WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most Americans back the idea of extending health coverage to their low-income neighbors through the government's Medicaid program, unless it means higher costs for their own state, according to a new poll.
In a survey released on Tuesday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, 67 percent of respondents gave a favorable view of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform provision to "expand the existing Medicaid program to cover more low?income, uninsured adults."
Support for the idea, which would expand coverage to as many as 16 million uninsured Americans, broke sharply along partisan lines. Nearly nine out of 10 survey participants who said they were Democrats and two?thirds of independents backed the expansion. Six out of 10 Republican participants said they opposed it.
Support dropped to 49 percent when poll participants were asked whether they would like to see Medicaid expanded in their home states, and a slight majority of 52 percent preferred maintaining the status quo when pollsters suggested an expansion could cost their states more money.
The results of the poll of 1,227 adults, conducted in July, have a 3 percentage point margin of error.
Medicaid, which is jointly funded by the federal and state governments and overseen by Washington, currently covers only narrowly defined groups of poor people in most U.S. states, including parents and pregnant women.
Obama's healthcare law, which was upheld as constitutional last month by the U.S. Supreme Court, would expand Medicaid to cover people with incomes of up to 133 percent of the poverty line. Between 90 percent and 100 percent of the cost of expanded coverage would be borne by the federal government.
The high court ruling gave states the ability to opt out of the Medicaid expansion. Several Republican governors have since vowed to do just that while deriding the plan as a costly expansion of federal bureaucracy.
The governors insist that the expansion will mean higher costs for states and lead to higher taxes or reduced funding for other programs such as education.
Proponents of reform say the Medicaid expansion would ultimately save money for states, while also saving lives by providing access to healthcare for those who need it.
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When it comes to gifts for children, it is all about getting them something that will entertain them and keep them busy for hours. Children's toys for girls are plentiful and sometimes it can seem overwhelming because there are just so many options. But girls aren't that hard to shop for if you have an idea of age and what they may like.
For younger girls in their elementary school years, there's a lot to think about. Each age group tends to want something very different. For the younger 4-6 year old set, it is all about dolls. But you don't have to just settle with the classic Barbie. There are plenty of dolls that can talk and interact, teaching kids a variety of things, from addition and subtraction to how to dress themselves. Girls love the idea of dress up dolls and it is great when it can be incorporated with their actually day-to-day outfits as well. Girls at this age love dolls because they are companions to them. They'll carry them around everywhere!
Girls this age are also very big into pretend play, especially playing house. They like to copy what they see in their own households and love interacting with each other to do it. Pretend play toys can be great gifts for children because it encourages that socialization.
As girls get a bit older, in the 7-10 age range, they might be more into fashion, creative exploits, and expressing themselves in a variety of ways. This is when they really start coming into their own, personality-wise. They want arts and crafts toys to play with, from stencils and drawing materials, to creating their own jewelery and accessories. It's the age of really exploring creativity.
Once they reach 11-13 or so, girls start to grow away from children's toys as many think of them and want to continue with just creating things. They also may have developed a hobby: dance, sports, academics, or any other number of interests. It's great to start buying them things that pertain more to what they are passionate about.
Whatever you get girls as a gift, be sure to get to know a little bit about what they love to do, especially if you are getting it for a child that isn't in your family and one you don't interact with on a daily basis. Little girls will love almost anything you get them and will gravitate to any new toys that they make receive. ---
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Remember Myspace, Friendster, eToys, Webvan, Urban Fetch, Pets.com? Like meteors, they burned with dazzling brilliance before turning shareholder dollars to ash. EBay, Yahoo and AOL, the dominant Internet triumvirate circa 2004, seemed destined for a similar fate. The conventional wisdom has been that once decline sets in at an Internet company, it?s irreversible.
But that was before eBay?s latest earnings surprise, which sent its stock soaring and had analysts scrambling to raise their projections. ?Can Internet companies ever turn around? The answer has been no,? Ken Sena, Internet analyst at Evercore, told me this week. ?But now, there?s eBay. The answer may turn out to be yes.?
If so, eBay?s success has big implications for struggling companies like Yahoo and AOL, not to mention more recent sensations that have already lost some luster, like Zynga, Groupon and even Facebook, whose shares tumbled this week after its first earnings report as a public company disappointed investors. ?EBay has demonstrated that it?s possible to turn the corner even against long odds,? said David Spitz, president and chief operating officer of ChannelAdvisor, an e-commerce consulting company.
EBay shares hit a peak of over $58 in 2004 and made its chief executive, Meg Whitman, a Silicon Valley celebrity. But by November 2007, when she stepped down to enter politics, the telltale signs of decline had set in. Its stock was slumping. Its dominant online auction business had matured, and growth had slowed. Sellers complained about higher fees and poor support. That year, eBay wrote off $1.4 billion on its poorly conceived $2.5 billion acquisition of the calling service Skype, recording its first loss as a public company. Analysts worried that eBay had lost its quirky soul, and was abandoning the flea market auction model that had made it distinctive and dominant in online auctions. By early 2009, its stock was barely over $10, down over 80 percent from its peak.
