FINANCIAL TIMES: US retailers have recorded their best holiday sales season in more than a decade, as an improving labour market and lower fuel prices encouraged more consumers to splash out over the festive period. Same-store sales for the nine weeks of November and December gained 5 per cent, according to the Retail Metrics Index, […]
Saudi prince: $100-a-barrel oil ‘never’ again
Even oil-producing Texas has felt a hit. The astute investor and prince of the Saudi royal family spoke to me exclusively last week as prices spiraled below $50 a barrel. He also predicted the move would dampen what has been one of the big U.S. growth stories: the shale revolution.
The Depression’s Unheeded Lessons
His new book, “Hall of Mirrors” (Oxford University Press), accuses the global leaders of the 21st century of failing to heed the warning signs that a crisis might occur and then becoming too self-satisfied with the initial success they had at containing the worst effects of the banking crisis in late 2008 and early 2009.
‘New Russia’ Fantasy?
DAILY BEAST COLUMN: Leaders of Novorossia, or New Russia, the pro-Russia separatist movement in eastern Ukraine, are publicly admitting their failure. The Kremlin’s ideologues wanted Novorossia to stretch from Donetsk to Odessa, and to provide a transport corridor to Crimea. Russian nationalists believed that Russia had to annex the entire Novorossia together with its rebellious […]
Three openings on top Pa. court draw lots of interest
The outcome could easily flip the Republican Party’s slim 4-3 majority, and the simultaneous influx of so many new members is bound to change the face of the court in unpredictable ways…
‘America’s Bitter Pill,’ by Steven Brill
One of Brill’s critical insights is how consolidation in the hospital industry has actually decreased insurer power relative to provider power: Much of the rising cost of health care comes from overcharging by hospitals, not insurers.
Wrongly Convicted Man Was His Own Best Advocate
NEW YORK TIMES: They would meet every week in the law library, researching legal databases, discussing United States Supreme Court decisions and reviewing copies of Justice Denied, a magazine for the wrongfully convicted. They called themselves the “actual innocence team,” jotting down notes on yellow pads as they served their sentences at Auburn Correctional Facility […]
Mitt Romney says he’s considering a 2016 run
POLITICO: Mitt Romney told a group of longtime supporters on Friday that he is considering running for president, a major turnaround for a past GOP nominee who just a year ago categorically ruled out a 2016 run… “Everybody in here can go tell your friends that I’m considering a run,” Romney said at a private […]
George Zimmerman arrested for aggravated assault with a weapon
USATODAY: George Zimmerman, the Florida man acquitted in 2013 of the shooting death of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin, was arrested in Florida late Friday night on charges of aggravated assault with a weapon. Since his high-profile acquittal, Zimmerman has had three other encounters with the Lake Mary police. In September 2013, Zimmerman’s estranged wife, […]
Bratton Confirms NYPD Work Slowdown
WNYC: …NYPD Commissioner Confirms Work Slowdown”We’re coming out of what was a pretty widespread stoppage of certain types of activity, the discretionary type of activity by and large,” [Police Commissioner Bill Bratton] said. He added that despite the slowdown in prosecuting smaller, quality-of-life criminal offenses, major crimes in the city are down overall. Bratton also […]
Wolf needs to go one better than moratorium and push for death penalty repeal instead: Editorial
PENNLIVE EDITORIAL: …Let us be clear: Murderous monsters have no place on our streets and they deserve to be locked away forever. But repealing this antiquated and broken system will serve both the cause of justice and Pennsylvania’s bottom line… A 2008 study in Maryland, for instance, concluded that a death penalty case cost more […]
Kane claims political attack: ‘I did nothing illegal. Period.’
“This seems to me to be another political attack on my attempt to clean up Harrisburg and its political culture. They have fought me all the way, including an effort to impeach me,” Kane said, without specifying to whom she referred, although it appeared to be Republicans, including Rep. Daryl Metcalfe of Cranberry, who tried to remove her from office…
Skip Your Annual Physical
NEW YORK TIMES COLUMN: …In 2012, the Cochrane Collaboration, an international group of medical researchers who systematically review the world’s biomedical research, analyzed 14 randomized controlled trials with over 182,000 people followed for a median of nine years that sought to evaluate the benefits of routine, general health checkups — that is, visits to the […]
Grand jury concludes Attorney General Kathleen Kane violated secrecy rules
Some of those familiar with the grand jury presentment say it recommended charges that include perjury and contempt of court.