Obamacare stands before Supreme Court
The challenge to the controversial healthcare law promoted and passed by the Obama administration will be heard this week by the United States Supreme Court. The case, presented by 26 individual states and a not-for-profit, comes at the beginning of a stressful election year for the Obama camp, which is dogged by a tepid economy and stubbornly high gas prices. The court will examine the tenets of the law and test them for constitutionality. Under the microscope will be a provision of the law that would require Americans to purchase health insurance, or pay a hefty fine. Some scholars say that the provision is an unconstitutional meddling in the lives of private citizens through the purchase requirement. However, more progressive pundits hold that the law is valid and is empowered by the commerce clause of the Constitution.
Gas prices = high
It’s only March and yet gas prices have reached levels usually only seen in the middle of summer. Prices for a gallon of regular fuel hovered close to four dollars at the end of the month. However, some experts believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. They point to lower prices for crude oil and no bottlenecks in supply chain and refinery workloads as reasons that the price may not rise. In Chicago, the city with the highest gas prices, the cost per gallon was nearly $4.60 over the weekend. The average price nationwide was about $3.93.
Much colder today with a high around 40. Tonight, cold temperatures threaten fruit crops across the region. Flowering fruit trees have started to bloom across the region and a low of 22 degrees predicted for the night could kill those fresh buds. If that happens, farmers could lose large percentages of their crops.
