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Elaine Soloway’s Rookie Widow Series: To Be Adored; Holiday Parties and Offended2013

To Be Adored

I winced at my dear friend’s words. “Why in the world would you want another man in your life right now (or ever)?” she wrote in response to my blog post about a JDate fiasco. “You would probably wind up being a nurse for him. You should be a caregiver for yourself.“

Was my friend trying to guard me from a future I wouldn’t allow myself to consider?

Furthermore, why have I asked my paired-up friends to keep me in mind if they know. Why indeed did I — now happily independent in my new downtown digs — sign up for JDate in the first place?

And, why have I been spying on physically fit grey-haired men at my health club? an older single male who meets my criteria; i.e. strolls without the aid of a walker and drives at night?

“Someone to hug,” I shot back, believing my pathetic answer would win sympathy and stall further scathing. My response seemed reasonable, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn’t bodily contact I missed. After all, there’s any number of friends and relatives who would welcome my arms wrapped around their torsos.

If not an embrace, what then have I been seeking in my attempts to find a date? To find clues, I stretched out on the couch, closed my eyes, and reviewed past examples of familiar marriages. And, what I came up with is this: I miss the feeling of being adored.

In my stroll through wedlock history, I realized Tommy spoiled me for future relationships. When I rummaged the drawers of our house before I put it on the market, I found stacks of yellow-lined notes that I had saved and bundled in rubber bands. Each one a sentiment from a love-struck middle-aged man who paused every day to let me know he felt as if he had won the lottery.

Tommy’s heartfelt emotions were a revelation because they were unfortunately missing from my first marriage, and tragically one-sided in my parents’.

In my initial go-around, my husband and I appreciated, admired, and cared for each other. But, did we adore one another? Perhaps in the stars-in-our-eyes early years; but after that, with our own personal struggles blinding us, the word went missing.

My parent’s marriage was so impressionable that it spurred my memoir, “The Division Street Princess.” As I wrote: Irv loved Min from the moment he saw the 19-year-old neighborhood beauty. But alas, Min didn’t return his ardor. It wasn’t until her old-world mother urged, “You’ll learn to love him,” that Min accepted Irv’s proposal.

Bubbie, you were wrong! Despite Dad’s longing, and his purchase of gifts he couldn’t pay for — like the mink stole cradled in tissue and presented in a white box — Mom never grasped the lesson.

“Take it back, we can’t afford it,” I remember her saying as she stared at Dad’s present. And bitty me, channeling my father’s pining, pleaded, “Just try it on, Mom, just try it on.” She did and twirling in front of a full-length mirror like a 1940’s movie star, decided to keep the mink while Dad paid for it in monthly installments.

I never did learn why Mom couldn’t return Dad’s adoration. I guess some of it could be linked to her disappointment in spending her pretty young life behind the counter of a grocery store on a tenement street. The neighborhood beauty deserved better.

So perhaps glum childhood scenes inspired me to take the part of my mother in my adult life? I would show her how an adored wife acts. When I would find Tommy’s love notes, I’d squeal as if they were hidden jewels. Then, I’d get my own post-it and draw a heart with the words, “Love you, hubber!” and tuck it into a gym shoe, golf glove, or some other spot he would later discover.

Among the other mementoes I saved was a letter Tommy wrote to me early on. It was the one I read it to him as I sat on the other side of the metal railings of his hospice bed. It was two pages long, written in pen on yellow-lined paper and began:

My Darling Elaine, I don’t know what lies ahead but I do know I want to spend the rest of my life loving you and taking care of you. We make a great team. When I think about all the years I was alone I realize now that you were the missing part of the puzzle that makes it all fit together.

That’s what I’m talking about.

Holiday Parties

“Is this seat taken?” The question was from one of two handsome, smiling young men who approached the high table where my friend Diane and I had perched.

We were at a holiday party hosted by the management of our rental building. Both of us are single, and we had jokingly referred to each other as wingmen, encouraging one another if a viable male came our way.

“It’s open,” we replied in unison, waving our hands across the empty seat to prove there was nothing to stop either one of their nicely pressed trousers taking occupancy.

“Great, then we can leave our coats here,” the other said, as he draped his outerwear on the empty stool.

October 7, 2015
The California Fair Pay Act: Closing the Wage Gap for Women

SB 358 (Jackson) California Fair Pay Act

Summary: The California Fair Pay Act will strengthen the state’s existing equal pay laws by eliminating loopholes that prevent effective enforcement and by empowering employees to discuss their pay without fear of retaliation.

Background: Despite the 1949 passage of the California Equal Pay Act (EPA), working women in California continue to make significantly less than men for the same or substantially equivalent work. As a group, women working full-time in California lose more than $33 billion each year due to the wage gap.

In 2013, a woman in California working full-time, year-round, earned a median of 84 cents for every dollar earned by a man. The problem is even worse for most women of color: for example, African American and Latina women working full-time, year-round in California make a median of just 64 cents and 44 cents, respectively, for every dollar earned by white men. California has the worst Latina gender wage gap in the nation.

Pay discrimination often is “hidden from sight,” and pay secrecy undermines attempts to reduce the wage gap. Studies have found that a majority of employees are either prohibited or actively discouraged from discussing their pay. Workers are less likely to inquire about pay if they fear retaliation from their employer for doing so. This secrecy means that workers are unlikely even to discover ongoing pay discrimination, much less be able to fight against it.

