Report: Insurers Lost About $2.3B on Workers' Compensation in 2011

Insurers that provide workers' compensation coverage in California lost about $2.3 billion last year, according to a report by the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, the Sacramento Bee's "Capitol Alert" reports.

Details of Report

The report found that insurers that provide workers' compensation coverage for most California employers collected about $10.4 billion in premiums in 2011.

However, the insurers paid out $7.7 billion for health care services and support benefits and had expenses of $5 billion last year, according to the report.

The losses on workers' compensation plans in 2011 were greater than those experienced by insurers in 2010.

The report does not include data from large private and public employers who often self-insure for job-related injuries.

Implications

According to "Capitol Alert," the report could bolster efforts by insurers to increase premiums on workers' compensation plans.

Insurers and other stakeholders are seeking to alter reforms made eight years ago to California's workers' compensation system, "Capitol Alert" reports?(Walters, "Capitol Alert," Sacramento Bee, 6/26).

Details of Reforms

In 2004, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)?convinced lawmakers to make several cost-cutting changes to the workers' compensation system. Schwarzenegger's administration subsequently adopted additional administrative rules.

The changes have reduced employer costs, but other stakeholders have criticized the changes.

They argue that, under the changes:

• Disabled workers are not receiving adequate compensation;
• Health care is too tightly controlled; and
• Insurers are losing money on workers' compensation policies (California Healthline, 3/29).

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Katy Perry Hopes 'Part Of Me' Is 'An Inspiration' To Fans

'When they see it, they are like, 'Oh, yeah, she goes through some sh-- too,' ' Perry tells MTV News at Hollywood premiere.
By Christina Garibaldi

Katy Perry at the "Part of Me" premiere in Hollywood on Tuesday
Photo:

HOLLYWOOD — Katy Perry couldn't have picked a better way to bring her Teenage Dream era to a close. The pop star shut down Hollywood Boulevard for the premiere of her much-anticipated 3-D documentary "Part of Me."

She hit the pink carpet at the famed Grauman's Chinese Theatre looking old Hollywood glam in a strapless red velvet dress complete with purple hair. After hitting the carpet — alongside Selena Gomez, Carly Rae Jepsen and Victoria Justice — Perry wowed thousands of her KatyCats, giving them a special concert.

The 3-D film is a diary of the past year for Perry, who has experienced many highs but also some very personal lows, most notably her split from ex-husband Russell Brand.

MTV News caught up with Perry on the pink carpet, where she said that even though this movie reveals many difficult moments, she didn't necessarily find that it helped her cope with the situation. But she hopes it acts as an inspiration to her fans.

"I wouldn't say it's so therapeutic, because the movie is so well-rounded with so many different things," Perry said. "I guess some of it is just hopefully an inspiration for people. When they see it, they are like, 'Oh, yeah, she goes through some sh-- too. I can't dodge life's curve balls if Katy Perry can't dodge life's curve balls.' "

Perry hit the stage by busting out of a giant popcorn tub wearing a film-reel bustier, which she paired with a red-and-white skirt. Perry re-created her California Dreams Tour, playing all her hit songs including "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" and "Firework" before fans were treated to the world premiere of "Part of Me," which hits theaters July 5.

Check out everything we've got on "Katy Perry: Part of Me."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Related Photos

• 'Katy Perry: Part Of Me' L.A. Premiere

Related Artists

• Katy Perry

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Top predators key to extinctions as planet warms

ScienceDaily (June 21, 2012) ? Global warming may cause more extinctions than predicted if scientists fail to account for interactions among species in their models, Yale and UConn researchers argue in Science.

"Currently, most models predicting the effects of climate change treat species separately and focus only on climatic and environmental drivers," said Phoebe Zarnetske, the study's primary author and a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. "But we know that species don't exist in a vacuum. They interact with each other in ways that deeply affect their viability."

