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Read below: Appeals Court Deals Blow to Obama care, More Fed Subpoenas in Hartford Charter School Probe, Clinton Earns $12 Million speaking, US Appeals Court Rules Against Travelers in $500 Million Asbestos Case, Detroit Retirees Approve Pension Cuts, US Debt Now at $18 Billion, State Delays Collection of Union Dues, The Ongoing Rot in the Economy, Bridgeport Open to Taking Immigrants Children, Anti-immigration rallies, Corruption and Drugs Fuel Border Crisis

 

 

 

July 22, 2014 

 

 

 

 

From:  The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact:  Susan Kniep, President
Web
site: http://ctact.org/
Email:
fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032

 

 

BREAKING

 

Appeals court panel deals blow to Obamacare - USA Today

 

 

Richard Wolf, USA TODAY 11:32 a.m. EDT July 22, 2014

 

EXCERPTS below are from the article which can be accessed at

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/07/22/obama-health-care-court-ruling/12482127/

 

·         WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court dealt a potentially major blow to President Obama's health care law Tuesday, ruling that participants in health exchanges run by the federal government in 34 states are not eligible for tax subsidies.

·         The decision is the second in less than a month to go against Obama administration implementation of the health care law. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that closely-held corporations that object on religious grounds to offering insurance coverage for contraceptives can sidestep that rule.

·         Other challenges to the law remain pending in federal courts -- including a long-shot effort to derail the entire law by contesting the way in which the Senate amended the House bill back in 2010.

·         The only states not affected by the ruling are those that created their own health exchanges: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia.

 

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More Federal Subpoenas In Hartford Charter School Probe

 

By EDMUND H. MAHONY and JON LENDER,emahony@courant.com

 

The Hartford Courant  9:38 p.m. EDT, July 21, 2014

 

Read Entire Article at …..http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-fuse-0722-20140721,0,3308874.story

 

 

EXCERPT:  HARTFORD — City and state educators said Monday that they had been served with subpoenas by a federal grand jury examining the expenditure of millions of dollars in public money by the troubled charter school management company FUSE.

 

 

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U.S. Appeals Court Rules Against Travelers In $500 Million Asbestos Case

 

By JONATHAN STEMPEL, Reuters

 

The Hartford Courant  12:29 p.m. EDT, July 22, 2014

 

 

 

 

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Detroit Retirees Take Crucial Step In Bankruptcy Case

 

Detroit Retirees Approve Pension Cuts, A Crucial Step In Bankruptcy Case

 

Hugginton Post - | By ED WHITE - Posted: 07/21/2014 11:31 pm EDT Updated: 59 minutes ago Print Article

 

Read entire article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/22/detroit--retirees-bankruptcy-pension_n_5608086.html

 

EXCERPTS - Pension cuts were approved in a landslide, according to results filed shortly before midnight Monday. The tally from 60 days of voting gives the city a boost as Judge Steven Rhodes determines whether Detroit's overall strategy to eliminate or reduce $18 billion in long-term debt is fair and feasible to all creditors. Trial starts Aug. 14.

"I want to thank city retirees and active employees who voted for casting aside the rhetoric and making an informed, positive decision about their future and the future of the city," said Kevyn Orr, the state-appointed emergency manager who has been handling Detroit's finances since March 2013.

 

 

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Easier to add debt than make choices


By Judd Gregg, a former governor and three-term senator from New Hampshire who served as chairman and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and as ranking member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Foreign Operations.


OPINION | The United States debt now stands at $18 trillion.

 

EXCERPTS:  This is double what it was just a few years ago. The trend, under the presently proposed budgets of President Obama, is that it will triple in another five to seven years. People point facts like this out all the time. But the response from the president and the Congress is to add more spending that has not been paid for, thus increasing the debt problem.  The two most recent cases are the supposed ‘fix’ of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the highway bill.  Read the entire article at ….. http://thehill.com/opinion/judd-gregg/212789-gregg-easier-to-add-debt-than-make-choices

 

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State Delays Collection of Union Fees

 

by Hugh McQuaid,  Jul 21, 2014,  CTNewsJunkie.com

Read entire article at …. http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/state_delays_collection_of_union_dues/

 

 

EXCERPTS:  Plans to begin collecting representation fees for a recently-formed home health care workers union have been put on ice while state officials grapple with a Supreme Court ruling that may have made those fees illegal.

