Declarations

Big Rig Giveaway

“I like Volvos. … I really like the style of the new ones.”

—Ron Terrill, an Oklahoma truck driver, said he entered Great American Insurance Group’s “Big Rig Giveaway,” for the first time in 2010 after learning that the giveaway rig was a Volvo. Terrill ended up winning the Volvo VNL 780. A trucker with 20 years’ experience, he is an independent owner-operator who drives a five-state delivery route for Great Wide, which, coincidentally, is insured by Ohio-based Great American. The “Big Rig Giveaway” has awarded previous winners with Freightliner, Peterbilt and Kenworth rigs.

No Legal Justification

“Court officials have made one excuse after another for delaying the release of records.”

—Oklahoma Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, says the state’s Workers’ Compensation Court has for years stonewalled legislative records requests and is calling for dismissal of the court’s administrator, Marcia Davis, and legal counsel, Tish Sommer. Reynolds said in a statement that in August 2009, in his duties as a legislator, he requested information from the court bulk data that is not confidential. Since then, Reynolds says, court officials have continually stonewalled and failed to supply the requested data. He said that even after the Attorney General’s office sent a letter to the court requesting information, it has not complied.

They’re Not Going Away

“Given the size of the baby-boom generation, if the shift toward later retirement persists it will mean added pressure on the entry of younger workers on the labor force.”

—Richard Curtin, director of a Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers. A report issued by the group says more adults over 65 are staying in the work force, which could make it harder for younger workers to find jobs. While employment for older workers remains low compared with the rest of the population, the over-65 group was the only one to increase its employment rate over the past decade, the report says.

Unacceptable in a Modern Society

“This is unacceptable in our modern society and an important reminder that we must provide FDA with the needed tools.”

—U.S. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. The Department of Health and Human Services says federal inspectors are conducting fewer reviews of food manufacturing plants due to the shrinking workforce at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Around 76 million people in the U.S. get sick every year with foodborne illness and 5,000 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.