Zarnetske said the complexity of "species interaction networks" discourages their inclusion in models predicting the effects of climate change. Using the single-species, or "climate envelope," approach, researchers have predicted that 15 percent to 37 percent of species will be faced with extinction by 2050.

But research has shown that top consumers -- predators and herbivores -- have an especially strong effect on many other species. In a warming world, these species are "biotic multipliers," increasing the extinction risk and altering the ranges of many other species in the food web.

"Climate change is likely to have strong effects on top consumers. As a result, these effects can ripple through an entire food web, multiplying extinction risks along the way," said Dave Skelly, a co-author of the study and professor of ecology at Yale.

The paper argues that focusing on these biotic multipliers and their interactions with other species is a promising way to improve predictions of the effects of climate change, and recent studies support this idea. On Isle Royale, an island in Lake Superior, rising winter temperatures and a disease outbreak caused wolf populations to decline and the number of moose to surge, leading to a decline in balsam fir trees. Studies in the rocky intertidal of the North American Pacific Coast show that higher temperatures altered the ranges of mussel species and their interaction with sea stars, their top predators, resulting in lower species diversity. And in Arctic Greenland, studies show that without caribou and muskoxen as top herbivores, higher temperatures can lead to decreased diversity in tundra plants and, in turn, affect many other species dependent on them.

"Species interactions are necessary for life on Earth. We rely on fisheries, timber, agriculture, medicine and a variety of other ecosystem services that result from intact species interactions," said Zarnetske. "Humans have already altered these important species interactions, and climate change is predicted to alter them further. Incorporating these interactions into models is crucial to informed management decisions that protect biodiversity and the services it provides."

Multispecies models with species interactions, according to the paper, would enable tracking of the biotic multipliers by following how changes in the abundance of target species, such as top consumers, alter the composition of communities of species. But there needs to be more data.

"Collecting this type of high-resolution biodiversity data will not be easy. However, insights from such data could provide us with the ability to predict and thus avoid some of the negative effects of climate change on biodiversity," said Mark Urban, a co-author and an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut.

The paper? was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Yale Climate and Energy Institute.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Yale University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Phoebe L. Zarnetske, David K. Skelly, and Mark C. Urban. Biotic Multipliers of Climate Change Effects. Science, 22 June 2012 DOI: 10.1126/science.1222732

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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This week, the FBI announced that violent crime dropped 4 percent in 2011, compared to a 5.5 percent drop in 2010. Nationally, the murder rate fell 1.9 percent from 2010, and robbery, forcible rape and assault fell 4 percent each.

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US calls for broader international sanctions on Syria

Stepped up diplomatic activity may further antagonize Russia and China, who issued a statement on Wednesday opposing any outside efforts to promote regime change in Syria.

By Howard LaFranchi,?Staff writer / June 6, 2012

This image from a citizen journalist purports to show Syrian rebels gathered on their vehicle in the northern town of Kfar Nebel, Syria, on Tuesday.

/Edlib News Network ENN/AP

Enlarge

A group of 60 countries led by the United States called for stronger sanctions against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Wednesday, on the eve of a meeting in Istanbul where the Friends of Syria group will consider means of precipitating Mr. Assad?s departure from power.

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The flurry of diplomatic activity comes in what US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner described at Wednesday?s meeting in Washington as ?the shadow of a massacre? after last month?s killings of more than 100 civilians in the city of Houla.

But the calls for a tightening squeeze on Assad also continue to hit the by-now familiar wall of resistance from Russia and China, which oppose additional measures against the Syrian regime. The two powers issued a statement Wednesday rejecting any outside efforts to promote regime change in Syria.

At the Washington meeting of the Friends of the Syrian People International Working Group on Sanctions, Secretary Geithner called on countries that have not yet imposed sanctions on Syria to do so, and he promoted stepped-up coordination of national sanctions as a means of tightening the noose on Assad.

Geithner also laid out on the table the eventual adoption by the United Nations Security Council of measures authorizing the use of international force in Syria ? as recommended, Geithner noted, by the Arab League last weekend. But that step appears quite unlikely, given that both Russia and China hold veto power over Security Council action.