Existing Law: There are state and federal laws that attempt to address pay inequality, including the CA EPA and the almost-identical federal Equal Pay Act. However, the California Labor Code provisions codifying the CA EPA (which was first enacted in 1949 and last amended in 1985) contain out-of-date terms and loopholes that make it difficult to enforce in practice.

For example, the CA EPA’s “same establishment” provision could prevent a woman who works at a facility in Oakland, CA, from comparing her pay to that of a man who works in the same position and for the same company, but at a facility in Berkeley, CA. The ambiguous and overly expansive “any bona fide factor other than sex” defense allows employers to rely on after-the-fact and irrelevant non-sex-based factors to explain away pay discrimination.

In addition, while other Labor Code provisions prohibit retaliation against employees for “disclosing” their own wages, there currently is no specific protection for inquiring about the wages of other employees, even if the purpose of the inquiry is to exercise one’s right to be paid equally for equal work.

This Bill: SB 358 will help eliminate the California gender wage gap by amending the CA EPA in the following ways:

• Ensuring that employees performing substantially equivalent work are paid fairly by requiring equal pay for work “of comparable character” and eliminating the outdated “same establishment” requirement;

• Clarifying the employee’s and employer’s burdens of proof under the CA EPA;

• Preventing reliance on irrelevant and ill-defined “factors other than sex” to justify unfair pay differentials by replacing the “bona fide factor other than sex” catch-all defense with more specific affirmative defenses;

• Ensuring that any legitimate, non-sex related factor(s) relied upon are applied reasonably and account for the entire pay differential;

•Discouraging pay secrecy by explicitly prohibiting retaliation or discrimination against employees who disclose, discuss, or inquire about their own or co-workers’ wages for the purpose of enforcing their rights under the CA EPA.

Contact Information:

Jennifer Reisch, Equal Rights Advocates jreisch@equalrights.org (415) 575-2384

Mariko Yoshihara, CA Employment Lawyers Assn. mariko@cela.org (916) 340-5084

Rachael Langston, LAS – Employment Law Center rlangston@las-elc.org (415) 864-8848 Summary Contact Information Background Existing Law This Bill

October 6, 2015
Home Fires, A New Masterpiece Theater Series Based on Britain’s Women’s Institute

Premiering Sunday, October 4, at 8 (7pm Central Time) — Home Fires is a drama inspired by the true story of the Women’s Institute (WI)*, a community organization that enabled women all over England to come together and rise above the challenges of World War II.

Headlined by Masterpiece Theater’s favorites Samantha Bond (Downton Abbey’s Aunt Rosamund) and Francesca Annis (Reckless, Cranford), the Home Fires cast also features plenty of Masterpiece alumni. Look for Claire Calbraith (flirtatious maid Jane in Season 2 of Downton Abbey), Mark Bazeley (Agnes Towler’s abusive father in Mr. Selfridge), Claire Rushbrook (Pip’s hot-tempered older sister in Great Expectations, and secretary-gone-rogue Karen in Collision), and Ed Stoppard (political playboy Sir Hallam Holland in 2010’s Upstairs, Downstairs), among others.

Set at the onset of WWII, Home Fires is inspired by the real organization The Women’s Institute (WI – see below), a women’s social club that is still alive and well. The series is largely based on Julie Summers book Jambusters, which details the WI’s contribution to wartime food production, education, and social issues. With their husbands and sons taken by the War, women across England were suddenly faced with new responsibilities — the WI helped these women connect with each other, learn new skills, and rise above these challenges.

Series star Samantha Bond was thrilled to be part of a story that not only features a predominately female cast, but also relies on the talent of middle-aged actresses.

“When I got a phone call from my agent saying they were going to make a series about the Women’s Institute based on a book called Jambusters, there was a bit of my heart that fell. I’ve been very vocal about the lack of parts for middle aged ladies and then I thought, ‘They’re going to have us make jam.’ Then I read the first two scripts and I was absolutely captivated … there’s far more to the WI in this period than just jam making.”

Though World War II was a time of rations and sacrifices, there are still plenty of fashion moments in Home Fires. Star Francesca Annis was especially struck by the original, period clothing used for the series. “It’s incredible how beautiful the clothes were. Imaginative and different in detail that we don’t have now. A lot of people actually made their own clothes … So you have much more of a sense of individuality and you see that in a lot of the costumes. It’s also amazing to think how long they have lasted.”

Home Fires not only draws the viewer into the sacrifices of wartime, but also the personal struggles faced at home. While many wartime dramas focus on urban life, Home Fires’ village setting means that viewers get a unique perspective: the close-knit intimacy of country life.

Actress Samantha Bond was struck by the visible impact of World War II on these country villages, still visible today. “We filmed at a church in one of the Cheshire villages. One side had stained glass windows and the other side had plain glass – because a bomb fell on it. When people think of bombing during the Second World War they tend to concentrate on big cities. But these small villages could also find themselves in the firing line.

