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Now the Krupas, along with two other women, are suing the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, claiming the mandate discriminates against their sexual orientation — essentially forcing infertile homosexual women to pay for costly procedures to try to become pregnant.

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 “These women are already going through what can be a difficult experience, and they have the added stress of affording it financially and the added insult of being treated like a second-class citizen,” said Grace Cretcher, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

 The state mandate requires most major insurance companies to cover medically necessary treatments for infertile clients. It defines infertility as the inability to impregnate another person, the inability to carry a pregnancy to live birth or the inability to conceive after one or two years of unprotected sex, depending on the woman’s age.

 That language, Ms. Cretcher said, violates the constitutional rights of nonheterosexual women.

 In a complaint filed last week, the plaintiffs, all lesbians trying to conceive, also sought damages for the cost of their treatments, including artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization.

 Ms. Cretcher’s firm, Beranbaum Menken, is bringing the suit against Richard J. Badolato, commissioner of the Department of Banking and Insurance, who oversees the administration of all insurance-related state statutes. The agency declined to comment on the litigation.

 Fifteen states, including New Jersey, require insurance companies to cover fertility treatment. California and Maryland have updated the language in their mandates to require fertility coverage regardless of sexual orientation.

 “The specific wording of the New Jersey mandate is particularly egregious and one of the most specific and exclusionary,” Ms. Cretcher said.

 The New Jersey Legislature has two bills that propose changing the definition of infertility to include a “determination of infertility by a physician.” Neither bill has emerged from committee.

 Dr. William Ziegler, the medical director of the Reproductive Science Center of New Jersey, said the issue of insurance coverage had long weighed on the field of fertility treatment.

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 “I’m not sure if there was a lot of thought given to the implications of what this would cause and how many New Jerseyans it would exclude,” Dr. Ziegler said of the mandate. “It’s a double standard. It discriminates against same-sex couples because they don’t have the biological equipment to have a baby the way a heterosexual couple does.”

 He said insurance played a big role in the type of treatment his patients were able to undergo.

 “Even though I may recommend a specific treatment, if they just can’t afford it they have to do something suboptimal, which may not get them to what they want: a healthy pregnancy,” he said.

 Another plaintiff in the case, Sarah Mills, said she was worried about raising a child with debt from unsuccessful fertility treatments.

 “It’s really affected me emotionally,” said Ms. Mills, 32, an elementary school teacher from Union City, N.J. “I know it puts a strain on our relationship,” she said, referring to her partner, Gloria Torres. “I am so intense about this. I just worry every day that I can’t get pregnant and about going into debt.”

 Ms. Mills’s insurance company, also Horizon, denied her coverage. She used credit cards to pay for her failed cycles of artificial insemination and anticipates taking out a loan. “I don’t know if we are going to have to stop eventually because we are paying out of pocket,” she said.

 Horizon said in a statement that it covered “infertility services equally, regardless of sexual orientation,” and that it interpreted the law “in a gender- and orientation-neutral manner and our coverage standard complies with federal nondiscrimination requirements.”

 After Erin Krupa was denied coverage by Horizon, she appealed the claim and began paying out of pocket for artificial insemination — $6,000 for three cycles. Each was unsuccessful. Her appeal was then denied.

 “There is a part of me that has always followed the rules and says this is the world we live in,” Ms. Krupa, now 36, said. “I didn’t question it at the time. I just wanted to have a family.”

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 The couple decided to try in vitro fertilization, which is more invasive and expensive — about $11,000 before the cost of sperm and medicine — but has a higher rate of success.

 On Christmas Eve, Ms. Krupa learned she was pregnant, and the couple drove to North Carolina to celebrate the holiday and the good news with family. But the pregnancy was ectopic, a condition in which a fertilized egg implants itself outside the uterus, and had to be terminated with two doses of chemotherapy. Ms. Krupa ended up in the hospital after a complication.

 After those painful events, her doctor “had a lot of ammunition,” she said, and wrote a letter to the insurance company. Horizon decided to provide coverage.

 The Krupas were allowed four cycles of in vitro fertilization. After the first three were unsuccessful, they changed their strategy: They would use Erin’s embryos, but try to have Marianne carry them and have her go through the fourth cycle of in vitro fertilization.

 Marianne Krupa, 34, was able to use the last of the insurance money allotted to her wife. But she miscarried twice.

 “This has been emotionally and physically taxing,” Erin Krupa said, her voice wavering. “I’m also stubborn and really want this to work.”

 The Krupas worry they are running out of time to conceive. Both women are now undergoing in vitro fertilization, even though the procedures are no longer covered. They have paid about $50,000 out of pocket for treatments since they first tried to start a family.

 Erin Krupa hopes that the lawsuit means other women will not need to endure the financial burden they have.

 “If this is what good can come out of it,” she said, “I guess I would do it all again to improve treatment for other women.” ||||| A Montclair couple claims NJ law discriminates against their efforts to have a child. EWN at 6. pic.twitter.com/2dtOo9JTNa — Joe Torres (@joetorresABC7) August 8, 2016

 Marianne and Erin Krupa of Montclair just want to have a baby. After $50,000 in fertility treatments, a half dozen miscarriages, four for Erin and two for Marianne, their five-year quest for motherhood now involves a new course of action...legal action.Last week they filed a suit against the State of New Jersey. Why? They say state law allows insurance coverage for fertility treatments for heterosexual couples, but not for lesbian couples."Right away, we were told that without having sexual intercourse, we would not be covered," Marianne said."We have a medical diagnosis of infertility, and we were denied the medical treatments any heterosexual couple would have if they walked into a fertility clinic," added Erin.Reproductive Endocrinologist Dr. Jane Miller says the Krupa's case is not unique. She agrees with them, and says the law has to change."It's completely discriminatory. It gets us furious every time, because good people come in, and they say we just wanted to have a family and get on with our lives, and do what we have to do," Dr. Miller says.The Krupa's lawsuit targets the head of the state's Department of Banking and Insurance. Eyewitness News contacted the Commissioner on Monday for his side of the story. In response, they said, "the department does not comment on pending litigation." |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– When Erin and Marianne Krupa decided they wanted to start a family five years ago, they moved from North Carolina to New Jersey in search of a less conservative environment. Little did they know they were about to hit upon a state insurance mandate from 2001 that they say specifically discriminates against same-sex couples trying to conceive: In New Jersey, most women under 35 must prove infertility by having had "two years of unprotected sexual intercourse" before their insurance providers are required to cover fertility treatments, reports the New York Times. Soon after they visited fertility doctors, Erin learned in 2013 that she is infertile due to endometriosis and benign cysts on her uterus. But their insurance provider has denied coverage of most treatments the couple has gone through, which means they've spent nearly $50,000 so far in their quest to have a child. Now they're suing the state. "It's completely discriminatory," reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Jane Miller tells WABC-TV. And while only two other women are joining the Krupas in the lawsuit, Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights tells the New Jersey Law Journal that "these denials are extremely common" and "we expect to see many more [legal challenges]." One of the plaintiffs' attorneys says that the law in New Jersey is especially discriminatory in its language about exposure to sperm through intercourse. New York and Connecticut, for instance, require exposure but don't specify how, while legislation in California and Maryland requires infertility treatment be covered regardless of sexual orientation. As for the Krupas, Marianne has since gone through her own fertility treatments, but has miscarried twice. Both women are still trying. (These two common surgeries may make women more fertile.)


