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What to know about the government’s latest round of health policy proposals

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:00 GMT

By Julie Appleby, KFF Health NewsForget “repeal and replace,” an oft-repeated Republican rallying cry against the Affordable Care Act.House Republicans have advanced a package of bills that could reduce health insurance costs for certain businesses and consumers, partly by rolling back some consumer protections. Rather than outright repeal, however, the subtler effort could allow more employers to bypass the landmark health insurance overhaul’s basic benefits requirements and most state standards.At the same time, the Biden administration seeks to undo some of the previous administration’s health insurance rules, proposing to retighten regulations for short-term plans.Health policy experts aren’t surprised. Most of the GOP policy ideas have long drawn Republican support, have raised concern from Democrats about reduced consumer protections, and could fall under the theme: Everything old is new again.Association Health Plans. Self-insurance. Giving workers money to buy their own indi...

Efforts to help Haitians suffer new blow with kidnapping of American nurse and daughter

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:00 GMT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Efforts to help Haitians survive the gang violence ravaged their nation suffered a new blow with the kidnapping of an American nurse from New Hampshire and her young daughter, who remained missing Tuesday. Haiti’s gangs have grown in power since the July 7, 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and are now estimated to control up to 80% of the capital. Hundreds of people have been reported kidnapped since January, a significant uptick from previous years. The surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings has led to a violent uprising by civilian vigilante groups.Around 200 Haitians had marched in their nation’s capital to show their anger over the abduction of Alix Dorsainvil, who was working for nonprofit Christian ministry El Roi Haiti when she and the girl were seized Thursday. The kidnapped woman is the wife of El Roi Haiti’s founder Sandro Dorsainvil.Nonprofit groups are often the only institutions in Haiti’s lawless areas and ...

Saskatchewan Crown corporations report earning losses; SaskPower faces steep hit

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:00 GMT

REGINA — Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations are reporting sizable earning losses this year, with the government-owned electrical utility facing its biggest financial hit yet. The reports, released by the Saskatchewan Party government last week, show SaskPower is staring down a net loss of $172 million. The Crown corporation says the loss is mainly dueto higher fuel prices. The province’s other Crown corporations made money this fiscal year, but not as much as they did last year.  In total, the corporations reported net earnings of $7.4 million, but that’s well below the $361 million they earned last year. The government normally holds a news conference and technical briefing when it releases the reports, but it did not do so this year. The NDP Opposition says the province is ducking accountability by quietly releasing the reports. The Canadian Press

Alaska child fatally shoots another child with a rifle moments after they were playing with toy guns

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:00 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Moments after two children were playing with toy guns, one of the children picked up a real rifle in a western Alaska home and fatally shot the other child, authorities said.Alaska State Troopers were notified by both tribal and local police Sunday of the child’s death in Mountain Village, the statewide law enforcement agency said.Troopers responded and found “two children were playing with Nerf guns when one of them picked up a rifle and shot the other one,” the troopers said in an online statement.Village health aides declared the child dead, and the body will be sent to Anchorage for an autopsy.The child got the rifle inside the home where the shooting occurred, and an adult was inside the home at the time, troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told the Anchorage Daily News.No criminal charges have been filed, and McDaniel said the investigation is ongoing. The Anchorage newspaper reported it’s rare for a gun owner in Alaska to be prosecuted when someone ...

Blue Jays acquire shortstop Paul DeJong from Cardinals

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:00 GMT

The Toronto Blue Jays have acquired some insurance to replace Bo Bichette in the interim, agreeing to a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals for shortstop Paul DeJong, the club announced on Tuesday.The Blue Jays will send 24-year-old minor league pitcher Matt Svanson to the Cardinals as part of the deal.DeJong has a $12.5-million team option for next season and a $2-million buyout. Should the Blue Jays exercise that, the veteran infielder would carry a $15-million club option and $1-million buyout for 2025, too.Bichette left Monday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles in the third inning with a sore knee after rounding first base. It was officially labelled as knee discomfort, though his status remains up in the air.DeJong, who turns 30 on Wednesday, has played his entire seven-year career with the Cardinals. A 4th-round draft pick of the Cardinals in 2015, DeJong burst onto the scene as a 23-year-old rookie in 2017 but has not been able to regain that form and has struggled to p...

