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Even the threat of government shutdown carries a cost

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:27:49 GMT

Although the federal government avoided a shutdown this weekend, the simple threat of one has carried a cost that continues to hang over federal operations.Current and former federal officials said that agencies have spent many hours over the past couple of weeks focusing on the possibility of shutting down, instead of the mission of their agencies. They also say brinkmanship over suspending government operations is distracting and demoralizing to the federal workforce.Executive editor of Federal News Network Jason Miller told WTOP that federal leaders lost serious time in preparation for a federal shutdown.“I’ve talked to several different federal executives over the last week or so, and all of them have spent 20 hours of their 40 hour week or 30 hours out of their 50 hour week planning, doing the administrative work, thinking about (the threatened shutdown), going to meetings …” he said.Miller added that one agency executive working in finance and budgeting found...

Taylor Swift watches Travis Kelce’s Chiefs take on the Jets at MetLife Stadium

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:27:49 GMT

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Taylor Swift couldn’t just shake off another chance to watch Travis Kelce on the football field.The 12-time Grammy Award winner arrived at MetLife Stadium about 40 minutes before kickoff Sunday night to watch Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs take on the New York Jets.SNY posted video of Swift, wearing blue jean shorts, a long-sleeved black top and leather jacket, entering the stadium’s security area with actors Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Hugh Jackman. NBC’s telecast cut to Swift several times during the game, including a shot of the pop superstar with her arm around Kelce’s mother, Donna, who was wearing her son’s No. 87 jersey.Swift’s appearance comes a week after she was at Arrowhead Stadium — decked out in red and white — to watch the Chiefs’ 41-10 rout of the Chicago Bears at home in a suite alongside Donna Kelce. Swift took advantage of an invitation from the All-Pro tight end to watch the game, and app...

Arango, MacMath help Real Salt Lake end long skid against LAFC with 1-0 victory

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:27:49 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cristian Arango scored the lone goal, Zac MacMath finished with seven saves and Real Salt Lake snapped a seven-match losing streak against Los Angeles FC with a 1-0 victory on Sunday night.Real Salt Lake (13-11-7) jumps over LAFC (12-10-9) into a tie for second place in the Western Conference with the Seattle Sounders. LAFC would have clinched a playoff spot with a victory.Neither team scored until Rubio Rubín subbed in for Real Salt Lake in the 69th minute and picked up an assist in the 72nd on Arango’s sixth goal of the season. Braian Ojeda also notched an assist on the score. Maxime Crépeau had three saves in his fourth start of the season for LAFC. LAFC entered the match with an 11-1-0 all-time record against Real Salt Lake. It is the highest win percentage in any series in league history with at least five matchups. But the club continues to struggle to score goals. Had Arango not scored LAFC would have matched the 2012 Real Salt Lake club as the only o...

Officer-involved shooting at Westminster apartment complex

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:27:49 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The Westminster Police Department said there was an officer-involved shooting Sunday night. New gun violence prevention laws spark controversy WPD said it happened at the Skyview Apartments, located at 116th Ave. and N. Navajo St.WPD did not immediately release any further details. This story will be updated with more information as it becomes available.

What single market? Why Romanians get new medicines 2 years after Germans

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:27:49 GMT

The single market is at the very heart of the European Union. But when it comes to one type of product — life-saving medicines — it’s every country for itself.Patients across the bloc don’t have the same drugs available when battling with disease. A doctor in Romania waits on average two years to prescribe the same cutting-edge drug as their counterpart in Germany. If someone is suffering from a life-threatening illness such as cancer, that’s the difference between life and death. Policymakers are aware of this postcode lottery — and want to change it.“Patients in Western and bigger member states have access to 90 percent of newly approved medicines. In Eastern and smaller member states, this number is as low as 10 percent,” said Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides in a speech in April. “This is truly unacceptable.” The senior EU official was presenting the Commission’s proposal to reform Europe’s pharmaceutical market, the main aim of which is to fix this iss...

Editorial: How Medicare should negotiate drug prices

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:27:49 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 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:27:49 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 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:27:49 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 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:27:49 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 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:27:49 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...