Here is a news article: These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Your cat probably thinks that you are a cat yourself -- albeit a much larger one.

 That's according to British biologist John Bradshaw, who says the way furry felines greet us (with their tails up) and rub on our legs is similar to how the animals communicate affection to other cats.

 "In cat society, this sequence is usually performed by a smaller cat towards a larger one -- a kitten or young cat towards its mother or an older relative, a female towards a male," Bradshaw, who is foundation director of the Anthrozoology Institute at the University of Bristol, told The Huffington Post via email this week.

 "[I]t seems to be a way that smaller cats have of indicating to larger ones that they want to remain friends. When cats started becoming friendly towards us, maybe 5,000 to 10,000 years ago, they just adapted this piece of behavior to show that they like us, too," he continued.

 Author of the 2013 book Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet (which has been attracting a resurgence of interest on social media this week), Bradshaw has been studying the history and behavior of cats for decades. He argues that to live happily with our cats, we must first come to understand their behavior and their eccentricities.

 For instance, knowing that cats carry out this tail-up/rub ritual as a form of friendly greeting should influence the way cat owners interact with their pets, Bradshaw says.

 "Research has shown that when people interact with their cats, the interactions tend to go on for longer if they're started by the cat -- many cats seem to need to go through the tail-up/rub ritual in order to feel comfortable, and may not have time to do it if it's the person who makes the first move. So the advice would be, take your time when approaching your cat, and wait for it to at least put its tail up before making actual contact," he told HuffPost.

 Bradshaw has also advised cat lovers to keep their ears peeled for purring. Purring, he says, isn't just a way that cats express contentment, but -- as he explained to NPR's Terry Gross last year -- it can also be a sort of signal for help.

 "What we think cats are doing here is just trying to reassure their person — or [another] cat — who is hearing the purr that they are no threat, and ideally they'd like them to stand still and help them do something," Bradshaw told Gross. "So it starts off with kittens purring to get their mother to lie still while they're suckling, and it goes on into adulthood... It's a signal to the animals, [and] the people around them to pay attention and try to help them."

 As for whether or not your cat likes you, Bradshaw says there are a handful of tell-tale signs of a cat's affection.

 "Cats show they're fond of other cats in three ways," he told HuffPost. "The tail-up/rub ritual; by resting in contact; and by grooming one another. So if your cat is doing any one of these, then it likes you! It doesn't have to be all three -- for example, some cats (in my experience, especially the long-haired) don't much like sitting on people's laps, but if they're reliably doing the tail-up/rub, then everything's okay."

 To find out more about John Bradshaw's book, visit the publication's website. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Cats aren't dogs, and they'd like us to remember that, an animal behavior expert tells the Telegraph. We stress them out by expecting them to be as sociable as our canine friends, happy to be petted and hang out in the same space as other cats. But that just doesn't fit with how cats think, says Dr. John Bradshaw. "Dogs were sociable before they were domesticated," he says. "Unlike dogs, the cat is still halfway between a domestic and a wild animal, and it’s not enjoying 21st-century living." And when a cat is stressed, it can develop dermatitis and cystitis, he notes. In the past, "with cats, all we wanted was for them to keep our houses and farms and food stores free of rats and mice, and they got on with that," Bradshaw says. “It’s only in the last few decades that we have wanted them to be something else." That's not to say your cat doesn't love you, he adds. It's just that they "have their own lives" and interests. (And, as he told the Huffington Post earlier this year, your cat probably also thinks you are a very large cat; that's why, he theorizes, they communicate affection with humans the same way they do with other cats.) Some tips: Cats are likely to spend more time with you if they approach you, rather than if you approach them first, according to research, he notes. And if you're planning to get a second cat, you might want to bring its smell home first on a handkerchief: "It’s the cat equivalent of exchanging photos before a blind date." (Read about a cat who lived secret lives with two families.)


These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Archived web sites of Wisconsin state government agencies, boards, commissions, and projects, collected by the Wisconsin Historical Society to document records distributed via agency websites by the agencies or by their related entities. Also included are web sites of interstate agencies relating to Wisconsin and major social media pages of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and First Lady. The "Date" field in the description of individual web sites refers to the dates the web site has been archived, so "2013- " means a web site has been archived from 2013 to the present. The "Coverage" field refers to the dates of material found on the web site, so "2000- " means that there is content on the web site that dates from 2000 to the present. Internal links on archived web sites are usually captured; external links are out of scope and generally not captured. See the "FAQs About the Wisconsin Historical Society Web Archives" page on the WHS website for further details regarding navigation of archived websites and information regarding crawl frequency and selection of websites for the Archives. ||||| Twitter is about to get real #spooky.

 R.L. Stine, often endearingly referred to as the Stephen King of children's literature, announced that he will be writing a new scary story on Tuesday — entirely on Twitter.

 See also: 36 Elaborate Halloween Costumes to Make Everyone Jealous

 For Halloween, I'll be writing a story live on Twitter this evening. Hope you'll join me. — R.L. Stine (@RL_Stine) October 28, 2014

 Stine didn't reveal any further details, like timing or topic. Cliffhanger.

 The author began writing scary stories for children in the late ‘90s with the Fear Street series. In 1992, he started Goosebumps, and at age 71 still continues to publish stories under that label. His next book, A Nightmare on Clown Street, is set for release this February.

 But his age and propensity for physical books doesn't set Stine back in the social media world. He boasts more than 133,000 followers on Twitter.

