Al Davis, maverick owner of Oakland Raiders, dies
Al Davis, the maverick owner of the Oakland Raiders, has died.
Davis, who served as coach and general manager of the NFL team and later became its principal owner, died at his home in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday—Yom Kippur—according to the team’s website. He was 82.
Davis was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.
He was involved in several lawsuits against the National Football League and had a longtime feud with its late commissioner, Pete Rozelle. Davis won a lawsuit allowing him to move the Raiders to Los Angeles in 1982, then he returned the team to Northern California 12 years later.
Davis was the commissioner of the American Football League but resigned after the AFL and the NFL announced their merger in the late 1960s.
The Massachusetts native grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
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McCartney attends Yom Kippur Services, Marries Next Day
Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney reportedly spent the night before his wedding at Yom Kippur services.
McCartney married Jewish-American heiress Nancy Shevell in London on Oct. 9. They reportedly attended Yom Kippur services and a break-fast at a local London synagogue, where Shevell, 51, received a blessing in honor of her upcoming marriage.
The couple married in a civil ceremony at London’s Marylebone Register Office, followed by a small reception at McCartney’s north London home.
McCartney’s first wife, Linda Eastman, also was Jewish. She died in 1998 after a battle with breast cancer.
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Israeli Cabinet approves Trajtenberg report
The Israeli Cabinet approved the Trajtenberg report, which proposes solutions to Israel’s socioeconomic problems.
The Cabinet approved the report Sunday by a vote of 21 to 8. The vote reportedly came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered the Yisrael Beiteinu party a deal to vote in favor. Netanyahu agreed to more benefits for working couples, soldiers and those in national service in exchange for the votes, the Israeli business daily Globes reported.
The 14-member committee of academics and economists, which was chaired by Manuel Trajtenberg of the Israel Council for Higher Education and a former Tel Aviv University economics professor, was appointed following mass protests last summer to look at the problems facing Israel and come up with solutions.
Among its recommendations, the committee proposed expanding free education to 3- and 4-year-olds; reducing the excise taxes on fuel and tariffs on electrical products and foodstuffs; increasing benefits for working mothers; and implementing health and regulatory changes. The report also called for the construction of nearly 200,000 new apartments, encouraging smaller apartments and rental units, and imposing fines on empty apartments and development-ready sites that are not being used.
On the revenue side, along with defense spending cuts, the committee recommended increasing taxes on high earners, corporations and capital gains, as well as freezing planned tax cuts for the middle class.
Before the vote, Netanyahu said, “Approving the report will allow us to submit detailed decisions to the Cabinet in order to lower the cost of living. A combination of these steps will lower the prices of goods and marketing in the economy, will significantly lower parents’ expenditures for education, will reduce customs duties, and will make housing more available.”
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The Hot Potato Game Stops: Gov. Brown Signs Autism Law
Some prayers were answered today when California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 946, the autism health insurance mandate reform bill, into law today, awful close to the bill-signing deadline of midnight tonight. The Governor signed the bill with some reservations, pointing out in his signing message that there “are remaining questions about effectiveness, duration and the cost of the covered treatments that must be sorted out.”
This bill was authored by Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who praised Brown’s signature as “a critical victory for thousands of California children and families. For many of them, having this therapy covered by their insurance is the difference between despair and hope.”
The new law will require private health insurers and health plans to provide as a covered benefit, beginning July 1, 2012, behavioral health treatments such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for persons with autism spectrum and related disorders. However, the bill’s enforcement will end July 1, 2014 as national health care reform kicks in, along with its own definitions of “essential health benefits”.
Supported by such groups as Autism Speaks and the Autism Society of Los Angeles, this law was seen as a crucial first step in getting insurance companies to cover “essential health benefits” such as treatments for persons with developmental disabilities. For too long, there’s been a nasty game of “hot potato” that plays itself out, as health insurance companies, school districts, and Regional Centers try to hand off the cost of effective treatment for children with disabilities to someone else. Families have been the big losers, and especially households who don’t have the resources to pay out of pocket.
Although children on Medi-Cal and Healthy Families were ultimately (and unfortunately in my humble opinion) not included in this law, many middle-class and working-class families who are fortunate to have health insurance from their employers will begin to reap the benefits of this plan this summer.
Not a bad way to start off the New Year!
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