Total SA (TOTF.PA) Quote| Reuters.com
A North American unit of French oil company Total SA and a trader agreed to pay $3.6 million to settle charges of attempted manipulation of the U.S. natural gas market, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Monday.
07 Dec 2015
A North American unit of French oil companyTotal SA and a trader agreed to pay $3.6 million tosettle charges of attempted manipulation of the U.S. natural gasmarket, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said onMonday.
07 Dec 2015
Dec 7 A North American unit of French oilcompany Total SA and a trader agreed to pay $3.6million to settle charges of attempted manipulation of the U.S.natural gas market, the U.S. Commodity Futures TradingCommission said on Monday.
07 Dec 2015
Dec 7 A North American unit of French oilcompany Total SA and a trader agreed to pay $3.6million to settle charges of attempted manipulation of the U.S.natural gas market, the U.S. Commodity Futures TradingCommission (CFTC) said on Monday. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
07 Dec 2015
Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders and noteholders holding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduce interest expense but one of its units will file for U.S. bankruptcy on Dec. 3.
02 Dec 2015
Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders and noteholdersholding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduce interestexpense but one of its units will file for U.S. bankruptcy onDec. 3.
02 Dec 2015
Dec 2 Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders andnoteholders holding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduceinterest expense but one of its units will file for U.S.bankruptcy on Dec. 3.
02 Dec 2015
PARIS French oil and gas company Total's reported better than expected third-quarter profit on Thursday after high margins in its European refining business and increased production softened the blow of prolonged low oil prices.
29 Oct 2015
* Sector earnings hit by prolonged low oil prices (Recasts, adds quote after analyst call, sector rivals)
29 Oct 2015
Oct 21 BP Plc said on Wednesday it hadbeen awarded three new offshore exploration blocks in Egypt andthat it and its partners had committed to investment of $229million.
21 Oct 2015
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TOTF.PA
07 Dec 2015
A North American unit of French oil companyTotal SA and a trader agreed to pay $3.6 million tosettle charges of attempted manipulation of the U.S. natural gasmarket, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said onMonday.
07 Dec 2015
Dec 7 A North American unit of French oilcompany Total SA and a trader agreed to pay $3.6million to settle charges of attempted manipulation of the U.S.natural gas market, the U.S. Commodity Futures TradingCommission said on Monday.
07 Dec 2015
Dec 7 A North American unit of French oilcompany Total SA and a trader agreed to pay $3.6million to settle charges of attempted manipulation of the U.S.natural gas market, the U.S. Commodity Futures TradingCommission (CFTC) said on Monday. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
07 Dec 2015
Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders and noteholders holding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduce interest expense but one of its units will file for U.S. bankruptcy on Dec. 3.
02 Dec 2015
Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders and noteholdersholding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduce interestexpense but one of its units will file for U.S. bankruptcy onDec. 3.
02 Dec 2015
Dec 2 Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders andnoteholders holding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduceinterest expense but one of its units will file for U.S.bankruptcy on Dec. 3.
02 Dec 2015
PARIS French oil and gas company Total's reported better than expected third-quarter profit on Thursday after high margins in its European refining business and increased production softened the blow of prolonged low oil prices.
29 Oct 2015
* Sector earnings hit by prolonged low oil prices (Recasts, adds quote after analyst call, sector rivals)
29 Oct 2015
Oct 21 BP Plc said on Wednesday it hadbeen awarded three new offshore exploration blocks in Egypt andthat it and its partners had committed to investment of $229million.
21 Oct 2015
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TOTF.PA
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Total SA (TOTF.PA) Quote| Reuters.com
Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders and noteholders holding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduce interest expense but one of its units will file for U.S. bankruptcy on Dec. 3.
02 Dec 2015
Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders and noteholdersholding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduce interestexpense but one of its units will file for U.S. bankruptcy onDec. 3.
02 Dec 2015
Dec 2 Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders andnoteholders holding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduceinterest expense but one of its units will file for U.S.bankruptcy on Dec. 3.
