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Hospitals in Maryland are operating with record low margins, according to a new report by the state Health Services Cost Review Commission. Operating profits at Maryland hospitals dropped 71 percent in fiscal 2013, which ended June 30. The 46 hospitals reported a total operating profit of $99.8 million, down from $344.2 million a year before. The total profit margin among the hospitals was 3.39 percent. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen margins this low, ever,” said Steve Ports, deputy director of policy and operations for the HSCRC, which sets hospital rates. SNIP Alright, so hospitals aren’t making money like they...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Food stamp fraud is a “significant problem” in Rhode Island. That was the message U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha sent Thursday when he announced that nine people are facing criminal charges for allegedly defrauding the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program out of more than $3 million. During a two-year undercover investigation, Neronha said eight Rhode Island residents and one New York man were found to be illegally allowing food stamp recipients to use their EBT cards to obtain cash in exchange for a large surcharge at five Providence convenience stores. ... Six people were charged by...

At this very moment here in my home state of Colorado we are in the throes of a bitterly fought recall election campaign against two of our elected state representatives, senators John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Angela Giron (D-Pueblo). Those who have sought the state's constitutional remedy for out-of-touch and/or control legislators cite as their motivation these two senators' votes in the 2013 legislative session. The people spearheading the surprisingly bipartisan recall effort claim these senators stopped paying attention to the people they represent and voted in spite of rather than in accordance with the will of their constituents. At...

California handed out over $120 million in tax credits and incentives for specific small business startups over the past five years. And now, like a child on a playground, the state’s Franchise Tax Board is asking for all that money back. Over 2,000 small businesses are now being levied with hefty tax bills – some as high as $250,000 – for having taken advantage of a duly passed tax incentive program. State Senator Ted Lieu, D-Redondo Beach, said “[Businesses] relied on California law as it was written, that they would get a tax break if they invested in certain kinds...

“Looks like Obamacare is more “on track” than “train wreck,” gloated the experts on Barack Obama’s Think Progress website as they reported the Master’s healthcare scheme was literally forcing America’s insurers to lower their premiums. (1) The glad tidings arose back in May after Oregon providers Providence Health Plan and Family Care Health requested premium rate reductions from the state-run ObamaCare exchange. (Actually, the state just gets to PAY for the exchange. It’s RUN by Kathleen Sebelius at HHS.) Naturally this was big news for Affordable Care Act fans. After all, what could be better than private insurers wanting permission...

Views on abortion are becoming more entrenched in certain regions of the country, with New England residents more convinced of the pro-choice position and the Midwest and parts of the South becoming more pro-life, according to a new Pew Forum study. While abortion views have remained relatively steady when looking at the nation as a whole, the Pew study shows greater variation in a few regions of the country. The study compares views on abortion in 1995 and 1996 to views on abortion in 2012 and 2013 for eight regional areas – New England, Pacific Coast, Mid-Atlantic, Mountain West, Great...

Farewell to freshman - Washington State to remove 40,000 pieces of legislation of 'gender biased language'...but manhole survives This week new laws will come into effect in Washington State to form the final piece of a six-year effort to rewrite all state laws using gender-neutral vocabulary. The politically correct crusade will see terms such as 'fisherman', 'freshman' and even 'journeyman plumber' replaced with 'fisher', 'first-year-student' and 'journey-level plumber'. Signalling an end to hundreds of years of accepted language, the move will now see the state's copious laws, including thousands of words and phrases re-written at tax-payers expense.

The family of the 7-year-old boy from Ann Arundel County elementary school who was suspended for making a gun shape out of a pastry has tried to clear the boy’s record. This story made headlines across the country as the gun control debate has taken center stage among many elementary schools as some school administrators flex their muscles with a “zero tolerance policy” that excuses itself from common sense. But according to the Baltimore Sun school officials denied the boy’s family’s appeal on Monday, not allowing the boy’s record to be expunged of the incident. Robin Ficker, attorney for Park...

A new report, called "Rich States, Poor States," issued by the American Legislative Exchange Council on state economies, shows states mostly governed by Republicans outperform states mostly governed by Democrats. Those ranked in the top ten in economic performance from 2001 to 2011 were, in order from first place to tenth place: Texas, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, Idaho, Arizona, Alaska and Montana. Those in the bottom ten, in order from 40th to 50th place are: Mississippi, Wisconsin, Missouri, California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan. The only states in the top 10 that mostly vote...

Connecticut is the seventh-largest producer of firearms in the country, with gun manufacturers currently accounting for just under 3,000 direct jobs as well as the thousands of jobs supported through related industries — but thanks to the state’s recent outlawing of ‘high-capacity magazines’ and an ‘assault weapons’-ban expansion, that might be set to change. Last month, we already learned of PTR Industries’ announcement of their pending relocation from Connecticut after the state banned many of their products, and the NYT reported this week that they’re not the only ones: In a state desperate to maintain and revive its industrial base,...

