Jan
26

Religious Groups and Employers Battle Contraception Mandate

Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto AgencyPresident Obama, with his health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, offering a compromise on the contraception mandate last year. In a flood of lawsuits, Roman Catholics, evangelicals and Mennonites are challenging a provision in the new health care law that requires employers to cover birth control in employee health plans — a high-stakes clash between religious freedom...
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Diner’s Journal Blog: PepsiCo Will Halt Use of Additive in Gatorade

PepsiCo announced on Friday that it would no longer use an ingredient in Gatorade after consumers complained.The ingredient, brominated vegetable oil, which was used in citrus versions of the sports drink to prevent the flavorings from separating, was the object of a petition started on Change.org by Sarah Kavanagh, a 15-year-old from Hattiesburg, Miss., who became concerned about the ingredient after...
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Jan
25

Court rules Obama recess appointments unconstitutional

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court, dealing a defeat to President Obama, has sharply limited the chief executive’s power to...
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Smartphone Sorcery: The Best Fantasy RPGs for Mobiles

Get your spell-caster on, explore castles, and lop off heads. Lop off lots of heads.Battle for WesnothPosition your elven archers so they can take down orcs on horseback. Send scouts across the river and behind enemy lines. You’ve got to fight if you’re going to rule the land of Wesnoth. If you’re new to the moving-pieces-around-a-map strategy genre, this isn’t the place to start. Our army...
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Booker winner Mantel says play next “logical step”

LONDON (Reuters) – Double Booker prize-winning author Hilary Mantel said the characters in her historical novels about the rise of Thomas Cromwell will take the next “logical step” to a stage adaptation at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) this year.Mantel said in a video interview on the RSC website this week that she has always longed to give “solid form” to her depictions of Cromwell, Henry VIII...
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Living With Cancer: The Good Patient Syndrome

I remember when being good seemed strategic.After the technician took out a pad to draw an inscrutable diagram, I nodded and pretended to recognize a squiggle at the center of what looked like a snail. I discussed my oncologist’s research projects, instead of complaining about pain. Generally I answered a nurse’s opening query — “So how are you?”– with a cheery “Good! How are you?” Grumbles about...
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Wealth Matters: What the Small Player Can Expect When Using a Lobbyist

Robert Caplin for The New York TimesDomenic Rom, a senior vice president at Technicolor, a postproduction company for film and television, became part of a group of similar companies that wanted to lobby for a tax credit. IF there is one thing most small-business owners have in common, it is that they have far less ability than big corporations to affect what happens to them politically. ...
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Jan
24

Principal ignored earlier report of abuse by teacher, Deasy says

The principal of a Wilmington elementary school received an allegation about four years ago that a teacher behaved inappropriately...
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Lookin' Hot in the Cold: Technical Outerwear for Winter

Winter outerwear has come a long way from the clammy straight-jackets your mom would wrap around you every time you wanted to go outside.Every year, we see jackets, shells, bibs and pants that are more breathable, lighter, stretchier, and just plain better-looking than last year's crop. We sifted through the countless options on the racks and selected a dozen or...
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Aretha Franklin Approves of Beyonce’s ‘Beautiful’ Inaugural Lip-Syncing

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Aretha Franklin r-e-s-p-e-c-t’s Beyoncé’s decision to use a “beautiful” pre-recorded rendition of the national anthem during President Barack Obama‘s inaugural ceremony on Monday.The Queen of Soul, who sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” during Obama‘s inauguration in 2009, told ABC News that the cold weather warranted Beyoncé lip-syncing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”“The weather...
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