Senator Gary Siplin of Florida greeted returning high school students this week by personally handing out leather belts. It was a reminder that the law he got passed last spring, which requires that schools adopt dress codes that ban baggy, saggy, and underwear-showing pants, was now in full effect. [More]
Government Policy
Ideas For Saving USPS From Bankruptcy
By 9.6.11
Before it even has a chance to deliver the next letter to Santa, the US Postal Service could be bankrupt. The USPS might not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment it owes this month. Lawmakers will hear all about it and ideas for staving off default in a Senate committee hearing today called “U.S. Postal Service In Crisis: Proposals To Prevent A Postal Shutdown.” [More]
Starbucks CEO Emails Customers, Recruiting Them To Stop Washington Gridlock
By 9.6.11
The CEO of Starbucks emailed customers on Friday asking them to join hands with him and other business leaders to urge Congress to stop the nihilist political gridlock and get on with fixing our country. Tuesday night at 6pm he will host an online townhall meeting. At the same time, he’s also set up an online petition where businesses can “pledge” to withhold campaign contributions as well as promise to start hiring employees. Is this the start of the “Coffee Party”? [More]
How To Rat Your Friends And Neighbors Out To The IRS
By 9.6.11
Although it seems as though the Internal Revenue Service is an all-seeing entity that never lets a tax dollar it’s got coming slip away, the organization sometimes relies on the public to be its eyes and ears. Those who see tax cheating going on can report the issue to the IRS, which can investigate the cases and even hand out rewards of up to 15 percent of its take to the whistleblowers. [More]
Honda Recalls CR-V, CR-Z Due To Electrical Problems
By 9.6.11
Honda has announced a recall of 80,111 CR-V vehicles from the 2006 model year, as well as well as 5,626 CR-Z vehicles from the 2011 model year due to electrical issues. The recalled CR-V suffers a design problem in the power window master switch that can lead to a fire due to window cleaner accumulation over time, and the CR-Z is affected by a software bug that could possibly cause the motor to rotate in the opposite direction of the transmission’s gear. [More]
Irene Expected To Wash $1.5 Billion Away From Taxpayers
By 9.6.11
Efforts to clean up the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Irene will charge a tab of $1.5 billion to taxpayers. The White House budget director released the estimate, which adds to $5.2 billion needed to mop up other disasters. The problem is that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s funds are tight until Oct. 1, when the new budget kicks in. [More]
Postal Service May Default Without Congressional Intervention
By 9.5.11
Predictions of coming doom have been coming from the United States Post Office for months, with the service expected to suffer a $9.2 billion deficit this fiscal year and unable to make a $5.5 billion payment to cover employee health coverage due at the end of the month. Now the postmaster general has raised the stakes of the organization’s financial crisis by declaring that it will default if Congress doesn’t intervene. [More]
California Bill Calls For Ban On Shark Fin Soup
By 9.5.11
If you’re into buying, selling, trading or eating shark fins in California, you may want to live it up before a bill calling for the ban on sharkfin trafficking becomes law. The legislative effort, dubbed the California Shark Protection Act, would also make it illegal to dine on the Chinese delicacy of shark fin soup. [More]
Why You're Not At Work Today: The History Of Labor Day
By 9.5.11
While you’re lolling about by the grill and enjoying that frosty beer, you should know why it is your hard work is celebrated on the first day of September every year. Let’s learn about Labor Day, shall we? And pass the chips. [More]
Government's Customer Service Ratings Improve, Still Not Great
By 9.2.11
Did you know that President Barack Obama signed an executive order in April that requires federal agencies to improve their customer service? Yeah, me either. But maybe fewer people will want to nominate the federal government as the Worst Company in America in 2012, because a recent survey by federal IT network MeriTalk indicates that the quality of customer service from the government is going up. A little. 31% of respondents said that they were satisfied with government services, up from 24% last year. The highest-rated agencies? The Social Security Administration and the IRS. [More]
Texas Ups Speed Limit To 85 MPH
By 9.1.11
Put the pedal to the metal and get it in gear, today the max speed limit in Texas was officially raise to 85 MPH. Woohoo, yee-doggy! [More]
Yet Another Tylenol Recall: 2.5 Million Cold Multi-Symptom Nighttime Rapid Release Gelcaps
By 9.1.11
The fifth recall of a Tylenol product this year is “Tylenol Cold Multi-Symptom Nighttime Rapid Release Gelcaps.” McNeil, a division of Johnson & Johnson, a family company, said the caps had “slightly higher than expected” levels of chlorpheniramine ammonio acetate (CPAA). The recall encompasses roughly 2.5 million packages. [More]
Report: Government Lost As Much As $60 Billion To Waste, Fraud In War Contracts
By 9.1.11
According to the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, those conflicts have been cesspools of financial mismanagement. The commission says between $31 billion and $60 billion of the total $206 billion in war-related contract spending has been burned in waste or fraud. [More]
Chart: This Is How Dead Free Checking Is At Big Banks
By 9.1.11
This chart from American Banker shows just how many nails are in the coffin of free checking at big banks in a post-Durbin amendment world. That is a whopping drop from 96% of large banks offering free checking in 2009 to only 34.6% in 2011. What’s also amazing is just how resilient free checking is at the credit unions and smaller banks, which continue to use it as a marketing tactic to attract customers. [More]
COBRA Subsidies Expire, Leaving Unemployed To Scramble For Healthcare
By 9.1.11
Laid-off workers who relied on COBRA subsidies to help pay for health insurance saw the benefits end Wednesday. Under the program, the government paid 65 percent of COBRA costs with federal stimulus dollars. Wednesday saw the end of 15 months of extended subsidies for those who lost their jobs between September 2008 and May 2010. [More]
Scofflaw Lemon Tree Escapes Florida, Causes Interstate Incident
By 8.31.11
Florida is apparently under quarantine because of diseases that affect the quality of citrus fruit. This isn’t information your average person from Wisconsin is in possession of, so when the United States Department of Agriculture wrote to one Waukesha woman to let her know that she’d have to give up her Meyer lemon tree, she was a little confused. [More]
Teen Sentenced For 2 To 6 Years For Mugging Man For 7 Cents
By 8.31.11
A New York judge got tough with a 15-year-old boy convicted of mugging a 73-year-old man, sentencing him for 2 to 6 years in juvenile detention. The judge said he would have given the boy the same 1 to 4 year state prison sentence as a youthful offender that he gave his accomplice if he had taken responsibility for the crime rather than taking back his initial confession. Because the boy with the 2 to 6 year sentence was not convicted as a youthful offender, his crime — unlike that of his accomplice — will stay on his record after he serves his time. [More]
Judge Says Couple Can Sue Laptop Security Business For Recording Sex Chats
By 8.31.11
Security companies that track down stolen laptops don’t necessarily have the right to peek into virtual bedrooms. A U.S. District judge ruled that there are potential grounds for a jury to find that a company violated a couple’s privacy when it recorded their sex chats as it attempted to track down a stolen laptop the woman was using. [More]
