Articles On Information

New York State Erases Fees Seen as Nuisances to Business

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ALBANY
 —  It’s a good day to be a potato fan in New York. Ditto for supporters
 of antique and miniature boilers, animal rendering plants, and 
operators of ski lifts. And for anyone with a career in lasers or food 
salvage, put your hands together in applause.</div>
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The
 reason for the rejoicing is the elimination of dozens of so-called 
“nuisance fees” as part of the state budget package, which quietly wiped
 away a variety of tiny charges and more painful payments.</div>
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The repeals were officially signed this week by Gov. <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/andrew_m_cuomo/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Andrew M. Cuomo.">Andrew M. Cuomo</a>,
 who has made cutting taxes a priority in his more than four years in 
office. And on Tuesday, the governor called attention to such 
now-extinct fees, framing their elimination as part of a larger 
pro-business push.</div>
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“This
 action will eliminate unnecessary costs and paperwork, helping to allow
 these businesses to reinvest and grow in New York,” Mr. Cuomo said in a
 statement.</div>
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According
 to the New York State Division of the Budget, the fees that were 
eliminated generated about $3 million in revenue, but were imposed on 
about 300,000 individuals and entities in the state. They included a $9 
filing fee paid by hundreds of thousands of companies and businesses 
across the state when they filed biennial statements. The information in
 those statements, like the names and business addresses of chief 
executives, can now be included on the company’s corporate tax return, 
according to the budget office.</div>
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Many
 of the other newly repealed fees involved more precise fields, 
admittedly not ones overly populated. Take, for example, the two dozen 
owners of antique steam engines and other boilers who will no longer pay
 a $25 fee for inspections, or the six or so owners of miniature boilers
 who are now free of a $50 inspection charge. Some 40 organizations that
 operate lasers no longer have to pay a $600 regulatory fee every three 
years.</div>
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The fee rollback was a happy surprise for some business owners like Ralph Barocas, a co-founder of <a href="http://rdny.com/" title="company’s website">RDNY.com</a>, an apartment information vendor in Manhattan, who will no longer be required to pay a $400 annual license fee.</div>
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“I’m not sure the motivation,” Mr. Barocas said when informed of the fee elimination. “But that’s fine. I’ll take it.”</div>
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Many
 of the repealed charges came in agriculture, including in some rather 
unappetizing industries like food salvage (whose dealers are now exempt 
from a $100 license fee) and animal rendering (whose proprietors are no 
longer liable for fees dealing with disposal and transportation of 
animal remains).</div>
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But
 perhaps the most salt-of-the-earth repeal came in the fields 
themselves, where the state eliminated a $34 annual fee for the 
inspection of both seed potato plants and — no kidding — seed potato 
tubers.</div>
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Such
 a change was welcome news for longtime potato men like Steve Tucker, 
the president of Tucker Farms, an Adirondack outpost in Gabriels, N.Y., 
which grows a variety of colorful tubers.</div>
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Mr. Tucker said he welcomed any reduction in fees for his farm, saying that the cost of getting inspected could be annoying.</div>
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“You want them to inspect,” he said. “But you don’t want to pay them to do it.”</div>
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New York State Erases Fees Seen as Nuisances to Business

ALBANY — It’s a good day to be a potato fan in New York. Ditto for supporters of antique and miniature boilers, animal rendering plants...

