Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Men are at it again. They are buying more–for themselves. The male shopper, who laid low at the onset of the recession, is back. He is buying more and spending more, and retailers are delighted. Men are not just purchasing suits, dress shirts, ties and shoes. They are rivaling their female counterparts by loading up on accessories. They are buying bracelets, bags, hats, umbrella, belts, scarves, pocket squares, caps, metal cuffs –you name it. Some industry forecasters predict sales growth for men’s clothing and [...] Continue Reading…

Fort Washington, PA, United States (AHN) – McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a division of McNeil-PPC, Inc., is voluntarily recalling at the wholesale and retail levels seven lots, comprising approximately 574,000 bottles, of Infants’ Tylenol Oral Suspension, 1 oz. grape distributed nationwide in the United States. Infants’ Tylenol is an over-the-counter product indicated as a pain reliever/fever reducer. McNeil is initiating this voluntary recall as a precaution after receiving a small number of complaints from consumers who reported difficulty using the Infants’ Tylenol SimpleMeasure dosing system. SimpleMeasure includes a dosing syringe that a parent or caregiver inserts into [...] Continue Reading…

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Congress Friday swiftly passed a deal to extend the payroll-tax cut through the end of 2012, continue paying unemployment benefits and avoid a steep cut in Medicare doctors’s fee, moving forward from a lengthy fight that had tied up legislators for months. The House voted 293-132 to pass the measure. The Senate quickly followed with a 60-36 vote. The move averts a tax increase on millions of Americas and the end of this month. Under the deal, the tax paid by workers to Social Security [...] Continue Reading…

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Actress Susan Sarandon has donated $75,000 to the New York public school system to support the improvement of children’s table tennis. Sarandon, who co-owns ping-pong franchises SPIN, presented the NYC Department of Education on Wednesday with the sizable check. The funds will be used to pay for proper equipment and coaching. The “Dead Man Walking” star and New York native, has long believed in and touted the benefits of ping-pong. Sarandon is convinced the sport relieves stress, is a great form exercise, and helps children [...] Continue Reading…

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
New Brunswick, NJ, United States (AHN) – Johnson & Johnson has been plagued by product recalls, and on Friday a unit of the pharmaceutical giant issued another one. McNeil Consumer Healthcare said it is recalling some 574,000 bottles of a grape-flavored version of its liquid infant Tylenol because of problems with the device on the bottle that helps measure dosage. The bottles come with a syringe and have a protective cover, or flow restrictor, at the top to help measure the right dose. McNeil says the restrictor has been pushed into the [...] Continue Reading…

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – New claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level in nearly four years. The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the lowest since March 2008. Economists had forecast claims rising to 365,000. The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of the labor market, fell 1,750 to 365,250, the lowest since April 2008. The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an [...] Continue Reading…

Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – Across the national airwaves and on the Republican campaign trail, the Massachusetts health law that many now call “Romneycare” is routinely trashed. Here’s Texas Governor Rick Perry in a debate last October. “Romneycare has driven the cost of small business insurance premiums up by- percent over the national average in Massachusetts.” And from former Senator Rick Santorum last month we heard, “it (Romneycare) was the basis of Obamacare and it was an abject failure.” So you might think this drubbing would rub off on Massachusetts residents, about two-thirds of whom have [...] Continue Reading…

Tejinder Singh – AHN News Correspondent
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Chances of getting a work-related visa to the United States are slimmer for anyone with an Indian passport, according to a recent report that found immigration authorities increased the denial rate in the last four years. The increase resulted in many employers being unable to transfer their employees into the U.S. to work on research projects or serve customers, the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) said in its report entitled “Data Reveal High Denial Rates for L-1 and H-1 Petitions at USCIS.” The denial rate [...] Continue Reading…

Boston, MA, United States (KaiserHealth) – Voters are hearing a lot about health care this year. Republicans want to make the 2012 elections a referendum on the health care law that President Obama signed two years ago. That law was largely based on one that then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed into law nearly six years ago in Massachusetts. Romney is now a GOP presidential contender, and that has made the Massachusetts universal health care law a political football. Romney’s rival Rick Santorum recently called it “an abject failure.” But “Romneycare,” as Santorum and others call it, isn’t [...] Continue Reading…

Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – This fact sheet was released by the White House in advance of President Barack Obama’s Feb. 10 comments about mandated health insurance coverage for contraception. THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ____________________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Feb. 10, 2012 FACT SHEET: Women’s Preventive Services and Religious Institutions Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, most health insurance plans will cover women’s preventive services, including contraception, without charging a co-pay or deductible beginning in August, 2012. This new law will save money for millions of Americans and [...] Continue Reading…