Congress’ failure to renew a program that provides health care to low-income children by year’s end could cause almost 2 million kids to lose their coverage as soon as next month.
That’s according to a report published Wednesday by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. Federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is jointly run and financed by the federal government and the states, expired nearly two months ago. The program covers about 9 million children in the U.S.
But the GOP-controlled Congress, which made time to pass a sweeping tax bill that largely benefits corporations and the rich, didn’t get around to reauthorizing CHIP ― and now millions of children are in jeopardy.
States are rapidly running out of money to pay these children’s medical bills, and several have started notifying parents that their kids’ health care is poised to disappear. At least 14 states plan to terminate CHIP by the end of January, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
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Andrew Montoya
Audrey, Katrina and Scarlett Montoya of Longmont, Colorado, could lose their health care next month because Congress failed to pass legislation renewing the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Countless human-made troubles in the Indonesian capital pose an imminent threat to the city’s survival. And it has to deal with mounting threats from climate change.
The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a measure rejecting the Trump administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which was repeatedly criticized as undermining the prospects for peace.
Despite blunt warnings of U.S. funding cuts, 128 countries voted in favor of the nonbinding resolution and only nine voted against it. Another 35 countries abstained.
“The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out in this assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation,” said Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. “We will remember it when, once again, we are called up to make the world’s largest contribution to the U.N., and we will remember it when many countries come calling on us to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit.”
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On Dec. 21, the United Nations voted 128-9 in favor of rejecting President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.(Reuters)
‘What are we doing to defend our best selves?’ ‘What are we doing to defend our best selves and those timeless values that should transcend party?’ — Obama warning us that the rise of someone like Hitler could happen here.
Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the Boston archbishop who became one of the most influential Catholic leaders in the United States before resigning in 2002 amid revelations that he and other prelates had known for years of rampant child molestation by parish priests, a scandal that has been called the church’s darkest crisis of the modern era, has died at 86.
The Vatican announced in a statement that Cardinal Law died “after a long illness,” without offering further details. He had been recently hospitalized in Rome.
For more than half a century, Cardinal Law dedicated himself to the church, an institution that became his home after his itinerant upbringing as the son of a commercial and military aviator. As he rose from parish priest to Boston archbishop — the steward of one of the most Catholic American cities — he promoted traditional Catholic doctrine and envisioned the church as a guarantor of social justice in the 20th century.
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Cardinal Bernard Law, a key figure in the church abuse scandal, passed away at the age of 86 on Dec. 20. He resigned as Boston’s archbishop in 2002.(Reuters)
SHAQ: What I learned from the failures of ‘Kazaam’ and ‘Shaq Fu’. Shaq is one of the most successful people around, but he stumbled in the 90’s with “Kazaam” and “Shaq Fu.” Here’s what what he learned from those failures.
Uber lost a major legal battle on Wednesday when the European Union’s highest court declared that the ride-hailing app is not just a digital company and that it must comply with the bloc’s transportation rules, a significant setback for a company already grappling with a string of scandals.
The decision by the European Court of Justice found that Uber operates more like a transportation service than an online platform that matches passengers with drivers. It is likely to restrict the company from expanding services that allowed nonprofessional drivers to offer rides to clients.
While the ruling focused on these so-called peer-to-peer operations, it will most likely to be scrutinized by regulators looking more broadly at the gig economy, a growing part of the work force, in which people operate as freelancers or on short-term contracts as opposed to holding permanent jobs.
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Cabs blocked streets in central London in 2014 as part of a protest against Uber in major cities across Europe.CreditAndrew Testa for The New York Times
Combat Jack, an icon in the hip-hop community, has died after a battle with colon cancer.
Combat hosted his own immensely popular podcast where interviewed huge music celebs like Damon Dash, NORE, Just Blaze and others. Combat’s real name was Reggie Osse, and he came up in the biz as a lawyer at Def Jam Records during its ’90s heyday.
He announced in October that he was battling cancer. He posted a video of himself in the hospital … talking to LL Cool J, who had called with well wishes.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
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