Those Are My Recipes, Restaurateur Says
MANHATTAN (CN) - Aldo Bozzi claims celebrity chef Ursula Ferrigno aka Ursula Diane Moore, who appears on TV in Europe, violated copyright by swiping 12 recipes from the "Mezzaluna Cookbook." Bozzi, founder of Mezzaluna restaurant in New York, also sued Running Press Book Publishers and Octopus Publishing Group.


Mom & Little Girl Say Ad Firm & Drug Groups Defamed Them With 'Meth Mouth' Poster
MANHATTAN (CN) - A mother and her 7-year-old daughter, both professional models, claim an advertising firm and the Office of National Drug Control Policy defamed them by using a photo of the little girl, who is missing some teeth, as is normal at that age, in a poster about "meth mouth"--"a result of child abuse or neglect."

Chicago Mercantile Exchange to Operate as Central Counterparty for Credit Default Swaps News release : "The Securities and Exchange Commission took further action to help increase the transparency of credit default swaps by approving conditional exemptions that will allow the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) to operate as a central counterparty for clearing them. These conditional exemptions, based on a request by the CME and Citadel Investment Group LLC, provide the SEC with regulatory oversight of the central counterparty, and should enhance the quality of the credit default swap market and the Commission's ability to protect investors.
Exemptive Order Regarding Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and Citadel Investment Group, L.L.C.
Request for Exemptive Relief

The vernal equinox occurs when the center of the sun crosses the Equator. In the Northern Hemisphere spring officially begins at 7:44 a.m. ET on Friday, March 20.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090319-vernal-equinox-2009-spring.html

Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy Fact Sheet : "As required by the Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reviews Medicare payment policies and makes recommendations each March. The March 2009 report includes payment policy recommendations for nine payment systems: hospital inpatient, hospital outpatient, physicians, ambulatory surgical center, outpatient dialysis, skilled nursing, home health, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and long-term care hospitals. It also reviews the status of the Medicare Advantage (MA) plans beneficiaries can join in lieu of traditional FFS Medicare and the plans that provide prescription drug coverage."
Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy (March 2009)

EPA Releases Comprehensive Database on Environmental Chemicals
News release : "EPA has released a new online database that collects information on more than 500,000 man-made chemicals from over 200 public sources. The Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource (ACToR) database allows access to hundreds of data sources in one place, providing a new level of transparency and easy access for environmental researchers, scientific journalists and the public. Sources of information include EPA, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. National Institutes of Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and other federal agencies; state databases, Health and Environment Canada, the European Union, the World Health Organization and other international groups; and non-governmental organizations, private companies and universities."

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 101 (Thanks, Julie.)
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/wo/woissues/washfunding/fedfund/arra101.cfm

“Art is not created in a vacuum; the artists we revere draw from each other’s works, and the works of their predecessors.” The original copyright term in the U.S. was 14 years, long enough for the author to profit—short enough to quickly enter the public domain. The term of copyright has slowly crept up to 70 years after the author’s death. The European Commission has proposed an extension of the copyright term for sound recordings from 50 to 95 years. According to the Open Rights Group, 90% of money generated would go the music labels, 9% would go the top 20% of artists, and the remaining 1% would be divided up between the remaining 80% of artists.
Melanie Schlosser American Libraries March 2009

A woman in her 50s dropped in after work at the East Meadow (Long Island, NY) Public Library and applied for a library card. She confided to a librarian, with a smidgen of embarrassment, that it was her first library card since childhood. “Now I don’t have to buy my books,” she told the librarian, Jude Schanzer. “This is how I’m cutting back.”
Ms. Schanzer, East Meadow’s director of programming, tells the story to illustrate one upside to the economic downturn: Libraries are booming. New York Times.