83rd Legislative Session Pre-Filing Begins! | Bill filing for the upcoming 83rd Legislative session began on Monday, November 12. After the initial rush of 250 bills filed the first day, the pace slowed and at the end of the week, just a little over 300 bills had been filed. Not surprisingly, most of the bills pre-filed were related to education, energy and health and human services issues. Click on the headline to learn more. |
Suit: Officer Shot Man in Back During Fender Bender | 
| A New York man has filed a lawsuit against a rookie police officer from the Bronx, claiming the cop shot him in the back while he was lying face down on the ground. The suit accuses the officer of "using excessive force" after the two got into a minor accident on the Bruckner Expressway. The plaintiff has plead guilty to driving while impaired.
Barbara Ross , New York Daily News 11/18/2012    | Read Article: New York Daily News |
Medicaid Providers Push Back on Fraud Investigations |
| The Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Office of Inspector General is on a mission to reclaim hundreds of millions in misspent Medicaid money. But after months in the state’s crosshairs, more medical providers are saying publicly that they have been wrongly targeted. They say a controversial federal rule that allows the OIG to stanch the flow of Medicaid payments as it pursues fraud investigations is crippling businesses, denying providers due process and harming patients by jeopardizing the state’s limited network of Medicaid providers.
BECCA AARONSON, Texas Tribune 11/19/2012 | Read Article: Texas Tribune |
Report: Texas Homeowners Pay Highest Insurance Premiums |
| Texas homeowners paid the highest insurance premiums in the country, according to data released by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Texans paid an average $1,460 a year for the most common homeowner policy sold nationwide, the association reported this week, based on data from 2008. "This is what Texas home-owners can expect as long as we have a system that allows insurance companies to dictate the terms of the market," said Alex Winslow of Texas Watch, an Austin-based consumer group. "Until and unless we enact comprehensive homeowners insurance reform that requires insurance companies to justify rates before they go into effect, we will continue to see insurance cost too much and offer too little."
Purva Patel, Houston Chronicle 11/19/2012 | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
eBay Hit with Antitrust Lawsuit over Hiring Issues |
| The Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against eBay Inc., claiming the online giant violated antitrust laws in agreeing not to recruit or hire rival Intuit Inc. employees. The department says the two companies had an agreement that "barred either firm from soliciting each other’s employees, and for over a year barred at least eBay from hiring any employees from Intuit at all."
Staff Report, KAKE 10 On Your Side 11/19/2012 | Read Article: KAKE 10 On Your Side |
Wrongful Death Suit Settled by MA Police |
| A group of Massachusetts law enforcement agencies have agreed to pay $1.6 million to settle a wrongful death suit over the death of a Worcester man in 2009. The man was arrested during a confrontation with officers at a North Andover state police checkpoint; the suit says police beat the man and then waited almost an hour before calling for medical attention. The man became unresponsive during booking and died later that day.
Wire, Boston Herald 11/19/2012 | Read Article: Boston Herald |
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