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10 Jan 2012 15:32

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World: Medical company Novartis issues some worrisome drug recalls

  • scary Novartis, a Swiss medical company, has issued a recall on an array of its popular over-the-counter products: Excedrin, Bufferin, NoDoz and Gas-X. Why? In the first place, the pills in the bottles might be broken or chipped, altering the manner in which they interact with the body.
  • scarier Or the bottles could contain pills from other Novartis products, like Percocet, Endocet, Opana and Zydone. So far, the company is unaware of any reported side effects from this foul-up. Production has been shut down in the plant responsible for the problems. source

30 Dec 2011 13:53

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U.S.: Don’t look a gift bear in the eye; it could be dangerous.

  • what Toy company Build-A-Bear has recalled over 300,000 bears that were sold between April and December. So, if you gave or received a “Colorful Hearts Teddy Bear” this year, you should consider returning it.
  • why The eyes of the bear were poorly secured, creating a choking hazard for children; the bears went through a security and safety screening which deemed the fabric around the eyes as “substandard.” Beware of bear, folks. source

21 Jul 2011 00:31

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Politics: Democrat survives recall attempt in Wisconsin

  • Wisconsin Republicans’ quixotic attempt to recall Democratic state senators has gotten off to a bad start: State Sen. David Hansen was easily re-elected in today’s recall election, defeating his opponent by a 2:1 margin. Hansen is the first of nine WI State Senators facing recall attempts (three Democrats, six Republicans).The recalls were first initiated by Democrats hoping to punish Republicans for supporting Scott Walker’s anti-union bill last Spring. Republicans, out of a combination of boredom and petulance, responded by launching their own recall petitions against Democrats who opposed the bill. source

28 Jun 2011 15:24

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U.S.: Slim margin eliminates one of Wisconsin GOP’s recall efforts

  • 2 signatures short for Wisconsin Rep. John Nygren’s recall candidacy source
  • » GOP pushback comes up a hair short: Following challenges by the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, the state’s Government Accountability Board has ruled that 26 of the Nygren campaign’s recall petition signatures are invalid, and as that left Nygren with just 398 signatures, they kicked him out of the race. Nygren is pursuing legal options, and frankly we don’t expect this to be over — two signatures is such a slim margin, it seems obvious that every last signature is again going to get combed over. The GOP still has a candidate, an activist named David VanderLeest, but given his comparatively lackluster background, we imagine they’re pushing to get Nygren back.

14 Jun 2011 17:19

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Politics: The high cost of political sabotage in Wisconsin

  • $428k cost for fake primaries in Wisconsin source
  • » Big money for big trickery: As you may have heard, the Republican Party in Wisconsin is facing a grim reality — recall elections are looming, and there’s a pretty decent chance the outcomes will tilt legislative power towards the Democrats. The reason, broadly speaking, is the passion and anger towards the state GOP’s efforts to strip public union rights. As such, they’re is aiming to delay the elections to hope things have time to cool off. Their plan is unorthodox: running Republicans, as Democrats, against the Democratic opposition at the primary stage, thus forcing an extra election. Extra elections come with a cost to the state, though, and this is no different. Sort of hurts the whole cash-strapped, “gotta cut back, gotta strip these union rights” narrative, huh?

02 Jun 2011 12:33

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Politics: Recalled Wisconsin State Senator: Let’s hope Dems are “sleeping”

  • We’ve got tons of government workers in my district — tons. From La Crosse to Prairie du Chien and to Viroqua and to Ontario and to Hillsboro, you can go on and on and on. We have to overcome that. We gotta hope that they, kind of, are sleeping on July 12th — or whenever the (election) date is.
  • Wisconsin State Sen. Dan Kapanke • Expressing fear that he might get recalled due to the fact that his district has a lot of public-sector union workers in it. A secret recording caught Kapanke saying this along with a few other things. He noted in the clip, taped last week at the Cedar Creek Golf Club in Onalaska, Wisc., that two other state senators were in serious danger of losing their seats, too, and offered up this harbinger: “If they gain control of the Senate, it might be over for us. Because redistricting will play a role, as you know, and we lose that power.” Well, that doesn’t sound optimistic, does it? (h/t ThinkProgress) source

26 May 2011 02:08

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Politics: Scott Walker is becoming very unpopular

  • Watch out, Walker: If a recall election were held today, you’d get booted faster than you can say “Gray Davis.” source
 

18 Apr 2011 22:15

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Politics: Wisconsin: Recall campaign gains steam, control of State Senate now in play

  • three number of GOP State Senators in Wisconsin who will face a recall election, thanks to Democratic organizing efforts
  • three number of seats that have to change hands in order for Democrats to gain control of the Wisconsin State Senate source
  • » Total Recall: Democratic efforts to flip control of the Wisconsin State Senate just reached an important milestone, as organizers have now collected enough signatures to force three Republican senators into recall elections. If Democrats win all three elections, they’ll be rewarded with control of the Wisconsin State Senate. This is, of course, pending validation of the collected signatures; in all three cases, Democratic organizers submitted around 150% of the required number of signatures, so it’s unlikely that the petitions will be invalidated on those grounds. If Democrats are successful in recalling even one Wisconsin Republican, it’ll be an enormous victory for the pro-union movement, which launched the recall campaign last month in response to Governor Scott Walker’s union-busting “budget-repair” bill.

07 Apr 2011 14:19

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U.S.: Wisconsin Democrats to file for recall against Randy Hopper

  • Another Wisconsin GOP senator to face recall: In the wake of JoAnne Kloppenburg’s possible State Supreme Court win (pending a mandated recount, as she leads by the narrowest of margins), an unthinkable upset absent Gov. Scott Walker and his union-busting ways, it seems clear that Wisconsin Republicans have a tough road ahead. GOP State Senator Randy Hopper is the latest victim of this, as he’ll be forced to face a recall election; Democratic activists have more than enough signatures to file against him. source

01 Apr 2011 14:24

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World: Recall push against Wisconsin GOPers heating up

  • impetus The Wisconsin Democratic Party has been running at high intensity since Gov. Walker’s anti-union bill passed (a court order has since halted it). Remember, this plan is demonstrably not about fiscal issues, it’s about crushing unions.
  • blowback GOP state Senator Dan Kapanke is feeling the heat, as the Democrats will file 15,588 signatures, enough to force a recall election against him. The biggest fish here is clearly Gov. Walker, but he’s immune from recall for his first year in office. source