Rates

Re "Obama's entitlement gambit," Opinion, April 10 The current calculation used to determine adjustments to Social Security benefits is based on the cost of living for an urban worker, not a senior. Therefore, it doesn't account for the greater percentage of income the average senior spends on healthcare. Because the cost of healthcare rises faster than other necessities, even the current formula does not adequately protect seniors from inflation. Switching to the "chained CPI" to determine payouts, as President Obama proposed to do in his 2014 budget, would only make a bad situation worse.

The profane book for adults written in the form of a children's book, "Go the F--  to Sleep," may soon be coming to a multiplex near you. The husband-and-wife writing team, actors Ken Marino and Erica Oyama, have signed on to adapt the book for the screen. Marino was one of the stars of the cult hit "Party Down. " More recently, he's directed and starred in the spoof of "The Bachelor"-style shows, "Burning Love," a Yahoo Internet series coming to the cable channel E. Oyama is the series' writer and creator.

NBC may have been "Ready for Love," but viewers sure weren't. The new dating show executive produced and hosted by Eva Longoria was supposed to be NBC's next great hope. Instead, Tuesday's premiere bombed big time -- and that was with the singing smash "The Voice" as a lead-in. An average of just 3.7 million total viewers tuned in, according to Nielsen. To put those numbers in perspective: "Ready for Love" held on to a measly 28% of "The Voice's" audience. That means nearly three-quarters of viewers fled when they realized what was on. Maybe many of them were fans of ABC's "The Bachelor.

The nation's airlines improved their on-time performance and baggage handling rates in 2012 but passenger complaints rose anyway, a reflection of increased unhappiness with air carriers, according to authors of a new study. Despite better performance by airlines in key areas, the rate of complaints against carriers jumped 20% in 2012 compared with the previous year. Most of the gripes focused on flight problems, reservations, ticketing, boarding and consumer service, according to a report issued Monday by professors at Wichita State and Purdue universities.

State officials Tuesday reported slight improvements in dropout and graduation rates and continued gains made by Latino and African American students. Overall, the state dropout rate declined by 1.5 percentage points to 13.2% for the class of 2012, when compared to the class of 2011. For Latinos, the improvement was 2.1 percentage points; for African Americans, it was 3.1%. The state graduation rate was 78.5%, up 1.4 percentage points from 2011, with larger gains among Latinos and African Americans.

It seems there are some people out there who can resist Don Draper -- hundreds of thousands of them, in fact. The Season 6 premiere of "Mad Men" drew 3.4 million viewers, with half of them falling into the 25-54 demographic. That's not a bad number for the Emmy-winning AMC drama, whose ratings have never quite matched its critical accolades or overall buzz factor, but it is a slight downturn from the 3.5 million viewers who tuned into the Season 5 premiere last year. On the bright side, the numbers in the 25-54 demographic are identical to where they were last season.

Drawing conclusions on the music of Tyler the Creator based on his shocking way with language is like trying to explain the plot of a comic book by noting how much red ink is used. It's not only unfair, but inaccurately draws the Los Angeles-based rapper and founder of the Odd Future crew as one-dimensional, which he most certainly is not. On "Wolf," Tyler's third solo album, the producer, rapper, comedic actor and storyteller revels in his many dimensions, and has released his best album to date - even if it's too long and too sonically flat to confirm his place as a top-rate producer.

Pluses When the Washington Capitals took the lead in the Southeast Division on Thursday and became the No. 3-ranked team in the East, it was the first time they held a playoff position this season. The Carolina Hurricanes and Winnipeg Jets have faded and the Capitals have taken advantage by winning seven of their last 10 games. Pittsburgh Penguins forward Tanner Glass was generous to give up his number, 10, to new teammate Brenden Morrow. Glass, who switched to 15, followed that with an even classier move: He said via Twitter any fans who had his jersey with his old number on the back could get it changed to 15 at the team store, "and I'll pay for the switch.

Roll over, Hank Williams, and tell Patsy Cline the news: Nashville has a new top music award show. Sunday's 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards show on CBS drew 15.4 million total viewers, according to early data from Nielsen (final ratings won't be published until Tuesday). It was the first time since at least 1987 that the ACMs beat the same season's airing of its rival, the Country Music Assn. awards telecast on ABC. Last November, the CMAs crooned for 13.7 million total viewers.

Inmates at the Glendale city jail didn't just pay their debt to society 2012. They also paid about $96,000 to stay at the facility. For $85 a day, prisoners sleep in separate quarters from other inmates, have access to phones, showers and day-room areas. But they still must perform laundry and janitorial tasks inside the jail. They get two cold meals and one hot meal a day. The pay-to-stay program generated $96,475 in 2012, up from $67,995 in 2011, according to Glendale Police Department reports.