Toilets to Treasure

Decorative tile maker Paul Burns takes discarded porcelain toilets and uses them to make tile. He's the owner of FireClay Tile in Northern California and a self-described scavenger.

He created a new tile line called "Debris Series." And then he added other post-consumer waste products like recycled glass. He also found he could use the sludge from sandblasting water pipes, called spent abrasives, and yes more recently crushed toilets. All of this went into his new clay brew.

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Facts > Stats

HEALTH CARE

1 million prescription drug rebate checks mailed to seniors:

As of August 2010, 1 million rebate checks for $250 had been mailed to American seniors who had reached the benefit gap in Medicare's prescription drug coverage, often called the "donut hole"

2,000 businesses get help in providing retirees coverage: More than 2,000 employers and unions have been accepted into a new program that provides businesses financial assistance for providing health insurance to retirees above age 55 but not yet eligible for Medicare

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Facts > Myth Busters > Health Care

MYTH:
Health reform will lead to massive tax increases and kill jobs

FACT:
Not true. The Affordable Care Act includes tax credits to help make health care affordable for working families. Small businesses can begin claiming tax credits to help provide insurance to their employees this year. All told, the Affordable Care Act includes the largest middle-class tax cut for health care in American history. Additionally, independent experts predict that the new law will create jobs - estimated at more than 250,000 per year 

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