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Fan Zhang, the owner of Happy Child, a trendy Asian restaurant in downtown Toronto, knows that 170 of his customers went clubbing in November. He knows that 250 went to the gym that month, and that 216 came in from Yorkville, an upscale neighborhood. And he gleans this information without his customers' knowledge, or ever asking them a single question. Mr. Zhang is a client of Turnstyle Solutions Inc., a year-old local company that has placed sensors in about 200 businesses within a 0.7 mile radius in downtown Toronto to track shoppers as they move in the city. The sensors,...

People signing up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s federal and state marketplaces tend to be older and potentially less healthy, officials said Monday, a demographic mix that could cause premiums to rise in the future if the pattern persists. But officials expressed optimism that more young people will sign up in the months ahead, calling it “solid, solid news” for the health care law. They said demand for insurance through the marketplaces was increasing sharply across all age groups and they said youth outreach will become more aggressive in the months ahead. “We’re pleased to see such...

Meet the Man Who Transforms Corpses into Diamonds By Gian Volpicelli People usually make for blue-colored diamonds. Images via Algordanza Rinaldo Willy's job is to transform dead people into precious stones. Willy, 33, is the founder and CEO of Algordanza, a peculiar funeral home based in the lovely town of Domat/Ems in western Switzerland. Algordanza—which in the local Romansch language means “remembrance”—is one of the leaders in the production of so called “memorial diamonds.” If you fancy a blinged-out eternal sleep, Algordanza will put the latest technologies at your service to convert your ashes into a synthetic diamond. The price...

Robbery charges have been filed against three men arrested in connection with the theft of a dying woman’s wedding ring, taken from her finger, as well as other property stolen from her crashed truck in south Wichita last month, police said. Daquantrius Shaquill Johnson, Quanique Dontrell Thomas-Hameen and Keith Byron Hickles Jr., all of them 19 years old, made their first appearances Wednesday afternoon in Sedgwick County District Court. Each was charged with a single count of robbery of Danielle Zimmerman, who suffered a brain aneurysm while driving her truck in the drive-through lane of the Taco Bell at 3725...

Eighty retired New York City police officers and firefighters were charged on Tuesday in one of the largest Social Security disability frauds ever, a sprawling decades-long scheme in which false mental disability claims by as many as 1,000 people cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, according to court papers. Scores of those charged in the case essentially stole in plain sight, according to a 205-count indictment and a bail letter, collecting between $30,000 and $50,000 a year based on fabricated claims that they were completely incapacitated by serious psychiatric disorders. Many said that their actions in response to the...

Magpul Industries threatened to leave Colorado after the legislature passed a measure banning weapons magazines with more than 15 rounds. And now that is official. The Erie-based ammunition magazine manufacturer said on Thursday that it is relocating its operations to Cheyenne and Texas. "Moving operations to states that support our culture of individual liberties nad personal responsibility is important," CEO Richard Fitzpatrick said in a press release. "This relocation will also improve business operations and logistics as we utilize the strengths of Texas and Wyoming in our expansion. The move is expected to happen within the next 12 to 16...

Some of President Obama’s closest advisers are rethinking their plans to leave the White House, to help him regain his political standing and to avoid perceptions that staff members are either escaping or being forced out in a time of duress. Enlarge This Image Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Rob Nabors, a deputy chief of staff in the White House, is said to be among those rethinking their plans to leave their posts. Related One White House Shift Is Delayed for a Month (December 17, 2013) Shuffling Staff, Obama Strives for a Recharge After a Tough Fifth Year (December 14, 2013) Among...

The domestication of wild grains has played a major role in human evolution, facilitating the transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one based on agriculture. You might think that the grains were used for bread, which today represents a basic staple. But some scientists argue that it wasn’t bread that motivated our ancestors to start grain farming. It was beer. Man, they say, chose pints over pastry. Beer has plenty to recommend it over bread. First, and most obviously, it is pleasant to drink. “Beer had all the same nutrients as bread, and it had one additional advantage,” argues Solomon...

... Sebelius and I have been friendly, despite the fact that I did not support her for governor. ... what business would keep the executive employed who had three-and-a-half years and $500 million to smoothly implement the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, and then blow it? Surely, the thought of her forced resignation must have crossed President Barack Obama’s mind. * Senate rules have now changed, and only 51 votes are needed. * That’s a big reason why I have waited to urge this politically sensitive action. Until now, it just didn’t seem realistic. * If anyone happens...

Carney said the two men have no relationship now. The shifting account comes at a bad time for the administration, which is dealing with an embattled health-care law, Obama’s declining popularity and media complaints about access to presidential events.