Ms. Whitman was succeeded by a former Bain & Company managing director, John Donahoe. ?One of the unique things about the Internet is a company can be a white-hot success and become a global brand and reach global scale in just a few years ? that?s the good news,? he told me this week. ?But then somebody can turn around and do it to you. There?s constant disruption. One of the first things I had to do here was face reality. EBay was getting disrupted.?
Little more than four years after taking charge, a buoyant Mr. Donahoe sounded like the chief executive of a surging start-up when he announced eBay?s latest results on July 18. So thoroughly has eBay been transformed that he didn?t even mention its traditional auction business. ?Our multiyear effort is paying off,? he said. Profit more than doubled and revenue jumped 23 percent. ?EBay is revitalized. We believe the best is yet to come.? In a stock market struggling with recession fears and the European debt crisis, eBay stock this week hit a six-year high.
How has eBay done it when so many others have failed?
Excitement about eBay?s prospects has little to do with its traditional auction business, or even its core e-commerce operations, although its marketplace division posted solid results and had its best quarter since 2006, the company said. Most of its growth came from mobile retailing and its PayPal online payments division, a business it acquired in 2002 for what now looks like a bargain $1.5 billion.
As consumers embrace shopping on their smartphones, ?mobile continues to be a game-changer,? Mr. Donahoe said. He noted that 90 million users had downloaded eBay?s mobile app and that 600,000 customers made their first mobile purchase during the most recent quarter. ?A woman?s handbag is purchased on eBay mobile every 30 seconds,? he said. ?Mobile is revolutionizing how people shop and pay.?
?It?s hard to think of many companies that benefit from mobile,? Mr. Sena said. ?Usually it means more competition. But clearly, eBay is one of them. EBay is offering a one-click payment solution. You don?t have to type in a credit card number or PIN. It?s just one click on your mobile phone.?
Mr. Spitz said he was recently stopped at a traffic light and the sun was bothering his eyes. By the time the light turned green, he had used his phone to order and pay for sunglasses. ?This is what commerce anytime, anywhere means,? he said. ?It?s here.?
MRSA cases in academic hospitals double in 5 years: studyPublic release date: 26-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kevin Stacey kstacey@press.uchicago.edu 401-284-3878 University of Chicago Press Journals
CHICAGO (July 26, 2012) -- Infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) doubled at academic medical centers in the U.S. between 2003 and 2008, according to a report published in the August issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
Researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine and the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) estimate hospitalizations increased from about 21 out of every 1,000 patients hospitalized in 2003 to about 42 out of every 1,000 in 2008, or almost 1 in 20 inpatients. "The rapid increase means that the number of people hospitalized with recorded MRSA infections exceeded the number hospitalized with AIDS and influenza combined in each of the last three years of the survey: 2006, 2007, and 2008," said Michael David, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and one of the study's authors.
The findings run counter to a recent CDC study that found MRSA cases in hospitals were declining. The CDC study looked only at cases of invasive MRSAinfections found in the blood, spinal fluid, or deep tissue. It excluded infections of the skin, which the UHC study includes.
MRSA infections, which cannot be treated with antibiotics related to penicillin, have become common since the late 1990s. These infections can affect any part of the body, including the skin, blood stream, joints, bones, and lungs.
The researchers attribute much of the overall increase they detected to community-associated infectionsthose that were contracted outside the healthcare setting. When MRSA first emerged it was primarily contracted in hospitals or nursing homes. "Community-associated MRSA infections, first described in 1998, have increased in prevalence greatly in the U.S. in the last decade," David said. "Meanwhile, healthcare-associated strains have generally been declining."
The study utilized the UHC database, which includes data from 90 percent of all not-for-profit academic medical centers in the U.S. However, like many such databases, the UHC data are based on billing codes hospitals submit to insurance companies, which often underestimate MRSA cases. For example, hospitals might not report MRSA cases that do not affect insurance reimbursement for that particular patient. In other cases, hospitals might be limited in the number of billing codes they can submit for each patient, which can result in a MRSA code being left off the billing report if it was not among the primary diagnoses.
David and his team corrected for these errors by using detailed patient observations from the University of Chicago Medical Center and three other hospitals. They looked at patient records to find the actual number of MRSA cases in each hospital over a three-year period. The team then checked the insurance billing data to see how many of those cases were actually recorded. They found that the billing data missed one-third to one-half of actual MRSA cases at the four hospitals. They used that rate of error as a proxy to correct the billing data from other 420 hospitals in the UHC database and arrive at the final estimates.
"I think this is still an underestimate of actual cases," David said. "But we can say with some assurance that this correction gives us a more accurate lower bound for how many cases [of MRSA] there actually are. What's clear from our data is that cases were on the rise in academic hospitals in 2003 to 2008."
###
Michael Z. David, Sofia Medvedev, Samuel F. Hohmann, Bernard Ewigman, Robert S. Daum, "Increasing Burden of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Hospitalizations at US Academic Medical Centers, 2003?." Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 33:8 (August 2012).
Published through a partnership between the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and The University of Chicago Press, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology provides original, peer-reviewed scientific articles for anyone involved with an infection control or epidemiology program in a hospital or healthcare facility. ICHE is ranked 15 out of 140 journals in its discipline in the latest Journal Citation Reports from Thomson Reuters.
