pileofcrapola

Ever feel like you're overwhelmingly busy? Of course you have. We all do. But chances are, you might not be as busy as you think—and knowing this simple fact can reduce a lot of stress.

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Managing your money and budgeting can be a daunting task, even if you're a spreadsheet ninja. Corralling accounts, watching your money move, and keeping track of everything can be tough, but there are personal finance tools that make the job much easier. Here are some of the best personal finance tools, perfect for keeping track of your finances.

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If you're eager to start photographing the night sky, but you want to do so on a budget, it can be done—even with just a smartphone and a telescope.

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When you bike at night, you need lights and reflectors to stay safe from vehicles and other people who might otherwise not see you. MAKE Projects shows you a really cool way to not only do that, but make your bike look like something out of TRON at the same time.

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We can understand why some people might have concerns about receiving tax forms that are already filled in by the IRS. We could understand why some would voice those concerns in a public forum. But is a line crossed when the people telling you to voice your concerns are the very ones who stand to benefit financially from your opposition?

The folks at Intuit, best known as the makers of TurboTax, have been trying for the last several years to preempt any attempt by the IRS to launch a “return-free” system that would provide taxpayers with pre-filled tax forms that could then be more quickly and efficiently filed.

The 2002 law that created Free File — the ability to file the simplest of tax returns electronically without having to pay a fee — also established a 10-year period during which the IRS could not set up its own “free, online tax return preparation and filing services.”

That decade is now in the rearview mirror and Intuit is terribly afraid of what it could mean to the company’s bottom line. It has already pumped millions of dollars into lawmakers’ coffers, resulting in multiple (but stalled) bills that would crush return-free filing by permanently extending the ban against the IRS instituting its own free-filing system.

Since its legislative efforts have not yet succeeded, Intuit has been taking a new approach, attempting to spur a grassroots movement by convincing non-profits, along with community and religious leaders, that return-free filing is bad for the average taxpayer.

ProPublica’s Liz Day has looked into a recent spate of op-ed pieces written in opposition to return-free filings, many of which seem to echo the same misinformed messages, but which come from unexpected sources.

For instance, there’s this piece from a rabbi and professor who claims that pre-filled tax forms will hurt “those who need the most support,” because they will have to hire accountants and attorneys to revise these forms.

This op-ed piece omits the fact that the program would be voluntary and that any pre-filled information can be corrected or changed by the taxpayer. It also glosses over the reality that the lowest-income Americans currently either need to sort out their taxes on their own, use an accountant, or pay for services like TurboTax.

Of course, the rabbi’s source for his information might explain these omissions. He tells ProPublica that he wrote the op-ed piece at the behest of a former student, who wrote to him and asked him to present the issue to the Jewish community. What that student didn’t tell the rabbi is that she’s a PR flack for a firm that is tied to Intuit.

“I wish she would have told me that,” said the rabbi after learning this fact.

That same PR firm had recently listed Intuit as a client on its website, but delisted the company after being approached by ProPublica. However, the firm does represent the Computer & Communications Industry Association, of which Intuit is a member — and its only member company that is involved in tax-preparation.

The director of an Oregon non-profit tells ProPublica she was approached by a PR flack who provided her with a template letter for her to send to one of her state’s senators.

When she pressed the flack on who he was representing, he admitted that he was working for the CCIA and that Intuit was indeed a member of the organization.

She says the rep used “a lot of words that advocates would be sympathetic to, like ‘oh, it’ll hurt people with English as a second language.’” But after doing her own research on the topic, she opted to not send the letter and now says she supports return-free filing.

But there are others who didn’t do their research and fired off letters after being contacted by groups with an interest in putting an end to return-free filing before it starts.

The president of the NAACP Delaware State Conference says he sent a letter to lawmakers after being approached by a longtime acquaintance, who just happens to be a lobbyist with a firm that may not be tied directly to CCIA or Intuit, but which specializes in so-called grasstop campaigns, which use advocacy and community groups to spread the desired message.

After being approached by ProPublica, the letter-writer admitted, “We may have to retract so far based on my research.”

Another community leader, the executive director of the L.A.-based Asian Business Association, confesses that he didn’t really look into the information he was given by an unidentified lobbyist that resulted in an op-ed piece against return-free filing.

“There’s some homework needed,” he admitted to ProPublica.

