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Proposed rule would make hospital prices even more transparent

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:18:32 GMT

Julie Appleby | KFF Health News (TNS)“How much is the ice cream?” A simple enough question, featured on a new TV and online advertisement, posed by a man who just wants something cold. A woman behind the counter responds with a smile: “Prices? No, we don’t have those anymore. We have estimates.”The satirical ad pretends to be a news report highlighting a “trend” in which more retail outlets take up “the hospital pricing method”: substituting estimates for actual prices for the cost of meals, merchandise on store shelves, and clothing. The scene ends with a partially deleted expletive from the ice cream-seeking man.While the use of estimates in retail settings is imaginary and preposterous, the advertisement is part of an ongoing campaign by the advocacy group Patient Rights Advocate, which contends that some hospitals are still falling short of a law that went into effect in 2021 requiring them to publicly post their prices. Even then, said Cynthia Fisher, the group’s founder and ch...

Achieving financial freedom and stability: How has social media skewed our expectations of what it takes?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:18:32 GMT

René Bennett | (TNS) Bankrate.comSocial media platforms have become powerful forces in shaping our perceptions, behaviors and financial aspirations. Whether it’s scrolling through Instagram’s lavish travel posts, digesting bite-sized financial tips on X (formerly Twitter) or watching TikTok influencer content, social media impacts our financial lives and how we feel about ourselves in more ways than we might realize.One effect of social media that’s been highlighted by several Bankrate surveys is how it impacts expectations of financial stability and success, particularly among younger people. When users are constantly exposed to stories of overnight millionaires, luxury-lifestyle influencers and displays of extravagant spending, they are bound to feel negatively about their own financial situation.As users strive to emulate the lifestyles they see on their screens, they can fall into unhealthy money habits like impulse spending. The attempt to live up to the digitally curated ideal...

Din Tai Fung reopens at Westfield UTC after brief closure

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:18:32 GMT

SAN DIEGO — Din Tai Fung, a popular restaurant known for their Xiao Long Bao soup dumplings, has reopened their San Diego location following a brief closure.Their Westfield UTC mall location closed over the weekend for essential kitchen repairs, a restaurant spokesperson told FOX 5.As of Tuesday, the restaurant was back open and serving guests. Reservations for the San Diego location are available online. Get free admission at SeaWorld for the rest of 2023 with new deal The restaurant also clarified that there was no fire or damage to the store and nobody on the team was injured in connection to the issues that prompted the kitchen repairs.Din Tai Fung, which currently has seven locations in California, first opened in Taiwan, with their signature soup dumplings helping the restaurant expand internationally to 13 countries. The Hong Kong branch was even awarded a Michelin star.Din Tai Fung’s San Diego outpost is located in the UTC Westfield shopping center at 4301 La Jolla Village...

Suspects sought in Fallbrook brush fire

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:18:32 GMT

FALLBROOK, Calif. -- Authorities are looking to identify and locate three juvenile suspects believed to have started a brush fire in Fallbrook last month. According to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, deputies from the Fallbrook Sheriff's Substation responded to reports of a brush fire in the 2300 block of Green Canyon Road around 12:30 p.m. on July 12. Man shot, killed by SDPD in College Area Firefighters quickly put out the fire, which authorities say burned about a quarter of an acre and a large fence. Damage is estimated at around $30,000, according to SDSO.Detectives from the Sheriff's Bomb/Arson Unit reviewed surveillance video that officials say showed a white 1999 Toyota 4Runner off-roading in the area. It also reportedly shows three juveniles setting off a firework just prior to the start of the fire.Authorities released the following descriptions for the three suspects:-- Suspect No. 1: White juvenile male wearing a white t-shirt and dark colored pants.-- Suspe...

British Museum says staff member dismissed after items were found to be missing, stolen or damaged

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:18:32 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The British Museum said Wednesday that a member of its staff has been dismissed after items dating back as far as the 15th century B.C. were found to be missing, stolen or damaged.The museum said it has also ordered an independent review of security and a ‘‘vigorous program to recover the missing items.″The stolen artifacts include gold jewelry and gems of semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th century B.C. to the 19th century A.D. Most were small items kept in a storeroom and none had been on display recently, the museum said.“Our priority is now threefold: first, to recover the stolen items; second, to find out what, if anything, could have been done to stop this; and third, to do whatever it takes, with investment in security and collection records, to make sure this doesn’t happen again,″ said George Osborne, the museum’s chair. “This incident only reinforces the case for the reimagination of the museum we have embarked upon,” Osborne said. The m...

