s rent faster than she could get money for car repairs.

If you are one of my national readers, Ann Arbor is only 45 minutes away from my city of Monroe, Mich.