Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana submitted a rider to a budget bill that would stop the Obama administration from ensuring that coal companies pay the proper royalties for mining on public lands. The increase is slated to happen as a result of the Interior Dept. closing a loophole that allows coal companies to sell to subsidiaries at intentionally depressed prices, which avoids royalty payments. Zinke has received almost $10,000 in contributions since 2013 from three coal company PACs.   read more

Companies providing reimbursement can be fined $100 per day, per employee under the rule. The penalty can be up to a total of $500,000, per year. “In contrast, the penalty on businesses for failing to comply with the employer mandate is only $2,000 per year,” said Michael Cohn. “It’s the biggest penalty that no one is talking about,” said NFIB's Kevin Kuhlman. “The penalty for compensating employees for healthcare-related expenses is enough to destroy most small businesses.”   read more

A withdrawal of manufacturing and closure of military bases have caused some of the island's economic problems. Puerto Rico’s governor, Alejandro García Padilla, has called on lenders to allow deferring debt payments. He warned that if Wall Street doesn’t cooperate, it won’t just mean trouble for Puerto Rico. “If they don’t come to the table, it will be bad for them,” he said. “Our economy will get into a worse situation and we’ll have less money to pay them."   read more

The change “would restore the overtime salary threshold to roughly where it stood in 1975,” said The New York Times. It remains to be seen, however, if the plan goes into effect. Although the regulation could be adopted as soon as next year, Republicans in Congress might try to kill it. As the business community almost always does with any new rule affecting it, executives decried the plan as one that will hurt companies and force them to cut jobs.   read more

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is legally prohibited from doing business with companies that owe a significant amount of back taxes or a felony conviction, but an audit found the agency paid $18.8 million to such companies over a two-year period.   read more

The increases vary widely, though some are doubling or tripling. At Arches in southeast Utah, the cost for an annual pass will jump from $25 to $50. The fees are also going up at the “crown jewels in the park system,” such as Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. If you’re riding a motorcycle into a park, be prepared to pay a lot more. For instance, the motorcycle fee at Joshua Tree National Park in the Southern California desert will jump from $5 to $20.   read more

Holt, president of the Council of Conservative Citizens, has supported the campaigns of Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul, former Sen. Rick Santorum and others. The man who has said black people were “the laziest, stupidest and most criminally-inclined race in the history of the world” has contributed $8,500 to Cruz, $1,750 to Paul, $2,000 to Mitt Romney, and $1,500 to Santorum. According to FEC and state filings, 24 Republicans have received contributions from Holt.   read more

Introduced in the U.S. in 1898, the ballot initiative was a response by progressives to the view that state legislatures were in the pocket of powerful corporate interests. But the ballot measure, it would seem, has now been hijacked by big-money interests for the benefit of big business. During the 2014 election, these special interests and election professionals were collectively paid at least $400 million for 85 statewide measures. And that’s during an “off year.”   read more

McCain had had enough of this process last year when he found out the Navy’s new aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, went $2.4 billion over budget—and he couldn’t get an answer out of the chief of naval operations as to who was responsible for the problem.   read more

Some of the drugs have been “linked to abuse and an increased risk of falls and fractures among the elderly,” said ProPublica. Anti-anxiety meds can be addictive, cause disorientation, and have a longer-lasting effect on older people. Consequently, the American Geriatrics Society advises against their use by seniors suffering from insomnia or agitation. ProPublica said the startling Medicare statistics that its investigation uncovered reflect “a failed policy initiative by Congress.”   read more

South Dakotans for Responsible Lending is gathering signatures to put a question on the November 2016 South Dakota ballot that would limit the interest charged by payday loan outfits to 36% per year. Payday lenders are crying foul, saying rates that low would force them out of business. The average interest rate on a South Dakota payday loan now hovers around 574%.   read more

The report listed examples of systems for which the development costs wildly exceeded the original estimates. The AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder air-to-air missile, an update of the mainstay of the Air Force and Navy for a half century, came in at 114% over estimate. The MQ-9 Reaper drone was 104% over its estimate.   read more

“The new National Water Center will help us create a safer, more secure, weather-ready nation,” said Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. "Measuring, managing, and planning for water is complex, and the need for a more integrated approach has never been greater. Through this center, we will work with our partners in the federal government, community leaders nationwide, and the University of Alabama to deliver solutions to one of our most pressing environmental challenges.”   read more

The promise of conservative tax policies—that tax cuts would produce more revenue for states because more people would be working—has not panned out as some Republican politicians had hoped, leaving them confronted with state budget gaps and tough choices for closing them. Some more moderate Republican legislators are trying to get conservative governors to go along with some tax increases.   read more

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled last week that the U.S. Postal Service's emergency price increase of 4.3%, in place since January 2014, cannot last forever. The increase raised the price of stamps from 46 cents to 49 cents. The increase came with a cap on how much money the USPS could recover, which is scheduled to be hit this summer. When postal officials asked to make the increase permanent, the PRC turned them down.   read more

In the past, the payments came directly to farmers in the form of subsidies. Now, they’re coming as payments for crop insurance, which can protect farmers if the price drops below a preset amount, making it very difficult to lose money by farming cotton. Although switching to wheat would use less water, government policies encourage farmers to keep growing cotton.   read more