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About all those drug price TV commercials — Congress has noticed, too

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:32:54 GMT

By Arthur Allen | KFF Health NewsIn recent months ominous ads about prescription drugs have flooded the TV airwaves. Perhaps by design, it’s not always clear who’s sponsoring the ads or why.Or, for that matter, why now?The short answer is that Congress is paying attention. House and Senate members from both parties have launched at least nine bills, parts of which may be packaged together this fall, that take aim at pharmacy benefit managers, companies that channel prescription drugs to patients. Here’s a primer to help you decipher what’s happening.What are pharmacy benefit managers? Known as PBMs, these companies were created in the 1960s to help employers and insurers select and purchase medications for their health plans.The industry mushroomed as prescription drug spending grew about 200-fold between 1967 and 2021. In addition to negotiating discounts with manufacturers, the PBMs set payment terms for the pharmacies that buy and dispense the drugs to patients. In effect, they a...

Opinion: No one can claim that their way is the only American way of life

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:32:54 GMT

“Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!” so declared Sen. Daniel Webster in ending his famous 1830 reply in the U.S. Senate to South Carolina Senator Robert Hayne’s angry defense of slavery and of a state’s right to nullify federal law.Leading up to the Civil War in 1861, Southerners loved an America that they believed included a God-given right to enslave others. To question their way of life was to question everything about them. They hated it.Not happy with the outcome of the 1860 presidential election of Abraham Lincoln as president, the South rejected the Constitution, rebelled and seceded from the Union to protect their way of life. Lincoln and the North saw secession as dooming our democratic republic and its revolutionary ideals if states unhappy with an election outcome could simply leave the Union.The South’s beliefs were pernicious. The new vice-president of the Confederacy promptly announced: “Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea...

How one Republican senator’s hold on the Marine leader’s confirmation impacts California’s Camp Pendleton

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:32:54 GMT

A recent move by a Republican senator to hold up the confirmation of the Marines’ top leader not only impacts that office but a whole host of other officers and their families who, during the summer months, report to new commands at bases across the nation and overseas.At Camp Pendleton, for example, the top general to lead the Corps’ largest and most significant warfighting command, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, is unable to take over his command of at least 48,000 Marines and their units.At present, the command — critical to the nation’s defense and presently focused on strategy and deterrence of aggression in the Indo-Pacific — is led by Lt. Gen. George Smith, who is set to retire in August. Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm will replace him, but he cannot move himself or his family to Southern California because he also has not been confirmed by the U.S. Senate.In addition to Cederholm, the holdup in the U.S. Senate means other general officers and their families, are unable to m...

Former California police chief found guilty for role in Jan. 6 insurrection

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:32:54 GMT

Alan Hostetter, a former La Habra police chief-turned yoga instructor and activist who joined the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol while carrying a hatchet in his backpack, was convicted on Thursday, July 13 of taking part in the plot to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.A federal judge in Washington D.C. rejected Hostetter’s conspiracy-focused claims that he was set up and entrapped by corrupt federal law enforcement due to his anti-COVID-19 and pro-Trump activism, instead ruling that the former local law enforcement leader was guilty of four counts, including conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding and entering a restricted area with a deadly or dangerous weapon.Regardless of Hostetter’s beliefs — which include his repeated contention that Trump actually won the 2020 election and that the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 was a “federal setup” — U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth told Hostetter that “belief that your actions are ultima...

Boxing champ Devin Haney arrested in Los Angeles on felony weapons charge

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:32:54 GMT

LOS ANGELES — Undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney was arrested on a felony weapons charge Thursday in Los Angeles, according to police.Haney, 24, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle and released on $35,000 bond. An Aug. 3 municipal court date was set, online court records showed.Haney was in the back seat when police conducted a traffic stop, Bill Haney, the boxer’s father, trainer and manager, told ESPN.The elder Haney said the charge is “a misunderstanding that will be solved when Devin goes to court. It’s unfortunate that he was arrested with his armed licensed security, and I’m confident things are going to be worked out.”Haney retained his titles and improved to 30-0 in May with a unanimous decision over Vasiliy Lomachenko at 135 pounds in Las Vegas.Related ArticlesOther Sports | Frosty fun: 6 cool ways to beat the heat in the Bay Area this summer Other Sports | Bay Area water sports: 7 ways to get out on the water, even ...

