Bin Laden film “Zero Dark Thirty” leads box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Zero Dark Thirty,” Hollywood‘s re-telling of the decade-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden, captured the No. 1 spot on movie box office charts over the weekend with $ 24 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales.

The movie starring Jessica Chastain as a dogged CIA agent edged out horror movie spoof “A Haunted House,” which earned $ 18.8 million, as well as “Gangster Squad,” a period crime drama that finished in third place with $ 16.7 million, according to studio estimates.

Caught in political controversy, “Zero Dark Thirty” received a boost this week from five Oscar nominations, including best picture, though its director Kathryn Bigelow was snubbed in the best director category.

The movie is a dramatized account of the hunt for al Qaeda leader bin Laden and the May 2011 U.S. Navy SEAL raid in which he was killed. It has sparked a debate about its depictions of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” with some critics arguing that the film promotes the use of torture.

Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal have said their movie depicts several investigation methods and does not suggest one particular technique led to bin Laden. Sony Pictures Chairwoman Amy Pascal on Friday said the movie “does not advocate torture.”

Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony Corp‘s Sony Pictures studio, said one of the things the motive had certainly done was to promote “a lot of dialogue and conversation.”

He attributed the film’s strong performance to “the awards, conversation about controversy, and the film itself.”

A Senate Committee is investigating whether the CIA spy agency provided the filmmakers with any inappropriate access to secret material. Government e-mails and memoranda released to the conservative group Judicial Watch show that both the CIA and the Pentagon provided extensive access.

“Zero Dark Thirty” expanded nationwide this weekend to nearly 3,000 theaters following limited showings since late December. It cost $ 40 million to make, according to website Hollywood.com.

The low-budget “A Haunted House” comes from Marlon Wayans, writer of the “Scary Movie” horror spoof series. The film debuted to $ 18.8 million, beating out period noir “Gangster Squad.” The $ 2.5 million production tells the story of a man dealing with his wife after she becomes possessed by the devil inhabiting their dream home.

Jason Cassidy, head of marketing at Open Road Films, the distributor of “A Haunted House,” said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the film’s numbers, and credited African-American and Latino audiences with boosting the film’s numbers.

Cassidy added that the film’s release on a weekend in which it had no competition from other major comedies, as well as heavy promotion by star Marlon Wayans, helped it succeed at the box office despite largely negative reviews.

“Gangster Squad” opened Friday in third place at $ 16.7 million after it was reworked following last July’s fatal shooting in Aurora, Colorado at a midnight premiere of Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises.”

The film stars Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling and originally included a scene eerily similar to the Aurora tragedy in which gunmen open fire from behind a movie screen. A new scene was filmed and the movie’s September premiere date was pushed to January.

Set in 1949 Los Angeles, the movie stars Sean Penn as real-life gangster Mickey Cohen, who is ultimately brought down by a band of cops led by Brolin and Gosling. The film is based on a non-fiction book by Paul Lieberman.

Two Christmas Day releases rounded out the top of the weekend chart. Quentin Tarantino Western “Django Unchained” landed in fourth place with $ 11.1 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters. In fifth place, musical “Les Miserables” took in $ 10.1 million.

The weekend marked a strong start for Hollywood in 2013 after 2012′s record box-office numbers. $ 10.8 billion in movie ticket sales were recorded in 2012, according to boxoffice.com, making 2012 the most lucrative year ever for Hollywood. The numbers exceeded those from 2011 by nearly six percent. Profits from the first two weeks of January 2013 are also up about 22 percent over the same time period of 2012.

Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, released “Gangster Squad. “Zero Dark Thirty” was distributed by Sony Corp‘s movie studio. “A Haunted House” was released by Open Road Films, a joint venture between theater owners Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Inc.

The Weinstein Co distributed “Django Unchained.” “Les Miserables” was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp.

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine and Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Paul Simao and David Brunnstrom)

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Bin Laden film “Zero Dark Thirty” leads box office
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/bin-laden-film-zero-dark-thirty-leads-box-office/
Link To Post : Bin Laden film “Zero Dark Thirty” leads box office
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

City Room: Cuomo Declares Public Health Emergency Over Flu Outbreak

With the nation in the grip of a severe influenza outbreak that has seen deaths reach epidemic levels, New York State declared a public health emergency on Saturday, making access to vaccines more easily available.

