Jewel-Osco Unveils 'nutrition iQ' Food Labeling Program to Help Shoppers Make Choices for Better Health

Illinois economic suicide required reliance on three myths
News of the Illinois General Assembly’s passage of a massive Tax Increase, the largest in the state’s history, has spread across the state and across the nation and the early reviews are not good. Regarding the tax hikes, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey said, “Let me tell you, you know who the happiest people in the world are?  Governor Branstad of Iowa, Governor Walker of Wisconsin, Governor Daniels of Indiana. People are going to be fleeing and businesses are going...

Gingrich praises 2012 primary system
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is praising the presidential primary calendar for giving talented underdogs a fair shot at winning the GOP nomination, calling it an “open and equal-opportunity model” that shouldn’t be changed. “In the opening weeks you’ve been in the Midwest,” he told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren on Thursday night. “You’ve been in the northeast. And you’ve been in the south. Now with adding Nevada you’ve been...

Polls: Palin struggles in early primary states
Pollster Tom Jensen notes that Sarah Palin is near the top of the leaderboard nationally, but so was Hillary Clinton in '08. As we all know, it's the early states that matter. In Iowa two different polls this week found that Palin is a distant third in Iowa. We found her 15 points behind Mike Huckabee with 15% support and Neighborhood Research found her 13 points behind Huckabee with only 11% support. In New Hampshire our most recent poll found her in a tie for third place at 10% with Newt Gin...

Major GOP conference may be scheduled days before Iowa caucuses
Washington (CNN) - South Carolina Republicans are maneuvering to host a major party gathering in the weeks before the 2012 Iowa caucuses, a move that could force GOP presidential hopefuls to interrupt their last minute Midwest politicking to court Activists down south. Southern delegates to the Republican National Committee on Friday ratified Charleston, South Carolina as the site of the 2012 Southern Republican Leadership Conference. Rules say the conference can be held at any point betwe...

The Early States
Ton Jensen muses: Sarah Palin's biggest obstacle to the White House may not be her remarkable level of unpopularity with Democrats and Independents. Her more immediate problem is that she simply doesn't have much support in the vital early Republican states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Florida. Jensen acknowledges that polling can change wildly, but he argues that politicians who gain momentum "tend to be folks who start out with very low name recognition and gain more and ...

Palin isn't the frontrunner
Public Policy Polling's Tom Jensen looks at Sarah Palin's poll numbers in the crucial early states, which are wildly out of line with her media profile: Sarah Palin's biggest obstacle to the White House may not be her remarkable level of unpopularity with Democrats and Independents. Her more immediate problem is that she simply doesn't have much support in the vital early Republican states of...

Palin's biggest problem
Sarah Palin's biggest obstacle to the White House may not be her remarkable level of unpopularity with Democrats and Independents. Her more immediate problem is that she simply doesn't have much support in the vital early Republican states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Florida. Palin does well in national polls on the GOP nomination contest, including a first place finish on our most recent one. But if those sorts of polls determined the nominee Hillary Clinton would most likely be in the...

Palin Lacks Support in Early States
Tom Jensen: "Sarah Palin's biggest obstacle to the White House may not be her remarkable level of unpopularity with Democrats and Independents. Her more immediate problem is that she simply doesn't have much support in the vital early Republican states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Florida." ...

Over 1 Million Americans Seen Losing Homes in 2011
© Reuters/Joshua Lott A realtor and bank-owned sign is displayed near a house for sale in Phoenix, Arizona, January 4, 2011. The five largest Mortgage loan servicers, including Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co, may be the first to settle with 50 state attorneys general who are investigating Foreclosure practices, Bloomberg reported, citing Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. The bleakest year in the Foreclosure crisis has only just begun. Lenders are poised to take back mor...

Wisconsin Moves Quickly to Capitalize on Illinois Tax Hikes
If you live or have a business in the greater Chicago area the Tax Haven of Wisconsin is just a few miles away: Illinois this week earned the honor of becoming the First State in 2011 to sock it to Taxpayers, passing a tax hike the size of Lake Michigan. Citizens cried out, legislators deflected, but the most interesting response came from neighboring Wisconsin, where newly elected GOP Gov. Scott Walker had three words for Illinois businesses: "Escape to Wisconsin." Across the country, dozens o...

Brain boxes
Is there a genius in all of us? Are you being served? How do you overcome a stammer? Those who think geniuses are born and not made may be wrong, says writer David Shenk. Where do athletic and artistic abilities come from? With phrases like "gifted musician", "natural athlete" and "innate intelligence", we have long assumed that talent is a genetic thing some of us have and others don't. But new science suggests the source of abilities is much more interesti...

Tiger Moms & Genes
Charles Murray weighs in on the subject. An excerpt: But genes play a big role in whether you can demand that your child get an A in advanced calculus or make first seat in the violin section of the orchestra. With that in mind, let’s contemplate the genes being fed into those Chua Children who are doing so well. Maternal grandfather: EE and Computer Sciences Professor at Berkeley, known as the father of nonlinear circuit theory and cellular neural networks. Mother: able to get into Harvar...

The Half-Full Glass of Economic Mobility
When people look at data on economic mobility, they see different things. For example, it is well known that if your father had high income, you are more likely to have high income than if you father had Low Income. According to this study (which I found thanks to a pointer by Paul Krugman), the elasticity of son's income with respect to father's income is about 0.5 in the United States. How do you interpret this fact? Some people might be tempted to see it as evidence against equality of oppo...

