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☆ Justice Department charges 78 people with $2.5 billion in health-care fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it has recently charged 78 people with $2.5 billion in separate health-care fraud and opioid abuse schemes. The defendants allegedly defrauded programs used to take care of elderly and disabled people, and in some cases used the ill-gotten money to buy exotic cars, jewelry, and yachts, the DOJ said. Among those charged are 11 defendants accused of submitting $2 billion in fraudulent claims through telemedicine, as well as 10 defendants charged in connection with fraudulent prescription drug claims. In all, prosecutors filed charges against people in 16 states in cases that were lodged or unsealed in the past two weeks as part of the coordinated crackdown. In the scheme cited by Garland, executives of supposed software and services companies submitted $1.9 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare for items that were not eligible for reimbursement, according to the DOJ.

Persons: General Merrick Garland, Garland, Brett Blackman, Gregory Schreck, Johnson, Gary Cox Organizations: of Justice, DOJ, Justice Department, Southern, Southern District of Locations: telemedicine, Johnson County , Kansas, Maricopa County , Arizona, U.S, Southern District, Southern District of Florida

☆ The agony and ecstasy of scoring last-minute face value Taylor Swift tickets
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“My family [last weekend] took the gamble to drive down the 5 hours to Nashville to see if we could get face value tickets,” she said. Another Twitter account called @ErasTourResell, which has 120,000 followers, has gained significant traction working with resellers who want to sell their tickets at face value. The trio of twenty-somethings aim to make Swift tickets as accessible to fans as possible without them overpaying or getting scammed. “So far we’ve posted somewhere between 2,700 and 3,000 tickets, all for face value,” the trio said in a DM conversation on Twitter. “It’s truly so rewarding seeing these tickets go to real fans for face value when the resale market has insane prices with people making three times the profit.

☆ We got an inside look at a presentation showing the future of Microsoft's $20 billion health-tech acquisition. It revealed how new AI models could transform how we go to the doctor.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Microsoft bought Nuance in 2022 for nearly $20 billion to expand its reach in healthcare. CHICAGO — In 2022, Microsoft bought Nuance for nearly $20 billion to supercharge its growth in the healthcare industry. It's the first tool in Nuance's pipeline to combine the company's own AI models with that of OpenAI, ChatGPT's creator and a deep Microsoft partner. Even back in 2015, enthusiasm for the idea was palpable, Peter Durlach, Nuance's chief strategy officer, told Insider in April. In a conference presentation, Andrea Barrett, a physician assistant and Nuance consultant, demonstrates products using generative AI.

☆ Billionaires and CEOs descended on Beverly Hills to talk recession, bank failures, and more. Here's the inside track.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

On the agenda today:But first: The big takeaways from the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) speaks at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference Mike Blake/ReutersThe big-money set jetted into LA last week for the Milken Global Conference. Biggest opportunityCampbell: The pullback in lending by banks is raising the hopes of those in the private credit industry. Read more:'Junk fees'Getty ImagesIt goes by many names: an administrative fee, a transaction fee, even a "regulatory compliance" fee. Akash Nigam, the founder and CEO of Genies, who is spending $2,400 a month on ChatGPT accounts for all his employees.

☆ The healthcare system is racing to unleash breakthrough AI models despite profound unanswered questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The behemoth health-records company Epic, which touches all corners of the healthcare ecosystem, is embracing generative AI as a necessary priority. For eight months, he and a team at Microsoft have been working with OpenAI to explore how generative AI could work in healthcare. Scientific, ethical, and legal mysteries behind ChatGPTLee's panel drew top leaders from tech and healthcare, and their questions on generative AI were sweeping. OConnor edited the note to fix a mistake and clicked a button to transfer it directly into the patient's health record. Generative AI is far from a slam dunk, HIMSS's Bogdan said, citing adoption and privacy concerns.

April 7 (Reuters) - The federal judge who on Friday suspended approval of the abortion pill mifepristone is a former Christian legal activist whose small courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, has become a go-to destination for conservatives challenging Biden administration policies. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump, had a long track record of opposing abortion and LGBTQ rights before the U.S. Senate confirmed him in 2019 to a life-tenured position as a federal judge. FAVORED VENUESince then, his courthouse has become a favored venue for conservative legal activists and Republican state attorneys general pursuing lawsuits seeking to halt aspects of Democratic President Joe Biden's agenda - often with success. In October, Kacsmaryk vacated Biden administration guidance requiring employers to allow transgender workers to dress and use bathrooms consistent with their gender identities. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Bill Berkrot and Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Pool via REUTERSApril 8 (Reuters) - The federal judge who on Friday suspended approval of the abortion pill mifepristone is a former Christian legal activist whose small courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, has become a go-to destination for conservatives challenging Biden administration policies. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump, had a long track record of opposing abortion and LGBTQ rights before the U.S. Senate confirmed him in 2019 to a life-tenured position as a federal judge. When anti-abortion groups in November filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's more than two-decade old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, they filed in Amarillo, guaranteeing the case would be heard by Kacsmaryk. FAVORED VENUESince then, his courthouse has become a favored venue for conservative legal activists and Republican state attorneys general pursuing lawsuits seeking to halt aspects of Democratic President Joe Biden's agenda - often with success. While the district's chief judge could order cases be reallocated, he has not.

