Barack Obama's internal investigation cleared his staff, yesterday, of impropriety regarding Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich. The report found that Obama's top advisers (in particular, Rahm Emanuel) had contacts with the governor and attempted to influence his choice for Obama's vacated senate seat, but indeed offered the governor nothing but bleeping appreciation in return.
Blagojevich is not appointing senators these days, but he is signing bills. Yesterday, he signed one requiring that products marketed to children under 12 come with a warning label if they contain more than 40 parts per million of lead in either their base materials or surface paint. It is currently illegal to market products for children containing more than 600 parts per million of lead, but experts say far smaller amounts are a danger to children.
In happy news for some of the sellers of cheap toys, Walmart settled 63 of 75 lawsuits against the company for cheating hourly employees out of wages:
"The dozens of wage-and-hour lawsuits against Wal-Mart accused the company and its managers of various illegal stratagems, among them forcing employees to work unpaid off the clock, erasing hours from their time cards and preventing workers from taking lunch and other breaks that were either promised by the company or guaranteed by state laws."
The settlement amounts to at least $352 million and perhaps as much as $640 million, depending on how many employees and former employees file claims.
Even as SUVs see the end of their days, cyclist, Ryan Bowen left Los Angelos in early December on his bike. Yesterday, he crossed the continental divide as he pedals 4,000 miles to Washington, D.C. to celebrate Barack Obama's inauguration. Bowen is hoping to pick up some more cyclists along the way.
Image: Chicago Tribune for more photos of Ryan Bowen's cycling trip see the Tribune's photo gallery
