No fatalities for U.S. airlines
U.S. airlines didn’t have a single fatality in 2010, despite more than 10 million flights involving more than 700 million passengers. It was the third year in the past four without a death.
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More post offices to close
In March, the U.S. Postal Service—facing a decline in the volume of mail and $8.5 billion in losses—will begin closing 2,000 post offices in addition to 500 others it began closing in recent months. Most of the closings will be in rural areas and small towns.
The Wall Street Journal
The health risks of shoveling snow
Shoveling snow causes an average of 100 deaths, and 11,500 emergency-room visits every year, according to a new study by the Center for Injury Research and Policy in Ohio. Back, hand, and arm injuries are the most common, with heart attacks causing most of the fatalities.
HealthScout.com
The world's millionaires
About 24.2 million people in the world have $1 million or more in net assets, and control more than a third of the world’s wealth. There are now more millionaires than there are Australians.
The Economist
Presidential contenders
So far, 76 people have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run for president in 2012—all of them unknown to the general public. “We have a bunch of idiots in Washington,” said one filer, Dennis Knill, a home remodeler from Sedona, Ariz. “They are ruining the country, and somebody has to stop it.”
USA Today
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Very rich and very poor in California, and morefeature California is home to 111 billionaires, yet it also suffers the highest poverty rate in the country.
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Arctic cold kills tree insects, and more
feature This winter’s arctic temperatures have had at least one beneficial impact: They’ve killed ash borers, gypsy moths, and other tree-eating insects.
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Congress's poor record, and more
feature The 113th Congress is on course to pass less legislation than any Congress in history.
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Gender differences in employment, and more
feature
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A first for West Point, and more
feature For the first time, two male graduates of West Point were married at the military academy’s chapel.
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A God given land?, and more
feature More white evangelical Protestants than U.S Jews believe that Israel was “given to the Jewish people by God.”
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Jailing the mentally ill, and more
feature American prisons have replaced state mental hospitals as a place to warehouse the mentally ill.
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Treating Internet addiction, and more
feature Treating Internet addiction; Freshman virgins at Harvard; A salary handicap for lefties; Prices for vintage automobiles soar; Gun permits for blind people