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| Reddit User Posts $55,000 Hospital Bill for Appendectomy Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 11:37 AM PST  Reddit User Shocked by Pricey Hospital Bill Full Story | Top |
| Calif. family struggles to get surgeries for teen Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 01:32 PM PST  OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The family of a 13-year-old California girl declared brain dead after tonsil surgery is encountering difficulty in obtaining two surgeries that she needs to undergo before she can be safely transferred to a long-term care facility. Full Story | Top |
| Justice delays health law's birth control mandate Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 11:45 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has thrown a hitch into President Barack Obama's new health care law by blocking a requirement that some religion-affiliated organizations provide health insurance that includes birth control. Full Story | Top |
| 'Duck' son Robertson makes nice in Fox interview Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 09:16 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — "Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson chose not to quack back. Full Story | Top |
| NKorea claims strength after removal of "filth" Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 11:53 PM PST  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Kim Jong Un boasted Wednesday that North Korea enters the new year on a surge of strength because of the elimination of "factionalist filth" — a reference to the young leader's once powerful uncle, whose execution last month raised questions about Kim's grip on power. Full Story | Top |
| World's first state-licensed marijuana retailers open doors in Colorado Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 02:58 PM PST By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - The world's first state-licensed marijuana retailers legally permitted to sell pot for recreational use opened for business in Colorado on Wednesday with long lines of customers, marking a new chapter in America's drug culture. Roughly three dozen former medical marijuana dispensaries newly cleared by state regulators to sell pot to consumers interested in nothing more than its mind- and mood-altering properties began welcoming customers as early as 8 a.m. MST (1500 GMT). "I never thought it would happen." The highly-anticipated New Year's Day opening launched an unprecedented commercial cannabis market that Colorado officials expect will ultimately gross $578 million in annual revenues, including $67 million in tax receipts for the state. Possession, cultivation and private personal consumption of marijuana by adults for the sake of just getting high has already been legal in Colorado for more than a year under a state constitutional amendment approved by voters. Full Story | Top |
| Former first lady Barbara Bush remains in Houston hospital Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 01:01 PM PST (Reuters) - Former first lady Barbara Bush was in a Houston hospital for a third day being treated for a respiratory ailment, a spokesman for her husband's office said. Bush, 88, was admitted on Monday to Methodist Hospital in Houston's Texas Medical Center, the office of former President George H.W. Bush said on Wednesday. George H.W. Bush was the 41st president of the United States. The former first lady is also the mother of George W. Bush, the 43rd U.S. president. Full Story | Top |
| Speaker Boehner ends rough year on a high note Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 12:25 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — It says a lot about House Speaker John Boehner's rough 2013 that even friends debate when the low point hit. Full Story | Top |
| New year means new challenges for health care law Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 12:19 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — This could be the year that things finally turn around for President Barack Obama's health care law. Yet it could start with another round of glitches that vex consumers and leave Republicans crowing, "We told you so." Full Story | Top |
| Stop the wars, pope says in New Year appeal Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 04:54 AM PST By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis made an impassioned New Year's peace address on Wednesday, saying the heart of humanity seemed to have gone astray and too many people were still indifferent to war, violence and injustice. The pontiff, who took his papal name from St Francis of Assisi, the saint most associated with peace, urged the world to listen to the "cry for peace" from suffering peoples. What on earth is happening in the heart of humanity?" he said to tens of thousands of people in St Peter's Square on the day the Roman Catholic Church celebrates its World Day of Peace. In a message for the World Day of Peace sent to world leaders last month, Francis said that huge salaries and bonuses were symptoms of an economy based on greed and inequality In that letter, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina again urged nations to narrow the gap between rich and poor, more and more of whom were getting only "crumbs". Full Story | Top |