 This isn't the first time that R.L. has released a scary story on Twitter. Two Halloweens ago Stine used 13 tweets to tell the short story of a farmer being haunted by a ghost named Yost. A few months before that he tweeted a spooky tale about a family dealing with a haunted kitchen over a series of 9 tweets.

 If you can't tune in tonight, you can check back with Stine on Thursday, when he takes over Scholastic’s Twitter feed for a Halloween-themed Q&A. (Scholastic publishes the Goosebumps series.) |||||

Write a summary.

– Fans of Goosebumps author RL Stine—and the Bustle thinks this includes "every teen, twentysomething, and thirtysomething"—will want to tune in to his Twitter feed. Stine today promised this: "For Halloween, I'll be writing a story live on Twitter this evening. Hope you'll join me." He offered no other details, including what time the story-tweeting begins. For those unfamiliar with Stine, Mashable explains that the prolific 71-year-old is referred to as the "Stephen King of children's literature."


Article:
These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Prosecutors in Pierce County say they would listen to any information that Steven Powell has about the disappearance of his daughter-in-law Susan Powell, but have not offered him any kind of plea deal.

 Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told 97.3 KIRO FM in an email Tuesday that his office would "listen" if Steven Powell, his attorney or Utah law enforcement "proposes something" in exchange for information about her whereabouts.

 "No deal has been proposed," Lindquist said. "We are not offering any deal but if information is brought forward we would listen."

 "You have to weigh what's best for everybody involved in the case and if that works out, that would be great," said Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff's Office. "But I would not have everybody put their hopes on it because I've had enough dealings with Steve to know that he's playing a game and he might jerk everybody around for a couple years and enjoy doing it. Not that we wouldn't try, but not that he'd be cooperative."

 Powell was arrested in September 2011 after a search of his Puyallup home turned up "thousands of images of females being photographed without their knowledge, including Susan Powell and many minors." He has been held at the Pierce County Jail in lieu of bail since his arrest. His trial date is scheduled for March 20.

 West Valley City Utah Police Chief Buzz Nielson told reporters in Graham, Wash., Monday that he considers Steven Powell a "person of interest" in Susan's disappearance, but said he "didn't want to get involved with Pierce County's criminal case."

 "There should be things that he [Steven Powell] would probably like to talk to us about we hope," Nielson told Utah TV station KSL Tuesday. He said they plan to question Powell when authorities here think he's ready to talk. "Sure we can't prosecute Josh, but did somebody know anything? Did somebody help him ... those are all the question that we need to resolve."

 Brandi Kruse, 97.3 KIRO FM Reporter |||||Summary:

– Police in Utah trying to find the body of Susan Powell after more than two years have labeled her father-in-law a person of interest in the case, reports Utah's KSL.com. Police are specifying that Steven Powell isn't a suspect in her disappearance but that he may have information about it. "They lived together in the house," said the police chief in West Valley City, Utah. "There are things he should want to talk to us (about), we hope." The development comes after Powell's husband, Josh, killed himself and his two sons on Sunday, apparently after the boys began remembering things about their mom's disappearance. "We sure can't prosecute Josh," said the police chief, "but did somebody know something? Did somebody help him? Those are the questions we need to resolve." Steven Powell remains in custody after a search of his house last year found "thousands of images of females being photographed without their knowledge, including Susan Powell and many minors," notes KIRO-FM.


Write an article based on this summary:

– The death toll in the San Francisco plane crash has risen to three, with another passenger dying due to injuries in San Francisco General Hospital today, the AP reports. The hospital's chief of surgery says the victim was a female child, but her identity and age have been withheld at the request of her family. The girl had been in a critical condition since arriving at the hospital. Two adults injured in the crash remain in critical condition, and four others, including another minor, are also still in hospital, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

S.F. plane crash: Third victim dies Chaos at scene: SFPD confirms fire truck hit earlier victim

 Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Image 1 of 3 The wrecked fuselage of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 sits in a storage area at San Francisco International Airport. The wrecked fuselage of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 sits in a storage area at San Francisco International Airport. Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images Image 2 of 3 Dr. Margaret Knudson, San Francisco General Hospital chief of surgery, announces Friday's death. Dr. Margaret Knudson, San Francisco General Hospital chief of surgery, announces Friday's death. Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 3 of 3 Dr. Geoffrey Manley, San Francisco General Hospital chief of neurosurgery, listens to the update on the third crash victim, a girl under 18. Dr. Geoffrey Manley, San Francisco General Hospital chief of neurosurgery, listens to the update on the third crash victim, a girl under 18. Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle S.F. plane crash: Third victim dies 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

 A third passenger on the Asiana Airlines jet that crashed at San Francisco International Airport died Friday, the same day police confirmed that another girl killed during the disaster had been run over by a fire truck.

 The latest victim, who was described only as a girl under age 18, died Friday morning at San Francisco General Hospital of injuries she suffered when the Boeing 777 crashed last Saturday, said Dr. Margaret Knudson, the hospital's chief of surgery.

 The girl, whose name and age were not released, had been in critical condition since the airplane clipped a seawall, spun off the runway and burst into flames.

 Hospital officials said the girl's family had requested that no further information about her be revealed. The Chinese consul in San Francisco confirmed that she was a Chinese national.

 Earlier Friday, San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr confirmed that Ye Meng Yuan, 16, of China had been run over by firefighters trying to douse the flames engulfing Asiana Flight 214. However, he said, it still isn't clear whether Ye was already dead when she was hit.

 Her body was found amid foam that firefighters had sprayed on the burning airplane, Suhr said.

 "We know for sure she was at least run over one time, but at the time she was under foam, so nobody could have seen her," Suhr said. "And the question is whether or not she was still alive at the time."

 Ye's body was found near Flight 214's left wing, not far from one of the inflatable slides that several passengers used to escape from the plane. Ye, however, was sitting in the back of the plane, near where the tail broke off on landing, and would have been able to get out that way. One of the unanswered questions about her death is how she ended up by the wing.

 Spraying foam

 Police investigators said Friday that an airport fire rig that ran over Ye apparently hit her after all the passengers had been evacuated. The rig was spraying foam on the fire and was repositioning to get a better angle when Ye was struck, they said.

 "It wasn't going that fast," said Officer Gordon Shyy, a police spokesman. "When the firefighters repositioning the truck stopped, they realized there was a deceased person on the ground. She was lying down, covered in foam. They marked it, continued on to fighting the fire and notified the command chain there was a deceased person there."

