Jerry Curl

CNN reports : Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled a sweeping health care bill yesterday that would expand health insurance coverage to 30 million more Americans at an estimated cost of $849 billion over 10 years. Reid and other Senate Democrats cited an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office for the coverage and cost figures. The CBO estimates the proposal would reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion over the next 10 years, through 2019. Any effect on the deficit in the following decade would be "subject to substantial uncertainty," but probably would result in "small reductions in federal budget deficits," according to the CBO. According to Reid, the savings will be substantial. "We're not going to add a dime to the deficit, in fact, quite the opposite," Reid said. "We'll cut the problems we have with money around here by as much as three-quarters of a trillion dollars." President Obama hailed what he called a...

The Wall Street Journal reports : AOL told employees Thursday that it will ask for 2,500 volunteers to be laid off as part of a restructuring effort to reduce its workforce by one-third, according to a spokeswoman. AOL Spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said the company's voluntary lay-off program will begin on Dec. 4 and run through Dec. 11. Meanwhile, AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong will surrender his 2009 bonus, which was expected in a range from $1.5 million to $4 million. "We will need to do an involuntary layoff if we do not reach the target numbers through the voluntary option," said Primrose in an email. "We believe the voluntary program gives people more choice and decision-making ability instead of waiting for the final cost recommendations and involuntary layoffs." AOL, which is being spun off by Time Warner Inc. (TWX), disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the restructuring is aimed at reducing its annual operating costs b...

AP reports : South African runner Caster Semenya will keep her 800-meter gold medal from the world championships, and the results of her gender tests will be kept confidential, the South African sports ministry said Thursday. The ministry also said in a statement that the International Association of Athletics Federations has agreed to allow the 18-year-old Semenya to keep her prize money. "Whatever scientific tests were conducted legally within the IAAF regulations will be treated as a confidential matter between patient and doctor," the sports ministry said. "As such there will be no public announcement of what the panel of scientists has found. We urge all South Africans and other people to respect this professional ethical and moral way of doing things." On Wednesday, the IAAF said the gender tests performed on Semenya had not yet been completed. The body had been expected to announce its findings Friday. Before the 800 final in Berlin, the IAAF said it had orde...

In a ruling that could leave the government open to billions of dollars in claims from Hurricane Katrina victims, a federal judge said late Wednesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had displayed "gross negligence" in failing to maintain a navigation channel -- resulting in levee breaches that flooded large swaths of greater New Orleans. U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval peppered his 156-page decision, issued in New Orleans, with harsh criticism of the Army corps, at one point citing its "insouciance, myopia and shortsightedness" in failing to maintain the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, known locally as MRGO. For more than 40 years, the judge said, the corps had known that a crucial levee protecting suburban St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward neighborhood would be compromised by the deterioration of the channel. The corps had "myriad" ways to address the problem, he wrote, but failed to do so. Duval awarded a total of $719,000 to a small g...

Adam Lambert responded to OUT magazine editor Aaron Hicklin, who suggested in his editor's letter for the 'OUT 100' issue that Lambert and his handlers, 19 Entertainment, were wary of having Lambert appear on the cover and asked the magazine not to ask certain questions for fear the singer would appear "too gay" , a notion that Lambert's interviewer backed up. (Via Towleroad )

Broadcasting & Cable reports : Sony Pictures Television and Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions are finalizing plans for a new syndicated daytime show featuring interior designer and Oprah Winfrey Show-regular Nate Berkus, according to sources with knowledge of the dealings. The new project should be ready for a fall 2010 rollout. SPT is also behind Harpo’s rookie syndicated show Dr. Oz, another show built around an Oprah personality – a calling card that has been as good as any for talk show success in syndication in recent years. Dr. Oz has been a strong player for the two companies with the best first-run talk show debut in seven years, including time period growth of 50%, 29% lead-in growth and ratings that are up 17% from its premiere. The show averaged a 3.0 rating last week. Oz marked the first show that SPT and Harpo have done together, after Harpo had launched previous Oprah personality shows such as Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray through CBS Television Distribution, which current...