SHEA is a professional society representing more than 2,000 physicians and other healthcare professionals around the world with expertise in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention and control. SHEA's mission is to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections and advance the field of healthcare epidemiology. The society leads this field by promoting science and research and providing high-quality education and training in epidemiologic methods and prevention strategies. SHEA upholds the value and critical contributions of healthcare epidemiology to improving patient care and healthcare worker safety in all healthcare settings. Visit SHEA online at www.shea-online.org, facebook.com/SHEApreventingHAIs and @SHEA_Epi.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
MRSA cases in academic hospitals double in 5 years: studyPublic release date: 26-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kevin Stacey kstacey@press.uchicago.edu 401-284-3878 University of Chicago Press Journals
CHICAGO (July 26, 2012) -- Infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) doubled at academic medical centers in the U.S. between 2003 and 2008, according to a report published in the August issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
Researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine and the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) estimate hospitalizations increased from about 21 out of every 1,000 patients hospitalized in 2003 to about 42 out of every 1,000 in 2008, or almost 1 in 20 inpatients. "The rapid increase means that the number of people hospitalized with recorded MRSA infections exceeded the number hospitalized with AIDS and influenza combined in each of the last three years of the survey: 2006, 2007, and 2008," said Michael David, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and one of the study's authors.
The findings run counter to a recent CDC study that found MRSA cases in hospitals were declining. The CDC study looked only at cases of invasive MRSAinfections found in the blood, spinal fluid, or deep tissue. It excluded infections of the skin, which the UHC study includes.
MRSA infections, which cannot be treated with antibiotics related to penicillin, have become common since the late 1990s. These infections can affect any part of the body, including the skin, blood stream, joints, bones, and lungs.
The researchers attribute much of the overall increase they detected to community-associated infectionsthose that were contracted outside the healthcare setting. When MRSA first emerged it was primarily contracted in hospitals or nursing homes. "Community-associated MRSA infections, first described in 1998, have increased in prevalence greatly in the U.S. in the last decade," David said. "Meanwhile, healthcare-associated strains have generally been declining."
The study utilized the UHC database, which includes data from 90 percent of all not-for-profit academic medical centers in the U.S. However, like many such databases, the UHC data are based on billing codes hospitals submit to insurance companies, which often underestimate MRSA cases. For example, hospitals might not report MRSA cases that do not affect insurance reimbursement for that particular patient. In other cases, hospitals might be limited in the number of billing codes they can submit for each patient, which can result in a MRSA code being left off the billing report if it was not among the primary diagnoses.
David and his team corrected for these errors by using detailed patient observations from the University of Chicago Medical Center and three other hospitals. They looked at patient records to find the actual number of MRSA cases in each hospital over a three-year period. The team then checked the insurance billing data to see how many of those cases were actually recorded. They found that the billing data missed one-third to one-half of actual MRSA cases at the four hospitals. They used that rate of error as a proxy to correct the billing data from other 420 hospitals in the UHC database and arrive at the final estimates.
"I think this is still an underestimate of actual cases," David said. "But we can say with some assurance that this correction gives us a more accurate lower bound for how many cases [of MRSA] there actually are. What's clear from our data is that cases were on the rise in academic hospitals in 2003 to 2008."
###
Michael Z. David, Sofia Medvedev, Samuel F. Hohmann, Bernard Ewigman, Robert S. Daum, "Increasing Burden of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Hospitalizations at US Academic Medical Centers, 2003?." Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 33:8 (August 2012).
Published through a partnership between the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and The University of Chicago Press, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology provides original, peer-reviewed scientific articles for anyone involved with an infection control or epidemiology program in a hospital or healthcare facility. ICHE is ranked 15 out of 140 journals in its discipline in the latest Journal Citation Reports from Thomson Reuters.
SHEA is a professional society representing more than 2,000 physicians and other healthcare professionals around the world with expertise in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention and control. SHEA's mission is to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections and advance the field of healthcare epidemiology. The society leads this field by promoting science and research and providing high-quality education and training in epidemiologic methods and prevention strategies. SHEA upholds the value and critical contributions of healthcare epidemiology to improving patient care and healthcare worker safety in all healthcare settings. Visit SHEA online at www.shea-online.org, facebook.com/SHEApreventingHAIs and @SHEA_Epi.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NEW YORK ? Medical professionals lined up at a public hearing Tuesday to speak in favor of a proposed ban on large-sized sugary drinks at New York City restaurants, cafeterias and snack trucks, while opponents decried the plan as an assault on personal freedom and wondered what tasty but unhealthy foods might be targeted next.
New York City?s health board heard hours of testimony on a proposed rule that would limit soft-drink cup and bottle sizes at food service establishments to no larger than 16 ounces.
Medical experts spared no rhetoric in hailing the proposal as a way to protect the public, saying that sodas and other sweetened beverages are a leading factor in a health epidemic linked to poor eating habits that kills thousands of New Yorkers every year. More than one likened soda companies to big tobacco.
One doctor said before the hearing that the calorie-packed beverages consumers now down with abandon increase the risk of diabetes, and are responsible for a big share of the ?massive suffering and premature death? linked to obesity.
?Soda in large amounts is metabolically toxic,? said Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. ?It?s obvious that this is the right thing to do.?
A 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola has roughly the same calorie count as a McDonald?s hamburger, but Kelly Brownell, a psychology, epidemiology and public health professor at Yale University, said it is easier to over-drink than over-eat.