| 3 Foods You Should Never Eat in 2014 Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 02:45 AM PST Forty-five percent of Americans usually make New Year's resolutions – and 38 percent of their resolutions are weight related, according to StatisticBrain.com. Losing weight actually tops the list of most frequent resolutions, while "staying fit and healthy" clocks in at number five: Full Story | Top |
| Bill de Blasio sworn in as NYC mayor Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 09:53 AM PST De Blasio, who succeeds outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is the first Democrat in two decades to lead New York City. Full Story | Top |
| Doctors, hospitals expect some confusion as Obamacare plans start Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 01:28 PM PST Hospitals and medical practices across the United States braced for confusion and administrative hassles as new insurance plans under President Barack Obama's healthcare law took effect on Wednesday. More than 2 million people enrolled in private plans offered under the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, during the initial sign-up period for health benefits. A spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said there were no hiccups to report in the first day the plans were in effect. Over time, the law - which requires most Americans to buy insurance, offers subsidies to help low-income people get covered and sets minimum standards for coverage - aims to dramatically reduce the number of Americans who lack health insurance, which the U.S. government has estimated at more than 45 million. Full Story | Top |
| Two-woman ticket in Texas goes for history in 2014 Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 12:52 PM PST  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Forget whether Hillary Clinton could win the White House in 2016. Women still have yet to run many statehouses, but in 2014 two Texas Democrats are going for a new kind of history: Winning as an all-female ticket for governor and lieutenant governor. Full Story | Top |
| Snapchat leak reveals phone numbers, usernames of 4.6 million users [updated] Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 06:00 AM PST  Snapchat users beware: someone has posted the phone numbers and usernames of more than 4.6 million accounts on the site SnapchatDB, freely available as an SQL dump or CSV text file for anyone to download. The last two digits of each phone number have been censored "in order to minimize spam and abuse," but the owner of the database says that "under certain circumstances," the site might be willing to release the uncensored records. This giant leak comes just days after Gibson Security's latest interview in which the company warns of Snapchat's vulnerabilities. According to Gibson Security, the Snapchat team had taken far too long to address some very serious issues with the coding of the software, and had left the Full Story | Top |
| N. Korea's Kim vows to build 'world-class' structures Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 06:11 AM PST North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on Wednesday called for the construction of "world-class" structures, praising the speedy completion of his pet ski resort project. "The construction sector should set up world-class structures ... and build many other structures that could contribute to improving the people's living conditions," Kim said in a New Year message broadcast on state TV. He praised soldiers and builders for setting up "numerous monumental structures" including the Masik Pass Ski Resort in a short period. State media said the ski resort opened on Tuesday and Kim visited to mark its completion, taking a ride on a ski lift. Full Story | Top |
| Legal recreational pot industry opens in Colorado Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 03:41 PM PST DENVER (AP) — Crowds were serenaded by live music as they waited for the nation's first legal recreational pot shops to open. They ate doughnuts and funnel cakes as a glass-blower made smoking pipes. Some tourists even rode around in a limo, eager to try weed but not so eager to be seen buying it. Full Story | Top |
| Sea ice stalls complex Antarctic rescue bid Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 08:00 PM PST  Sea ice stalled a planned helicopter rescue of passengers on a Russian ship trapped in frozen Antarctic seas Thursday, despite improved weather conditions that had raised hopes the complex operation could proceed. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority had planned to begin an airlift of 52 passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy after heavy rain and winds cleared at the site, 100 nautical miles east of the French base Dumont d'Urville. The group, stranded in pack ice since December 24, was to be flown to a nearby Chinese icebreaker Xue Long using its helicopter and transferred by barge to the more distant Australian resupply vessel Aurora Australis before leaving the Antarctic. But the complex, multi-vessel operation hit a snag when the Aurora Australis's barge was unable to reach the Xue Long due to sea ice, forcing AMSA to call off the bid. Full Story | Top |