☆ This Isn't What Millennial Middle Age Was Supposed to Look Like - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +25 min

Things have been difficult for her family, she says, but one thing she isn’t worried about: a midlife crisis, looming just over the horizon. One of our questions was about whether they had experienced a midlife crisis and how they would define the term. Many people said they felt they couldn’t be having a midlife crisis, because there was no bourgeois numbness to rebel against. “Who has midlife crisis money?”The traditional midlife crisis, as presented in popular culture, at least, unfolds amid suburban ennui. We just increase our Lexapro.”Was the midlife crisis ever even real?

☆ Jamaican court convicts gangster in landmark case
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KINGSTON, March 7 (Reuters) - Jamaica's Supreme Court convicted a well-known crime boss on Tuesday in a landmark trial, marking a win for the Caribbean island's recently reformed anti-gang laws. The ruling follows a series of judicial reforms aimed at reining in rampant gang violence. Dozens of other defendants are also on trial alongside Bryan, part of a 25-count indictment made up of charges including arson and murder. Five others have been released due to insufficient evidence since the trial began in 2021, while another suspect was killed. Recent judicial reforms allow judges to convict defendants based on a wider range of offenses, which could increase the length of prison sentences.

☆ How the Supreme Court may approach Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday on Biden's student-loan relief plan. Supporters say the relief is lawful, while opponents say Biden's policy is unconstitutional. The states claim that MOHELA will lose revenue from servicing loans because of Biden's relief. Concerning the constitutionality of Biden's plan, advocates on both sides say they feel confident their respective views will prevail at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decisions by June.

"It's judge shopping on steroids," said Sarah Lipton-Lubet, executive director of the progressive legal advocacy group Take Back the Court. The Biden administration has called the lawsuit "unprecedented" and urged Kacsmaryk to not deprive women of a long-approved safe and effective drug. At least eight have led to rulings blocking Biden policies, with several more pending. The chief judges of Texas federal courts have the authority to reallocate cases to other judges, but have largely not done so, he said. Absent a change, litigants have every right to take advantage of that structure to seek a favorable judge, he said.

☆ The Supreme Court's investigation raises questions about the justices' determination to find the abortion draft leaker
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Supreme Court could not determine who leaked a draft abortion ruling last May. Yet the 20-page report has raised concerns about the rigor of the court's investigation. "During the course of the investigation, I spoke with each of the Justices, several on multiple occasions," Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley, who conducted the investigation, said in a statement. An executive-branch investigation may have led to the justices speaking under oath, a line the Supreme Court marshal did not cross, according to her statement. The Supreme Court's marshal did not note any new leads in her report.

☆ I make $5,000 a month writing scripts for YouTube videos. Here's what makes a good script.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

George Blackman, 25, writes scripts for YouTube videos full time. I had never worked in the YouTube space before; my only vaguely related experience was years spent writing comedy with a friend. When I applied to work with Abdaal, this writing experience helped — and it also helped that I wasn't obsessed with him. A good script needs to be generated from the YouTuber's mind and written in their style. Before writing, I always ask my clients, "What are the things that I absolutely have to hit in this script?"

The software that failed and forced the Federal Aviation Administration to ground thousands of flights on Wednesday is 30 years old and not scheduled to be updated for another six years, according to a senior government official. This system was installed in 1993 and runs the Notice to Air Missions system, or NOTAM, which sends pilots vital information they need to fly, the official said. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., was busy Wednesday after an FAA outage canceled and delayed flights. ET “to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information” as it worked to restore the NOTAM system. The FAA lifted the ground stop around 8:50 a.m., and normal air traffic operations began resuming gradually.

"At this time, we do not believe the cause is related to the FAA outage experienced earlier today." Share this -Link copiedNearly half of Southwest flights delayed just weeks after mass cancellations Nearly half of Southwest Airlines flights were delayed as of about 11:15 a.m. Share this -Link copiedMore than 540 Delta flights delayed, 14 canceled More than 540 Delta flights were delayed as of 9:13 a.m. ET, the airline had three flights canceled and 208 flights delayed, amounting to 21% of its overall flights, according to FlightAware. Alaska Airlines had 11 flights canceled and 149 flights delayed, also amounting to 21% of its overall flights, FlightAware noted as of 8:53 a.m.

Passengers stuck at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago greeted the latest air travel disruption with a collective shrug. And our nation’s economy depends on a best-in-class air travel system. "We call on federal policymakers to modernize our vital air travel infrastructure to ensure our systems are able to meet demand safely and efficiently," he said. "An FAA system outage is causing ground stops at AUS and other airports across the country," the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport said in a tweet. Air France said all of its U.S.-bound flights were operating as planned and were not affected by the FAA computer outage.

