CORRESPONDENTS
Tony Pugh
FDA: Mercury-based fillings pose no serious health hazard
The Food and Drug Administration's decision that mercury-based dental fillings are safe fulfilled a procedural act Congress first ordered back in 1976 but that had languished as the dental industry, consumer advocates and scientists fought over the safety of "dental amalgams." Consumer groups, which have pushed for a ban on mercury in fillings, promised a court challenge. | 07/28/09 18:30:00 By - Tony Pugh
Talk about minimum wage: If you wait tables, it's still just $2.13
Friday's increase in the federal minimum wage left Leanne Foti feeling a little hollow. A single mother of two, Foti works as a waitress at the Bridgewater Diner in Bridgewater, N.J. So her base pay of $2.13 per hour didn't budge Friday when the federal minimum wage went from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. The federal floor wage for tipped workers has been stuck at $2.13 hourly for 18 years. | 07/24/09 14:54:00 By - Tony Pugh
On Friday, lowest-wage workers get a raise
Two previous wage increases, one in 2007, the other in 2008, pushed the federal wage to $5.85 and then to the current $6.55 an hour. The third, which goes into effect Friday, will push it to $7.25 an hour. That's not a life-changing raise, but some economists worry now is not the time to impose it. | 07/19/09 14:56:00 By - Tony Pugh
Growing numbers of poor people swamp legal aid offices
After years of funding shortfalls, legal aid societies across the country are being overwhelmed by growing numbers of poor and unemployed Americans who face eviction, foreclosure, bankruptcy and other legal problems tied to the recession. | 07/09/09 16:28:00 By - Tony Pugh
Lawmakers look at rising scams for reverse mortgages
The housing bubble, lax regulatory oversight and an influx of shady loan professionals have made lawmakers uneasy about the safety and soundness of the popular government-backed reverse-mortgage program. | 06/29/09 18:27:00 By - Tony Pugh
Recession's toll: Most recent college grads working low-skill jobs
The tough economy and tight labor market have tarnished the luster of a bachelor's degree for young college graduates seeking employment. New monthly survey data find that during the first four months of 2009, less than half of the nation's 4 million college graduates age 25 and under were working in jobs that required a college degree. That's down from 54 percent for same period last year. | 06/25/09 18:45:00 By - Tony Pugh
In huge change, Obama'd strip Fed of credit card oversight
Under the plan Obama will announce Wednesday, the Federal Reserve and other bank regulators would lose their oversight over mortgages, credit cards and other financial products that are sold to consumers. Instead, power would reside with a newly created agency whose mission would be to protect the consumer, not financial institutions. | 06/16/09 18:46:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and Tony Pugh
Projection: It'll be years before jobs return to much of U.S.
Unlike the labor market collapse that killed millions of U.S. jobs in a matter of months, the nation's return to peak employment will not be nearly as uniform nor as swift. While signs indicate that the worst of the recession may be over, only six metropolitan areas across the country are expected to regain their pre-recession employment levels by the end of 2009, according to projections from IHS Global Insight, a leading economic forecaster. | 06/14/09 06:00:00 By - Tony Pugh
Older workers muscling out teens for summer jobs
After three years of braving Alaska's minus 50-degree winter temperatures and round-the-clock summer sunshine, architect Victoria Schmitz is taking a break. She's going to summer camp for two months outside Boulder, Colo. | 06/04/09 15:20:00 By - Tony Pugh
Businesses struggle as bank loans remain elusive
In January, slow sales and a dearth of creditworthy customers forced Bob Cockerham to close the third of his four auto dealerships in New Mexico. However, when his bank canceled his $200,000 credit line, cut the amount of inventory it would finance and, finally, told Cockerham to find another lender to work with, he sensed that the end was near. | 05/14/09 16:55:00 By - Tony Pugh
Are health groups' voluntary actions enough? Likely not
While President Barack Obama embraced Monday a health industry group's pledge to trim $2 trillion in health care costs, he said it's not a substitute for an overhaul effort led by lawmakers. Industry experts say that the voluntary cost control effort will achieve little unless Congress enacts legislation that requires it. | 05/11/09 15:39:37 By - Margaret Talev and Tony Pugh
With flu fizzling, health experts rethink school closures
With more data suggesting the swine flu outbreak may not be as deadly as first feared, U.S. health officials are reconsidering their earlier advice on when schools should be closed over health concerns about the virus. | 05/04/09 18:14:00 By - Tony Pugh
Researchers can't agree on severity of swine flu outbreak
More than a month into the swine flu outbreak that has now affected 13 countries, medical experts are wondering aloud whether the contagious disease will ever become the deadly pandemic that everyone fears. With at least 143 infections now confirmed in 23 states, the H1N1 virus continues to spread via person-to-person transmission. But they overwhelmingly have been mild. | 05/01/09 19:33:00 By - Tony Pugh
Researchers can't agree on severity of swine flu outbreak
More than a month into the swine flu outbreak that has now affected 13 countries, medical experts are wondering aloud whether the contagious disease will ever become the deadly pandemic that everyone fears. With at least 143 infections now confirmed in 23 states, the H1N1 virus continues to spread via person-to-person transmission. But they overwhelmingly have been mild. | 05/01/09 18:42:26 By - Tony Pugh
World health officials urge governments to prepare for pandemic
The global threat from the swine flu outbreak reached its highest level yet on Wednesday as the World Health Organization urged government, business and health officials to start planning in earnest for a pandemic, which now appears unavoidable. | 04/29/09 18:58:00 By - Tony Pugh
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