 San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault, whose office performed an autopsy, said Ye had suffered extensive crushing injuries, but does not appear to have been thrown from the airplane at the time of the crash. His investigators have not determined what killed her.

 Also killed in the crash was Ye's friend Wang Lin Jia, 16. Both girls had flown to the United States from Shanghai planning to visit Stanford University and attend a three-week summer camp at a Christian school in Southern California.

 Wang, who is also believed to have been sitting at the rear of the plane, was found near the seawall that Flight 214 struck at 11:27 a.m. Saturday as it attempted to land at well below its target speed.

 Third fatality

 The girl who died Friday was one of 31 children and 36 adults who were treated at San Francisco General. They were among 180 passengers and six flight attendants who were hurt in the crash.

 Six patients remain at San Francisco General. Two adults are in critical condition with spinal cord and abdominal injuries, internal bleeding, road rash and fractures, hospital officials said.

 The details emerged as National Transportation Safety Board workers began cutting up the hulk of the aircraft so they could take it to a hangar for storage. At 5:05 p.m. Friday, airport officials reopened the runway, 28L, on which Flight 214 had tried to land. ||||| The tail of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, is seen in front of a span of the Bay Bridge on a tarmac at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Wednesday, July... (Associated Press)

 Deborah Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board speaks in front of a photograph of the wreckage of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, at San Francisco International... (Associated Press)

 The tail of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, is seen on a tarmac at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 10, 2013. Investigators are struggling... (Associated Press)

 Crew members from Asiana Flight 214, which crashed while landing Saturday in San Francisco, pose before members of press upon arrival at the Incheon Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Thursday, July 11,... (Associated Press)

 The wreckage of Asiana Flight 214 sits on a tarmac at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Thursday, July 11, 2013. Asiana Airlines Flight 214 from Shanghai and Seoul crash-landed July... (Associated Press)

 Deborah Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board speaks in front of a photograph of some seats of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, at San Francisco International... (Associated Press)

 A group of people stand in front of the wreckage of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, as buses that were reported to be carrying passengers and family members are parked next... (Associated Press)

 South Korean students pay a silent tribute to the two Chinese victims who died in a Asiana Airlines plane crash in San Francisco, in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, July 11, 2013. The flight came to a tragic... (Associated Press)

 Crew members from Asiana Flight 214, which crashed while landing Saturday in San Francisco arrive back at the Incheon Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Thursday, July 11, 2013. Two passengers were killed... (Associated Press)

 Deborah Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board speaks in front of a photograph of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, at San Francisco International Airport, at a... (Associated Press)

 Deborah Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board speaks in front of a photograph of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, at San Francisco International Airport, at a... (Associated Press)

 This image released by the National Transportation Safety Board, on Thursday, July 11, 2013, shows the charred remains of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 in San Francisco. The Asiana flight crashed upon landing... (Associated Press)

 CORRECTS STYLE OF NAME SPELLING OF A FLIGHT ATTENDANT - Kim Yun-ju, a flight attendant who was working onboard Asiana Airlines Flight 214 when it crashed while landing in San Francisco cries after arriving... (Associated Press)

 CORRECTS STYLE OF NAME SPELLING OF A FLIGHT ATTENDANT - Kim Yun-ju, a flight attendant onboard Asiana Airlines flight 214 when it crash-landed at San Francisco airport, cries as she is greeted by Park... (Associated Press)

 The wreckage of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, is seen on a tarmac in front of the San Francisco skyline at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Wednesday,... (Associated Press)

 A group of people stand in front of the wreckage of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, as one of three buses that were reported to be carrying passengers and family members are... (Associated Press) |||||


President Obama's 2013 budget.

 NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- President Obama unveiled a $3.8 trillion budget request Monday that hikes taxes on the rich, spends new money on infrastructure and education, but does little to reform the entitlement programs that pose the biggest long-term threat to the federal budget.

 "We built this budget around the idea that our country has always done best when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules," Obama said in his budget message.

 But the budget forecasts a deficit for fiscal year 2012 that will top $1.3 trillion, before falling in 2013 to $901 billion, or 5.5% of gross domestic product.

 The deficit projections, which have hovered near $1 trillion for each year of the Obama presidency, mean that Obama will not satisfy his 2009 promise to halve the deficit by the end of his first term.

 White House officials described the budget as a continuation of two major speeches given recently by the president -- one in Kansas where he promised Americans a "fair shot," and last month's State of the Union.

 The budget also offers fresh insight into how the White House plans to comply with last year's Budget Control Act, which allowed Congress to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for caps on discretionary spending accounts.

 Many of the high profile recommendations made in the budget were first floated by the administration last year as part of a deficit reduction plan rolled out in September.

 Spending: The administration is proposing a series of investments focused on infrastructure, education and domestic manufacturing, including old favorites like $30 billion to modernize schools and an additional $30 billion to retain and hire teachers and first responders.

 One key element of that plan is a six-year proposal to spend $476 billion on surface transportation, a big increase from current levels, and much more than other proposals lawmakers are considering.

 At the same time, the White House had to comply with the spending caps enshrined in the Budget Control Act, which total in the neighborhood of $1 trillion in discretionary spending over a decade.

 That means many programs will see their funding cut.

 "Every department will feel the impact of these reductions as they cut programs or tighten their belts to free up more resources for areas critical to economic growth," Obama wrote.

 Discretionary spending is projected to fall from 8.7% of GDP in 2011 to 5.0% in 2022.

 The budget details 210 places where programs will be cut or eliminated, for savings of $24 billion in 2013 and $520 billion over a decade.

 For example, the budget eliminates an Air Force satellite system that is "no longer needed to meet mission requirements."

 And the budget proposes consolidating the Bureau of Public Debt and the Treasury's Financial Management Service.

 The president would also like to cut some mandatory spending, including select farm subsidies and federal employee retirement and health benefits, for savings of $217 billion over a decade.

 Military spending will be reduced. The Pentagon plans to spend $487 billion less over 10 years, a course that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has already laid out in some detail.

 But even with some cuts, annual deficits are still projected to be more than $500 billion every year for the next decade, and the budget would add $7 trillion to the debt held by the public between 2013 and 2022.

 Taxes: The budget proposes a tax hike of $1.5 trillion, which includes a provision that will allow the Bush tax cuts to expire for high-income earners, a long-held Obama position.

 Obama would like carried interest to be taxed as ordinary income, which means money managers would pay more than double the rate they currently pay on a portion of their compensation.

