WASHINGTON, May 23 (UPI) -- My earlier column on mandatory employee insurance for defense contractors under the Defense Base Act stirred up a bit of a hornets' nest. As this is a complex issue, I think it is worth revisiting, especially in light of a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the issue last week chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Swim with the crocs could be costly … Trash-eating moose on the rise in Alaska … Snakes freed by car crash recaptured … Engineers win $1000 for 156-step burger … The world as we know it from UPI.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., April 6 (UPI) -- A team of engineers from Indiana's Purdue University have been awarded $1,000 for their creation of an elaborate 156-step hamburger-making machine.

UPI almanac for Wednesday, July 4, 2007.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., April 4 (UPI) -- Ferris State University won the 19th annual U.S. Rube Goldberg Machine Contest that honors imagination, creativity and inefficiency.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The defending champions of Indiana's Rube Goldberg Regional Machine Contest kept their crown Saturday by designing the best orange juice-producing machine.

This is Tuesday, July 4, the 185th day of 2006 with 180 to follow.

The weekly UPI Almanac package for July 3-9, 2006.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., April 1 (UPI) -- The Purdue University Society of Professional Engineers took first place Saturday at the National Purdue Rube Goldberg Machine Contest in West Lafayette, Ind.