There have been nearly 20,000 cases of flu reported across the state so far this season, officials said. Last season, 4,400 positive laboratory tests were reported.

“We are experiencing the worst flu season since at least 2009, and influenza activity in New York State is widespread, with cases reported in all 57 counties and all five boroughs of New York City,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement.

Under the order, pharmacists will be allowed to administer flu vaccinations to patients between 6 months and 18 years old, temporarily suspending a state law that prohibits pharmacists from administering immunizations to children.

While children and older people tend to be the most likely to become seriously ill from the flu, Mr. Cuomo urged all New Yorkers to get vaccinated.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said that deaths from the flu had reached epidemic levels, with at least 20 children having died nationwide. Officials cautioned that deaths from pneumonia and the flu typically reach epidemic levels for a week or two every year. The severity of the outbreak will be determined by how long the death toll remains high or if it climbs higher.

There was some evidence that caseloads may be peaking, federal officials said on Friday.

In New York City, public health officials announced on Thursday that flu-related illnesses had reached epidemic levels, and they joined the chorus of authorities urging people to get vaccinated.

“It’s a bad year,” the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, told reporters on Thursday. “We’ve got lots of flu, it’s mainly type AH3N2, which tends to be a little more severe. So we’re seeing plenty of cases of flu and plenty of people sick with flu. Our message for any people who are listening to this is it’s still not too late to get your flu shot.”

There has been a spike in the number of people going to emergency rooms over the past two weeks with flulike symptoms – including fever, fatigue and coughing – Dr. Farley said.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Mr. Cuomo made a public display of getting shots this past week.

In a briefing with reporters on Friday, officials from the C.D.C. said that this year’s vaccine was effective in 62 percent of cases.

As officials have stepped up their efforts encouraging vaccinations, there have been scattered reports of shortages. But officials said plenty of the vaccine was available.

According to the C.D.C., makers of the flu vaccine produced about 135 million doses for this year. As of early this month, 128 million doses had been distributed. While that would not be enough for every American, only 37 percent of the population get a flu shot each year.

Federal health officials said they would be happy if that number rose to 50 percent, which would mean that there would be more than enough vaccine for anyone who wanted to be immunized.

Two other diseases – norovirus and whooping cough – are also widespread this winter and are contributing to the number of people getting sick.

The flu can resemble a cold, though the symptoms come on more rapidly and are more severe.

A version of this article appeared in print on 01/13/2013, on page A21 of the NewYork edition with the headline: New York Declares Health Emergency.

Read More..

Illinois' 'fracking' future fractured

Thousands of landowners downstate have sold their rights to drill for oil and natural gas for upfront fees ranging from $50 to $350 per acre, plus a cut of the profits.

Others are fighting to prevent the drilling out of fear that they could be exposed to drinking water contamination, earthquakes, toxic gases and industrialization.

In the middle of this battle are Illinois legislators who have yet to pass laws to deal with horizontal hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking. The issue is expected to be taken up again this year.

Horizontal hydraulic fracturing has opened up vast reserves of natural gas deposits in the U.S. that until now were impossible to tap. The drilling technique uses pressurized sand, water and chemicals to crack open layers of rock that trap such fuels hundreds or thousands of feet below ground.

The stampede to unleash such fuels has been compared to the Gold Rush of the 1840s. And in addition to the money being made by landowners in selling drilling rights, the fracking rush has brought jobs to other parts of the country.

"Other states have found the way to find the sweet spot to protect the environment and bring jobs; we should not miss that boat," said Tom Wolf, executive director of the Energy Council at the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

For people desperate for jobs, a shale gas boom downstate can't come soon enough. Many counties are dealing with unemployment rates that top 10 percent.

Proponents of fracking hope to inject new life into areas of the state where a once-vibrant coal industry has declined precipitously. At the same time, there's a fear drilling will never begin unless the companies that want to extract the gas know what regulatory risks they face.

"If legislation doesn't pass at some point this year, from the state's perspective the risk is that the industry might invest elsewhere in other states that have more favorable conditions to invest in and develop these sorts of wells," said Leonard Kurfirst, a partner at Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP in Chicago who practices environmental law, chemical product liability litigation and regulatory compliance.

The state has laws to deal with gas and oil wells, but those regulations date to 1983 — before modern horizontal drilling techniques were used.