02 Dec 2015
PARIS French oil and gas company Total's reported better than expected third-quarter profit on Thursday after high margins in its European refining business and increased production softened the blow of prolonged low oil prices.
29 Oct 2015
* Sector earnings hit by prolonged low oil prices (Recasts, adds quote after analyst call, sector rivals)
29 Oct 2015
Oct 21 BP Plc said on Wednesday it hadbeen awarded three new offshore exploration blocks in Egypt andthat it and its partners had committed to investment of $229million.
21 Oct 2015
PARIS, Oct 21 Total's boss is known asa fixer; a straight-talking cost cutter who has emerged as theright person to steer the French oil and gas company through oneof the industry's worst downturns in decades.
21 Oct 2015
SAO PAULO, Oct 14 A consortium which owns theconcession to Brazil's offshore subsalt area Libra foundhydrocarbons in a new well, state-controlled oil producerPetrleo Brasileiro SA said on Wednesday.
14 Oct 2015
U.S. federal energy regulators extended their years-long effort to crack down on a contested form of market manipulation on Tuesday, alleging that French firm Total SA and two of its traders rigged southwestern natural gas prices for years.
22 Sep 2015
Sept 22 U.S. federal energy regulators extendedtheir years-long effort to crack down on a contested form ofmarket manipulation on Tuesday, alleging that French firm TotalSA and two of its traders rigged southwestern naturalgas prices for years.
22 Sep 2015
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TOTF.PA
02 Dec 2015
Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders and noteholdersholding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduce interestexpense but one of its units will file for U.S. bankruptcy onDec. 3.
02 Dec 2015
Dec 2 Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co said it reached a support agreement with lenders andnoteholders holding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduceinterest expense but one of its units will file for U.S.bankruptcy on Dec. 3.
02 Dec 2015
PARIS French oil and gas company Total's reported better than expected third-quarter profit on Thursday after high margins in its European refining business and increased production softened the blow of prolonged low oil prices.
29 Oct 2015
* Sector earnings hit by prolonged low oil prices (Recasts, adds quote after analyst call, sector rivals)
29 Oct 2015
Oct 21 BP Plc said on Wednesday it hadbeen awarded three new offshore exploration blocks in Egypt andthat it and its partners had committed to investment of $229million.
21 Oct 2015
PARIS, Oct 21 Total's boss is known asa fixer; a straight-talking cost cutter who has emerged as theright person to steer the French oil and gas company through oneof the industry's worst downturns in decades.
21 Oct 2015
SAO PAULO, Oct 14 A consortium which owns theconcession to Brazil's offshore subsalt area Libra foundhydrocarbons in a new well, state-controlled oil producerPetrleo Brasileiro SA said on Wednesday.
14 Oct 2015
U.S. federal energy regulators extended their years-long effort to crack down on a contested form of market manipulation on Tuesday, alleging that French firm Total SA and two of its traders rigged southwestern natural gas prices for years.
22 Sep 2015
Sept 22 U.S. federal energy regulators extendedtheir years-long effort to crack down on a contested form ofmarket manipulation on Tuesday, alleging that French firm TotalSA and two of its traders rigged southwestern naturalgas prices for years.
22 Sep 2015
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TOTF.PA
RPT-Pennsylvania's budget gridlock hits schools, seniors | Reuters
(Repeats story that ran on Thursday with no change to headlineor text)
* Largest senior service provider saving cash for food,staff
* School districts borrowing millions to stay open
* Governor, lawmakers still deadlocked
By Hilary Russ
NEW YORK, Oct 22 Pennsylvania's largest serviceprovider to senior citizens is running out of money and time, asthe state's new Democratic governor and Republican-ledlegislature still cannot agree on a budget.
"I'm saving the little bit of money we have to pay staff andfood. I can do that probably for a couple more months," saidHolly Lange, Chief Executive Officer of Philadelphia Corporationfor Aging (PCA).
Pennsylvania, whose 2016 budget was due 113 days ago, hasthe dubious distinction of being only one of two U.S. states,along with Illinois, without a current budget.
But even Illinois - the worst-rated state in the nation - isat least paying out education funding to schools.
