Full Video (fast forward to 39:00)

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNePeKn3Tg 550 412]

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PHOTO SOURCE 
RENO, Nev. (AP) – A plane plunged into the stands at an air race event in Reno in what an official described as a “mass casualty situation.”

It wasn’t immediately known how many people were killed. But video of the crash showed a horrific scene of bodies and wreckage at the front of the stands.

Mike Draper, a spokesman for the air races, told The Associated Press that Jimmy Leeward was the pilot of the P-51 Mustang that crashed into the box seat area at the front of the grandstand about 4:30 p.m. He said he did not have any information on the number of injured.

The National Championship Air Races draws thousands of people every year in September to watch various military and civilian planes race.

SOURCE

The Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona was on lockdown today as officials negotiated with a man believed armed and barricaded inside a building on the base.

The man was barricaded in the “old dorm,” azcentral.com reported, based upon an unnamed source. The website, affiliated with the Arizona Republic newspaper, reported that the man had taken no hostages and that SWAT teams were in position.

A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that an individual with a weapon was holed up in a building at the base.

READ MORE HERE

http://twitter.com/#!/NewYorkPost/status/114781713070161921  SOURCE

(BREAKING UPDATE) Arizona Airbase Shooting. Unconfirmed reports the shooter has been captured… developing

From the NY POST Twitter Feed

Jeffrey Gundlach, who was fired from TCW Group Inc. and started his own firm, won a $66.7 million jury award against his former employer for unpaid wages.

A Los Angeles jury today awarded the money to Gundlach and three of his colleagues, while also finding that he breached his fiduciary duty to TCW and misappropriated its trade secrets. The jury awarded no damages on the breach claim. A judge will determine damages on the trade secret claim.

TCW, the Los Angeles-based unit of Societe Generale SA, sued Gundlach, 51, in January 2010, after more than half of its fixed-income professionals joined DoubleLine Capital LP, the asset-management firm Gundlach started within weeks after TCW fired him. TCW sought as much as $566 million in damages.

The jury found that Gundlach and DoubleLine didn’t act willfully and maliciously in misappropriating trade secrets.

Gundlach, who had worked at TCW for 25 years and was named Morningstar’s Fixed Income Manager of the Year in 2006, countersued, saying TCW fired him to avoid having to pay management and performance fees for the distressed-asset funds his group managed and that went “through the roof.” Gundlach sought about $500 million.

The jury heard more than six weeks of testimony as the two sides provided conflicting views of Gundlach’s falling out with TCW Chief Executive Officer Marc Stern in 2009, which ended with Stern’s buying Metropolitan West Asset Management LLC to run TCW’s fixed-income group and firing Gundlach in December 2009.

Became Suspicious

Stern testified that he became suspicious of Gundlach after a series of September 2009 meetings and instructed TCW’s in- house lawyer to start monitoring the e-mail of Gundlach and others in his group. The investigation showed Gundlach’s people were downloading TCW’s proprietary information and looking for office space, Stern said.

Gundlach denied that DoubleLine used any of TCW’s proprietary software systems and data.

DoubleLine’s lawyers argued that Stern started looking to replace Gundlach as early as June 2009, about the time Stern returned to active management. Gundlach and other senior managers at TCW had opposed Stern’s return out of retirement and wanted the firm to be run by a management committee instead.

Performance Fees

Gundlach had negotiated for him and his group to receive 60 percent of the performance fees for the distressed-asset funds he set up in 2007 and 2008. The funds invested in mortgage- backed securities that were downgraded and dropped in value with the collapse of the U.S. housing market.

As the funds performed better than expected, Paris-based Societe Generale and TCW wanted to replace Gundlach with a less expensive asset manager, DoubleLine’s lawyers said. TCW argued that Gundlach wasn’t entitled to management and performance fees from the funds after his firing.

The case is Trust Co. of the West v. Gundlach, BC429385, California Superior Court, Los Angeles County (Los Angeles).

SOURCE 

The jury has reached a verdict in a courtroom battle between Trust Company of the West and former investment chief Jeffrey Gundlach, concluding a six-week trial that has transfixed the financial industry.

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury’s verdict — after just two days of deliberations — will be released Friday morning.

The legal showdown between the “king of bonds” and the unit of French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) had offered an insider’s view into money management firms and the outsized personalities that operate them.

