Google won hands down when it comes to Americans watching videos online.  Stats showed that Internet users in the U.S. watched 12.7 billion online videos in November, a 34% increase from a year ago.  Numbers studied by market researcher ComScore hailed a huge  ‘thank you’ to YouTube when Google sites earned top billing with nearly [...]

Banning indoor smoking is paying off.  In Pueblo, Colorado, heart attack hospitalizations fell after a law passed banning smoking in public and workplaces, says the Center for Disease Control; 399 heart attack hospitalizations occurred 18 months prior to the smoke ban law and 237 in the 18-month period after the ban. Areas near, but not [...]

An Israeli air strike carrying out a series of attacks at night killed Abu Zakaria al-Jamal, a senior Hamas commander of the armed wing of Hamas.  In yet another strike it bombed the house of top Hamas operative Imad Akel and reports state that the Israeli military heard secondary blasts in the house, indicating weapons [...]

  DEBBIE ALLEN DANCE ACADEMY AT BHUSD Beverly Hills Unified School District’s Board of Education approved a pilot program for the Debbie Allen Dance Academy to come to the School District through funding from the Beverly Hills Education Foundation. The program came out of conversation between BHEF CEO Devorah Hankin and Ms. Allen over her [...]

Thousands of work boots, bath slippers, tennis sneakers, beach sandals and roller skates materialized on the Palmetto Expressway, in Florida disrupting traffic for hours.  Police did not know where the shoes came from as there was no sign of a crash, and no one claimed them.  A private contractor was hired to pick up the [...]

  H&R Block Inc. to pay a $4.85 million; Attorney General of California sued Block in 2006, alleging the company used deceptive advertising to disguise refund-anticipation loans calling them early tax refunds and had unfair debt-collection practices in garnishing refund proceeds.  Settlement give $2.45 million in restitution to consumers taking loans between Jan. 1, 2001, [...]

HANDS ON THE WHEEL January 1, 2009 it became illegal to text message while driving in California.  Penalties For Texting While Driving.  Similar to the cell phone law that went into effect July 1, 2008; the base fine for a first violation is $20; subsequent violations are $50. The total cost of the citation is significantly higher than the base fine, [...]

  The Chinese government has just recently announced that it will grant farmers throughout the country the right to own farmland; this new proclomation comes forth in an effort to help fight off starvation and increase food production. President Nicolas Sarkozy has now threatened to take a publishing company to court unless the company withdraws [...]