The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has aggressively pursued an anti-civil litigation campaign for decades, with statements such as: America's Out-of-Control Civil Lawsuit System Hurts Businesses, Employees, and Families, and Frivolous lawsuits are crippling our legal system and sucking the vitality out of American businesses.
Just in time for Halloween, a Canadian law professor has put together a round-up of vampire and zombie references in legal jurisprudence. There have been more than 200 such mentions during the past 50 years, with the vast majority in the United States, found Sharon Sutherland of the University of British Columbia. A teacher of theater as well as law classes, she has long been interested in the fictional world of the undead as portrayed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other popular television programs.
Losing key members and facing political headwinds, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent a record $34.7 million in the third quarter lobbying against the Obama administration's proposals to overhaul energy policy, financial regulation and health care.
The Chamber's money paid for more than a dozen lobbyists to visit Congress, the White House and agencies from Agriculture to Treasury. Most of the Chamber's positions -- free trade, unfettered credit card lending, Cash for Clunkers rebates -- enjoy broad support among the Chamber's diverse corporate members.
Before heading to a store or retail Web site, many shoppers love to check out the growing flurry of product reviews posted online. But figuring out who to trust in the blogosphere has gotten trickier as more and more bloggers get paid to promote products on their sites.
Companies see the freebies and payments to bloggers as a cheap way to boost brand buzz during the recession. But site visitors often don't realize they're reading a promotional pitch. Not all bloggers make clear that they are being compensated to talk up products, if they disclose it at all.
The most likely rescue victim in a national park? Young men hiking on a weekend who make a bad decision or two and end up hurt, exhausted or lost. On average, 11 search-and-rescue operations are launched in national parks every day. While expenses average about $900, the price can easily jump into the thousands of dollars, according to a new analysis of search-and-rescue operations over 15 years.
The operators of Crowley County Correctional Facility, a Colorado private prison, have agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that male officers forced female workers to perform sex acts to keep their jobs. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement with the Dominion Correctional Services LLC and Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America this past Tuesday. Crowley County Correctional Facility is located in Olney Springs, Colorado - just outside of Pueblo.
As Halloween approaches, parents should get ready too. The stores are chock full of costumes for wee trick-or-treaters including some that could be a safety threat.
Consider buying light-colored or bright garments that are visible to motorists. If the costume is dark, apply some reflective tape that will glow in the beam of a car's headlights.
The Federal Highway Administration will conduct an intensive study into the cause of the growing number of motorcycle crashes and deaths on America's roads. It's the first study of its kind in almost 30 years.
Nearly 5,300 motorcycle riders died in roadway crashes in 2008, representing 14 percent of all deaths, and 96,000 were injured. Between 1997 and 2008, motorcycle fatalities jumped from 2,116 to 5,290 -- a 150 percent increase, according to the Transportation Department's Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
States are intensifying efforts to reduce traffic fatalities on rural roads to counter a reality of highway safety: More Americans die on lonely country routes than on more congested urban roads. In 2008, 56% of the USA's 37,261 traffic deaths occurred on rural roads, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. About 23% of the population lives in rural areas.