 The budget also incorporates the Buffett Rule, a guideline to ensure that the wealthiest do not pay a lower overall tax rate than those who earn substantially less money.

 Specifically, no household making more than $1 million will be a allowed to pay less than 30% of its income in taxes.

 It also calls for a year-long extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance.

 In addition, the White House wants to reform the individual tax code in a way that "eliminates inefficient and unfair tax breaks for millionaires while making all tax breaks at least as good for the middle class as for the wealthy."

 On corporate taxes, details are scarce, but administration officials said that the president will unveil a plan to reform the corporate tax code later this month.

 Entitlements: Because the president's budget does little to address how to curb the growth in entitlement spending, it's unlikely to stabilize deficits beyond the next 10 years.

 The budget would cut more than $360 billion from Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs over a decade. But that's a drop in the bucket when compared to the rapid expansion of costs expected for entitlement programs.

 "While [Obama's] budget stabilizes debt over the next decade, the real problem arrives thereafter, as entitlement costs spiral out of control and revenues are inadequate to deal with a wave of retiring baby boomers," Pete Domenici and Alice Rivlin, who led their own debt task force, said in a joint statement.

 Of course, proposing significant cuts to Medicare and Social Security during an election year is a politically risky move, but by not saying much on the issue, the White House opened itself to criticism.

 House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers took Obama to task on Monday, saying the proposal "falls exceptionally short" on entitlement spending reform.

 "It is imperative that both the President and Congress put greater focus on addressing the exploding costs of these programs," Rogers said. "Without meaningful action in this area, the nation's debt and deficit crisis will continue, increasing the risk to our nation's financial and economic future."

 What's next: Obama's budget request is essentially a blueprint of his fiscal priorities -- the programs he would like to fund or cut, the new investments he would make and how he would pay for it all.

 But the request is just that -- a request. And it's one that Congress can accept, reject or modify.

 Even if Obama's budget is adopted -- which it won't be -- the estimates for deficit reduction may or may not pan out depending on how close to reality the administration's forecasts for unemployment, interest rates and economic growth prove to be.

 In any case, Obama's 2013 budget is only the first step in a convoluted process that involves no less than 40 congressional committees, 24 subcommittees, countless hearings and a number of floor votes in the House and Senate.

 If all goes well, a formal federal budget for government agencies will be in place by Oct. 1, the start of the 2013 fiscal year. ||||| President Barack Obama on Monday was selling a a $3.8 trillion election-year budget _ a spending outline designed to cut $4 trillion from the deficit in 10 years through spending restraints and higher taxes on the wealthy. Republicans said the plan fails to tackle the nation's deep fiscal problems.

 In this photo released by CBS News White house Chief of Staff Jacob Lew talks on CBS's Face the Nation in Washington Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012. Lew, who appeared on various Sunday shows, said the new budget... (Associated Press)

 Obama's budget _ as much a political document as spending plan _ clearly sets him apart from Republicans who are rabidly opposed to higher taxes and believe the only way to cut government red ink is to slash the heavy burden of social programs, particularly the federal Medicare health insurance program for Americans at age 65.

 The budget frames and likely will intensify the deep partisan divisions that have kept Washington in gridlock since Republicans regained majority control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 election.

 The president would achieve $1.5 trillion of the deficit reductions in tax increases on the wealthy and by removing certain corporate tax breaks. Obama rejected Republican charges of class warfare. "This is not about class warfare. This is about the nation's welfare," he insisted.

 In a message that repeated populist themes Obama also sounded in his State of the Union address, the president defended his proposed tax increases on the wealthy, saying it was important that the burden of getting deficits under control be a shared responsibility.

 "This is about making fair choices that benefit not just the people who have done fantastically well over the last few decades but that also benefit the middle class, those fighting to get into the middle class and the economy as a whole," Obama said.

 Obama used an appearance before students at Northern Virginia Community College to unveil the budget and highlight a $8 billion proposal that aims at boosting the ability of the nation's community colleges to train students for the jobs of the future.

 While administration officials defended the overall plan as a balanced approach, Republicans found ready material for attacks, particularly over Obama's failed 2009 promise to cut the skyrocketing deficit in half by the end of his first term.

 "It seems like the president has decided again to campaign instead of govern," Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said in an interview. "He's just going to duck the responsibility to tackle this country's fiscal problems." Ryan is preparing an alternative to Obama's budget that will be similar to a measure that the House approved last year but failed in the Senate.

 Jack Lew, Obama's chief of staff, said the administration had to contend with a deep recession and soaring unemployment that had driven the deficits higher than anyone anticipated. He said Obama's plan would cut the deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2018, to levels that economists generally view as sustainable.

 He said faster deficit cuts now would set back an economy still struggling with high unemployment. Lew, Obama's former budget chief, also said it was critical that Congress agree to extend a payroll tax cut due to expire at the end of February. Failure to extend it, he said, would cause another hit to the economy.

 The debate is almost certain to go all the way to Election Day in November, with gridlock keeping Congress from resolving many pressing issues on expiring tax cuts and across-the-board spending cuts until a lame duck session at year's end. That is the period between the November elections and the following January, when newly elected officials take their seats in Congress. Depending on the outcome of the presidential race, Obama, too, could be facing a departure from the White House in January.

 Obama's spending blueprint for the budget year that begins Oct. 1 projects a deficit for this year of $1.33 trillion. That would mean four straight years of trillion-dollar-plus deficits.

 The budget projects a decline in the deficit to $901 billion in 2013 and continued improvements shrinking the deficit to $575 billion in 2018.

 Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Senate Democrats did not want to vote on Obama's spending plan. To force their hands, he will once again put it forward for a vote in the upper chamber, where he predicted it would fail as it did last year.

 Lew blamed House Republicans for pushing extreme measures rather than trying to reach consensus with Democrats and avoid the kinds of last-minute crises that roiled financial markets in 2011, such as the summer showdown over raising the government's borrowing limit.

 According to a White House fact sheet, Obama's budget will adhere closely to the approach he outlined in September in a submission to the congressional "supercommittee" that failed to agree on at least $1.2 trillion in additional spending cuts to keep across-the-board cuts from taking effect next January.

 The Obama budget sticks to the caps on annual appropriations approved in August that will save $1 trillion over the next decade. It also puts forward $1.5 trillion in new taxes, primarily by allowing the tax cuts to expire at the end of this year for families making $250,000 or more per year. Those cuts were put in place during the presidency of George W. Bush, Obama's predecessor.

