Word: minimum
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...close to scrapping the draconian Rockefeller drug laws that, by imposing mandatory sentences rather than rehab treatment, have kept many otherwise law-abiding drug users in prison for years. Other states, such as Michigan, New Jersey and North Carolina, are either releasing some prisoners who have served their minimum time or putting drug offenders in treatment programs instead of prison. (Read about challenges to New York's drug sentencing laws...
...counties to provide care only to those deemed "indigent," defined as people who earn less than 21% of the federal poverty line, or $2,274 a year for a single adult and $4,630 for a family of four. Many counties, particularly rural ones, do no more than that minimum. So Texas - a state with relatively little regulation of the health-insurance industry - is fertile territory for insurance companies selling bare-bones coverage at low prices...
...change the country's dangerous drinking culture. The government, a minority Scottish National Party administration, has found ways to introduce new measures by adapting existing legislation rather than seeking the support of opposition parties for new laws. Key points of the new strategy include the introduction of a minimum unit price of alcohol to stop strong drink from being sold cheaply, along with bans on cut-price promotions favored by supermarkets. Local police chiefs are being handed the power to request that local licensing boards raise the legal drinking age to 21. (See pictures of Denver, Beer Country...
...Critics of the changes say that if different areas have different drinking ages, younger drinkers will simply travel to buy drink. They also say that the minimum unit price will push up the price of Scotland's national tipple, whisky, which has an alcohol content of 40% or above, but could potentially even reduce the price of the drinks favored by binge-drinking youngsters, so-called alco-pops and Buckfast, a caffeine-infused "tonic" wine made by Benedictine monks in southwestern England...
Still, serving lattes for minimum wage plus tips is a painful prospect to the average college student, who graduates with $21,000 in the red. Tuition costs could also explain why graduate schools, traditionally a refuge in tough economic times, have seen uneven application numbers this year. Lance Choy, director of the career development center at Stanford, notes that grad schools were a popular backup a few years ago during the dotcom bust, but applications are flat this year. "Who needs more debt when the job market is looking rather grim?" he says. (Read "Finding a Dream Job: A Little...