TCW fired Gundlach in December 2009 and sued him a month later, accusing him of stealing trade secrets, plotting to form a new company using TCW proprietary information, and gutting the firm of its entire mortgage-backed securities team.

Gundlach fired back with a counter-lawsuit, alleging his former employer owed him hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation and had secretly plotted to fire him when he was chief investment officer.

The case in Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles is Trust Co of the West v. Jeffrey Gundlach et al, BC429385.

SOURCE 

FROM REUTERS

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is likely to suggest to European finance ministers on Friday that they leverage their bailout fund along the lines of the U.S. TALF program, EU officials said.

“Geithner will probably insist on the importance of leverage to have more funds to ringfence the big Europeans, Italy and Spain, and to find a solution for Greece,” one EU official said.

“The leveraging of the EFSF — I think this is something that he will put on the table,” the official said. “There could be some openness to the proposal.”

TALF — the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility — was set up by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury during the global financial crisis in 2008 to jumpstart the frozen Asset Backed Securities (ABS) market.

Under TALF, the New York Fed would lend out up to $200 billion, taking ABS as collateral with a haircut and the Treasury offered $20 billion credit protection for the Fed.

In this way, a little bit of public money leveraged a much larger central bank contribution and the same idea could work for the European Financial Stability Facility, which has 440 billion euros at its disposal, to offer credit protection to, for example, the ECB to buy euro zone sovereign bonds.

“One of the difficulties is that leverage may be seen as a potential liability,” a second EU official said. “But it deserves to be looked at in detail.”

A third euro zone official said that Canada has made the same suggestion for Europe.

“It could help those countries where the sovereign bond market is still curable,” the third official said.

Such a solution would help ease market concerns that the EFSF does not have enough money to bail out Greece, Ireland Portugal and also help Spain and Italy.

“Of course you would have to see if on the basis of the EFSF mandate you can do something similar,” the first official said, adding the solution had not been free of hurdles in the United States either and in Europe they could be even bigger.

“From an economic point of view it is a reasonable idea,” the first official said, noting however that the ECB would have to play along with such a scheme.

“The issues are more on the institutional and legal side and of course political — you have to find a way for the ECB not to, de facto, finance fiscal policy, but on the other hand you need to have resources that the ECB has and the EFSF has not.”

Leveraging the EFSF, however, would not take place before the fund’s new powers of intervention on bond markets, extending precautionary credit lines or lending for bank recapitalization were ratified by the end of September, the official said.

“Once the EFSF becomes more flexible, you can see if there are ways similar or different to try to leverage more the EFSF or find other ways to have a critical mass to ringfence Italy Spain and the others,” the official said.

“You can also think about leveraging on other actors, not necessarily just the ECB,” the official said.

Amish investor charged with defrauding his community of millions of dollars

Members of the Amish community traditionally have settled their scores independent of secular society, but the federal legal system will decide the fate of Monroe Beachy, 77, of Sugarcreek, Holmes County.

Beachy was charged (pdf)Wednesday with defrauding thousands of his fellow Amish farmers, carpenters and neighbors of tens of millions of dollars in an alleged Ponzi scheme that has earned Beachy a nickname: The Amish Bernie Madoff.

Beachy, who has a 10th-grade education, acquired much of his financial knowledge from classes at H&R Block. He declared bankruptcy in 2010. He faces one count of mail fraud, and was expected to surrender to federal authorities by Friday.

U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. today in Cleveland to detail the charges.

Since 1990, Beachy raised an estimated $33 million from more than 2,600 investors — many of them fellow members of the Amish community who reside in this pastoral locale about a two-hour drive south of Cleveland.

When the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Beachy with fraud in February, the agency said he had lost nearly half of his investors’ money.

Beachy had assured his investors that their money was safe, earning higher returns than banks in U.S. government securities, and he issued periodic statements that government officials allege were fictitious.

In reality, Beachy had lost nearly all of his investors’ money by 1998 in speculative investments such as stocks, mutual funds and junk bonds, officials said. But he continued to solicit investments from new investors, which he used to repay earlier investors — a so-called Ponzi scheme similar to that operated by the infamous Bernard Madoff, which lost an estimated $18 billion in 2009, according to investigators. It was the largest loss in history and earned Madoff a sentence of 150 years in prison.

