John McCain and Russ Feingold unveiled earmark-reform legislation Wednesday that they hope will all but eliminate a practice they consider corrupt and obsolete.Seattle Times staff reporterJohn McCain calls earmarks corrupt.

Now he’s back in the Senate trying to get rid of them.The Arizona Republican on Wednesday unveiled legislation to force many earmarks to muster at least 60 votes to pass the Senate.We’re trying to eliminate earmarks, McCain said in a telephone interview.

We’re not trying to cut them in half.He was part of a bipartisan group of senators that wants to clamp down on the billions of dollars in pet projects that their colleagues slip into bills with little oversight.McCain was joined by Sen.

Although two-thirds of Americans in one poll said earmarks are unacceptable, many lawmakers passionately defend the practice as a valuable service to their districts or states.

Lawmakers often give government contracts to those who have contributed...

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To fund the research and development of the Small Business Access Insurance Initiative, the New York State Health Foundation, a private foundation based in New York City, has awarded the groups a $99,223 grant.

Then we are going to reach out to other small business groups to get the data we need.”Tranum said the chamber has 1,400 members, but estimates another 2,000 businesses that aren’t in the chamber can be contacted to possible participate in a group insurance plan.

The primary objective of this initiative is to identify a method to group small businesses with fewer than 50 employees into a large group for the purpose of aggregating risk and negotiating premiums and plan options.We’re hoping to reach out to all the small businesses in the county with what we’re trying to pull together,” said Todd Tranum, chamber president and chief executive officer and MAST executive director.

As business leaders in the community, the chamber and Manufacturing...

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Researchers found that 38 percent of high school graduates who don’t attend college and 34 percent of college graduates will spend some time uninsured in the year after graduation.It’s a scary prospect for Barb Gill.Gill lives in Montgomery, and she has two children in college — Sarah, 21, and T.J., 19.

The problem with all of it is that you have to have income, or money, to have the ability to purchase insurance.Because of the downturn in the economy, insurers such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield are selling more individual policies, but fewer people have the income to afford insurance.

But it would allow a dependent child who is in graduate school or law school to stay with their family’s coverage.It’s a way to allow continual health coverage, he said.

she said.Bentley’s bill would buy students like Sarah enough time to finish their degrees and possibly land that first job with benefits.Bentley said the bill isn’t designed to keep...

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So why would someone go to all the trouble to steal car seats?

We’re trying to let people know, if you see seats like this, don’t buy them, he said.

Thieves ripped a hole in his convertible and tore out his car seats.

What makes these seats so valuable& they fit into other Hondas - Civics, Accords, Acuras, Integras& and a lot of kids like to hook those up and make them fast and what not , said Alex.

Alex says the stolen seats end up on Web sites such as Craigslist.

I’m definitely angry, but my initial reaction is they’re car seats, you know.

It’s because they’re Honda S-2000 seats  sporty ones that are worth nearly $5,000 each.

These sporty car seats are worth $5,000 each.

Alex has filed a police report and his insurance plans to cover most of his...

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