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Colleen Grogan: Big Pharma is wrong. Allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices won’t hinder new cures

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

Big Pharma is pulling out all the stops to avoid lowering drug prices for seniors.Several pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb; the key pharma lobbying group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA); and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have recently filed lawsuits against President Joe Biden’s administration, arguing that the Inflation Reduction Act provision that allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies is unconstitutional.Their legal strategy is tantamount to “throwing the kitchen sink at the government,” as one expert described it, with various lawsuits arguing violations to the First, Fifth, and Eighth amendments.The pharmaceutical industry has argued that negotiating Medicare prices with the federal government will force them to pull back on developing groundbreaking new treatments. As Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said in an interview this summer with CNBC, “...

Karl W. Smith: We may finally be witnessing a normal labor market

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

A passing glance at the August jobs report released last week by the U.S. Labor Department would suggest an economy headed in the wrong direction. After all, the unemployment rate shot up to 3.8% from 3.5% in July, marking the biggest increase since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020.A more measured look, though, reveals something completely different.That jump in the unemployment rate was not a reflection of companies firing workers in anticipation of a slowdown, but rather because of very large 700,000 increase in the number of people looking for a job. This caused the labor force participation rate to jump to 62.8%, the highest since before the pandemic.What all this means is that more people are confident that they can find a job that meets their needs, skills and qualifications. We know that for much of the past 3.5 years, many workers chose to stay on the sidelines for a variety of reasons, including caring for dependents stricken by the pandemic or because of th...

Francis Wilkinson: Character counts. Just ask Brian Kemp

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

“The bottom line in the state of Georgia, as long as I’m governor, we’re going to follow the law and the constitution regardless of who it helps or harms politically,” Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said at a news conference last week.Kemp’s statement of fidelity to the law and state constitution was noteworthy, of course, for only one reason: Kemp is a Republican. The frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president is eager for fellow Republicans to break laws and shatter constitutions to shield him and his minions from the consequences of criminality, and to wreak vengeance on the forces of law and order that seek to constrain him.It was precisely such an attack on the law that inspired Kemp’s statement. MAGA legislators in the state have been searching for extra-legal means of releasing Donald Trump from a criminal indictment stemming from his efforts to overthrow the republic. Seemingly lacking faith in Trump’s claims of innocence, ...

NYC Comptroller doesn't approve DocGo's asylum seeker contract

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

ALBANY,N.Y. (NEWS10)-- New York City's comptroller is sending back the city's 432 million dollar contract with DocGo. New York City’s comptroller said it is exceedingly rare for his office not to approve contracts, sharing with Jamie DeLine the reasoning behind his decision."This contract just raised too many questions about its budget, about its vendor integrity, about its subcontractors, and in particular , about how they were chosen given that they didn’t have any experience providing shelter or services to immigrants or asylum seekers previously," explained Brad Lander, New York City's Comptroller.When asked what this means going forward, Lander said, "So, the ball is now back in the City’s court. What we did here is essentially return the contract to the city’s department of housing and preservation development, and we said you might want to reconsider given all of these concerns we have articulated whether DocGo is an appropriate contractor."New York City Hall now has three op...

Paroled sex offender arrested in Gloversville assault

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Gloversville Police have a suspect in custody for an attack on a woman near the local rail trail. It’s 9:45 pm, last Tuesday night in Gloversville. A woman is walking near the intersection of South Main and Broad Streets when suddenly she’s attacked. Detectives say that attacker was 41 year old Kristerfer Passino who allegedly emerged from the wooded area of a nearby rail trail.The woman screams and is able to escape, but not without injury. The suspect's accusatory goes on to detail that Passino stabbed the victim in the abdomen once with an unspecified sharp object. A wound so severe that the victim had to be treated at a hospitalAfter releasing a picture of the suspect, detectives received a tip leading them to identify and arrest the suspect.Passino is charged with second-degree assault. NEWS10 spoke to an official at the Gloversville police department, who did not want to comment on the specifics of the ongoing investigation, but anticipates t...

