The ever-vigilant list-makers at Forbes keep track of just about everything, and lately, they’ve been casting an eye toward that checkout line. Using data compiled by Catalina Marketing of St. Petersburg, Fla., they were able to identify the home bases of America’s unhealthiest grocery shoppers.

How did they do it? Catalina calculated the total amount spent on more than 100,000 individual product codes deemed generally unhealthy at 17,000 grocery stores. Those figures were then corrected for total expenditures.

Here are the 10 areas that fared worst, in reverse order, with percentage of total purchase devoted to unhealthy items:

10. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisc.: 10.19

9. Memphis, Tenn.-Ark.-Miss.: 10.27

8. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, Tenn.: 10.32

7. New Orleans, La.: 10.32

6. Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky.-La.: 10.65

5. Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C.: 10.9

4. Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wisc.: 10.95

3. Indianapolis-Carmel, Ind.: 11.33

2. Richmond, Va.: 11.45

1. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wisc.: 11.47

To get a better idea of why these folks aren’t eating as well as they might, visit Forbes.

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MarketWatch is just out with its annual list of the Top 10 Business Cities for 2008. These are towns that appear best equipped to ride out the recession with the fewest bankruptcies, foreclosures, layoffs, etc.

For the second straight year, a Midwestern metropolitan area occupies the top spot.

Here’s the list:

1. Minneapolis-St. Paul
2. Boston
3. Denver
4. Washington
5. Richmond, Va.
6. Charlotte, N.C.
7. Columbus, Ohio
8. Nashville, Tenn.
9. Dallas
10. San Francisco

To find out how these cities made the list, and to see a slideshow, visit MarketWatch.

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Thomson Reuters released its annual study identifying hospitals that demonstrated the fastest, most consistent improvement in the nation over five consecutive years. Nine of the 100 leading hospitals are in Texas. Florida and New York are each home to eight, and Pennsylvania boasts seven. Kentucky and Tennessee each have six winning hospitals, and California and Michigan have five apiece.

The study rated hospitals on eight factors — patient mortality, medical complications, patient safety, length of stay, expenses, profitability, cash-to-debt ratio, and use of evidence-based medicine. Researchers evaluated 2,867 short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals grouped into five categories: major teaching hospitals, other teaching hospitals, large community hospitals, medium-sized community hospitals, and small community hospitals.

Here are the winning hospitals, by category:

Major Teaching Hospitals

• University Medical Center – Tucson, AZ
• Christiana Care Health System – Wilmington, DE
• Shands at the University of Florida – Gainesville, FL
• University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics – Iowa City, IA
• Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center – Boston, MA
• Baystate Medical Center – Springfield, MA
• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center – Boston, MA
• Henry Ford Hospital – Detroit, MI
• The Mount Sinai Medical Center – New York, NY
• New York Hospital Queens – Flushing, NY
• Westchester Medical Center – Valhalla, NY
• Duke University Hospital – Durham, NC
• Allegheny General Hospital – Pittsburgh, PA
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center – Nashville, TN
• Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center – Houston, TX

Teaching Hospitals

• St. Bernards Medical Center – Jonesboro, AR
• St. Anthony Central Hospital – Denver, CO
• Florida Hospital – Orlando, FL
• Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare – Tallahassee, FL
• OSF Saint Francis Medical Center – Peoria, IL
• Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center-South Bend – South Bend, IN
• Via Christi Regional Medical Center – Wichita, KS
• Bronson Methodist Hospital – Kalamazoo, MI
• St. Joseph Mercy Oakland – Pontiac, MI
• McLaren Regional Medical Center – Flint, MI
• St. Cloud Hospital – St. Cloud, MN
• Valley Hospital Medical Center – Las Vegas, NV
• Saint Barnabas Medical Center – Livingston, NJ
• Altru Hospital – Grand Forks, ND
• Providence St. Vincent Medical Center – Portland, OR
• Saint Vincent Health Center – Erie, PA
• Heritage Valley Beaver – Beaver, PA
• PinnacleHealth – Harrisburg, PA
• Robert Packer Hospital – Sayre, PA
• Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis – Memphis, TN
• CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi – Corpus Christi, TX
• Methodist Dallas Medical Center – Dallas, TX
• Medical Center Hospital – Odessa, TX
• Corpus Christi Medical Center – Corpus Christi, TX
• Meriter Hospital – Madison, WI