TurboTax Maker Linked to ‘Grassroots’ Campaign Against Free, Simple Tax Filing [ProPublica]

Graduates facing thousands of dollars in student loan debt often feel there is no relief in sight. However, a number of organizations and programs are popping up and aiming to take some of the burden in repaying massive student debt loans off young professional’s plates.

Such is the case in Chicago where a new organization pairs college graduates with non-profits looking for volunteers with specific skills. In exchange for their work, the volunteers get money to put toward the repayment of their student loans, DNAinfo Chicago reports.

SponsorChange.org, which also operates in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., assists busy young professionals in meeting their staggering monthly student loan bills, while also providing them with an opportunity to expand their job skills and networking.

“People are getting crushed with debt as higher education costs are skyrocketing,” Shawn Agyemen, chief marketing officer for SponsorChange, tells DNAinfo. “We just want people who have skills and are very interested in helping the overall community.”

Graduates who volunteer with SponsorChange often have full-time positions elsewhere, but still lack enough funds to pay off their student debts. Instead of working part-time to make ends meet, SponsorChange gives them another option.

The program averages about $20/hour for its skill-based volunteering. The funds come from sponsors, individuals and corporations that choose to donate to a specific cause, a specific postgrad volunteer, or to SponsorChange in general.

One SponsorChange volunteer, who is working to pay $35,000 she owes from earning her 2007 bachelor’s degree, is using her public relations skills to help a non-profit tech hub. By the time her SponsorChange project ends in June, she will have made $2,000 to pay toward her loans.

“SponsorChange has connections with all type of organizations that you might not be able to tap into,” she said. “My goal is to really get more tech-based experience that I need.”

SponsorChange is just one student loan forgiveness program available to graduates facing piles of student loan debt. Last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported that about a quarter of the U.S. workforce could qualify under federal rules for favorable loan repayment options, but most don’t know such programs exist.

One option is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, in which, individuals who work in public service jobs can qualify for forgiveness of their federal student loans after meeting certain qualifications such as making a number of loan payments or working in a job for a number of years.

For private loan borrowers who don’t have time to volunteer there are other options. Some banks are now offering the graduates the ability to refinance. In January, Charter One announced its new Education Refinance Loan that provides borrowers with rates as low as 5.24%.

Student Loan Debt Relief Available in Exchange For Volunteer Work [DNAinfo Chicago]

Much like the time your parents got an unexpected phone call that their car now resided upside down in the neighbor’s swimming pool, some Airbnb renters are none too pleased to find their homes have been used for ah, sexual recreation purposes that require police attention. In essence, beware the brothelization of your home.

When you think about it, what’s not to keep the sex trade from treating homes like hotels, well, besides the law and all that. There are beds, four walls and a door that locks.

All amenities that proved too tempting for one alleged prostitute in New York City, who the New York Post says rented a 29-year-old publicist’s apartment as her hourly love nest from March 21 to March 23.

“She told me that she was in the Army and needed a place to hang out before she got shipped out,” the woman said of her Airbnb renter. “She said she was being deployed that week. She was asking for places to go out with her friends.”

She was shocked to get a phone call from the police then, after the alleged prostitute was slashed by a client over the price of his “massage.” She says she returned home to find paraphernalia like baby wipes, the woman’s “calling card” and “at least 10 condoms.” Aaaaand cue shudder.

Airbnb put her up in a swanky hotel for two night with free room-service meals and paid to change her locks, clean the apartment and replace pillows and other belongings.

“The entire hospitality industry deals with issues like this, and we have zero tolerance for this activity,” Airbnb said of the incident.

It’s not just this one isolated incident — of course there was that sex party situation as well — one escort tells the NYP that her service will rent out apartments for an entire week for the sole purpose of hosting clients.

“It’s more discreet and much cheaper than The Waldorf,” said the sex worker adding that escort services and the like can save a few hundred bucks a night by not getting a hotel. “Hotels have doormen and cameras. They ask questions. Apartments are usually buzz-in.”

Now I’m feeling pretty good about the fact that no one would ever pay to stay in my falling down, slanty-floored apartment, not even prostitutes. Silver linings, y’all. Silver linings.

