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Josi: Congress must fix Medicare doc payment system

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:46 GMT

After years of continued payment cuts to doctors, the future of healthcare as we know it increasingly hangs in the balance. Congress has reached a pivotal moment in this regard — where it can relieve pressure on the broken Medicare payment system by addressing the massive disparity between what Medicare reimburses physicians and what it actually costs those physicians to provide care.Without such action, the repercussions for patients, providers and the future of healthcare delivery in America will turn ugly — and quickly. Failure to put the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule on a more sustainable path could destabilize the Medicare program and eventually lead to a groundswell of support for the dreaded Medicare for All, which would, of course, undermine the integrity and efficacy of the entire system. Policymakers must sort out the current mess before it comes to that.The MPFS lacks annual inflationary updates, unlike the payment systems for all other Medicare provider types. While in...

Dear Abby: MIL’s smoking has young mom fuming

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:46 GMT

Dear Abby: My mother-in-law is a heavy smoker. She lives two hours away from us, so when she visits, she likes to stay for one or two nights. My husband and I have a 3-year-old son, and my MIL’s smoking is a huge concern for me.Every two hours, she smokes outside on our back patio. She seems to think this is her right. She closes the sliding glass door behind her, but I can still smell the smoke inside the entire time. And, of course, when she comes back inside, the smell permeates even more.After her last visit, our home smelled like an ashtray. My eyes burned, and my son was also rubbing his eyes. By the second day, I’m seething each time she ventures out to smoke. I have asked her in the past to go down the street away from our home, but there’s always an excuse why she can’t. (For example, she doesn’t want to risk walking down the incline of the sidewalk for fear of falling.)I don’t think it should be her right to expose my child (or us) to he...

7-vehicle crash prompts I-15 traffic delays

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:46 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A seven-vehicle crash on Interstate 15 in the Carmel Mountain Ranch area prompted traffic delays Monday, authorities said.The collision occurred at 7:46 p.m. on I-15 southbound near the Exit 21 off-ramp, according to California Highway Patrol.One person was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, per law enforcement. Major I-5 closure set for northbound lanes this weekend As of 9:01 p.m., all lanes reopened after several lanes were closed for several hours, traffic officials said.The cause of the crash is under investigation.Check back for updates on this developing story.

South Korean opposition leader attends court hearing on arrest warrant for alleged corruption

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:46 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Coming off a 24-day hunger strike, South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung appeared in front of a judge on Tuesday who will decide whether he will be arrested on broad corruption allegations.Walking slowly with a cane, Lee, a former presidential candidate, refused to answer questions from reporters as he arrived at Seoul Central District Court for a hearing on prosecutors’ request for an arrest warrant. Despite a light rain, hundreds of Lee’s supporters and critics occupied separate streets near the court amidst a heavy police presence, holding dueling signs reading “Stop the prosecution’s manipulated investigation” and “Arrest Lee Jae-myung.”In an unexpected outcome last week, the opposition-controlled National Assembly voted to lift Lee’s immunity to arrest, reflecting growing divisions within his liberal Democratic Party over his legal problems months ahead of a general election.The court is expected to decide by late Tuesday or early Wednesda...

Colombian club president shot dead after match

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:46 GMT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian second division club Tigres FC has announced its president, Edgar Paez, was fatally shot after his team’s loss on Saturday night.According to local media reports, the 63-year-old Paez was driving home with his daughter after a home loss to Atletico FC when he was shot by two men on a motorbike close to Tigres’ Metropolitano de Techo stadium in Bogota. His daughter was uninjured in the attack and prosecutors have an investigation into the murder underway.“The Tigres family and the sporting community are devastated by this event,” the club said in a statement that was posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “His commitment to the team and his dedication to the development of the sport in our region left an indelible mark on all who had the privilege of knowing him.”The Colombian Football Federation also extended its condolences to Paez’s family and team in a statement.“The Colombian Football Federation and its Executive Committee mourn the...