 Obama, as he has in the past, also proposed eliminating tax deductions the wealthy receive and would put in place a rule named for billionaire Warren Buffett that would seek to make sure that households making more than $1 million annually pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.

 Obama would also impose a new $61 billion tax over 10 years on big banks aimed at recovering the costs of the financial bailout and providing money to help homeowners facing foreclosure on their homes. It would raise $41 billion over 10 years by eliminating tax breaks for oil, gas and coal companies and claims significant savings from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 Lew said the budget would cut spending by $2.50 for every $1 in extra taxes it seeks.

 ___

 Associated Press economics writer Martin Crutsinger contributed to this report. ||||| The Obama administration will propose an $8 billion, three-year plan for shoring up career programs at community colleges to help train 2 million people for the workforce.

 The plan, to be administered by the Education and Labor departments, designates funds in the 2013 budget to establish training courses for skilled careers, develop partnerships between the schools and employers, and help state and local governments attract businesses, according to an Education Department statement.

 Shrinking state budgets and increasing numbers of unemployed people in the wake of the recession that began in 2007 have strained community colleges. The funding would help colleges accommodate more students in need of job skills, said David Baime of the American Association of Community Colleges in Washington.

 “It looks pretty darned good at this point,” said Baime, the association’s vice president for government relations, in a telephone interview. “At this scale, these resources could have a real benefit in helping colleges meet the demands of the workforce and the expectations that people have of them.”

 The association represents about 95 percent of the 1,200 community colleges in the U.S., Baime said. About 8 million students take courses for credit at community colleges each term, and an additional 5 million take non-credit courses, according to the association.

 Technical Skills

 Many Americans looking for work lack the experience to fill positions that require technical skills, such as in health care, advanced manufacturing, energy, and information technology, the Education Department said. Employers in the science, technical, and engineering fields frequently report that they need more trained workers, said Thomas Bailey, director of the Community College Research Center in New York.

 “This is an area where investment of resources could be useful,” Bailey said.

 The program, called the Community College to Career Fund, will pay to expand training and certification programs at community colleges for growing employment fields. It will also support internship programs for low-income community college students, according to the statement.

 States will be allowed to apply for funds to help businesses increase workers’ skills. The plan also calls for online courses in entrepreneurship for small-business owners to be offered through community colleges.

 Lack of Funds

 Over the next three years, an additional $1.5 billion will go to extending programs that help train and find employment for workers who have been hurt by international trade agreements, according to the statement.

 Community colleges have been hurt by a lack of funds for buildings and equipment needed to teach specialized courses for highly skilled jobs, said Karen Stout, president of Montgomery County Community College, which has two campuses in the county just west of Philadelphia. The college’s budget was cut 10 percent last year, and it hasn’t had new funds for building in four years, she said.

 While she would like to expand her college’s programs for health-care workers and nuclear engineering technicians, they require equipment and specialized instructors she can’t currently afford, Stout said.

 “It sounds like this program matches up exactly with those needs,” said Stout, who hadn’t seen all the details of President Barack Obama’s plan.

 Obama in Virginia

 Obama will unveil the program later today at Northern Virginia Community College, in Annandale, Virginia, the Education Department said. Later this month, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and Vice President Joe Biden’s wife Jill Biden will travel across the country to recognize community colleges and businesses that are working together to train and employ workers.

 Obama in 2009 proposed a $12-billion, 10-year-plan to support community colleges that Congress cut to $2 billion. State budget cuts have fallen hard in California, where in the 2009-2010 academic year, 133,000 first-time students couldn’t get into any course as community colleges cut offerings, according to a statement from Jack Scott, California Community Colleges Chancellor, in a statement Feb. 1.

 “Those trends of terrible fiscal situations and surging enrollments are still there at community colleges,” said Bailey at the Community College Research Center.

 To contact the reporter on this story: John Lauerman in Boston at jlauerman@bloomberg.net

 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lisa Wolfson at lwolfson@bloomberg.net ||||| Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com

 WASHINGTON—The White House based its budget for fiscal-year 2013 on a cautious economic forecast that predicts gradual growth still threatened by European instability.

 The economic assumptions underpinning President Barack Obama's budget, released Monday, show a subdued recovery that is "projected to gain momentum in 2012-2103 and to strengthen further in 2014." Because the administration's projections were completed in mid-November, however, the outlook doesn't reflect the stronger economic data that have since been released, including labor-market strengthening. The unemployment rate fell to 8.3% in January, down from 8.7% in November 2011.

 Still, the White House predicted the economy would bounce back ... |||||

Write a summary.

– President Obama officially unveiled his $3.8 trillion budget today, and as expected it draws a 2012 battle line, calling for higher taxes on the wealthy combined with spending measures intended to bolster the economy, the AP reports. "We built this budget around the idea that our country has always done best when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules," Obama said, according to CNN. "This is not about class warfare. This is about the nation's welfare." Obama's budget would institute the so-called "Buffett Rule," replacing the Alternative Minimum Tax with a 30% rate on income above $1 million. It would also bump the capital gains tax rate up to 20%, and allow Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy to expire. Obama unveiled the budget in a speech at Northern Virginia Community College, where he focused on a proposal to spend $8 billion boosting community colleges, Bloomberg reports. Obama estimates that under his budget the deficit would rise to $1.3 trillion in 2012, before falling to $901 billion in 2013. But the Wall Street Journal points out that Obama used cautious economic forecasts, ignoring recent employment gains. Republicans naturally bashed the budget for failing to address fiscal issues. "It seems like the president has decided again to campaign instead of govern," said Paul Ryan. For more on the budget particulars, click here.


Write a summary based on this article:

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Doctors on Long Island performed the first-ever operation on triplets born with a rare skull condition.

 In January, the Howard triplets — Hunter, Jackson and Kaden — underwent surgery at Stony Brook University Hospital to repair a condition called craniosynostosis, where their skulls did not form properly.

 “You could tell that their heads were a little bit malformed,” their mother, Amy Howard, 38, of Center Moriches, said. “It was really extremely scary thinking about your 8- or 9-week-old baby going through surgery.”

 Craniosynostosis occurs in 1 in 2,000 births.

 But doctors said the chance of this occurring in triplets is one in 500 trillion. It’s particularly unusual because they are not all identical.

 “We worked out the probability of maybe on in 500 trillion to see a set of triplets the looked like these three,” Dr. David Chesler, Stony Brook Medicine, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery said.

