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What if I can’t afford Medicare?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:20:00 GMT

At least 1.2 million Medicare beneficiaries pay premiums for Medicare Part B even though they likely qualify to get it for free through a Medicare Savings Program, according to a November 2021 letter from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS.Those premiums add up quickly. At $164.90 per month in 2023, they’re just shy of $2,000 per year for Part B alone. And there are other premiums, deductibles, copays and coinsurance to consider, too.Various programs can cover some or all of those costs, but they’re not always easy to find. There are free resources available to help you navigate the specifics of your situation.Medicare Savings Programs (Part A and Part B)More than 10 million Medicare beneficiaries received help paying for their coverage through a Medicare Savings Program in 2019, according to a 2022 data analysis by KFF, a health policy nonprofit.Medicare Savings Programs, or MSPs, help cover costs associated with Medicare Part A and Part B. You qualify for an ...

Scathing DOJ report cites Rollins as leaker in Suffolk DA race, concludes she lied to investigators

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:20:00 GMT

A bombshell DOJ report concludes U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins improperly used her position by influencing the Suffolk DA’s race by leaking non-public information and broke agency rules by attending a Democratic fundraiser last summer.The report calls her out for attempting to tip the scales in last year’s Suffolk DA’s race — in which Boston Globe ran pre-primary stories leaked by Rollins damaging to then-candidate Kevin R. Hayden who was facing off with City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, who the report identifies as her preferred candidate. The Herald received similar information and refused to publish before the primary, according to the report.“We found Rollins’s conduct described throughout this report violated federal regulations, numerous DOJ policies, her Ethics Agreement, and applicable law, and fell far short of the standards of professionalism and judgment that the Department should expect of any employee, much less a U.S. Attorney,” the report is...

MTS workers strike affecting South Bay Bus Division

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:20:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO --  San Diego Metropolitan Transit System bus riders are being asked to plan ahead as dozens of bus operators are on now on strike.As of Wednesday morning, the work stoppage is affecting the South Bay Bus Division with 33% of MTS bus routes being impacted. Police conduct homicide investigation at Campland on the Bay Buses like the one that comes through Palm Avenue in Imperial Beach was delayed as a result. Route 934 is one of many routes on MTS’ list of routes that could impacted.Outside of the MTS bus yard in Chula Vista Wednesday, dozens of employees were holding signs and walking the picket line. They are asking for better working conditions and pay.Negotiations between MTS contractor Transdev and its bus operators have failed so far.At one point, when the strike started Tuesday afternoon, drivers walked away from their buses at the end of their shift and left management to park the buses inside the facility.Union leaders say this strike is expected to last...

Turkey protests as police search homes of 2 journalists in Germany

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:20:00 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German police searched the homes of two journalists for a Turkish newspaper on Wednesday in an operation that drew a sharp protest from the Turkish Foreign Ministry.Prosecutors and police in Darmstadt said that the apartments of the two men in Moerfelden-Walldorf, south of Frankfurt, were searched as part of an investigation of suspicions of “compromising dissemination of personal data.” In a statement, they didn’t elaborate on the accusation. They said that electronic storage media and other evidence were seized, and that the journalists were then released. German authorities didn’t identify the journalists or give any other details. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “the detention of Frankfurt bureau representatives of Sabah newspaper by the German police today without justification is an act of harassment and intimidation against the Turkish media.” It alleged that the journalists were targeted by a “false denunciation” of a member...

Remains found in car submerged in Lake Ontario of man missing since 1983: OPP

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:20:00 GMT

Police in Ontario say they have confirmed the human remains found inside a car in Lake Ontario earlier this year are of a former prison guard who was reported missing four decades ago.Investigators say the Lennox and Addington County Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were pulling a vehicle out of the lake in January when they found another car nearby that had human remains inside.They say they have established that the remains belong to David Hannah who was reported missing in 1983, aged 36.In 2011, police said they believed a man named David Hannah who had gone missing around the same time was murdered and announced a $50,000 reward for information that led to his killer.Police said that year Hannah was employed at a maximum-security prison, the Millhaven Federal Institution, in Bath, Ont., and had gone missing along with his blue 1969 Oldsmobile Delta 88.Hannah was from Amherstview, Ontario, a township located on the north shore of Lake Ontario.

