Businesses boost hiring despite shutdown
Businesses boost hiring despite shutdown
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy may be sturdier than many had assumed.
Employers added a surprisingly strong 204,000 jobs in October despite the 16-day government shutdown, the Labor Department said Friday. And they did a lot more hiring in August and September than previously thought.
Not only that, but activity at service companies and factories accelerated last month.
Unemployment rose to 7.3 percent from 7.2 percent in September. But that was probably because furloughed federal workers were temporarily counted as unemployed.
Analysts say the economy might be able to sustain its improvement.
They note that job gains of recent months, combined with modest increases in pay, could encourage more spending in coming months. Growing demand for homes should support construction. Auto sales are likely to stay strong because many Americans are buying cars after putting off big purchases since the recession struck nearly six years ago.
1 World Trade Center’s height debated, in Chicago
CHICAGO — Rising from the ashes of 9/11, the new World Trade Center tower has punched above the New York skyline to reach its powerfully symbolic height of 1,776 feet and become the tallest building in the country. Or has it?
A committee of architects recognized as the arbiters on world building heights was meeting Friday to decide whether a design change affecting the skyscraper’s 408-foot needle disqualifies it from being counted. Disqualification would deny the tower the title as the nation’s tallest.
But there’s more than bragging rights at stake; 1 World Trade Center stands as a monument to those killed in the terrorist attacks, and the ruling could dim the echo of America’s founding year in the structure’s height. Without the needle, the building measures 1,368 feet, a number that also holds symbolic weight as the height of the original World Trade Center.
What’s more, the decision is being made by an organization based in Chicago, whose cultural and architectural history is embodied by the Willis — formerly Sears — Tower that would be knocked into second place by a vote in favor of the New York structure.
“Most of the time these decisions are not so controversial,” said Daniel Safarik, an architect and spokesman for the nonprofit Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The 30 members of its Height Committee are meeting to render a judgment behind closed doors in Chicago, where the world’s first skyscraper appeared in 1884.
The committee, comprising industry professionals from all over the world, will announce its decision next week.
New rule demands parity for mental health coverage
WASHINGTON — It’s final: Health insurance companies must cover mental illness and substance abuse just as they cover physical diseases.
The Obama administration issued new regulations Friday that spell out how a 5-year-old mental health parity law will be administered.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the rule should put an end to discrimination faced by some mental health patients through higher out-of-pocket costs or stricter limits on hospital stays or visits to the doctor.
The law, signed by President George W. Bush, was designed to prevent that. But mental health advocates said health insurers at times sidestepped lawmakers’ intentions by delaying requests for care and putting in place other bureaucratic hurdles.
The administration had pledged to issue a final mental health parity rule as part of an effort to reduce gun violence. Officials said they have now completed or made significant progress on 23 executive actions that were part of a plan announced in response to the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., last December.
By wire sources
The 2008 mental health parity law affects large group plans. It does not require they offer mental health coverage, but if they do, that coverage must be equal to what is provided for patients with physical illnesses. Meanwhile, the Affordable Care Act extends the parity protections for those participating in individual and small group health insurance plans.
By wire sources