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California to keep paying Walgreens despite abortion dispute

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:25:10 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's Medicaid program will continue to pay Walgreens about $1.5 billion each year despite Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom declaring last month the state was done doing business with the pharmacy giant after it indicated it would not sell abortion pills by mail in some states.“California won’t be doing business with @Walgreens -- or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk. We’re done,” Newsom tweeted March 6. San Jose police union executive fired for drug smuggling scandal He then ordered his administration not to renew a $54 million contract with the company to provide prescription medication to the state's prison system.But cutting ties with Walgreens wasn't as clear cut as the governor first indicated. Walgreens has a much more lucrative connection to California's Medicaid program — the joint federal and state health insurance program for people who are disabled or have low incomes. Federal law says Medicaid patien...

Stroman goes 6 scoreless in Cubs’ 2-0 win over Rangers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:25:10 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Marcus Stroman pitched six scoreless innings and Cody Bellinger delivered the go-ahead RBI to help the Cubs blank the Texas Rangers 2-0 on Friday.Stroman (2-0) struck out six and allowed two hits and three walks a few days after opening the season with a six-inning, eight-strikeout effort. Texas’ Nathan Eovaldi (1-1) allowed only a walk his first time through the order but the Cubs made the most of it when they got a few hits in the fourth. Dansby Swanson reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second before coming home on Bellinger’s RBI single for what turned out to be all the offense they’d need.Ian Happ doubled in a run two innings later to chase Eovaldi, who finished with six strikeouts while allowing five hits and a walk.Stroman loaded the bases in the sixth with a pair of walks but killed the threat by getting Josh Jung to gently ground out. Mark Leiter Jr. worked a clean seventh and Michael Fulmer came on for the final two to convert his first save...

UConn guard Jordan Hawkins declares for NBA draft

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:25:10 GMT

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — UConn guard Jordan Hawkins announced Friday that he will leave college and enter the NBA draft.The 6-foot-5 sophomore from Gaithersburg, Maryland averaged 16.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists this past season, helping lead the Huskies to the program’s fifth NCAA Tournament title. Hawkins also averaged 16.3 points in the Huskies’ six games in the NCAA Tournament and shot 50% from 3-point range (21 of 42). He scored 16 points in the Huskies win over San Diego State in the title game on Monday night. Hawkins made the announcement Friday while appearing with coach Dan Hurley on ESPN’s NBA Today show.Hawkins is known for his ability to come off a screen and quickly release a 3-point attempt. He shot 38.8% from beyond the arc this season. His 109 3-pointers this year are second behind Ray Allen’s 115 on UConn’s single-season list.Hawkins could be the first UConn player taken in the first-round of the draft since James Bouknight was selected at No. 11 ...

Washington shutters pot businesses due to old pesticide

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:25:10 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Cannabis regulators have halted operations at several outdoor pot farms and processing facilities on a stretch of former fruit orchards in north-central Washington state after testing found high levels of chemicals related to a dangerous pesticide used decades ago.The sweeping action announced Thursday night by the state Liquor and Cannabis Board renewed concerns about pesticides in marijuana and put dozens of people at least temporarily out of work just as they were preparing for spring planting. “We are very concerned about the jobs and businesses, but we felt we needed to get a message out to our licensees and to take action for public safety,” said board spokesperson Brian Smith.Over the last several months, officials collected samples from grow operations and processors along a nearly 5-mile (8-kilometer) stretch of the Okanogan River north of Brewster, a region of former orchards where fruit growers used the cancer-causing pesticide DDT before the U.S. banned it...

Mets walk to 9-3 win over Marlins in home opener

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:25:10 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Tylor Megill pitched six shutout innings, Starling Marte and Francisco Lindor hit their first home runs of the season, and the New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins 9-3 on Friday in their home opener. Miami starter Edward Cabrera (0-1) walked a career-high seven in 2 2/3 innings and was pulled without giving up a hit. New York took advantage of 12 free passes from six Marlins pitchers — four drawn by leadoff batter Brandon Nimmo.Pete Alonso also homered and drove in two runs for the Mets, who have won four straight home openers and eight of their last nine. They improved to 4-1 against Miami this season and rebounded from a three-game sweep in Milwaukee that completed a 3-4 road trip to start the season.In a game postponed a day because of a rainy weather forecast, Megill (2-0) filled in for injured ace Justin Verlander again and beat the Marlins for the second time in a week. The right-hander allowed three hits and struck out three, shaking off a line drive that stru...

