A spreading poison--In Virginia, it’s called Project Exile. Now, it’s spread to Baltimore, Maryland. In both cases, people convicted of violation of gun laws are sent to prisons in distant areas, a major obstacle for visits by relatives, friends and legal advisers.

The same reactionary practice is being used against the Cuban Five, railroaded to prison on trumped-up charges.

Colorado leads nation?--According to the Denver Post, each week 1,000 people in the state exhaust their jobless checks. Comments the director of food and energy assistance programs for the state’s human services department: "Even this year, when it hasn’t been as cold, we’re still going to serve more people than we have in the history of the program."

Freebie market gains--"While automakers continue to pile up cheap loans, deep discounts, and soaring rebates on cars and trucks, dealers are adding cruisers, sports tickets, computers, and free gas to lure buyers. Dealers say it’s a way to reach consumers who know they don’t have to hurry in today to get a deal because tomorrow’s offer will probably be better."--USA Today.

Waste not, want not--"The recycling of old sandwiches, which are sold as fresh,...is to be investigated by the Food Standard Agency. Old bread and butter is discarded, but fillings are reused in fresh bread. The scam is also believed to involve chilled food, such as cooked meats, pies and ‘ready meals’."--The Times, London.

Recycled sandwich victims?--The UK government has told the National Health Service that by the end of this year, hospitals should stop designating corridors as observation wards. It specifies that there be a four-hour waiting limit in accident and emergency units. Also instructed to be ended is the practice of holding patients in ambulances, presumably waiting for corridor space.

Just doing his duty--Officials in San Jose, California, agreed to pay $390,000 to a man who, five years ago, suffered a cracked skull and broken arm by Robert Reinhart, a cop who the Los Angeles Times says was looking for a robbery suspect. The paper covered the case in a news brief. It apparently lacked the space to squeeze in the name of the aggrieved person.

By the ton and for the pound--Eurocare Environmental Services has contracts covering 25 percent of clinical waste disposal at the UK’s National Health Service hospitals. For an extended period it allowed human clinical waste--including human tissue and blood--to rot in trailers parked mainly in industrial areas. When filled to capacity, some were dumped into septic tanks and from there into a river.

One trailer was found leaking blood, and one so jam-packed that environmental agents refused to open the door for fear of a spill. The company was fined about $150,000--said to be the max--plus a bit more in court costs.  
 
 
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