Hookers turning Airbnb apartments into brothels [New York Post]

Although sometimes it can feel like engaging in social media is akin to shouting into a bottomless pit and no one is really listening, you better be sure that if you claim to be part of a terrorist group planning “something” big and tweet that to a major airline, well, someone’s going to hear you. And maybe put you in jail.

A Dutch teenager reportedly tweeted at American Airlines yesterday, saying her name was Ibrahim from Afghanistan, that she was a member of of Al Qaida and something “big” was going to go down June 1, reports Business Insider.

American Airlines took notice right away of the 14-year-old’s tweet and replied that this was no laughing matter.

She soon realized the error of her tweeting ways, reportedly replying to the airline that she was just a teenager and was totally kidding. She also said she wasn’t going to tell her parents because then they’d take away her account and that would be “the end of my life.”

But Dutch police figured it’s better to be safe than sorry and have arrested her and have arrested her at her Rotterdam, Netherlands home. It’s safe to say her parents are now aware of what she’s been up to.

A police spokesman confirmed the arrest, telling Business Insider:

We’re not in a state that we can communicate any state of charges at this point. We just thought it was necessary to bring this out mostly because of the fact that it caused a great deal of interest on the Internet.

Will she most likely end up free soon enough, severely chastened and with a new respect for authority figures and the power of social media? Let’s hope so. Her account has since been deleted so she probably won’t be tweeting anytime soon, regardless.

Dutch Police Make Arrest In Teen Twitter Terror Threat [Business Insider]

In its newest attempt to take over, and make over, the look of wireless service, T-Mobile unveiled its latest ploy to attract customers: no more overage charges to consumer plans.

Starting in May the company is axing all overage fees, including domestic talk, text and data, for all consumer plans. The new policy will begin showing up with consumers’ June bills.

The new no-overage practice means that consumers won’t automatically be on the hook to pay for any usage they incur beyond their plans’ limits. Instead, consumers will have the option to pay for more access through day- or week-long data passes or no use their devices.

A similar format is being used in the newly launched Simple Start plan which offers consumers unlimited talk/text and 500 MB of data. When a customer reaches their limit they can purchase more data or simply not use their device until the beginning of the next billing cycle.

T-Mobile estimates that U.S. consumers pay more than $1 billion a year in “greedy, predatory” overage charges to wireless providers. That’s why officials with the company publicly called out fellow wireless providers to end the charges, even starting the “#AbolishOverages” hashtag.

“Today I’m laying down a challenge to AT&T, Verizon and Sprint to join T-Mobile in ending these outrageous overage penalties for all consumers – because it’s the right thing to do,” John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile, says in a news release. “Overage fees are flat out wrong. Agree with me? Join me in putting this challenge to all the major national carriers by signing my petition on Change.org. Right here. Take one minute to be a part of this consumer movement.”

The liberation from overage charges is the carrier’s latest attempt to separate itself from other national carriers. Last year, the company did away with annual service contracts and launched the early upgrade program JUMP.

“The worst thing about these overage fees is that they’re often inflicted on those who can least afford them,” added Legere.

The company’s customer friendly stance doesn’t seem to translate to their own employees. Earlier this month, the company ended its employee and college student discounts. However, following public outcry the carrier restored the discount to current customers, but new customers won’t be eligible.

T-Mobile Abolishes Consumer Overages, Challenges Other Wireless Providers to Follow Suit [T-Mobile]

We’ve written before about triple-digit taxi fares, but it’s usually a case of sketchy drivers taking advantage of naive customers or passengers who don’t realize there are less-expensive options. So here’s a story of how a cab driver in Kansas was paid $600 to help a bank robber make his escape.

The driver tells Kansas City’s WDAF-TV that he picked up a passenger in Lawrence, KS, who offered him $600 to drive him the 200 or so miles north to Omaha, NE.

But first, the passenger had to stop by a Truity Credit Union branch to cash a check.

“Something didn’t seem right about it, at least to me anyway,” says the driver, who waited for his passenger outside the bank. “At the time, I was a little worried, like if he was a drug dealer or in trouble. [I was thinking] this could be kind of not good.”

After the passenger was done robbing the credit union, he returned to the car and the two made their way up to Omaha. The driver dropped him off at a bus station, received his $600 and began the return trip to Lawrence.

He says he had no idea what was going on and didn’t learn of the bank robbery until after he’d dropped off the passenger.