Powerball jackpot climbs to $835 million after no one overcomes awful odds to win top prize

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:46 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball jackpot climbed to an estimated $835 million after no one beat the immense odds Monday night and won the top prize.The winning numbers were: 10, 12, 22, 36, 50 and 4.With the latest bit of lottery losing, there now have been 29 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner, dating back to July 19 when a player in California won $1.08 billion.That winless streak is due to the miserable odds of winning the Powerball jackpot, at 1 in 292.2 million. It’s those long, long odds that result in such large top prizes, as they cause the jackpot to roll over week after week.Three people in Florida and one person in Oregon matched five numbers to win $1 million.The new jackpot is one of the largest in the world, behind grand prizes in the Powerball and Mega Millions games that all topped $1 billion. The biggest jackpot was a $2.04 billion Powerball prize won in November 2022 in California.Although the game highlights the $835 million prize, that is for a wi...

Writers strike is not over yet with key votes remaining on deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:46 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The deal is made, the pickets have been suspended, and Hollywood’s writers are on the verge of getting back to work after months on strike. Actors, meanwhile, wait in the wings for their own resolution.Crucial steps remain for the writers, who technically remain on strike, and for other workers awaiting a return to production of new shows. The next phase comes Tuesday, when the governing boards of the two branches of the Writers Guild of America are expected to vote on the tentative agreement reached by union negotiators with Hollywood studios.Following the approval from the boards — which is likely — comes a vote from the writers themselves, whose timing is uncertain. The guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, streaming services and production companies in the negotiations, were still finalizing language Monday on their agreement.That could prompt a delay of Tuesday’s voting and has kept union lead...

America’s poor math skills raise alarms over global competitiveness

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:46 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Like a lot of high school students, Kevin Tran loves superheroes, though perhaps for different reasons than his classmates.“They’re all insanely smart. In their regular jobs they’re engineers, they’re scientists,” said Tran, 17. “And you can’t do any of those things without math.” Tran also loves math. This summer, he studied calculus five hours a day with other high schoolers in a program at Northeastern University. But Tran and his friends are not the norm. Many Americans joke about how bad they are at math, and already abysmal scores on standardized math tests are falling even further. The nation needs people who are good at math, employers say, in the same way motion picture mortals need superheroes. They say America’s poor math performance isn’t funny. It’s a threat to the nation’s global economic competitiveness and national security.___The Education Reporting Collaborative, a coalition of eight newsrooms, is documenting the math crisis facing schools and highlig...

PBS boasts slate of new shows unaffected by strikes, which it hopes will draw viewers in

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:46 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — PBS was looking forward to a relatively free lane to offer fresh television to viewers downtrodden by the Hollywood strikes this fall, but that advantage may only last a couple of months now.A tentative deal reached late Sunday in the crippling TV writers strike, with hopes that actors would soon follow suit, has given rise to hopes that new episodes of favorite scripted shows might return sometime this winter.With commercial networks largely bereft of fresh material beyond reality shows, sports and game shows, PBS has a fall schedule of new programming, including a heavy dose of nonfiction, led by Ken Burns’ look at “The American Buffalo.”“I have to believe that people are looking for new stuff,” said Paula Kerger, CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service.PBS’ plans were virtually unaffected by the strike. One exception is a delay making “American Historia,” a three-part documentary series helmed by actor John Leguizamo about Latino figures in history, Ker...

Leaf-peeping influencers are clogging a Vermont backroad. The town is closing it

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:46 GMT

POMFRET, Vt. (AP) — Social media influencers take note: You won’t be able to snap that fall foliage selfie at a popular Vermont spot. The town has temporarily closed the road to nonresidents due to overcrowding and “poorly behaved tourists.” The normally quiet dirt road from Pomfret to Woodstock, home to the frequently photographed Sleepy Hollow Farm, will be open only to residents through mid-October. And local law enforcement plans to enforce it. In recent years, social media users and photographers have clogged the narrow road for selfies and fall foliage shots of the scenic private property, drawn by its colorful hillside trees, the barn and classic New England home.Locals say they understand the lure of the beautiful leaves and landscape, but say some visitors have gone too far: blocking traffic with their parked vehicles, obstructing access for residents and emergency vehicles, as well as picnicking and even relieving themselves on private land surrounding th...