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Medicaid coverage for new moms gaining support in GOP states

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:17:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — After years of refusing to expand Medicaid benefits for new moms, Republican officials in more than a half-dozen states are now reversing course and trumpeting that coverage as central to their conservative, anti-abortion agenda.The shift in GOP support for postpartum Medicaid coverage is occurring in some states that have severely limited or outlawed abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion last June. The effort also comes as federal protections guaranteeing people stay continuously enrolled in Medicaid during the COVID-19 pandemic is set to expire in a few weeks. Deep-red Mississippi on Tuesday became the latest state to require Medicaid to provide a full year of coverage for low-income mothers after giving birth. Days earlier, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves declared the policy was part of the state’s “new pro-life agenda.”Extended postpartum coverage had been rejected three times by the state’s lawmakers since 2021 ...

Anxiety, fear fill West Virginia’s transgender-health clinic

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:17:25 GMT

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — The tiny clinic where physicians prescribe hormones and other medications to transgender teenagers shares the same campus where West Virginia kids travel to receive treatments for rare cancer, heart surgery and other health care difficult to get anywhere else.In a rural state purported to have the highest number of transgender youths per capita and some of the nation’s worst health outcomes, West Virginia University Medicine doctors say transgender health care is just as essential as the other lifesaving services they provide. But it could soon be banned. Ignoring doctors’ pleas, lawmakers are preparing to vote this week on a bill that would outlaw certain health care for transgender minors, including hormone therapy and fully reversible medication that suspends the physical changes of puberty, buying patients and parents time to make future decisions about hormones.“There’s a lot of anxiety and fear in our exam rooms right now,” said...

Contentious German church reform assembly opens last meeting

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:17:25 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Catholic bishops and lay representatives gathered on Thursday for the final meeting of a potentially groundbreaking reform assembly that has been marked by tensions between liberalizers and conservatives and is drawing increasingly open opposition from the Vatican.The German process, dubbed the “Synodal Path,” was launched in 2019 in response to the sex abuse crisis that has rocked the church in Germany and many other countries and has been a major factor in large numbers of people leaving the church.The synodal assembly, meeting in Frankfurt from Thursday through Saturday, brings together 230 representatives of Catholic life in Germany.Its fifth and final gathering is expected to discuss proposals that include blessings by priests for same-sex couples, female deacons and a role for the faithful in choosing bishops.Any decisions, however, need the approval of two-thirds of the 67 German bishops — and that may prove a high bar in view of internal divisions and...

WATCH: Procession held for fallen Chicago officer to church for funeral services

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:17:25 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer who was killed in the line of duty will be laid to rest Thursday.Officers from across the country are expected to be present for the funeral of Officer Andrés Vásquez Lasso.32-year-old Andres Vasquez-Lasso, courtesy CPDA funeral procession will begin at 9:30 a.m., leaving from Blake-Lamb Funeral Home in Oak Lawn, located at 4727 West 103rd Street. The processional will head to St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel at 7740 South Western Avenue, where a funeral mass service will be held.Expect rolling street closures today for the funeral of Chicago Police Officer Andrés Vásquez Lasso, who was killed in the line of duty last week while responding to a domestic disturbance on Chicago’s South Side.There will be two processions today for the service. DETAILS: pic.twitter.com/I4JW9ZSPqP— Sarah Jindra (@SarahJindra) March 9, 2023The 19th Ward alderperson is asking the community to line the streets during the procession to honor the fallen officer.Vasquez...

Suburban man charged in Wisconsin woman's death 23 years ago

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:17:25 GMT

RACINE, Wis. (AP) — DNA and genetic testing have led to the arrest of an Illinois man in the 23-year-old strangling death of a woman in southeastern Wisconsin, police said Wednesday.Lucas Alonso, 66, of Zion, Illinois, was detained in Racine on Monday and charged with first-degree homicide in the slaying of 37-year-old Linda Fields, Racine police said. Her body was found under a low-hanging pine tree branch in the front yard of a home on Feb. 24, 2000.DNA from Fields' body matched Alonso, investigators said.Alonso told investigators he and Fields were having an intimate moment along the lakefront, a confrontation ensued, and he choked Fields. He claimed he believed Fields was alive as he walked away because she was yelling at him. Man accused of battering CTA employee, damaging attendant booth Alonso made his first court appearance Wednesday and his bail was set at $1 million. It wasn’t clear whether he had an attorney who might comment on his behalf.

