Month: May 2014

Time to appoint a bi-partisan Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs

“But the problems described Friday in an internal audit are remarkably similar to those documented six years ago in a report to the department by Booz Allen Hamilton, the management consulting company. The Booz Allen report found “chronic delays in care” at veterans hospitals and clinics, resulting in part from ‘the current shortage of nurses, nurse practitioners, primary care providers and specialty physicians.’ ”

US inflation rise adds to Fed confidence

FINANCIAL TIMES: …The Fed forecasts core inflation of 1.5 per cent this year, 1.85 per cent in 2015 and 1.9 per cent in 2016 because it thinks continued unemployment will keep downward pressure on wages. The behaviour of inflation is crucial: if wages and price rises start to accelerate, it will be evidence of lower […]

For Lessons About Class, a Field Trip Takes Students Home

Still, for all of the school’s commitment to diversity, openly acknowledging who lived where and how well was complicated. It became easier for the parents when they realized that the children had no issues with it; at 4 or 5, they’re still a few years away from wielding the word “rich” as a weapon or experiencing deep and lasting class envy.

EPA carbon rules could speed U.S. shift from coal

USA TODAY:…Aimed at fighting climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency rules will require states to develop and implement plans to cut power plant emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide. They will give states a range of options to comply, including the trading of pollution credits. Critics, however, say they could drive up electricity prices and shutter […]

Notice of special Convention Center Authority meeting on June 6

Legal notice posted by Lancaster Newspapers: Notice is hereby given that the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority shall hold a special meeting Friday, June 6, 2014 at 5:30 P.M. (prevailing time) in City Council Chambers, Southern Market, corner of South Queen and Vine Streets, City of Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for the purpose of considering […]

Progressive report links Gov. Corbett gifts to Pa. business

ABC27: Pennsylvania Peoples Campaign said investigators used public records to compile the report which outlines nine different businesses and their documented gifts. According to [John] Hanger and [Gene] Stilp, the most egregious display of “bribery” came from John Moran, owner of Northumberland County trucking company Moran Industries. The report said on July 1, 2011, Moran […]

Serious questions surround ATF stings

USA TODAY: Two federal judges have ruled that widely used sting operations designed to ensnare suspects with the promise of a huge payday for robbing an imaginary drug stash house are so “outrageous” that they are also unconstitutional. One judge said the charges were so unfair that he threw them out after three suspects already […]

Doctor Shortage Is Cited in Delays at V.A. Hospitals

NEW YORK TIMES: Dr. Phyllis Hollenbeck, a primary care physician, took a job at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Jackson, Miss., in 2008 expecting fulfilling work and a lighter patient load than she had had in private practice. What she found was quite different: 13-hour workdays fueled by large patient loads that kept growing […]