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| Atheist group erects 'Good without God' billboards in California Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 05:38 PM PST By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - As the Christmas season approaches in the United States, a group of non-believers in the California capital are planning to erect billboards explaining why they are atheists in hopes of bringing broader visibility to their lack of religious faith. The 55 billboards that will soon dot the Sacramento landscape will feature pictures of local residents and slogans such as "Good without God," and follow similar campaigns in other major U.S. cities in recent years. "Those of us who are free from religion, who work to keep dogma out of government, science, medicine and education, have a lot to offer society," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, which sponsored the ads. The billboards set to go up in Sacramento on the day after Thanksgiving are part of the increasingly loud arguments between many deeply religious Christians whose faith has informed U.S. conservative politics for a generation, and a vocal cohort of secular, often younger voters who want to keep religion out of public life. Full Story | Top |
| Ohio governor's Medicaid stance hurts him with some GOP voters: poll Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 03:32 PM PST  By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich's decision to expand Medicaid under Obamacare has hurt him with some voters in his own party a year out from his re-election bid, a poll released on Tuesday found. Kasich held a lead over a relatively unknown, presumed challenger, Cleveland-area Democrat Ed FitzGerald, the Quinnipiac University poll said. About 24 percent of Republicans responding in the poll said they were less likely to vote for Kasich because he bypassed Ohio's Republican-dominated legislature in October and used a legislative panel to expand Medicaid. Kasich opposes the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, but wanted the $2.5 billion in federal money for his state that a Medicaid provision of the law provides. Full Story | Top |
| Study links high sodium "fizzy" medicines to raised heart risks Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 03:30 PM PST By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Millions of patients worldwide taking effervescent, dispersible and soluble medicines have an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes because of the high salt content of such drugs, scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers from Britain's University of Dundee and University College London found that with some "fizzy" versions of painkillers, vitamin supplements or other common medicines, taking the maximum daily dose would on its own exceed daily recommended limits for sodium, the main component of salt. High salt intake has been linked to high blood pressure, or hypertension, which is a key risk factor for strokes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases. Full Story | Top |
| Nurse killed, 4 wounded in Texas hospital stabbing spree Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 03:30 PM PST A man armed with a knife killed a nurse and wounded four other people in a stabbing spree in a Texas hospital on Tuesday, and police said they had arrested the adult son of a hospital patient in connection with the attack. Kyron Templeton, the 22-year-old son of a patient at Good Shepherd Medical Center in the city Longview, has been charged with murder and four counts of aggravated assault, police said. "At this point, we don't have a motive," Longview police spokeswoman Kristie Brian told Reuters. Templeton has been arraigned, with bail set at $2 million for the murder charge and $150,000 for each aggravated assault charge. Full Story | Top |
| In Western swing, Obama goes on offensive over healthcare law Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 03:14 PM PST  By Jeff Mason GLENDALE, California (Reuters) - Almost two weeks ago, President Barack Obama, looking down, walked into the White House briefing room and apologized for the flawed rollout of his healthcare reform law. During a three-day Western swing through Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, Obama touted the accomplishments of his signature law, popularly known as Obamacare, and promised the glitches were going away. "Yes, we decided to fix a broken healthcare system," Obama told workers at DreamWorks Animation on Tuesday, the final day of his trip. "I was talking to some of the studio execs here and I said, 'You know the rollout of the healthcare marketplace was rough' ... and yet here in California and here across this state, there are thousands of people who are getting healthcare for the first time - for the first time - because of this." The administration has promised the website will be working for the vast majority of Americans by the end of this month, and White House officials continue to express confidence that goal will be achieved. Full Story | Top |
| Easing nurse practitioner laws may save money at clinics Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 01:31 PM PST By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Relaxing restrictions on what services nurse practitioners can and can't provide may lead to cost savings at retail health clinics, suggests a new study. Researchers found care related to retail health clinic visits cost $34 less in states that allowed nurse practitioners to prescribe and practice independently than in states that required them to be supervised by a doctor. "It appears there are cost savings when those nurse practitioners are allowed to operate autonomously in the retail clinic settings," Joanne Spetz told Reuters Health. While $34 may not seem like much, the researchers estimate there could be cost savings of $472 million by 2015 if nurse practitioners are allowed to independently practice at retail health clinics. Full Story | Top |
| Dying Chicago lesbian gets judge's OK to wed ahead of new law Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 01:27 PM PST  By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Chicago woman who is dying of cancer could wed her lesbian partner as early as Wednesday after a federal judge ordered local officials to issue them a marriage license six months before an Illinois law recognizing gay unions takes effect. The cancer patient, Vernita Gray, 64, and her partner, Patricia Ewert, 65, had argued in a lawsuit filed in federal court that a state law passed last week allowing same-sex marriages discriminates against them because it would prevent them from getting married before Gray's death. Gray suffers from breast cancer, which has spread to her bones and her brain. U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin ordered the Cook County clerk's office to issue the couple a marriage license, which was delivered to their home on Monday night, said Jim Scalzitti, a spokesman for County Clerk David Orr. Full Story | Top |
