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9/11 fund running out of money for those with illnesses

NEW YORK (AP) — The compensation fund for victims of 9/11 is running out of money and will cut future payments by 50 to 70 percent, officials announced Friday.

September 11th Victim Compensation Fund special master Rupa Bhattacharyya said she was "painfully aware of the inequity of the situation" but stressed that awarding some funds for every valid claim would be preferable to sending some legitimate claimants away empty-handed. "I could not abide a plan that would at the end of the day leave some claimants uncompensated," Bhattacharyya said.

Nearly 40,000 people... Read More

Opioid maker used rap video to push powerful painkiller

BOSTON (AP) — Employees at a drug company accused of bribing doctors rapped and danced around a person dressed as a bottle of the highly addictive fentanyl spray in a video meant to motivate sales reps to push the drug.

The video was shown to jurors this week in the closely watched trial in Boston of wealthy Insys Therapeutics Inc. Founder John Kapoor and four other onetime executives, including a former exotic dancer who prosecutors say was hired as a regional sales manager even though she had no pharmaceutical experience.

They're charged with scheming to pay... Read More

Year in space put US astronaut's disease defenses on alert

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a year in space put astronaut Scott Kelly's immune system on high alert and changed the activity of some of his genes compared to his Earth-bound identical twin.

Scientists don't know if the changes were good or bad, but results from a unique NASA twins study are raising new questions for doctors as the space agency aims to send people to Mars.

Tests of the genetic doubles gave scientists a never-before opportunity to track details of human biology, such as how an astronaut's genes turn on and off in space differently than at home. One... Read More

Ex-Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper supports universal health care

HENNIKER, N.H. (AP) — John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado who is considering a run for president in 2020, said Thursday he supports universal health care and thinks the U.S. eventually should provide it.

But as other Democrats already in the race endorse "Medicare-for-all," Hickenlooper told a crowd at a New Hampshire college that it was more important now to get behind the general idea rather than argue over a specific approach.

"I reject the notion that it should become a litmus test of what it takes to be a good Democrat," said Hickenlooper, who... Read More

Trump gains weight, now considered obese; cholesterol down

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has put on some pounds and is now officially considered obese.

The White House on Thursday released results of his most recent physical, revealing that his Body Mass Index is now 30.4. That's based on the fact that he's now carrying 243 pounds on his 6-foot, 3-inch frame. That's up from 236 pounds in September 2016 before he became president.

An index rating of 30 is the level at which doctors consider someone obese under this commonly used formula. About 40 percent of Americans are obese, and that raises their risk for... Read More