Since Beachy’s bankruptcy filing, Sugarcreek’s Amish community has been in turmoil, with many victims upset at being dragged into court rather than resolving the case among the Plain People themselves.

Some of Beachy’s creditors argue that forcing them to pursue claims through the court would be a violation of their religious freedom.

SOURCE HERE

Story Here

The Massachusetts House tonight overwhelmingly approved casino gambling , bolstering confidence among lawmakers that slot machines and Las Vegas-style table games will be coming to the Commonwealth.

The bill, which passed 123-32 just after 9 p.m., would authorize three “resort” casinos and one slots-only gambling parlor in Massachusetts. The Senate expects to take up the measure later this month and Governor Deval Patrick has signaled initial support, meaning the first slot parlor could open within a year.

Last year, a similar bill passed the Democrat-controlled both the House and the Senate before a disagreement with Patrick over the size and type of facilities derailed it.

Lawmakers say the state is desperate for jobs and a new stream of tax money.

“Personally, expanded gambling, I suppose I could take or leave,” said Representative Joseph F. Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat and the lead sponsor of the bill, who confessed his gambling experience is limited to the “occasional game of Keno.” But “I can’t ignore the thousands of jobs and I won’t ignore the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.”

Patrick offered critical support for the bill last month, and has indicated he is inclined to sign it.

“The debate today I think is a long time coming,” the governor told reporters yesterday. “There’s a lot I like about the bill and I’ll be interested to see what shape it takes when it reaches my desk.”

Casino developers have spent millions lobbying on Beacon Hill, in hopes of cashing in on the multi-billion dollar industry. Organized labor, desperate for construction and service jobs, also pushed hard.

Though adamant that expanding gambling will do more harm than good, opponents seemed resigned to the outcome, after House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, Senate President Therese Murray, and Patrick, all Democrats, united behind a single proposal last month.

Representative Denise Provost said the current bill “may look like the perfect prenuptial agreement.”

“But I don’t think it’s a good basis for us to go forward and marry the casino industry,” she said today.

She argued that as soon as cash-flushed casinos are entrenched in the state’s economy, their owners would deploy armies of lawyers and lobbyists to strong-arm the state into rewriting the casino law to the detriment of taxpayers.

“Once we have married the casino industry they are ours and we are theirs,” said Provost, a Somerville Democrat.