"We feel completely isolated," said Joseph Gorham,superintendent of the Carbondale Area School District, of Pennsylvania's political stalemate. "It just doesn't seem atthis point that they understand quite how desperate we'vebecome."
The Pennsylvania logjam puts the state's most vulnerable -school kids, seniors, disabled, and the homeless - in the firingline, as some of their care relies on state funds that have notbeen released.
"Everyone has been feeling the pinch in some way, and it'sgoing to get worse the longer the situation goes without abudget," said Steve Robinson, spokesman for the PennsylvaniaSchool Boards Association.
For example, Carbondale's schools, in northeasternPennsylvania, were down to $11,000 cash last month, but havesince received local tax revenues that should last throughmid-November. Still, by then they will owe nearly $2 million indeferred pension contributions and payments to charter schools.
Altogether, Pennsylvania school districts have borrowed atleast $410 million to pay for operations during the impasse,said state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale.
"We don't see any settlement any time soon," DePasqualesaid. "You're getting close to a breaking point" in mid-Novemberfor the poorer districts that are more reliant on state aid.
The current deadlock is partly over how to pay for increasededucation funding. Democratic Governor Tom Wolf ousted one-termRepublican Governor Tom Corbett in November by promising torestore education aid with income tax hikes and a new tax onnatural gas extraction.
Republicans struck down Wolf's spending plan and disagreedwith his fix for underfunded public pensions. They passed astop-gap budget, but Wolf vetoed it on Sept. 29.
The gridlock has left a $2 billion state budget deficitunresolved and prompted Moody's Investors Service to revise itsoutlook on Pennsylvania's Aa3 credit rating to negative on Oct.16.
Republican leaders say Wolf is holding Pennsylvanianshostage to his tax proposals. Wolf says Republicans failed tofind meaningful ways to close the deficit or restore educationfunding.
Whoever is to blame, the PCA and other service organizationsare being left in the lurch.
The nonprofit has 700 staffers to provide services of itsown throughout Philadelphia city and county, and it contractswith 200 other providers of senior services, home care and adultday care. PCA supplies about 5,000 hot meals per day at seniorcenters, and another 4,000 daily home meal deliveries.
The PCA depends on about 70 percent of its funding fromstate sources, mostly lottery revenues. It has exhausted itsborrowing power with a recent $14 million line of credit thatallowed it to pay contractors in July and August. However, theyhave not been paid for September.
Even if it could borrow, that might be difficult, since thedelay in state payments contributed to Moody's Oct. 8 downgradeof PCA's 2001 municipal bonds by four notches to junk at Ba2.
The state will eventually release funding to PCA, Lange toldReuters. "But in the meantime it's a struggle and I'm concernedthat some of the services will not be available for thevulnerable seniors." (Reporting by Hilary Russ in New York; Editing by Daniel Basesand Diane Craft)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/23/pennsylvania-budget-idUSL1N12M3JE20151023
* Largest senior service provider saving cash for food,staff
* School districts borrowing millions to stay open
* Governor, lawmakers still deadlocked
By Hilary Russ
NEW YORK, Oct 22 Pennsylvania's largest serviceprovider to senior citizens is running out of money and time, asthe state's new Democratic governor and Republican-ledlegislature still cannot agree on a budget.
"I'm saving the little bit of money we have to pay staff andfood. I can do that probably for a couple more months," saidHolly Lange, Chief Executive Officer of Philadelphia Corporationfor Aging (PCA).
Pennsylvania, whose 2016 budget was due 113 days ago, hasthe dubious distinction of being only one of two U.S. states,along with Illinois, without a current budget.
But even Illinois - the worst-rated state in the nation - isat least paying out education funding to schools.
"We feel completely isolated," said Joseph Gorham,superintendent of the Carbondale Area School District, of Pennsylvania's political stalemate. "It just doesn't seem atthis point that they understand quite how desperate we'vebecome."
The Pennsylvania logjam puts the state's most vulnerable -school kids, seniors, disabled, and the homeless - in the firingline, as some of their care relies on state funds that have notbeen released.