*The Women’s Institute comments on the series:

Beginning in the late summer of 1939, Home Fires tells the stories of the WI members of Great Paxford WI as war approaches. The drama follows a group of inspirational women in a rural Cheshire community with the shadow of World War II casting a dark cloud over their lives. The isolated village couldn’t feel further away from the impending bloodshed and battlefields and yet it is not immune from the effects of war. As the conflict takes hold, and separates the women from their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers, the characters find themselves under increasing and extraordinary pressures in a rapidly fragmenting world. By banding together as the Great Paxford WI, they will help maintain the nation’s fabric in its darkest hour, and discover inner resources that will change their lives forever.

About the WI

The Women’s Institute (WI) was formed in 1915 to revitalise rural communities and encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War. Since then the organisation’s aims have broadened and the WI is now the largest voluntary women’s organisation in the UK. The WI will celebrate its centenary in 2015 and currently has 212,000 members in around 6,600 WIs.

The WI plays a unique role in providing women with educational opportunities and the chance to build new skills, to take part in a wide variety of activities and to campaign on issues that matter to them and their communities.

October 4, 2015
Culture Watch: A Review of a John Fowles Classic, Daniel Martin

DANIEL MARTIN

By John Fowles

Published by Little, Brown © 1997

Hardcover, 629 pp.

Reviewed by Joan L. Cannon

Image is of John Fowles’ former home, Belmont, at Lyme Regis, Dorset. Belmont is now a property of the Landmark Trust

A friend asked me what I was reading. When I told him it was Daniel Martin by John Fowles, he said, “That’s a terrible title.” For me, titles have always been a problem, so I didn’t argue. I did, however, spend some time trying to think of a better one. This is first and foremost about Daniel Martin. The reader is left to superimpose whatever is required on the interior and exterior image of Daniel Martin, but what is offered is about as close as anyone can get to disclosing who he is.

The story line covers about forty years in the life of an Englishman who has become first a playwright, then a film scriptwriter. Over a long time, he makes comparisons between being English and being anything else, but most often, with being American. He declares his chagrin at the formalities and frozen traditions of English formal education and the class system, but never can hide his own debts to both.

Told at times in the words of Daniel Martin speaking as himself, at other times in the third person, this intensely detailed psychological, political, philosophical biography becomes so thickly layered, it would be easy to be overcome by it. As it is, it takes over 600 printed pages to tell it.

After the first reminiscence of his youth, Daniel reveals himself as an idealistic student at Oxford among four others whose backgrounds are entirely different from his own. He grew up without a mother under the cool, if not cold tutelage of a repressive father who is a vicar in a backwater farming community. One of his student friends is titled, privileged in every sense, and iconoclastic. Another young man is Catholic in a time before WWII when they were outsiders among typical English students, who devotes his life to philosophy. There are two young women, daughters of an American diplomat, who complete the group. There are acknowledged sexual tensions among the members of the group that lead to the romantic thread that ties the narrative together.

Settings are various and beautifully rendered. The reader sees the most idyllic of English landscapes at harvest time through the eyes of a strapping young man who is helping scythe the grain or bind the sheaves. That’s a beginning that seems thoroughly misleading as the narrative continues, but in true literary tradition, foreshadows later events.

On the way to that, the reader is treated to intricate demolitions of the English vs. American psyches; English caste system; English, but also world politics; Hollywood vs. “serious” theatrical stage drama; Freudian attitudes; post-war social evolution…and more.

This is not a simple book. What amazed me is that it was almost impossible to put down.

There’s an almost elided irony in the fact that his latest romantic conquest in California, one he takes quite seriously (one is not allowed to view him as a mere Don Juan) is an English girl, not an American. Plenty of space to compare English and American cinematic practices, stage versus film conventions. Daniel Martin does his best to take an objective view of his won prejudices.

October 1, 2015
Pension Advance Transactions: Questionable Business Practices and the Federal Response

What GAO Found

In a June 2014 report, GAO identified at least 38 companies that offered individuals lump-sum payments or “advances” in exchange for receiving part or all of their pension payment streams. The 38 companies used multistep pension advance processes that included various other parties. At least 21 of the 38 companies were affiliated with each other in ways that were not apparent to consumers. Some companies targeted financially vulnerable consumers with poor or bad credit nationwide.

GAO undercover investigators received offers from 6 out of 19 pension advance companies. These offers did not compare favorably with other financial products or offerings, such as loans and lump-sum options through pension plans. For example, the effective interest rates on pension advances offered to GAO’s investigators typically ranged from approximately 27 percent to 46 percent, which were at times close to two to three times higher than the legal limits set by the related states on the interest rates assessed for various types of personal credit.

GAO identified questionable elements of pension advance transactions, including lack of disclosure of some rates or fees, and certain unfavorable terms of agreements. GAO recommended that the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — the two agencies with oversight responsibility over certain acts and practices that may harm consumers — provide consumer education about these products, and that CFPB take appropriate action regarding identified questionable practices.

Since the time of GAO’s review, CFPB has investigated pension advance companies that GAO referred to the agency and disseminated additional consumer-education materials on pension advances. Similarly, FTC posted consumer education on pension advances on its website, and FTC officials report that they have reviewed consumer complaints related to pension advances, pension advance advertising, and the pension advance industry overall. CFPB’s and FTC’s actions are a positive step toward strengthening federal oversight or enforcement of pension advance products. View GAO-15-846T. For more information, contact Stephen M. Lord at (202) 512-6722 or lords@gao.gov.

