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Man killed while helping ducklings safely cross busy California street

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:51 GMT

ROCKLIN, Calif. (AP) — His family says it’s no surprise that Casey Rivara’s final act was one of compassion. When he spotted a mama duck trying to guide her ducklings across a busy California intersection, Rivara stopped his car at a red light and got out to help them make it to safety. Rivara made sure traffic in all directions was stopped, witnesses said, then escorted the duck and her babies to the other side of the street around 8:15 p.m. last Thursday in suburban Rocklin, northeast of Sacramento. “All the ducks made it safely across,” said 11-year-old Jude Peterson, who was watching with a carpool group after track practice. “He did something amazing.” His good deed done, Rivara was walking back to his car when another vehicle came through the intersection and struck him. He flew through the air and landed in the street. The 41-year-old father of two died at the scene. “Casey was the kindest, most amazing husband and father. Even his last act in this world was a sign of h...

Bulgarian writer wins International Booker Prize for darkly comic memory novel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:51 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov and translator Angela Rodel won the International Booker Prize on Tuesday for “Time Shelter,” a darkly comic novel about the dangerous appeal of nostalgia.The book beat five other finalists to the prize, which recognizes fiction from around the world that has been translated into English. The 50,000 pounds ($62,000) in prize money is divided between author and translator.“Time Shelter” imagines a clinic that recreates the past, with each floor reproducing a different decade. Intended as a way to help people with dementia unlock their memories, it soon becomes a magnet for people eager to escape the modern world.French novelist Leila Slimani, who chaired the judging panel, said it was “a brilliant novel full of irony and melancholy.”“It’s a very profound work that deals with a contemporary question and also a philosophical question: What happens to us when our memories disappear?” she said.“But it is also a great novel about Euro...

Texas AG accuses state’s House speaker of being intoxicated

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:51 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton called Tuesday for the resignation of the state’s GOP House speaker, accusing him of being intoxicated on the job in a statement that shook the state Capitol. In a tweet, Paxton accused Republican Dade Phelan of presiding over the Texas House “in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication.” He cited no specific evidence, but the tweet came days after conservative critics of Phelan circulated video on social media that appeared to show the speaker slurring his words while presiding over the Texas House on Friday night.Phelan’s office did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The speaker returned to presiding over the House shortly after Paxton released the statement as lawmakers continued working through bills. Paxton also asked the House General Investigating Committee, which include allies of Phelan, to look into the matter. On Tuesday afternoon, the committee was holding a closed hearing i...

Medicaid plans to audit the prices of costliest drugs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday it is planning to conduct a yearly audit to verify the prices drug makers charge on a handful of the costliest prescriptions covered by Medicaid. Under the proposal, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would require as many as 10 drug makers every year to furnish the government with proprietary and non-proprietary information as evidence to support the price it charges states, which administer Medicaid. Drugs that cost Medicaid the most money — some as much as $2 million per treatment — will be selected for the survey. The proposal was prompted by rising drug prices and complaints from states leaders who say they are having trouble negotiating those costs with manufacturers, said Dan Tsai, director of Center for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Services. “We’ve got very high cost drugs, who have no competition,” Tsai said Tuesday. More than 90 million people are enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP, wh...

Police: Woman arrested, charged after punching student at middle school

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:51 GMT

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — A woman from the northern suburbs was arrested and charged Tuesday after police allege she entered a middle school with another male and punched a student.Angel Terry, 29.The Waukegan Police Department said 29-year-old Angel S. Terry, a Waukegan resident, went to John Lewis Middle School Tuesday around 7 a.m. — along with another man — to confront a student about a previous altercation with her niece.According to police, Terry and the male subject made it to the school, where staff tried to stop them from entering and were battered in the process.Terry then made it inside the school, where she found the student and punched him in the face. The male subject battered a staff member and a teacher before both fled the school in a blue Nissan, police said.After responding to a location in Waukegan where the duo's vehicle was found, police were able to identify Terry as the offender in the incident at John Lewis Middle School and arrested her at the scene. Pritzker anno...