"Everyone has been feeling the pinch in some way, and it'sgoing to get worse the longer the situation goes without abudget," said Steve Robinson, spokesman for the PennsylvaniaSchool Boards Association.
For example, Carbondale's schools, in northeasternPennsylvania, were down to $11,000 cash last month, but havesince received local tax revenues that should last throughmid-November. Still, by then they will owe nearly $2 million indeferred pension contributions and payments to charter schools.
Altogether, Pennsylvania school districts have borrowed atleast $410 million to pay for operations during the impasse,said state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale.
"We don't see any settlement any time soon," DePasqualesaid. "You're getting close to a breaking point" in mid-Novemberfor the poorer districts that are more reliant on state aid.
The current deadlock is partly over how to pay for increasededucation funding. Democratic Governor Tom Wolf ousted one-termRepublican Governor Tom Corbett in November by promising torestore education aid with income tax hikes and a new tax onnatural gas extraction.
Republicans struck down Wolf's spending plan and disagreedwith his fix for underfunded public pensions. They passed astop-gap budget, but Wolf vetoed it on Sept. 29.
The gridlock has left a $2 billion state budget deficitunresolved and prompted Moody's Investors Service to revise itsoutlook on Pennsylvania's Aa3 credit rating to negative on Oct.16.
Republican leaders say Wolf is holding Pennsylvanianshostage to his tax proposals. Wolf says Republicans failed tofind meaningful ways to close the deficit or restore educationfunding.
Whoever is to blame, the PCA and other service organizationsare being left in the lurch.
The nonprofit has 700 staffers to provide services of itsown throughout Philadelphia city and county, and it contractswith 200 other providers of senior services, home care and adultday care. PCA supplies about 5,000 hot meals per day at seniorcenters, and another 4,000 daily home meal deliveries.
The PCA depends on about 70 percent of its funding fromstate sources, mostly lottery revenues. It has exhausted itsborrowing power with a recent $14 million line of credit thatallowed it to pay contractors in July and August. However, theyhave not been paid for September.
Even if it could borrow, that might be difficult, since thedelay in state payments contributed to Moody's Oct. 8 downgradeof PCA's 2001 municipal bonds by four notches to junk at Ba2.
The state will eventually release funding to PCA, Lange toldReuters. "But in the meantime it's a struggle and I'm concernedthat some of the services will not be available for thevulnerable seniors." (Reporting by Hilary Russ in New York; Editing by Daniel Basesand Diane Craft)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/23/pennsylvania-budget-idUSL1N12M3JE20151023
Local courts reviving 'debtors' prison' for overdue fines, fees
As if out of a Charles Dickens novel, people struggling to pay overdue fines and fees associated with court costs for even the simplest traffic infractions are being thrown in jail across the United States.
Critics are calling the practice the new "debtors' prison" -- referring to the jails that flourished in the U.S. and Western Europe over 150 years ago. Before the time of bankruptcy laws and social safety nets, poor folks and ruined business owners were locked up until their debts were paid off.
Reforms eventually outlawed the practice. But groups like the Brennan Center for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union say it's been reborn in local courts which may not be aware it's against the law to send indigent people to jail over unpaid fines and fees -- or they just haven't been called on it until now.
Advocates are trying to convince courts that aside from the legal questions surrounding the practice, it is disproportionately jailing poor people and doesn't even boost government revenues -- in fact, governments lose money in the process.
"It's a waste of taxpayer resources, and it undermines the integrity of the justice system," Carl Takei, staff attorney for the ACLU's National Prison Project, told FoxNews.com.
"The problem is it's not actually much of a money-making proposition ... to throw people in jail for fines and fees when they can't afford it. If counties weren't spending the money jailing people for not paying debts, they could be spending the money in other ways."
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law released a "Tool Kit for Action" in 2012 that broke down the cost to municipalities to jail debtors in comparison with the amount of old debt it was collecting. It doesn't look like a bargain. For example, according to the report, Mecklenburg County, N.C., collected $33,476 in debts in 2009, but spent $40,000 jailing 246 debtors -- a loss of $6,524.
