Anthrax a Problem? Don't Hold Your Breath. The General Accountability Office reports that the US Postal Service underestimated the risks of anthrax carried in letters during the 2001 attacks. The GAO concludes that the USPS's attitude delayed health care for employees which led to two deaths of postal workers. "The response to anthrax contamination revealed several lessons, the most important of which is that agencies need to choose a course of action that poses the least risk of harm when considering actions to protect people from uncertain and potentially life-threatening health risks," the report said. (AP)
Proving Innocence. Kirk Bloodworth spent 20 years trying to clear his name for a murder he did not commit. Some of that time was spent on death row. It was finally DNA testing that proved someone else killed the 9-year-old girl he’d been wrongly convicted of murdering. Bloodworth and other victims of wrongful convictions were on Capitol Hill yesterday pushing for a bill to pay $775 million and push through a backlog of 300,000 cases across the US. (WashPost)
Working to Save Your Overtime. Democrats, joined by 20 or so Republicans, voted to block new overtime rules drafted by the Bush administration and supported by business interests. The move was part of a spending bill. President Bush has promised to veto any attempt to block the new rules. Critics claim the rules would strip up to 6 million people of overtime. (MSNBC)
Paying More for Health Insurance. A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust says health insurance costs for workers climbed 11.2% this year. It’s a burden to employers who provide health insurance to their workers. In some cases, the boss is passing the rising cost on to you. (NYT)
Figuring the Cost Shouldn't be Rocket Science. NASA now says fixing America’s space fleet could cost $2.2 billion. That’s twice what NASA told Congress it’d cost last year. (AP)
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