The phrase “good enough for government work” used to be a boast. Then it became an insult. With Obamacare, it is an ethic. On Cyber Monday, the federal government was the only entity on the planet touting a commercial website with the promise that it would work most of the time, provided people visiting during peak hours were willing to take a number and come back later. Although HealthCare.gov was still plagued by what used to be known as “glitches,” it was working better. In fact, it appears to be well on the way to being fixed—except for the part...

<p>The engineer in the commuter-train derailment that killed four people over the weekend caught himself nodding at the controls just before the wreck, a union official said Tuesday.</p> <p>William Rockefeller "caught himself, but he caught himself too late," said Anthony Bottalico, leader of the rail employees union, relating what he said Rockfeller told him.</p>

As Americans have begun shopping for health plans on the insurance exchanges, they are discovering that insurers are restricting their choice of doctors and hospitals in order to keep costs low, and that many of the plans exclude top-rated hospitals. The Obama administration made it a priority to keep down the cost of insurance on the exchanges, the online marketplaces that are central to the Affordable Care Act. But one way that insurers have been able to offer lower rates is by creating networks that are far smaller than what most Americans are accustomed to. The decisions have provoked a...

President Barack Obama is suffering the worst season of his presidency because people are mad that critical parts of the Affordable Care Act are not working the way they are supposed to work. The larger longer-term threat to his signature legislative achievement—and to his presidency generally—is different. It is the growing backlash over Obamacare working precisely the way it is supposed to work. The broken HealthCare.gov website, while an excruciating embarrassment, is on the path to repair. If Amazon and the airlines can manage millions of transactions a day over the web with ease, say experts, the federal government’s class...

Even after the Newtown, Conn., massacre, Republican opponents of reasonable firearms restrictions in Congress blocked proposals for strengthened background checks and other steps to make future gun tragedies less likely. Now the question is whether anti-gun-control extremists will allow a federal ban on the manufacture, sale, import or possession of guns that are undetectable by metal detectors and X-ray machines to expire on Dec. 9. When Congress first approved the Undetectable Firearms Act in 1988, and renewed it in 1998 and 2003, the possibility of undetectable plastic guns being taken onto planes and into government buildings where guns are prohibited...

Vice President Joe Biden’s message to immigration reform advocates: Don’t let your issue die like gun control did. Speaking on a conference call of Catholic clergy and other faith leaders, Biden said it will be incumbent upon immigration reformers to be louder and more engaged with Congress than reform opponents. “Work the districts so these members understand how all their constituents feel, not just the loudest ones,” Biden said. “This kind of reminds me of the gun control kind of fights we had, and gun safety. You know, the people who don’t want anything changed to have a more rational...

The end could be near for cookies, the tiny pieces of code that marketers deploy on Web browsers to track people's online movements, serve targeted advertising and amass valuable user profiles. The moves could radically shift the balance of power in the $120 billion global digital advertising industry—and have ad technology companies scrambling to figure out their next play. * On Wednesday, Microsoft quietly announced in a blog post that the company will give marketers the ability to track and advertise to people who use apps on its Windows 8 and 8.1 operating system on tablets and PCs. The company...

In May, anticipating an increase in marijuana consumption now that the plant is legal for general use in Colorado, the state legislature officially defined "too stoned to drive." The new law allows juries to convict someone of driving under the influence of a drug (DUID) based on nothing more than a test indicating a THC level of at least five nanograms per milliliter of blood. Addy Norton is a walking (and driving) refutation of that standard. Norton, a 27-year-old who smokes medical marijuana every day, recently participated in an experiment conducted by KIRO, the CBS station in Seattle, where a...

It was a high-profile announcement that generated a flurry of headlines across the state and the nation. State Rep. Lori Saine, R-Dacono, read from the floor of the Colorado House of Representatives a message from the CEO of Magpul Industries, the Erie-based weapons accessory maker, that his company would leave Colorado if the Legislature passed a measure banning the sale of magazines containing more than 15 rounds. Saine gave that speech in February, the Legislature passed the magazine-limits bill in March, and Magpul announced in April that it had started making certain weapons accessories out of state. But on Thursday...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO—The government shutdown is beginning to ensnare a lot of people and businesses who didn't think it had anything to do with them.</p> <p>On Wednesday, a random canvassing of spurned visitors outside the Cliff House—a tourist spot perched above the Pacific Ocean at the city's western edge—revealed that even those related to President Barack Obama aren't immune. Two members of the president's extended family were denied entry to the historic dining establishment, which is privately operated but has been ordered to close because it is on national park land.</p>