Flex spending accounts could be eliminated

Flex spending accounts could be eliminated

WASHINGTON — Those tax-free spending accounts that you and your co-workers use to help pay for dental work, insurance copayments or over-the-counter drugs face a hit under the health overhaul bills in Congress — unless a coalition that includes a powerful union, insurers and others can stop it.

Bills in the House and Senate would cap at $2,500 an employee’s allowable annual contribution to a health-care flexible spending account.

Workers can use the accounts to save pretax income, which then can be used to reimburse a range of medical expenses, including dental and vision costs, prescription and over-the-counter medications and copays and deductibles — again without being taxed.

Officer killed, trainee hurt

SEATTLE — Few clues have emerged from a drive-by shooting that left an eight-year veteran Seattle police officer dead and a trainee injured on Halloween night.

Investigators on Sunday fielded tips, interviewed potential witnesses and scoured through video tapes for evidence that would lead them to the assailant or assailants. They have not yet identified a suspect or the suspect’s vehicle, nor have they determined what kind of weapon was used.

Killed was field training officer Timothy Brenton, 39. Rookie officer Britt Sweeney, 33, suffered a minor injury. The two were discussing a routine traffic stop while parked in downtown Seattle when their cruiser was suddenly struck several times by gunfire shortly after 10 p.m., officials said.

Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said Brenton died instantly. Sweeney ducked, and a bullet grazed her back. She then called for help and returned fire, Pugel said.

Sea search under way

SYDNEY — An urgent search-and-rescue mission was under way today for about two dozen people missing after their boat sank in open seas far off Australia.

Merchant vessels that responded to a distress call managed to pluck 17 survivors from the Indian Ocean late Sunday and were searching for others, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor said.

About 40 people were believed to be aboard the boat when it went down near the Cocos Islands, sparsely populated atolls about 1,500 miles northwest of the Australian coast and about 800 miles south of Indonesia.

O’Connor said it was too early to say whether those on board were asylum-seekers trying to reach Australia.

Bay Bridge remains closed

SAN FRANCISCO — Another briefing and still no word on when the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will be open to traffic again.

California Department of Transportation spokesman Bart Ney said during a briefing Sunday evening that crews still have to conduct more enhancement work, stress tests and inspections. He says his agency is “not making a prediction on when the bridge will reopen” to traffic.

The bridge has been closed since Tuesday night after two rods and a crossbar installed over Labor Day weekend to repair a crack failed, sending 5,000 pounds of metal into rush-hour traffic.

Now, that’s some meatball

CONCORD, N.H. — The bouncing mega-meatball record has landed in the East Coast.

Matthew Mitnitsky, owner of Nonni’s Italian Eatery in Concord, said Sunday that a 222.5-pound meatball was authenticated as the world’s largest after being weighed by state weights and measures officials.

A Guinness Book of World Records official confirmed the big meatball as a record breaker and presented Mitnitsky with a plaque.

The old record of 198.6 pounds was set just over a month ago after Los Angeles-based talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel vowed to beat a record set in Mexico. That record — 109 pounds — was set in August.

Combined dispatches