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Are you confronting a big medical bill? Attack it with a plan — and these tips

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:46:05 GMT

An enormous medical bill can trigger a wave of panic, but try to resist.That startling invoice that arrived in the mail may not be what you wind up paying. Errors or slow insurance payments may have inflated the total. Even if it’s accurate, financial aid or other assistance might help pare it.Sometimes a simple phone call clears up a problem. Other times, reinforcements are necessary. Debt experts say patients should attack medical bills with a plan. Here are key steps to take.CHECK THE NUMBERSDon’t stash the bill in a pile of mail and hope it goes away, but don’t rush to pay it without first understanding the amount.“Especially if it’s a really high bill, consider it like an opening offer,” says Caitlin Donovan, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Patient Advocate Foundation, which helps critically or chronically ill patients deal with debt and insurance problems.Medical bills can be rife with errors. They also may have been sent before insurance coverage was sorted out. Donovan reco...

Report offers glimpse of what it will take for state to reach ambitious climate goals

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:46:05 GMT

This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.Maryland is halfway toward meeting its ambitious climate goals, and a path exists for the state to reach net-zero emissions by 2045.That’s the conclusion of a preliminary report issued Friday by the Maryland Department of the Environment. The analysis, “Maryland’s Climate Pathway,” lays out policy, regulatory and lifestyle changes that the state needs to embrace to meet the carbon-reduction goals mandated by the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022.State law seeks a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2031 and requires the state to hit net-zero emissions 14 years after that.“The rapid, clean, affordable, and just energy and economic transition needed to achieve these goals will be challenging, but it is possible,” the report, assembled by the Center for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy...

The 2024 Republican presidential field keeps growing. So why aren’t there more women?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:46:05 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — As Republicans keep jumping into the 2024 race for president, one demographic group seems notably lacking: women. More than a dozen candidates are seeking the nomination, including several long shots who announced their bids in recent weeks, in what is the party’s most diverse presidential field ever. Yet Nikki Haley, a former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor, is the only woman among the bunch.America has never had a female commander in chief and Republicans historically have focused less on electing female candidates in general than the Democratic Party. And while women make up more than 50% of the population, they are underrepresented in public office, whether at city halls, state legislatures or in Washington.In recent years, multiple organizations have helped women win election in higher numbers and capture races at the same rate as men. But they are still much less likely than men to run for office, even if they are equally qualified, research sh...

El director de la CIA se reunió con Zelensky en un viaje a Ucrania, según un funcionario estadounidense

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:46:05 GMT

(CNN) — El director de la CIA, William Burns, viajó recientemente a Ucrania y se reunió con el presidente de ese país, Volodymyr Zelensky, y con funcionarios de los servicios de inteligencia ucranianos, según un funcionario estadounidense.“El director Burns viajó recientemente a Ucrania, como lo ha hecho regularmente desde el comienzo de la reciente agresión de Rusia hace más de un año”, dijo el funcionario a CNN. “Al igual que en otros viajes, el director se reunió con sus homólogos de inteligencia ucranianos y con el presidente Zelensky, reafirmando el compromiso de Estados Unidos de compartir inteligencia para ayudar a Ucrania a defenderse de la agresión rusa”.El funcionario señaló que Burns viajó a Kyiv antes de la rebelión del jefe del Grupo Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, que no fue tema de discusión.Otro funcionario dijo a CNN que Burns también habló con su homólogo ruso, Sergey Naryshkin, después de la rebelión y reiteró que EE.UU. no tenía nada que ...

$600k worth of illegal fireworks seized by Stafford Co. Fire Marshal

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:46:05 GMT

The multitude of fireworks seized by the Stafford County Fire Marshal’s Office on Thursday (Courtesy Stafford County Fire and Rescue)The largest seizure of illegal fireworks in the history of Stafford County’s Fire Marshal’s Office in Virginia was made on Thursday, according to a news release. The office said they received an anonymous tip about possible illegal fireworks in the White Oak area on Wednesday. A Stafford County Deputy Fire Marshal was sent to the reported address at the 200 block of McCarty Road. He immediately saw a large amount of illegal fireworks in plain view when he exited his vehicle, according to the release.The business had an existing fire prevention code permit so that it could be inspected at any time. After an inspection, the Fire Marshal’s Office said they seized an abundance of illegal fireworks that they estimate are worth over $600,000.The department said the two individuals involved have charges pending while they continue inve...