Justice minister takes new oath after wording prompted by SNC-Lavalin affair left out

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:00 GMT

OTTAWA — The new federal justice minister and attorney general was slated to swear a fresh oath Tuesday because the one he recited last week left out wording ushered in following the SNC-Lavalin affair. Toronto MP Arif Virani, who once worked as a human rights and constitutional lawyer, took over the key portfolio from David Lametti in the recent federal cabinet shuffle, among the biggest since the Liberal government assumed office nearly eight years ago. A political storm hit the Liberals in early 2019 amid allegations prime ministerial aides leaned on Jody Wilson-Raybould, attorney general at the time, to ensure there was a deal to avoid prosecution of engineering firm SNC-Lavalin on corruption and fraud charges.The federal ethics watchdog also found that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated the Conflict of Interest Act.The affair highlighted the fact the jobs of justice minister and attorney general are held by the same person in Canada, which is not the case in some countries....

Calgary home sales set new July record as they climbed 18% from last year: board

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:00 GMT

CALGARY — The Calgary Real Estate Board says rising interest rates had little impact on last month’s home sales, which reached a record level for July.The Albertan board says sales for the month totalled 2,647, up 18 per cent from the prior July.It attributes the increase to significant gains in the relatively affordable apartment condominium sector. However, the board says despite recent gains, year-to-date sales have declined by 19 per cent compared with last year and inventory levels remain near the July record low set in 2006.July’s new listings totalled 3,247, up two per cent from a year earlier.The average price of a home was up almost 10 per cent from last year to $539,461, while the benchmark price ticked up nearly six per cent to $567,700.“Continued migration to the province, along with our relative affordability, has supported the stronger demand for housing despite higher lending rates,” said Ann-Marie Lurie, the board’s chief economist, in a news releas...

Police charge Australian man with 1,600 child abuse offenses in ‘one of the most horrific cases’

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:00 GMT

SYDNEY, Australia — Australian police on Tuesday charged a former childcare worker with abusing 91 girls in what officials are calling one of the worst such cases in recent history.The 45-year-old man faces life in prison.“This is one of the most horrific child abuse cases that I’ve seen in nearly 40 years of policing,” New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald said.Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said that the man was charged with 1,623 child abuse offenses that allegedly took place in Brisbane, Sydney and overseas over a 15-year period. The charges include rape and sexual intercourse with a child under 10.The suspect allegedly recorded his acts on his phone and cameras, Gough said. Police believe that all the Australian children involved have been identified and their parents have been informed of the investigation, she said.“Given there were so many alleged images and videos of children recorded over 15...

Saudi Arabia to grant Yemen $1.2 billion in economic aid

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:00 GMT

Ahmed al-Haj (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it will grant $1.2 billion in financial aid to Yemen’s internationally recognized government in a bid to bolster the country’s struggling economy.Riyadh said in a statement the cash injection is part of Saudi Arabia’s ongoing efforts to help stabilize Yemini food prices, address the country’s budget deficit and support salary payments.Yemen’s civil war, now entering its ninth year, has ravaged the country’s economy, catapulted food prices and pushed half of the population to the brink of famine.The conflict in the South Arabian country broke out in 2014 when Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa, along with much of the north of the country, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile. A Saudi coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, intervened the following year to try to restore the ousted government.Yemen’s central bank has since been divided between the warring sides, wit...

Israel holds over 1,200 detainees without charge. That’s the most in 3 decades, a rights group says

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:00 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is holding over 1,200 detainees — nearly all of them Palestinians — without charge or trial, the highest number in over three decades, an Israeli human rights group said Tuesday. The detainees, 99% of whom are Palestinians, are held under Israel’s policy of “administrative detention,” without trial and under allegations that Israeli authorities keep secret. The detentions can range from a few months to years — and authorities often extend them for unknown reasons, according to Jessica Montell, the executive director of Hamoked, the rights group that published the figures. Hamoked said this makes it nearly impossible for detainees or their lawyers to mount a proper defense.“The overall figure is outrageous,” Montell said. “This is a patently illegal practice. These people should be given a fair trial or released.”Israeli authorities can renew administrative detentions indefinitely. While detention orders are usually set for periods of t...