By April 1, Rockland is going to enact two new taxes on its citizens. There will be a 30 cent tax on owning a cell phone and a 3% hotel occupancy tax. They were proposed by County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef. This Rockland tax by the Rockland County Legislatures will be an addition to the already increased New York State taxes. The new taxes will be enacted due to the Legislature’s claim that the County desperately needs the extra funds. Many hotel and Inn businesses are against the new taxes because it will put them behind the competition. The votes for these newly implemented taxes were by no means close. The votes were 10 to 5 for...

The Obama administration issued guidelines via the Federal Health and Human Services department (which was nearly impossible to find verbatim: http://1.usa.gov/ynRWno) that require private health plans to cover women’s contraception without requiring a co-pay, as well as provide other “preventive services,” including domestic violence screening and woman-specific doctor visits. The Catholic church successfully argued that to require Catholic institutions to provide contraception violates their religious expression, winning an exemption for non-profit religious organizations specifically. The debate devolved into a secular vs. religious...