Recent questions have been raised about companies attempting to take advantage of retirees using pension advances.

In June 2014, GAO issued a report on pension advances. The report (1) described the number and characteristics of pension advance companies and marketing practices; (2) evaluated how pension advance terms compare with those of other products; and (3) evaluated the extent to which there is federal oversight. This testimony summarizes GAO’s June 2014 report (GAO-14-420) and actions taken by CFPB and FTC in response to GAO’s recommendations.

In June 2014, GAO identified 38 pension advance companies and related marketing practices. GAO conducted a detailed nongeneralizable assessment of 19 of these companies. GAO used undercover investigative phone calls to identify additional marketing practices and obtain pension advance offers. This information was compared with the terms of other financial products, such as personal loans. GAO also examined the role of selected federal agencies with oversight of consumer protection and pension issues.

What GAO Found

In a June 2014 report, GAO identified at least 38 companies that offered individuals lump-sum payments or “advances” in exchange for receiving part or all of their pension payment streams. The 38 companies used multistep pension advance processes that included various other parties. At least 21 of the 38 companies were affiliated with each other in ways that were not apparent to consumers. Some companies targeted financially vulnerable consumers with poor or bad credit nationwide.

GAO undercover investigators received offers from 6 out of 19 pension advance companies. These offers did not compare favorably with other financial products or offerings, such as loans and lump-sum options through pension plans. For example, the effective interest rates on pension advances offered to GAO’s investigators typically ranged from approximately 27 percent to 46 percent, which were at times close to two to three times higher than the legal limits set by the related states on the interest rates assessed for various types of personal credit. GAO identified questionable elements of pension advance transactions, including lack of disclosure of some rates or fees, and certain unfavorable terms of agreements. GAO recommended that the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — the two agencies with oversight responsibility over certain acts and practices that may harm consumers — provide consumer education about these products, and that CFPB take appropriate action regarding identified questionable practices.

Since the time of GAO’s review, CFPB has investigated pension advance companies that GAO referred to the agency and disseminated additional consumer-education materials on pension advances. Similarly, FTC posted consumer education on pension advances on its website, and FTC officials report that they have reviewed consumer complaints related to pension advances, pension advance advertising, and the pension advance industry overall. CFPB’s and FTC’s actions are a positive step toward strengthening federal oversight or enforcement of pension advance products.

What GAO Recommends

In its June 2014 report, GAO recommended that CFPB and FTC review the pension advance practices identified in that report and exercise oversight or enforcement as appropriate. GAO also recommended that CFPB coordinate with relevant agencies to increase consumer education about pension advances. CFPB and FTC agreed with and have taken actions to address GAO’s recommendations.

Highlights of GAO-15-846T, a testimony before the Special Committee on Aging, US Senate

WatchBlog: Following the Federal Dollar

The United States Government Accountability Office: Our Mission is to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. We provide Congress with timely information that is objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, nonideological, fair, and balanced.

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-846T

September 30, 2015
Medicare Fraud Reports From the Office of Inspector General and Recent State Enforcement Actions

Report Fraud Button

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced last June a nationwide sweep led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in 17 districts, resulting in charges against 243 individuals, including 46 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in Medicare fraud schemes involving approximately $712 million in false billings.

Editor’s Note: We reported to Medicare double billings we had received for a service at a medical facility a couple of years ago. Medicare told us that they were going to report our experience as fraud. We felt that we should show you examples of State Enforcement Actions that take place continuously. In order to cut down on fraud cited by some members Congress as a reason to change, reduce or privatize the system, we have to carefully review what Medicare has paid and make sure there are no irregularities in payments to providers. Read carefully your Explanations of Benefits to find this kind of fraud and reduce costs.

Office of Inspector General U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

State Enforcement Actions

State Enforcement Archive

September 2015

September 28, 2015; New York Attorney General

A.G. Schneiderman Announces Guilty Plea Of Rochester Nurse For Defrauding Medicaid Of Over One Thousands Dollars In One Month
ROCHESTER-Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the guilty plea of Licensed Practical Nurse (L.P.N.) Tera Poles, 33 of Rochester, for allegedly stealing $1,355.07 from the Medicaid program by billing for numerous hours that she did not work. Poles was employed at a private facility to provide nursing services for a special needs child.

September 26, 2015; Georgia Department of Law

Two Plead Guilty To Medicaid Fraud
Steven Platt, a North Carolina resident, entered a plea of guilty to two counts of Medicaid Fraud today in Dekalb County Superior Court. The Court sentenced Mr. Platt to serve 2 years in prison, followed by 12 years of probation, and restitution in the amount of $400,000.00.

September 25, 2015; New York Attorney General

A.G. Schneiderman Announces Arrest, Arraignment And Guilty Plea Of Chili Nurse For Allegedly Defrauding Medicaid Of Nearly $4k
CHILI – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the arrest, arraignment and guilty plea of Tara Chimino, a licensed practical nurse who was employed to provide private nursing services to a special needs young adult. Chimino was charged with stealing $3,841.40 from the Medicaid program by billing for numerous hours that she did not work.