“I’m glad I was told later because I probably would have freaked out,” said the driver, whose $600 fare was confiscated by authorities but who is not a suspect in the robbery.

As if it’s not hard enough to be a teenager dressed to the nines in a formal outfit that probably cost too much and won’t change your life in the way you’ve always dreamed of, in a room filled with other teenagers awkwardly swaying/pawing at each other, why not strap fried chicken to your arm and just call it a night? To wit: KFC is peddling customizable chicken drumstick corsages for those discerning promgoers looking to go that extra weird mile.

If you’re sniffing the distinct scent of publicity stunt, we’re with you: There are only 100 available, and you’ll have to bring a coupon in to get your own chicken when the time is right.

Looking for a corsage that will make your date’s eyes light up and her mouth water?

This KFC drumstick corsage is the Secret Recipe to making sure this year’s dance will be one you both remember.

Don’t delay. Order today! Only a limited edition of 100 chicken corsages are available.

Just like the last piece of chicken in the bucket, when they’re gone, they’re gone.

The corsage kits come with a $5 KFC gift check that said date can present at his or her local eatery and choose which kind of chicken will satisfy your date’s appetite. It’ll rest on a town of fresh baby’s breath, while ” out-of-town corsages will have silk baby’s breath.”

If you happen to attend a prom that doesn’t come with dinner included in the price of the ticket, this is actually a pretty economical choice. You can gnosh while you wait for your mother to take the 19,003rd photo of you and some guy whose tuxedo was way too big and whose name you won’t remember 14 years later anyway so whatever, just hurry up.

You may not use things like cumin, honey, or sage in every meal, but these are the kinds of ingredients that many home cooks keep on hand so they can use them whenever they’re called for. But how do you keep that paprika from turning into colorful sawdust? And what’s the best way to store that fresh parsley so it won’t be dried up and useless a few days after you buy it?

In previous installments of Spoilage Wars, we gave you storage advice for sensitive supermarket purchases like dairy, eggs, and bread; followed by a look at the best ways to keep fresh fruits and vegetables… well, fresh.

Today, we once again turn to Julia Collin Davison — executive food editor for the book division of America’s Test Kitchen and on-screen test cook for America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country from America’s Test Kitchen — to get some advice on those ingredients that are essential to good cooking, but often go neglected.

FRESH HERBS:
Where to store them: In the refrigerator, preferably with some moisture.
Keep ‘em moist: You can keep fresh herbs in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks if treated right, says Davison. Snip off the ends of your fresh herbs stand them in a small glass with a little bit of water in the bottom. Right next to the milk carton will do just fine. Another option is to wrap them in damp paper towels and put the whole bundle in a plastic bag in the fridge.

SPICES:
Where to store them: At room temperature, but not near the oven, stove or other heat source.
Crazy from the heat: Sure, that really nice over-the-stove spice rack looks great and it’s really convenient when whipping up a goulash on a Tuesday night, but Davison says heat is the enemy of spices.

“It’s just a place that will ruin them,” Davison says, noting that a stale, tasteless spice won’t do you much good. Unless you’re trying to make stale and tasteless the next big thing in cuisine.

“The key is when you open the jar and you put your nose close the opening, and you can’t smell it? Those things are dead,” says Davison, “There’s no point putting it in your cooking.”

DELICATE OILS (LIKE TRUFFLE OIL OR WALNUT):
Where to store them: Refrigerator
Anywhere in particular? In the door works; it’s got that rack and everything.

“Refrigeration preserves their more delicate flavors,” explains Davison about these products, while confirming that more robust oils like olive, corn, canola, and peanut are fine in the pantry.

HONEY:
Where to store it: In the pantry, room temperature. Honey is one of the most shelf-stable food items you can buy. Some people get a little freaked out when their honey crystalizes, but that doesn’t mean the stuff has gone bad.

Davison says there is no sure-fire way to prevent honey from crystalizing, but give the container a bath in warm water to get it liquid again. Don’t make the same mistake as my colleague Chris Morran, who has to heat up a large stock pot with hot water to warm up the mammoth jug o’ honey he bought at a store whose name rhymes with Costco.

CONDIMENTS:
While we’d love to tell you there are hard and fast rules about where to store all your various condiments, Davison says there are just too many variations and too many different ingredients that could decide whether something should go in the fridge or in the pantry. That’s why many commercially available condiments have storage instructions on the label. Davison says you can’t really screw up by following whatever the label says.

