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Bill to limit hospital facility fees passes House committee

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:50 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Despite fierce opposition from the state's network of hospitals, Colorado's House Health and Insurance Committee passed a bill on an 8-3 vote to limit facility fees. House Bill 1215 would make facility fees more transparent by mandating notification to patients at the time of service. In addition, the bill would ban facility fees for primary care, preventative care and telehealth visits. In a nod to opponents, the newly amended bill would also require a third-party report to study the impact of facility fees on hospitals and consumers. The aim is to provide data to fact-check discrepancies in claims from hospitals on when, why, and how facility fees are chargedThe bill is sponsored by Rep. Emily Sirota (D-Denver), Rep. Andrew Boesenecker (D-Fort Collins), Sen. Kyle Mullica (D-Thorton), and Sen. Lisa Cutter (D-Littleton) and follows numerous reports by the Problem Solvers in the past year about questionable medical bills. $1,525 facility fee highlights medical meas...

Moving truck with Parkland family’s belongings stolen from Delray Beach lot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:50 GMT

A family who just moved into a Parkland neighborhood has been left reeling after thieves stole a truck packed with nearly all their belongings from a moving company’s parking lot.The Blanchettes spoke with 7News on Friday about the theft as they prepare to spend their first weekend at their new home.“We’ve been working very hard, ever since we’ve been married, nearly nine years ago, to try to get the home of our dreams, and we’d finally accomplished that,” said Michael Blanchette.But the sofa and the flatscreen that should be in the living room, as well as the beds that should be upstairs and all of 4-year-old Shelby’s toys, were all packed inside the moving truck that, the family said, was stolen Thursday night.“[The moving company] called us this morning and told us that our stuff was stolen,” said Michael as he fought back tears.The Blanchettes, who lived in Pompano Beach, closed on their new house on Thursday, but the closing was delayed a few hours.They told t...

Crime Briefs: Alleged kidnapper deported from Massachusetts to Mexico

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:50 GMT

A fugitive from Mexico wanted for kidnapping who had illegally entered the U.S. has been returned to his home country to face justice.Francisco Lopez-Lopez, 50, of Mexico, was flown by officers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s removal team to Valley International Airport in Texas Wednesday and turned over to Mexican authorities at the port of entry in Brownsville, according to ICE.“Kidnapping is both terrifying for the victims and lucrative for the perpetrators and criminal organizations,” said Todd Lyons, the field director in Boston. “Combating these types of crimes is a high priority for us.”ICE says Lopez-Lopez first entered the country illegally by crossing over near Laredo, Texas, in 2002, after which he returned to Mexico. Twenty years later, the agency said, he crossed into the U.S. again this time from Canada’s border with Maine. He is wanted for kidnapping by a court in the Mexican state of Chiapas.Aunt beat baby niece to death in QuincyA 32-year-old aunt in Quincy...

Gwyneth Paltrow insisted Utah ski collision wasn’t her fault

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:50 GMT

By SAM METZ (Associated Press)PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Gwyneth Paltrow insisted Friday on the witness stand that a ski collision at an upscale Utah ski resort in 2016 wasn’t her fault, claiming the man suing her had smashed into her from behind.Paltrow testified that the crash shocked her — and at first, she worried that she was being violated.“There was a body pressing against me and a very strange grunting noise,” she said. “My brain was trying to make sense of what was happening,” the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer added, clarifying on the stand that the collision was not a sexual violation.Paltrow and Terry Sanderson, the retired optometrist who is suing her, are both expected to answer questions about the crash while their attorneys jostle to convince the 8-member jury which skier was positioned downhill and who had the right of way.Throughout Paltrow’s heavily anticipated testimony, the founder-CEO of Goop calmly and repeatedly ...

Debt, expenses stress lower income households: Poll

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:50 GMT

A new AP-NORC poll shows that personal finances are a major source of stress for about half of the lower income households in the U.S.. The results illustrate the toll of high inflation and economic uncertainty on those who can least afford it. About half of U.S. adults in households earning less than $60,000 annually and about 4 in 10 of those in households earning $60,000 to $100,000 say they’re stressed by their personal finances. That compares with only about a quarter of those in higher income households. About three-quarters of adults across income groups say their household expenses are higher now than they were a year ago.Wall Street ends higherStocks shook off a weak start and ended higher on Wall Street even as worries about banks on both sides of the Atlantic continue to weigh on markets. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% Friday, marking its second straight weekly gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite also rose. Treasury yields stabilized after an early ...