Without meaningful regulation, some landowners are learning that their property rights don't necessarily extend to what's buried beneath the surface. Some have found that their mineral rights were sold years before or that if enough neighbors give permission to drill, they can be forced to join them. Others, who want to test their drinking water for the presence of fracking chemicals, are learning they could be denied access to such information if companies claim it's proprietary.

Commonly referred to as the New Albany shale play, the gas lies in the Illinois basin, a 60,000-square-mile area that encompasses parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates New Albany holds 11 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, approximately enough to meet the needs of about 5 million households for 30 years, according to the American Gas Association.

Hydraulic fracturing has been around for more than 60 years, but the modern methods that have led to the shale gas boom were not used until the turn of this century. Unlike vertical wells of the past, modern horizontal wells vastly multiply the exploitable area of a well and involve more chemicals and water.

According to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, about 250,000 gallons might be used to frack a vertical well compared with as much as 5 million gallons to frack a horizontal well.

Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment (SAFE) is one of several organizations and environmental groups that want a moratorium on fracking in Illinois until a task force looks into the risks associated with hydraulic fracturing and recommends what kinds of regulations need to be in place.

The Illinois Chamber of Commerce is among those opposed to SAFE's proposal, which is similar to what New York state adopted with a four-year-old moratorium that has stalled natural gas development efforts.

"There is no energy source that is perfect for the environment or the economy. If there was, we would be using it," Wolf said.

Without regulations in place, a tacit moratorium already exists, Wolf said, explaining that drillers won't go forward with wells only to learn later that they face environmental regulations, new taxes or other unexpected hurdles.

The chamber released a study last month from David Loomis, a professor of economics at Illinois State University and director of the Center for Renewable Energy, estimating that downstate fracking could create 1,000 to 47,000 direct and indirect jobs depending on how many wells were drilled and what level of local resources were used.

Opponents countered that such jobs studies tend to be overly optimistic and don't take into account harmful environmental and quality-of-life issues that could come with fracking.

Read More..

Aaron Swartz, Internet activist and programmer, dead at 26

Internet activist and computer prodigy Aaron Swartz, who helped create an early version of the Web feed system RSS and later played a key role in stopping an online piracy bill in Congress, has committed suicide at age 26, authorities said on Saturday.

Police found Swartz's body hanging in his Brooklyn apartment on Friday, according to the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, which ruled the death a suicide.

Swartz, a native of north suburban Highland Park, is widely credited with being a co-author of the specifications for the Web feed format RSS 1.0, which he worked on at age 14, according to a blog post on Saturday from his friend Cory Doctorow.

RSS is a format for delivering to users content from sites that change constantly, such as news pages and blogs.

Online tributes to Swartz have been posted at a number of top websites in the technology world.

"Aaron had an unbeatable combination of political insight, technical skill and intelligence about people and issues," Doctorow wrote on his blog at Boing Boing.

Swartz also played a role in building the news sharing website Reddit, but left the company after it was acquired by Wired magazine owner Conde Nast.

In 2011, he was indicted on computer fraud and other charges related to the unauthorized download of academic journal articles at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He pleaded not guilty. His trial was due to start in April.

Doctorow wrote that Swartz had "problems with depression for many years."

Swartz himself described his struggles with dark feelings.

In an online account of his life and work, Swartz said he became "miserable" after going to work at the San Francisco offices of Wired after Reddit was acquired by Conde Nast.

"I took a long Christmas vacation," he wrote. "I got sick. I thought of suicide. I ran from the police. And when I got back on Monday morning, I was asked to resign."

Swartz later founded the group Demand Progress and led a successful campaign to block a bill introduced in 2011 in the U.S. House of Representatives called the Stop Online Piracy Act, which generated fierce opposition in the technological community.

The bill, which was withdrawn amid public pressure, would have allowed court orders to curb access to certain websites deemed to be engaging in illegal sharing of intellectual property.

Swartz and other activists objected on the grounds it would give the government too many broad powers to censor and squelch legitimate Web communication.

Swartz also had been a fellow at a Harvard University research lab on institutional corruption, according to his website.

Tim Berners-Lee, who is credited as the most important figure in the creation of the World Wide Web, commemorated Swartz in a Twitter post on Saturday.

