September 26, 2019 4:47 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Walmart’s Sam’s Club is teaming up with several health care companies to offer discounts on everyday care its customers might delay or skip because of the cost. Starting early October, Sam’s Club members in Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, will be able to buy one of four bundles of health care services ranging in annual fees from $50 for individuals to $240 for a family of up to six members. The pilot program could potentially be rolled out to members in all the states. The move comes as health care costs place a growing strain on the budgets of many families and individuals, even those that have coverage.
September 26, 2019 4:14 am
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – The gap between the haves and have-nots in the United States grew last year. The U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday that an index that measures income inequality in the U.S. increased from 2017 to 2018. The increase in income inequality comes as two Democratic presidential candidates, U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, are pitching a “wealth tax” on the nation’s richest citizens as a way to reduce wealth disparities. States that had statistically significant gains in inequality last year were Alabama, Arkansas, California, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia.
September 26, 2019 4:12 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine’s president says his comments in a conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump shouldn’t have been publicly released. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is also playing down Ukraine’s investigation of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. The White House published a rough transcript of Trump’s July 25 call with Zelenskiy on Thursday showing that Trump pressed Ukraine to “look into” his rival Biden. The call is now at the center of an impeachment probe. Zelenskiy told reporters at the U.N. General Assembly in New York afterward that “I think such things, such conversations between heads of independent states, they shouldn’t be published.” But he also said he’s “not afraid” of the publication. He said the Biden investigation is just one of “many cases that I talk about with leaders of other countries.” (Photo: CNN)
September 26, 2019 4:10 am
BOSTON (AP) – A Los Angeles businessman has been sentenced to four months for paying $400,000 to get his son into Georgetown University as a fake tennis recruit. Fifty-three-year-old Stephen Semprevivo was sentenced in Boston’s federal court Thursday after pleading guilty to a single count of fraud and conspiracy in May. He is the third parent to be sentenced in a sweeping college admissions scandal. Authorities say Semprevivo paid $400,000 to an admissions consultant who orchestrated the scheme in 2016. It’s one of the largest bribes in the scheme. Prosecutors recommended 13 months in prison, a fine and restitution to Georgetown. Semprevivo’s lawyers said he deserved probation and 2,000 hours of community service. Semprevivo previously said he acted out of “foolish ambition” for his son’s happiness. Georgetown expelled his son over the scheme.
September 26, 2019 3:47 am
HARLAN, Ky. (AP) – A group of Kentucky coal miners blocking a shipment of coal to protest bounced paychecks is ending a standoff after two months. Miners formerly employed by Blackjewel in Harlan County started the protest in early August when their checks bounced amid the company’s bankruptcy. WYMT-TV reports many of the miners have found other jobs or moved away. The news station reported Thursday that they were packing up tents and other items at the site of the protest. Former Blackjewel miner Chris Rowe says he’s happy to go home but “not really satisfied because we were unable to see it all through…” Blackjewel filed for bankruptcy July 1. A lawyer for the miners said Thursday that they could go into mediation in federal court if there is no resolution to the bounced checks.
September 25, 2019 3:47 pm
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) – The Army is proposing new rules to significantly restrict eligibility for burial at Arlington National Cemetery, seeking to preserve a dwindling number of gravesites. The Army says the new rules preserve the lifespan of the cemetery for another 150 years. Without new restrictions it says the cemetery would run out of space by the mid-2050s. More than 400,000 people are buried in the cemetery now, and 95,000 burial spaces remain. Under the proposals, veterans who retired from active duty and were eligible for retirement pay would no longer be automatically eligible for in-ground burial. They would be eligible though for above-ground “inurnment” of cremated remains. Those killed in action or who received awards such as the Purple Heart or Silver Star could still receive an in-ground burial. U.S. presidents and vice presidents also would retain eligibility.
September 25, 2019 10:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A whistleblower complaint that has triggered a renewed impeachment effort in the House will be available to some members and staff of congressional intelligence committees Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the matter. The House and Senate intelligence committees have been working to pry loose the complaint, which was withheld from Congress and started a firestorm over President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. Lawmakers were hoping to review the complaint before hearings on Thursday with Acting Director of national Intelligence Joseph Maguire, and they have been negotiating with his agency to see it. The people were granted anonymity to discuss confidential deliberations. The complaint is at least in part related to a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
September 25, 2019 9:24 am
NEW YORK (AP) – The U.S. tobacco giants Philip Morris and Altria are calling off merger talks and Juul’s CEO is stepping down with safety concerns over e-cigarettes intensifying. The makers of Marlboro cigarettes said last month that they were in discussions to become a single company, more than a decade after splitting into two as lawsuits mounted. Altria has exclusively sold Marlboro cigarettes and other tobacco brands in the U.S., while Philip Morris has handled international sales. Philip Morris International Inc. CEO Andre Calantzopoulos said Wednesday that the companies will instead focus on launching IQOS in the U.S. IQOS is a heat-not-burn cigarette alternative made by Philip Morris. Altria Group Inc. also announced that K.C. Crosthwaite will become JUUL’s new CEO, replacing Kevin Burns.
September 25, 2019 9:22 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A grim new international science assessment concludes that climate change is making the world’s oceans warm, rise, lose oxygen and get more acidic at an ever-faster pace, while melting even more ice and snow. But that’s nothing compared to what Wednesday’s special U.N.-affiliated oceans and ice report says is coming if global warming doesn’t slow down. It projects three feet of rising seas by the end of the century, much fewer fish, weakening ocean currents, even less snow and ice and nastier hurricanes. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says warming of oceans and ice will harm people, plants, animals, food and the world economy. Report co-author Hans-Otto Portner says with sea level rise and all these changes, Earth is looking at a future completely different than it is now.
September 25, 2019 4:21 am
BOSTON (AP) – Additional charges are being added for the latest parent accused in the sweeping college admissions bribery scheme. Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that Xiaoning Sui faces new charges of international money laundering and additional fraud charges. She was charged Sept. 17 with a single count of conspiracy and fraud. Sui is accused of paying $400,000 to get her son into the University of California, Los Angeles, as a fake soccer recruit. New charging documents say the payments came from Canada, where Sui lives. Authorities say Sui was arrested in Spain last week and is being extradited to Boston. It was unclear if she has an attorney. Her son was admitted to UCLA in 2018 with a 25% scholarship. UCLA says it took “immediate corrective action” when it learned of the case.