Grand jury indicts man in 4 University of Idaho stabbing deaths, eliminating need for hearing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:20:00 GMT

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A grand jury has indicted a man who was already charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, allowing prosecutors to skip a planned week-long preliminary hearing that was set for late June.Bryan Kohberger was arrested late last year and charged with burglary and four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the Nov. 13, 2022, killings of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near the University of Idaho campus. At the time, Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at nearby Washington State University, and the killings left the close-knit communities of Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Washington, reeling.A preliminary hearing — where prosecutors must show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with felony charges — had been scheduled to begin June 26. But on Tuesday, a grand jury indicted Kohberger on the same criminal charges, effectively rerouting the ca...

MPs debate how to challenge Israel’s judicial reform and push for regional peace

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:20:00 GMT

OTTAWA — Canadian MPs are mulling how vigorously and publicly they should challenge moves by Israel’s far-right government to curtail the power of judges and expand illegal settlements on Palestinian land.At an event this week marking 75 years of Israel’s existence, Jewish MPs and their peers are taking stock of Canada’s relations with the Middle Eastern country.The MPs note that Ottawa has increasingly voiced concerns about the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.His government has allowed the expansion of settlements that are illegal under international law, and it wants to allow Israel’s parliament to overturn decisions by the country’s Supreme Court.Liberal MP Ya’ara Saks says it’s important to call out friendly countries when they are headed down a bad path, but another Liberal MP, Anthony Housefather, says most disagreements should be aired in private.A House of Commons committee has opted to study the recent trends i...

Pale Male, red-tailed hawk who nested above NYC’s Fifth Avenue for 30 years, dies at 33

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:20:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk who brought a touch of the wild to swanky Manhattan as he nested above Fifth Avenue for three decades, has died. Pale Male died late Tuesday after being found ill and grounded in Central Park, wildlife rehabilitator Bobby Horvath posted on Facebook. The hawk was believed to be 33 years old.Horvath posted that he picked Pale Male up and took him to his rehab group’s veterinarian, who did bloodwork and X-rays. The hawk later ate a small meal but remained weak and lethargic, Horvath said. “We hoped for any improvement but sadly it was not meant to be,” he said.Pale Male, so named because of his whitish plumage, was first spotted in Central Park as a juvenile in 1991 and began nesting on Fifth Avenue across from the park in 1993. Bird lovers crowded inside the park to watch as Pale Male and his succession of mates hatched and raised their young each spring.The birders were outraged in 2004 when Pale Male’s nest with then-mate Lola...

Supreme Court lets Illinois keep ban on sale of some semiautomatic guns for now

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:20:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Wednesday that Illinois can, for now, keep in place a new law that bars the sale of certain semiautomatic guns and large-capacity magazines.The high court denied an emergency request from people challenging the law, which bans so-called assault weapons. The law’s opponents had asked the court to put the law on hold while a court challenge continues. The court did not comment and no justice publicly dissented.The high court’s action comes at a time when gun violence has been heavily in the news. Since the beginning of the year, 115 people have died in 22 mass killings — an average of one mass killing a week, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in a partnership with Northeastern University. The database counts killings involving four or more fatalities, not including the perpetrator. Just recently, on May 6, a man armed with an AR-15 style rifle and other firearms fatally shot eight people, including three c...

Prison sentences for political activists who defrauded Polish Red Cross to fund election campaign

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:20:00 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish court has convicted nine people, including two former activists of the governing Law and Justice party, of using donations to the regional Red Cross to fund an election campaign. The court in the city of Wroclaw estimated the scam cost the Red Cross some 3 million zlotys ($660,000).The court sentenced the former head of the Wroclaw regional Red Cross, identified only as Jerzy G., to three years and five months in prison. His deputy, Piotr B., received a sentence of two years and seven months. Both were activists for Law and Justice, serving as a regional councilor and a lawmaker respectively. They have also been ordered to refund the money and pay fines. Others received prison terms of between 12 and 18 months, two of them suspended terms. The verdict is subject to appeal.The court found them guilty of selling clothes and food donated to the Red Cross in order to funnel money to Law and Justice for its regional campaign during the 2015 parliamentary el...