10:24 PM

Anger Over Reports of D.E.A. Agents’ Parties, and Bewilderment at Mild Penalties

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WASHINGTON —  Lawmakers expressed outrage on Tuesday at the punishments imposed on <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/d/drug_enforcement_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S.">Drug Enforcement Administration</a> agents who were accused of participating in sex parties with prostitutes while stationed in Colombia.</div>
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Representative
 Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House 
Oversight Committee, said in a hearing that the panel had begun an 
investigation into a report by the Justice Department’s inspector 
general that detailed allegations of sexual misconduct and the misuse of
 government funds by 10 D.E.A. agents.</div>
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Seven of the agents admitted to participating in the sex parties, and those involved received suspensions of two to 10 days.</div>
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The
 report was released last month, but the committee disclosed new 
information showing that the misconduct had occurred as early as 2001. 
Mr. Cummings said the report portrayed “a D.E.A. agency as completely 
out of control.”</div>
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During
 the hearing, lawmakers asked Michele Leonhart, the D.E.A. 
administrator, why the offenses had not merited harsher penalties.</div>
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“When
 we have bad apples who repeatedly do the same type of behavior, 
compromise our national security, then they need to lose their national 
security clearances and they need to be fired,” said Representative 
Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican and the committee’s chairman.</div>
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Ms.
 Leonhart told the committee that she did not have the power to fire 
agents or revoke their security clearances over what Mr. Cummings called
 “a truly breathtaking recklessness.”</div>
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“Honestly,
 what power do you have?” asked Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of
 South Carolina. “You have to work with agents over whom you can’t 
discipline and have no control. What the hell do you get to do?”</div>
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The
 Justice Department reviewed allegations of sexual misconduct and 
harassment within its law enforcement branches — the D.E.A.; the <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_bureau_of_investigation/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the Federal Bureau of Investigation.">Federal Bureau of Investigation</a>;
 the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the 
Marshals Service — and found “some significant systemic issues” in all 
four.</div>
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The
 report described accusations from foreign police officers that D.E.A. 
agents had attended “loud” parties with prostitutes over several years, 
paid for by local drug cartels. The parties reportedly took place in 
locations leased by the government where agents’ laptops and other 
electronic devices were present. The foreign officers also said they had
 watched over the agents’ weapons and other property during the parties.</div>
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Three agents were also accused of receiving money, expensive gifts and weapons from drug cartel members, the report said.</div>
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On
 one occasion, an assistant regional director reportedly solicited 
prostitutes for a farewell party in his honor, an allegation he denied 
during an investigation by the agency’s Office of Professional 
Responsibility; he was not disciplined because of a lack of evidence, 
the investigation found. The party and the prostitutes were said to have
 been paid for using government money.</div>
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According
 to the report, local D.E.A. supervisors were aware of these parties 
because of letters of complaint that they received from building 
managers. They warned those involved to stop but did not report the 
allegations to the agency’s headquarters, judging them a local issue.</div>
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The
 report described another case involving a deputy marshal who received 
only a verbal admonishment for allegedly soliciting prostitutes in 
Thailand. Accusations of sexual harassment, including against a D.E.A. 
official who was said to have used vulgar language and to have asked an 
assistant to watch pornographic movies, were also described.</div>
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In
 response to the report, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. issued a 
memo on Friday reminding employees of the department’s firm stance 
against soliciting prostitutes, even in countries where it is legal.</div>
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“I
 want to reiterate to all department personnel, including attorneys and 
law enforcement officers, that they are prohibited from soliciting, 
procuring or accepting commercial sex,” he wrote.</div>
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The
 Justice Department report came after a separate prostitution scandal 
involving the Secret Service in 2012, which moved Congress to call for a
 closer look at officials stationed overseas.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Anger Over Reports of D.E.A. Agents’ Parties, and Bewilderment at Mild Penalties

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers expressed outrage on Tuesday at the punishments imposed on Drug Enforcement Administration agents who were accuse...

