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See which drugs President Biden is targeting first for Medicare price-lowering talks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:01 GMT

By TOM MURPHY, AMANDA SEITZ and CHRIS MEGERIAN (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is targeting the blood thinner Eliquis, diabetes treatment Jardiance and eight other medications for Medicare’s first-ever drug price negotiations as it seeks to lower medical costs for Americans.The administration on Tuesday released a list of the 10 drugs for which prices will be negotiated directly with the manufacturer. The move is expected to cut costs for many patients, but it faces litigation from drugmakers and heavy criticism from Republican lawmakers, and it will be years before consumers notice any savings.The effort is a centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s reelection pitch as the Democrat seeks to show Americans he’s deserving of a second term because of the work he’s doing to lower costs for them while the country is struggling with inflation. But like the drug negotiations, many of Biden’s biggest policy moves take time to rol...

Former Cubs President Theo Epstein sells Lakeview home after purchasing a $12M mansion in Connecticut

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:01 GMT

Former Chicago Cubs President Theo Epstein and his wife, Marie, on Friday sold their six-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot brick and limestone mansion in Lakeview for $3.5 million. The sale follows their purchase last year of an $11.9 million mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut.Now a consultant for Major League Baseball, Epstein oversaw the Cubs’ baseball operations from 2011 until stepping down in November 2021. That included leading the team to the 2016 World Series title.In Lakeview, Epstein and his wife paid $3.25 million in late 2011 for the mansion, which at that time was newly built. They outbid then-Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Sharp for the mansion.The Epsteins first listed the mansion in September 2022 for $3.6 million through a real estate agents’ private listing network, and the house briefly went under contract. After that deal fell through, the Epsteins and listing agent Jeff Lowe of Compass listed it publicly at a higher, $3.75 million asking price.The couple th...

Patriots activating offseason free-agent signing off NFI list before cuts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:01 GMT

The Patriots are activating offensive tackle Calvin Anderson from the non-football illness list Tuesday, ESPN’s Field Yates reported.Anderson has missed all of training camp on the NFI list and now is set to return to practice less than two weeks ahead of the Patriots’ season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.If Anderson had stayed on NFI, then he would have been forced to miss the first four weeks of the season.Anderson has been a regular at practice wearing sweats. He has not practiced with the team since June during organized team activities and minicamp. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be ready for Week 1, but this move does make him available.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Bill Belichick explains Patriots’ trades for OL Tyrone Wheatley Jr., Vederian Lowe New England Patriots | Sources: Patriots release QB Trace McSorley, P Corliss Waitman New England Patriots | Will Patriots O-line starters be...

Bitcoin ETF appears to be on the way after court hands the SEC a stinging loss

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:01 GMT

NEW YORK — The cryptocurrency fund manager Grayscale won a major court battle Tuesday against the Securities and Exchange Commission, paving the way for the first bitcoin exchange-traded fund.Grayscale sued the SEC last year when the securities regulator denied its application to turn its bitcoin fund, known as GBTC, into an ETF. The ETF would be backed by bitcoin instead of bitcoin futures, according to Grayscale’s application at the time.The SEC rejected the company’s application over concerns about investor protections and other issues. However, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals sided with Grayscale, handing the SEC another setback in its attempt to regulate cryptocurrencies.Bitcoin jumped 8% Tuesday.ETFs are a popular vehicle used to gain exposure to certain assets without directly investing in a commodity, or in a company’s stock. ETFs track a desired index, sector or commodity, but they can be bought and sold like regular stocks.Grayscale had argued that a bitcoin ETF ...

Job vacancies, quits plunge in July in stark sign of cooling trend in the US labor market

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:01 GMT

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER (AP Economics Writer)WASHINGTON (AP) — Businesses posted far fewer open jobs in July and the number of Americans quitting their jobs fell sharply for the second straight month, clear signs that the labor market is cooling in a way that could reduce inflation. The number of job vacancies dropped to 8.8 million last month, the Labor Department said Tuesday, the fewest since March 2021 and down from 9.2 million in June. Yet the drop appeared to be even steeper because June’s figure was initially reported as 9.6 million. That figure was revised lower Tuesday.July’s figure was still healthy historically — before the pandemic the number of openings had never topped 8 million. And there are still roughly 1.5 available jobs for each unemployed worker, which is also elevated but down from a peak last year of 1.9. “While it might take more time, more applications, and stronger job interview performances to land a job than it did in 2021 and...

