NFL team's bold free-agent gambles

NFL team's bold free-agent gambles

In one remarkable day, the Chicago Bears look to change their fortunes — immediately.

Coaches' jobs on the line

Also:

• Peppers will earn pay
• Ravens land Boldin
• Rolle signs with Giants

Uncovering strange ways drug smugglers hide their stash

Septic tanks, computer boxes and tires ...
Each year, drug smugglers get more inventive with places to hide their cargo.

Uncovering strange ways drug smugglers hide their stash

A discovery of mammoth proportions

Woolly mammoth tusks have been uncovered in the Grande Ronde Valley in northeastern Oregon.

A discovery of mammoth proportions

Sumo wrestles cash machine

A sumo wrestler ripped a cash machine out of a Moscow store, walking off with the bulky 90kg machine on his shoulders, police said.

Sumo wrestles cash machine

Bomb-Sniffing Rats Save Lives in Africa

Everyone knows that rats have a nose for garbage, but their sense of smell now serves another higher purpose -- sniffing out landmines to save lives.
Bomb-sniffing dogs are a common sight in airports and other public spaces, but an organization called APOPO says that rats can do similar work, sometimes even better than a dog.

Full Story

Harsh realities of college savings plans

Harsh realities of college savings plans

Despite their tax benefits, much-hyped "529" plans also have big drawbacks.

Dismal results, complicated funds

Also:

• Students protest fee hikes
• College cost calculator
• Best-paid college alums

The easy $35-a-month savings plan

The easy $35-a-month savings plan

Save just $35.86 more each month, and you'll be amazed at the results.

One trick can save thousands

Also:

• Cheap mortgages missing
• Things to not splurge on
• Common money wasters

Manatee Cousins in Mideast Face Uncertain Future

From Treehugger:

A dugong in an aquarium in Sydney, Australia. Photo by jo3hug via Flickr.

It must have required many lonely months out to sea to mistake this face only a mother could love for that of a fair maiden, but encounters with dugongs are indeed said to have been the inspiration for the myth of the mermaid. While the fictional fish-human hybrids were believed to have "called sailors to their death by encouraging them to jump overboard from their ships," Green Prophet reports that it's humans who are threatening their real-life counterparts with extinction.

Article continues: Manatee Cousins in Mideast Face Uncertain Future

Wooly Bully

Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs

FDA orders food recalls

This new FDA is serious.

The problems are going to take time to correct after years of letting the factory food industry do whatever they like (and pushing expensive health care costs to consumers) but the change in attitude is impressive. Until Democrats in Congress started to change the rules, there were no recalls unless the company decided to recall a product. This tended to occur after serious problems including death, so getting ahead of the problem makes a lot of sense.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a recall of a common flavor enhancer that could be contaminated with salmonella bacteria.

The product, called hydrolyzed vegetable protein or HVP, is potentially in thousands of food products, including soups, sauces, chilis, stews, hot dogs, gravies, seasoned snack foods, dips and dressings. HVP is manufactured by a Las Vegas company.

FBI Indicts 26 MS-13 Gang Members

A federal indictment was unsealed Friday charging 26 members of the violent street gang called "Mara Salvatrucha"("MS-13") with federal racketeering and othe related crimes.

FBI Indicts 26 MS-13 Gang Members

President Obama's Weekly Address

(The transcript is unavailable at this time)

Here are a few more points about how health insurance reform measures will benefit Americans this year:

Hold Insurance Companies Accountable:

• Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all new plans;
• Prohibit rescissions of health insurance policies in all individual plans;
• Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;
• Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs;
• Establish a process for the annual review of unreasonable increases in premiums, requiring State insurance commissioners to work with the HHS Secretary and States.

Protect Consumers:

• Provide grants to States to support health insurance consumer assistance and ombudsman programs to help consumers;
• Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;
• Require all insurance plans to use uniform coverage documents so consumers can make easy comparisons when shopping for health insurance;
• Establish an internet portal to assist Americans in identifying coverage options;
• Prohibit insurers from discriminating in favor of highly compensated employees by charging them lower premiums.

Ensure Affordable Choices and Quality Care:

• Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;
• Create a temporary re-insurance program for early retirees;
• Require new plans to cover an enrollee’s dependent children until age 26;
• Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;
• Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;
• Facilitate administrative simplification to lower health system costs.

Today is ...

Today is Saturday, March 6, the 65th day of 2010.

There are 300 days left in the year.

Today In History March 6

There are no unusual holidays or celebrations today.

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Coimatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfaln, Germany
Lincoln, England, United Kingdom
Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina

as well as the United States in such cities as Johns Island, Defiance, Brighton, West Linn, Holland, Hammond and more

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

You're oh, so ready for a break.
Sure, you're as familiar with stress as anyone, but this last run has lasted a bit too long.
So why not pretend it's Sunday all over again?
Get some friends together and talk about the higher meaning of things -- about life, love and relationships.
Okay, maybe you should leave out relationships.
(Oh, and politics and religion and maybe even sports, too. Just to be safe.)

What's a break?