A divided Supreme Court last Thursday swept away decades of legislative efforts to restrict the role of corporations in election campaigns, ruling that severe restrictions on corporate spending are inconsistent with the First Amendment's protection of political speech. The court split 5-4 over the ruling, with its conservative members in the majority.
Last Friday, a federal judge rejected a plea agreement for a former hospital technician and drug user who admitted that she exposed hundreds of patients in her care to hepatitis C. He suggested the recommended 20 yeas was not sufficient punishment.
About 1.5 million Graco strollers sold at Wal-Mart, Target and other major retailers are being recalled after some children's fingertips were amputated by hinges on the products. The recall by Graco Children's Products Inc. includes certain model numbers of its Passage, Alano and Spree Strollers and Travel Systems. Graco received seven reports of children placing their fingers in a stroller's canopy hinge as the canopy was being opened or closed. Five children had their fingertips severed and two children received cuts on their fingertips.
Yesterday the nation's biggest health insurers acknowledged funding TV ads designed to kill the health-care overhaul measure, after a published report said the spots were paid for in secret to avoid a public-relations storm. The trade group America's Health Insurance Plans said it put up funds on the behalf of its members. AHIP represents the nation's largest insurers, including Aetna Inc. AHIP acknowledged paying for the ads after a story appeared in the National Journal's online editions late Tuesday.
The 2010 Colorado legislative session opened today with the state budget expected to dominate the next four and a half months. The state has dealt with a nearly $2 billion shortfall over the last two budget years, and faces a deficit in the budget year that begins in July that could be more than $1.3 billion. The state has weathered the crisis largely through the use of one-time sources of money, such as cash funds and federal stimulus funds.
A Colorado car dealership has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a sex- and age-discrimination lawsuit. Arapahoe Motors, doing business as Ralph Schomp Automotive, will pay $1.505 million and "furnish other relief" to settle a suit against the company filed by the federal government on behalf of 10 former employees, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced yesterday.
Reminiscent of his earlier role in "Money Pit," Tom Hanks is experiencing one of the most frustrating situations many home owners face - remodeling with an uncooperative contractor. The Idaho Supreme Court ruled last year that a second arbitration was allowable under the contract.The Idaho Supreme Court this week has refused to reconsider its ruling in a lawsuit pitting an Idaho contractor against Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson.The high court said last week its October ruling in favor of the acting and producing couple will stand.
Children who aren't vaccinated against chickenpox are nine times more likely to get the disease, according to the first study that gauges the risk of refusing the 15-year-old immunization. The study led by Kaiser Permanente Colorado physicians found that about one in 10 unvaccinated children got chickenpox, compared with one in 100 vaccinated children. And the small percentage of vaccinated children who develop the illness usually has a much milder form, researchers said.
