Month: February 2014

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A day after Rachel Fredrickson won the latest season of "The Biggest Loser," after shedding nearly 60 percent of her body weight, attention wasn't focused on her $250,000 win — but rather the criticism surrounding her loss.

CVS, the nation’s second-largest drugstore chain, is kicking the habit of selling tobacco products as it continues to shift its focus toward being more of a health care provider.

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks dipped on Wednesday as technical support offset the latest batch of mixed data, which failed to lift sentiment after a string of soft economic indicators earlier in the week. U.S. data is being closely watched after a weak reading in the factory sector on Monday sent Wall Street into a tailspin and triggered a global equity selloff.

CVS Caremark Corp will stop selling tobacco products at its 7,600 stores by October 1, the company said on Wednesday, making it the first national drugstore chain in the United States to take cigarettes off the shelves. Public health experts hailed the precedent-setting decision by the No. 2 U.S. drugstore as a step that could pressure other retailers to follow suit. With pharmacies taking on a larger role in the U.S. healthcare system with walk-in clinics and services such as managing health plans, many experts say they should no longer offer unhealthy products like tobacco. President Barack Obama, a former smoker, praised CVS, saying in a statement the move will help wider efforts to "reduce tobacco-related deaths, cancer, and heart disease, as well as bring down healthcare costs." CVS expects the decision to hurt profits initially, along with a $2 billion hit to annual sales.

WASHINGTON (AP) — New estimates that President Barack Obama's health care law will encourage millions of Americans to leave the workforce or reduce their work hours have touched off an I-told-you-so chorus from Republicans, who've claimed all along that the law will kill jobs. But some aren't telling it straight.

Police in Flint, Mich., are investigating four recent overdoses in their city.