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DC bill aims to require health insurers to cover costly fertility treatments

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:39 GMT

The D.C. Council will vote  on a bill on Tuesday that would require insurance companies to cover fertility treatments.Infertility can be emotionally difficult and tough to navigate, and it’s also incredibly costly.Councilmember At-large Christina Henderson’s bill requires both private insurers, as well as Medicaid and the DC Health Alliance, to cover the diagnosis and treatment of infertility, which is found to be especially cost-prohibitive to families of color.“I felt that it was especially important given the racial justice equity issues as it pertains to fertility, in general, that Medicaid recipients and those who are on the Alliance also had access,” Henderson told WTOP.Henderson reintroduced the Expanding Access to Fertility Treatment Amendment Act, which navigates the tricky legislative ground of writing both private and public insurers into the requirement.“No other jurisdiction in the country had provided 100% coverage for fertility, diagnosis...

Florida State tops Tennessee in semifinal, will play Oklahoma for Women’s College World Series title

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:39 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Kathryn Sandercock and Makenna Reid combined for five innings of scoreless relief to help No. 3 seed Florida State defeat No. 4 Tennessee 5-1 on Monday night and advance to the Women’s College World Series championship series.Sandercock, the Seminoles’ veteran ace, allowed one hit and struck out four in three innings to claim her 10th save of the year. Freshman Reid gave way to Sandercock after allowing one hit in two innings. She claimed the win to improve to 13-0 this season. Florida State (58-9) will play No. 1 seed Oklahoma (59-1) in a best-of-three series for the national title starting Wednesday. It’s a rematch of the 2021 series that Oklahoma won.Oklahoma looks to become the first program since UCLA from 1988 to 1990 to win three straight national championships. The Sooners have won four of the past six titles.Tennessee’s Zaida Puni hit a solo shot off Mack Leonard in the first to open the scoring. It was her sixth NCAA Tournament home r...

Opinion: Wildfire preparedness and response must include planning for unhoused people and other vulnerable populations

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:39 GMT

By: Holly Mathias, University of Alberta and Ashleigh Rushton, University of The Fraser Valley The 2023 Canadian wildfire season is off to a roaring start. In Alberta, there have been more than 560 wildfires so far — the highest recorded number of fires since 2018, and the season has only just begun. Tens of thousands of residents have been evacuated and a state of emergency was declared across the province.Wildfires are not new to the region. The 2016 Horse River/Fort McMurray Wildfire was the worst wildfire and most costly disaster in recent Canadian history. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country, Nova Scotia has already experienced a historic 200 wildfires, resulting in a local state of emergency in Halifax Regional Municipality and more than 25,000 displaced residents.As public health and disaster management scholars, our research focuses on how best to support the health of vulnerable populations in adverse situations, including through disasters, political challenges ...

Aurora woman's apartment shot up in the middle of the night

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:39 GMT

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — An Aurora woman is thankful for her life after her apartment was shot up early Sunday morning. A total of three shots went through the apartment of Antisha Johnson. It was early Sunday morning when Johnson woke to several loud noises. But she didn’t think much of it until she woke up when her girlfriend came home from an overnight shift and saw the marks on the wall.“I was very scared. I quickly put two and two together that that’s what the banging was that I heard. I mean, I’m just pretty much terrified and lucky to be alive," Johnson said. Denver accused of ignoring complaints about homeless machete attacker Aurora Police said they found at least four shell casings in the parking lot, with two bullets recovered from Johnson's apartment. One bullet missed her head by mere inches. It was lodged in the wall after being stopped by a nail.Her 2-year-old daughter was asleep in the next room."That’s my main priority, is my daughter. I was just so glad that she wa...

Flash floods strand Denver-area drivers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:39 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Monday's rain stranded many drivers across the metro area. One rideshare driver ended up waiting for emergency assistance after flooding disabled his car near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. “Yeah, I got stranded while on the job. I had a passenger in the vehicle. We had about 2 and a half to 3 feet of water,” said Dennis, who had to wait for firefighters to arrive and push the car out of the water. Eddie Battle was on his way to visit his mother in the same area. “I’m very tired of the rain right about now,” Battle said. Flooding at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Dahlia Street in Denver (Credit: Allen Davis)FOX31 found water slowly draining from the intersection after the rain stopped, but plenty of mud and debris were left behind. “The water level was above the sidewalk, above the curb," Battle said. Photos: Floods and hail hit the Denver metro area Neighbors in the area, who are used to driving on MLK Boulevard, were surprised to see how much damage can...