Kansas newspaper raided by police strikes back in first print edition since search

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:18:32 GMT

MARION, Kansas (AP) — Even without the computers, cellphones and other office equipment taken in a police raid, the new edition of the Marion County Record made it to newsstands Wednesday after a frenzied scramble by the Kansas weekly newspaper’s small staff.“SEIZED … but not silenced,” read the front-page headline in 2-inch-tall typeface.Police raids on Friday of the newspaper’s offices, and the home of editor and publisher Eric Meyer put the paper and the local police at the center of a national debate about press freedom, with watchdog groups condemning the police actions. The attention continued Wednesday — with TV and print reporters joining the conversation in what is normally a quiet community of about 1,900 residents.The raids — which the publisher believes were carried out because the newspaper was investigating the police chief’s background — put Meyer and his staff in a difficult position. Because they’re computers were seized, they were forced to recons...

Former Brazilian miltary police officer convicted in 2015 deaths arrested in New Hampshire

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:18:32 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A former military police officer who was convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to more than 200 years in prison for his part in a 2015 Brazilian massacre has been arrested in New Hampshire, immigration officials said. Antonio Jose De Abreu Vidal Filho, 29, became the subject of an active Interpol Red Notice issued by the international criminal police organization after he was convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to nearly 276 years in prison in June, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations office based in Boston said in a news release Wednesday.He was arrested Monday in Rye, New Hampshire, without incident, and will remain in custody pending a hearing before a federal immigration judge. No further details were provided on how he was tracked to New Hampshire or his activities there. Vidal was convicted by a criminal court in the state of Ceara, Brazil, along with three other military police officers of 11 murder charges, and charges of...

Pickled cotton candy, Thanksgiving poutine and watermelon burgers: Here’s the new food at the CNE

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:18:32 GMT

The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) is around the corner, and, of course, that means a wacky new set of food items for all to enjoy at the annual Toronto festival.Similar to years past, pickle-infused foods are sure to generate a lot of hype and interest from those attending the CNE as early as Friday. This includes pickled cotton candy, which is exactly what you think it is.Among the wild food items: A watermelon burger (a traditional burger and instead of buns, it’s watermelon slices), pickle fries, a four-pound taco, a Krispy Kreme blueberry chicken sandwich (what?), Korean fried frog legs and deep-fried pizza.Not to mention a very Canadian Thanksgiving poutine and poutine pizza.Peanut butter lovers ought to be excited, as there will be as many as three food items of interest, including a peanut butter chocolate corn dog and a peanut butter pickle dog. That one is characterized as “a perfectly crisped batter [and] comforting peanut butter complemented with home-sty...

Pollution in Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo threatens life in one of the world’s oldest lakes

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:18:32 GMT

MARACAIBO, Venezuela (AP) — The fishermen of Lake Maracaibo say they face their worst nightmare everyday as fish stocks decline and pollution degrades the health of this great freshwater lake, one of the oldest — and largest — in the world.Lake Maracaibo, which once was at the heart of Venezuela’s oil boom, has turned into a polluted wasteland, according to environmentalists.The pollution of the lake, located about 600 kilometers (372 miles) west of the capital, Caracas, is the result of decades of excessive oil exploitation, poor maintenance of the obsolete infrastructure and a lack of waste treatment plants in the area. Tens of thousands of kilometers of pipes lie at its bottom, where crude oil leaks and system failures are frequent.The lake, which collects rainwater from more than a hundred tributaries, has also become the wastewater deposit for the western states of Zulia, Mérida and Trujillo, where 5.3 million people live. Waste from the Colombian department of Norte de S...

Dutch journalist leaves Russia after her visa was not renewed

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:18:32 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian authorities refused to renew the visa for Dutch journalist Eva Hartog, who has lived and worked in the country for 10 years, and gave her six days to leave Russia, she said in a column published Wednesday. Her effective expulsion is one of several in recent years and comes amid a monthslong crackdown that the Kremlin has unleashed on independent journalists, critical news outlets, opposition activists and human rights groups. The pressure has mounted further since Moscow launched its war on Ukraine almost 18 months ago. Hartog, a Dutch national, has in recent years been writing for the Dutch news magazine De Groene Amsterdammer and for Politico Europe. She first came to Moscow in 2013, Politico reported on Wednesday, and worked as a web editor and then chief editor for The Moscow Times. Hartog said in a column in De Groene Amsterdammer published Wednesday that Russia’s Foreign Ministry informed her last Monday her visa would not be renewed and g...