Fines are the court-imposed payments linked to a conviction -- whether it be for a minor traffic violation like driving without a license or a small drug offense, all the way up to felony. Fees are all those extras tacked on by the court to fund administrative services. These vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, with some courts imposing more than others.
As states and counties grapple with shrinking budgets and yearly shortfalls, new fees are often imposed to make up the difference, though they can be quite overwhelming to individuals passing through the system -- 80 percent of whom qualify as indigent (impoverished and unable to pay), according to the Brennan Center. Florida, for example, has added 20 new fees since 1996, according to the center. North Carolina imposes late fees on debt not paid and surcharges on payment plans.
More and more, courts are dragging people in for fines and fees that have ballooned due to interest imposed on the initial sums. Some owe money to the public defender's office for the representation they received during their time in court. Others incur hundreds of dollars in fees while they're incarcerated -- for everything from toilet paper to the beds inmates sleep on.
The tab for the average offender could be as low as $250 or as high as $4,000. Both the ACLU and Brennan have been targeting big states with multiple jurisdictions they say are flouting U.S. Supreme Court rulings in 1970, 1971 and 1983. Those rulings essentially say courts cannot extend or impose a jail sentence for unpaid fines and fees if individuals do not have the ability to pay.
At the very least, according to the high court, the courts must inquire and assess whether a person is indigent and might benefit from an alternative method of payment, like community service, before sentencing.
"Even though a lot of jurisdictions do have statutes on the books that allow judges to waive fines and fees, it doesn't always happen," explained Lauren Brooke-Eisen, counsel for the Brennan Center's Justice Program.
Much of the time, probation or the conviction itself will hinder individuals from finding employment (Brennan estimates that some 60 percent are still unemployed a year after leaving jail). But another incarceration over debt could either ruin the job they managed to get or make it even harder to find one.
Many jurisdictions have taken to hiring private collection/probation companies to go after debtors, giving them the authority to revoke probation and incarcerate if they can't pay. Research into the practice has found that private companies impose their own additional surcharges. Some 15 private companies have emerged to run these services in the South, including the popular Judicial Correction Services (JCS).
In 2012, Circuit Judge Hub Harrington at Harpersville Municipal Court in Alabama shut down what he called the "debtors' prison" process there, echoing complaints that private companies are only in it for the money. He cited JCS in part for sending indigent people to jail. Calling it a "judicially sanctioned extortion racket," Harrington said many defendants were locked up on bogus failure-to-appear warrants, and slapped with more fines and fees as a result.
Repeated calls to JCS in Alabama and Georgia were not returned.
Defenders of the collection programs say the money is owed to the state and it's the government's right to go after it. "When, and only when, an individual is convicted of a crime, there are required fees and court costs," Pamela Dembe, president of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, which oversees Philadelphia, said in a statement to reporters in May. An earlier review by the courts found an estimated 400,000 residents owed the city money. "If the defendant doesn't pay, law-abiding taxpayers must pay these costs."
Meanwhile, there's evidence that groups like the ACLU are prompting reforms.
For example, the ACLU released "The Outskirts of Hope," on court practices in Ohio. The report told the story of one couple, John Bundren and Samantha Reed, who both had racked up court fines. Bundren's, which traced back to underage drinking and public intoxication convictions from his teenage years, totaled $3,000. They paid her fines before his, and Bundren ended up spending 41 days in jail because he couldn't pay his own.
The ACLU found that seven out of 11 counties they studied were operating de facto debtors' prisons, despite clear "constitutional and legislative prohibitions."Some were worse than others. In the second half of 2012 in Huron County, 20 percent of arrests were for failure to pay fines. The Sandusky Municipal Court in Erie County jailed 75 people in a little more than a month during the summer of 2012. The ACLU says it costs upwards of $400 in Ohio to execute a warrant and $65 a night to jail people.
As a result of the study, the Ohio State Supreme Court has begun educating judges and personnel on the statutes and constitutional restrictions of collecting fines and fees, Bret Crow, spokesman for the state court, told FoxNews.com. It is also developing a "bench card," intended as a reference guide for county judges.