Charlie Baker’s start with the NCAA not sitting well with Charles Barkley, others

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:50 GMT

NCAA President Charlie Baker wants to seek help from the feds in figuring out how to regulate name, image and likeness compensation for collegiate athletes.The approach is not giving NBA Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley a positive first impression of the former Massachusetts governor, just three weeks into his new gig leading the NCAA.“Did he say we’re gonna ask the politicians to help us? That pisses me off already,” said Barkley, a longtime basketball commentator for Turner Sports. “Our politicians are awful people.”Barkley’s in-studio comments came after an interview between Baker and March Madness commentators Greg Gumbel and Clark Kellog aired Thursday night. The segment highlighted how Baker plans on tackling his top priority of adding consumer protection around NIL for athletes and their families.“One of the ADs (said) the only thing true about it at this point is that everybody lies,” Baker said about the NIL market. “I would love to create some transparency and accountability ...

Scherzer named Mets Opening Day starter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:50 GMT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — One of the game’s biggest big-game pitchers will be on the mound for the Mets on Opening Day.MLB Network announced the Opening Day starters for all 30 clubs Friday, with the Mets revealing Max Scherzer as their choice to start March 30 in Miami against the Marlins. He’ll oppose Sandy Alcantara at LoanDepot Park.“It’s awesome. It’s a heck of a day to pitch on,” Scherzer said after taking the win in the Mets’ 10-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. “The atmospheres are crazy at every single venue that you’re in. It’s going to be a great day and it’s really fun to go out there and get the ball in that situation.”This will be Scherzer’s first Opening Day start for the Mets but the seventh of the veteran ace’s career. Scherzer made six Opening Day starts for the Washington Nationals, including four straight Opening Day starts from 2018-2021.The Mets have long planned t...

Boston bus driver reported punched in face by parent, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:50 GMT

A Boston bus driver in his 70s said a parent whose daughter claimed she got hurt on the vehicle earlier in the week hopped onto the bus and punched him in the face, according to police.The origins of the bus brouhaha trace back to Monday, when a 1st grader at the Charles H. Taylor Elementary School in Mattapan came home complaining to her parents that the bus driver had pushed her, hurting her, according to police reports.The girl’s mother called the cops and told them her daughter “came off the bus holding her stomach and visibly upset.” The girl told the cops that the bus driver pushed her backward, hurting her.The bus driver, who’s in his 70s, told a different story. According to police reports, he said the girl was standing next to him near the front of the bus while he was driving and when he came to a stop, she “fell forward and he caught her with his right hand and prevented her from falling head first.”He added that he “has to consta...

Celtics notebook: Robert Williams talks recent hamstring injury, potential bench role as playoffs near

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:50 GMT

This has not been the season Robert Williams envisioned.The Celtics center’s sudden knee surgery on the eve of training camp cost him the first 29 games of the season. A recent hamstring injury forced him out for eight. Williams has shown flashes of his irreplaceable ability, but hasn’t gained a consistent rhythm. But asked Friday how he’s viewed his season to date, he wasn’t quite in the mood for reflection yet.“Ask me at the end of the summer and I can answer that a little bit better,” Williams said with a smile.Williams certainly isn’t done with the story of his season yet. He’s back healthy, and though he’s missed 44 games, knows the most important games are ahead. His return in Tuesday’s win at Sacramento was a reminder of how dominant the Celtics can be when they’re whole, and why they’re such a championship threat. With Williams in and out of the lineup all year – as well as others – it’s been hard for the C’s to find that form consistently.Now is the time for the Celti...

Sexually violent predator to be placed in Borrego Springs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:50 GMT

BORREGO SPRINGS, Calif. -- A sexually violent predator will be placed in Borrego Springs, a judge ruled Friday, months after protests broke out last year about the possibility of the man living in the area, a San Diego County official said.Supervisor Jim Desmond, District 5, reacted to the judge's decision Friday to place Douglas Badger, who has served five separate prison terms for convictions including child molestation, kidnapping and forcible oral copulation, in the East County desert community."I’m extremely disappointed in the judge’s decision. There’s no place in Borrego Springs, or anywhere, for these abominable criminals to be placed. I’m going to look at every option to continue to fight this placement, and to ensure these placements are stopped," Desmond said. Alpine community calling attention to damage done by draining of Loveland Reservoir The San Diego County supervisor called sexually violent predators "the worst of the worst," adding the decision is "d...