| Whose Nantucket land? Couple, airport do battle
NANTUCKET -- When they moved to Nantucket from London four years ago, Eric Shaw and Connie Mundy had no qualms about buying a home near the airport. The house was modest by the standards of this high-priced resort island -- though it cost almost $1.5 million -- and the lot was tiny, but the rural setting, with ocean views and a crushed-shell pathway to the beach, was perfect for the couple's two young children and three dogs. There was just one troubling detail the family didn't know: According to the town, their property belongs to the airport. Shaw and Mundy are fighting the airport's claim on their land, which they say first came to their attention two years after they moved to Madequecham Valley Road, on Nantucket's scenic south shore. In a lawsuit against the town, the couple says local officials botched the taking of the land by eminent domain in 1941, when the municipal airport was first established, by failing to accurately describe its boundaries or properly record the acquisition in town records.
Supervisors call for burn-ban
Spring yard cleaning became more difficult Friday as Lowndes County Supervisors approved a burn ban that will force many residents to find alternate ways to dispose of unwanted clutter.“Currently Lowndes County is seven inches below normal rainfall and we've had a tremendous amount of grass fires," Lowndes County Fire Coordinator Sammy Foundren. “There will be a couple of exemptions in it .. excluding the fire department because if we have to normally have to burn a house for training it will allow us to continue."Lowndes County joined a growing number of Mississippi counties that are imposing burn bans because of a lack of substantial rain.According to the Mississippi Forestry Commission, about 3,000 wildfires have damaged more than 49,600 acres in Mississippi since July 1.A Tennessee Valley Authority official said last week that spring's arrival follows the driest December, January and February span in 117 years of record keeping in the TVA's seven-state region.
A new insurance worry
It must not have shocked Floridians to read that another segment of the insurance industry treats payment of claims as a side business. On Monday, in a story that also appeared in The Post, The New York Times reported on complaints by policyholders that their long-term care insurer isn't living up to its end of the contract. Americans have filed thousands of complaints. Among them: After a request from a policyholder, a company sent the wrong form, then denied the claim because of a paperwork problem. .
Underwriting in your Underpants: Life Outside the Home Office
Previous articles in this series have explored how to break down silos between underwriting and distribution, the emergence of outsourcing and automation as important underwriting productivity drivers, and we have analyzed ways to get more value from the ubiquitous --yet paradoxical-- Attending Physician Statement (APS). The common thread throughout this series of articles is overcoming the challenges that underwriting departments must face everyday as the demand on underwriting departments increase while available resources decrease. For this installment, we spoke with a number of underwriters who have decades of risk management experience, about their perceptions of the industry today and what it is like to be part of the growing trend of "remote underwriting". Introduction A "perfect storm" of trends in underwriting has emerged to challenge the industry in the early years of the 21st Century: .
Being on your own can add up quickly
HACKENSACK, N.J. - Moving into your first apartment is a rite of passage. And like a lot of big life changes, it will cost you. Whether youll be living in a two-family house, a garden complex or a high-rise, youll have to pay for moving in, buying furniture and insuring your belongings. All together, the expenses will add up to thousands of dollars. Of course, the cost is worth it for the freedom of having your own space - no offense, Mom and Dad. Here are some of the major expenses you should plan for before you make the leap into your first place: Application fee and/or credit check: When you apply for an apartment, landlords will often ask you to pay for a check of your credit history. This typically ranges from about $25 to $100. Brokers fee: At many apartment complexes, you can rent directly without a real estate agent or broker.
Keep us down and keep us broke
EDITORIAL - I have been entirely too serious lately. After a couple of weeks of watching the president make an ass out of himself in Central and South America by groveling in front of third world government pipsqueaks, and trying to thread his way through a continual stream of lies by which he endeavored unsuccessfully to assure these pipsqueaks that he would continue to ignore the law-breakers of their countries who have infiltrated our borders illegally while at the same time trying to deceive the more discerning citizens of this country who are onto his devious crap relative to immigration, I have decided this week to ignore our ignorant president and an equally unenlightened Congress and concentrate on the unlettered activities of local politicians. There is plenty of material in this regard; the local newspaper provides an ample amount of such on a daily basis.
