Ever wonder where your state gets its tax money? Whether you’re thinking about moving or just want to know more about how your state’s government is funded, there’s a handy guide that breaks it all down. [More]
Government Policy
States Look To Outlaw ‘Lunch Shaming’ Of Kids Whose Parents Can’t Pay Cafeteria Bill
By 7.5.17
Schools across the country deploy a variety of humiliation tactics on students whose parents haven’t been able to pay their school lunch bills, whether it’s publicly throwing away perfectly good trays of food or marking students’ hands. Some states and schools say these practices go too far and are adopting laws and policies that don’t punish schoolchildren for their parents’ debts. [More]
FDA Rejects Plan To Donate Dog Food Potentially Contaminated With Euthanasia Drug
By 7.5.17 — Updated: 7.6.17
Dog food company Evanger’s recently recalled some of its products that had been tainted with the euthanasia drug pentobarbital, resulting in four sick dogs and one death. Rather than throw out all that recalled food, Evanger’s proposed spot-checking it for safety and donating it to animal shelters. However, the Food and Drug Administration has nixed this suggestion. [More]
Court Halts Chicago Soda Tax, But Some McDonald’s Restaurants Didn’t Get The Message
By 7.5.17
Only hours before a new tax on sweetened beverages was set to kick in, an Illinois judge issued a temporary injunction keeping it from going into effect. However, not everyone got that message and some McDonald’s customers in the Chicago area were charged a tax they shouldn’t have paid. [More]
Mississippi Official Tells Trump ‘Election Integrity’ Commission: “Go Jump In The Gulf Of Mexico”
By 6.30.17
You may have heard that President Trump’s new Advisory Commission on Election Integrity is asking state election officials to turn over a raft of very personal data about voters’ records. Not surprisingly, some states are reluctant to provide this information, and the Secretary of State for Mississippi has a very direct response for the administration. [More]
Charges Re-Filed Against Restaurant Owners Accused Of Dumpster-Diving For Deer Heads
By 6.30.17
Preventing food waste is good, but not to the point of dumpster-diving for deer brains at a wild game butcher. The former owners of a Chinese restaurant in Pennsylvania are accused of dealing in illegal deer meat, at least some of which came from the trash at butchers that process deer for hunters. [More]
Which Fireworks Are Legal In My State?
By 6.30.17
This holiday weekend is a long one, giving people everywhere ample opportunity to stock up on all manner of fireworks from not-at-all sketchy roadside vendors conveniently situated near the state border. But are you actually allowed to set off those Big Bang Boomers and Star Spangled ‘Splosions, or are you limited to staring into the glinting abyss of a sparkler, hoping to recapture the simple joys of youth? [More]
Trump, GOP Senators Suggest Simply Repealing Obamacare Without Replacement
By 6.30.17
With Republican lawmakers unable to reach a consensus on how to replace the Affordable Care Act, President Trump and some influential senators are now calling for a straightforward repeal of the law, with any replacement to come at some later date. [More]
Budget Office: Long-Term Medicaid Spending Would Drop 35% Under Obamacare Repeal Plan
By 6.29.17
As we mentioned in our coverage of the Congressional Budget Office’s review of the Senate proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the ten-year focus of the CBO analysis could not fully illustrate the impact of Medicaid cuts that wouldn’t come until the latter half of that decade. Today, the CBO released a separate report that estimates what effect those cuts might have ten to twenty years from now. [More]
GOP Might Not Include $172 Billion Tax Cut In Obamacare Repeal Plan
By 6.29.17
Though Senate leadership recently decided to delay a vote on its plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the GOP is still hoping to get the details of that bill ironed out before the holiday. One possible change involves a controversial tax on the wealthy that has long been a target of repeal advocates. [More]
Former StarKist Tuna Executive Pleads Guilty To Price-Fixing
By 6.29.17
Of all the industries to be rocked by scandal, you probably never expected that Big Tuna would be a hotbed of conspiracy. And yet, another fishy exec has agreed to plead guilty to his part in a price-fixing scheme that resulted in American shoppers paying more at the store. [More]
Owner & Seller Of 20 Lb. Lobster Not Thrilled That TSA Made A Celebrity Of Oversized Crustacean
By 6.29.17
Deserved or not, the Transportation Security Administration doesn’t usually get much affection on social media, so it must have been a nice change of pace for the TSA recently when it had a minor Instagram hit with a photo of a massive, 20 lb. lobster found in a cooler at a Boston airport. Alas, the TSA has not escaped criticism, as the man who owned this oversized crustacean — and the market where he purchased it — both say the airport security folks mishandled his future meal for the sake of a photo op. [More]
Walgreens No Longer Merging With Rite Aid; Still Plans To Buy Half Of Rite Aid Stores For $5.2 Billion
By 6.29.17
It’s been nearly two years since Walgreens first agreed to buy competitor Rite Aid and its 4,600 or so stores for $9.4 billion to form the nation’s largest drugstore chain, only to see the value of that deal shrink amid antitrust concerns. Today, Walgreens announced that it’s scrapping that original plan to combine forces with Rite Aid but still plans to purchase about half of the smaller company’s retail locations. [More]
New Law That Would Set Minimum Sizes For Airplane Seats Inches Closer To Becoming Reality
By 6.28.17
For at least the third time in as many years, federal lawmakers are hoping to pass legislation that would set minimum standards for airline seating. That battle inched slightly closer to becoming a reality last night. [More]
2 Years After Being Sentenced, Egg Execs Behind Massive Salmonella Outbreak Are Finally Going To Prison
By 6.28.17
In April 2015, a federal judge sentenced the father and son former executives of the inaccurately named Quality Egg — the company behind a salmonella outbreak that sickened around 60,000 people — to three months in prison, but neither of the two men have begun to serve their sentence, hoping the U.S. Supreme Court would see things their way. But now that the Supremes have snubbed the eggs-executives, it’s finally time for them to do their brief stints behind bars. [More]
Senate Delays Vote On Obamacare Repeal Bill Until After July 4 Recess
By 6.27.17
Multiple reports are claiming that Senate Republican leadership has decided to delay the vote on a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care, following a Congressional Budget Office review estimating that 22 million additional Americans will be without healthcare if the bill passes as it is. [More]
Former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler: Net Neutrality Fight Destined For Courtroom
By 6.27.17
Despite millions of public comments and objections from businesses and consumer groups nationwide, the Trump administration’s FCC seems determined to go ahead and kill off net neutrality as soon as possible. While this rule, which prohibits internet service providers from having any say in what you do online, is likely headed for reversal in the months to come, it’s not dead yet, and former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler says it will likely be up to a court to decide if the rule gets discarded, which is why it’s important for supporters to get their concerns on the record. [More]
Coolest Has To Ship 20,000 Rewards To Kickstarter Backers By 2020
By 6.27.17
The Coolest was the hottest Kickstarter campaign of 2014, but a substantial number of people who paid at least $165 plus shipping for the party device still don’t have their coolers. Now a case filed against the company by Oregon’s Department of Justice has been resolved, and the company has three more years to ship out remaining backer rewards. [More]