 The condition is not only a cosmetic issue but could restrict brain growth. It’s not uncommon, but in triplets it’s extraordinarily rare — only two of them are identical.

 Doctors at Stony Brook explained that the children’s skull fused too early in utero — that’s supposed to happen later in life. Their growing brains then pushed their skulls into abnormal shapes.

 “When you look from the top he has an almost almond of wedge shaped head, that’s now gone. Three months later it’s nice and round,” Dr. Chesler said.

 The babies will have to wear helmets for the next few months as they recover, but then they will lead normal lives.

 “They don’t mind the helmets, the surgery went great, I don’t even think they really were in too much pain,” Howard said.

 The new parents are grateful their boys got a life changing head start.

 “That was my main concern, was it going to cause brain damage, or I was worried about his eye sight, but it all turned out great,” Howard said.

 Already the boys are all smiles and full of life.

 Kaden is described as the laid back one, Hunter the talker and Jackson is the tough one.

 The Howards said the triplets were conceived without the help of fertility drugs. ||||| Get the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter

 Amy and Mike Howard went from a family of two to five in a matter of nine months. Then, their babies made medical history.

 Hunter, Jackson and Kaden appear to be the first-known case of triplets all born with craniosynostosis, a rare birth defect in which the bones in a newborn’s skull fuse together too early. They were just 11 weeks old when the trio underwent surgery to correct the condition.

 “It was scary,” Amy Howard, 38, of Center Moriches, New York, told TODAY.

 “I was very freaked out,” added Mike Howard, 41. “Any time you have to put the baby [in an operating room], it’s a little crazy.”

 Amy found out she was carrying triplets last spring during a routine checkup. The sonogram tech found one fetus, then another and then paused. “Hold on a second,” she said before announcing there was a third.

 The triplets were born on Oct. 22, 2016. Courtesy Howard family

 The triplets were conceived without fertility treatments: “I think we just got lucky,” Mike said, recalling that his first reaction at the news was “Holy [expletive]. I was kind of a little bit in shock.”

 Amy remembers hysterically crying: “I was terrified. It took me a little bit of time to get used to the idea, to be honest.”

 The triplets — all boys — were born last October. Hunter and Jackson are identical twins, while Kaden is their fraternal brother. Within days, doctors noticed there was something going on with their skulls. Kaden’s head was a triangle shape with a pointy forehead, while Jackson and Hunter had skulls that protruded in the back.

 RELATED: Doctor, stepdad to triplets, delivers 3 sets of triplets

 Jackson's head before the surgery. "Jackson could not lay on his head... he'd always have to have his head to the side because his skull was protruding so much from the back," his mom said. Courtesy Stony Brook Medicine

 All three boys were diagnosed with craniosynostosis, which can limit brain growth. It affects about one in 2,500 births.

 Dr. David Chesler, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital who operated on the boys, said he and his team couldn’t find any other reports of triplets all born with craniosynostosis. The trio would all need surgery to correct the problem.

 “Your skull is made up of plates, it’s not a single bone,” Chesler said. If the seams join together too early, “the brain can be put under pressure. … That can be detrimental to the brain, the vision, the life of the child. It’s not imminently life-threatening, but it can cause real consequences down the road.”

 The three separate surgeries took place over two days in January. Chesler made small incisions on each of the boys’ heads and, using an endoscope and a harmonic scalpel, cut out a strip of bone to remove the fused seam. The babies did great and were back home two days after their surgeries, Amy said.

 RELATED: Mom fighting cancer gives birth to 'miracle' quadruplets

 Mike and Amy Howard hold, from left to right, Hunter, Kaden and Jackson. Courtesy Howard family

 For the next six to nine months, they must wear orthotic custom-made helmets 23 hours a day to help mold their skulls.

 “It took them a little bit of time to adjust, but they don’t give me any problems taking them off or putting them back on at all,” Amy said.

 Their head shapes are back to normal, a difference she called “amazing.”

 The Howard triplets, from left to right: Jackson, Hunter and Kaden. Courtesy of The Howard Family

 The couple is still adjusting to life with three boys and three cats.

 “It’s a little chaotic. It’s awesome, I wouldn’t change it for the world, but it’s crazy,” Mike said.

 “The babies want to be picked up all at the same time. It is a little bit hectic, especially around bed time,” Amy added.

 They’d like to have a girl join the family, but aren’t planning to have more kids: “With our luck, we would have another set of triplets,” Mike said.

 Follow A. Pawlowski on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. |||||

– Kaden, Hunter, and Jackson Howard were born newsworthy—the Long Island triplets were conceived without fertility drugs, and Hunter and Jackson are identical while Kaden is fraternal. But not long into their young lives, the happy news took a turn. Their heads became noticeably misshapen. Kaden had a pointy forehead and Jackson and Hunter sported protrusions in the back, reports Today. All three were diagnosed with craniosynostosis, a rare birth defect in which a newborn's skull fuses together early, which can impede brain growth. The triplets, born in October 2016, underwent a set of surgeries at just two months of age in January and are all thriving back at home, apparently not even minding their helmets, which they must wear 23 hours a day for the next six to nine months. “Your skull is made up of plates, it’s not a single bone,” says operating surgeon David Chesler of Stony Brook Children's Hospital. If the plates fuse too early, it can "detrimental to the brain, the vision, the life of the child. It’s not imminently life-threatening, but it can cause real consequences down the road.” It occurs just once in every 2,000 births, but doctors put the odds of it occurring in triplets—particularly a set that isn't identical and thus not prone to the exact same malformations—at one in 500 trillion, reports CBS Local. Mom Amy calls their progress "amazing" and their father, Mike, says that while life with three boys and three cats is "crazy," he "wouldn't change it for the world." They say they'd love to have a girl, but aren't planning to try. "With our luck, we would have another set of triplets," Mike says. (One mom ran a half marathon pushing her triplets in a stroller.)


News article:

"We are aware of the lawsuit, and intend to vigorously defend against the allegations," Ulta Beauty spokeswoman Karen Twigg May said Friday in an email. "Our policies, training and procedures are aimed at selling only the highest-quality new products in our stores and online. The health and safety of Ulta Beauty guests is a top priority, and we strive to consistently deliver an optimal experience every time they shop with us." ||||| CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Attorney Thomas Zimmerman, Jr. of the Chicago-based Zimmerman Law Offices filed a nationwide class action suit against Ulta Beauty, Inc. (“Ulta”). The suit alleges Ulta has a routine practice of repackaging and resealing beauty products that have previously been purchased, used and returned by Ulta’s customers, before returning those used products to its shelves to be purchased by other consumers.