Small gifts can change lives
Nonprofit organization Modest Needs gives one-time grants to people with emergency expenses that could push them into poverty.
Juliana Goodwin
News-Leader
There weren't any other options for Ron Provinge. If the grant didn't come through, he would have to wait for months to learn if he qualified for a kidney transplant. .
The Big Tangle
In the aftermath of the fatal I-90 ceiling collapse, a complicated legal fight has drawn in a phalanx of attorneys to defend pocketbooks and reputations. Such maneuvering has drawn comparisons to famed disputes in Boston history. By Sean P. Murphy and Scott Allen, Globe Staff | April 8, 2007 .
Why the rich should now be made to pay
Britain remains a society with too many inequalities, too many barriers to opportunity for those at the bottom. "Not enough redistribution!" say some. If only things were so simple. Redistribution there must be, but much more besides. Average income in the UK has grown substantially since 1997 - 2.4 per cent a year to the end of 2005. London has had the highest rises. However, if differences in house prices are taken into account, there is far less variation between London and other areas in spending power. There has actually been considerable redistribution towards pensioners (a term I dislike), single parents and children. The proportion of older people living in poverty is smaller than the average for the population as a whole. In 1997 there were 13.8 million people living in poverty, as measured after housing costs, or 10.2 million before housing costs; these figures have fallen to 11.4 million and 9.2 million.
EDITORIAL: Students' insurance plan should cover HPV vaccine
It's a staggering statistic: 45 percent of 14-to-19-year-old women are infected with a human papillomavirus, according to a study published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Here's two more: Four forms of HPV, a sexually transmitted infection that can be passed on even if partners use a condom, are the culprits in about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital wart cases.
But there's some good news. A new vaccine protects against those four forms of the virus. The bad news is that it's expensive, totaling $360. And the worst is that our student insurance plan-which we are required to purchase if we don't carry coverage that meets the state's requirements-doesn't cover it.
In fact, the Qualifying Student Health Insurance Plan, run by MEGA Life and Health Insurance Plan, doesn't cover any preventive immunizations, despite well-established evidence that they improve health while lowering long-term healthcare costs.
That's odd: Home-builder survey doesn't match other one
Question: Our neighbor complained that some of our trees and a fence post are on his property. We had a survey done to confirm the boundaries. It differs from the improvement location certificate (ILC) our home builder provided to us at the closing.
Is it unusual for the survey and the builder's certificate to differ?
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Budget story draws fire from all quarters
NEW DELHI: The budget story is not getting better for finance minister P Chidambaram. The suave politician will need his skills as an adroit lawyer to fend off a fierce onslaught, led by both allies and foes, pillorying him for failing to spur growth while also falling short on the "aam admi" front.
As discussion on the budget got under way in Lok Sabha on Monday, it came undera piercing scrutiny by Shiv Sena's Suresh Prabhu, a former power minister and a chartered accountant by training, who said that Chidambaram's offering was a "timid budget". The budget, said Prabhu, was short on ideas on tackling big issues like power, inflation and agriculture.
While paying Chidambaram what must have struck the FM as a left-handed compliment - describing the Sivaganga MP as the "best" lawyer in the country - Prabhu said not only had contribution of agriculture in GDP declined, so had the public investment.
WellPoint ties members' health to employee bonuses
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Health insurer WellPoint Inc. said on Tuesday it is beginning to gauge the health of its 34 million members using an index of measures, and is linking its employees' bonuses to progress in that index. The company, which is the largest U.S. health insurer by membership, introduced a health index that it will apply to all of its insurance plans. The index includes 20 different clinical areas, which involve prevention and screening, management of chronic diseases, clinical outcomes and patient safety. For example, the company will measure whether diabetics are getting necessary eye exams, emergency room visits for asthmatics, breast-cancer screenings for women, and immunizations for children. Five percent of bonuses for each of WellPoint's 42,000 employees will be linked to improvement in the health index, the company said.