SOURCE

STORY HERE

Vienna (PK) – The Finance Committee
the National Council opened its session today with a
current debate. The delegates discussed with the
Federal Minister Maria Fekter and with the Governor and Vice-
Governor of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Ewald Nowotny and
Wolfgang Duchatczek, on questions of European
Sovereign debt crisis. In this issue came in very different
Approaches to this subject expressed. Governor Nowotny pointed
to the position of the OeNB, the way that the consolidation of
Government budgets should be recorded. Austria belongs to the
Core area of ​​European stability, it will also
not change if the continuity of financial and
Economic policies be preserved. It is the observance of
Budget discipline is an integral component.
Before input into the agenda committee chairman suggested Günter
Stummvoll ago, the agenda of the Committee for the
Government bill to raise the Austrian
Share of liability on the “euro rescue” from the original
Add to 12.24143 billion € to 21.63919 billion €. The
corresponding change in the balance of payments stabilization law
(1390 dB), it follows that European decisions to increase the
Total guarantee volume of 440 billion € EFSF to € 780 billion to
the lending capacity of EFSF in the original amount
Restore of 440 billion €. This was due to rising
Capital market interest rates on the one hand and by increasing the EFSF
Cash reserves for credit enhancement on the other hand EFSF
been reduced.
Deputy Werner Kogler criticized the approach taken by the
Government parties who are not willing to submit to Parliament a
clear roadmap and a clear position on the negotiations
to transmit via the ESM contract. His call for a party
good discussion on these core issues of European
One policy, for a hasty acquisition for the majority
Coalition if they were not available. Seconded
Michael Ikrath (V), however, pleaded for the inclusion of
Point on the agenda, it is precisely because of the
current situation of financial markets important to immediately contact the
Employed to law and thus a positive signal of pages
Parliament set. Argued in a similar direction
Seconded Kai January Krainer (S). The Elmar
Podgorschek (F) and Peter Westenthaler (B), despite being in their view
no reason to accede to the request. This was so
not the necessary two-thirds majority.
National Bank governor Ewald Nowotny said in his
introductory remarks that the first task in their OeNB
Line in the maintenance of price stability can see. You go to
compliant with the ECB. It focuses on the prevention of
Inflation and deflation. Austria is part of the European
Core stability and will remain so. The economic
Starting point for this but have changed since this spring.
Growth forecasts have slowed worldwide, the
Forecasts for 2012 are characterized by insecurity. So
Germany, meanwhile expect a downturn. The prospects
Austria presented themselves for optimism, but it is
assumed that even with a weakening of Austria
Economy would be expected, a stagnation or even recession
one is still far away, he said.
He explained the measures taken by the ECB in the
State debt crisis has taken. You have to volatility
to take the markets, expanded the purchase of government bonds.
But this was only as a temporary program to
Stabilize the market and ask a thought monetary policy
neutral measure dar. The inflow of capital into Switzerland
have triggered a rise in the franc, thus further
Problems arose. Nowotny said that it was not
appropriate in relation to negotiations with the second
Program for Greece to talk about a bankruptcy. It go
so that the troika of the lender from the EU Commission, IMF and
Governing the results of actions taken evaluated, here lies
no conclusion so far before.
Vice Governor Wolfgang Duchatczek explained the increase in the
Is the total guarantee volume of 440 billion € EFSF € to 780 billion
become necessary, because the rating of some participating States
I had meanwhile changed. The measure would be the
Lending capacity of EFSF in the original amount of
€ 440 billion recovered. The problem lies with Greece
refinancing to the financial markets. The utility
due to the fact that the financing gap would be calculated. This
must then be partially closed through austerity measures, the
remainder going on to the stabilization program
Made available. As a further consequence will be the
Experience in debt restructuring, such as those in the 1980s
in the case of Poland, Hungary or even in Latin America and Asia
were carried out, must see.
Seconded Kai January Krainer (S) saw the stabilization programs
Although necessary, it is missing but sufficient
Measures to stimulate growth and employment. The
Problem was clearly in Greece now. Seconded Michael
Ikrath (V) inquires whether the expected
Economic slowdown and an output-side adjustment
Make necessary budget. The behavior of Hungary on the question of
Foreign currency loans was simply adventurous and hazardous
legal certainty in Europe. MEP Elmar Podgorschek
(F) raised the question whether, in view of the public debt
Austria, the involvement of the budgetary debts except
already achieved 80% of GDP, the triple-A rating in Austria
Question could be asked. MEP Alexander Van der Bellen
(G) criticized that the agreement never ESFS in parliaments
was discussed. In Germany must now at least the
Budget Committee of the Bundestag to be included, he said
and asked what considerations to give it in Austria. Van
pointed to the barking rumored cost of a payment default
Greece. It is 40 billion € for Austria the speech, he
think this number is unlikely. Seconded Peter
Westenthaler (B) provided by the debate currently taking place
Assessment confirmed the BZÖ, which is the scenario of a
