Virginia is for lovers, or so the state slogan has declared since 1969. Starting today, Virginia also will be the home of the $3,000 traffic ticket. In an effort to raise money for road projects, the state will start hitting residents who commit serious traffic offenses with huge civil penalties. Beginning Sunday, Virginia is adding new civil charges to traffic fines. They range from $750 to $3,000 and will be added to existing fines and court costs. The civil penalty for going 20 mph over the speed limit will be $1,050, plus $61 in court costs and a fine that is typically about $200. The new civil charges range from $750 to $3,000 and be added to existing fines and court costs. The civil penalty for going 20 mph over the speed limit will be $1,050, plus $61 in court costs and a fine that is typically about $200. Virginia’s traffic law is one of several thousand new state laws that take effect Sunday. Jan. 1 and July 1 are the most popular dates for state laws to become official. July 1 is especially popular for new taxes and fees because it’s the start of the […]
The key scene in the new Michael Moore documentary Sicko — the money shot, in more ways than one — comes in the slums of Los Angeles. A video camera on a homeless shelter captures the image of an old black woman in a hospital gown who has just been kicked out of a taxi and is wandering, confused, along the streets. The woman has been expelled from a nearby hospital because she can’t pay her bill: the solution, in the terminal disease called the American healthcare system, is to dump her on skid row. ‘Who are we?’ Moore asks in a voiceover. ‘Is this what we’ve become? A nation that dumps its own citizens on the side of the road like garbage, because they can’t pay their hospital bills?’ The anger is unusual in Sicko, which relies on the more conventional Moore weapons of sarcasm, ingenuous discovery and blaming President George W Bush. The emotion, however, is typical: this is a film that uncovers an entire culture of injustice toward the lame, tells their often teary-eyed stories and concludes, finally, that greed and self-interest are responsible. They’re villains familiar from other Moore polemics against American […]
The historic right to smoke in public places in England was extinguished in an instant yesterday, with only a handful of rebels puffing away in defiance. At the stroke of 6am, lighting a cigarette or cigar became illegal in confined spaces shared by England’s 50 million people. The Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, hailed the introduction of the ban – the biggest smoking ban in the world – as an important step towards a healthier population. Almost all enclosed public places are now smoke-free, including offices, warehouses, factories, pubs, cafes, working vehicles and leisure centres. Only prisons, submarines and hospices are exempt. Mr Johnson said: ‘Labour has taken action to protect people from smoke in their workplace, pub or cafe. A smoke-free country will improve the health of thousands of people … I am thrilled that my first major announcement as Health Secretary enacts the single most important public health legislation.’ England was the last part of the UK to ban smoking, following a ban in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Irish Republic has also banned smoking in public. Anyone lighting up in a public place faces a £50 fine – reduced to £30 if paid […]
Carlyle, the private equity group, is poised to launch a $8bn (£4bn) bid for Virgin Media, the cable company whose largest shareholder is Sir Richard Branson. The move is expected to trigger an auction, with bankers in the early stages of preparing a sale process. Uma Thurman, Carlyle wires up $8bn private equity bid for Virgin Media Despite a £25m publicity blitz featuring Uma Thurman (above), Virgin Media’s share price has fallen amid concerns that it will lose out in its battle with BSkyB, the satellite operator Goldman Sachs, a long-term adviser to Virgin Media, is understood to be working on the potential sale. City sources confirmed last night that they expected details about the company’s financial situation to be sent to prospective buyers within weeks. Other banks are expected to be appointed alongside Goldman to handle the deal. Carlyle is among a number of potential bidders to have been in contact with Virgin Media’s advisers in recent weeks. Providence Equity, which last summer led a consortium including Blackstone, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Cinven in a $10bn approach to Virgin Media, is understood to have signalled its interest again. A spokesman for Virgin declined […]
First it was pet food. Then it was lead paint on toy trains. Then toothpaste and now farm-raised fish. As pet owners were struggling to find something they felt was safe to feed their cats and dogs, the federal government announced that the nation’s human food supply was at risk too, pork products at risk because farmers had fed their pigs the salvaged contaminated pet food, those products which had been found to have been contaminated by melamine, a substance not approved for food in the United States. The food that was suspected of killing cats and dogs was being fed to animals meant for human consumption. Contamination scares about pork, poultry, beef and farm-fed fish were issued this year as the nation and Canada were struggling to cope with the inexcusable losses and sickness of their pets due to the melamine contamination. Consumers are becoming more and more wary that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is withholding information about the safety of the nation’s food supply, both for human consumption as well as for pets. Over and over both the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture told consumers the […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