10:18 PM

Senate Approves a Bill on Changes to Medicare

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WASHINGTON —  The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved sweeping changes in the way <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about Medicare.">Medicare</a>
 pays doctors, clearing the bill for President Obama and resolving an 
issue that has bedeviled Congress and the Medicare program for more than
 a decade.</div>
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The 92-to-8 vote in the Senate, following <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/us/house-passes-bill-changing-medicare-fee-formula-and-extending-childrens-insurance.html" title="New York Times article">passage in the House</a>
 last month by a vote of 392 to 37, was a major success for Republicans,
 who devised a solution to a complex policy problem that had frustrated 
lawmakers of both parties. Mr. Obama has endorsed the bill, saying it 
“could help slow health care cost growth.”</div>
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The
 bill, drafted in the House in negotiations between Speaker John A. 
Boehner and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader, also 
extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program for two years, through 
2017.</div>
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Without
 action by Congress, doctors would have faced a 21 percent cut in 
Medicare fees on Wednesday or Thursday. Senate leaders cleared the way 
for final passage by allowing votes on several amendments sought by 
liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.</div>
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Medicare
 spent $70 billion last year under the fee schedule used to pay doctors 
and some other health care professionals. That accounts for about 12 
percent of all Medicare spending. Ninety-eight percent of people 
enrolled in the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program receive at 
least one physician service during the year.</div>
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The
 legislation moves Medicare in a direction espoused by Mr. Obama and 
many health policy experts, toward payment based on the quality and 
value of care, rather than just the volume of services. Organized 
medicine now accepts that change in principle, and the American Medical 
Association lobbied strongly for the bill, demanding that Congress “fix 
Medicare now.”</div>
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Congress
 has passed 17 short-term bills since 2003 to block cuts in Medicare 
doctors’ fees that were called for under the existing law. Such cuts 
would most likely prompt some doctors to accept fewer Medicare patients.</div>
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The
 Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, said 
the bill taken up Tuesday was “designed to ensure that seniors on 
Medicare don’t lose access to their doctors.”</div>
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“It’s
 a solution to a broken Medicare payment system that has vexed 
congressional leaders of both parties for years,” he said. “It would 
mean an end to the annual exercise of Congress passing a temporary fix 
to the problem one year and then coming right up to the very same cliff 
the next year, without actually solving the underlying problem.”</div>
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Senator
 Ron Wyden of Oregon, the senior Democrat on the Finance Committee, 
called the bill “a milestone for Medicare.” But he and other Democrats 
said it would have been better to extend the children’s insurance 
program for four years, rather than two.</div>
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Mr.
 Wyden said the current formula for paying doctors was “horrendously 
flawed” but had “dominated much of the discussion” in the last 18 years.</div>
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Before
 passing the bill, the Senate rejected a half-dozen proposed amendments 
on Tuesday night. Democrats, for example, wanted to provide more money 
for women’s health care. Republicans wanted to repeal a provision of the
 Affordable Care Act that requires most Americans to have <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about health insurance and managed care.">health insurance</a>, and they tried to force Congress to pay for the Medicare bill so it would not increase budget deficits.</div>
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The
 current payment formula, set by Congress in 1997, links Medicare 
spending on doctors’ services to growth of the overall economy. Medicare
 spending has regularly exceeded the targets. Under the law, the excess 
is supposed to be recouped in subsequent years through cuts in payment 
rates for doctors.</div>
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The
 bill would repeal that formula. Fiscal conservatives object because 
only one-third of the cost would be offset. The rest, $141 billion from 
2015 to 2025, would add to <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/federal_budget_us/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival news about the federal budget.">federal budget</a> deficits.</div>
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“This bill is not paid for,” said Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama.</div>
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New
 spending would total $211 billion over 10 years, the Congressional 
Budget Office estimated. Higher-income Medicare beneficiaries would pay 
additional premiums totaling nearly $35 billion, and Medicare would save
 a similar amount by trimming payments to hospitals, <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/nursing_homes/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about nursing homes.">nursing homes</a> and home health agencies.</div>
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Senator
 Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, said the bill “doubles down on Medicare’s
 broken price control model” and “inflates the administration’s power as
 regulator and compliance officer.”</div>
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“The
 principal change proposed in this bill is to move from a Medicare 
payment system based on volume to one based on bureaucratic measures of 
quality and value,” Mr. Lee said.</div>
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The
 votes against the bill came from Republicans: Mr. Sessions and Mr. Lee,
 along with Senators Ted Cruz of Texas, David Perdue of Georgia, Marco 
Rubio of Florida, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Tim Scott of South Carolina and
 Richard C. Shelby of Alabama.</div>
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For
 a few hours on Tuesday, it seemed senators might also be close to an 
agreement to vote on Mr. Obama’s nomination of Loretta E. Lynch to be 
attorney general, but the prospect evaporated.</div>
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Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, offered a plan to overcome an impasse over <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/surgery/abortion/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Abortion.">abortion</a>
 restrictions in a sex-trafficking bill, but Democrats quickly rejected 
it. Republican leaders have held up a vote on Ms. Lynch until the Senate
 finishes work on the trafficking bill.</div>
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Democrats
 on Tuesday repeated their opposition to the abortion restrictions and 
denounced the delay of Ms. Lynch’s nomination. “They can stall her for 
157 days; she is going to be attorney general of the United States,” 
said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader.</div>
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Commenting
 on the Medicare bill, federal officials welcomed its emphasis on the 
quality of care but said it would probably not provide a permanent 
solution.</div>
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Paul
 Spitalnic, the chief actuary of the Medicare program, said the bill 
could lead to “a payment reduction for most physicians” after 2025. “If 
not addressed by subsequent legislation,” he said, “we expect that 
access to and quality of physicians’ services would deteriorate over 
time for beneficiaries.”</div>
</div>

