Health / Disease

Misconduct alleged against Secret Service agents

CARTAGENA, Colombia (AP) — A dozen Secret Service agents sent to Colombia to provide security for President Barack Obama at an international summit have been relieved of duty because of allegations of misconduct.

The Associated Press received an anonymous tip that the misconduct involved prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, the site ...

Michigan governor signs motorcycle helmet repeal

Despite safety and cost arguments from the insurance industry and the medical community, Michigan's Republican Gov. Rick Snyder announced Friday that he had signed into law a repeal of the state's mandatory motorcycle helmet law.

His nod for repeal comes as welcome news to bikers around the state, many of ...

Vt. governor chased by 4 bears in backyard

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A late-night encounter with four bears trying to snack from backyard birdfeeders gave Vermont's governor a lesson in what not to do in bear country.

One of the bears chased Peter Shumlin and nearly caught the governor while he was trying to shoo the animals away, ...

Newark mayor rescues neighbor from burning house

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The mayor of New Jersey's largest city said Friday he feared for his life as he helped rescue a neighbor from a fire before firefighters had arrived.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, speaking on "CBS This Morning," described how he returned home Thursday night and saw his ...

Attorney: Zimmerman bail hearing to be held next week

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Trayvon Martin's supporters fought for weeks to win an arrest after the 17-year-old was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida. Now George Zimmerman's attorney has begun what could be a lengthy legal battle to free his client from the second-degree murder charge filed ...

Study: Most gas pedal accidents involve women

WASHINGTON — Accidents in which drivers mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake tend to involve older female drivers in parking lots, a new government study has found.

One of the study's most striking and consistent findings was that nearly two-thirds of drivers who had such accidents were female. ...

Opponents of death penalty see momentum

Death penalty opponents said Thursday that this week's votes putting Connecticut on track to become the 17th state to abandon capital punishment shows that the long campaign against the death penalty is gaining serious momentum.

"The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty has been at it for 35 years, ...

Zimmerman appears in Fla. court

Suspect George Zimmerman made his first appearance in a Florida courtroom Thursday, the day after he was charged with second-degree murder in the racially charged shooting death of black teenager Trayvon Martin.

Mr. Zimmerman, flanked by a police officer and attorney Mark O'Mara, appeared calm and alert during the brief ...

From small-town Maine to Cherry Blossom royalty

Joan Boos - then known as Joan Lovering - moved from her small Maine town during World War II to Washington to help in the war effort. She was named one of the 48 original Cherry Blossom princesses for the Cherry Blossom Festival in 1948, just three years after the ...

Bishops plea against obeying 'unjust laws'

A panel of the nation's Catholic bishops said Thursday that their flock "must have the courage not to obey unjust laws" and called for Catholic political leaders, clergy and laity to pray, fast and speak out for religious liberty during a two-week period that ends on Independence Day.

"What we ...

American Scene: Two Coast Guard members fatally shot at remote station

ALASKA

KODIAK — Two Coast Guard members were fatally shot at a communications station on an island off Alaska, officials said Thursday.

Officials said it remained unclear if the deaths at the Coast Guard station on Kodiak Island were a double homicide or murder-suicide. Capt. Jesse Moore said it was ...

News of Doolittle raid leaks slowly as Roosevelt keeps silence

In the days following Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle's daring raid on Tokyo and five other Japanese cities, no one was talking — not even President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Speaking to reporters on April 21, 1942, three days after the mission, an almost playful Roosevelt still wouldn't confirm news ...

Doolittle Raiders recommend the first movie

For those who lived through it, Hollywood's most recent depiction of the Doolittle raid completely bombed.

The 2001 flick "Pearl Harbor," directed by Michael Bay, focuses heavily on the April 18, 1942, mission during the latter half of the movie. Alec Baldwin portrayed raid leader Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" ...

Five survivors of Doolittle Tokyo Raiders recall daring sortie

Edward Saylor still vividly remembers the Chinese boy who helped save his life. In the days after his plane crashed into the waters just off China's coast, Mr. Saylor, now 92, and four other Doolittle Tokyo Raiders were desperate and hungry — but they had survived a daring mission that ...

Zimmerman makes court appearance in Fla. shooting

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman made his first court appearance Thursday on a second-degree murder charge in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

During the brief appearance, Zimmerman stood up straight, looked straight ahead and wore a gray prison jumpsuit. He spoke only to answer "Yes, ...

JetBlue pilot indicted for flight disruption

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A JetBlue Airways pilot accused of disrupting a Las Vegas-bound flight when he left the cockpit screaming about religion and terrorists has been indicted.

Court documents posted Thursday show Clayton F. Osbon has been indicted on one count of interference of a flight crew. It's the ...

WI: Government Generousity

NoNAIS - News - Wed, 2024-11-27 00:28

Perhaps you’ve heard about this sort of thing. The government, for your own good, is going to require you to buy certain things. No, I’m not talking about the Health Care Mandate. In Wisconsin they have a NAIS Mandate. Mandatory premiss registration, animal ID, etc. But, they are so generous. They’ll allow you to write off 25% of the forced costs from your tax burden.

Gee… So it still is going to cost you 75%. Since it is a government mandate it will be over priced because the vendors have a lock on the market. You know how these things go. Using some rough numbers, what should have cost $10 per animal is going to cost $20 but you’ll be able to deduct $5 making it so you’re only paying 50% more than you would have not spent had you been willing to spend it if it wasn’t a mandate. Confused?

But it is a mandate and you wouldn’t be paying it at all except that it is a mandate. So now you’re out $15 per animals. Oh, and did you know, surely you did as a farmer, that you’re only making or losing $5 a head? So now, with the government mandate, for your own good, you stand to lose $20 per animal instead of losing $5 per head.

Oh, one last detail, if you don’t get any profit then you don’t get to deduct that 25% of the cost of the mandated program which means you’re losing another $5 per animal for a total of $25 each. Oh, well, I guess you’ll just have to make it up in volume.

Remember: government is here to help you.

Among the bills [Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker] will be signing is SB396, which authorizes the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture to hire an independent agent to administer the livestock premises registration program and create an income and franchise tax credit for producers to cover their costs of radio frequency identification tags.

Under the bill, an income and franchise tax credit for 25 percent of the amount that a taxpayer paid in the taxable year for radio frequency identification tags for the taxpayer’s livestock located in this state and 25 percent of the amount that a taxpayer paid in the taxable year for equipment used in this state to read radio frequency identification tags on livestock. If the amount of the credit exceeds a taxpayer’s tax liability, the taxpayer does not receive a refund, but, instead, may carry forward the amount of any unused credit to subsequent taxable years.
-Wisconsin Ag Connection

Prosecutors face hurdles in Trayvon Martin case

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — After an extraordinary public campaign to make an arrest in the shooting of an unarmed black teen, a Florida prosecutor came back with a murder charge in the case that has galvanized the nation for weeks.

But prosecutors face steep hurdles to win a second-degree murder ...

Conn. legislature approves repeal of death penalty

HARTFORD, Conn. — After years of failed attempts to repeal the death penalty, Connecticut lawmakers in both the House and the Senate have passed legislation that abolishes the punishment for all future cases.

As expected, members of the House voted 86-62 in favor of the bill after a floor debate ...

Pepper spray 'unreasonable' at Occupy rally

SAN FRANCISCO — A University of California task force said Wednesday that UC Davis police should not have used pepper spray on student demonstrators in an incident that prompted national outrage and calls for the chancellor's resignation after online videos of the confrontation went viral.

The decision by officers to ...

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