by: LISA MASCARO, KEVIN FREKING and ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press
Posted:
Dec 23, 2020 / 11:16 PM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) Threatening to tank Congress’ massive COVID relief and government funding package, President Donald Trump’s demand for bigger aid checks for Americans is forcing Republicans traditionally wary of such spending into an uncomfortable test of allegiance.
On Thursday, House Democrats who also favor $2,000 checks will all but dare Republicans to break with Trump, calling up his proposal for a Christmas Eve vote. The president’s last-minute objection could derail critical legislation amid a raging pandemic and deep economic uncertainty. His attacks risk a federal government shutdown by early next week.
(Image Provided/https://www.coronavirus.in.gov/2393.htm)
by: Associated Press and WISH Staff Reports
Posted:
Dec 23, 2020 / 03:26 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (AP/WISH) For a third straight week, more than a quarter of Indiana counties are rated with the highest risk level of coronavirus spread in Wednesday’s state update that continued to show no area in the low or moderate community spread zones.
The Indiana State Health Department tracking map labels 24 of the state’s 92 counties the most dangerous red category, down two from a week ago.
All other counties are in the next-riskiest orange rating of the four-level system.
For Pacers fans, Christmas will indeed come early this season. Indiana will officially tip off the 2020-21 NBA season on Wednesday night by hosting the New York Knicks at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
It will be a different holiday season in many ways, of course. The COVID-19 pandemic is responsible for the season starting two days before Christmas instead of mid-October. Teams will play a condensed, 72-game schedule. And no fans will attend Wednesday s opener, or the first several games at The Fieldhouse.
But still, the Pacers are back for another campaign with many returning faces but a new style of play under first-year head coach Nate Bjorkgren.
Dec 22, 2020 / 01:26 PM EST
(CNN) Congress has finally addressed one of Americans’ biggest health care headaches: surprise medical billing.
Lawmakers included a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to stop the practice in this week’s government spending bill. The deal among key players in both the House and Senate was released earlier this month a year after the last joint-chamber agreement was announced before withering amid competing measures in the House.
At issue are the bills that patients get after receiving care from out-of-network physicians or hospitals, often in emergency situations. Roughly 1 in every 6 emergency room or in-hospital stays generated at least one out-of-network medical bill in 2017, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.
by: Kate Sullivan and Jeff Zeleny, CNN
Posted:
Dec 22, 2020 / 05:09 PM EST
(CNN) President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday said the “darkest days” in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic “are ahead of us, not behind us,” and urged Americans to prepare themselves for the struggle.
“One thing I promise you about my leadership during this crisis: I’m going to tell it to you straight. I’m going to tell you the truth. And here’s the simple truth: Our darkest days in the battle against COVID are ahead of us, not behind us,” Biden said in remarks in Wilmington, Delaware.