<p>NORTH HAVEN — A half-dozen workers were in otherwise empty offices Friday at The Marlin Firearms Co. as the company wound down 141 years of manufacturing in Connecticut.</p> <p>A security phone at the visitor's gate was unattended next to a large barren parking lot off Bailey Road near I-91. A reception room that resembles a ski lodge, complete with a fireplace, was dark. The few people left working Friday declined to comment, but one employee said there were six people inside and that Friday was their last day of work.</p>

DOVER, Del. — The state Senate on Tuesday narrowly approved a bill repealing Delaware's death penalty after removing a provision that would have spared the lives of 17 inmates currently awaiting execution. The measure passed by a vote of 11-10, with five Democrats and five Republicans voting against it. Three Republicans sided with majority Democrats in voting for the bill after a lengthy and sometimes emotional debate. The measure, opposed by Attorney General Beau Biden and several leaders of the law enforcement community, now goes to the state House for consideration. Democratic Gov. Jack Markell has refused to say whether...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (ABC7) - The Maryland Senate has passed a measure that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. The measure was approved in a 29-18 vote. The bill now moves to the House of Delegates for consideration. According to law enforcement sources, tthe driver who caused a fatal two-car crash in Glenn Dale Monday morning is an illegal immigrant who is also unlicensed and uninsured.

Recently, Republican Governors Rick Perry of Texas and Terry Branstad of Iowa appealed to those wanting to flee liberal California. “Move your business to our state,” they implore. “We’ll welcome you with open arms here.” They should be careful what they wish for. When my wife and I used to vacation in Colorado in the 1970s, I started noticing bumper stickers that read “Don’t Californicate Colorado.” The initial movement that spawned that sentiment was a way for Colorado residents to express their disapproval of how Southern California had exploded with seemingly unlimited development. However, since that time, “Californicate” has taken...

Colt's Manufacturing, the company that has made the iconic gun dubbed "The Peacemaker" for more than a century, could pull up its Connecticut stakes after coming under fire in the national debate over the Second Amendment. President and CEO Dennis Veilleux said the pro-gun control climate that has taken hold in the wake of the Sandy Hook school massacre and other firearm attacks has left him feeling unwelcome in the state his company has called home for 175 years. Proposed laws being debated by the Legislature and pushed by Gov. Dannel Malloy include a new gun offender registry, an expanded...

<p>Colt's Manufacturing, the company that has made the iconic gun dubbed "The Peacemaker" for more than a century, could pull up its Connecticut stakes after coming under fire in the national debate over the Second Amendment.</p> <p>President and CEO Dennis Veilleux said the pro-gun control climate that has taken hold in the wake of the Sandy Hook school massacre and other firearm attacks has left him feeling unwelcome in the state his company has called home for 175 years. Proposed laws being debated by the Legislature and pushed by Gov. Dannel Malloy include a new gun offender registry, an expanded assault weapons ban, ammunition restrictions and a ban on bulk purchases of handguns. Veilleux said those measures have put Colt and its nearly 700 employees in the crosshairs.</p>

What with the recent changes to various regulatory aspects regarding the lives of American citizens I was expecting a bit of backlash against President Obama, but I certainly didn’t see this coming. President Barack Obama’s approval rating in New York fell precipitously in the past month, according to a poll released Monday, and three-fifths of the state’s registered voters now believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.Obama’s approval rating remains high in New York, at 56 percent, with 41 percent disapproving, according to the Siena College poll.But the president’s approval rating was at 66 percent last month, with...

In the 1980s, Maryland looked like a logical place for Beretta USA to do business. When the 500 year old Italian company began establishing their American made brand image, they found the Old Line State most hospitable. D.C. is a short drive north. Virginia, with its federal agencies and long sporting traditions, is close on the western and southern borders. Beretta chose Accokeek, a area ripe for expansion with a readily available work force and a history of firearms production. Beretta USA’s presence in the southern part of the state has been an economic boon for the local residents. Beretta...

Earlier today, I linked to a Christian Science Monitor report that the firearms industry had begun to organize in opposition to the recent push for increased gun control, but that the major manufacturers had not yet committed themselves. That situation has changed, reports the Washington Post, at least in Maryland, where Beretta makes it home --- at least for now. The company has begun considering a relocation of its headquarters to a state where its product hasn't been made illegal, and may take hundreds of jobs with them: Beretta, the nearly 500-year-old family-owned company that made one of James BondÂ’s...

Look on the bright side: She might not run. In which case we won’t have to worry about Texas imposing a Democratic stranglehold on the White House for the foreseeable future until, oh, 2024 or so.Or maybe 2020? Much depends on the time frame for that path to citizenship that Schumer, McCain, Rubio, et al. are cooking up. While the knee-jerk reaction among many Republicans would be to dismiss the idea that the state could be competitive in 2016 — just four years after Mitt Romney carried it by 16 points over President Obama — Texas GOP Chairman Steve Munisteri...