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Business Briefs

Mancos chorus, M-CHS choirs join for concert

SouthWest Colorado Concerts, Inc. presents a partnership between the Mancos Valley Chorus and the M-CHS concert and chamber choirs, an evening of song featuring the young and the old, on Wednesday, Dec. 9, at the Montezuma-Cortez High School auditorium.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and though admission is free, donations are welcome.

For more information, contact Lindsay Havran 565-7676 or Joyce Stevenson 565-4757.

Impact of Clean Power topic at roundtable

The regional impact of the Clean Power Plan will be explored at noon, Dec. 2 during the Green Business Roundtable at Henry Strater Theatre.

The national standard for limiting carbon pollution for power plants will be discussed in the context of U.S. commitments to reduce greenhouse gases and the international negotiations that will be taking place in Paris.

Speaker Patrick Cummins is a Durango resident and Fort Lewis graduate who has spent the past 25 years working with Western states and stakeholders to develop and implement programs to address air quality and climate change. Cummins served as the director of air quality programs at the Western Governors’ Association and as the executive director of the Western Climate Initiative. He currently works for former Gov. Bill Ritter at Colorado State University, where he is coordinating a Western states Clean Power Plan initiative that includes energy and environmental regulators from 13 Western states, along with representatives of 25 Western utilities and other key stakeholders.

Register or RSVP at info@sanjuancitizens.org by 9 am Monday, Nov. 30. Cost is $15, $18 for walk-ins.

U.S. home rental hikes show signs of easing

U.S. home rental prices rose at a slower pace in October, a possible sign that apartment costs are testing the upper reaches of renters’ incomes.

Real estate data firm Zillow said Friday that median rents increased a seasonally adjusted 4.5 percent from a year ago. This marks a steady deceleration from annual price gains of 5.3 percent in September and 6.2 percent in August. Zillow recently updated its methodology for averaging rental prices, showing that past growth rates were higher than previously reported.

Housing costs have consistently exceeded income growth. Average hourly wages rose just 2.5 percent over the past year to $25.20, according to the Labor Department. The median rental payment nationwide was $1,382 in October. That works out to about 30 percent of the median U.S. family income of $53,657, a level that the government has historically identified as being financially burdensome.

Journal Staff & Associated Press