AltWeeklies Wire
Big Pharma is After Your Confidential Medical Recordsnew
A state bill that would have eroded California's strong medical privacy laws nearly passed last month. The Mental Health Association of California, the National Association of Cancer Patients, and other important health advocacy organizations supported the measure, saying they believed it would improve compliance and save lives. But the bill's opponents, which included the California Medical Association and many consumer groups, asserted that the legislation was not really about helping patients.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Jake Whitney |
07-02-2008 |
Science
Medicare: One Doc's Opinionnew
Ted Mazer, an ear-nose-and-throat guy who has been involved in the Medicare fight for seven years, takes on a national problem.
San Diego CityBeat |
David Rollan |
07-02-2008 |
Science
Why Doesn't Oregon Let Bounty Hunters Chase Down its Most Wanted?new
Since 1974, this state has banned bail bondsmen from operating inside its borders -- one of only four states in the country to do so. Critics say it's no coincidence that in Portland alone, there are thousands of wanted criminals walking the streets.
Willamette Week |
James Pitkin |
07-02-2008 |
Crime & Justice
The International Towards Carfree Conference Didn't Just Spin its Wheelsnew
Many attendees noted that global warming, high gasoline prices (and the specter of Peak Oil), worsening public health, and persistent traffic congestion have made many big city leaders more open to carfree concepts than they're ever been.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Steven T. Jones |
07-02-2008 |
Transportation
How Standing Up Against the Border Fence Cost One Federal Employee His Jobnew
Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge project manager Ken Merritt was asked to make a choice: support federal law, or sign off on the plan to build the border wall. He chose in favor of the refuge, and the decision ended his career.
The Texas Observer |
Melissa del Bosque |
07-02-2008 |
Immigration
What Happens When Chronically Ill Kids Grow Upnew
Physically disabled young adults who weren't supposed to live this long find themselves hemmed in by an unprepared heath care system.
Houston Press |
Paul Knight |
07-01-2008 |
Science
This Isn't How Adoption is Supposed to Worknew
Three little boys set out to destroy the parents who loved them. Now, after a protracted lawsuit has drawn to a close, the adoptive parents remain in legal/political limbo with $10 million at stake. The boys are finally in treatment -- but no one's sure it will help at this stage. Experts say that the children should have been given intensive psychological care -- ten years ago.
New Times Broward-Palm Beach |
Deidra Funcheon |
07-01-2008 |
Children & Families
Newspapers Shrink as Veterans are Forced Out the Doornew
For South Florida readers, the newsroom cuts means one thing: less news. With reductions of more than 15 percent of staffs across the board, physical newspapers are rapidly shrinking, and the amount of local coverage available on the newspaper websites will decrease.
New Times Broward-Palm Beach |
Bob Norman |
07-01-2008 |
Media
Environmentally-Friendly Burials Save More than One Kind of Greennew
Dienna Genther's coffins have an obvious marketing appeal to those seeking a "green" burial, something that has become increasingly popular over the last few years. Yet she emphasizes the reduced financial burden on the deceased and their families when explaining her business motives. She speaks soberly and doesn't come off as an idealist as much as she does a tradesperson.
Weekly Alibi |
Marquis Dufek |
07-01-2008 |
Environment
Web of Hummer Hatred: The Monster Truck Wars are Over, and the Greens Wonnew
By almost any measure, the Hummer haters have won. These behemoths are languishing on the sales floor. General Motors, which owns the Humvee brand, says sales in the first half of 2008 were about half of what they were at the 2006 peak of 71,524.
New Haven Advocate |
Adam Bulger |
07-01-2008 |
Transportation
DNA Points to Perp in Rape for Which Wrong Man Did Timenew
Five years ago, Ken Wyniemko was released from the Michigan prison system, exonerated after a decade behind bars for a rape that DNA evidence concluded he did not commit. On Wednesday, police confirmed that a match has been made to the DNA collected at the scene of the 1994 Macomb County rape for which Wyniemko was arrested, convicted and incarcerated.
Metro Times |
Sandra Svoboda |
07-01-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Outlook is Bleak for Man Who Claims He Was Falsely Convictednew
Things aren't looking too good for Fredrick Freeman, who is serving a life sentence for the 1986 murder of Scott Macklem in Port Huron. He's exhausted his state appeals and now has filed a habeas petition in U.S. District Court in Detroit. That case is still pending.
Metro Times |
Staff |
07-01-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Inside Baltimore's Home-Birth Undergroundnew
Disenchanted with a medical system that treats birth as an emergency instead of an emergence, seeking an alternative to the tubes and wires and monitors of a high-tech birth, some women are stepping outside of the hospital to have their babies. And some say their numbers are growing. But is home birth safe?
Baltimore City Paper |
Michelle Gienow |
07-01-2008 |
Sex
Will Chrysler be the First of the Big Three to Cruise into the Sunset?new
Chrysler can no longer possibly compete in today's environment. It no longer trades on the stock exchanges, but if it sinks into the deep, it will have deep ripple effects on other firms, and on all of us in Detroit. Here's why I say the company is sick as a dog.
Metro Times |
Jack Lessenberry |
07-01-2008 |
Business & Labor
Group Hopes to Start Homeless Newspaper in Pittsburghnew
There's just one hitch: Selling the paper could require each vendor to get a license that costs about as much as an overnight stay in a luxury hotel.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
Adam Fleming |
06-30-2008 |
Media
