There have been more attention and restrictions the past couple of years on pharmaceutical company representatives providing meals, golf trips and other freebies to doctors to get them to prescribe certain drugs. Less is reported about how the reps schmooze hospital executives. But The New York Times reported on a recent gathering of hospital executives and industry reps at a Colorado luxury resort. Not only did drug and medical supply companies pay the doctors and their spouses to attend, the companies also paid doctors thousands of dollars to give them advice on how best to sell their products to hospitals.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
"Have you noticed that the higher the office being sought, the more likely the candidate is to flout the law regarding yard signs?" a Wichita state lawmaker e-mailed The Eagle editorial board. It sure seems that way this election, as the campaigns of GOP gubernatorial candidates Jim Barnett and Ken Canfield, in particular, have signs at Wichita intersections and other prohibited areas. In past elections, many of the illegally posted signs have been for judge and sheriff candidates, who you would hope would follow the law.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Democrats are taking the recent Senate vote against raising the minimum wage and running with it. And why not? Polls show that 80 percent of Americans support raising the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage. According to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., via ABC News’ The Note blog, since it was last increased in 1997, pay has gone up 73 percent for CEOs, 24 percent for members of Congress and 100 percent for the president. One idea of particular appeal for the average voter surely is the one newly pitched by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. — to block a scheduled $3,300 increase in congressional pay unless Republicans agree to raise the minimum wage to $7.25.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
A lot of women responded to a New York Times article, which Phillip referred to in a blog item Saturday, about females outperforming males at U.S. universities. Here are some excerpts from their letters to the editor:
– “Let’s face it: men are performing as they always have, but now they are being compared with what has conventionally been, whether explicitly or implicitly stated, considered the ‘weaker’ sex. The simple truth is that women work harder because we have to; men coast because they can.”
– “Young women work hard to take advantage of the opportunities that they were once denied — and this is a social crisis? Even when women demonstrate motivation, energy and brilliance, they still face cultural barriers that block their career paths. Women work hard, but where’s the payoff?”
– “Young women have ’stepped up’ and are outpacing men in college. When will our society ’step up’ by hiring them?”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Robert Beattie, Democratic candidate for secretary of state, has done many things in his life — author, lawyer, professor, firefighter-medic — not one of which is holding public office. We asked him about the possibility that the public might view his late decision to run as a lark, despite three other tries for local and state office several decades ago. Beattie said he’s been involved in campaigns since 1972 and views it as a plus that he’s not a career politician. And on the subject of public perception, he recounted how, according to Wichita Police Lt. Ken Landwehr, Beattie’s was the most reported name to the BTK tip line in 2004: “Had the tip line been a vote, the public would have elected me as BTK,” Beattie said.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The Kansas State Board of Education is considering some statewide guidelines that, unlike those on sex education and other issues, actually could be helpful. The board heard a proposal last week for how teachers and their aides should handle special education students who are out of control, the Lawrence Journal World reported. Advocates for the disabled are supporting the new guidelines because some kids have been restrained inappropriately. “We have kids who have been sat on by gym teachers,” said Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Disability Rights Center. “Their arms have been duct-taped together as a form of restraint. They’ve been rolled up in gym mats. They’ve been placed in little boxes.” Students may need to be restrained if they are putting themselves and others in danger, but it shouldn’t be done abusively.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