?You don?t feel as full when you consume calories in liquids,? he said.
Critics ridiculed the idea that city officials would be trying to regulate how much people eat or drink.
City Councilman Daniel Halloran III called the proposal a ?feel-good placebo? that would hurt profit margins at small businesses while failing to improve anyone?s health.
He questioned whether a limit on the size of steak was around the corner.
Another critical councilman, Oliver Koppell, called the ban ?a clear overreaching of government into people?s everyday lives.?
?This infringement on the rights of New Yorkers leads us to ask what will be banned next??
Joy Dubost, a nutritionist who works for the National Restaurant Association, said the proposal wasn?t backed up by scientific evidence.
?It?s not reasonable to blame or cite one product,? she said.
The proposal requires only the approval of the Board of Health ? appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg ? to take effect. But opponents could still sue to block the ban, or they could convince legislators to step in and block the proposal.
The board is scheduled to vote on the measure Sept. 13.
Since Bloomberg proposed the ban in May, opponents including members of the restaurant and soft-drink industries as well as libertarians have accused him of attempting to institute a ?nanny state? with far-reaching government controls that infringe on individual choice. City officials, meanwhile, argue they are trying to save lives in the face of an epidemic that is killing New Yorkers and costing $4 billion a year.
The portion size restrictions would only apply to food-service businesses regulated by the Health Department, including restaurants, food carts, sports arenas and movie theaters. Grocery stores, drug stores and some convenience stores are regulated by the state and would be unaffected.
Drinks that are more than half milk or 70 percent juice would be exempt, and it wouldn?t apply to lower-calorie drinks like water or diet soda, or to alcoholic beverages.
In a letter released Monday by The New England Journal of Medicine, New York University researchers said the ban could affect nearly two-thirds of drinks bought at the city?s fast-food restaurants, according to a survey of more than 1,600 receipts. On average, sugary-drink buyers could consume 74 calories less per fast-food outing, the letter said.
___
Follow Samantha Gross at http://twitter.com/samanthagross
During the first quarter of this year, US car loans totaled $52.5bn. That's 49% higher than the same period in 2009, the recession's low point, according to Equifax's National Consumer Credit Trends report.
The preceeding paragraph comes from a report in today's Detroit News.
If you're of a nervous disposition, look away now, but if you're brave enough to want to know what's going on in the sub-prime vehicle loan market, click here.
Provided by the following bad credit auto loanNews Listing: Sub-prime car loans returning in a big way
The National Federation of Independent Business recently reported that small businesses identified increasing health care costs as their No. 1 problem. While escalating costs hurt all employers, small business has been particularly disadvantaged by the way health insurance is paid for in this country. Short of more dramatic reform, Maine?s small businesses and their employees would benefit by gaining access to larger insurance pools and an opportunity to participate in Accountable Care Organizations.
Let?s face it ? the United States health insurance system was not created with small business in mind. In fact, employers became the primary providers of health insurance only by an accident of history, when the federal government initiated a wage freeze during World War II and businesses competed for skilled workers by offering the additional benefit of health insurance.
The federal government encouraged businesses to include health insurance as a benefit by making employer-paid health insurance tax-free to employees. But what started as a fairly modest expenditure has become an unsustainable cost for small business.
Even though providing health care to the citizens of the richest country in the world ought to be a national priority, placing the cost of health care on the backs of business has been too much for many small businesses to bear. It has become a financial burden for many small businesses to provide health insurance but also a significant challenge for small businesses to attract employees without providing health insurance. Tying health insurance to employment creates a disincentive to start a business and a difficulty for small businesses to recruit and retain high-quality employees.
To compound the problem, many small businesses that offer health insurance to their employees end up paying more than larger companies because small groups have a higher risk pool with higher premium costs per employee. Insurance works most effectively when there is a large pool of participants but only a small number who make a claim against the premiums collected.
Small businesses have ended up in insurance rate setting pools with the least optimal characteristics and that historically have large claims. These out-sized claims drive up insurance premiums for the business and increase deductibles for employees. With higher insurance premiums, small businesses tend to shift more of the costs to employees and those employees also tend to have higher co-pays and larger deductibles than those in larger organizations. As their out-of-pocket costs increase, young and healthy employees often decline the insurance offered, which only exacerbates the situation by creating a vicious cycle that leaves only those people more likely to make large claims left in these high-risk pools.
But even if these insurance pools can be structured with a larger, more representative population, which is the hope of the Affordable Care Act in creating exchanges for small businesses and individuals, they will still have to overcome other weaknesses in our health care system to prevent costs from escalating. Health care costs rise for good reasons such as breakthroughs in medical technology and pharmaceuticals, as well as the simple fact that the population is getting older and requires more care. Insurance premiums also increase because the commercial sector is indirectly picking up costs for both the uninsured and the inadequate payments for care covered by Medicare and Medicaid. In addition, we can point to overuse of medical services, an abuse attributed to having third-party payers, and inefficiencies that arise in a system with fee-for-service payment methods that compensate physicians for the amount of services provided rather than hold them accountable for improving the health of their patients.
