CONTACT US & HELP CONSISTENTLY SCOOP CORPORATE MEDIA Beat The Press Send us your tips, links, and comments. Click here.
jTweet
more info...!
Waxman Launches Probe Into Blue Cross' Massive California Rate Increases
Domestic
Thursday, 11 February 2010 20:33
Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, launched an investigation Tuesday into massive rate increases Anthem Blue Cross intends to impose on 800,000 California customers March 1. Waxman and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Bart Stupak wrote Angela Braly, CEO of Blue Cross parent company WellPoint, asking her to testify before the subcommittee February 24 and provide "a detailed explanation of the reasons for the rate increase." Last week, The LA Times reported Anthem Blue Cross planned to hike individual insurance premiums by up to 39 percent. California state officials and the Obama administration noted WellPoint's 2009 profit was $4.7 billion, nearly double the year before. Barack Obama said Tuesday if Congress doesn't "act ..premiums will continue to rise for folks with insurance, millions more will lose their coverage altogether and our deficits will continue to grow larger."
As Haiti begins digging out from under 60 million cubic meters of earthquake wreckage, U.S. firms have begun jockeying for a bonanza of cleanup work. There is big money to be made in the rubble of some 225,000 collapsed homes and at least 25,000 government and office buildings. At least two politically connected U.S. firms have enlisted powerful local allies in Haiti to help compete for the high-stakes business. Randal Perkins, head of AshBritt, has already met Haitian President René Préval to tout his firm's skills. To press his case, Perkins, a big U.S. political donor employing powerful lobbyists, has lined up an influential Haitian businessman, Gilbert Bigio, as a partner. Another contender is Bob Isakson, managing director of DRC Group, a disaster recovery firm whose résumé includes hurricanes, wars, ice storms and floods. The UN has designated former President Bill Clinton to coordinate Haitian relief efforts.
Internet Censorship Protest Shuts Down Australian Government Websites
International
Wednesday, 10 February 2010 21:15
In Australia hackers protesting government censorship of the Internet have shut down several government websites. The government had announcement filters would be imposed to block access to websites deemed offensive. The hacking campaign was launched by the anti-Scientology group Anonymous in response to plans to implement a mandatory and wide-ranging internet filter modeled on the Chinese government’s. Despite the Australian government’s promise the filter would only be used to block child pornography and other illegal websites, the watchdog group Electronic Frontiers Australia warned the law will also allow the government to block any website it desires under vague definitions. In March 2009, the Wikileaks website published a secret list of sites slated to be blocked by Australia’s state-sponsored parental filter. Sites included “online poker, YouTube links, porn sites, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, websites of fringe religions, fetish sites, Christian sites, a tour operator and a dentist.
more info...!