Albert Heijn, Dutch grocery magnate, dies at 83
Albert Heijn, the driving force behind the expansion of the Netherlands-based grocery chain operator Royal Ahold NV into international markets, has died, the company says. Heijn was 83 and died "peacefully" at home in Britain on Thursday, the company said Friday, without giving a cause of death. Heijn was named for his grandfather, the founder of the Albert Heijn grocery chain that is now by far the Netherlands' largest. Ahold said Heijn introduced "full service" Grocery Stores in the Netherland...

High Demand, Nutritional Dilemma Vex Food Banks
A slow economy has forced food pantries and soup kitchens into high gear, with nearly 50 percent more people depending on them since 2006. And while food banks around the country struggle to meet the increased demand, they’re also pushing themselves to focus on what they're feeding people, not just how much. However, Junk Food is becoming the unwanted house guest that food banks just can't say "no" to. "We do not turn away those types of items," says Tasha Kennard from Second Harvest Food Bank...

Police Searching For Suspects In 8 Queens Robberies
NEW YORK (CBS New York) - Police are on the hunt for as many as five men who have been pulling off a string of armed robberies in Queens. There have been at least eight hold-ups since last month. Among the targets were two hotels, a Grocery Store and a bodega. The most recent Robbery was last Saturday shortly after 3 a.m. at a Dunkin Donuts on the Grand Central Parkway. Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS. The public ca...

Stores Push Healthy Food Options
DALLAS - Confused by food labels? Some North Texas Grocery Stores are trying to take the guess work out of making healthy choices. FOX 4's Natalie Solis explains....

Bag holding ammo found near Ariz. suspect's home
TUCSON, Ariz. — A man walking his dog has found a black bag holding ammunition that authorities believe was discarded by a gunman accused of trying to assassinate an Arizona congresswoman. Chief Rick Kastigar with the Pima County Sheriff's Office told The Associated Press that an 18-year-old found the bag Thursday morning in a neighborhood near where the suspect lives. He went to get another man, who looked inside and saw ammunition. Authorities have said the suspect, Jared Loughner,...

Tucson to bury judge slain in shooting rampage
He was shot to death as he dropped by to see her at a constituents' meeting outside a north Tucson Grocery Store last Saturday, on his way home from mass. His Funeral is on Friday morning. Among six people killed when a College Dropout pumped bullet after bullet into a crowd outside the Safeway store, Roll was a highly respected jurist. He joined the federal bench in 1991 after being nominated by President George Bush, on the recommendation of Arizona Republican Senator John McCain. He rose to ...

Opportunity Village razes store gutted by fire
Demolition work began Wednesday on Opportunity Village's Main Street thrift store, which was gutted by fire last year. The charity still is brainstorming what to do with the property, however. One reason for that is a temporary location for the thrift store, which is one of several Opportunity Village endeavors, is thriving. "It's actually doing extremely well," spokesman Stephen Miller said of the new address at 4600 Meadows Lane, at the intersection with Decatur Boulevard. "I think the daily a...

Pete Kings Proposed Gun Ban to Prevent Additional Safeway Massacres (and to Address the Danger of Trucks Falling on Rafts)
One of the irritating things that occurs in politics is that every time something bad happens, someone thinks it is time to change the law.  For instance, in the wake of the Enron Scandals we saw people in Congress proposing new regulations on business supposedly to prevent that sort of thing from happening in the future.  I remember saying to colleagues at the time, “Why?  Isn’t what they did already illegal?”  But we have thousands and thousands of pages o...

Bag holding ammo found near Ariz. suspect's home
TUCSON, Ariz. — A man walking his dog has found a black bag holding ammunition that authorities believe was discarded by a gunman accused of trying to assassinate an Arizona congresswoman. Chief Rick Kastigar with the Pima County Sheriff's Office told The Associated Press that an 18-year-old found the bag Thursday morning in a neighborhood near where the suspect lives. He went to get another man, who looked inside and saw ammunition. Authorities have said the suspect, Jared Loughner,...

Giffords progressing nicely, doctors say
TUCSON, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Critically injured U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., has marked major milestones as she recovers from a gunshot wound to her head, doctors said. But as remarkable as her progress is -- Giffords opened her eyes, tracked people and objects, moved her arms and dangled her legs over the side of her Hospital bed -- doctors warned her progress won't be always as swift during her rehabilitation, The (Phoenix) Arizona Republic reported Friday. "Every milestone, every bit of...

'Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars' Recalled Over Immense Lead Content
NPR: Turns out the marketer of some candy bars sold under the Toxic Waste brand wasn't joking. The Food and Drug Administration says Candy Dynamics of Indianapolis is recalling all flavors of its Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars after way too much lead turned up in some cherry-flavored bars in California. Read the whole story Get HuffPost Food On Twitter! Know something we don't? E-mail us at [email protected] ...

3 people electrocuted at San Bernardino home
A mother, father and their son were electrocuted Friday in their backyard in Southern California after one touched a downed power line and the other two attempted rescues, a Fire Department spokesman said. Firefighters were called to the San Bernardino home at about 5:45 a.m. by a 17-year-old girl who said her parents and brother had been electrocuted and were lying in the backyard, fire spokesman Jason Serrano said. Firefighters saw three bodies in contact with an arcing 12,000-volt electrical ...