Musk limits number of posts Twitter users can view per day

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:46:05 GMT

Twitter users will face new limitations on the number of tweets they can view per day, according to a tweet from the company’s billionaire owner Elon Musk on Saturday.“To address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation, we’ve applied the following temporary limits,” Musk tweeted, before announcing that verified accounts would be limited to reading 6,000 posts per day, unverified accounts to 600 posts per day and new unverified accounts to 300 posts per day.Before Musk unveiled Twitter’s new policy, users were met with a message reading “rate limit exceeded,” when trying to view content. Enough users were confused by the alert that “#TwitterDown” was trending in the U.S. on Saturday morning.The announcement is the latest in a series of major changes for the social media company, including the appointment of a new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, who took over the role from Musk in June. Upon her appointment, Musk tweeted that Yaccarino would “focus primarily on busin...

CIA director met Zelensky on trip to Ukraine, US official says

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:46:05 GMT

(CNN) — CIA Director William Burns recently traveled to Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian intelligence officials, according to a US official.“Director Burns recently traveled to Ukraine, as he has done regularly since the beginning of Russia’s recent aggression more than a year ago,” the official told CNN. “As with other trips, the director met with his Ukrainian intelligence counterparts and President Zelensky, reaffirming the US commitment to sharing intelligence to help Ukraine defend against Russian aggression.”The official noted that Burns traveled to Kyiv before Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion, which was not a topic of discussion.Another official told CNN that Burns also spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Naryshkin, after the rebellion and reiterated that the US had nothing to do with it. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the call.The Washington Post first reported on Burns’ most recent trip to Ukraine...

Moms for Liberty’s focus on school races nationwide sets up political clash with teachers unions

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:46:05 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Moms for Liberty, a “parental rights” group that has sought to take over school boards in multiple states, is looking to expand those efforts across the country and to other education posts in 2024 and beyond. The effort is setting up for a clash with teachers unions and others on the left who view the group as a toxic presence in public schools.The group’s co-founder, Tiffany Justice, said during its annual summit over the weekend in Philadelphia that Moms for Liberty will use its political action committee next year to engage in school board races nationwide. It also will “start endorsing at the state board level and elected superintendents.”Her comments confirm that Moms for Liberty, which has spent its first two years inflaming school board meetings with aggressive complaints about instruction on systemic racism and gender identity in the classroom, is developing a larger strategy to overhaul education infrastructure across the country.As the group has ...

Prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case denies retaliating against IRS agent who talked to House GOP

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:46:05 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal prosecutor leading the investigation of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter is pushing back against claims that he was blocked from pursuing criminal charges in Los Angeles and Washington and denies retaliating against an IRS official who disclosed details about the case.In a two-page letter to House Republicans on Friday, U.S. Attorney David Weiss in Delaware defended the lengthy investigation into Hunter Biden’s financial dealings that ended last month with a plea with the Justice Department that likely spares Biden from time behind bars.Weiss, who was named to that post by President Donald Trump and was kept on by the Biden administration, said in his letter that the department “did not retaliate” against Gary Shapley, an IRS agent who said the prosecutor helped block Shapley’s job promotion after the tax agency employee had reached out to congressional investigators about the Biden case.Shapley is one of two IRS employees interviewed ...

Fanfare, golf and boos have marked July Fourth for US presidents. Zachary Taylor’s was the worst

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:46:05 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Through history, the Fourth of July has been a day for some presidents to declare their independence from the public. They’ve bailed to the beach, the mountains, the golf course, the farm, the ranch. In the middle of the Depression, Franklin Roosevelt was sailing to Hawaii on a fishing and working vacation.It’s also been a day for some presidents to insert themselves front and center in the fabric of it all. Teddy Roosevelt drew hundreds of thousands for his July Fourth oratory. In 2019, Donald Trump marshaled tanks, bombers and other war machinery for a celebration that typically avoids military muscle.Richard Nixon enraged the anti-war masses without even showing up. As the anti-Nixon demonstrations of 1970 showed, Independence Day in the capital isn’t always just fun and games. It has a tradition of red, white and boo, too.In modern times, though, presidents have tended to stand back and let the people party. George W. Bush had a ceremony welcoming immigrants as...