COULEE CONSUMER: Budgeting for baby before birth is an important step
It's easy for expecting parents to get caught up in doctor appointments, decorating the nursery and picking out names, but planning for the financial impact of a new family member is just as important as the other details.The USDA reports that annual expenditures for one infant or toddler in a two-parent household in 2005 were about $12,000. Their projection on the cost of raising a child born in 2005 until the age of 17 is $250,000. Those dollar amounts can be stunning for a soon-to-be family but with some planning before and after baby arrives, the costs can be more manageable.Soon-to-be parents should plan ahead and start saving before the baby comes along. It's important for new parents to consider the impact of any unpaid family leave time on the household budget and to start saving for that leave time before the baby is born.Soon-to-be parents, who might not have planned ahead, need to assess current household finances, review expenses, and consider their needs and wants or what could also be viewed as "nice to have" versus the "need to have" purchases.Some ideas for reducing expenses include spending less than you earn starting now and continuing that pattern when baby arrives, eating at home rather than eating out or ordering in, paying down or paying off credit cards, and not using credit to cover gaps in your income.Avoid overspending on major purchases like housing and transportation so that you might have more flexibility with your employment and your income when you add to your family.Once you welcome the new addition to your household, there will be many new expenses as well, including diapers, formula and eventually food, and baby clothes that will be outgrown long before they wear out.Some mothers and children will qualify for the Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program (WIC).
STA Travel Offers 'Ultimate World Traveler' Internship for One ...
DALLAS, March 14 /PRNewswire/ -- STA Travel, the world's largest student and youth travel company, is looking to hire one student for a 12-week "Ultimate World Traveler" internship trek around the world. STA Travel will select one student to travel the globe with this awesome summer internship. The chosen intern will visit 18 countries, volunteer at a Chinese conservation center with pandas, ride an elephant in Thailand, sunbathe on the beach in Sydney, and so much more. "We want to give one lucky student the opportunity to learn about the world .
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Health Issues In ...
Alabama: In his March 6 speech, Gov. Bob Riley (R) said he will propose allowing small businesses to deduct from their taxes twice the amount they pay for health insurance premiums, while allowing small businesses' employees to deduct twice the amount they contribute toward their health insurance. In addition, Riley said, "We've made prescription medicines more accessible to our seniors through an expansion of our Senior RX program, and that will continue. Now, we must help our seniors and all Alabamians afford the nonprescription medicines they need." He added that he would work to eliminate the sales tax on all over-the-counter medications (Riley speech text, 3/6).
Florida: In his March 6 speech, Gov. Charlie Crist (R) said the state "must raise the profile of all children's issues, from education to health." He added, "That is why I support the creation of a 'Children's Cabinet' to coordinate state services and oversee child welfare issues." Crist also asked the state to support his proposal to allocate $20 million to "make Florida a national leader in the research of adult, amniotic and umbilical cord stem cells." He said, "Stem cell research holds the promise of unlocking the secrets to cure diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and many others, and Florida should champion this research" (Crist speech text, 3/6)
Illinois: In his March 7 speech, Gov.
Illinois makes big strides in covering all kids
By Doug Trapp, AMNews staff. April 16, 2007. Washington -- The 11-year-old boy is 4 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. His single mother, who does not speak English, is worried that he might be having seizures while he sleeps. His mother takes two buses to get him to Carrie Nelson, MD, a North Aurora, Ill., family physician and associate director of the Family Medicine Residency Program at the Rush-Copley Medical Center. .
How to Ensure Your Windshield is Installed
(ARA) - Experts rank the windshield as the third most important safety component in today's car. Along with seatbelts and airbags, ranked first and second, all three components are part of what automobile engineers refer to as a vehicle's safety restraint system (SRS). The SRS is intended to keep vehicle occupants inside the relative safety of the passenger compartment during a collision or roll over. “SRS components work together," says Leo Cyr, vice president of NOVUS Auto Glass. “For example, the windshield provides virtually all the support a passenger side airbag needs to deploy properly. If the windshield falls out, the air bag is all but useless. Similarly, the windshield provides a minimum of 60 percent of the roof support for most cars. If the windshield is displaced, that support is gone, along with most of the crush resistance designed into the vehicle." Everybody loves a bargain.
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