| DFLers advance health insurance plan
A bold plan to provide health insurance coverage for all Minnesotans through a government run program was advanced today by DFL legislators, who say they expect to wage a three or four year battle for such a system. The proposed Minnesota Health Plan was touted as the most effective way to transfer savings resulting from lower insurance overhead and other costs to provide coverage for an estimated 400,000 uninsured Minnesotans. The effort is being led largely by new House members, who say they are responding to numerous complaints about health insurance while campaigning in 2006. "Health care was either number one or number two as a primary concern," said Rep. David Bly, DFL-Northfield. The single-payer plan will compete with less dramatic proposals for health coverage reform during the upcoming legislative session.
The scandal of Scotland's battered women
Ross-shire Women's Aid refuge worker Marilyn Ross said some women are staying longer, typically two years, rather than the six months originally intended by the service, which is putting more pressure on refuge space. She said: "We are looking at people staying for a year and a half to two years. It's an open-door policy, but it works both ways. We refer women to other refuges down south and have women coming from all over Scotland and England." Dumbarton District Women's Aid refuses 60%-65% of women, and many return to their abusive partners if they cannot accept the council housing offered when they leave a refuge. Co-ordinator Liz Gillespie said: "There's very little housing stock and much of what is available, isn't desirable. The council will only make two offers before it has fulfilled its obligations.
LA faces meltdown as Hollywood strike bites
People are out of work, the local economy is suffering and the biggest blow to both revenue and prestige could be yet to come - the cancellation of the Oscars. The writers' union that is leading the strike told The Observer it would not back down even if it meant that the Academy Awards would suffer the same fate as the Globes. The cost to the city would be $130m (£66m), according to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp, with tens of millions more wiped off advertising revenues. Usually one of the most glamorous events in the showbusiness calendar, tonight's Globes at the Beverly Hills Hotel will be reduced to no more than a one-hour press conference in which the winners' names will be read out. The losses incurred by caterers, hairdressers, hotels, jewellers, limousine firms, party planners, stylists and other support workers are estimated at $70-80m.
This isn't the '70s: Today's tech centers draw college-bound
Career technical centers in the region are finding more students are interested in the "learning by doing" programs, which educators say are better preparing those students for life after high school. Approximately 90 percent of the students at Portsmouth High School, which includes the SAU 50 towns of Newington, New Castle, Rye and Greenland, as well as Portsmouth and tuitioned students from Kittery, Maine, will participate in the school's Career Center at some point during their high school career. The Seacoast School of Technology in Exeter has 630 high school students from Epping, Exeter, Great Bay eLearning Charter School, Newmarket, Raymond, Sanborn Regional and Winnacunnet enrolled in the current semester. "Six or seven years ago, we had 250 students," Seacoast School Principal Margaret Callahan said.
EFFINGHAM EVENTS
Board of Commissioners Effingham County Board of Commissioners will meet at 3 p.m. today at 601 N. Laurel St., Springfield. Math and Science Night Blandford PTA will sponsor Family Math and Science Night from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Blandford Elementary School, 4650 McCall Road, Rincon. The event will feature hands-on activities for parents and students grades K-5 in the areas of science and math. Special guests include Georgia Pacific, Gulfstream Aerospace, Oatland Island and Tybee Island Marine Science Center. Mammograms St. Joseph's/Candler will perform mammograms in its mobile unit to screen for breast cancer, today at St. Joseph's/Candler Medical Group in Rincon on Ga. 21. SJ/C accepts most insurance plans.
David Hendricks: State law hinders health-care clinics
As a new kind of family-friendly and affordable medical clinic pops up in bunches across the nation, Texas waits like a flu patient sitting in a crowded doctor's office. The barrier is state law, which urgently needs updating to keep up with new trends in health-care delivery. Although a dozen or more of the retail clinics, also called convenient-care clinics, have opened in Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin, only one operates in San Antonio. The RediClinic at the H-E-B Plus store at 6818 S. Zarzamora St. opened in January 2006. About 800 retail clinics were operating in the United States as of last November. The total likely will reach 1,500 by the end of 2008. Five retail clinic chains are active in Texas. None have plans to move into or to expand in San Antonio, including the chains that operate inside Walgreens and CVS drugstores.
Can 'Idol's Jackson deliver auditions?
Yo, dawg, here's the scoop: Randy Jackson is coming to town. Jackson will take time out from "American Idol," TV's No. 1 show, to promote heart health Feb. 29. And if he gets a big reception, could he return this summer with "American Idol" auditions? .
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