Jimmy Carter aware of tributes, enjoying ice cream, 3 months into hospice: grandson

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:51 GMT

NORCROSS, Ga. (AP) — Three months after entering end-of-life care at home, former President Jimmy Carter remains in good spirits as he visits with family, follows public discussion of his legacy and receives updates on The Carter Center's humanitarian work around the world, his grandson says. He's even enjoying regular servings of ice cream.“They’re just meeting with family right now, but they’re doing it in the best possible way: the two of them together at home,” Jason Carter said of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, now 98 and 95 years old.“They’ve been together 70-plus years. They also know that they’re not in charge,” the younger Carter said Tuesday in a brief interview. “Their faith is really grounding in this moment. In that way, it’s as good as it can be.”The longest-lived U.S. president, Jimmy Carter announced in February that after a series of brief hospital stays, he would forgo further medical intervention and spend the remainder of his life in the same modest, one-story h...

MedWatch Daily Digest: Doctors confirm link between Covid and diabetes diagnosis — and more

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:51 GMT

For Tuesday, May 23, WGN’s Medical Reporter Dina Bair has the latest on new information, including the following: More Coverage: WGN's Medical Watch Covid, diabetes link in childrenDuring the pandemic, doctors noticed a relationship between people who tested positive for Covid and were later given a diabetes diagnosis. Delving further into the link, doctors writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association found children were most impacted. The incidence of type 1 diabetes in children between 2 and 12 was 50% greater from 2020-21 compared to the diagnosis from 2018-19. Children with a Covid-19 infection were 57% more likely to develop diabetes than those who did not have covid. Researchers suggest Covid promotes an underlying autoimmune problem accelerating the progression of the disease. Automated insulin dosing pump approved A new device may help manage diabetes. The Food and Drug Administration just approved a bionic pancreas for people with type 1 diabetes. It's a wea...

Boebert claims birth control too expensive in drug price hearing: 'It's cheaper to have a kid'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:51 GMT

(The Hill) – Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said during a hearing on drug pricing that she once declined to pay for birth control medicine when she saw how high the price was at the pharmacy.Boebert recalled thinking at the time that “it’s cheaper to have a kid."In a House Oversight and Accountability hearing on the role of pharmacy benefit managers in prescription drug prices, lawmakers questioned the lack of transparency and the high prices of prescription drugs. Boebert asked a witness — pharmacist owner Kevin J. Duane — whether he frequently sees people leaving prescriptions at the counter because they can’t afford them.  The 100 best burger spots in the U.S., according to Yelp “I left a prescription at a pharmacy once. I went to get birth control," she said. "And I was there at the counter and went to pay for it, and the price was very, very high. I said, ‘Wow, is this a three-, six-month prescription?’ ‘No ma’am this is one month' And I said, 'It’s cheaper to have a...

Several local cities are among the fastest-growing in the country, new population estimates show

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Suburban growth continued to lead the way in population growth last year, according to new census estimates for cities across the country.Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show between July 1, 2021, and July 1, 2022, Texas’ population increased by 470,708, surpassing a total of 30 million. More than 30 million people now call Texas home, U.S. census estimates show Georgetown was revealed as the fastest-growing city in the nation with a population greater than 50,000, for the second year in a row. The city grew by 14.4%, adding almost 11,000 new residents.Kyle and Leander both grew at more than 10%, ranking as third- and fourth-fastest growing cities nationwide. Santa Cruz, California, ranked second, with 12.5% growth.Where did population change happen quickest?Smaller cities grew at an even faster pace. Jarrell is the fastest-growing city in Texas, up 60.9% in 2022. The city added more than 1,600 residents, bringing the total population up to 3,410.Nearby Liber...

Westlake holds off Lake Travis surge, wins 6th consecutive UIL boys golf championship

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Lake Travis surged up the leaderboard on the final day of the UIL Class 6A boys golf tournament, but it was the steady Westlake Chaparrals who claimed their sixth consecutive state title Tuesday at Legacy Hills Golf Club in Georgetown.The Chaps shot under par in both rounds of the tournament to finish with a 3-under-par 573 to win in coach Callan Nokes' final season at the helm as he takes over as the school's athletic director. Westlake shot 286 on the tournament's first day Monday, then followed it up with a 287 to win by five shots over the Cavaliers.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newslettersWestlake sophomore Adam Villanueva fired a pair of 6-under rounds to claim the individual title at 12-under, winning by four shots over Plano West's Ethan Fang. Villanueva was tied for the lead heading into Tuesday with Houston Memorial's Charlie Wylie, but Wylie fell off ...