State Controller John Chiang is taking issue with parts of Assembly Bill 1987, which promised to put an end to pension spiking. Back in February, when the legislation was first established, it pushed to ban employees from tacking on extra pay benefits and unused vacation days to their final year’s salary in order to boost pensions. But now, according to Chiang, the bill has become so muddled with revisions that it would do very little to curb pension hikes. A spokesman in Governor Schwarzenegger’s office says he will not sign the bill as it currently stands because “it fails to truly address the problem of pension spiking.” Can the bill be ratified to prevent pension boosting from becoming legal?
An $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit helped buoy the housing market last year, apparently, but it also lead to a not-too-surprising result now that it’s expired: housing sales in Southern California are down over 20 percent from this time last year, according to new data from DataQuick. Is the housing “adjustment” is now complete, or is this just the latest “bottom” in a long line of declines to come? And, what role should Fannie and Freddie play? Should the U.S. government bail out residential mortgages?
The stir about headphones and hearing loss was first heard in the 1980s with the arrival of the Walkman. Since the explosion of popularity of personal music listening devices like Apple’s iPod and their ubiquitous white earbuds, the controversy is back. A new study says that 1 in 5 U.S. teens has at least mild hearing loss, with a significant increase in recent years. Personal music players allow users to listen to more music for longer durations, putting them at risk for hearing loss - and hearing loss can hinder a child’s classroom performance. Are earbuds to blame? Do you monitor your children’s music listening levels?
Writer Christopher Hitchens is one of America's most prominent atheist intellectuals. Now, he's facing deadly cancer. Hitchens recently responded to those claiming his challenge will be even greater without faith in God. Go ahead and pray for me, Hitch writes, but don't expect a deathbed conversion - and if one comes, you'll know I was really delirious. Does religious faith helps us face death? What beliefs do you turn to in crisis?