As DC’s 911 agency aims to fill shortage of call-takers, director suggests texting instead

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:25:10 GMT

D.C.’s 911 agency is in need of more people to train to take emergency calls. And its director said while they try to fill those positions — depending on what you need — texting may be a better way to get through to a dispatcher.It’s a difficult job with long hours, and that requires a lot of training. It’s not easy to fill the many vacant positions at the Office of Unified Communications, which has come under scrutiny in recent years for delayed responses and misdirected emergency responders during life or death situations.More Local NewsMore DC NewsBut while hosting Mayor Muriel Bowser at the agency’s headquarters this week, director Heather McGaffin noted that in comparison to before the pandemic, the agency is getting more calls and the nature of the calls has changed.“The types of calls that we are taking are now requiring us to stay on the phone longer if someone’s calling with a mental health emergency,” McGaffin said at a news confer...

Forense revela la causa de muerte de Coolio, rapero de Gangsta’s Paradise

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:25:10 GMT

(CNN) — El médico forense del condado de Los Ángeles publicó los resultados de la autopsia de la muerte de Coolio más de seis meses después de que el rapero de “Fantastic Voyage” fuera encontrado inconsciente en una casa de Los Ángeles.El informe enumera los efectos del fentanilo, la heroína y la metanfetamina como la causa de muerte. Coolio murió a los 59 años en septiembre.Otras “afecciones significativas” enumeradas en el informe incluyen “cardiomiopatía no especificada, asma y uso reciente de fenciclidina”.Coolio, el rapero de Gangsta’s Paradise, muere a los 59 añosHace siete años, Coolio habló con el locutor de radio Sway en su programa “Sway in the Morning” sobre la lucha contra la adicción a la cocaína.“Mi némesis era la cocaína”, dijo Coolio. “Solía consumir coca en los años 80 y dejé de hacerlo durante 12 años. Y luego comencé de nuevo”.En 2009, Coolio se declaró culpable de posesión de cocaína y accedió a ingresar a un ...

Back in black; McCutchen mixes nostalgia and hope in return

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:25:10 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The echoes of that electric October night nearly a decade ago when PNC Park shook and the Pittsburgh Pirates exorcised a generation of futility remain fresh to Andrew McCutchen.Johnny Cueto dropped the ball. Russell Martin homered and McCutchen and the Pirates celebrated a 2013 wild-card victory that rekindled a city’s love affair with a franchise that spent decades in Major League Baseball’s wilderness.The veteran outfielder still holds the moment close. Just not too close. He’s wary of getting too steeped in nostalgia, one of the reasons he’s repeatedly stressed his second stint with the club that drafted him in 2005 and helped mold him into a five-time All-Star is not a farewell tour.So consider the way McCutchen approached Friday’s home opener against the Chicago White Sox — his first appearance at PNC Park as a member of the Pirates since Sept. 27, 2017 — as more of a history lesson.There was McCutchen’s mother Petrina singi...

2 brush fires spark along I-70 near Denver International Airport

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:25:10 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Fire crews worked to put out two separate brush fires that sparked Friday afternoon near Interstate 70 and Peña Boulevard.The two "slow-moving" fires were reported around 2 p.m., according to tweets from Aurora Fire Rescue. Both Denver and Aurora fire crews responded. Denver International Airport pinpointed a fire location near 40th Avenue. Above-normal snowpack helps drought conditions in Colorado Aurora Fire Rescue said that crews had containment on both fires by about 2:35 p.m. One was east of the intersection and one was west. They were about an acre each."No buildings were threatened and no injuries occurred," Aurora Fire tweeted. An investigation into the cause was ongoing.A view of the fire from Colorado Department of Transportation cameras showed a stretch of charred grass beside the interstate.

Colorado taxpayers paid how much for weddings in Vail?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:25:10 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Tying the knot was 10% easier for dozens of Colorado couples in the last two years. First reported by Colorado Public Radio, the state has subsidized hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of weddings in the last two years. State subsidies are funded with taxpayer dollars. The Colorado Tourism Office executes the program.The program was part of a broader COVID pandemic push to keep economies afloat or to bounce them back - in this case, accommodation-based economies and their employees. The event subsidy program offered rebates of up to 10% of the total cost as long as they followed certain parameters. Here’s what the average cost was in 2022 for a wedding in Denver The weddings must cost at least $35,000 and have enough of a guestlist to create 25 nights' worth of hotel stays. Thirty-five were approved between July 2021 and October 2022, totaling almost $300,000.In effect, Colorado has ended up subsidizing expensive weddings in the state's most expensive venue l...