"Aaron dead," he wrote. "World wanderers, we have lost a wise elder. Hackers for right, we are one down. Parents all, we have lost a child. Let us weep."

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles and P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Doina Chiacu)

Read More..

Biden seeks video game industry input on guns

WASHINGTON (AP) — Looking for broader remedies to gun violence, Vice President Joe Biden is reaching out to the video game industry for ideas as the White House seeks to assemble proposals in response to last month’s massacre at a Connecticut elementary school.

Biden is scheduled to meet with video game representatives Friday as the White House explores cultural factors that may contribute to violent behavior.

The vice president, who is leading a task force that will present recommendations to President Barack Obama on Tuesday, met with other representatives from the entertainment industry, including Comcast Corp. and the Motion Picture Association of America, on Thursday.

Friday’s meeting comes a day after the National Rifle Association rejected Obama administration proposals to limit high-capacity ammunition magazines and dug in on its opposition to an assault weapons ban, which Obama has previously said he will propose to Congress. The NRA was one of the pro-gun rights groups that met with Biden during the day.

NRA president David Keene, asked Friday if the NRA has enough support in Congress to fend off legislation to ban sales of assault weapons, indicated it does. “I do not think that there’s going to be a ban on so-called assault weapons passed by the Congress,” he said on NBC’s “Today.”

In previewing the meeting with the video game industry, Biden recalled how the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York lamented during crime bill negotiations in the 1980s that the country was “defining deviancy down.”

It’s unclear what, if anything, the administration is prepared to recommend on how to address the depiction of violence in the media.

White House press secretary Jay Carney last month suggested that not all measures require government intervention.

“It is certainly the case that we in Washington have the potential, anyway, to help elevate issues that are of concern, elevate issues that contribute to the scourge of gun violence in this country, and that has been the case in the past, and it certainly could be in the future,” Carney said then.

In a statement, a half dozen entertainment groups, including the Motion Picture Association of America, said they “look forward to doing our part to seek meaningful solutions.”

On gun control, however, the Obama administration is assembling proposals to curb gun violence that would include a ban on sales of assault weapons, limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines and universal background checks for gun buyers.

“The vice president made it clear, made it explicitly clear, that the president had already made up his mind on those issues,” Keene said after the meeting. “We made it clear that we disagree with them.”

Opposition from the well-funded and politically powerful NRA underscores the challenges that await the White House if it seeks congressional approval for limiting guns and ammunition. Obama can use his executive powers to act alone on some gun measures, but his options on the proposals opposed by the NRA are limited without Congress’ cooperation.

Obama has pushed reducing gun violence to the top of his domestic agenda following last month’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman slaughtered 20 children and six adults before killing himself. The president put Biden in charge of an administration task force and set a late January deadline for proposals.

“I committed to him I’d have these recommendations to him by Tuesday,” Biden said Thursday, during a separate White House meeting with sportsmen and wildlife groups. “It doesn’t mean it’s the end of the discussion, but the public wants us to act.”

The vice president later met privately with the NRA and other gun-owner groups for more than 90 minutes. Participants in the meeting described it as an open and frank discussion, but one that yielded little movement from either side on long-held positions.

Keene told NBC there is a fundamental disagreement over what would actually make a difference in curbing gun violence.

Richard Feldman, the president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association, said all were in agreement on a need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. But when the conversation turned to broad restrictions on high-capacity magazines and assault weapons, Feldman said Biden suggested the president had already made up his mind to seek a ban.

“Is there wiggle room and give?” Feldman said. “I don’t know.”

White House officials said the vice president didn’t expect to win over the NRA and other gun groups on those key issues. But the administration was hoping to soften their opposition in order to rally support from pro-gun lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Biden’s proposals are also expected to include recommendations to address mental health care and violence on television, in movies and video games. Those issues have wide support from gun-rights groups and pro-gun lawmakers.

As the meetings took place in Washington, a student was shot and wounded at a rural California high school and another student was taken into custody.

During his meeting with sporting and wildlife groups, Biden said that while no recommendations would eliminate all future shootings, “there has got to be some common ground, to not solve every problem but diminish the probability that our children are at risk in their schools and diminish the probability that firearms will be used in violent behavior in our society.”