Senate Approves a Bill on Changes to Medicare

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved sweeping changes in the way Medicare pays doctors, clearing the bill for Pre...

10:17 PM

Driver’s License Suspensions Create Cycle of Debt

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<a href="http://articlesoninformation.blogspot.com/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://articlesoninformation.blogspot.com/" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="Kenneth Seay checking the oil in his wife's car in Lebanon, Tenn. Except for odd jobs, Mr. Seay has been unemployed for about a year, partly because he finally swore off driving." data-mediaviewer-credit="Joe Buglewicz for The New York Times" data-mediaviewer-src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/14/us/14license-web/14license-web-superJumbo.jpg" height="213" itemid="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/14/us/14license-web/14license-web-master675.jpg" itemprop="url" src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/14/us/14license-web/14license-web-master675.jpg" width="320" /></a>LEBANON,
 Tenn. —  The last time Kenneth Seay lost his job, at an industrial 
bakery that offered health insurance and Christmas bonuses, it was 
because he had been thrown in jail for legal issues stemming from a 
revoked driver’s license. Same with the three jobs before that.</div>
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In
 fact, Mr. Seay said, when it comes to gainful employment, it is not his
 criminal record that is holding him back — he did time for dealing 
drugs — but the $4,509.22 in fines, court costs and reinstatement fees 
he must pay to recover his license.</div>
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Mr.
 Seay’s inability to pay those costs has trapped him in a cycle that 
thousands of other low-income Tennesseans are struggling to escape. 
Going through the legal system, even for people charged with nonviolent 
misdemeanors, can be expensive, with fines, public defender fees, 
probation fees and other costs running into hundreds and sometimes 
thousands of dollars. Many people cannot pay.</div>
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As
 a result, some states have begun suspending driver’s licenses for 
unsatisfied debts stemming from any criminal case, from misdemeanors 
like marijuana possession to felonies in which court costs can reach 
into the tens of thousands of dollars. In Tennessee, almost 90,000 
driver’s licenses have been suspended since its law was enacted in 2011.<br />
    </div>
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            <a href="http://articlesoninformation.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://articlesoninformation.blogspot.com/" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="Kenneth Seay of Lebanon, Tenn., must pay $4,509.22 in fines, court costs and fees to recover his suspended driver&rsquo;s license." data-mediaviewer-credit="Joe Buglewicz for The New York Times" data-mediaviewer-src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/15/us/15LICENSES/15LICENSES-superJumbo.jpg" itemid="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/15/us/15LICENSES/15LICENSES-articleLarge.jpg" itemprop="url" src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/15/us/15LICENSES/15LICENSES-articleLarge.jpg" /></a><div class="media-action-overlay">

