• Several California Democrats and the California-based group CourageCampaign.org recently launched a petition demanding that a healthcare website created by California Republicans be taken down. According to the Sacramento Bee, a statement released by California Democratic Party Chair John Burton said the website shows that “Republicans in California have no qualms about following their national Party’s lead when it comes to spreading misinformation about the Affordable Care Act.” A press release sent out by Courage Campaign said more than 24,000 Californians have already signed the petition. The release calls the Republican website a “sham Obamacare site” that’s being used to “intentionally mislead” people. The Republican website is coveringhealthcareca.com, while California’s website for Covered California is coveredca.com. Sabrina Lockhart, a spokeswoman for Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway (R-Tulare) told the Bee that the website is meant to inform Californian’s about the broad repercussions of health care reform, rather than on connecting consumers to insurance plans. She also told the Bee that Democratic response to the website is “manufactured internet outrage” about the site.
• The U.S. Army has decided to extend a $56.6 million contract with the Institute of Collaborative Biotechnologies at UC Santa Barbara according to a press release sent out by the office of Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara). The institute was created 10 years ago in response to a call from the Army for accelerated basic science research in the areas of network science, materials, and novel tools for discovery. The contract will be extended to five years and includes partnerships with more than 60 faculty members at UCSB, Caltech, and MIT.
This article appears in Dec 12-19, 2013.