Dart to news that health-insurance premiums may be headed toward double-digit increases for 2002. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina announced earlier this month that it will need to raise rates as much as 17 percent next year to offset soaring medical costs. Aetna and Cigna have made similar forecasts.
The move toward health maintenance organizations and managed care apparently has squeezed all the savings out of health care that it can. Consumers are nevertheless going to the doctor more often now on average than they were just a few years ago. That reflects either Baby Boomers’ increasing age or the success of pharmaceutical commercials urging TV viewers to “talk to your doctor” about the latest (and more expensive) drug.
At any rate, cost-conscious employers likely will pass these bigger premiums on to employees — a bitter pill, indeed.
Dart and an indignant shake of the fist at the continuing scourge of domestic violence, a too-polite term for what often culminates in brutal murder.
This week alone, North Carolinians heard two grisly stories. A Kannapolis man, Duane Lamar Campbell, stands accused of stabbing his estranged wife to death at her job in southwest Charlotte on Tuesday.
Over in the Lumberton area, officials didn’t have to look far to figure out why a New Jersey man recently jumped from his car as he fled authorities going down I-95 at 90 mph. His murdered wife —who had dared to ask for a separation —was in the back seat. He did her in with a baseball bat and a claw hammer.
And they say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?
n n n
Laurels to the chain of events that will help light and irrigate two ballfields at the city’s new Community Park off Hurley School Road. When Gov. Mike Easley freed up reimbursement funds that were supposed to go to local governments, Salisbury officials decided to use some $170,000 of those funds to complete the two fields. That, after all, was the implied promise to the Rowan Little League and Food Lion when they supported the move to the community park. Kudos to Salisbury for delivering on the promise.
n n n
Dart to the proliferation of pavement and concrete in North Carolina, and its effect on local climates. A Shaw University student interning with the North Carolina Climate Office put together satellite and aerial maps and temperature data from the past 100 years showing that the Raleigh area’s average daily temperature has risen by 3 degrees in the past century, apparently because of increased development. Researchers believe the findings also would hold true for other densely developed urban areas around the state. As asphalt and buildings continue to replace grass and trees, look for similar temperatures rises elsewhere.
Today's News