Greece’s exit from the monetary union several months ago
have thought possible.
In its response to the MPs said Governor Ewald
Nowotny, that a purely restrictive policy for Greece
could not be the solution. However, bringing the
Growth slowdown, the U.S. and emerging markets,
China as recorded, have new problems. Greece
must make a correction longtime aberrations,
it was a painstaking process. A particular problem is the
Principle of unanimity in EFSF program, this makes the
European institutions very cumbersome. The measures, which
Hungary is now taken in connection with foreign currency loans
‘ve had, extremely annoying. The Austrian Government
should in this regard, all legal options
advised to exploit Nowotny. On the question of the Triple-A ratings meant
He that the rating agencies reduced their rating criteria never
laid open, it was also a frequently expressed
Criticism. But it is well known that one measures
Hedge the ratings lead, and they would need in a
good fiscal policy there. This concerns the public
Area, the banks and the private sector.
Federal Minister Maria Fekter said the rumored numbers of
€ 40 billion is consistent with the loss of the benefits that Austria
‘m now out of participation in the euro zone. A
Breakup of the euro zone would by no means a
Represent an alternative to the shield, but high costs
cause by immediately striking expectant loan losses. A
Such a scenario would ultimately only benefit speculators who
Politics should not commit the mistake of it
to be influenced, stressed the Minister of Finance.
A further round of consultation led SPÖ MP Christopher
Matznetter with a complaint about that across Europe
austerity-driven growth stall. Greece
compared to the speakers with a “patient in the ICU,
where a starvation diet is prescribed. “With the savings alone could
Country do not come back on their feet, and said Matznetter
welcomed the growth impetus from the European
Development Bank. One of the causes of the debt crisis in
Europe Matznetter also pinpointed in the ruinous tax competition,
broke with the broad areas of the European economy
had been.
MEP Konrad Steindl (V) contradicted his previous speaker
vehemently and pointed to the damage that high taxes for the
Economic means. Austria had a tax rate of 44
% A high-tax country, held firmly Steindl.
Deputy Werner Kogler (G) called Euro Bonds not to
anticipated bad talk and pointed out that even
differentiated Vorgansweise with Blue and Red Bonds Bonds,
as proposed by Juncker, or fees for countries with
bad budget data is conceivable. Interest on Bonds €
should not be higher than those for Austrian
Government bonds, Euro bonds in any case be a tool against
Speculators said Kogler.
Detailed questions about problems with foreign currency loans, purchase
of government bonds by the ECB and after receiving the gold reserves of the
OeNB, the deputies Gerhard Huber (B) and Maximilian
Linder (R).
Vice Governor Wolfgang Duchatczek informed
Committee members that the OeNB since last
July and August, a deterioration in global economic
Climate registers, expect a dampening of economic activity
leaves. Negative messages superimposed over this period
Unfortunately, the positive developments and progress
in Ireland, Portugal and Spain, said Duchatczek.
With the subject “Euro Bonds” represented the Vice-Governor’s view,
that this instrument of economic policy in Europe
Institutions presuppose that there are not yet available. The
EFSF may act on the secondary market, but not on the
Derivatives market, said Duchatczek. The Austrian
280 tonnes of gold reserves are located in Austria, said
Duchatczek.
The Greece program contains not only saving requirements,
but also growth measures, but not short, but
medium term effect. Experience has shown that it needs time to
Deficit to close gaps in countries and they repaired to
back to refinance on the market.
With regard to the inflation fears of the OeNB
Lieutenant Governor to help calm: the calculations
National Bank indicate a decline in inflation to below 2% in
Years 2012.
Establishment of a Centre of Excellence Punzierungskontrolle
After the discussion with the National Bank of top European
Financial problems of the Finance Committee voted unanimously to
Proposal by the Federal Government to establish a
“Competence Centre Punzierungskontrolle” at the customs office at Vienna. So
to coordination problems between the Finance Department and Customs offices
be eliminated, which occurred previously, because the technical supervision
Punzierungskontrolle from the finance department, the
Supervision but was perceived by the customs offices.
Responding to a question members of the G-Ruperta Lichtenecker
argued with Secretary of State Andreas Schieder
Administrative simplifications, synergy effects and
Efficiency gains for the proposed changes in
Punzierungsgesetz (1275 d.B.). Also underlined the
Secretary of State, the efforts of the federal government to continue the
Administrative reform, such as by setting one
Corporate and administrative service portal announced
Simplifications in the course of the next business of order amendment
of which is being prepared.
International Finance Agreements
An additional protocol to the current Doppelbeststeuerungsabkommen
treaty with France that adapts to the new OECD
Standards for transparency and readiness for mutual assistance in
Prosecution of tax evaders to (1331 d.B.). The protocol
passed the committee with S-V-G-majority. MEP Elmar
Podgorschek (F) are known to avoid
Double taxation rejected the agreement on behalf of his faction
but down, because there is a softening of the Austrian
Bank secrecy brings with it. This argument was
State Secretary Andreas Schieder strongly opposed.
