A column by Scripps Howard’s Dan Thomasson headed “Why FBI’s Mueller must stay” opens: “Despite some grumbling on Capitol Hill, it makes an infinite amount of sense for President Barack Obama to extend Robert Mueller III’s term as FBI director for an additional two years.
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Pa. jobless rate falls to 7.5% in April
From the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: There was continued good economic news from the state Department of Labor and Industry, which announced Thursday that the state’s unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent in April, a full percentage point and a half below the national rate.
USA TODAY
An article entitled “McDonald’s CEO makes a stand for Ronald” reports: “McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner came out swinging Thursday when asked about Ronald McDonald and whether the burger chain hooks children with junk food.
LETTER: Single payer system only after collapse of economy
The huge windfall to the Insurance companies was the price to get anything done, just as the Bush era’s prescription drug plan gave another huge windfall to the industry via the wholesale delivery of Medicare to private companies…
Pennsylvania court rules reduce frivolous medical malpractice claims.
From THE MORNING CALL: The number of medical malpractice cases against Pennsylvania doctors and hospitals dropped in 2010 to the lowest point since the state’s high court enacted new rules designed to prevent frivolous lawsuits. Statewide, the number of malpractice cases decreased by 45.4 percent from the average before the new rules took effect in 2002.
A SD of L tax abatement rip off of tax payers
According to a lead article in the Intelligencer Journal – New Era, “A presentation by Lancaster city officials, including an appeal by Mayor Rick Gray, helped convince skeptical School District of Lancaster board members to approve a tax break for a company planning to move to the former Lancaster Stockyards…
LETTER: Fix the killing machine of corporate medicine
I sympathize with the person who would rather be dead than medically bankrupt. Bankruptcy is a kind of death in itself, and even if it is unavoidable, financial failure and inability to pay carries a sense of shame and impotency that millions of people struggle with afterwards in trying to regain their self esteem.
Study: $2 trillion needed for U.S. infrastructure
From the WASHINGTON POST: The United States is falling dramatically behind much of the world in rebuilding and expanding an overloaded and deteriorating transportation network it needs to remain competitive in the global marketplace, according to a new study by the Urban Land Institute…
US Court Allows Search If Evidence Being Destroyed
From NEWSMAX / REUTERS: Police officers can enter a residence without a search warrant when they knock on the door, announce their presence and believe evidence is being destroyed, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. By an 8-1 vote, the high court ruled that entering a residence in such emergency-like circumstances does not violate the constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures of evidence.
Gingrich Backs Obamacare’s Individual Mandate Requiring Health Insurance
From NEWSMAX: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sunday that he strongly supports a federal mandate requiring citizens to buy health insurance – a position that has been rejected by many Republicans, including several who likely will be running against him for the Republican presidential nomination.
Nearly 3,600 Pennsylvania state employees make over $100K
Two dozen state employees in education-related agencies earn $200,000 or more, and they are among nearly 3,600 state employees paid at least $100,000 annually, a Tribune-Review analysis of payroll records from the three branches of Pennsylvania government and various commissions and agencies shows.
Don’t judge people based on middle age crisis
Gil Smart leads off this Sunday News column “The right’s law of the jungle” with the off hand (sic) remark “Elliot Spitzer — who would have received my vote for president but for his hooker problem — had an excellent piece at Slate.com last week on what he termed the “Republican war on the weak.”
Disaster Plan Problems Found at U.S. Nuclear Plants
From the NEW YORK TIMES: Despite repeated assurances that American nuclear plants are better equipped to deal with natural disasters than their counterparts in Japan, regulators said Thursday that recent inspections had found serious problems with some emergency equipment that would have made it unusable in an accident.
LETTER: Obama Care will lead to personal bankruptcies
This is one critical way that Obama’s health law will make things even worse then the current health crisis: there will be a rapid increase in under-insurance, i.e. people who buy insurance thinking they are covered but then will find when they become ill that the cost of health care–after insurance pays its share–destroys them financially.