Hurricane Idalia is gaining power; possible catastrophic storm surge on Florida’s Gulf Coast

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:01 GMT

Hurricane Idalia is gaining strength over the hot waters of the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a projected landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a major Category 3 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. The result could be catastrophic storm surge.Idalia, which became a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday, was 120 miles west of the Dry Tortugas and 275 miles south-southwest of Tampa as of 11 a.m., traveling north at 14 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.  Life-threatening storm surge and winds are “becoming increasingly likely” for parts of Florida, the National Hurricane Center said. Evacuation orders and school closures already were in effect along the Gulf Coast.The hurricane center says the storm will come ashore on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday. If the hurricane arrives during high tide, storm surge could reach 8 to 12 feet in some areas, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.“If you’re there in that storm surge, you’re putting your life in jeopardy,” DeSantis sai...

School bus catches fire in San Marcos with students inside

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:01 GMT

SAN MARCOS, Calif. -- A school bus caught fire Tuesday morning in San Marcos while five students and the driver were inside, the San Diego Sheriff's Department said. Around 8 a.m., deputies were dispatched to the fire near Mission Road and Las Posas Road. According to SDSO in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the bus was on route to Twin Oaks High School when the flames erupted in the back engine of the bus.When SDSO arrived on scene, the students and driver were already safely evacuated and waiting on the sidewalk. UC San Diego among top public universities in U.S., according to new ranking Deputies boarded the vehicle to ensure no additional passengers were inside. Firefighters then worked to extinguish the fire.As none of the students were injured, a second school bus came to pick them up to take them to school, SDSO said.This incidents comes about two weeks into the school year for students in the San Marcos Unified School District, who held its first day of school on Au...

Woman killed in wrong-way freeway crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:01 GMT

SAN DIEGO — A woman was killed Sunday in a wrong-way collision on Interstate 15, California Highway Patrol said.According to CHP, the crash happened around 1:30 a.m. on southbound Interstate 15, south of Aero Drive, near the Serra Mesa neighborhood.A 25-year-old man was driving a Infiniti QX 30 northbound on the southbound lanes of I-15 and hit a Honda Fit driven by a 32-year-old woman, CHP Public Information Officer Salvador Castro said in a news release.The woman was killed as a result of the crash, CHP said. Another female passenger inside the Honda was transported to a nearby hospital with serious injuries.After hitting the Honda, the Infiniti driver kept driving and crashed into a Nissan Altima being driven by a 58-year-old woman, Castro said. Suspect dead after standoff in Encanto house with San Diego police The driver of the Infiniti was also transported to a nearby hospital following the crashes. CHP did not immediately announce what charges, if any, the man would face i...

Rain relief in sight for some B.C. fire zones as northeast swelters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:01 GMT

Large portions of northeastern British Columbia continued to swelter a day after some areas hit daily record temperatures, as the forecast for rain in the south and Interior brought the promise of relief for some wildfire zones. Environment Canada said Tuesday temperatures are again to push near or past 30 C in parts of the Peace River Regional District and the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality.The heat warning for northeastern B.C. is expected to be in place until the evening, while another warning for the North Coast District, including Terrace and Kitimat, has been lifted.Historic records for daily high temperatures for Aug. 28 were broken Monday in Fort St. John, Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson.Fort Nelson reached 33.9 C, almost six degrees higher than the previous record for that day recorded in 1986.The BC Wildfire Service has cautioned that warm, dry conditions in northern parts of the province have led to increased fire activity in the region, with the Fort Nelson First Na...

Lawyers indicted with Trump say they were doing their jobs. But that may be a tough argument to make

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As John Eastman prepared to surrender to Georgia authorities last week for an indictment related to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, he issued a statement denouncing the criminal case as targeting attorneys “for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients.”Another defendant, Rudy Giuliani, struck a similar note, saying he was being indicted for his work as Donald Trump’s attorney. “I never thought I’d get indicted for being a lawyer,” he lamented.The 18 defendants charged alongside Trump in this month’s racketeering indictment in Fulton County include more than a half-dozen lawyers. And the statements from Eastman and Giuliani provide early foreshadowing of at least one of the defenses they seem poised to raise: that they were merely doing their jobs as attorneys when they maneuvered on Trump’s behalf to undo the results of that election.The argument suggests a desire to turn at least part of the sprawling pros...