Declarations

Bankruptcy No Barrier

“It occurs to me that you’ve structured your affairs so that your creditors would have great difficulty in reaching into your income as a doctor.”

—U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Bennett in ruling that former West Virginia physician John A. King misled the court and his creditors by filing bankruptcy papers with major omissions, including at least $670,000 in income. King will not be able to use his Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing to block payments in the more than 120 malpractice cases brought against him.

Taylor-Made Coverage

“As we found out after Katrina and our fellow Texans are finding out now after Ike and Gustav, short of home and business owners hiring lawyers and engineers to take their carriers to court, insurance companies routinely and deliberately fail to pay on legitimate hurricane-related wind claims. No one should have to go through this. It isn’t fair to American homeowners and it must end.”

—Rep. Gene Taylor, D.-Miss., in re-filing his legislation to make wind coverage available through the federal flood insurance program.

Green Response

“Instead of increasing the liabilities of a program that is almost $20 billion in debt, Congress should focus its attention on making communities more resilient to storms by investing in the protection and restoration of wetlands, floodplains, and barrier islands.”

—Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, a nonprofit that works to protect waterways, explaining her group’s opposition to Taylor’s legislation to expand the federal flood program.

Under-Mining Safety

“It this were to pass, it would be signing the death warrants of hundreds of coal miners across this state. If they get away with this, God help the Kentucky coal miners.”

—United Mine Workers of America representative Steve Earle criticizing three measures pending in the Kentucky legislature he said would undo key provisions of the state’s mine safety law. One would sharply reduce state mine inspections. Another would cut the number of medics at small mines. And the other would strike a provision that requires ventilation fans to run continuously in underground mines to prevent the buildup of explosive gases.

Safer Kentucky Derby

“We think we’ve always had one of the safest racetracks in the country, but we think these initiatives will make us even safer.”

—Jim Gates, general manager at Churchill Downs racetrack, which is beefing up safety ahead of this year’s Kentucky Derby. The company is enacting more than 20 changes, ranging from enhanced drug testing to limits on whips and racing ages, in time for the start of the spring meet. The filly Eight Belles finished second in last year’s Derby, only to pull up lame as she jogged past the finish line. An autopsy showed compound fractures in both front legs, and the horse had to be euthanized on the track.