| Restaurant owners fear booze liabilities
More so than at any time since the end of Prohibition, restaurant and bar owners across the country say they're ready to curtail cocktails when they decide a patron is plastered or approaching that state. Even in upscale establishments where the average tab runs to three figures per head. Even though bar bills can represent more than a third of a restaurant's profits.While bars and restaurants long have been legally responsible if customers in their cups run amok after leaving the premises, the difference now is that the stakes never have been higher nor official scrutiny more intense. .
Daily Star in gay kiss headline shock!
Here we go again. The front page of today's Daily Star carries the headline CORRIE GAY SNOG STORM. The full story, on page seven, doubles up with CORRIE IN NEW GAY KISS SHOCKER. What's got their knickers in a twist is the developing storyline which sees Sean Tully (Antony Cotton) lock lips with his ex, Sonny Dhillon (Pal Aron) — even though Sonny is going out with barmaid Michelle, played by Kym Ryder. This rekindling of an an old romance is clearly too much for the tabloid to deal with. For the second day in a row, rent-a-quote John Beyer of Mediawatch UK is called upon for some colour. Disappointingly, though, his contribution is a bit dull today: TV is bound by the broadcasting code and will have to make sure they comply with those regulations. Well, duh.
Nursing home fined $100000 in man's death
State health officials have fined a San Jose nursing home $100,000 - the highest fine allowed under state law - for substandard care that led to the October death of a 67-year-old man. The fine was announced the same day that Jack Easterday, the president of Homewood Care Center's parent company, was convicted of 107 counts for failing to pay about $9.6 million in payroll taxes. Easterday, who'd been vilified as living "like Louis XIV" in a U.S. Senate hearing last year on tax cheats, could face up to five years in federal prison. The conviction, coupled with the fine for the resident's death, raised concerns about the future of Easterday's eight nursing homes in California, including Homewood. Pat McGinnis, founder of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, said she is worried that the nursing homes eventually will be closed or sold after Wednesday's jury verdict in U.S.
Support grows for early childhood 20 free hours subsidy
Fears that south Auckland early childhood centres will not take up the government's 20 free hours subsidy could be unfounded, according to a survey. The government is proposing 20 free hours of early childhood education for three to five-year-olds from July 1. An Early Childhood Council survey released last month indicated 22.7 percent of 615 centres surveyed nationwide would be offering the free hours. The figure was worse for Manukau centres with only 12.5 percent saying they would offer the hours. But a more recent survey conducted by Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa / NZ Childcare Association showed 50 percent of 162 survey respondents would offer the scheme. A further 40 percent were yet to decide while 8 percent would definitely not offer the hours.
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