Rishi Sunak wants to lead the world on AI. The world ain’t listening

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:39 GMT

LONDON — He’s the prime minister who cultivated a ‘tech bro’ image — even if the tech world is unconvinced by his credentials.Now Rishi Sunak hopes to pitch the U.K. as a leader in global AI governance, leveraging the setting of standards as a soft power tool while boosting Britain’s emerging AI sector.He may have a battle on his hands. For as Sunak flies to Washington this week for his first White House summit as U.K. prime minister — with the future of AI high on his agenda — he finds Britain already playing catch-up on the world stage.Having left the European Union in January 2020, the U.K. is locked out of key forums between the EU and U.S. such as the Tech and Trade Council (TTC), where AI governance plans are negotiated on a bilateral basis. Britain’s requests for a similar dialogue with Washington have been repeatedly rebuffed, leaving Sunak forced to pursue direct channels like his White House summit with U.S. President Joe Biden this Thursday.A...

EU’s green renovation wave faces backlash

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:39 GMT

BRUSSELS — EU plans to renovate millions of buildings as part of the battle against climate change are running into strong political resistance as the legislation heads into the final stretch of negotiations.The proposal — among the last outstanding pieces of legislation in the bloc’s Fit for 55 climate package — sets out mandatory renovation targets aimed at fully decarbonizing the EU’s building stock by 2050. Those targets have caused an uproar in several EU countries; Europe has a lot of older building stock that doesn’t meet modern standards and there are fears people will be forced to pay for expensive renovations during a cost of living crisis. Defenders of the proposal counter it will lead to long-term cost savings for homeowners.The pushback comes as EU countries and the European Parliament head into final negotiations on the legislation starting Tuesday. It’s part of a wider backlash against the EU’s Green Deal objectives. Italy is one the staunches...

Tax relief still alive despite state potentially owing billions to feds

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:39 GMT

Despite the obvious similarities, there will not be a repeat of last year’s failed effort to provide tax relief, the state Senate president said Monday when asked if reports Massachusetts owes billions to the feds might somehow mirror last year’s unexpected $3 billion tax rebate requirement.Related ArticlesPolitics | State’s unemployment bill still unclear, lawmakers say fact finding continues State Senate President Karen Spilka, speaking to reporters after meeting with both Gov. Maura Healey and House Speaker Ron Mariano for one of the trio’s somewhat regular “leadership meetings,” said last summer’s sudden shelving of a unanimously accepted economic development bill, brought about after lawmakers learned they had taken too much from taxpayers and would need to send billions back under a rarely invoked 1986 law, will not serve as a precedent for a second slow-walk on tax relief.“We are proceeding with a tax relief package — as I’ve said for many months — we wi...

Golden Knights crush Panthers 7-2, lead Stanley Cup final 2-0

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:39 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and started an early blitz that chased the NHL’s hottest post-season goalie, and the Vegas Golden Knights seized control of the Stanley Cup final with a 7-2 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 2 on Monday night.Adin Hill continued his stellar play in net with 29 saves for the Golden Knights, who grabbed a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.“We finished some plays,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s a good performance for us. Our guys were ready to play.”Marchessault also had an assist to finish with three points. His 12 post-season goals set a Golden Knights record, with all coming after the first round. Brett Howden scored twice for the Knights, who also got goals from Alec Martinez, Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio. Six players had at least two points for Vegas, all 18 Knights skaters were on the ice for even-strength goals and their nine goal scorers through the first two games are a Stanley Cup final record. The Knigh...

Trump’s lawyers say defamation claim by NY writer must fail because jury agreed he never raped her

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:39 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York writer who won a $5 million jury verdict against ex-President Donald Trump can’t win a pending defamation lawsuit against him because the jury agreed with Trump that he never raped her, his lawyers told a judge Monday.The lawyers urged Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to reject columnist E. Jean Carroll’s bid to win $10 million or more in a second judgment by rewriting the 4-year-old lawsuit against Trump to conform with the findings of the jury that last month concluded Trump sexually abused Carroll but did not rape her.The lawsuit was filed after Carroll said in a 2019 memoir for the first time publicly that Trump attacked her in the dressing room of a midtown Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.The lawsuit has been stalled because the U.S. Justice Department wants to substitute the United States for Trump as the defendant on the grounds that he was acting in his capacity as a president when he spoke on the issue in response t...