More recently in Colorado, the state ACLU completed a report on "pay or serve" programs throughout the state. In the case of Wheatridge and Northglenn counties, the penalty was one day in the clink for every $50 owed; in Westminster, every offender got an automatic 10 days in jail.
The report also found that one jail racked up more than $70,000 in costs for incarcerating 154 people over a five-month period in 2012 -- and only managed to collect $40,000 in overdue fines and fees in that time.
Mark Silverstein, a staff attorney at the Colorado ACLU, claimed judges in these courts never assess the defendants' ability to pay before sentencing them to jail, which would be unconstitutional.
John Stipech, Municipal Court judge in Westminster, Colo., told FoxNews.com he agreed with the tenets of the ACLU investigation, but added that the practice of the automatic 10-day jail sentence was already scrapped by Westminster in December 2012. "It was because we had jail space problems and beds needed to be limited to actual criminals," he said.
He complained that local coverage of the ACLU report "makes it sound like we're putting everyone in jail." He said he asks everyone who comes before him if they have the ability to pay. He acknowledged, however, that his court is working with the ACLU and will be instituting formal "show cause" hearings to determine indigence.
"Maybe the ACLU did some good, they brought it to my attention. Maybe they just should have done it in a better way," Stipech said.
Brooke-Eisen said the reform movement is proceeding, albeit slowly in tough fiscal times.
"A lot of the jurisdictions are still using fines and fees and passing legislation to add more fees and fines," she said.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/28/local-courts-reviving-debtors-prison-for-overdue-fines-fees.html
Critics are calling the practice the new "debtors' prison" -- referring to the jails that flourished in the U.S. and Western Europe over 150 years ago. Before the time of bankruptcy laws and social safety nets, poor folks and ruined business owners were locked up until their debts were paid off.
Reforms eventually outlawed the practice. But groups like the Brennan Center for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union say it's been reborn in local courts which may not be aware it's against the law to send indigent people to jail over unpaid fines and fees -- or they just haven't been called on it until now.
Advocates are trying to convince courts that aside from the legal questions surrounding the practice, it is disproportionately jailing poor people and doesn't even boost government revenues -- in fact, governments lose money in the process.
"It's a waste of taxpayer resources, and it undermines the integrity of the justice system," Carl Takei, staff attorney for the ACLU's National Prison Project, told FoxNews.com.
"The problem is it's not actually much of a money-making proposition ... to throw people in jail for fines and fees when they can't afford it. If counties weren't spending the money jailing people for not paying debts, they could be spending the money in other ways."
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law released a "Tool Kit for Action" in 2012 that broke down the cost to municipalities to jail debtors in comparison with the amount of old debt it was collecting. It doesn't look like a bargain. For example, according to the report, Mecklenburg County, N.C., collected $33,476 in debts in 2009, but spent $40,000 jailing 246 debtors -- a loss of $6,524.
Fines are the court-imposed payments linked to a conviction -- whether it be for a minor traffic violation like driving without a license or a small drug offense, all the way up to felony. Fees are all those extras tacked on by the court to fund administrative services. These vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, with some courts imposing more than others.
As states and counties grapple with shrinking budgets and yearly shortfalls, new fees are often imposed to make up the difference, though they can be quite overwhelming to individuals passing through the system -- 80 percent of whom qualify as indigent (impoverished and unable to pay), according to the Brennan Center. Florida, for example, has added 20 new fees since 1996, according to the center. North Carolina imposes late fees on debt not paid and surcharges on payment plans.
More and more, courts are dragging people in for fines and fees that have ballooned due to interest imposed on the initial sums. Some owe money to the public defender's office for the representation they received during their time in court. Others incur hundreds of dollars in fees while they're incarcerated -- for everything from toilet paper to the beds inmates sleep on.
The tab for the average offender could be as low as $250 or as high as $4,000. Both the ACLU and Brennan have been targeting big states with multiple jurisdictions they say are flouting U.S. Supreme Court rulings in 1970, 1971 and 1983. Those rulings essentially say courts cannot extend or impose a jail sentence for unpaid fines and fees if individuals do not have the ability to pay.