| Supreme Court to hear Obamacare contraception cases Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 01:02 PM PST  By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to consider religious objections made by corporations to a provision of President Barack Obama's healthcare law that requires employers to provide health insurance that covers birth control. The so-called contraception mandate of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, requires employers to provide health insurance policies involving preventive services for women that include access to contraception and sterilization. The healthcare law has faced political and legal hurdles since Obama, a Democrat, made it a signature policy on taking office in 2009. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: U.N. says Syria combatants stymie aid effort Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 12:21 PM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations says its aid convoys cannot reach around 250,000 people in areas besieged by Syrian government forces or rebels, despite "growing needs and intensifying conflict". The detailed assessment was included in a confidential paper that Valerie Amos, U.N. emergency relief coordinator, presented to a private, unannounced U.N. meeting in Geneva on Tuesday. "Besieged communities continue to be cut off." International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi announced on Monday that peace talks would be held on January 22, the first direct talks between the government of President Bashar al-Assad and opposition forces seeking to topple him. The U.N. document entitled "Humanitarian Situation and Response in Syria" painted a grim picture, saying there were 900 armed clashes in Syria in October compared with 500 in May. It describes a "dangerous and difficult environment for humanitarian workers" and says 12 U.N. staff and 32 volunteers or staff of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011. Full Story | Top |
| Hedge fund Elliott lifts stake in Celesio Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 12:05 PM PST Hedge fund Elliott International has lifted its stake in German drugs distributor Celesio, bringing it close to a position where it could block the $8.3 billion takeover bid by McKesson. Celesio said on Tuesday that Elliott gained control of 25.16 percent of the voting rights in the company. However, when additional shares from Celesio's two convertible bonds are taken into account, Elliott's voting stake stands at 21.05 percent. McKesson has said its 23 euro ($31.07) per share takeover offer is conditional upon it obtaining at least 75 percent of Celesio's shares, including those from the convertible bonds. Full Story | Top |
| Belgium to debate giving children right to euthanasia Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 11:30 AM PST By Robert-Jan Bartunek BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian lawmakers will on Wednesday vote on whether to support a proposed new bill to give extremely sick children the right to euthanasia, a move certain to fan the divisive debate on the practice worldwide. The new bill would make Belgium the first country to remove the age limit for the procedure - though it would insist parents have a role in their child's decision to die. "We want to provide the freedom of choice, also to minors who are able to make up their own mind," said one of the bill's backers, Jean-Jacques De Gucht, from the Flemish liberals, who form part of the ruling coalition. Full Story | Top |
| Surrogates often make call to deactivate heart devices Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 11:20 AM PST By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who have implanted heart devices rarely have advance directives indicating whether they want them deactivated near the end of life, according to a new study. Mueller also recommended those patients have a palliative medicine consultation. Full Story | Top |
| Bayer bids $2.4 billion for Norwegian cancer drug partner Algeta Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 10:59 AM PST  has offered to pay $2.4 billion for Norway's Algeta , its partner for a new prostate cancer treatment, at a 27 percent premium to the stock's last close, Algeta said on Tuesday. The deal would boost Bayer's drugs division by giving it outright control over Xofigo, a drug the two have developed jointly since 2009 and started selling in the United States this year. Investors, however, bet that the German drugs and chemicals group has a fight on its hands and Algeta's Chief Financial Officer said that rival bids could not be ruled out. Full Story | Top |
| White House: confident Supreme Court will say contraception mandate legal Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 10:13 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama believes the U.S. Supreme Court will back a provision of the healthcare law requiring employers to provide insurance that covers birth control, the White House said on Tuesday. "We believe this requirement is lawful and essential to women's health and are confident the Supreme Court will agree," the White House said in a statement issued shortly after the court said it would consider the cases, brought by companies whose owners opposed the law on religious grounds. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Vicki Allen) Full Story | Top |
| Older adults don't see as well at home as in the clinic Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 09:33 AM PST By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters) - When older people have their vision tested in a doctor's office, the results might not reflect how well they actually see at home, according to a new study. That could explain why people often complain of vision problems doctors wouldn't expect based on their eye test results, the study's authors write in JAMA Ophthalmology. "A simple awareness of this discrepancy between vision in the clinic and home may alert the clinician to recommend increased lighting or refer these patients for an in-home evaluation by an occupational therapist or low vision rehabilitation specialist," Dr. Anjali M. Bhorade said. Bhorade led the study at the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Full Story | Top |
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