Accountable Care Organizations, or ACOs, such as Kaiser Permanente and those now forming in MaineHealth and Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems are trying to overcome these weaknesses in our current health care system. These organizations link patients, providers and payers in a system of mutual cooperation. Under ACOs, these plans provide incentives for patients to take greater responsibility for their own health with proper diet and exercise, physicians are rewarded by patient outcomes rather than fees for the amount of service provided and office visits, hospital stays and post-acute care are seamlessly linked to achieve greater efficiencies.
As health care costs continue to rise, there will be an increased outcry for solutions. Providing small businesses and individuals with opportunities to participate in larger insurance pools and in Accountable Care Organizations will be steps in the right direction.
Joseph McDonnell is dean of the College of Management and Human Service at the University of Southern Maine, and faculty member in the Muskie School of Public Service. He formerly served as dean of the College of Business at Stony Brook University in New York, and has held executive management positions within both Fortune 500s and start-ups.
After police identified 24-year-old James Holmes as the Aurora Theater shooting suspect early Friday, a pair of Facebook users from Colorado with the same name took to the site to deny their involvement.
One James Holmes issued a short and sweet denial by switching his profile photo to the below image.
Meanwhile, a second James Holmes issued a full statement publicly on his Facebook wall, generating more than 350 shares at the time of publishing.
According to the International Business Times, he received a slew of friend requests, something which led him to question why users were trying to reach out to the actual killer.
Facebook users have shown an outpouring of emotion and anger towards the suspected killer James Holmes.
According to the Daily Dot, one Facebook group and five communities calling for retribution against the alleged shooter have formed since this morning.
The largest of the group, "Death Penalty For James Holmes (Colorado Killer)," has 564 members.
Of course, not all social media reactions were angry. On Twitter, a number of insightful religious tweets were spotted on the micro-blogging site after news spread about the tragic shooting.
A worker walks out of a mosque being built in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on June 21, 2012. The mosque has been the subject of a lawsuit since 2010.
By NBC News and wire services
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? A federal judge has ruled that Muslims in a Tennessee congregation have a right to occupy their newly built mosque, overruling a county judge's order that was keeping them out.
The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro sued Rutherford County on Wednesday and U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell granted the mosque?an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown Thursday. Federal prosecutors also filed a similar lawsuit.
But a county building codes inspector announced Thursday the mosque would not be ready for occupancy for at least?two weeks, reported Tennessean.com.
Septic facilities need to be installed, and approval needs to be obtained from the state Department of Environment and Conservation, the fire marshal, and other entities, said Rutherford County Building Codes Director David Jones after he inspected the Islamic Center on Thursday morning. There's also exterior work that needs to be done before the building is ready for its final inspection, he said.
The future of the mosque had been in question since May, when a local judge overturned the county's approval of the mosque construction. This month, he ordered the county not to issue an occupancy permit for the 12,000-square-foot building.
In past years, community members have gathered for Eid-al-Fitr -- the breaking of the fast for Ramadan -- in the parking lot of the rented worship space that they outgrew,?the Tennessean.com reported.?
The contentious fight over the mosque stems from a 2010 lawsuit filed by a group of residents who made repeated claims that Islam was not a real religion and that local Muslims intended to overthrow the U.S. Constitution in favor of Islamic religious law.
Those claims were dismissed, but opponents won with a ruling that overturned the approval to build the mosque on the grounds that county didn't give adequate public notice of the meeting.
Previously on this story: Mosque work continues after judge voids building permit
Although the county advertised that meeting in the same way it has advertised others, the judge said extra notice was needed because the mosque construction was "an issue of major importance to citizens."
'The Muslim community ... has been under siege' In court Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin said the chancery court judge, in essence, created a separate "mosque standard" applicable only to someone who wants to build a mosque.
Citing acts of vandalism, arson and a bomb threat against the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, Martin said, "The Muslim community in Rutherford County has been under siege for the last two years. Now, after doing everything right, they are told that they can't move in."
Martin asked the federal judge to fulfill a promise made by the congregation's religious leader, Imam Ossama Bahloul, to the children of the congregation that justice would be done and they would be allowed to worship in their new space.
The congregation is being represented by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and local civil rights attorney George Barrett. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Nashville alleges violations of federal law and the constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and equal protection.
"If ICM were a Christian church, it would have been granted a certificate of occupancy and would be worshipping in its new facility today," a memorandum to the federal court reads, citing 20 instances of Christian churches that have been allowed to build since 2000.? "... The discriminatory treatment of the mosque also sends a powerful message to the Muslim community that they are second-class citizens, not worthy of the same rights or protection as Christian churches."
Attorneys for Rutherford County did not oppose the temporary restraining order. County attorneys have argued in chancery court hearings that treating the mosque differently from other applicants was discriminatory and a violation of their rights.
County Attorney Jim Cope said after the hearing that he felt vindicated by Campbell's ruling.
Mosque leader Bahloul said he had been reluctant to involve the mosque in the lawsuit but felt he had no choice after the certificate of occupancy was refused.
He said Campbell's ruling means a lot to Muslims in Tennessee and their supporters.
"We are here to celebrate the freedom of religion and that the concept of liberty is a fact existing in this nation," he said, reported WBIR.com in Tennessee. "The winner today is not an individual, the winner today is our nation and the fact that our Constitution prevailed."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The elm seed bug, which resembles a small cockroach and is usually found in Europe, has been spotted in Idaho.?