JPMorgan Chase 2Q profits rose 67% with a boost from First Republic takeover

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:32:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. said second-quarter profits rose by 67% as the nation’s largest bank made more loans to customers and took advantage of higher interest rates and its recent acquisition of First Republic. JPMorgan said Friday that it earned $14.5 billion in the three months ended June 30, compared to a profit of of $8.65 billion in the same period a year earlier. On a per share basis, the bank earned $4.75 a share. Revenue rose to $42.4 billion from $31.6 billion a year ago. The results beat Wall Street forecasts, with analysts surveyed by FactSet expecting the bank to post a profit of $3.97 a share. JPMorgan has been one of the benefactors of the banking crisis that came after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank. The bank saw billions of dollars of deposits flow into its vaults, mostly from well-to-do customers, and was able to buy First Republic Bank after it failed. In the deal, JPMorgan acquired 84 First Republ...

Fort Collins movie theater evacuated due to unfounded bomb threat

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:32:54 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Moviegoers at a Fort Collins theater were quickly evacuated while police investigated a bomb threat.At 10:40 p.m. Thursday, the Fort Collins Police Services responded to a Cinemark movie theater inside the Foothills Mall. Suspect killed at Lakeside Motel in shooting involving deputy As a precaution, police evacuated all the theaters while a bomb squad investigated the threat.Around 30 minutes later, Fort Collins Police tweeted that the bomb squad had completed its sweep and that the threat was unfounded. The squad was not able to find anything concerning.Police are now looking into who made the threat. Anyone with information is asked to reach out to Fort Collins Police Services.

BPDA approves $1.6 ‘Fenway Corners’ project near Fenway Park

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:32:54 GMT

The area around Fenway Park is getting $1.6 billion facelift now that a massive project called Fenway Corners has been given the green light by the Boston Planning and Development Agency.New renderings show plans for apartments, retail, and office locations to the area around the iconic ballpark. Projects will range from 2 to 19 stories and will add green space the area as well.

‘It’s an emergency’: City, federal officials meeting to address refugees stuck sleeping on street

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:32:54 GMT

For several days now, a group of asylum seekers have been forced to sleep on a downtown sidewalk outside Toronto’s shelter intake office — often through extreme heat and rainfall.On Friday, an emergency meeting between city staff and officials from the provincial and federal governments is scheduled to take place. The three levels of government are expected to address the ongoing refugee crisis in the city and develop some sort of path forward.“We know that our shelters’ are full, we also know that a third of the residents in shelter right now are refugees,” said new Toronto mayor Olivia Chow on Wednesday.“Immediately, we need the federal government and the provincial government to come up with a plan. It’s an emergency.”The dozens of refugees, mostly from African countries, have been camping outside the shelter at 129 Peter Street, many using garbage bags to cover and protect their belongings. The city’s at-capacity shelter syst...

Suspect taken into custody in Long Island serial killings, AP source says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:32:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A suspect has been taken into custody on New York’s Long Island in connection with a long-unsolved string of killings, known as the Gilgo Beach murders, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Friday.The case has drawn immense public attention since human remains were found along a New York beach highway more than a decade ago. The mystery attracted national headlines for many years and the unsolved killings were the subject of the 2020 Netflix film “Lost Girls.”The suspect was taken into custody in Massapequa late Thursday and investigators were at a home connected to the case on Friday, the official said. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.The suspect’s name was not immediately released. The deaths of 11 people whose remains were found in 2010 and 2011 have long stumped investigators. Most of the victims were young women who had been sex workers. Seve...