Large Community Hospitals

• Jackson Hospital – Montgomery, AL
• Alta Bates Summit Medical Center – Oakland, CA
• St. Bernardine Medical Center – San Bernardino, CA
• Saddleback Memorial Medical Center – Laguna Hills, CA
• NCH Downtown Naples Hospital – Naples, FL
• Flagler Hospital – St. Augustine, FL
• Boca Raton Community Hospital – Boca Raton, FL
• Rockford Memorial Hospital – Rockford, IL
• Hardin Memorial Hospital – Elizabethtown, KY
• Western Baptist Hospital – Paducah, KY
• Shady Grove Adventist Hospital – Rockville, MD
• Allegiance Health – Jackson, MI
• Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare – New Hartford, NY
• Orange Regional Medical Center – Goshen, NY
• Rex Healthcare – Raleigh, NC
• Genesis HealthCare System – Zanesville, OH
• Saint Thomas Hospital – Nashville, TN
• Citizens Medical Center – Victoria, TX
• CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System – Texarkana, TX
• Providence Everett Medical Center – Everett, WA

Medium Community Hospitals

• Brooksville Regional Hospital – Brooksville, FL
• Oconee Regional Medical Center – Milledgeville, GA
• Adventist GlenOaks Hospital – Glendale Heights, IL
• Mary Greeley Medical Center – Ames, IA
• Murray-Calloway County Hospital – Murray, KY
• Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center – Danville, KY
• Saint Joseph East – Lexington, KY
• Grenada Lake Medical Center – Grenada, MS
• Bolivar Medical Center – Cleveland, MS
• San Juan Regional Medical Center – Farmington, NM
• Olean General Hospital – Olean, NY
• St. James Mercy Hospital – Hornell, NY
• Rutherford Hospital, Inc. – Rutherfordton, NC
• Medcenter One Hospital – Bismarck, ND
• Pocono Medical Center – East Stroudsburg, PA
• Cookeville Regional Medical Center – Cookeville, TN
• Paris Regional Medical Center – Paris, TX
• Carilion New River Valley Medical Center – Christiansburg, VA
• Aurora West Allis Medical Center – West Allis, WI
• Aurora BayCare Medical Center – Green Bay, WI

Small Community Hospitals

• St. Elizabeth Community Hospital – Red Bluff, CA
• Doctors Hospital of Manteca – Manteca, CA
• Jackson County Hospital District – Marianna, FL
• The King’s Daughters’ Hospital & Health Services – Madison, IN
• St. Joseph Regional Medical Center-Plymouth – Plymouth, IN
• Newton Medical Center – Newton, KS
• Mercy Regional Health Center – Manhattan, KS
• Baptist Hospital Northeast – LaGrange, KY
• Falmouth Hospital – Falmouth, MA
• Trace Regional Hospital – Houston, MS
• Hannibal Regional Hospital – Hannibal, MO
• Northern Montana Hospital – Havre, MT
• Corning Hospital – Corning, NY
• INTEGRIS Baptist Regional Health Center – Miami, OK
• Gettysburg Hospital – Gettysburg, PA
• St. Mary’s Healthcare Center – Pierre, SD
• St. Mary’s Medical Center of Campbell County – LaFollette, TN
• Baptist Hospital of Cocke County – Newport, TN
• Ennis Regional Medical Center – Ennis, TX
• Aurora Medical Center – Two Rivers, WI

For more information, go to Thomson Reuters.

Source: Thomson Reuters

The study provides several different views of travel taxes to help readers make informed choices. The top 50 markets are ranked by overall travel tax burden, including general sales tax and discriminatory travel taxes, and by discriminatory travel tax burden, excluding general sales taxes to count only taxes that target car rentals, hotel stays and meals. (Discriminatory travel taxes are those imposed specifically on travel services above and beyond general sales taxes.)

Separate data are offered for central city and airport locations, as the tax regimes are often distinct. In addition to combined data on car rental, hotel and meal taxes, separate data are provided for each of the three spend categories.

U.S. cities where travelers incur the lowest total tax burden in central city locations
(factoring in general sales taxes and discriminatory travel taxes for lodging, car rentals, and meals):
1. Honolulu, HI $21.45/day
2. Portland, OR $22.83/day
3. Fort Lauderdale, FL $23.35/day
3. Fort Myers, FL $23.35/day
5. West Palm Beach, FL $24.67/day

The cities that impose the highest total taxes on travelers are:
1. Chicago, IL $42.44/day
2. Nashville, TN $39.55/day
3. Charlotte, NC $38.80/day
4. Seattle, WA $38.70/day
5. Houston, TX $37.62/day

The U.S. cities with the lowest discriminatory travel tax rates for lodging, car rentals, and meals in central city locations are:
1. Oakland, CA $7.58/day
2. West Palm Beach, FL $7.62/day
2. Fort Lauderdale, FL $7.62/day
2. Fort Myers, FL $7.62/day
5. Orange County, CA $8.10/day

The cities that impose the highest discriminatory travel taxes on travelers for lodging, car rentals, and meals are:
1. Portland, OR $22.83/day
2. Seattle, WA $21.64/day
3. Atlanta, GA $19.82/day
4. Charlotte, NC $19.78/day
5. Chicago, IL $18.83/day

For the full report, visit the NBTA site.

Source: Business Wire

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