Cities Look For New Ways To Pick Your Pockets
[11 Mar 2010 at 10:50am]
Across the country, cash-strapped cities are coming up with novel ideas for raising money — imposing new charges on everything from sodas to library late fees to emergency-response services. With at least two more years of bad budgets ahead, look for cities to turn to niche taxes.
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Foreclosures Slow Considerably In February
[11 Mar 2010 at 6:50am]
Fears remain about the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who are still being evaluated for help under loan modification programs. Many analysts say most of those borrowers will eventually lose their homes, sparking a new round of foreclosures later this year.
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Mass School Closures Approved In Kansas City, Mo.
[11 Mar 2010 at 3:49am]
Facing potential bankruptcy, the board that governs the once flush-with-cash Kansas City school district is taking the unusual and contentious step of shuttering almost half its schools.
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Electric Vehicles May Energize Elkhart's Future
[11 Mar 2010 at 9:00am]
Elkhart, Ind., is known as the RV-making capital of the world. The mayor wants to claim a new title: The electric vehicle capital of the world. Stimulus grants and other incentives are attracting companies planning to build electric vehicles to Elkhart. It's hoped the electric vehicles will fill the void created by a serious slump in recreational vehicles sales.
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Terrorism Recruits No Longer All Fit The Mold
[11 Mar 2010 at 8:05am]
Colleen LaRose, a petite, 46-year-old blonde from the Philadelphia suburbs, is accused of trolling the Internet as "Jihad Jane" to recruit others who might take part in possible terrorist attacks. She allegedly looked for people like herself — people who don't fit a terrorist profile that now seems to be falling by the wayside.
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House Leaders Ban Earmarks To Corporations
[11 Mar 2010 at 3:42am]
With midterm elections approaching, Democrats and Republicans are battling to claim the clean-ethics crown. That's one reason Rep. David Obey (D-WI), chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said he's killing off one of lawmakers' most lucrative perks: corporate earmarks. Most of the earmarks come from the subcommittee that oversees defense spending.
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Obama Campaigns For Heath Overhaul In Missouri
[11 Mar 2010 at 3:00am]
President Obama says the time for talk is over and that Congress needs to take an up-or-down vote on the health care overhaul plan. He traveled to St. Charles, Mo., to sell his plan Wednesday. It was his second trip outside of Washington this week to try to win congressional support for the plan. He also helped raise some cash for Democrats made vulnerable by the long legislative fight.
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Insurance Mandate May Need Strict Penalties
[11 Mar 2010 at 3:00am]
The health care plans before Congress require individuals to purchase insurance. But the penalty for violating the individual mandate may be so low that healthy people might be tempted to pay it instead of buying insurance. That would leave insurers with less healthy customers, prompting companies to raise their rates, prompting more people to drop out, and so forth.
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Panel: Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Not Common
[11 Mar 2010 at 3:00am]
Cesarean birth rates are steadily rising and still less than 10 percent of women have successful vaginal births after cesareans. A National Institutes of Health panel has been examining the clinical risks and benefits of vaginal births after cesareans — as well as legal, ethical and economic considerations.
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Overhaul Rules Stuck On Financial Protection Agency
[11 Mar 2010 at 3:00am]
Senate Democrats and Republicans are trying to work out differences over how to overhaul financial regulations following the financial crisis. One of the big sticking points is the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Democrats, including President Obama, want a separate and independent agency. Republicans want it to be part of an existing agency but Democrats say that's been tried and didn't work.
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L.A.'s Inner City Schools Struggle With Layoffs
[11 Mar 2010 at 3:00am]
Teacher layoff's in the Los Angeles school system have hit inner city schools especially hard, and more layoff notices are being sent out this week. Markham Middle School in Watts has lost at least half its faculty since the last round of layoffs. In many cases, school officials haven't been able to find new full-time teachers and have to rely on subs.
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Want A Lower Cable Bill? Be Creative, Monitor Deals
[11 Mar 2010 at 3:00am]
Cable TV subscribers seem to pay more for the service each year. In fact, the cost has doubled in the last 15 years. But a growing number of consumers are finding ways to hold down their cable bills. They're benefiting from competition, haggling and service bundling.
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'Al-Qaeda 7' Controversy: Detainees And Politics
[10 Mar 2010 at 11:00pm]
Justice Department attorneys who once helped represent terrorism detainees are at the center of a raging dispute. Conservatives say that the politically appointed lawyers are influencing U.S. policy to help their former clients.
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Obama: Time To Crack Down On Health Care Fraud
[10 Mar 2010 at 4:52pm]
The president denounced waste, inefficiency and downright fraud in the government's health care system on Wednesday as he sought to rally public support for his revamped overhaul plan.
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'Jihad Jane' Creates A Calamity For Authorities
[10 Mar 2010 at 3:27pm]
In online chat rooms, she called herself "Jihad Jane." Her real name is Colleen LaRose. And she represents law enforcement's worst nightmare. A petite, 46-year-old blond from the leafy suburbs of Philadelphia, she is what investigators worry is the new face of terrorism.
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