| Sights from Colorado pot industry's opening day Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 04:30 PM PST  DENVER (AP) — The nation's first recreational pot industry opened in Colorado on Wednesday, kicking off a marijuana experiment that will be watched closely around the world. Already, it is attracting people from across the country. Full Story | Top |
| Hospital: Ariel Sharon's health worsens Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 12:26 PM PST  JERUSALEM (AP) — The medical condition of the comatose former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sharply deteriorated Wednesday, the hospital treating him said. Full Story | Top |
| Gay couple exchanges wedding vows on Rose Parade float Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 11:46 AM PST  A gay Los Angeles couple exchanged wedding vows atop a flower-covered float trundling through Pasadena on Wednesday as part of the nationally televised Tournament of Roses Parade, capping a momentous year for same-sex marriage in the United States. The nuptials of Danny Leclair, 45, and Aubrey Loots, 42, who have been together for 12 years and own a local chain of hair salons, marked the first same-sex marriage on a Rose Parade float in the 125-year history of the annual event, organizers said. In the past, two heterosexual couples have tied the knot during Rose Parades - in 1989 and last year. Leclair and Loots made it official aboard a float shaped like a wedding cake coated in white coconut chips, accented with red kidney beans and festooned with 12,000 roses and other floral decorations, said Ged Kenslea, a spokesman for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Full Story | Top |
| Justice Sotomayor blocks Obamacare contraception mandate Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 07:53 AM PST President Obama's besieged Affordable Care Act has suffered another setback with a US Supreme Court justice issuing a temporary injunction late Tuesday preventing enforcement of the law's contraception mandate against a group of Roman Catholic nuns who provide care to low-income elderly patients. It proved to be a busy evening for Justice Sotomayor, who also considered a stay request from Utah officials in a case involving same-sex marriage, while also presiding over the famous ball drop in New York City's Times Square in the final countdown to the New Year. "It is ordered that respondents are temporarily enjoined from enforcing against applicants the contraceptive coverage requirements imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," Sotomayor wrote in her brief order. She gave the Obama administration until Friday at 10 a.m. to file a response. Full Story | Top |
| Hospital won't aid transfer of girl on ventilator Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 08:49 PM PST OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A California hospital is unwilling to allow an outside doctor to fit a 13-year-old declared brain dead after tonsil surgery with the breathing and feeding tubes that would allow her to be safely transferred to another facility, its lawyer said Tuesday. Full Story | Top |
| Shoppers wait for Colorado pot shops to open Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 05:39 AM PST DENVER (AP) — Firing up bongs and cheering in a cloud of marijuana smoke, pot users in Colorado hailed the arrival of the nation's first recreational pot industry Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| Iraq suffers worst year of violence since 2008 Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 05:17 AM PST  Violence in Iraq surged in 2013 to its worst level in five years, figures released Wednesday showed, fuelled by discontent among the Sunni Arab minority and the civil war in neighbouring Syria. Bombs tore through markets, cafes, football fields and mosques, militants assaulted prisons, police stations and other government facilities, and families were killed in their homes. And while Iraqi security forces carried out widespread operations targeting militants, they have yet to curb the violence, and the mass arrests they sometimes make may ultimately contribute to the problem. "One has to go back to 2008 to find comparable levels of violence," Iraq Body Count, a Britain-based NGO that tracks violence in Iraq, said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| De Blasio becomes face of NYC progressive movement Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 03:36 AM PST NEW YORK (AP) — Twelve years ago, Bill de Blasio attended New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's inauguration as a newly-minted city councilman, unknown to most outside his Brooklyn district and a small circle of political operatives. Full Story | Top |
| Iran hard-liners join team of nuclear negotiators Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 02:41 AM PST TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has boosted its team in charge of nuclear talks with world powers, adding what are believed to be hard-liners and conservatives in an apparent effort to silence critics of the landmark interim accord reached in Geneva in November. Full Story | Top |
| Chicago's murder rate plunged in 2013 Wednesday, Jan 01, 2014 04:04 PM PST  City in the national spotlight recorded the fewest killings since 1965. Full Story | Top |
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