THE world’s No 1 shopping-centre owner, Westfield Group, will pay distribution of 32 cents per security for the six months to June 30. (source: The Australian) – Share on Twitter – Share on Facebook – RSS and RSS Feed on Feedzilla.com

Stocks end sharply higher, pushing the blue-chip DJIA and the tech-heavy Nasdaq into positive territory for the year. Stocks began the day flat to firmer after FedEx hiked its outlook. After choppy early trading, equities added to gains on a better-than-ex… (source: iStock Analysis) – Share on Twitter – Share on Facebook – RSS feeds and Widgets on Feedzilla.com

The Washington State Dept. of Transportation describes the highway off-ramp improperly built on a new interchange in east Tacoma as “unfortunate and embarrassing.”

Virginia’s 14-mile Interstate 495 expansion will take just four years, thanks to design-build and an infusion of private capital

“Bad architecture is in the end as much a failure of psychology as of design,” writes pop philosopher Alain de Botton in his heartfelt case for good building, 2006’s The Architecture of Happiness.

On July 14, the U.S. Navy celebrated the end of a 12-year construction program that built 22 new buildings for its recruit-training center at Naval Station Great Lakes just north of Chicago.

Construction will start by spring 2011 on Dallas’ $2.7 billion LBJ Freeway (IH-635), one of the nation’s most congested highway systems.

Attorneys on July 12 began presenting their case in defense of William Rapetti, the Long Island, N.Y., crane rigger on trial for manslaughter.

New construction starts in June dropped 3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $385.7 billion, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Global design giant AECOM Technology Corp., Los Angeles, and leading New York City-based building construction manager Tishman Construction Corp. are linking up to share needed capabilities in a changing construction market.

The capping stack was tested at Cameron Elastomer Technology’s facility in Berwick, Lou., where it has been assembled over the past two months. The stack was installed July 12 and will potentially stop oil from gushing into the gulf.

As campuses prep for the fall semester, some top architecture schools are experiencing turnovers among their high-level staff.

In the past year and a half, California has fined the five largest insurers in its state almost $19 million for cancelling the policies of individuals who became sick. One insurance company even admitted offering bonuses to employees who were able to find reasons to cancel policies. President Obama has been trying to gain support for his healthcare overhaul in part tapping into consumer dissatisfaction with the insurance industry, an industry that has never been popular among the American people.

His plan for healthcare overhaul includes restricting insurance companies from screening for preexisting conditions, however, this still might not save people from having their policies cancelled. With new regulations, insurance companies might not necessarily cancel the policies of those individuals with undisclosed preexisting conditions, however, a company might institute further preauthorization requirements on services for certain patients, which might discourage such patients from renewing their policies. Lawsuits continue to be instituted against insurance companies who have cancelled policies. Rather than fight fraud, rescission has devolved into a backdoor route for insurance companies to stop paying the medical bills of people in their time of greatest need.

No improvement in health insurance coverage: The proportion of children ages 0-5 in California who lacked health insurance for all or part of the previous year – one in ten children – remained unchanged between 2001 and 2005. Fewer overweight children: The prevalence of overweight children ages 0-5 dropped slightly in California from 14% in 2001 to 12% in 2005.

There were steep drops in Riverside County (16.2% in 2003 to 12.4% in 2005) and San Bernardino County (16.2% in 2003 to 8.4% in 2005). Los Angeles County also dropped (14.3% in 2003 to 12.8% in 2005) as well as Alameda County (13.4% in 2003 to 8.9% in 2005) and San Diego County (12.9% in 2003 to 8.5% in 2005).

Auto insurance premiums are heavily based on drivers and their driving history and since a newly licensed teen does not have a record operating an automobile, their rates remain more costly than older age groups until they gain enough experience to prove that they are responsible drivers.

Although insurers may not have a driving history to go by, there are other ways teens can reduce the cost of coverage. Most importantly, teenagers and all drivers for that matter, need to drive safely and obey traffic laws at all times; driving irresponsibly and ignoring traffic laws increases the chances of obtaining tickets and being involved in traffic accidents which in turn will lead to increased rates. On the other hand, if a teenager maintains a clean driving record for three years they may be eligible for a good driver discount that can reduce premiums significantly.

Getting a first car can be a very exciting time, but make sure the cost of insuring it is affordable; a consumer guide provided by the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance suggests that teens check premium rates before buying an automobile. The main reason behind this is that the cost of insuring vehicles can vary significantly due to many reasons such as safety features and the cost of repairing it; even if two automobiles are in the same class, the price to insure them will be different.

Another way to reduce premiums is to shop around and shop frequently; once a teen has found an insurer that can offer them the cheapest coverage they should be sure to periodically compare rates, especially at time of renewal. The reason why it is important to occasionally comparison shop is that the insurer who may have been the cheapest at one point may no longer be the most affordable; comparing rates is the only way to make sure the best price is being paid for coverage. Although young motorists pay more than any other age group, there are ways to save and reduce premiums and driving safe is the key to making policies more affordable.