The Washington meeting seems likely to have further antagonized Russia in particular, even as the Istanbul meeting is expected to explore ways to enlist Russia?s assistance in encouraging a political transition in Syria.

Arriving in Istanbul Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the countries meeting Thursday would consider ways to pressure Assad to ?allow the transition to a democratic Syria to begin.?

In a statement issued after its meeting, the sanctions group called on countries to ?harmonize national and regional sanctions regimes? by imposing an asset freeze on senior Syrian regime officials, and an asset freeze on the Central Bank of Syria and the Commercial Bank of Syria ?to ensure their isolation from the international financial system.?? The group also called for an embargo on Syrian petroleum products and a ban on insurance for shipments of Syrian petroleum products.

A senior Treasury official speaking after the meeting declined to speculate on the immediate impact it would have in terms of ratcheting up pressure on Assad, but he said that the number of countries attending suggested a growing interest in international action on Syria.

The meeting indicated an ?increasing recognition of the role well-designed sanctions can play in a conflict like this,? he said.

The group also called on all members of the international community to adopt an embargo on the supply of arms to the Syrian regime ? a measure that seemed pointed at Russia in particular.

Last week, the group Human Rights First reported the arrival in Syria of a Russian ship laden with arms, including heavy weapons. At the United Nations, the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, called Russia?s continued arming of the Assad regime ?reprehensible.?

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Police: Indiana couple killed while kids listen

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (AP) ? A convicted murderer freed from prison two years ago gunned down his brother during an argument outside his brother's northwest Indiana home early Saturday, then chased his sister-in-law inside and killed her while her terrified children listened, authorities said.

Steven Clippenger, 41, of South Bend, apparently killed Matthew and Lisa Clippenger after he became angry when Matthew confiscated his handgun hours earlier at the home, James Taylor, a St. Joseph County Metro Homicide investigator, said in an affidavit. He got another handgun from an acquaintance, Jenifer Leveque, returned to his brother's home and killed the couple before fleeing with Leveque in a pickup truck, Taylor said. They were arrested a short time later driving away from Steven Clippenger's home.

Steven Clippenger is charged with two counts of murder as well as a weapons charge in the slayings. Leveque, 40, is charged with assisting a criminal and giving a handgun to a felon, the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office said. Clippenger was being held without bond, and Leveque's bond was set at $60,000. It wasn't immediately clear if either had an attorney.

Steven Clippenger was paroled in 2010 after serving 20 years in prison for murder, so when he showed up Friday night at his brother's house with a revolver, Matthew Clippenger confiscated it, angering the ex-con, who returned later with the other gun, Taylor said.

The brothers met in the garage of the home, and the daughter of the slain couple "heard a number of gunshots ring out. Their mother ... opened the door to the garage and began screaming" before going into the garage, where the daughter saw Steven Clippenger point the gun, Taylor said. The girl ran to her brother's bedroom and woke him up.

"The son of Lisa and Matthew Clippenger then opened the bedroom door and saw their mother fleeing down the hallway while Steven Clippenger was chasing her. The children then hear a number of gunshots. They then call 911," Taylor said in the affidavit.

Matthew Clippenger was found on his driveway, and his wife in the hallway, Taylor said.

Neighbors told the investigator they heard shots ring out, looked out a window and saw Steven Clippenger standing over Matthew Clippenger's body and shoot him. They neighbors then saw the gunman enter the home, heard more gunshots, then saw him leave the home and jump into a truck driven by Leveque that sped away with its lights off.

Officers found Steven Clippenger, Leveque and another woman in the car pulling away from his home. There were multiple handguns in the car, they said.

The second woman told officers that when Clippenger and Leveque returned to the home, "they told her to pack up her things and they were fleeing to Georgia," Taylor said.

Authorities didn't provide ages for the slain couple or their children.

Associated Press

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