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<figcaption class="caption" itemprop="caption description">
                <span class="caption-text">Kenneth Seay of Lebanon, Tenn., must pay $4,509.22 in fines, court costs and fees to recover his suspended driver’s license.</span>
                        <span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">
            <span class="visually-hidden">Credit</span>
            Joe Buglewicz for The New York Times        </span>
            </figcaption>
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<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="267" data-total-count="1539" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Tennessee’s
 law has become part of a broader debate over criminal justice debt, a 
national issue since a Justice Department report faulted Ferguson, Mo., 
for a law enforcement system that focused aggressively on raising 
revenue and jailing people who could not pay.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="313" data-total-count="1852" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Many
 drivers who have lost their licenses in Tennessee, too poor to pay what
 they owe and living in places with limited public transportation, have 
done what Mr. Seay did. They have driven anyway, resulting in courts so 
clogged with “driving while suspended” cases that some judges dispatch 
them 10 at a time.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="438" data-total-count="2290" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Each
 time Mr. Seay was caught, he racked up new fines and fees on top of the
 old. As a repeat offender, he would often be jailed, causing him to 
lose his job, and placed on probation, which carries an additional fee 
of $40 a month. More recently, he has been jailed for violating 
probation because he fell behind on those payments. Except for odd jobs,
 he has been unemployed for about a year, partly because he finally 
swore off driving.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="128" data-total-count="2418" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
“If I could get my license back, that would be the most wonderful thing that happened to me in my life,” Mr. Seay, 44, said.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="447" data-total-count="2865" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Tennessee is not alone in the practice: Five of the 15 states with the largest prison populations have it, according to <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/expert/alicia-bannon">Alicia Bannon</a>
 at the Brennan Center for Justice. Most states also suspend licenses 
for failure to pay traffic fines, another policy that critics say 
creates a quicksand of debt. The American Association of Motor Vehicle 
Administrators has complained that suspensions should be reserved for 
dangerous drivers, not indebted ones.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="515" data-total-count="3380" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
But
 in recent years, a few states have reconsidered the policy amid 
concerns that it hurts low-income residents without achieving its 
intended goals. In 2013, Washington stopped suspending licenses for 
failure to pay nonmoving violations like expired registrations. 
Suspensions dropped by half, said Brad Benfield, a spokesman for the 
Washington State Department of Licensing, and each month, there have 
been 500 fewer arrests for driving while suspended, saving an estimated 
4,500 hours of patrol officers’ time.</div>
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<a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/us/with-drivers-license-suspensions-a-cycle-of-debt.html?ref=us#story-continues-3">Continue reading the main story</a>
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<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="248" data-total-count="3628" id="story-continues-3" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
And this month, a California lawmaker introduced a bill that would make it easier for people to reinstate their licenses, after <a href="http://www.lccr.com/not-just-ferguson-problem-how-traffic-courts-drive-inequality-in-california/" title="Link to the report.">a report </a>said that four million California licenses had been suspended for failure to pay or failure to appear in court.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="159" data-total-count="3787" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
“For
 many families, a driver’s license suspension is the beginning of a 
descent into abject poverty for which there is no escape,” the <a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/sen/sb_0401-0450/sb_405_bill_20150406_amended_sen_v98.pdf" title="Link to the proposed law.">proposed law</a> says.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="279" data-total-count="4066" id="story-continues-4" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
In
 Tennessee, court clerks already had the power to pursue unpaid court 
debts by garnishing wages or turning the cases over to a collection 
agency. The new law was intended to give them extra leverage. Now, even 
some of those clerks say they have mixed feelings about the policy.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="267" data-total-count="4333" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
“Though
 it does give us some kind of teeth to be able to go after people who 
don’t pay their court costs,” said Howard Gentry, the Davidson County 
Criminal Court clerk in Nashville, “it also has some collateral damage 
to it for those who are unable to pay.”</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="447" data-total-count="4780" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Typical
 court costs can vary widely. Asked for an average, a lawyer at the 
public defender’s office in Nashville picked up some files from her desk
 and read off the outstanding debts: $598, $1,100, $5,600, $14,872 and 
$3,800. That does not include a separate license reinstatement fee based
 on the number of offenses. In Mr. Seay’s case, the reinstatement fee, 
solely from minor traffic violations and driving-while-revoked charges, 
is $1,822.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="325" data-total-count="5105" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Many
 defendants are forced to choose between paying court debt or essentials
 like utility bills and child support. Mr. Seay said his tax refund this
 year went toward child support debt accumulated during his time in 
prison and periods of unemployment. For even low-level offenders, debt 
can make a valid license unattainable.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="455" data-total-count="5560" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Stephanie
 Newhouse, a divorced mother of two in Pulaski, Tenn., had her license 
