Quote of the day
"It's very easy to blame police officers for the inappropriate use of a Taser, but we need to take another step back and look at how it's been introduced to them. They're under the impression that it's a bit of a magic tool, that you'll shoot someone with 50,000 volts and they'll be rendered incapable and no harm will be done."
Dalia Hashad, a human rights violations specialist with Amnesty International; supporters of the weapons say they reduce workers' comp claims by police.
Go to the full story in KIMA-TV (Yakima, Wash.)
California High Court Awards Benefits to Injured Deputy
A lengthy legal battle between Stanislaus County and a former sheriff’s deputy has come to a close, as the California Supreme Court rules that he can collect workers’ compensation for severe foot injuries he sustained in 2005 when a car driven by a methamphetamine user struck him as he returned from a horseshoeing class. Modesto Bee
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Shocking Incidents Make Tasers a Controversial Weapon
Supporters of the police use of Tasers, which fire tethered cartridges that transmit electrical currents in order to subdue a potential assailant, contend the devices reduce police workers’ compensation and lost time claims. But critics say Tasers are sometimes used as a weapon of first resort on the frail or mentally ill. By AP via KIMA-TV (Yakima, Wash.)
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Dominant Maryland Workers’ Comp Insurer Announces Appointment
IWIF Workers’ Compensation Insurance, Maryland’s largest workers’ comp insurer, promotes Paige Beck to executive vice president and chief financial officer. Beck has served as head of the firm’s internal audit department and as assistant vice president of finance. Baltimore Business Journal
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Sunshine State Amusement Park Goes Off Track
Florida officials order construction to stop on a Fort Myers-area amusement park for failure to provide at least eight workers with workers’ compensation insurance. NBC-2 (Fort Myers) [With Video] Go to the Full Story…
MEMIC Expands into Newly-Reformed Empire State System
New Hampshire-based workers’ compensation insurer MEMIC, which also has offices in Maine and Connecticut, opens an Albany, N.Y., office in the wake of the state’s recent workers’ comp reforms. Buffalo Business First
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Upstate New Yorker Charged with Workers’ Comp Fraud
An Albany, N.Y.-area man who had been collecting workers’ compensation faces charges of grand larceny for allegedly doing work not consistent with his purported injuries. By David Filkins, Albany Times Union
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North Dakota Judge Tosses Felony Charges Against WSI Director
A judge dismisses two felony charges against the chief of Workforce Safety and Insurance, North Dakota’s workers’ compensation agency, saying he found no evidence that Sandy Blunt personally benefited from allegedly illegal gifts and bonuses that were given to employees. By AP via KXMB-TV (Bismarck – Mandan)
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