Vermont is about to accomplish something the federal government couldn't. Once Gov. Peter Shumlin signs a bill on May 26, the state will be on track to having a single-payer health care system.

Ask the voters and they'll tell you: Social Security cuts are off the table when it comes to cleaning up the budget mess in Washington.

Unemployment is up. Joblessness has increased for African Americans. Black women are being hit especially hard. The question now is whether the people running the country really care? And if they do, why are they avoiding the subject?

Back in 2007, the Mackinac Center produced a report about how the state could address its budget deficit without raising taxes. As you might expect from a rightwing think tank, their solution was all cuts. Some of the cuts involved programs for which the state receives matching dollars from the federal government and some of the suggestions like cutting health care benefits for teachers were entirely unrealistic (teacher benefits are a product of negotiations at the local level).

They're not buying it. Most Americans say they don't believe Medicare has to be cut to balance the federal budget, and ditto for Social Security, a new poll shows.

House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan proposes to undermine the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, with an eye toward enriching the insurance companies that so generously fund his campaigns.

A nearly three-year-old campaign to preserve San Leandro Hospital's emergency room was re-energized Tuesday night when local leaders publicly unveiled a plan to merge its administration with Hayward's St. Rose Hospital.