Texas county offers $40K settlement to Tasered woman.Target pays $600K for high lead levels in toys.Inspection systems said to make eating ground beef "a gamble."Supreme Court begins new term today.AAJ report finds med mal insurers' profits higher than 99% of Fortune 500 firms.NIST report finds collapsed Dallas Cowboys practice facility should have withstood winds.Arizona authorities investigate potential negligence in sweat lodge deaths.Nebraska gown manufacturer sued for discrimination.Hospital error caused radiation overdoses.Texas county offers $40K settlement to Tasered woman.The AP (10/1) reported, "A Texas county has offered a $40,000 settlement to a 72-year-old woman whose Tasering by a deputy constable was captured on video and shown nationwide. Kathryn Winkfein, who was shocked with a stungun after she dared the constable to do so during a May traffic stop, wants $135,000 for pain and suffering, medical expenses and humiliation. But Travis County commissioners on Tuesday approved $40,000 as their 'firm' counteroffer." Target pays $600K for high lead levels in toys.The AP (10/1, Metzler) reported, "Target Corp. has agreed to pay a $600,000 civil penalty for importing and selling a variety of toys with high levels of lead paint on the surface." Target "recalled more than 500,000 Kool Toyz play sets, Anima Bamboo Collection games, and Happy Giddy gardening tools and Sunny Patch chairs for lead paint violations between November 2006 and September 2007. The company did not take the proper steps to ensure none of the toys it imported and sold contained lead paint, according to CPSC." Inspection systems said to make eating ground beef "a gamble."In a 4800-word front-page article, the New York Times (10/4, A1, Moss) reported, "Eating ground beef is still a gamble," as "neither the system meant to make the meat safe, nor the meat itself, is what consumers have been led to believe. "There is no federal requirement for grinders to test their ingredients for" E. coli, and grinders use a combination of sources for the meat, including "low-grade ingredients...more likely to have had contact with feces, which carries E. coli." Meanwhile, most meat companies rely on their "suppliers to check for the bacteria." And, "unwritten agreements between some companies appear to stand in the way of ingredient testing," as "many big slaughterhouses will sell only to grinders who agree not to test their shipments for E. coli." The article focuses on Stephanie Smith, a children's dance instructor who became paralyzed after eating an E. coli-contaminated burger made by Cargill. But "the mix of ingredients in the burgers made it almost impossible for either federal officials or Cargill to trace the contamination to a specific slaughterhouse." The Times notes that the cases are being handled by Seattle attorney Bill Marler. Supreme Court begins new term today.The beginning of a new Supreme Court term today draws media coverage focusing on several of the key cases the Court will consider and on the impact of the newest Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The New York Times (10/5, A1, Liptak) reports, "The new Supreme Court term that begins Monday will be dominated by cases concerning corporations, compensation and the financial markets that could signal the justices' attitude toward regulatory constraints at a time of extraordinary government intervention in the economy." The Court's"decisions will be closely watched at a time when, constitutional scholars say, Obama administration initiatives are generating fundamental questions about the structure and limits of government power that will, in short order, reach the court." The Washington Times (10/5, Conery) reports that the Court "will decide such weighty issues as Chicago's gun ban, the sentences imposed on juvenile offenders, and an issue near and dear to Washington in the fall: Who can sellan official Redskins jersey." The Times adds, "After a summer break that saw the historic confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the court's first Hispanic jurist, the Supreme Court begins its new term Monday, likely without major ideological changes. The Washington Post (10/5) and USA Today (10/5, Biskupic) also covered the story. More Commentary. The New York Times (10/5, A22) editorializes, "The Supreme Court starts its new sessionthis week with cases on its docket that could reshape the law in campaign finance, gun control and sentencing for juvenile crimes, and with the first new Democratically appointed justice in 15 years." The Times notes that the "most important business case," is "one the court heard last month. In Citizens United v. F.E.C., the court could wipe out a longstanding ban on corporate spending on federal elections, which would allow big business to swamp democracy. We hope the court will avoid such recklessness, and rule narrowly." The Times also notes that a "new justice always changes the dynamic of the court, but in ideologically charged cases, Justice Sotomayor's positions are likely to be similar to those of Justice David Souter, whom she replaced," which means "the court is likely to remain divided between four moderate-liberals and a very conservative bloc of four, with the moderate conservative Justice Kennedyproviding the swing vote. Barring any new changes in the Supreme Court's composition, or any sudden changes of heart among the sitting justices, the law on many issues is likely to be, as it has been for several years now, what Justice Kennedy says it is." AAJ report finds med mal insurers' profits higher than 99% of Fortune 500 firms.The Washington Independent (10/6, Eviatar) reported, "The American Association for Justice - the trial lawyers' lobby group - has just released an astounding statistic: medical malpractice insurance companies' average profits are higher than those of 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies. As the nation remains mired in a debate over health care reform and how to keep down the costs of expanding coverage, AAJ is trying to point out that Republicans claims thatmedical malpractice lawsuits are one of the big cost drivers is completely misleading. In fact, though malpractice claims and so-called 'defensive medicine' does account for a small percentage of unnecessary costs, medical errors and the astronomical profits of malpractice insurers appear to be a bigger part of the problem." AAJ President Anthony Tarricone said, "Insurance companies are gouging doctors on their
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