Sightings
Stateline, Sales Tax Holidays: Easy to Sell But Hard to Justify
Stateline, the Pew Center on the States works to advance state policies that serve the public interest. It has produced the following article by Joey Peters:
"Starting late this week and continuing through mid-August, some 16 states will kick off an event that has become a ritual of back-to-school season. They will temporarily suspend sales taxes on pens, pencils, binders and bookbags, as well as moderately-priced clothes, and in some cases, computers."
FAQs for Seniors on Health Care Reform
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) has identified the top twelve facts that seniors should be aware of concerning the health reform law. A Harris poll entitled "Straight Talk" reveals that only 17% of seniors knew the correct answers to more than half the factual questions posed about these key aspects of new law and only 9% knew the correct answers to at least two-thirds of the questions. None of the 636 older adults interviewed for the poll knew the correct answers to all twelve of the factual questions.
Here are some examples of issues that were not clearly understood:
1. Only 14% of seniors knew that the law does not cut Medicare payments to doctors; 45% answered incorrectly and 41% said they did not know.
2. Only 24% of seniors knew that it is projected to extend the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund.
FDA Panel Wants Tougher Restrictions on Opioids; Painkiller abuse matches illegal drug abuse
"An FDA advisory committee voted 25-10 to reject the agency's proposed plan to prevent inappropriate prescribing, misuse, and abuse of extended-release opioid painkillers, saying the plan lacks the teeth to stem the 'public health crisis' of opioid addiction, overdose, and death."
"The agency's plan to put a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) in place would have required drug companies that make extended-release opioids to develop educational programs to guide physicians in patient selection, dosing, and patient monitoring. Prescribers were also to have been trained to counsel their patients on how to safely store and dispose of opioids."
The Louvre's Breguet Exhibition and the Marie Antoinette
When you glimpse the production ledger's page recording the stages of manufacture of Breguet no. 160, the grand complication watch known as the Marie-Antoinette, the prices these watches can command become more understandable. The actual exhibit ended in September 2009, but can be enjoyed online at the exhibition website.
Breguet and the Louvre; An Apogee of European Watchmaking
Through this retrospective of the works of Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), visitors viewed the art of watchmaking at its apogee, evidenced by these unique precision timepieces, combining genius, virtuoso techniques and avant-garde aesthetics. Assembled in the exhibition are exceptional loans – watches, clocks and measuring instruments – alongside portraits, archival documents and patents that span Abraham-Louis Breguet’s entire career.
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