State’s new Task Force on Tourism visits Fulton County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

BROADALBIN, N.Y. (NEWS10) - The New York Assembly Tourism Task Force on Tourism made a stop in Fulton County while touring some of State’s hottest tourist destinations. NEWS10 met up with the new committee to check in on their progress. Summer fun winds down in the Capital Region The Task Force on Tourism is led by Republican Assemblymember, Scott gray who said that New York tourism is vital to the economy, all year long.“With weather like this, we’re hoping for a great shoulder season. And we are actually like, this year, we’re trying to build out. So, it’s not necessarily just the shoulder season. Something to function more year-round,” said Gray.The committee highlighted a few areas that need some work to improve tourism. Members said they’ll bring the concerns of area businesses to the state level. Those concerns include everything from cell phone connectivity and broadband coverage to infrastructure and access to local public beaches. Things that The Historic Broadalbin Hotel...

Federal indictment for man accused of carjacking in downtown St. Louis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

ST. LOUIS - A man pleaded not guilty in federal court on Wednesday for a carjacking earlier this summer in downtown St. Louis.Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Bradley McKinney, 34, carjacked a 2015 Chevy Cruze on July 29. The indictment further alleges McKinney had possession of a machine gun the following day.McKinney and another man are accused of brandishing handguns when stealing the Cruze, as well as wallets from the driver and passenger and a cellphone. Immediately following the carjacking, police claim a white GMC Terrain pulled up and then both the Terrain and Cruze drove into Illinois. Fatal and officer-involved crash shuts down two I-70 WB locations The very next day, St. Louis police conducted a traffic stop on the Terrain. McKinney was driving the SUV. Police found a Glock handgun that had been illegally modified with a switch or auto sear device to become fully automatic.Prosecutors filed a motion with the court ask...

Rural Missouri man guilty of producing child pornography

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

ST. LOUIS - A man from Audrain County, Missouri, faces up to 15 years in federal prison after being convicted on multiple child pornography charges.Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said William Dahl, 39, photographed himself having sex with a 14-year-old girl and later emailed those images to others. He also received a video of a 16-year-old girl and a pornographic image of a 7-year-old.Dahl was found guilty of one count of producing child porn and two counts of receiving child porn. He'll be sentenced in December. Fatal and officer-involved crash shuts down two I-70 WB locations Prosecutors said Dahl met the first victim when she was 13 and he was nearly 23. Dahl took photographs of the girl in a Moberly cemetery in 2007 and later sent images of his genitals to her.The second victim met Dahl when she was 16 and he was 36. He bought the teen a cellphone, alcohol, and vaping pods; they exchanged nude pictures.A co-defendant, Jennifer ...

Fantasy football 2023: Broncos’ Russell Wilson, Saints’ Derek Carr among late-round QB sleepers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

Everybody who participates loves good fantasy football value.And while they’re not always easy to find, one place where we can really look for big hits is at quarterback.We need only one (in most leagues), and that means that maybe 12 or 15 QBs are rostered for most of the season on a rotating basis.Now, there’s a lot of appeal now in the elite quarterbacks because they can combine rushing totals with high passing stats, so simply waiting on quarterbacks isn’t as viable of a strategy as it has been in recent seasons when pocket-passers headline the top of the fantasy ranks.But if you miss out on Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts and other top-flight fantasy quarterbacks, consider these names in your upcoming fantasy football drafts.All five should be available toward the later stages of your fantasy drafts.Late-round quarterbacks to target for 2023.ANTHONY RICHARDSON, QB, INDIANAPOLIS COLTSThe Indianapolis Colts selected Anthony Richardson with the fourth overall pick in the ...

MLB suspends Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías after domestic violence arrest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

Major League Baseball has suspended Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías who was arrested Sunday evening on a domestic violence charge, the team announced on Wednesday.Urías, 27, was taken into custody by officers with the Exposition Park Department of Public Safety and booked for an alleged violation of Penal Code 273.5 which involves “corporal injury” to a spouse or domestic partner.Exposition Park is the site of BMO Stadium, where Lionel Messi and Inter Miami played LAFC Sunday evening in a Major League Soccer match that was attended by countless celebrities.The Culiacan, Mexico native posted a $50,000 bond and was released from jail early Monday.His initial court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 27.“The Dodgers take all allegations of the kind in this case very seriously, and we do not condone or excuse any acts of domestic violence,” the Dodgers said in a statement. “We are fully cooperating with MLB’s investigation and support MLB's and the Commissioner's enforcement of th...