Several Cabinet members have also taken on an active role in Biden’s gun violence task force, including Attorney General Eric Holder. He met Thursday with Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest firearms seller, along with other retailers such as Bass Pro Shops and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

The president hopes to announce his administration’s next steps to tackle gun violence shortly after he is sworn in for a second term. He has pledged to push for new measures in his State of the Union address.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Biden seeks video game industry input on guns
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/biden-seeks-video-game-industry-input-on-guns/
Link To Post : Biden seeks video game industry input on guns
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Mike Tyson to punch up “Law & Order: SVU” with guest appearance

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Mike Tyson is stepping into the ring with “Law & Order: SVU.”

The former boxing champ will guest-star on the NBC procedural drama next month, a spokeswoman for the network told TheWrap on Friday.

Tyson will play Reggie Rhodes, a murderer on death row who was victimized by a difficult childhood.

The episode is currently scheduled to air on February 13, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Tyson has acted before, though he’s primarily played himself, perhaps most notably in “The Hangover” series of movies. (He’s also played onetime presidential candidate Herman Cain in a pair of short films.)

The role likely won’t be particularly challenging for Tyson, as he’s also spent time behind bars before, serving three years in prison for rape.

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Mike Tyson to punch up “Law & Order: SVU” with guest appearance
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/mike-tyson-to-punch-up-law-order-svu-with-guest-appearance/
Link To Post : Mike Tyson to punch up “Law & Order: SVU” with guest appearance
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

‘Bodega Clinicas’ Draw Interest of Health Officials

HUNTINGTON PARK, Calif. — The “bodega clinicas” that line the bustling commercial streets of immigrant neighborhoods around Los Angeles are wedged between money order kiosks and pawnshops. These storefront offices, staffed with Spanish-speaking medical providers, treat ailments for cash: a doctor’s visit is $20 to $40; a cardiology exam is $120; and at one bustling clinic, a colonoscopy is advertised on an erasable board for $700.

County health officials describe the clinics as a parallel health care system, serving a vast number of uninsured Latino residents. Yet they say they have little understanding of who owns and operates them, how they are regulated and what quality of medical care they provide. Few of these low-rent corner clinics accept private insurance or participate in Medicaid managed care plans.

“Someone has to figure out if there’s a basic level of competence,” said Dr. Patrick Dowling, the chairman of the family medicine department at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Not that researchers have not tried. Dr. Dowling, for one, has canvassed the clinics for years to document physician shortages as part of his research for the state. What he and others found was that the owners were reluctant to answer questions. Indeed, multiple attempts in recent weeks to interview owners and employees at a half-dozen of the clinics in Southern California proved fruitless.

What is certain, however, is that despite their name, many of these clinics are actually private doctor’s offices, not licensed clinics, which are required to report regularly to federal and state oversight bodies.

It is a distinction that deeply concerns Kimberly Wyard, the chief executive of the Northeast Valley Health Corporation, a nonprofit group that runs 13 accredited health clinics for low-income Southern Californians. “They are off the radar screen,” said Ms. Wyard of the bodega clinicas, “and it’s unclear what they’re doing.”

But with deadlines set by the federal Affordable Care Act quickly approaching, health officials in Los Angeles are vexed over whether to embrace the clinics and bring them — selectively and gingerly — into the network of tightly regulated public and nonprofit health centers that are driven more by mission than by profit to serve the uninsured.

Health officials see in the clinics an opportunity to fill persistent and profound gaps in the county’s strained safety net, including a chronic shortage of primary care physicians. By January 2014, up to two million uninsured Angelenos will need to enroll in Medicaid or buy insurance and find primary care.

And the clinics, public health officials point out, are already well established in the county’s poorest neighborhoods, where they are meeting the needs of Spanish-speaking residents. The clinics also could continue to serve a market that the Affordable Care Act does not touch: illegal immigrants who are prohibited from getting health insurance under the law.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, the deputy director of community health for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said bodega clinicas — a term he seems to have coined — that agree to some scrutiny could be a good way of addressing the physician shortage in those neighborhoods.

“Where are we going to find those providers?” he said. “One logical place to consider looking is these clinics.”

Los Angeles is not the only city with a sizable Latino population where the clinics have become a part of the streetscape. Health care providers in Phoenix and Miami say there are clinics in many Latino neighborhoods.

