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UMass Memorial Health Care to eliminate 140 positions

WORCESTER — UMass Memorial Health Care said Tuesday it will eliminate 140 positions as it seeks to find $80 million in budget cuts and new revenue for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

Telegram.com
September 26, 2012

The Better Bargain: Transaction Tax, Not Austerity

On the eve of Occupy Wall Street’s first anniversary, Congressman Keith Ellison introduced a much-needed common sense bill: HR 6411, the Inclusive Prosperity Act. The bill taxes financial transactions to generate revenue for social needs. Amid our consensus-narrowed, deficit-obsessed political debate, it’s a call to arms, and a breath of fresh air.

The Nation
September 26, 2012

Endorsement: Proposition 32 power play deserves a 'no' vote

Once again, Californians are being asked to diminish unions' power by restricting their ability to raise campaign money. Once more, initiative promoters are trying to mislead voters by claiming to offer campaign finance reform. But just as they did in 1998 and 2005, voters should reject the deception by voting down Proposition 32, a transparent power grab that purports to "stop special interest money."

Sacramento Bee
September 24, 2012

Classic Koch: How Prop. 32 Could Enrich Two Billionaires

On September 14 the Web exploded with news that billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch had donated $4 million in support of Proposition 32. A San Francisco Chronicle editorial noting the donation labeled the brothers “conservative ideologues” – a moniker often applied to the Kochs. This description, however, gives the Kochs far too much credit for their supposed philosophical purity—particularly as it relates to the Prop. 32 battle.

Frying Pan News
September 24, 2012

Filipino nurses win language discrimination settlement

A group of Filipino nurses who claimed they were mocked for their accents and ordered to speak "English only" won a nearly $1-million settlement against a Central California hospital where bosses and co-workers were allegedly urged to eavesdrop on the immigrant workers.

Los Angeles Times
September 19, 2012

Aware of 'no options,' Woman Dies Fighting For Medical Coverage

Leslie Elder was always a fighter. But in a message to a friend in the waning days of her life, she seemed exhausted. The note, written at a time of spiritual darkness, suggested defeat after a decades-long struggle for medical coverage. "I honestly don't know how much more I can endure," Elder wrote earlier this year in a Facebook message to her friend Liz Jacobs. "I am fighting for (Medicaid) and disability. I can't work I sit in bed I cry a lot. I am still fighting for healthcare and still fighting foreclosure.

CNN
September 4, 2012

Former Wells Fargo Employee Says Company Fired Him Over Daughter's Cancer Costs

According to the suit, his daughter's treatment needs forced Gonzalez to work irregular hours, often away from his office at the company's Palm Beach branch. Between 2009 and 2010, Wells Fargo made several changes to its time records management system, including a new rule prohibiting employees from logging time previously worked.

Crain Communications Inc.
August 17, 2012

Nurses' union: Legislature should set charity care level for nonprofit hospitals

A nurses' union urged state lawmakers Wednesday to set a minimum level of charity care for all nonprofit hospitals in exchange for their lucrative, tax-exempt status. "We are calling on state officials to pass legislation to rein in the abuses we have seen," said Michael Lighty, public policy director for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United.

Silicon Valley Mercury News
August 16, 2012

Nonprofit hospitals' charity care under scrutiny

Nonprofit hospitals in California are facing new scrutiny over whether they are doing enough for the public to justify their tax-exempt status.

Bay Citizen
August 15, 2012

California's Prop. 32 would be Citizens United on steroids

Conservative activists in California are promoting a deceptive ballot proposition that would increase the ability of business groups and billionaires to dominate state elections. The measure, Proposition 32, claims to be an even-handed effort at campaign finance reform – but nothing could be further from the truth. Prop. 32 (or “Stop Special Interest Money Now,” as its big money supporters prefer to call it) would cripple the ability of unions to participate in politics, but have little or no impact on unlimited spending by corporate executives and other wealthy individuals.

The Hill
August 14, 2012