That’s it for now on Spoilage Wars. If you have a food storage question you’d like us to investigate, shoot us an e-mail with “SPOILAGE WARS” in the subject line at tips@consumerist.com and maybe it will be answered in a future post.

The main reason that people nominated and voted for SeaWorld in our recently concluded Worst Company In America tournament was the controversy — highlighted in the documentary Blackfish — over its treatment of orca whales and, more precisely, the multiple deaths that have been tied to one particular whale. SeaWorld has been fighting workplace safety citations issued following the 2010 death of a trainer, but today a federal appeals court ruled against the park.

In Feb. 2010, SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed during a live performance at the park when an orca named Tilikum, who had been involved in two previous fatalities, pulled her into the water and refused to release her before she drowned.

Following this tragic incident OSHA issued three workplace safety violations against SeaWorld, two of them directly related to the death of Brancheau.

One of the citations alleged two instances of a “willful” violation for exposing animal trainers to the recognized hazards of drowning or injury when working with orcas. Specifically, the park was called out for, among other things, allowing the trainers to work with the whales without a protective barrier.

SeaWorld had tried to argue that it was unaware that working with so-called killer whales presented a recognized hazard, but in 2012 an administrative law judge cited not only the previous deaths involving orcas at SeaWorld but also the park’s own safety manuals and training literature in ruling that the park did indeed know that this sort of up-close work presents a real risk to trainers.

That judge said SeaWorld’s safety program related to orcas relied too heavily on trainers to “recognize precursors and prevent unpredictable behavior by the killer whales.”

Added the judge, “SeaWorld holds trainers to a near-impossible standard set by upper management, who engage in a form of Monday morning quarterbacking.”

SeaWorld took its argument up the legal ladder to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which heard from both sides last November.

Today, the appeals panel issued its ruling, once again siding with OSHA.

“SeaWorld suggests that close contact with these whales was not a recognized hazard because all whales behave differently… But SeaWorld’s incident reports
demonstrate that it recognized the danger its killer whales posed to trainers notwithstanding its protocols,” wrote the court in today’s ruling [PDF]

The court points out that, of the seven orcas at the Orlando SeaWorld at the time of Ms. Brancheau’s death, “a substantial portion of SeaWorld’s killer
whale population had at least one reported incident… Killer whales bit trainers’ body parts on several occasions (although not generally
puncturing skin) and in 2006 a killer whale pulled a trainer underwater by the foot and submerged him repeatedly for approximately 10 minutes.”

There were also numerous instances of trainers being pulled into to water by whales, and of whales lunging out of the water at trainers.

“These incidents constitute substantial evidence to support the [administrative law judge]’s finding that “drywork” [work performed by trainers on dry surfaces around the whale tanks or in shallow water along the edges of the tanks] was also a recognized hazard,” writes the court.

The court also took issue with SeaWorld’s argument that the whales were safe to work with because they were trained to behave in a desirable manner and trainers were taught to identify precursors of aggressive behavior so they could preemptively remove themselves from a bad situation.

“On multiple occasions, including the death of Ms. Brancheau, SeaWorld’s incident reports indicated that the killer whales showed no immediate precursors of aggressive behavior or ignored SeaWorld’s emergency procedures designed to make them cease aggressive behavior,” writes the court.

Rather than the park’s safety and training protocols demonstrating — as SeaWorld claimed they do — that conditions were not unsafe, the court contended that “they demonstrate SeaWorld’s recognition that the killer whales interacting with trainers are dangerous and unpredictable and that even senior trainers can make mistakes during performances.”

Animal rights groups and others that have voiced concern about SeaWorld’s treatment of orcas and their trainers are applauding today’s decision.

“This ruling supports our contention that, from a common sense perspective, it is simply not safe to work in close contact with an intelligent, multi-ton marine predator,” said Dr. Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist for the Animal Welfare Institute. “The relationship trainers have with these whales is important to the whales, who are social animals, but it’s not safe for the trainers. The fact is orcas don’t belong in captivity in the first place.”

A word to any Hollywood screenwriters working on a scene where old cops go back to high school disguised as implausibly believable students — put those characters at a mall and real teenagers will know you don’t know what’s cool these days. Namely, malls are out, and restaurants are in as the new spot to hangout.