But their presence in parts of the Los Angeles area can be striking, with dozens in certain areas. Visits to more than two dozen clinics in South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley found Latino women in brightly colored scrubs handing out cards and coupons that promised a range of services like pregnancy tests and endoscopies. Others advertised evening and weekend hours, and some were open around the clock.

Such all-hours access and upfront pricing are critical, Latino health experts say, to a population that often works around the clock for low wages.

Also important, officials say, is that new immigrants from Mexico and Central America are more accustomed to corner clinics, which are common in their home countries, than to the sprawling medical complexes or large community health centers found in the United States. And they can get the kind of medical treatments — including injections of hypertension drugs, intravenous vitamins and liberally dispensed antibiotics — that are frowned upon in traditional American medicine.

The waiting rooms at the clinics reflected the everyday maladies of peoples’ lives: a glassy-eyed child resting listlessly on his mother’s lap, a fit-looking young woman waiting with a bag of ice on her wrist, a pensive middle-aged man in work boots staring straight ahead.

For many ordinary complaints, the medical care at these clinics may be suitable, county health officials and medical experts say. But they say problems arise when an illness exceeds the boundaries of a physician’s skills or the patient’s ability to pay cash.

Dr. Raul Joaquin Bendana, who has been practicing general medicine in South Los Angeles for more than 20 years, said the clinics would refer patients to him when, for example, they had uncontrolled diabetes. “They refer to me because they don’t know how to handle the situation,” he said.

The clinic physicians by and large appear to have current medical licenses, a sample showed, but experts say they are unlikely to be board certified or have admitting privileges at area hospitals. That can mean that some clinics try to treat patients who face serious illness.

Olivia Cardenas, 40, a restaurant worker who lives in Woodland Hills, Calif., got a free Pap smear at a clinic that advertises “especialistas,” including in gynecology. The test came back abnormal, and the doctor told Ms. Cardenas that she had cervical cancer. “Come back in a week with $5,000 in cash, and I’ll operate on you,” Ms. Cardenas said the doctor told her. “Otherwise you could die.”

She declined to pay the $5,000. Instead, a family friend helped her apply for Medicaid, and she went to a hospital. The diagnosis, it turned out, was correct.

Health care experts say the clinics’ medical practices would come under greater scrutiny if they were brought closer into the fold.

But being connected would mean the clinics’ cash-only business model would need to change. Dr. Dowling said the lure of newly insured patients in 2014 might draw them in. “To the extent there are payments available,” he said, “the legitimate ones might step up to the plate.”

This article was produced in collaboration with Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Read More..

The story behind Tribune's broken deal

At the end of 2007, real estate tycoon Sam Zell took control of Tribune Co. in a deal that promised to re-energize the media conglomerate. But the company struggled under the huge debt burden the deal created, and less than a year later, it filed for bankruptcy.

One of Chicago's most iconic companies — parent to the Chicago Tribune — was propelled into a protracted and in many ways unprecedented odyssey through Chapter 11 reorganization.

On Dec. 31, after four years, Tribune Co. finally emerged from court protection under new ownership, but at a heavy cost. The company's value was diminished, its reputation was tarnished and its ability to respond to market opportunities during its long bankruptcy was constrained.

Tribune Co.'s bankruptcy saga began as an era of superheated Wall Street deal-making fueled by cheap money was coming to an end. The company's tale is emblematic of the American financial crisis itself, in which a seemingly insatiable appetite for speculative risk using exotic investment instruments helped trigger an economic collapse of historic proportions.

Tribune reporters Michael Oneal and Steve Mills, in a four-part series that begins today, tell the story of Tribune Co.'s journey into and through bankruptcy, throwing a spotlight on the key decisions and missed opportunities that marked a perilous time in the history of the company, the media industry and the economy.

Read the full story, "Part one: Zell's big gamble," as a digitalPLUS member.
To view videos and photos and for a look at the rest of the series visit, chicagotribune.com/brokendeal.

Read More..

Gary man sentenced to 80 years in abuse, death of son

Lake County Indiana Sheriff John Buncich and Bernard Eriks, grandfather of 13-year-old murder victim Christian Choate, talk about the sentencing of Riley Choate for the murder.

A Gary, Ind. man charged with keeping his 13-year-old son in a dog cage, then beating the boy to death and burying the body in a shallow grave near the family’s home in a trailer park was sentenced this morning to 80 years in prison.

