Month: April 2014

By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A family of four rescued from their sailboat after the youngest of two children became seriously ill are due to return to California on Wednesday aboard a U.S. warship that picked them up over the weekend, Navy and Coast Guard officials said. Military officials declined on Monday to give any details on the medical condition of 1-year-old Lyra Kaufman except to say that she, her 3-year-old sister, Cora, and their parents, Eric and Charlotte Kaufman, were all safe as they headed back to port in San Diego. "I know she's stable enough to stay on board the ship to continue to San Diego," Coast Guard spokeswoman Lieutenant Anna Dixon said.

By Curtis Skinner NEW YORK (Reuters) – The percentage of Americans without health insurance dipped to its lowest in nearly six years due in part to U.S. President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law, commonly known as Obamacare, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday. Some 15.6 percent of Americans lacked health insurance in the first three months of 2014, down from a high of 18 percent in late 2013, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey. “‘Obamacare’ appears to be accomplishing its goal of increasing the percentage of Americans with health insurance coverage,” the report said. Black and low-income Americans saw some of the most pronounced drops in the uninsured rate, with declines of more than 3 percentage points.

By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) – After a courtroom outburst from a civil rights leader, a judge on Monday delayed the trial of a terminally ill former Atlanta school superintendent accused of conspiring to alter students’ standardized test scores. Beverly Hall, who resigned her job as head of Atlanta school system in 2011, was supposed to stand trial on felony charges next month. But her attorneys requested a delay, arguing that chemotherapy treatment for Hall’s advanced breast cancer would make it difficult for her to endure a lengthy trial. Her case has attracted attention from civil rights leaders who feel her prosecution is a waste of taxpayers’ money given the state of her health.

The Obama administration on Monday rolled back some of the more controversial cuts proposed for privately managed Medicare health plans used by the elderly following pressure from insurance companies and lawmakers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said that on average, reimbursement for such Medicare Advantage plans in 2015 would rise 0.4 percent, reversing what is said was a 1.9 percent average reduction proposed in February. The proposed cuts had also figured into Republicans’ criticism of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law. “They were asking for flat (reimbursement) but no one ever thought they would get close to it,” said Ipsita Smolinski, managing director of Capitol Street, a healthcare consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. Shares in health insurers with large Medicare Advantage businesses, like Humana and UnitedHealth Group Inc, were trading slightly higher after the announcement.

By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) – Lawyers for the man charged with mass murder in a 2012 shooting frenzy that left 12 people dead at a Colorado movie theater have asked that his upcoming trial be moved out of the suburban Denver county where the case has been prosecuted. Defense attorneys argued in their motion for a change of venue that James Holmes' right to a fair trial in Arapahoe County has been compromised by "pervasive media coverage" of the case locally and "the undeniable impact of the tragedy on the community itself." Holmes, 26, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murder and attempted murder charges stemming from the July 2012 massacre at an Aurora, Colorado, cinema during a midnight screening of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises." Twelve moviegoers were killed and 70 others hurt in one of the deadliest outbursts of U.S. gun violence in decades. Holmes' public defenders argued that the glare of publicity, including voluminous commentary and reporting on evidence ruled inadmissible at trial, would make it impossible to seat an impartial jury in Arapahoe County.

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – A federal jury in Florida on Monday ruled in favor of Blackberry Ltd in a lawsuit accusing the company of infringing three patents belonging to Dutch semiconductor company NXP BV. NXP in April 2012 sued BlackBerry, then known as Research in Motion, alleging that versions of the BlackBerry phone and PlayBook tablet infringed patents related to the design, data transmission and other features of those devices. The lawsuit originally covered six patents, but NXP later dropped its claims related to three of the patents. …

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – U.S. childhood obesity rates have increased over the past 14 years, according to a study published on Monday, casting doubt on a recent analysis by government health researchers that found a sharp drop in preschool obesity rates over the past decade. The good news, announced in February by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), received widespread media coverage and prompted first lady Michelle Obama to say she was “thrilled at the progress we’ve made over the last few years in obesity rates among our youngest Americans. The new study, published online in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics, used the same data source as the CDC, but analyzed obesity rates over a different timeframe. It found increases in obesity for children age 2 to 19, and a marked rise in the percentage who were severely obese.

By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – The shooting rampage at Fort Hood U.S. Army base last week started with an argument over leave and lasted eight minutes, with the suspected shooter getting in and out of his car as he fired on soldiers he worked with and others who happened onto his path, investigators said on Monday. Specialist Ivan Lopez, 34, drove his car slowly through the central Texas base as he carried out the rampage. He got out at two facilities, including the place he was assigned, fatally shooting three people and wounding 16 more before turning the gun on himself, Christopher Grey, spokesman for the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, told a news conference. The shooting in which three people were killed and 16 wounded was the second deadly rampage at the base, one of the largest U.S. Army posts in the country, in five years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s largest doctors’ group said Monday it won’t try to block Medicare’s release of billing records for 880,000 physicians, although it continues to oppose the government’s recent decision to open up the massive data trove.

"Cameras add additional weight to photos and when you're taking a selfie you're also dealing with bad lighting, angles, close-ups and a lot of other factors that make people complain that the photo isn't an accurate representation of themselves," said Susan Green, co-founder of the Phoenix-based company Pretty Smart Women that created the app. It was originally designed to help overweight adults show a leaner version of themselves, but Robin J Phillips, the other co-founder, said the app has also motivated people to lose weight. But some critics fear the $1.99 app, which only works on single head shots, could encourage an unhealthy body image. Lauren Dickson, a social worker in the eating disorders and addiction clinic at the Center of Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said the app is one of many factors that could contribute towards a young adult developing an eating disorder.