By Jessie L. Bonner,?Associated Press / July 18, 2012
Two Elm Seed Bugs. The invasive insect commonly found in south-central Europe has been detected in southwestern Idaho, marking the first time the elm seed bug has been spotted in the US.
Idaho State Department of Agriculture/AP
Enlarge
An invasive insect commonly found in south-central Europe has been detected in southwestern Idaho, marking the first time the elm seed bug has been spotted in the US, according to federal officials.
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A US Agriculture Department specialist has confirmed the discovery of the pests that officials say don't pose a threat to trees, despite their name ? but do tend to enter houses and buildings in huge swarms.
The Idaho Department of Agriculture issued a statement Wednesday warning that the bugs recently found in Ada and Canyon counties can prove to be a "significant nuisance" for homeowners. Elm seed bugs invade homes during the summer to escape heat, and then stick around through the winter, the department said.
The quarter-inch pests, which feed on elm tree seeds and resemble tiny, brown cockroaches with triangular back markings, do not pose a public health risk, officials said. But the bugs can have an unpleasant odor, "especially when crushed," said Pamela Juker, a spokeswoman for the Idaho Agriculture Department.
Federal authorities will take the lead role in investigating how the insects got to the U.S. and how they might spread.
"I would image they will be able to give us some indication of the possibilities," Juker said.
The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is expected to recommend ways to manage the pests.
Meanwhile, state officials are asking residents who come across the elm seed bugs outside of southwestern Idaho to collect a handful of the insects in a plastic sandwich bag and mail them to the Idaho Department of Agriculture's plant division in Boise.
The agency also is encouraging homeowners who encounter the pests to contact their local university extension office for information on how to deal with them.
"What we're trying to do at this point," Juker said, "is kind of track the bug in Idaho."
Written by lukesimpson on July 18, 2012 in Business Continuity, Crisis Management and Crisis Communication, Disaster Recovery, Events.
Jerome Hauer, New York State Commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES), and Joseph Bruno, New York City Commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management, will open proceedings at the inaugural Continuity Insights New York conference with a plenary session on The State of Preparedness.
With a division that includes the Office of Counterterrorism, Office of Cyber Security, Office of Fire Prevention and Control, Office of Interoperable and Emergency Communications, and the Office of Emergency Management, Commissioner Hauer?s office is responsible for the state?s preparedness and response to terrorism, and other man-made or natural disasters. He brings almost three decades of experience in the public and private sectors, the majority of which was focused in the areas of security and emergency management.
In his first major initiative, Commissioner Bruno successfully oversaw New York City?s adoption and implementation of the Citywide Incident Management System (CIMS). CIMS is now the City?s standard for responding to and managing emergencies and planned events. And with Commissioner Bruno?s support, NYC?s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program has grown to over 56 teams and 1,500 volunteers trained in basic emergency response, preparedness and first aid. He also helped create Notify NYC, an emergency notification system for New York City residents that uses text messaging, e-mail and phone to warn subscribers about emergencies.
Commissioners Hauer and Bruno will share their thoughts on the current state of preparedness and update attendees on recent activities and initiatives undertaken by their respective offices. Both gentlemen will field questions from the audience following their presentations.
For the full conference program and registration details, visit www.continuitynewyork.com.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Pentagon is sending an aircraft carrier to the Middle East several months early to make sure at least two carriers will constantly be present in the troubled region.
There are two carriers in the area now, but one was scheduled to leave before its replacement arrived to fill that gap, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has approved sending by late summer the USS John C. Stennis strike group, which also includes the Aegis guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay and some 5,500 sailors.
The extra presence was approved late last week on a request by Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, Pentagon press Secretary George Little said Monday.
Questioned about whether the deployment is a response to problems with Iran or perhaps the violence in Syria, he declined to be specific. Little said the need comes from a "wide range of security issues" in the region.
"This is not about any one particular country or any one particular threat," he said.
The USS John C..Stennis will have to accelerate its training and re-equipping of the ship, because it just left the area in December.
After that last deployment, Iran's army chief Gen. Ataollah Salehi in January warned the U.S. warship not to return to the Gulf, but its replacement, the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, entered the Gulf without incident later in January.
Although U.S. warships have had a presence in the region for decades, the deployment schedule change comes during an escalating showdown between Iran and the West over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
The Pentagon also recently doubled the number of minesweepers in the region, giving the U.S. greater flexibility to counter any Iranian effort to mine the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
The strait is routinely patrolled by Iranian and U.S. warships. Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strategic waterway, which is the transit route for about a fifth of the world's oil supply, in retaliation for increased Western-led sanctions.
Another ship, the USS Ponce, has also been sent. The amphibious transport dock was recently retrofitted to become what is known as an afloat forward staging base.
A growing number of medical researchers say more than 8 million women are at risk of difficult-to-treat bladder infections because superbugs - resistant to antibiotics and growing in chickens - are being transmitted to humans in the form of E. coli.
"We're finding the same or related E. coli in human infections and in retail meat sources, specifically chicken," said Amee Manges, epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal.
If the medical researchers are right, this is compelling new evidence of a direct link between the pervasive, difficult-to-cure human disease and the antibiotic-fed chicken people buy at the grocery store.