September 24, 2015; Florida Attorney General

Orange County Dentist Arrested for Defrauding Medicaid Out of More Than $5,500
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Altamonte Springs Police Department today arrested an Orange County dentist for allegedly defrauding the Florida Medicaid program. According to the investigation, Dr. Merys Downer-Garnette billed for services that were never rendered, not rendered as billed or double-billed, causing more than $5,500 in fraudulent claims to the state’s Medicaid program.

September 24, 2015; Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration

Knox Co. Woman Sentenced To 15 Years for TennCare Fraud
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Knox County woman arrested four times for TennCare fraud involving prescription drugs must now serve 15 years in state custody.

September 24, 2015; Mississippi Attorney General

Clarksdale Caregiver Charged with Assaulting and Threatening Elderly Woman
Caralee Ann Unruh, 51, of Clarksdale, has been arrested and charged with one felony count of simple assault of a person over the age of 65, announced Attorney General Jim Hood.

September 23, 2015; Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration

Wilson Co. Man Charged with TennCare Fraud
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Wilson County man is charged with TennCare fraud for selling prescription drugs that were purchased using TennCare benefits.

September 23, 2015; Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration

Cannon Co. Woman Charged 3rd Time with TennCare Fraud
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Cannon County woman is charged for the third time with doctor shopping for prescription drugs, using TennCare benefits as payment.

September 18, 2015; Arkansas Attorney General

Rutledge Announces Medicaid Fraud Arrest of Pulaski County Woman
LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced the arrest of a Pulaski County woman by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

September 18, 2015; Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration

Mississippi Woman Charged With TennCare Fraud
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Mississippi woman is charged with TennCare fraud and theft of property after she received healthcare insurance benefits through the state’s healthcare insurance program, even though she was not eligible.

September 15, 2015; Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration

Stewart Co. Woman Charged With TennCare Fraud
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Stewart County woman is charged with TennCare fraud involving illegally selling prescription drugs that were paid for with TennCare benefits.

September 11, 2015; Georgia Attorney General

Two Plead Guilty to Medicaid Fraud
On September 10th, 2015, Derrell Jackson and Shayla Darrington Jackson pled guilty to one count of Medicaid Fraud each. Gwinnett County Superior Court sentenced Derrell Jackson to ten years in jail which he is to serve three and the balance on probation. Shayla Jackson was sentenced to ten years but to serve two under a work release program. The court also ordered $605,000.00 in restitution.

September 10, 2015; Washington Attorney General

AG alleges Clark County dentists collected $1 million in fraudulent Medicaid payments
VANCOUVER – Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced a civil lawsuit against CareOne Dental Corporation, its owner, Dr. Liem Do, and his wife, Dr. Phuong-Oanh Tran, for alleged Medicaid fraud. CareOne is a dental services provider with four offices in Washington, including two located in Vancouver.

September 10, 2015; Arkansas Attorney General

Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit Arrests Pulaski County Woman
LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced the arrest of a Pulaski County woman by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

September 10, 2015; New York Attorney General

A.G. Schneiderman Announces Guilty Plea Of Capital Region Nurse For Illegally Obtaining More Than 2,000 Narcotics Using Forged Prescriptions
SCHENECTADY – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the guilty plea of Linda Masse, a Licensed Practical Nurse, to a felony, for illegally obtaining narcotics by presenting prescriptions to pharmacies with the forged signature of her employer, a Medicaid provider. Masse admitted to being in possession of forged prescriptions which she used to get Hydrocodone and Oxycodone that were paid for by Medicaid.

September 10, 2015; New York Attorney General

A.G. Schneiderman Announces Arrest Of Former Nursing Home Employee Charged With Stealing From Nursing Home Residents
HUDSON–Attorney General Eric Schneiderman today announced the arrest and arraignment of Claire Wieland, 28 of White Plains for allegedly stealing more than $6,000 from a resident trust account at the Livingston Hills Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Columbia County.

September 9, 2015; Pennsylvania Attorney General

Additional Golden Living nursing homes added to legal action
HARRISBURG – Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane today announced her office has filed an amended legal action against a chain of nursing home companies accused of misleading consumers by failing to provide basic services to elderly and vulnerable residents.

September 9, 2015; New York Attorney General

Westchester Transportation Company Owner Sentenced To Jail For Stealing Over $200k From Medicaid
PEARL RIVER – Kurien Palliankal, 48, of Yonkers, owner of Carewell Ambulette, Inc., was sentenced in Westchester County Court today to six months in jail for stealing from Medicaid, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced. He also was sentenced to five years probation after he serves his jail sentence. The corporation, formerly based in New Rochelle, was also sentenced to pay a fine of $10,000.

September 4, 2015; Louisiana Attorney General

Three Arrested for Defrauding Louisiana Medicaid
Attorney General James D. “Buddy” Caldwell announced today that three individuals have been arrested this week and charged with defrauding the state’s Medicaid program.

September 3, 2015; Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration

Knox Co. Woman Charged With TennCare Fraud
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Knox County woman is charged with TennCare fraud in nearby Anderson County in a case involving prescription drugs.

September 29, 2015
States Attack the Pay Gap Between Women and Men; Latinas Earn 54% of What White Men Earn.