Another reason that California’s health insurance premiums have stayed relatively low, according to Jones, is the result of a ballot measure from about 15 years ago. That measure was approved by voters, capping punitive damage amounts. “So insurance companies don’t have to approve every little thing for fear of being sued,” Jones said. “But the quality of California health care hasn’t changed.”

The Kaiser study showed that not only insurance premiums have shown a steady increase. “Cost sharing for medical services has also increased in recent years. The percentage of employers sponsoring insurance and the percentage of workers covered by employer-sponsored insurance remained stable over the past year.”

Cost increases for California health insurance premiums are lower this year, and although California’s are higher than some other states, they are also still lower than in previous years. The Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust confirm what news wires also are reporting: nationally, the rise in cost of health care premiums is about 5 percent. This continues a trend from 2007, when a similar small cost increase was instituted.

However, according to Randy Jones of Hometown Insurance Services in Solvang, in California premiums are somewhat higher: “Ours in California, the rate went up higher than that. We’re getting a 10 percent rise,” he said.

Although the national increases were reported at the end of September, California’s current insurance rates are more difficult to come by. Insurance industry and regulatory agency figures found on the Internet indicate the 10 percent rise is in the ballpark. “If increases aren’t as bad this year, they were pretty horrendous last year,” Jones continued. One reason California’s premiums are not shooting up, he said: “We’re healthier.”

Once a teenager becomes licensed and is ready to jump behind the wheel they will quickly realize that the cost of car insurance rates for these young enthusiastic motorists can be sky high and parents are already well aware of this fact and may be dreading the day their child gets their driver’s license. Although coverage can be expensive, the fact of the matter is that in order for teens sit behind the wheel they must be insured to drive legally.

There are many reasons why the cost of auto insurance for teens can be exorbitant and it is mainly because of the likelihood a youth will be involved in a collision. The chances of a teenage driver’s involvement in a traffic accident is very high and the statistics are quite frightening. According to the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, young drivers are more likely to be involved in an accident than any other age group and for two out of every teen killed in a crash, it is their first and last accident. In addition, one teen is killed in collision every week and that is just in Wisconsin; due to these staggering numbers, insurers must raise rates for youths to cover the risk of paying out claims. While reducing the cost of coverage is important in order to make policies affordable, teenagers need to be better equipped to handle an automobile in order to stay safe behind the wheel.

There are some positives – the number of overweight children in California declined slightly and preschool enrollment increased. Yet the overall health picture, especially for California’s low-income kids, is grim according to a new research brief “Trends in the Health of Young Children in California” by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and sponsored by First 5 California.

The brief found that two-thirds of California children are without health insurance are from low-income families. Low-income children utilize community clinics for primary care at three times the rate of higher income children. And the proportion of children enrolled in private health insurance is shrinking – while the reliance on public programs is growing.

“The research suggests there has been a steady erosion of health care and health access for the most vulnerable children,” said David Grant, lead author of the policy research brief and director of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). “As Californians, we have a lot of work to do to reverse the trend.”

The research brief examined trends in health among Californian children from a wide range of ethnicities and economic backgrounds. It is based upon an analysis of data collected by CHIS, the nation’s largest state health survey, in 2001, 2003 and 2005. Conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, CHIS surveys up to 50,000 Californians – including up to 10,000 children – every two years.

“There is no higher priority than the health and well-being of our children,” said Kris Perry, executive director of First 5 California. “This research brief provides a valuable reminder of where our priorities must be, even at a time of scarce resources.”

With President Obama’s speech to Congress last night outlining the details of his overhaul of healthcare in the United States, one interesting point popped up – the fact that Obama would guarantee that insurers could not reject people because of preexisting conditions. health insurance companies are increasingly citing the failure to disclose preexisting conditions as a means to cancel policies and deny benefits to people in need of care. The term for this is “Post Claims Underwriting”. What this means is that the insurance companies will not investigate someone for verification of entitlement to coverage until after they are sick and need the insurance. Of course, if they then determine the person is sick but not qualified they cancel the coverage and the sick consumer is left with no insurance.

Insurance companies are using the term “rescission” to refer to the cancellation of insurance coverage due to a company being misled. Rather than trying to mislead companies, omissions of preexisting conditions seem to be honest mistakes by people filing out increasingly complex forms. There have been countless stories about how people have signed up for health insurance, only to have their policies later cancelled when they need care. No one knows how often policies are cancelled because of a variety of different state laws and policies in place, however, the practice has become rampant enough to result in numerous lawsuits and new regulations put in by states throughout the country.

Thousands of California children could lose health insurance coverage in the coming months as a result of changes in Medi-Cal rules and decreased funding for local efforts that have provided coverage to children, the Los Angeles Times reports. Medi-Cal is California’s Medicaid program.

State lawmakers will require parents of children enrolled in Medi-Cal to renew their enrollment every six months.

The administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) projects that the requirement will contribute to a drop in Medi-Cal enrollment over the next two years of about 196,000 children.

State lawmakers also have increased monthly premiums for Healthy Families, California’s version of the State Children’s health insurance Program, by $2 to $3 per child.

As a result, the state estimates that the parents of 19,000 children no longer will receive coverage through the program by July 2009.

The changes to Medi-Cal and Healthy Families were approved as part of a larger effort to address the state budget deficit.
Local Efforts.

Beyond changes to Medi-Cal and Healthy Families rules, children also could lose coverage because of funding challenges faced by local initiatives operating in 30 counties. The efforts target children who are ineligible for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families because of income or citizenship requirements.

The initiatives are funded largely by private philanthropies and local First 5 commissions, which disburse funds from a state tobacco tax for early childhood health care and education efforts.

Wendy Lazarus, co-president of the advocacy group Children’s Partnership, estimates that enrollment in the efforts has dropped by 8,000 over the past two years.

Obtaining the Best Rated Car Insurance:  Locating a good automobile policy may seem like it would be a difficult task or can be time consuming, but that is not necessarily true actually it can be done in a few simple steps and take just a couple minutes. Of course the first thing comes to consumer’s mind is price and yes this is important.

A great way to find cheap rates is with the help of a comparison website; in many cases a person can receive over twenty quotes in a matter of minutes. Once some affordable rates have been found it is time to look into the companies themselves before jumping on the cheapest rate offered.

As mentioned, financial strength and customer support are two important aspects of an insurer and these can be evaluated quite easily. A consumer can hop on to one of the website of one of the various rating agencies which rate companies based on their ability to fulfill their obligations to policyholders. By simply entering a company’s name the visitor will receive a rating for that carrier which indicates how financially sound they are.

An easy way to check on the customer satisfaction level is to contact state insurance regulator and view the complaint ratios of an insurer; this is usually a good indication of how they deal with customers. One must keep in mind that most companies will have at least one complaint, but be wary of those who seem to have a large number of unsatisfied policyholders. Although price is important, it is also a good idea to make sure the policy provider is also reputable.

Comparing Free auto insurance Quotes: When consumers go to compare the rates of insurers they should get quotes on different scenarios, most importantly higher limits than what the state may require. Certain states have very low requirements and comparing the price of more protection may take time that motorists may not want to spend, but after all getting quotations is free and it can be worth the while if better coverage is found at an affordable rate.

In a number of states, the requirement for property damage liability is very low such as California which only requires $5,000; if a person has ever been to Beverly Hills or seen the city on TV or in movies they can see that cars in that area can cost well over that amount.

If a person were to cause an accident with a vehicle of high value they may find themselves paying for any remaining repair costs that exceed this amount and of course this is just an example; with the price of automobiles nowadays, this could happen in any part of the state. Protecting against a situation like this can be only a matter of getting quotations on higher limits to see if they are affordable.

Comparing free quotes can also help consumers to realize that some additional coverage can be obtained. Many states do not require uninsured or underinsured motorist or medical payments on policies which can all be very beneficial and contrary to the belief of many motorists these additions to policies can be relatively cheap.

Although it may seem like a hassle to compare various options and get rates from various companies to see if better coverage can be purchased it does not have to be. Comparison websites will allow motorists to obtain quotations based on basic policies, additional protection and fully extensive coverage to help ensure that consumers purchase the policy that is best at a price that they can afford; of course this is provided free of charge and with no obligation to buy. Even state websites provide the same service such as the Texas Department of Insurance which allows residents to check the rates of the most popular insurers based on specific scenarios.

Since comparing the price of premiums does not cost a thing, it is highly encouraged that motorists do so before purchasing a policy to avoid becoming underinsured when they could have bought a better policy.

Seeking to salvage two years of efforts to completely remake California’s health insurance system, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislators are nearing deals intended to rein in costly, meager medical insurance policies sold directly to individuals.

In the final weeks of the legislative session, they are negotiating measures that would limit insurer profits on California individual insurance plans, require plans to provide a minimum set of benefits and restrict insurers’ ability to cancel policies retroactively.

The new focus reflects how far Schwarzenegger remains from his original healthcare goal: to orchestrate medical insurance for the 5 million Californians who lack it. Despite a year of strenuous campaigning for his vision, which garnered attention nationwide, the state Senate rejected that $14.9-billion plan in January.

Many of the concepts now under discussion were included in that proposal. Although most California insurers supported the governor’s broader effort because it would have created millions of new customers, the industry is uniformly resisting the current push to circumscribe some of its most lucrative products.

Three million Californians buy health insurance on their own rather than through employers. Insurers keep health insurance premiums low — and profits high, their critics say — on some individual policies by limiting the services they cover. Such plans may exclude prescription drugs and maternity services, for example; others may cover only hospital visits.

Many of the policies have big deductibles and require patients to pay large portions of their expenses, costing them much more than coverage obtained at workplaces.