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Editorial: How Medicare should negotiate drug prices

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:00 GMT

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, gave Medicare the authority to negotiate drug prices for the first time. The government will start with 10 medications, which were announced last month. Now it just needs to figure out how much they should cost.When Congress created Medicare’s prescription-drug benefit in 2003, it prevented the government from haggling with drugmakers — a coup for the industry. Medicare’s new powers are forecast to reduce out-of-pocket costs for seniors and save nearly $100 billion over a decade. For consumers accustomed to paying the highest drug prices in the world, that’s unequivocally good news.Yet the government needs to strike a careful balance. The goal should be to push prices down while preserving incentives to develop new and better treatments. With this in mind, the law directs Medicare to find the “lowest maximum fair price” while “appropriately rewarding innovation.”Officials have spent months laying out in painstaking detail how the negoti...

It’s women vs. Outback in ‘The Royal Hotel’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:00 GMT

NEW YORK CITY — Two young American backpackers find themselves in Australia’s vast, mostly empty Outback tending bar in a mining town.  The bar is in a ramshackle dump called “The Royal Hotel.”“I had seen a lot of movies set in the Outback,” Australian writer-director Kitty Green began in an interview in her distributor’s Manhattan office, “a lot of Australian thrillers and things. But I’ve never seen anything through a female lens showing what it’s like to be a woman in those environments.“When you see the image of the two of them, you assume that — and audiences share this — they’re going to be raped or killed. I was trying to challenge those expectations. Trying to make a movie just about that bad behavior and about what we can tolerate should tolerate as women. When do we stand up for ourselves when we say, ‘No, that’s enough’?“I thought it would be an interesting subject for a movie to explore with the tension of those spaces and how un...

Got a job offer? Time to negotiate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:00 GMT

Job offers can spark a whirlwind of emotions. After spending weeks or months trudging through job postings, remote interviews, phone calls, and reference requests, individuals may be eager to sign on the dotted line and get to work. Though it’s easy to let that excitement take over, professionals must carefully study a job offer to ensure it’s in their best interests.It’s not uncommon for professionals to worry that careful consideration of a job offer can make them appear greedy or unappreciative.However, any firm worth working for will allow candidates ample time to consider an offer and even negotiate terms if the need arises. In such instances, professionals can consider these negotiation tips.Work with a recruiter. A professional recruiter can be your best advocate. Recruiters function as the intermediary between candidates and companies. These individuals can help professionals negotiate a fair offer and benefits in line with market compensation levels and cu...

McCaughey: Biden’s censorship a threat to democracy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:00 GMT

President Joe Biden is pitching himself as the savior of democracy. “I will always defend, protect, and fight for our democracy,” he said at a recent campaign event in New York City. He’s been saying it for four years. It’s a blatant lie. He’s the king of censorship, silencing his critics like a despot and even trying to defend his censorship regime before the Supreme Court.At high-dollar fundraising events from Manhattan to Silicon Valley, Biden bragged the survival of democracy hinges on his reelection over the MAGA Republicans.But democracy depends on a free marketplace of ideas. Biden is busy destroying that marketplace. He and his staff have masterminded a vast censorship scheme, coercing media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to take down views that challenge the administration on everything from vaccine safety and gas prices to Biden family mischief.On Sept. 11, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found the B...

Dear Abby: Parents have to pay to see grandkids

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:00 GMT

Dear Abby: I am the mother and stepmother of eight wonderful children. I love them all very much. The problem is my two oldest stepdaughters. Both are in their 20s with kids of their own. Unless their dad and I constantly give them money, we don’t get to see our grandkids. Anytime we refuse, we don’t get to see them for months at a time.These two stepdaughters are rude to their dad. Unless it’s almost a holiday or they need money, they never call or text him. If we disagree with anything they say, they don’t bring the girls around for months or answer calls or texts.We have given them a LOT of money, and we buy all the gifts for the kids. When we asked what the girls want for their birthdays, one stepdaughter said a dollhouse that cost almost $200, which is a lot for a birthday. When we said that seems more like a Christmas gift, she got upset.I have told my husband that at this point I’m done and will no longer keep paying to see my grandkids, but he i...

