Posted: 10:59 a.m. Tuesday, March 23, 2010
President Today Signs Health Care Bill; Michael Jackson's Doc Stopped CPR?; Bragging Shoplifters Get Prison
By Veronica Waters
- President Barack Obama signs the landmark 10-year, $938 billion health care bill today at the White House and then begins trying to persuade Americans to give it a chance. The president will go on trips around the country to show skeptics how the medical system remake will make their lives better; his first trip is Thursday to Iowa.
Republicans in the Senate vow to use parliamentary maneuvers to try and block passage of the fix-it bill which includes the House changes. The GOP has also introduced a bill to repeal health care reform.
The reform bill also helps families count calories. It requires restaurant chains to post calories on menus, menu boards and drive-thrus.
Members of the Georgia House rejected a constitutional amendment that would've allowed the state's residents to opt out of federal health mandates.
- Explosive new allegations againstMichael Jackson's doctor: According to investigators' notes, Jackson's logistics director, Alberto Alvarez says that as Jackson lay dying in his bedroom, Dr. Conrad Murray halted his one-handed CPR on the singer and held off on calling 911--so he could collect drug vials at the scene and have Alvarez bag them up. Murray's lawyer disputes that and notes it's a different story than what Alvarez told police in his first interview. The contention that Dr. Murray may have tried to hide evidence is likely to be a focus as prosecutors move ahead with their involuntary manslaughter case against him.
Documents also obtained by the Associated Press say that Jackson's personal assistant, Michael Amir Williams, saw Murray crying after Jackson was pronounced dead. The doctor reportedly asked if someone could take him back to the mansion to pick up a cream the singer had "so the world wouldn't find out about it." No word what the cream was.
- He's already spoken withteam owners; now NFL Commisioner Roger Goodell wants to sit down with Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger about the two-time Super Bowl champ's off-field problems. Goodell says he's "concerned that Ben continues to put himself in this position.'' Roethlisberger has not been charged with a crime, but is accused of assaulting a 20-year-old Georgia college student and faces a civil suit over sexual allegations in Tahoe.
- Your tax refund may be bigger this year. Mark Green with the IRS in Atlanta says that's thanks to last year's stimulus bill. The recovery act includedtax break help for college expenses, buying a first home and making energy-efficiency home improvements, among others. The average tax refund this year is more than $3,000--some 10% higher than a year ago.
- Testimony is set to start today in Atlanta federal court, in a case alleging DeKalb County discriminated against white managers. Their lawyers claim three parks department managers were hounded from their jobs by then-CEO Vernon Jones because they were white. Jones' lawyer concedes his client may be abrupt, but denies any racist motivation.
- Not the smartest thing...going on national TV and bragging about making a living by selling stuff you've boosted from stores. In 2008, a California couple appeared on Dr. Phil, boasting that they'd made about $3,500 selling stolen Legos and other toys and merchandise on eBay. The feds said in court that the couple made $100,000 from June 2007 to March 2009 stealing and selling Lego kitis. The couple explained to Dr. Phil that since they couldn't afford a babysitter, they would take their kids along with them on their shoplifting trips, helping give the appearance that they were just a "normal" family. A federal judge in San Diego has just sentenced 27-year-old Laura Eaton to a year in prison; her husband Matthew got two years.
- Would you steal bread for your starving family? Seems that was the attitude of a burglar in New Jersey, who broke into a restaurant by climbing through an exhaust fan. Once inside, he cooked up some of the restaurant's chicken and rice in a frying pan before escaping. The suspect left without taking the $200 in the cash register.
- The KISS 104.1 weather forecast: mostly sunny Tuesday, with a high of 63, and a low of 43.
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