By Teresa Wiltz, Stateline*

Aileen Rizo says she loves what she does. A consultant for the Fresno County Office of Education in California, she teaches educators how to teach math. She’s got the experience, 20 years, and the education, two master’s degrees.

In 2014, Aileen Rizo, depicted here with her parents sued her employer for wage discrimination after she says she found out her male colleagues were paid much more

But over a casual lunch three years ago, her colleagues shared their salaries. Rizo, 41, the only full-time woman in her office, was startled to discover that some of her male co-workers — including a new hire with less experience and education — were being paid at least $10,000 more than she was. When she confronted her employer, she was told her salary was based on her prior wages. End of story. No negotiating. Rizo sued the county, and her case is pending in US District Court.

While too late to be of any aid to Rizo, the California Legislature this month sent Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown a “pay equity” bill designed to help women in situations like hers. The bill — which some call the strongest of its kind in the nation and Brown has indicated he will sign — attacks the gender wage gap in several ways, including ensuring women who perform similar work receive the same pay as men, even if their job titles are different.

And California isn’t alone in acting. In the absence of legislation from the US Congress, the governors of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, North Dakota and Oregon have signed equal pay laws this year. New York legislators unanimously passed a bill that Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has indicated he will sign. And Massachusetts has two bills pending.

Equal pay bills also were introduced in 21 other states, but didn’t pass, according to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), which has lobbied for the legislation.

“If Congress can’t legislate its way out of a paper bag, we’ll go to the state legislatures and the city councils,” said Lisa Maatz, vice president of government affairs for the AAUW. “State legislators are paying attention.”

But some critics, such as Daniel Mitchell of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, said that the new legislation would put a “catastrophic burden” on businesses.

“The notion that there’s some widespread discrimination in the marketplace, there’s just no real-world evidence for it,” Mitchell said. “They’re trying to give the government widespread authority to make very abstract judgments about the value of a job in the private sector.”

The move to outlaw disparate pay arrives as new studies indicate that American women earn 79 percent of what men earn doing comparable work. Using white men’s earnings as a baseline, the wage gap is even worse for African-American women, who earn 63 percent of what white men earn. Latinas earn 54 percent of what white men earn. Faring better than other minority women, Asian-American women earn 90 percent of what white men earn.

In California, women earn 84 cents for every dollar men earn, according to the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), an advocacy group based in Washington. It is 83 cents in Connecticut, 81 cents in Delaware, 71 cents in North Dakota and 82 cents in Oregon. Louisiana has the biggest gap, with women making 65 cents for every dollar that men make; the District of Columbia has the smallest, with women making 90 cents for every dollar that men do.

State legislation is important because it provides protections for workers and closes loopholes that employers have used to circumvent state and federal laws, said Fatima Goss Graves, a senior vice president at the NWLC.

Nationally, two bills — the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would penalize employers who retaliate against employees for discussing their salaries with their co-workers, and the Fair Pay Act, which would require equal pay for comparable work—are stalled in Congress.

“States are doing what they can to give workers new tools to address the wage gap,” Goss Graves said, adding that some states, such as California, are providing greater protections than the would-be federal laws.

“This can have a spillover effect,” Goss Graves said. “The wage gap hasn’t changed in a lot of years. Employers pay women less in the same job as men and the laws aren’t strong enough to be a deterrent. This is an issue people want a solution to. They don’t want to wait another 50 years for the wage gap to close.”

While the laws overwhelmingly draw bipartisan support in the statehouses, the California bill faced some pushback for not being inclusive enough. The California chapter of the National Organization for Women opposed it because it didn’t protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people or men of color, who also face wage discrimination.

September 28, 2015
How Great to See You! You Look Marvelous! And Other High School Reunion Tales

by Rose Madeline Mula

Senior Prom in Greenbelt, Maryland. Library of Congress photograph

I’m depressed.

I just got back from the first high school reunion I ever attended. I refuse to say which one. Not which high school-which year. I don’t want anyone to know. I won’t even admit it to myself.

What I will tell you is that none of my classmates showed up. They sent their grandparents instead, all of who insisted they had gone to school with me. No way. I could not relate to those people. They were white-haired or bald, fat or frail, stooped and lame … None of them bore the slightest resemblance to the yearbook pictures reproduced on their name tags. (Whose fiendish idea was that?!) That’s what clinched it — proved they were frauds. I, on the other hand, look exactly the same as I did back then. Well, almost, except for a few interesting character lines which only enhance my youthful charm.

In fact, all the elderly people I talked with gasped when I told them my name. They all reacted the same way, their gazes shifting in disbelief from my face to my yearbook picture on my name tag. Obviously, they were astonished at how little I’ve changed. Nothing else could explain their incredulity. Of course, I tried to be kind and commented on how well the years had treated them. I didn’t consider such flattery to be lies but, rather, acts of mercy. Poor things. God knows they can’t often hear that. To be truthful, I don’t hear it much myself. I’m sure people compliment me all the time (after all, how could they not?), but they mumble so badly that they’re hard to understand.

