It Figures

2.1 Million

More than 2.1 million drop-side cribs by Stork Craft Manufacturing of Canada are being recalled following reports of four infant suffocations, representing the largest ever recall of cribs by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Sales of the cribs being recalled go back to 1993 and nearly 150,000 of the cribs carry the Fisher-Price logo. CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum conceded the agency “hasn’t been acting as quickly as it should” on crib safety problems. The agency said the drop-side cribs have a side that moves up and down to allow parents to lift children from the cribs more easily. It also said there have been 110 incidents of drop-sides detaching from the cribs.

54%

Most Americans want Congress to deal with malpractice lawsuits driving up the cost of medical care, according to an Associated Press poll, which found that 54 percent favor making it harder to sue doctors and hospitals for mistakes taking care of patients, while 32 percent are opposed. The rest are undecided or don’t know. Support for limits on malpractice lawsuits cuts across political lines, with 58 percent of independents and 61 percent of Republicans in favor. Democrats are more divided. Still, 47 percent said they favor making it harder to sue, while 37 percent are opposed. The survey was conducted by Stanford University with the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Limits on jury awards in malpractice cases could reduce the federal deficit by $54 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

8.3%

Texas claimed the highest unemployment rate — 8.3 percent — of the four South Central states for the month October 2008. The Texas figure was up slightly from the 8.2 percent recorded a month earlier, but the state did add 41,700 positions in October, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Louisiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged during October at 7.4 percent. Oklahoma’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 7.1 percent in October, an expansion of 0.3 percentage points over the previous month. Compared to October 2008, the rate grew by 2.9 percentage points. Arkansas’ unemployment rate for October was 7.6 percent. The national rate of unemployment is 10.2 percent and the Southern regional rate is 9.5 percent.

Topics Texas