Riley Choate, 40, entered a plea deal with Lake County, Ind., prosecutors this month with an agreed sentence that spares him some 40 years off the 120-year sentence he faced on charges tied to years of brutal abuse of his son, Christian, that led to the boy’s death in 2009.

The boy, who weighed less than 50 pounds when he died, had lived the last two years of his life confined to a 3-foot high dog cage, and was beaten regularly by his father.

“I can’t conceive of any set of facts charging neglect that could be any worse,” prosecutor Michael Woods said in court in Crown Point this morning.

Lake County Superior Court Judge Diane Boswell said there was plenty of blame to go around and several people had failed Christian.

“The pain and the suffering, the degradation this baby went through for two years of his life is incomprehensible,” Boswell said. “I can’t imagine any  circumstance when a parent would allow this.”

Choate addressed the judge briefly before the sentencing. “All my actions will haunt me forever. I loved my son,” he said.

Christian’s body was discovered by police investigators in 2011, after his older sister told relatives the boy had died two years earlier after Choate punched him repeatedly.

Choate and his wife, Kimberly Kubina, loaded the boy’s body into a tote, then buried him under concrete beneath a shed with a Bible laid across his chest. They told the other children — and, initially, police investigators -- that Christian had run away. The family moved to Kentucky not long after Christian died.

The sister, one of as many as 10 children living with Choate and his wife and co-defendant, Kimberly Kubina, in a single-wide trailer on the west side of Gary, had been removed from school in the Gary suburb of Merrillville in 2007 to be homeschooled. Kubina later admitted the children were pulled out of school because Choate’s abuse of the boy was escalating and Christian often was badly bruised.

The girl was charged with taking care of her brother, whom Choate and Kubina said had to be confined after he was caught “molesting” his younger step brother.

Christian initially was confined to a bedroom, then a bathroom, then was tied to a bed frame. After he managed to escape, he was locked in a dog cage they purchased from a neighbor. The boy was fed noodles twice a day, and given leftovers from dinner. The girl admitted she also beat and choked her brother regularly, and that she endured beatings at Choate’s hands as well.

Child welfare officials were infrequent visitors to the family’s trailer park, and had investigated abuse allegations against Choate involving children other than Christian. A neighbor said she twice called police, and in turn the Indiana Department of Child and Family Services, with concerns, but never saw an investigator enter the family’s trailer.

On April, 4, 2009, Christian’s sister told police the boy refused to eat, and an enraged Choate punched Christian “full force” several times in the head and threw him back into his cage, court records state. Christian died the following day. The Lake County coroner’s office listed the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head, and a skull fracture.

Kubina, who divorced Choate from jail in 2011, entered a plea deal with prosecutors and agreed to cooperate in Choate’s prosecution. She is set to be sentenced in February on child neglect charges. She has told prosecutors she sometimes stopped Choate from beating Christian but never went to authorities to report the abuse because she feared losing custody of other children in the home.

Choate himself won custody of Christian and his sister in 2004. The children’s biological mother said she hadn’t seen the children since 2004.

Dennis Sullivan is a freelance reporter. Andy Grimm is a Tribune reporter.

agrimm@tribune.com

Read More..

Factbox: Video game industry meets with Biden gun task force

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Representatives from the companies that make “first-person shooter” games such as “Call of Duty,” “Medal of Honor” and “Grand Theft Auto” met with Vice President Joe Biden on Friday as the Obama administration looks for ways to curb U.S. gun violence.

Biden is heading a task force formed after a gunman shot dead 20 children and six adults last month at a Connecticut elementary school. Biden plans to make recommendations on reducing gun violence to President Barack Obama by next Tuesday.

The vice president has held discussions with a wide range of groups including gun retailers, gun owners, the National Rifle Association gun rights lobbying organization, the film industry, victims of gun violence, and law enforcement authorities.

Following is a list of groups present at Friday’s meeting with Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Activision Blizzard Inc

Electronic Arts Inc

E-Line Media

Entertainment Software Association

Entertainment Software Ratings Board

Epic Games

GameStop Corp

Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc

Texas A&M University

University of Wisconsin at Madison

Zenimax Media Inc

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Will Dunham)

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Factbox: Video game industry meets with Biden gun task force
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/factbox-video-game-industry-meets-with-biden-gun-task-force/
Link To Post : Factbox: Video game industry meets with Biden gun task force
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..