My girl friend Jeannie was at the reunion. (Yes — I said ‘girl’ friend; there’s no need to snicker. Don’t think I didn’t hear you doing that before, though I can’t imagine why.) Jeannie couldn’t wait to see Frank, the handsome hunk we had all swooned over in high school. (Yes, in those days we swooned — do I hear you snickering again? That’s very rude.) I had bumped into him earlier. I pointed him out to her. “That’s Frank, over there; the one with the walker.” Jeannie gasped. “He’s old!” Well, duh! What did she expect? Frank is wrinkled, his once lean body has turned into cookie dough, and his teeth click when he talks. But at least he doesn’t have white hair. He doesn’t have any hair.

When Jeannie recovered from her initial shock, she gamely approached him to reintroduce herself. “Frank! You’re as handsome as ever!” she gushed. (Yeah, we used to gush, as well as swoon.) “Why, thank you!” beamed Frank, the old twinkle returning to his eyes for a moment. “I’d like you to meet my granddaughter,” he said, calling a lovely lass to his side. Jeannie turned to her, “Your grandfather used to be so cute!” she gushed again. Frank stopped beaming. “Used to be?” he croaked. “Whatever happened to ‘as handsome as ever’?”

“Excuse me,” said Jeannie, trying to extract her foot from her mouth, “I just spotted Andy Harrington over there. I went to the junior prom with him! I’m going over to say hello.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Andy was the feeble geezer clutching the bar to keep from falling. The guy she was rushing toward was a teen-aged bus boy.

As I was trying to restore Frank’s wounded pride, another of the elderly party crashers approached me, squinting at my name tag. “I remember you,” he said, “you were in my typing class.” “No,” I said, “I never took typing in high school.” “Yeah, you did,” he insisted, miffed. And he shuffled away to squint at another woman’s name tag. Maybe it was just a clever ploy to stare at bosoms. On second thought, there wasn’t a bosom in the room worth staring at, other than mine; but I’m much too modest to mention that.

Just then, the pianist whom the reunion committee had hired started tickling the ivories — As Time Goes By, Those Were the Days, Silver Threads Among the Gold… He had an endless repertoire of melancholy melodies. I had a sudden yearning for heavy metal, even though I hate it. As he played, a few couples teetered across the floor, holding each other up, apparently trying to pretend they were back in the old crepe-paper-decorated gymnasium.

After an hour or so of this charade, the MC mercifully asked everyone to please be seated. Dinner was about to be served. I prayed that the meal wouldn’t consist of soup, pureed veggies, and Jello. On the other hand, if it was solid food, I worried about how most of the group would deal with it. It would not be pretty. I hoped a contingent of EMTs was standing by.

I vowed never to attend another reunion.

©Rose Madeline Mula for SeniorWomen.com

Editor’s Note: Rose Mula’s most recent book is Confessions of a Domestically-Challenged Homemaker & Other Tall Tales, available at Amazon.com and other online book sellers. Grandmother Goose: Rhymes for a Second Childhood is available as an e-book on Amazon.com for the Kindle and at BarnesandNoble.com for the Nook at $2.99; the paperback edition is available for $9.95. Her books of humorous essays, The Beautiful People and Other Aggravations, and If These Are Laugh Lines, I’m Having Way Too Much Fun can also be ordered at Amazon.com or through Pelican Publishing (800-843-1724). Her website is rosemadelinemula.com.

September 28, 2015
Masterpiece Theater’s New Saga, Indian Summers: The Imperial Game Was Up

Editor’s Note: You may remember Julie Walters first in her title role, Educating Rita (1983), transferred to the big screen opposite Michael Caine as her Henry Higgins-like college professor, collecting a Golden Globe Award and Oscar nomination.

Julie Walters (Harry Potter, The Hollow Crown), Henry Lloyd-Hughes (The Inbetweeners, Harry Potter, Madame Bovary), Jemima West (The Borgias, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), Nikesh Patel (Bedlam, Honour), Roshan Seth (A Passage to India, Ghandi) and Lillete Dubey (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Monsoon Wedding) will star in Masterpiece Theater’s ten-part epic drama Indian Summers.

Also joining the cast are Alexander Cobb (Mr. Selfridge, Call the Midwife), Craig Parkinson (Line of Duty, Misfits), Fiona Glascott (Episodes), Amber Rose Revah (What Remains), Aysha Kala (Shameless), Olivia Grant (Endeavour) and Edward Hogg (The Borgias).

Set against the sweeping grandeur of the Himalayas and tea plantations of Northern India, the drama tells the rich and explosive story of the decline of the British Empire and the birth of modern India, from both sides of the experience. But at the heart of the story lie the implications and ramifications of the tangled web of passions, rivalries and clashes that define the lives of those brought together in this summer which will change everything.

It’s the summer of 1932. India dreams of Independence, but the British are clinging to power. In the foothills of the Himalayas stands Simla, a little England where every summer the British power-brokers of this nation are posted to govern during the summer months.

Ralph Whelan (Lloyd-Hughes), coolly ambitious, a coming man and tipped for promotion, is Private Secretary to the Viceroy of India. His sister, Alice (West), returns to Simla alone with her child and finds herself drawn to Aafrin (Patel), a Junior Clerk in the Viceroy’s office and son to Roshana (Dubey) and Darius (Seth), a gentle man and veteran of The Great War. Aafrin is brother to Sooni (Kala), severe and beautiful, and his spoilt younger sister Shamshad.

