Late last month, an Institute of Medicine panel issued recommendations to the White House that birth control, along with a variety of women’s health services, should be covered under the Affordable Care Act. Earlier today, the Dept. of Health and Human Services made its final decision on the matter public. [More]
Government Policy
Schools Slap Ads On Buses To Make Ends Meet
By 8.1.11
When you’re a cash-starved school district, just about any idea to pull in some extra scratch can sound appealing. One concept that’s catching on is turning school buses into moving billboards for paying clients. [More]
3 More Banks Shut Down; That Makes 61 So Far This Year
By 8.1.11
Movie rental chains, book stores and newspapers aren’t the only businesses that are dying off. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced three banks have been shut down, making 61 closures so far this year. Bank closures are still far behind the pace of 2010, when 157 banks were shuttered. [More]
TSA Rolling Out Israeli-Style Behavior Detection
By 7.29.11
The TSA might be asking you more questions when you go through security starting in August, and that’s a good thing. [More]
California City Emerges From Bankruptcy
By 7.29.11
Three years ago, Vallejo, Calif. was so broke that it declared bankruptcy. Now a judge has approved the city’s rebound plan, and it’s emerged as a leaner, ideally more efficient entity with a balanced budget. [More]
United Says Photographing Staff Could Get You On 'No Fly' List, Continental Says You Deserve An Apology
By 7.28.11
Though United Airlines and Continental have been married for the better part of a year, the newlyweds haven’t begun to see eye-to-eye on everything. Take, for instance, a customer’s right to photograph a staffer’s name tag. United says it could get you banned from the airline and put on a “no fly” list, while Continental says that’s just not so. [More]
Mayor Of Florida City Says Marijuana Growing In Yard Isn't Hers
By 7.28.11
On the list of people likely to be growing marijuana on their property, an 84-year-old mayor doesn’t rank near the top. But federal agents found the illegal plant growing on the woman’s property in central Florida. The incident forced her to defend herself at an Oak Hill city commission meeting, at which she said she suspects a political enemy tried to set her up. [More]
Not Content With Hassling Air Travelers, Off-Duty TSA Agent Uses Badge To Scare Driver
By 7.27.11
One would think that the in-airport exploits of TSA agents do enough to tarnish the agency’s image. However, one agent in Connecticut thought he could bring that same level of traveler satisfaction to those driving the streets of the Nutmeg State. [More]
Senators Blast Airlines For Profiteering During Tax Holiday
By 7.27.11
Naughty, naughty. Senators Jay Rockefeller and Maria Cantwell are wagging the fingesr at airlines for raising airfares during the tax holiday that has resulted from the Federal Aviation Administration’s shutdown. The practice could have “long-term negative repercussions for the industry,” said the senators in a letter sent to the airlines on Tuesday. [More]
California Hits Up 8 Banks For $5.4 Billion In loans
By 7.27.11
Fearful that federal debt problems would leave it hanging, California has passed the hat around to eight banks and wound up with loans for $5.4 billion. The interest rate: an astoundingly low 0.237 percent. [More]
Wealth Gap Between Whites And Minorities Is Widest In 25 Years
By 7.27.11
The wealth gap between whites and Hispanics has increased to its widest in 25 years, according to new analysis of Census data by the Pew Research Center. We’re talking a 20-1 ratio between whites and blacks, and an 18-1 between whites and Hispanics. Like so many things, it comes down the the housing crisis. [More]
Department Of Justice Investigates Wells Fargo For Discriminatory Lending Allegations
By 7.27.11
The U.S. Department of Justice is said to be investigating allegations that Wells Fargo discriminated against black borrowers, offering high-interest, subprime mortgages that seemed geared to lead to default. [More]
Man Rescued Twice In One Month By Rangers In Rocky Mountains
By 7.27.11
Rocky Mountain National Park rangers don’t typically charge imperiled hikers for rescue operations, but the agency may want to re-think its policy after having to save the same 68-year-old man with elaborate, time-consuming operations twice in a month. [More]
FAA Has Trouble Successfully Firing Air Traffic Controllers
By 7.26.11
When you’re an Air Traffic Controller who gets fired, there’s a 40 percent chance you’ll manage to keep your job or retire on your own terms. The Federal Aviation Administration has trouble ridding itself of workers it accuses of screwing up, including two-thirds of those it tries to fire for using drugs or alcohol on the job. [More]
Law From 1988 Keeps Netflix And Facebook From Buddying Up
By 7.26.11
Back in the late 1980s, lawmakers were determined to prevent movie rental companies from publishing customers’ rental history. The Video Privacy Protection Act made violations punishable by $2,500 per offense. Now the law is causing headaches for Facebook and Netflix because it’s reportedly written in a way that would forbid Netflix from publishing your rental history on your Facebook page. [More]
Company Accused Of Wasting Medicine To Take Money From Medicare
By 7.26.11
A whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a doctor and nurse accuses a kidney dialysis provider of intentionally wasting medicine in order to qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars from Medicare. According to the employee, the company used over-sized vials for medicine, intending to have the excess amount deemed to be waste that Medicare pays for. [More]
How A Wall Street Lobbyist Is "Reforming The Reform"
By 7.25.11
Banks are none too happy about how the passage of Dodd-Frank has been crimping their style. So they hired a Wall Street lobbyist, former Congressman Steve Bartlett, to lead the well-funded rearguard action by the ” Financial Services Roundtable” to neuter the laws. And darned if those cocktail parties aren’t working. [More]
Florida Authorities Find Meth Smuggled In Meow Mix Bag
By 7.25.11
According to the Lake County, Fla. Sheriff’s Office, drug smugglers in Arizona sent 260 grams of meth to Florida via FedEx in a Meow Mix bag. The package was sent to a title company and was addressed to one of the business’s clients who resided in D.C. An employee thought the package looked suspicious, so he turned it over to authorities. [More]