At the very least, according to the high court, the courts must inquire and assess whether a person is indigent and might benefit from an alternative method of payment, like community service, before sentencing.
"Even though a lot of jurisdictions do have statutes on the books that allow judges to waive fines and fees, it doesn't always happen," explained Lauren Brooke-Eisen, counsel for the Brennan Center's Justice Program.
Much of the time, probation or the conviction itself will hinder individuals from finding employment (Brennan estimates that some 60 percent are still unemployed a year after leaving jail). But another incarceration over debt could either ruin the job they managed to get or make it even harder to find one.
Many jurisdictions have taken to hiring private collection/probation companies to go after debtors, giving them the authority to revoke probation and incarcerate if they can't pay. Research into the practice has found that private companies impose their own additional surcharges. Some 15 private companies have emerged to run these services in the South, including the popular Judicial Correction Services (JCS).
In 2012, Circuit Judge Hub Harrington at Harpersville Municipal Court in Alabama shut down what he called the "debtors' prison" process there, echoing complaints that private companies are only in it for the money. He cited JCS in part for sending indigent people to jail. Calling it a "judicially sanctioned extortion racket," Harrington said many defendants were locked up on bogus failure-to-appear warrants, and slapped with more fines and fees as a result.
Repeated calls to JCS in Alabama and Georgia were not returned.
Defenders of the collection programs say the money is owed to the state and it's the government's right to go after it. "When, and only when, an individual is convicted of a crime, there are required fees and court costs," Pamela Dembe, president of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, which oversees Philadelphia, said in a statement to reporters in May. An earlier review by the courts found an estimated 400,000 residents owed the city money. "If the defendant doesn't pay, law-abiding taxpayers must pay these costs."
Meanwhile, there's evidence that groups like the ACLU are prompting reforms.
For example, the ACLU released "The Outskirts of Hope," on court practices in Ohio. The report told the story of one couple, John Bundren and Samantha Reed, who both had racked up court fines. Bundren's, which traced back to underage drinking and public intoxication convictions from his teenage years, totaled $3,000. They paid her fines before his, and Bundren ended up spending 41 days in jail because he couldn't pay his own.
The ACLU found that seven out of 11 counties they studied were operating de facto debtors' prisons, despite clear "constitutional and legislative prohibitions."Some were worse than others. In the second half of 2012 in Huron County, 20 percent of arrests were for failure to pay fines. The Sandusky Municipal Court in Erie County jailed 75 people in a little more than a month during the summer of 2012. The ACLU says it costs upwards of $400 in Ohio to execute a warrant and $65 a night to jail people.
As a result of the study, the Ohio State Supreme Court has begun educating judges and personnel on the statutes and constitutional restrictions of collecting fines and fees, Bret Crow, spokesman for the state court, told FoxNews.com. It is also developing a "bench card," intended as a reference guide for county judges.
More recently in Colorado, the state ACLU completed a report on "pay or serve" programs throughout the state. In the case of Wheatridge and Northglenn counties, the penalty was one day in the clink for every $50 owed; in Westminster, every offender got an automatic 10 days in jail.
The report also found that one jail racked up more than $70,000 in costs for incarcerating 154 people over a five-month period in 2012 -- and only managed to collect $40,000 in overdue fines and fees in that time.
Mark Silverstein, a staff attorney at the Colorado ACLU, claimed judges in these courts never assess the defendants' ability to pay before sentencing them to jail, which would be unconstitutional.
John Stipech, Municipal Court judge in Westminster, Colo., told FoxNews.com he agreed with the tenets of the ACLU investigation, but added that the practice of the automatic 10-day jail sentence was already scrapped by Westminster in December 2012. "It was because we had jail space problems and beds needed to be limited to actual criminals," he said.
He complained that local coverage of the ACLU report "makes it sound like we're putting everyone in jail." He said he asks everyone who comes before him if they have the ability to pay. He acknowledged, however, that his court is working with the ACLU and will be instituting formal "show cause" hearings to determine indigence.
