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Chicago's Cook County OKs gun tax to defray costs of violence Friday, Nov 02, 2012 06:06 PM PDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - The county that includes Chicago approved a tax on firearms on Friday to help pay healthcare costs from gun violence, making it what is believed to be the first major U.S. metropolitan area to enact such a levy as a form of gun control. The Cook County Board of Commissioners voted 9-7 to impose a $25 tax on each firearm sold. The tax is expected to raise $600,000 in revenue in 2013. With the vote, the nation's third most populous county, with nearly 5.2 million residents, becomes the first large U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. jury awards troops $85 million over Iraq chemical exposure Friday, Nov 02, 2012 05:50 PM PDT PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - An Oregon jury awarded 12 Army National Guardsmen $85 million in damages from defense contractor KBR Inc. on Friday after finding that the company failed to protect them from exposure to cancer-causing chemicals when they served in Iraq. Each Guard soldier was awarded $850,000 in non-economic damages and another $6.25 million in punitive damages for "reckless and outrageous indifference" to their health in the trial in U.S. District Court in Portland. ... Full Story | Top |
Affiliate of US meningitis-linked firm extends shutdown Friday, Nov 02, 2012 04:47 PM PDT BOSTON (Reuters) - Ameridose LLC, sister company to the pharmacy at the heart of a meningitis outbreak in the United States, agreed on Friday to extend its closure by two weeks while state and federal investigators continue to examine its facilities. The company will remain closed until November 19, according to an agreement between Ameridose and Massachusetts regulators, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters. Ameridose has the same owners as the New England Compounding Center (NECC), which distributed a tainted steroid used for back pain that has killed 28 people in the meningitis outbreak. ... Full Story | Top |
Factbox: Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate Friday, Nov 02, 2012 03:38 PM PDT (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, is pursuing the White House for the second time. Here are key facts about him. - Romney, 65, espouses traditional Republican positions to cut taxes, reduce federal regulations, shrink government spending and bolster the U.S. military. He vows to create 12 million new jobs in his first term with a plan focused on domestic energy development, expanded free trade, improving education, reducing the deficit and championing small business. ... Full Story | Top |
Chicago's Cook County is first metro area to levy gun tax Friday, Nov 02, 2012 02:19 PM PDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - The county that includes Chicago on Friday approved a tax on firearms to help pay the healthcare costs from gun violence, the first major U.S. metropolitan area to impose such a tax as a form of gun control. Under the plan, Cook County, Illinois, will impose a $25 tax on each firearm sold. The tax is expected to raise $600,000 in revenue in 2013. With Friday's vote, the nation's third most populous county with nearly 5.2 million residents becomes the first major U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Painkillers not as addictive as feared: study Friday, Nov 02, 2012 02:15 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fewer than five percent of patients prescribed narcotics to treat chronic pain become addicted to the drugs, according to a new analysis of past research. The finding suggests that concerns about the risk of becoming addicted to prescription painkillers might be "overblown," said addiction specialist Dr. Michael Fleming at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. ... Full Story | Top |
Older voters prefer Romney on healthcare, Medicare: Reuters/Ipsos poll Friday, Nov 02, 2012 02:08 PM PDT (Reuters) - As early voting proceeds across the country ahead of Tuesday's presidential election, voters over 50 continue to be more likely than most to prefer Republican challenger Mitt Romney to President Barack Obama and to favor Romney's position on two issues that directly affect the elderly: healthcare and Medicare. While Friday's Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll saw the candidates at an effective dead heat among all likely voters, older likely voters preferred Romney 51 percent to 43 percent during the week ending November 4. ... Full Story | Top |
Controversial former White House hopeful Bachmann faces tough challenge Friday, Nov 02, 2012 01:49 PM PDT ST. CLOUD, Minnesota (Reuters) - Representative Michele Bachmann, known for controversial comments during her Republican presidential nomination bid, faces a tough congressional election challenge on Tuesday in a Minnesota district that should be friendly to conservatives. The race in the sprawling Minnesota 6th Congressional District has been the nation's most expensive in both money raised and spent by Bachmann and Democratic challenger Jim Graves, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The two candidates have raised a total of $22.7 million and spent $20.8, the center reported. ... Full Story | Top |
In Kentucky, evacuation enters third day after derailment, fire Friday, Nov 02, 2012 12:35 PM PDT (Reuters) - Hundreds of residents outside Louisville, Kentucky, were kept from their homes for a third day on Friday as authorities allowed a chemical fire triggered by a train derailment to burn itself out, local emergency officials said. The freight train, which was carrying butadiene and styrene, jumped the tracks on Wednesday about 30 miles south of Louisville near the small Kentucky town of West Point and the Fort Knox military post. ... Full Story | Top |
Young docs less tired, less prepared with fewer hours Friday, Nov 02, 2012 12:00 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Orthopedic surgeons-in-training said they were tired less often after rules regulating how much they could work went into place, according to new survey results. But the residents didn't actually get any more sleep under the limited work hours policy. And they also said they felt less prepared as doctors and were less satisfied with their education. ... Full Story | Top |
Pradaxa bleeding risk appears no worse than warfarin - FDA Friday, Nov 02, 2012 11:08 AM PDT (Reuters) - The risk of serious bleeding among new users of Pradaxa, a blood-clot preventer made by Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim, appeared to be no higher than in patients on the widely used standard blood thinner warfarin, U.S. regulators said. The announcement Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration may allay some safety concerns about Pradaxa, a pill developed by the privately held drugmaker Boehringer, to prevent strokes among patients with an irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation. The regulator's findings were based on an assessment of insurance claims and other data. ... Full Story | Top |
Amsterdam struggles to evade ban on dope-smoking tourists Friday, Nov 02, 2012 11:07 AM PDT AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The mayor of Amsterdam may be unable to deliver on his promise to scrap the ban on tourists visiting the city's marijuana-selling coffee shops, the Dutch justice ministry said on Friday. Dope smokers were relieved this week when mayor Eberhard van der Laan said the coffee shops would remain open to foreigners. The conservative national government that lost power in September had pledged that only locals would be allowed to buy "weed" in coffee shops from the beginning of next year. ... Full Story | Top |
Removing trays from dining halls cuts food waste Friday, Nov 02, 2012 11:06 AM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - University students eating at one buffet-style dining hall produced less food waste when the facility removed the trays students had used to carry food, a new study has found. At the single facility, researchers estimated the switch away from using trays saved about 25 total pounds of solid food waste at each lunch and dinner meal. It may also have encouraged students to eat less - although the study team didn't measure food consumption before and after the change. ... Full Story | Top |
Polish mother accused of killing five of her children Friday, Nov 02, 2012 10:38 AM PDT WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish police arrested a 41-year-old woman on suspicion of killing five of her children, local media quoted prosecutors as saying on Friday. The bodies of four of the children were found in or near their home in a village in south-eastern Poland. Authorities say a fifth child was killed but the body has not been found. (Reporting by Dagmara Leszkowicz; Editing by Robert Woodward) Full Story | Top |
Retail clinics may cut into primary care Friday, Nov 02, 2012 10:02 AM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The health clinics in pharmacies and other retail stores may be convenient, but they may also take a bite out of the traditional doctor-patient relationship, a new study suggests. Retail health clinics operate mainly out of chain pharmacies, but they're also in some grocery stores and "big box" stores like Wal-mart. There are now more than 1,300 retail health clinics nationwide, according to the non-profit RAND Corporation. And among Americans with private health insurance, their use rose 10-fold between 2007 and 2009. "The scope of care is limited," said Dr. ... Full Story | Top |
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