What happens when you stop taking Ozempic? Doctors explain long-term effects of weight loss, diabetes drug

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:17:25 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – A group of diabetes and obesity drugs are in such high demand that the Food and Drug Administration lists them as "currently in shortage." People are seeking out the drugs to help shed pounds quickly, but short supply is making it hard for folks to get their hands on doses — whether they need it to treat diabetes or help lose weight. So what happens if you stop taking them?The drugs, semaglutide and tirzepatide, are better known by the brand names they're marketed under: Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro. They're FDA-approved to treat diabetes and chronic obesity, but doctors also have the right to prescribe them off-label, and have been doing so for celebrities, influencers, and other willing to pay about $1,000 a month to lose weight. Ozempic and Wegovy work by "mimicking a hormone … that targets areas of the brain that regulate appetite and food intake," the FDA explains. Mounjaro activates that same hormone. Patients report lower appetites and feeling full faster. ‘Oze...

Instagram back up after users reported issues accessing app

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:17:25 GMT

(NEXSTAR) - Instagram users trying to check their feeds Wednesday night were met with an unfortunate message - their feeds weren't updating. Users began reporting Instagram being down at around 8 p.m. CT Wednesday. According to Downdetector.com, an outage tracking website, more than 46,000 people reported issues accessing the social media platform. Around 9 p.m. CT, a second spike of Instagram outages was being reported on Downdetector, which collects status information for dozens of sites through user-submitted reports, social media discussion, and "other key indicators." What do the orange, green dots on my iPhone mean? The majority of reported problems were being seen on the Instagram app rather than on the desktop version. Many said they weren't able to see stories at the top of the screen and their feed wouldn't refresh.As of Thursday morning, user reported outages have dropped off, Downdetector shows.In a statement to Nexstar on Thursday, a Meta spokesperson said, "Last nigh...

Artificial intelligence now used as a severe weather forecasting tool

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:17:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The accuracy of severe weather forecasts continue to improve thanks to innovative achievements from a team of weather researchers out of Colorado State University (CSU).The team has spent the last few years working to develop and improve a new type of computer model. This model -- called CSU-MLP, or Colorado State University-Machine Learning Probabilities -- runs off of historical weather data and weather events from the past 9 years. This in return has led to improved confidence and accuracy of forecasts. Russ Schumacher, who is a professor at CSU and the State Climatologist, helped lead the team through the inception of this project.What is so unique about this computer model?This computer model is able to learn from the past, searching and accounting for past forecasting mistakes.Ingesting this model with past weather events from historical archives and at the same time feeding the computer the old forecasts that preceded those events, essentially allows the compu...

Fleury helps lift Wild into first place in Central

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:17:25 GMT

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Marc-Andre Fleury made 46 saves and the Minnesota Wild extended their points streak to 11 games with a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night.The Wild are 9-0-2 in their last 11 games. Fleury has victories in his last four starts, stopping 119 of the 124 shots he has faced.“Our goaltender won the hockey game for us,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said.While Evason was thankful for Fleury’s solid performance, he was more concerned about Wild leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov, who hit the ice after getting tangled with Winnipeg’s 6-foot-7 defenseman Logan Stanley and left the game in the third period.Evason didn’t have an update on Kaprizov immediately after the game.“He was able to skate off, so I guess if there’s a positive that was one of them,” the coach said.Marcus Foligno had a goal and assist, and Frederick Gaudreau, Ryan Hartman and Mason Shaw also scored for the Wild (37-21-7). Oskar Sundqvist and Jake Middleton each had two as...

VSP: Bennington dad intentionally injures 1 year old

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:17:25 GMT

BENNINGTON, Vt. (NEWS10) -- A Bennington father was arrested for allegedly injuring his one-year-old child on purpose, according to Vermont State Police. John Chinnici Jr., 18, is charged with aggravated assault. Get all of the latest news, weather, sports, and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! On Wednesday, Vermont State Police in Rutland were alerted of a suspicious injury to an infant that happened in Bennington, Vermont. Police say that Special Investigation Unit Detectives with the DCF interviewed Chinnici, who was identified as the child's father. Police say the information they gathered through investigation showed Chinnici had purposefully injured his child.Police say he was charged as an adult.