 The case, Meghan DeVries v. Ulta Beauty, Inc., was filed on February 8, 2018, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

 The suit alleges that, for the past several years, managers at Ulta’s retail stores throughout the nation are given a quota as to the number of returned items that can be deemed to be “damaged” and thrown away, and store managers would get lectured by Ulta’s upper management if their stores were over the quota. The suit notes that Ulta received and responded to complaints from customers and employees regarding those practices, but it nevertheless continued its corporate policy and practice of surreptitiously reselling used beauty products.

 Used beauty products—such as mascara, foundation, and shampoo—were almost always placed back on the shelf since it is difficult to tell if they were used, according to the complaint. The suit further alleges that for beauty products that obviously and visibly appeared to be used, Ulta’s employees were instructed to clean those beauty products with cotton swabs to make them look like new, and place them back on Ulta’s store shelves for resale.

 Consumers expect that beauty products are new and unused when purchased from retailers, because, by nature, used beauty products are unsanitary and unhygienic, and place people at a risk of contracting disease. Attorney Tom Zimmerman noted, “The lawsuit cites to an undercover investigation that found used beauty products at Ulta were contaminated with harmful bacteria, including E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, two types of bacteria normally found in the intestinal tract that are expelled with feces, such that people could literally be applying and smearing someone else’s fecal matter directly onto their lips.” Attorney Zimmerman continued, “The investigators also noted that used beauty products can contain the herpes simplex virus—which can survive on the surface of a lipstick tube for up to a week—as well as Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause very serious infections, boils and lesions, especially if you have an open cut on your skin or lips, or it gets in your eyes.”

 The lead plaintiff represents all consumers throughout the United States impacted by Ulta’s actions. The lawsuit seeks damages for the money consumers spent to purchase used beauty products from Ulta, and injunctive relief to force Ulta to stop repackaging used beauty products and reselling them as if they were new.

 A copy of the complaint is available upon request. Attorney Tom Zimmerman will be available for interviews and the lead plaintiff may also be available to speak with the media on a limited basis. ||||| Two women have filed lawsuits against Ulta, one of the largest beauty retailers in the United States, claiming that the company repackages and resells beauty products after they have been opened and returned.

 The newest lawsuit, filed by Meghan Devries in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, states that Ulta has a routine practice of repackaging and re-sealing products that have been previously purchased, used and returned by customers. It claims that Ulta will return those used products to its shelves to be purchased by other, unsuspecting, customers.

 The complaint states that the company has a limit on how many returned items can be thrown away.

 "Managers at [Ulta's] retail stores are given a quota as to the number of returned items that can be deemed to be 'damaged,'" the lawsuit alleges.

 It goes on to further explain, claiming that if returned items look good enough to resell, they're returned to the shelves so they don't exceed their quota. It goes on to state that the products are put back on the shelves without being labeled as "repackaged" or "previously used."

 The complaint provides examples from former employees who have posted to Twitter about Ulta's alleged routine practice of instructing employees to repackage products and return them to shelves for resale.

 They would resell EVERYTHING. ( makeup , hair care , skincare, fragrance ,hair tools, etc. ) — fatinamxo (@fatinamxo) January 10, 2018

 Devries hopes that her lawsuit changes Ulta's alleged practice of limiting the number of items that can be thrown away. Additionally, it seeks compensation for all customers who bought used products.

 A separate lawsuit with the same claims was filed last month by a California woman.

 “Every customer who has purchased cosmetics at Ulta since this practice began was put at risk of unwittingly purchasing used, unsanitary cosmetics and this risk reduces the desirability and value of all cosmetics sold by Ulta,” the lawsuit states.

 This complaint also sites Twitter user @fantinamxo’s allegations, stating that the Tweets have prompted responses from countless other current and former Ulta employees from all over the country who confirm the practices at the stores where they worked.

 They even put back a USED liquid lipstick, the manager said she would “clean it with alcohol” ( that was the last straw for me ) here is a photo of a lip palette ( exclusive online only ) that was returned and mangers put it back on the shelf to resell ( CLEARLY NOT SANITIZED ) pic.twitter.com/V6TRPOKAHk — fatinamxo (@fatinamxo) January 10, 2018

 The woman who filed the suit, Kimberley Laura Smith-Brown, hopes to form a class that would extend to everyone who purchased cosmetics from Ulta.

 A spokesperson for Bolingbrook-based Ulta told WLS-TV in Chicago the following:

 "Our policy does not allow the resale of used products. We are aware of the lawsuit and intend to vigorously defend against the allegations. The health and safety of Ulta Beauty guests is a top priority and we strive to consistently deliver an optimal experience every time they shop with us."

 Mary Stringini is a Digital Reporter for WFTS. Follow her on Twitter @MaryWFTS. ||||| So I was a former employee at ULTA and whenever a customer would return a product, we were told by managers to repackage / reseal the item and put it back on the shelf. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– There's nothing like opening up a brand-new makeup kit and glamming it up—though that glamorous feeling may be lost if you find out you're applying makeup someone else already used. That's the gist of a complaint filed in Chicago last month by a California woman who says Ulta repackaged returned cosmetics and placed the items back on store shelves, the Los Angeles Times reports. "Every customer who has purchased cosmetics at Ulta since this practice began was put at risk of unwittingly purchasing used, unsanitary cosmetics," the lawsuit states. Kimberley Laura Smith-Brown of Los Angeles alleges she stocked up on dozens of items from Ulta's Sherman Oaks location over the past six months or so—and then saw whispers on social media that her stash may not have been as pristine as she thought. A Twitter user who said she was an ex-Ulta employee started the hubbub, claiming that when she worked there, her manager would instruct employees to clean returned items with cotton swabs and alcohol, seal them back up, then slip them back on the shelves. And, she said, they "would resell EVERYTHING (makeup, hair care, skincare, fragrance, hair tools, etc.)." Other supposed Ulta employees both refuted and supported her claims. ABC Action News reports a second lawsuit was filed last week in Illinois' Cook County Circuit Court, with plaintiff Meghan DeVries alleging Ulta managers are given a "quota" of how many returned items can be listed as "damaged," per a release. The lawyer in that class action says used cosmetics can contain harmful bacteria like E. coli and even the herpes simplex virus. (A potential concern in children's makeup: asbestos.)