suspended for a time after a drunken-driving conviction in Georgia. She 
said that the suspension was fair punishment, but that having to pay 
hundreds of dollars to reinstate the license was not. Ms. Newhouse has 
been able to work only part time since the suspension because her hours 
are contingent on when she can get a ride to work at an insurance office
 two counties away.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="95" data-total-count="5655" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
“You really have to have a full-time, really good job to be able to pay it back,” she said.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="324" data-total-count="5979" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Though
 the law was projected to raise more than $20 million a year, it has not
 come close, according to state agencies. Revenue from litigation taxes,
 the primary court fee collected by the state, has remained flat and 
even declined a bit in 2014, and license reinstatement fees have 
increased far less than was anticipated.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="313" data-total-count="6292" id="story-continues-5" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
But
 since suspensions under the law began in mid-2012, almost 90,000 
licenses have been suspended. Over the same period, 170,000 Tennessee 
licenses were suspended for unpaid traffic tickets. In both categories, 
more than 40 percent of the suspended drivers were black, compared with 
16 percent of state residents.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="223" data-total-count="6515" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Still,
 State Senator Jack Johnson, one of the sponsors of the 2011 law, said 
it was needed to rein in shirkers. “It’s usually not a tremendous amount
 of money; it’s just that folks are just blowing it off,” he said.</div>
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<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="313" data-total-count="6828" id="story-continues-6" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Mr.
 Johnson, a Republican from Williamson County, just south of Nashville, 
pointed out that the law gives people a year to pay and that it allows 
people to petition for a hardship license to get to work — a provision 
that some court officials, public defenders and even one judge said they
 were unfamiliar with.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="228" data-total-count="7056" id="story-continues-7" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
“Not
 a single person has approached me about changing this,” Mr. Johnson 
said. “Every one of these people ending up with these court fines and 
fees and expenses, it’s as a result of violating the law in some 
capacity.”</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="322" data-total-count="7378" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
In
 Nashville, Cathie Sweat, 21, said she had gone to apply for a license 
so she could work as a home health care aide and learned that it had 
already been suspended for unpaid fines relating to a minor drug charge 
and driving without a license. “How do you suspend a person’s license 
that they never had?” she asked.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="378" data-total-count="7756" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
The
 burden of criminal justice debt often falls on family members. Mr. 
Seay’s wife, Terrica, uses her income from a $12.50-an-hour factory job 
to pay all the household bills and has provided money time and again to 
bail her husband out of jail, pay his probation fees and contribute 
toward the backlog of fines. Asked how much this had added up to, Ms. 
Seay choked back tears.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="229" data-total-count="7985" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
“I’m
 just crying all day at work,” she said, adding that she had recently 
smoked marijuana to relieve the stress, failed a drug test at work and 
had to attend counseling. “I got a good job, and I don’t have no money.”</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="423" data-total-count="8408" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
In
 Tennessee, judges have the discretion to waive court fees and fines for
 indigent defendants, but they do not have to, and some routinely 
refuse. Judges also have wide discretion over how much time to allow 
defendants to pay traffic tickets before suspending a license. The new 
law on criminal court debt allows defendants one year to keep their 
license as long as they stay current on a payment plan approved by a 
judge.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="289" data-total-count="8697" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Nashville
 has also set up an “indigency docket” where the court debt of poor 
defendants — at least, those who hear about the option — is routinely 
waived. But they still have to pay a license reinstatement fee to the 
Department of Safety based on the number and type of violations.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="568" data-total-count="9265" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Other
 courts do not take the time to examine defendants’ ability to pay. At a
 recent court session in Robertson County, north of Nashville, Erin 
McKissick — who said she had been placed on probation, required to pay 
for drug tests and threatened with losing her children after being 
convicted of driving while suspended and other counts — filled out an 
affidavit of indigency, saying she had a part-time cashier job and 
received $200 a month in food stamps. When Judge Joel W. Perry of 
General Sessions Court declined to look at it, she crumpled it into a 
ball.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="218" data-total-count="9483" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Reached
 by phone, Judge Perry said that he did not recall the details of Ms. 
McKissick’s case, but that if she had previously been able to pay a bail
 bond, he would most likely have assumed that she was not indigent.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="474" data-total-count="9957" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Even
 when people finally manage to get their license back, their ordeal may 
not be over. James Goodwin, whose blended family includes six young 
children, failed years ago to pay a $35 traffic fine and then was 
repeatedly caught driving while suspended. After thousands of dollars 
and seven months in jail, he said, last month he was able to show a 
judge his new license. The judge dismissed his latest charge of driving 
while suspended, but assessed him $275 in court costs.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="392" data-total-count="922" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>

