In the News: Mar-19

U.S. jobless rolls swell to record high - 19 Mar 2009 at 2:39pm - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers drawing state unemployment benefits hit another record high early this month and factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic region shrank again as the economy battles a severe downturn.

Multiple threats mounting to world food supply, experts warn - 19 Mar 2009 at 1:13pm - Soaring demand and rising prices threaten to create a "perfect storm" in the global food industry, experts warned on Thursday.

Toronto police used Tasers 367 times in 2008: statistics - 19 Mar 2009 at 11:34am - Toronto police fired Tasers 367 times to subdue people in 2008, more than double the number of times the stun gun was used by frontline officers in 2006, according to the force's statistics.

Wal-Mart awarding $2 billion to U.S. hourly employees - 19 Mar 2009 at 10:38am - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is awarding approximately $2 billion to its U.S. hourly employees through financial incentives, including handing out $933.6 million in bonuses on Thursday, after the world's largest retailer gained market share amid a recession.

Official: US releases data unless harm foreseen - 19 Mar 2009 at 9:55am - WASHINGTON -- A Justice Department official says the Obama administration is ready to tell federal agencies to release records to the public unless foreseeable harm would result.

Diebold Admits Flaw In Voting Software - March 18, 2009 6:44:00 PM - At a public hearing in California, Diebold's western region manager has admitted that the audit log system on current versions of Premier Election Solutions' (formerly Diebold's) electronic voting and tabulating systems — used in some 34 states across the nation — fails to record the wholesale deletion of ballots, even when ballots are deleted on the same day as an election. An election system's audit logs are meant to record all activity during the system's actual counting of ballots, so that later examiners may determine, with certainty, whether any fraudulent or mistaken activity had occurred during the count. Diebold's software fails to do that, as has recently been discovered by Election Integrity advocates in Humboldt County, CA, and then confirmed by the CA Secretary of State. The flaws, built into the system for more than a decade, are in serious violation of federal voting system certification standards.

U.S. workers on jobless benefits hit record high - 19 Mar 2009 at 8:53am - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers drawing state unemployment benefits scaled another record high early this month, government data showed on Thursday, highlighting the difficulties of getting new jobs as the economy battles a severe recession.

Thought for the day:
The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. -H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)