"What this new research shows is, we may in fact know where it's coming from. It may be coming from antibiotics used in agriculture," said Maryn McKenna, reporter for Food & Environment Reporting Network.
The research is part of a joint investigation by ABC News and Food and Environment Reporting Network.
The Food and Drug Administration says 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States are fed to livestock and even healthy chicken to protect them from disease in cramped quarters. It also helps the chickens grow bigger and faster.
"We're particularly interested in chickens. They, in many cases, are getting drugs from the time that they were in an egg all the way up to the time they are slaughtered," Manges said.
The chicken industry says there could be other factors such as overuse of antibiotics by humans. And the industry cautions that there's no study that has proven a superbug from poultry transfers directly to humans.
Researchers point out that a study like that would be unethical because it would require intentionally exposing women to the bacteria. They say that there is persuasive evidence that chicken carries bacteria with the highest levels of resistance to medicine.
Adrienne LaBeouf, 29, is one of the 8 million women suffering from a constant infection. "It feels like I have some kind of infection that just won't go away," she said.
LaBeouf has visited her doctor about her persistent bladder infection. "It was cured for a little while," she added, "and then it comes back with a vengeance."
ABC News' Brian Hartman contributed to this report.
Steven and Dawn Thomas of Renton, Wash., are speaking out about their son Brandon, 20, who committed suicide in May after struggling for years with crippling, chronic blushing. An estimated 5 percent to 7 percent of the population may suffer from the condition.
With the U.S. Galaxy S III launch now well underway, Samsung has launched three new TV commercials for the device. A far cry from the inspirational (or confusing) European Galaxy S III ads, Samsung has taken a more down-to-earth approach in its three latest S III ads for the U.S. market. Showcasing multimedia and sharing features like AllShare Play, AllShare Group Cast and Share Shot, Samsung's new ads feature more than fleeting glimpses of the product itself, and convey a clear message the device. That's in clear contrast to earlier Samsung ads, which variously poked fun at Apple fans, and bombarded viewers with random celebrity interludes.
If you want to check 'em out, we've got all three videos embedded after the break.
A new study of aged female rats found that long-term treatment with estrogen and a synthetic progesterone known as MPA increased levels of a protein marker of synapses in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region known to suffer significant losses in aging.
The new findings appear to contradict the results of the Women's Health Initiative, a long-term study begun in 1991 to analyze the effects of hormone therapy on a large sample of healthy postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79. Among other negative findings, the WHI found that long-term exposure to estrogen alone or to estrogen and MPA resulted in an increased risk of stroke and dementia. More recent research, however, suggests that starting hormone replacement therapy at the onset of menopause, rather than years or decades afterward, yields different results.
The new study, from researchers at the University of Illinois, is the first to look at the effects of long-term treatment with estrogen and MPA on the number of synapses in the prefrontal cortex of aged animals. The researchers describe their findings in a paper in the journalMenopause.
The prefrontal cortex, just behind the forehead in humans, governs what researchers call "executive function" ? planning, strategic thinking, working memory (the ability to hold information in mind just long enough to use it), self-control and other functions that tend to decline with age.
"The prefrontal cortex is the area of the human brain that loses the most volume with age," said U. of I. psychology professor and Beckman Institute affiliate Janice Juraska, who led the study with doctoral student Nioka Chisholm. "So understanding how anything affects the prefrontal cortex is important."
Most studies of the effects of hormone treatments on the brain have focused on the hippocampus, a structure important to spatial navigation and memory consolidation. The studies tend to use young animals exposed to hormones for very brief periods of time (one or two days to a few weeks at the most). They have yielded mixed results, with most research in young female animals indicating an increase in hippocampal synapses and hippocampal function after exposure to estrogen and MPA.
"For some reason, a lot of researchers still look at the effects of hormones in young animals," Chisholm said. "And there's a lot of evidence now saying that the aged brain is different; the effect of these hormones is not going to be the same."
The new study followed middle-aged rats exposed to estrogen alone, to no additional hormones, or to estrogen in combination with MPA for seven months, a time period that more closely corresponds to the experience of women who start hormone therapy at the onset of menopause and continue into old age. The researchers removed the rats' ovaries just prior to the hormone treatment (or lack of treatment) to mimic the changes that occur in humans during menopause.
"Our most important finding is that estrogen in combination with MPA can result in a greater number of synapses in the prefrontal cortex than (that seen) in animals that are not receiving hormone replacement," Chisholm said. "Estrogen alone marginally increased the synapses, but it took the combination with MPA to actually see the significant effect."
"Our data indicate that re-examining the effects of estrogen and MPA, when first given to women around the time of menopause, is merited," Juraska said.
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: http://www.uiuc.edu
Thanks to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for this article.
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Cooking a Thanksgiving dinner all by yourself can seem like a daunting task, but it does not have to be one! It can actually be done very easily if you are organized and plan your special menu. The first step would be to start with a menu. I like to plan mine a week ahead of time, at a minimum. That way I know what to shop for and can look for ads in the paper for what store has the best Thanksgiving day deals!