 

“The union requested that the state not collect agency fees given the uncertainty created by the recent Supreme Court decision, Harris v. Quinn,” Andrew Doba, a spokesman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Friday. “We agreed with the union’s request and no agency fees will be collected from individuals covered by the collective bargaining agreement.”

 

The high court’s decision in Harris v. Quinn in late June found that home health care workers in Illinois paid through Medicaid can not be forced to pay fees to the union representing them.

 

State officials, including Malloy and Attorney General George Jepsen, are reviewing the case to determine what impact it will have on Connecticut’s recently-formed home health care workers union.

 

 

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The ongoing rot in the economy

 

Past the headline figures, disposable income is stagnant and consumers are spending above their means

 

By Eric Sprott  Jul 22, 2014 @ 12:01 am (Updated 7:08 am) EST

 

Read entire article at http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20140722/BLOG09/140729979

 

 

EXCERPT:  Those in the top 20% have seen their incomes increase while those in the bottom 40% have stagnated or even decreased. In 2012 for the lowest 20% (Quintile 1) of U.S. households, the average annual after-tax income was $10,171 (up from $9,220 in 2005). Similarly, the next 20% is not much better off, with incomes averaging $27,743 (up from $25,200 in 2005). By contrast, during the same period, the average household income for the top earning quintile (Quintile 5) increased 14% to $158,024. From our calculations, the bottom 40% of the U.S. population receives approximately 12% of the nation's after-tax income, while the highest 20% receives more than 50%. So, because of the wide disparity between U.S. households, it is grossly misleading to consider aggregate measures to assess the health of the U.S. consumer.

 

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Bridgeport open to taking in immigrant kids

 

By: ANA RADELAT | July 21, 2014 CTMirror.org

 

Read entire article at :  http://ctmirror.org/bridgeport-open-to-taking-in-immigrant-kids/

 

 

EXCERPT:  WASHINGTONBridgeport is exploring whether it has the facilities that would meet federal requirements to host some of the Central American migrant children who are in overcrowded federal holding centers along the borders, a city spokesman said.

 

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The Wall Street Journal: Crossings trigger anti-immigration rallies


Activists Stage Protests Across Southern California and Throughout the Nation, Drawing New Support in Call for Crackdown

 

By Miriam Jordan Wall St Journal July 20, 2014

 

Since October, about 57,000 unaccompanied minors have entered the country illegally, many fleeing poverty and violence or hoping to reunite with family in the U.S. The flow slowed this week, but reports of migrants swarming the border and being transported to towns in the country's interior have attracted new supporters of grass-roots organizations that fight illegal immigration.   Read entire article at  ….. http://online.wsj.com/articles/crossings-trigger-anti-immigration-rallies-1405900396

 

 

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Corruption, drugs fuel border crisis

 

Jacksonville Daily News  By Bruce Knipp   July 21, 2014

 

To the Editor:  As thousands of children stream across our southern border from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, many of our citizens are asking why is this happening?  The short answer is that those three countries are not really countries anymore; they’re just criminal enterprises masquerading as governments who are in competition with gangs like mara-18, MS-13, drug cartels and human traffickers.  Continue reading at …. http://www.jdnews.com/opinion/letters/corruption-drugs-fuel-border-crisis-1.348714

 

 

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Bloomberg: Clinton earns $12 million speaking, writing after service


By Lisa Lerer and Lauren Streib July 21, 2014


 

Hillary Clinton has earned at least $12 million in 16 months since leaving the State Department, a windfall at odds with her party’s call to shrink the gap between the rich and the poor.   Continue reading at ….. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-21/clinton-earns-12-million-speaking-writing-after-service.html

 

 

 

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Corruption and Fraud Cost US Healthcare Billions of Dollars Annually

CT Access Health Drops 5700, Judge Orders IRS to Explain Lost Emails,and Much More News 
The Federation of - CT Taxpayer Organizations - July 2014

 

 

 

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Courts Pummel Public Sector Unions

Court ruling that Personal Care Attendants in Illinois Cannot Be Forced to Join Union could Impact Connecticut. Review Other Court Rulings. 
The Federation of - CT Taxpayer Organizations - June 30 2014