Unanimously recommended the approval of the Finance Committee to the plenary
to three agreements for the mutual promotion of the protection
investments with Kosovo (1332 dB), Kazakhstan (1333
d.B.) and Tajikistan (1334 d.B.). The contracts are based respectively
on the principle of MFN and
National treatment and meet the current state of the
Investment law. Investment in the two Parties
the attractiveness of Austria as a business location, increase
Secretary Andreas Schieder said and underlined the
Importance of Central Asia for the Austrian economy.
BZÖ breaks a lance for pension fund beneficiaries
Subsequently laid BZÖ member Gerhard Huber one
Resolution 1625 / A (E) with the desire of his group
on an amendment to the Pension Fund Act. He reminded
accept pensioners, who cuts up to 45% have to, because
capital in times of high market interest rates fixed bill
were, could not be generated. The
Applicants to the pension funds by lowering the
Discount rate, but also rehabilitate other pension cuts
prevent and demand compensation for the reduction of
Affected, where they proposed to the Austrian
Senior Citizens Council and the Association for the Protection of
Pension fund beneficiaries point.
The committee adjourned the application by the majority of
Coalition parties, after the deputies in January Kai Krainer (S)
and Gabriele Tamandl (V) on the matter in discussions between the
Had pointed Finance and the Ministry of Social Affairs.
In contrast, turned the Elmar Podgorschek (F)
and Gerhard Huber (B) against the adjournment, and criticized the
Refusal to work the federal government.
Freedom Party wants to relieve small businesses from the record keeping requirement
FPÖ deputy novel Haider demanded the raising of
Single recording limit of 150,000 € to 400,000 € in the
Federal tax code. The measures necessary for effective fraud
under the title “Barbewegungsverordnung” enhanced
Record keeping requirement for all companies to have unreasonable
Burdens of small businesses, particularly in tourism,
out, said Haider (1068 / A (e)).
Deputy Gabriel Obernosterer (V) held the request for
entitled, agreed to the adjournment request of Deputies
Christoph Matznetter (S) but because he felt that we should be the
Concerns in the context of an overall package with the necessary
Administrative simplification for small businesses comply.
FPO duplicate information obligations for businesses
Furthermore, criticized Haider FPÖ deputy novel of the duty
Stock companies and limited liability companies, financial statements,
New registrations, transfer and cancellation of company headquarters,
Appointment of new Managing Director and authorized officers or
Transfer of shares in both the commercial register
entered as the Internet and in the Official Gazette “Wiener
Newspaper “to publish. These” useless “duplication
77 000 a year burden for companies in Austria with € 15 million, the
Publication in the “Wiener Zeitung” was abolished, therefore,
Haider demanded.
Federal Minister Maria Fekter pointed out that for
this request on the judiciary and on the other hand
Chancellor’s Office had jurisdiction. This application was also S-
V-majority adjourned.
Freedom Party: Bank assistance for infrastructure company ÖBB
In view of bank debt in company of ÖBB-Infrastruktur
the amount of € 13.5 billion argued FPÖ deputy Gerhard
Deimek in its resolution 1654 / A (e) ensure that those
Banks that have been renovated with state assistance, their
Claims against the company ÖBB infrastructure by ten
Years and extend this period on interest payments –
offsettings without.
Seconded Kai January Krainer (S) and Finance Minister Maria
Fekter felt it would not claim to be conclusive. Fekter pointed
especially pointed out that the state banks for
Participation capital to pay high interest rates and it also
equality unconstitutional would be if they adopt only one customer interest
would. The adjournment resolution was passed with majority-SV.
(Close)
A release of the parliamentary correspondent
Tel +43 1 40110/2272, Fax. +43 1 40110/2640
e-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.parlament.gv.at
*** OTS ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE UNDER EXCLUSIVE
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As a result, markets are plunging.

Hertz is still interested, however.

Avis cited “market conditions” as their reason to drop bid.

Since everyone else is too chickenshit to call it, we will scoop it. Shadows on Fly’s urinals in New York told us so.

Chequemate.

__________

Latest numbers from Drudge:

14,347 Turner [R] 13,713 Weprin [D]

MORE ON SPECIAL ELECTION FOR WEINER’S SEAT FROM AP 

A federal judge in Pennsylvania said the insurance-buying mandate in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul in unconstitutional, the latest ruling over an issue likely to be taken up by the Supreme Court.

District Judge Christopher Conner in Harrisburg on Tuesday said the Commerce Clause of the Constitution did not grant Congress the power to include a provision requiring nearly all Americans to have health insurance. The provision is scheduled to take effect in 2014.

“The nation undoubtedly faces a health care crisis,” Conner wrote. “The federal government, however, is one of limited enumerated powers, and Congress’s efforts to remedy the ailing health care and health insurancemarkets must fit squarely within the boundaries of those powers.”

Tracy Schmaler, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said: “We believe, as other federal appeals courts have held, that the law is constitutional.”

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and James Vicini in Washington, editing by John Wallace)

SOURCE

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STORY HERE