At the heart of Simla’s society is Cynthia (Walters), widowed doyenne of the Royal Club who is as at home in the tack room as she is the ballroom. A force to be reckoned with, her influence spreads throughout the community.

The cast of characters also includes Douglas (Parkinson), who runs a missionary school, his wife Sarah (Glascott) who yearns for the comforts of home, Ian McLeod (Cobb), the young and naïve Scottish tea plantation heir, and the mysterious Anglo-Indian woman Leena (Revah).

As Indian Summers begins, the stories of promises, secrets, politics, power, sex and love play out as the British Raj begins to falter and a nation opens its eyes to the possibilities of freedom. Indian Summers airs in nine sweeping episodes, and premieres on Sunday, September 27, 2015 at 9/8c on Masterpiece on PBS. Check your local listings.

Indian Summers is the first Channel 4 commission from New Pictures. It is a coproduction with Masterpiece on PBS in the US. It is created and written by Paul Rutman (Vera). It will be directed by Anand Tucker (Red Riding) and produced by Dan McCulloch (Endeavour). Executive Producers are Charlie Pattinson (Shameless,Skins, Elizabeth I), Elaine Pyke (Mad Dogs, Strike Back) and Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn, Cranford), and Rebecca Eaton for Masterpiece on PBS (broadcaster of Sherlock, Downton Abbey). Indira Varma is Co-Executive Producer. Commissioned by Piers Wenger and Beth Willis for Channel 4, Indian Summers will be distributed internationally by All3M International.

Spotlight: 6 Things You Need to Know About Julie Walters

Julie Walters has danced on tables with Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!, battled Death Eaters in Harry Potter, and bared all alongside Helen Mirren in Calendar Girls. Now, find out all about Julie Walters as the British star returns to MASTERPIECE in Indian Summers as Cynthia Coffin, Machiavellian doyenne of the Simla Club!

1. Julie Walters, like Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey), Judi Dench (Cranford), and Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect), is heralded as a British national treasure. But unlike these Masterpiece alumnae, she hasn’t yet been named a “Dame” — despite a decade-long fan campaign that reached all the way to Parliament! Why? The actress, with her working-class roots, jokingly posits that she’s “not posh enough.”

September 25, 2015
British Museum’s Celtic Exhibit: A 700 AD Brooch of Silver, Gold and Amber Belonging to ‘Melbrigda’

The British Museum, in partnership with National Museums Scotland, has staged the first British exhibition in 40 years on the Celts.

The Riders of the Sidhe, Tempera on canvas, John Duncan, 1911 © Dundee City Council (Dundee’s Art Galleries and Museums)

Celts: art and identity at the British Museum on 24 September draws on the latest research from Britain, Ireland and Western Europe. The exhibition tells the story of the different peoples who have used or been given the name ‘Celts’ through the art objects that they made, including intricately decorated jewelery, highly stylized objects of religious devotion, and the decorative arts of the late 19th century which were inspired by the past. The exhibition will then open at the National Museum Scotland in March 2016.

Today the word ‘Celtic’ is associated with the distinctive cultures, languages, music and traditions of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and the Isle of Man. Yet the name Celts was first recorded thousands of years earlier, around 500 BC, when the ancient Greeks used it to refer to peoples living across a broad swathe of Europe north of the Alps. The Greeks saw these outsiders as barbarians, far removed from the civilized world of the Mediterranean. They left no written records of their own, but today archaeology is revealing new insights into how they lived. Modern research suggests that these were disparate groups rather than a single people, linked by their unique stylized art. This set them apart from the classical world, but their technological accomplishments stand on a par with the finest achievements of Greek and Roman artists.

Gold torcs, National Museum of Scotland, 300 – 100 BC. Found at Blair Drummod, 2009, acquired with the aid of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish Government

A stunning example in the exhibition, from National Museums Scotland, is a hoard of gold torcs found at Blair Drummond in Stirling in 2009 by a metal detectorist on his very first outing. Excavations showed they had been buried inside a timber building, probably a shrine, in an isolated, wet location. These four torcs made between 300–100 BC show widespread connections across Iron Age Europe. Two are made from spiralling gold ribbons, a style characteristic of Scotland and Ireland. Another is a style found in south-western France although analysis of the Blair Drummond gold suggests it was made locally based on French styles. The final torc is a mixture of Iron Age details with embellishments on the terminals typical of Mediterranean workshops. It shows technological skill, a familiarity with exotic styles, and connections to a craftworker or workshop with the expertise to make such an object. The Blair Drummond find brings together the local and the highly exotic in one hoard.

Editor’s Note: Consult the British Museum Shop jewelry department for copies of some of the the torc pieces

Although Britain and Ireland were never explicitly referred to as Celtic by the Greeks and Romans, some 2,000 years ago these islands were part of a world of related art, values, languages and beliefs which stretched from the Atlantic to the Black Sea. During the Roman period and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, communities in Ireland and northern and western Britain developed distinct identities. The art and objects which they made expressed first their difference to the Romans, but later the new realities of living in a conquered land or on the edges of the Roman world. These communities were among the first in Britain to become Christian, and missionaries from the north and west helped to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons.

September 24, 2015