Month: March 2014

Americans for Prosperity’s latest anecdotal TV ad attacking the Affordable Care Act features a Michigan mom who says her family’s “new plan is not affordable at all” and that the law is “destroying the middle class.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a flood of last-minute sign-ups, hundreds of thousands of Americans rushed to apply for health insurance Monday, but deadline day for President Barack Obama's overhaul brought long, frustrating waits and a new spate of website ills.

By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave favorable reviews on Monday to two new medications to treat acute bacterial skin infections. The panel voted unanimously that Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc’s tedizolid and Durata Therapeutics Inc’s dalbavancin showed substantial evidence of safety and efficacy. The FDA is not obliged to follow the advice of its expert panels but typically does so. Cubist’s shares closed up 4.4 percent at $73.15.

District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray on Monday signed a bill that decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce (28 grams) of marijuana in the U.S. capital. Proponents had backed the marijuana measure as an issue of fairness. A study by the American Civil Liberties Union had shown that blacks in Washington were eight times more likely to be arrested for pot than people of other races. Decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana in the District of Columbia is part of a nationwide trend to lessening penalties for marijuana.

A scam in which telemarketers targeted elderly victims’ bank accounts – stealing more than $20 million by impersonating government and bank officials through fake companies – was shut down by a U.S. court, the Federal Trade Commission said on Monday. The FTC accused Ari Tietolman, Marc Ferry and others of setting up a boiler room in Canada to cold-call senior citizens and others, saying they were from the government or from the victim’s bank and were selling fraud protection and pharmaceutical benefit services or other services. Once the seniors were convinced to give their bank account information, the group would withdraw money without authorization, the FTC said. “They targeted and called senior citizens and lied to them to get their bank account information.

By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada's main stock index gained on Monday after the U.S. Federal Reserve's assurance of continued support for the economy lifted sentiment and helped drive up shares of financial and energy companies. Fed Chair Janet Yellen said measures by the central bank to boost the U.S. economy will be necessary for some time to come. The Toronto stock market's benchmark index recorded its ninth straight monthly gain. "It speaks to the fact that the TSX has come back in favor this quarter," said Elvis Picardo, a strategist at Global Securities in Vancouver.

By Lacey Johnson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A prominent Virginia state politician whose mentally ill son attacked him before committing suicide said on Monday that healthcare reforms passed because of the incident would prevent other tragedies. Democratic state Senator and former gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds said his son's death in November 2013 had forced him to confront the shortcomings of a state system he and other lawmakers had created. Deeds' 24-year-old son, Austin "Gus" Deeds, attacked his father with a knife on November 19 at their home in Bath County, Virginia. Only 13 hours before the attack, Gus Deeds had been released from state custody after a mental health evaluation.

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – How parents monitor the television and video game habits of their children is tied to the kids’ performance in school, their relationships with peers and their weight, according to a new study. “It’s a fairly small effect, but what’s interesting about this study is because we tracked these children over time we see these effects build,” lead author Douglas Gentile told Reuters Health. He is a psychologist at Iowa State University in Ames. According to Gentile, the researchers can’t say children will gain one fewer pound or get in one fewer fight for every show parents approve for their kids.