After you have planned the menu, think about what items can be done ahead of time. There are certain things you may want to make a day or two in advance. One thing that can easily be done ahead of time, is pie! Thanksgiving is not complete without a pie or two, and making these the day before is a great way to cut down on the hustle and bustle of the big turkey day. Another great idea is if you are not a baker, think about purchasing your pies from a local bakery to make the day less stressful. Usually you can buy pies at very reasonable prices that may cost less than making it yourself.
Next is the star of the show, the turkey. The common myth about cooking a turkey is that you have to let it roast all day at low and slow. This is actually a misconception as this will dry out the meat! Only cook the turkey as long as the instructions state as that way you will have a moist bird. I also like to baste the turkey every half hour to hour, to the keep the meat moist and juicy. Another idea that has gone by the wayside, is stuffing the bird. This has proven unsafe due to bacteria reasons. To be safe you have to cook the bird long enough that the center of the stuffing gets to 165*F, that means that the turkey will be dry and overcooked. The best bet is to make a pan of stuffing on the side!
Finally comes the glorious side dishes! Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, rolls, green beans and whatever else you decide to serve can easily be made the day of. Just make sure to give yourself plenty of time to get all the sides completed. A great make ahead tip for this is do all your prep work the day before ? cut the vegetables, make the stock, dough, etc. and your Thanksgiving will be a delicious success!
Christine Rankin is a professional writer who provides tips on Thanksgiving dinner for Celebrate Thanksgiving Day ? your premiere online resource for Thanksgiving holiday!
29 Questions ?I ?No Attempts Yet ?I ?Created By CooperAdel 1 day 3 hours ago
Designed to test the employee's knowledge of the legal documents included in our standard docset, both as we used them and the state and federal laws that effect them. ?This quiz will be reviewed at the presentation on July 20, 2012.
Question Excerpt From Legal Documents Quiz
Q.1)?
Executing a new will, power of attorney, healthcare power of attorney, or living will automatically revokes any prior such documents.
Q.2)?
A copy of our will, power of attorney, healthcare powe rof attorney, or living will is as good as the original.
Q.3)?
The person who executes a power of attorney is the __________.
Q.4)?
The person wielding power under a power of attorney is properly called the _________.
( or 3 words )
Q.5)?
Why do we have living will language in both a living will and the healthcare power of attorney?
Q.6)?
Give an example of ante-mortem probate.
Q.7)?
Why do we put HIPAA language into the wills?
Q.8)?
If a last will and testament has to go through probate court, why do we ever do a last will and testament for clients?
Q.9)?
Which of the following will provisions are void under Ohio law as against public policy?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Q.10)?
To prove that another person has exerted undue influence on a testator, you must show... (indicate which are correct)
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Q.11)?
In Ohio, in order for someone to have testamentary capacity (the ability to execute a legal document), he must:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Q.12)?
All powers of attorney must be witnessed
Q.13)?
When a client comes to our office already with a financial power of attorney, what are the two big provisions we look for and usually do not find?
B.
C.
Q.14)?
When someone signs as an attorney-in-fact, what language must they use?
Q.15)?
Which document can you use a power of attorney to execute?
B.
C.
Q.16)?
What is the special requirement to use a financial power of attorney in the sale or mortgage of real property?
Q.17)?
What does HIPAA stand for?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Q.18)?
A nursing home can require a resident to create a HCPOA before being admitted.
Q.19)?
For the purposes of a Do Not Resuscitate order, which two listed below are prohibited heroic measures?
Q.20)?
What directions does our living will contain?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Q.21)?
What are the four requirements in Ohio to remove life support?
A.
B.
D.
E.
Q.22)?
I can opt to donate my body to science through the organ donation form.
Q.23)?
All clients must fill out he organ donor registry form, either to say they want to be on the registry or that they do not.
Q.24)?
Who may not be a healthcare power of attorney?
B.
Q.25)?
The healthcare agent may remove the principal from treatment that is having positive impact.
Q.26)?
Select the formal requirements of a validly executed will.
A.
B.
C.
E.
H.
Q.27)?
How is a Do Not Resuscitate order differ from a living will??
Q.28)?
Ted is doing an intake with a client who tells him that she wants her estate evenly divided between her three daughters. She says she wants her son excluded because he is a CIA agent who has been spying on her for the government for years. ?Assuming she knows the extent of her assets, does she have testamentary capacity?
Q.29)?
BONUS: ?Using the facts from 28, the client's distribution scheme will not survive a legal challenge because of the ___________ rule.
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Public release date: 26-Jul-2012
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With a division that includes the Office of Counterterrorism, Office of Cyber Security, Office of Fire Prevention and Control, Office of Interoperable and Emergency Communications, and the Office of Emergency Management, Commissioner Hauer?s office is responsible for the state?s preparedness and response to terrorism, and other man-made or natural disasters. He brings almost three decades of experience in the public and private sectors, the majority of which was focused in the areas of security and emergency management.
In his first major initiative, Commissioner Bruno successfully oversaw New York City?s adoption and implementation of the Citywide Incident Management System (CIMS). CIMS is now the City?s standard for responding to and managing emergencies and planned events. And with Commissioner Bruno?s support, NYC?s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program has grown to over 56 teams and 1,500 volunteers trained in basic emergency response, preparedness and first aid. He also helped create Notify NYC, an emergency notification system for New York City residents that uses text messaging, e-mail and phone to warn subscribers about emergencies.