"Maybe the ACLU did some good, they brought it to my attention. Maybe they just should have done it in a better way," Stipech said.
Brooke-Eisen said the reform movement is proceeding, albeit slowly in tough fiscal times.
"A lot of the jurisdictions are still using fines and fees and passing legislation to add more fees and fines," she said.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/28/local-courts-reviving-debtors-prison-for-overdue-fines-fees.html
Cigna-HealthSpring and The University of Pennsylvania Health System Expand Network Agreement for 2016
PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cigna-HealthSpring, a Cigna (NYSE:CI) company serving Medicare and Medicaid customers, and The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) are expanding their network relationship that will also include Chester County Hospital.
The expansion means customers who choose a Cigna-HealthSpring plan for 2016 during fall open enrollment period can do so knowing that services from UPHS physicians will be covered at the in-network benefit level when their plan takes effect in January. The University of Pennsylvania Health System, a world-class hospital system, serves the Greater Philadelphia area.
Cigna-HealthSpring collaborates with primary care physicians to help customers receive the services and care they need to achieve their health goals, with health care professionals and specialists they trust, said Dr. Laura Reich, Cigna-HealthSpring market manager for Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic region. Our collaborative programs have helped close gaps in care such as missed health screenings or prescription refills and improved follow-up care for customers transitioning from the hospital to home.
By expanding our relationship, together we are able to increase health care access for residents of the tri-state area, close gaps in care and proactively address health issues before they become more serious and more costly, said Ralph Muller, Chief Executive Officer, The University of Pennsylvania Health System. Our shared goals put the patient at the center and empower our physicians to improve health outcomes and provide a personalized customer experience.
Cigna-HealthSpring customers with questions about their plan can call customer service at the number on their Cigna-HealthSpring ID card from 8a.m. 8p.m., seven days a week.
About The University of Pennsylvania Health System
Penn Medicineis one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of theRaymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and theUniversity of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $5.3 billion enterprise.
The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 17 years, according toU.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $409 million awarded in the 2014 fiscal year.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals byU.S. News & World Report-- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.
Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2014, Penn Medicine provided $771 million to benefit our community.
About Cigna-HealthSpring
Cigna-HealthSpring, a Cigna company (NYSE:CI), is one of the country's leading health plans focused on delivering care to the senior population, predominately through Medicare Advantage and other Medicare and Medicaid products. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Cigna-HealthSpring offers a national stand-alone prescription drug plan and operates health plans in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.cignahealthspring.com.
All Cigna products and services are provided exclusively by or through operating subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation. The Cigna name, logos, and other Cigna marks are owned by Cigna Intellectual Property, Inc. This information is available for free in other languages. Pleasecallour customer service number at 1-800-668-3813 (TTY 711), 8a.m. 8p.m., 7 days a week. Esta informacin est disponible de forma gratuita en otros idiomas. Por favor, llame a nuestro servicio al cliente al 1-800-668-3813 (TTY 711), 8a.m. 8p.m., 7 das de la semana. This information is not a complete description of benefits. Contact the plan for more information. Limitations, copayments, and restrictions may apply. Benefits, formulary, pharmacy network, provider network, premium and/or copayments/coinsurance may change on January 1 of each year. Cigna-HealthSpring is contracted with Medicare for PDP plans, HMO and PPO plans in select states, and with select State Medicaid programs. Enrollment in Cigna-HealthSpring depends on contract renewal.
H3949_16_38494
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151102005230/en/Cigna-HealthSpring-University-Pennsylvania-Health-System-Expand-Network
Dr. Dan Edmunds Ed.D., D.D., B.C.S.A.,DAPA The voice of compassion in the mental health system / Relational Approaches to Autism, Trauma, Extreme States of Mind Kingston and Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania batushkad@yahoo.com NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA (SCRANTON/WI
Dr. Dan EdmundsEd.D., D.D., B.C.S.A.,DAPA The voice of compassion in the mental health system / Relational Approaches to Autism, Trauma, Extreme States of Mind Kingston and Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania batushkad@yahoo.com NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA (SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE)
http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/dan_edmunds.html
http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/dan_edmunds.html