Ever since the 1950s, the mall was the place teens begged their parents to let them go to hang out mostly unsupervised, inspiring such cinematic classics like Mallrats and intense brain games like Mall Madness.

But as malls go the way of the dinosaur, kids these days would rather spend their time and money hanging out and eating food at restaurants than by the mall fountain and shopping at Spencer’s (which yes, still exists, for now), reports Quartz.

Teen mall traffic is down by 30% over the last 10 years, according to Piper Jaffray’s 27th semi-annual study into teen behavior. In 2014, teens on average logged 29 trips each to the mall, compared to 38 visits in 2007. And for the first time since the study started, teens are spending more money on food and events than clothing.

“Restaurants have become a gathering place and teens are increasingly suggesting they prefer dining out to other forms of status brand spending,” the report says. “We see restaurants as the next generation hang out for teens.”

That could be an unwelcome change for other patrons, as cops responded to a Brooklyn McDonald’s recently to deal with a ravening horde of teens accustomed to showing up there on a daily basis, reports the New York Daily News.

“It’s out of control,” one employee said of the usual scene.

Dozens of students had been converging on the McDonald’s every afternoon as school let out, yelling at each other, throwing things, running into people and generally causing a disarray. That is, until adults reclaimed the spot by way of three cops and a security guard.

“I’m going home,” one girl told the NYDN, noting there were now too many police at the McDonald’s.

Ah, authority, the constant killjoy.

American teens don’t hang out at malls anymore. They eat at restaurants [Quartz]
Cops, security guard restore order at Brooklyn McDonald’s [New York Daily News]
Hordes of local youths terrorize a Central Brooklyn McDonald’s during lunch hour, yelling, cursing, running wild and vandalizing furniture, workers say [New York Daily News]

Hey, remember when Graco recalled more than 4 million child safety seats because their buckles have a tendency to latch a little too well when gummed up with food or beverages? It seems that they weren’t the only manufacturer to use the extra-sticky buckles. Evenflo has recalled just under 1.4 million of their seats for the same problem.

Affected models are the Momentum 65, Chase, Maestro, Symphony, Snugli All-In-One, Snugli Booster, Titan 65, SureRide DLX, and Secure Kid seats. All recalled seats were manufactured between 2011 and 2014. To find out whether your seat falls within the recall period, visit Evenflo’s recall page.

You may have to wait for replacement restraints to arrive, but the seats aren’t dangerous to use in the interim. Just be careful to keep the buckles clean: car seat manufacturers have posted detailed cleaning instructions (PDF download).

Harness Buckle Recall [Official Site]

- British police are appealing for help finding five stolen dogs, including a Chihuahua puppy that recently won a major prize at the prestigious Crufts competition.

- A Utah woman accused of killing several babies she gave birth to over 10 years was arrested Sunday after police discovered seven tiny bodies stuffed in separate cardboard boxes in the garage of her former home.

- A judge has ordered a man convicted of harassing a neighbor and her disabled children to stand on a street corner with a sign that says he is a bully.

- Michael Myvett and Mattison Haywood were headed together toward a college in the California redwoods where he once was a student and now was taking teens with dreams of doing the same. Also on the horizon: A wedding.

- A Houston woman was sentenced to life in prison Friday for fatally stabbing her boyfriend with the 5½-inch stiletto heel of her shoe, striking him at least 25 times in the face and head.

- Virginia Beach Emergency Medical Services has increased security procedures following the theft of drugs from two rescue stations and a locker at a hospital.

- Authorities are investigating a fire that destroyed the historic Alms House at the Shenandoah County Farm.

They're calling it the Million Pibble March, but the organizer says that 5,000 people is the real goal.

- An equine neurological disease caused by a virus has been confirmed in a horse from Northern Virginia.

Some areas of Fairfax County are about to undergo aerial spraying in the effort to get rid of fall cankerworm caterpillars.

Flowers are common in the home around Easter and Mother's Day, but local veterinarians say they can be dangerous to pets.

Some of the biggest health insurance companies in the country are poised to benefit from the debate over expanding Medicaid in Virginia, regardless of its outcome.

At this Easter egg hunt, 5,000 eggs rain down from the sky. It's Easter egg hunting with a twist.

A new study suggests that girls suffer more severe concussions with symptoms that last longer than boys.