Most States Avert ‘Doomsday’ Crises
States start their new budget year today, reeling from the recession but sparing most citizens from painful cuts in education and health care. Arizona, California, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are among states still struggling to approve budgets for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins today in 46 states. Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey and [...]
Making a Monkey Out of Darwin
“You have no notion of the intrigue that goes on in this blessed world of science,” wrote Thomas Huxley. “Science is, I fear, no purer than any other region of human activity; though it should be.” As “Darwin’s bulldog,” Huxley would himself engage in intrigue, deceit and intellectual property theft to make his master’s theory [...]
New State Budget Goes Into Effect Today
A $66.5 billion budget largely propped up on stimulus dollars, a $1 cigarette tax increase and other increased fees goes into effect today, affecting the budgets of local governments, schools and other governmental entities. But despite few cuts to major programs like education, some state officials and advocates are still concerned about what happens when [...]
Florida Pension Fund Loses $27 Billion During Last Year
After a year of plummeting markets, the Florida pension fund stands at nearly $100 billion at the start of the new fiscal year, nearly $27 billion short of where it was a year ago. The latest estimate puts the pension fund at $99.8 billion compared to $126.9 billion last year at this time. But the [...]
The Climate Change Bill
The House of Representatives has passed a sweeping climate change bill that The Congressional Budget Office says will cost the average homeowner $175 per year. OK, so that’s just a little over $14 a month, but honest to Pete, a lot of people just don’t have an additional $14 per month right now. And there’s [...]
NASCAR Faces Identity Crisis
When NASCAR was born on the sands of Daytona Beach, Fla., 61 years ago, its fan base probably wasn’t much different from its racing heroes. A sport spawned by moonshine running starred undereducated white males from the South who subsisted on modest incomes. As it returns to Daytona Beach this weekend for a July 4 [...]
Pork – It’s for Everyone, Including Obama
There’s an old joke about a fantastic three-legged pig and a farmer. It comes in many versions. In some tellings, the pig saves the farmer’s life. In another, it can talk. The punch line always comes after a visitor asks, “So how come he only has three legs?” “Because,” the farmer explains, “you don’t want [...]
In Baseball, Hip Surgery is Hip Thing
Advanced medicine has made arthroscopic hip surgery an option for some of baseball’s biggest names in recent months. Although all have progressed in timely fashion, the results have been mixed. That’s the case even for one of the success stories. Boston Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell, who rebounded from November surgery to hit .282 [...]
Business Bankruptcies Up 240% Since 2006
Entrepreneurship and new small businesses are supposed to lead us out of the recession, just as they have in prior downturns, right? Sure. Your neighbor’s grand idea will persuade a bank to lend her start-up money; she’ll open for business in six weeks; and money will immediately flow from customers to her to her employees. [...]
Turmoil in Iran Undercuts Obama Outreach
First there was the presidential video wishing Iranians a happy Persian New Year. Then a top American diplomat shook hands with his Iranian counterpart during a meeting on Afghanistan in The Hague, Netherlands. Then the State Department invited Iranian officials to Fourth of July picnics, a first since the two countries severed relations in 1979. [...]
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