6/30/2015 It seems every few years or so, the specter of tort reform appears in the halls of Congress to test the political winds. Last week, while the winds of freedom emanated from the Supreme Court steps and the air from dozens of collective exhales from the White House over the ACA, the ghost of
6/30/2015 After a nearly seven-year research process, the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released a damning findings statement on hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking. The statement was the official document needed in order to ban the practice in the state. In a prepared statement, DEC chief, Joe Martens said, “Prohibiting high-volume
6/29/2015 According to a Sunday press release, Fiat-Chrysler announced that an assembly error detected last month may cause a suspension component to fail in some 2015 Dodge Durango SUVs and Jeep Cherokee models. The automaker said that the rear control arm was not properly heat-treated, causing a defect which is estimated to occur in no
6/29/2015 ABC News is reporting that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), essentially the human resources department for the federal government, is shutting down its background-check system in the wake of a massive recent data breach discovered in April and reported earlier this month involving millions of current and former government workers. According to
6/29/2015 After a historic week in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to legalize gay marriage, as well as delivering a decision that will likely entrench Obamacare as the law of the land, the Court handed President Obama a major defeat to his environmental agenda. On the last day of the Court’s session, it ruled
6/26/2015 In a dramatic press briefing in Tokyo following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting, the president of embattled Japanese airbag manufacturer, Takata, Shigehisa Takada, made his first public apology for the faulty airbags responsible for at least 8 deaths and over 100 injuries. First bowing to the media, Takada said, “I apologize for not having
6/25/2015 On Tuesday, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge, John Bates, upheld regulations set to begin July 1st restricting the conduct of for-profit colleges and career-training programs. The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced rules last fall that could potentially restrict federal funding for schools that saddle students with markedly high tuition
6/25/2015 The Supreme Court delivered the much-anticipated King vs. Burwell decision on Thursday not to strike down a key portion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare. The 6-3 decision means that enrollees in states which have not set up their own health exchanges will continue to receive federal subsidies for health insurance. Currently,
6/24/2015 Two reports released on Tuesday highlight the persistence of Medicare fraud, especially involving the Part D prescription drug program. The reports follow the largest Healthcare Fraud takedown in history last week, as officials charged 46 doctors and pharmacy owners, as well as nearly 200 others for Medicare fraud. This includes the arrest of 44
6/24/2015 Despite countless attempts to block the measure, including a dramatic standoff in the House of Representatives earlier in the month, President Obama will get his Fast Track Authority (FTA) in order to unilaterally negotiate the terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on behalf of the U.S. government. The Senate approved FTA today following Tuesday’s