California governor names Laphonza Butler, former Kamala Harris adviser, to Feinstein Senate seat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:00 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday selected Laphonza Butler, a Democratic strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.In choosing Butler, Newsom fulfilled his pledge to appoint a Black woman if Feinstein’s seat became open. However, he had been facing pressure from some Black politicians and advocacy groups to select Rep. Barbara Lee, a prominent Black congresswoman who is already running for the seat. Butler will be the only Black woman serving in the U.S. Senate, and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to represent California in the chamber.Newsom said in a statement that the priorities Feinstein fought for in Congress — reproductive freedom, equal protection and safety from gun violence — were under assault in the nation. "Laphonza will carry the baton left by Sen. Feinstein (and) continue to break glass ceilings and fight for all Californians in Washington D.C.,”...

Woman killed by vehicle in Sorrento Valley identified

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A woman killed while attempting to cross a street against a red "Do Not Walk" signal in Sorrento Valley was identified, local medical officials said.Karen Marie Johnson, 57, was identified as the deceased, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said on its website.On the night of Sept. 20, Johnson was walking southbound on Pacific Heights Boulevard and then went to cross Mira Mesa Boulevard against a red light when she was struck by the vehicle, according to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD). New San Diego MLS team announces historic first for location of training facility The vehicle, driven by a 40-year-old man, pulled over and called 9-1-1, police said.When first responders arrived, they began performing lifesaving measures, but the victim ultimately died at the scene.The manner of the death was determined as an accident, per the medical examiner's office.

Fire erupts in a police headquarters in Egypt, injuring at least 14 people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:00 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A huge fire broke out early Monday in a police headquarters in northeastern Egypt, injuring at least 14 people, officials said.The blaze ripped through the multistory police headquarters in the Suez Canal province of Ismailia, two officials said. The injured were taken to hospitals, they said.Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.Videos circulated on social media showed flames and black smoke pouring from the building.The cause of the blaze was not immediately known. The state-run MENA news agency said firefighters managed to put out the fire.Safety standards and fire regulations are poorly enforced in Egypt and have been linked to many deaths. In August 2022, a fire erupted in a packed Coptic Orthodox church during morning services in Cairo, killing 41 worshippers.Samy Magdy, The Associated Press

Stock market today: Asian shares mixed as Japan business confidence rises and US shutdown is averted

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:00 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher in thin trading Monday with many markets closed for holidays. Markets in China are closed for a weeklong holiday. Markets in South Korea also were closed. Oil prices gained and U.S. futures were higher as the threat of a U.S. federal government shutdown receded after Congress approved a temporary funding bill late Saturday to keep federal agencies open until Nov. 17. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index advanced after a central bank survey showed business confidence on the rise. The Bank of Japan’s “tankan” quarterly survey measured business sentiment among major manufacturers at plus 9, up from plus 5 in June. Sentiment among major non-manufacturers rose four points to plus 27, in the sixth consecutive quarter of improvement and the most positive result in about three decades.In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was up 0.7% at 32,098.40. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.2% to 7,037.90. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 1.2%, while the SET in Bangkok e...

Mexico’s rescue and drug-sniffing dogs start out at the army’s puppy kindergarten

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:00 GMT

SAN MIGUEL DE LOS JAGÜEYEZ, Mexico (AP) — In the middle of a military base outside Mexico City, an army colonel runs what he calls a kindergarten for dogs.Puppies that one day will become rescue dogs, or sniffer dogs for drugs or explosives, get their basic training here, at Mexico’s Army and Air Force Canine Production Center. The puppies are born and spend their first four months at the facility, before being sent to military units around the country for more specialized training.Founded in 1998, the center has in the past produced breeds such as German Shepherds and Rottweilers.Now, it exclusively breeds Belgian Malinois — about 300 of them a year.“It’s a very intelligent dog, it’s a dog with a lot of hardiness, very resistant to diseases,” said Col. Alejandro Camacho Ibarra, a veterinarian and the center’s director. It is the Mexican military’s only such production facility, and Camacho said it may be the largest in Latin America.The mainly green-and-white, one-story buildings l...