Driver’s License Suspensions Create Cycle of Debt

LEBANON, Tenn. — The last time Kenneth Seay lost his job, at an industrial bakery that offered health insurance and Christmas bonuses, ...

10:15 PM

Doctor in Menendez Case Is Indicted on Medicare Fraud Charges

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<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="293" data-total-count="293" id="story-continues-1" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
MIAMI —  The Florida doctor charged in a political corruption case along with Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey was charged on Tuesday in a 76-count indictment. Prosecutors accused him of a <a class="meta-classifier" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" title="Recent and archival health news about Medicare.">Medicare</a> fraud that they said sought to cheat the health care program of as much as $190 million.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="298" data-total-count="591" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
The
 United States attorney for Miami, Wifredo Ferrer, said Dr. Salomon E. 
Melgen, 61, was indicted on 46 counts of health care fraud as well as 
additional charges of filing false claims and making false statements. 
Dr. Melgen is an ophthalmologist with offices in Palm Beach and St. 
Lucie Counties.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="287" data-total-count="878" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
The
 indictment charges that Dr. Melgen operated a fraud scheme from 2004 to
 2013, in which he billed Medicare for more than $190 million and was 
paid more than $105 million. In 2012 alone, health officials say, he 
billed Medicare $21 million — more than any other doctor in the nation.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="264" data-total-count="1142" id="story-continues-2" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
“Medical
 professionals who violate their oath by failing to attend to the health
 of their patients and who submit falsified billing statements for their
 own personal gain jeopardize the viability of government benefit 
programs,” Mr. Ferrer said in a statement.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="308" data-total-count="1450" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Dr.
 Melgen has already pleaded not guilty in the New Jersey corruption 
case, in which he is accused of funneling nearly $1 million in gifts and
 campaign donations to Mr. Menendez in exchange for political favors. 
Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, has also pleaded not guilty; he was not 
charged in the Medicare case.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="271" data-total-count="1721" id="story-continues-3" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Dr.
 Melgen’s lawyer Annie Lyons declined to comment on Tuesday about the 
Medicare fraud charges but has previously said they were “highly 
defensible.” Dr. Melgen is scheduled to make his first appearance in the
 case on Wednesday in federal court in West Palm Beach.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="157" data-total-count="1878" id="story-continues-4" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
The
 total maximum prison time for all 76 counts if Dr. Melgen is convicted 
in the health fraud case and the sentences are imposed consecutively is 
610 years.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="283" data-total-count="2161" id="story-continues-5" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
According
 to the indictment, Dr. Melgen falsely diagnosed serious eye conditions,
 such as macular degeneration and retinal disorders, in many patients, 
and went on to perform unnecessary and costly procedures such as laser 
surgery and eye injections for which he would bill Medicare.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="370" data-total-count="2531" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
In
 addition, the indictment claims that Dr. Melgen made exorbitant profits
 from a costly drug for macular degeneration, Lucentis, by splitting 
vials intended for single use among multiple-use vials and then billing 
Medicare as if each were for a single use. He is also accused of 
falsifying patient and billing files and filing claims for diagnostic 
tests not performed.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="190" data-total-count="2721" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
Dr.
 Melgen and Mr. Menendez have been friends for decades. The senator has 
said they celebrated holidays and weddings together, mourned together at
 funerals and exchanged gifts on birthdays.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="456" data-total-count="3177" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
The
 corruption indictment unsealed earlier this month against the men 
claimed that Mr. Menendez intervened on his friend’s behalf to gain 
visas for the doctor’s foreign girlfriends, to press officials in the 
Dominican Republic to honor a lucrative port contract for one of the 
doctor’s businesses and to influence officials on a billing dispute. In 
exchange, authorities say, Dr. Melgen showered the senator with flights,
 vacations and contributions.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="287" data-total-count="878" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>

Doctor in Menendez Case Is Indicted on Medicare Fraud Charges

MIAMI — The Florida doctor charged in a political corruption case along with Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey was charged on Tuesday...