A Michigan doctor who was reported missing on Christmas Eve was found dead Tuesday after a diving team searched a frozen pond near his home. Blackman-Leoni Public Safety via FacebookPayan was seen leaving his home on foot after detectives were able to access his password-protected surveillance system, authorities said Tuesday. The Jackson County Dive Team found Payan after cutting holes into the surface of a frozen pond on his property to search the water. Payan was a doctor of osteopathic medicine with a board certification from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, according to his biography with Henry Ford Health. He studied at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and did his residency in psychiatry at Henry Ford Allegiance Health.

☆ Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dominated oral arguments and challenged conservative thinking in her first months on the Supreme Court, observers say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has sat on the Supreme Court for a little more than two months. The Supreme Court of the United States on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022 in Washington, DC. Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court during a formal group photograph at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Some court observers say oral arguments can potentially be an opportunity for justices to sway their colleagues' thinking – though that doesn't happen often. During the three hours of oral arguments, Jackson frequently threw cold water on the idea.

Two people are dead after a helicopter crashed in Charlotte, North Carolina, Tuesday afternoon, according to officials. The aftermath of a deadly helicopter crash in Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 22, 2022. Marquise Beatty Sr.A Robinson R44 helicopter crashed near Interstate 77 and Nations Ford Road at around 12:20 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The helicopter belonged to local CBS news station WBTV, NBC affiliate WCNC of Charlotte reported. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating what caused the crash.

☆ Some older workers have fond memories of sleeping at the office, but the Elon Musk-style 84-hour workweek is falling flat with younger Americans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Some Twitter employees are working 80-hour weeks and sleeping at the office. Some older workers have fond memories of sleeping at work, but younger Americans aren't on board. Americans are divided on what to make of this, and a workplace-culture expert believes the schism reveals a generational divide. But younger workers are unlikely to buy in, said the best-selling author and workplace well-being expert Jennifer Moss. While older generations worked through the dot-com craze and the rise of Silicon Valley hustle culture, younger workers are changing attitudes around how far you need to go for your job.

A Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles was forced to make an emergency landing in Albuquerque on Tuesday after the plane's cabin appeared to fill with smoke, the airline said. Delta Flight 2846 was enroute to Los Angeles International Airport from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when what a Delta spokesperson described as a smoky odor started to fill the cabin. Smoke fills the cabin of Delta flight 2846 from Atlanta to Los Angeles on Nov. 1, 2022. He said he and other passengers were waiting for a new plane to arrive to transport them to Los Angeles. “That’s why our flight crew followed procedures to safely divert today’s flight 2846 to Albuquerque," the Delta spokesperson said, apologizing for the delay to passengers' travel plans.

☆ Supreme Court could eliminate affirmative action in university admissions as it considers high-profile challenges against Harvard and University of North Carolina
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Students for Fair Admissions wants the Supreme Court to eliminate race as a factor in university admissions. The Supreme Court will hear the two high-profile challenges on Monday. "I represent so many communities in which affirmative action benefits us all the time," Agustín León-Sáenz, a first-generation immigrant from Ecuador and a sophomore at Harvard, told Insider. The Supreme Court has over the years confronted the role of race in university admissions and repeatedly maintained the constitutionality of affirmative action. The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decisions in the pair of cases by June.

☆ Factbox: How could British PM Truss be removed, and how would she be replaced?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Alistair Smout | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss is clinging on to her job after a political crisis and market turmoil sparked by her fiscal plans that has seen her fire her finance minister and reverse major parts of her flagship tax-cutting agenda. CONFIDENCE VOTE AMONG CONSERVATIVE LAWMAKERSA vote of confidence among Conservative lawmakers is one mechanism to remove their party leader. However, as Truss only became leader last month, current rules say such a vote cannot be held until September 2023. CONFIDENCE VOTE AMONG ALL LAWMAKERS IN PARLIAMENTA vote of no confidence in the government could be put forward by opposition parties. - If Truss resigns or loses a vote of confidence among Conservative lawmakers in her leadership, there is a process to select a new leader, overseen by the 1922 Committee.

Share this -Link copiedFloridians are livestreaming Hurricane Ian on TikTok Floridians are giving TikTok users a front-row seat to Hurricane Ian. Storm surge map, they didn’t have a color for 12 to 15 feet," he said about the historic levels of storm surge expected near where Ian is expected to make landfall. Share this -Link copiedA view of Hurricane Ian from the International Space Station A view of Hurricane Ian from the International Space Station, on Monday. Share this -Link copiedSatellite images show Hurricane Ian approaching Florida Hurricane Ian over the Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday. Share this -Link copiedIan expected to strengthen until making landfall, officials say Hurricane Ian is still forecast to strengthen until the hurricane makes landfall in Florida, the National Hurricane Center said.

Storm surge map, they didn’t have a color for 12 to 15 feet," he said about the historic levels of storm surge expected near where Ian is expected to make landfall. Share this -Link copiedA view of Hurricane Ian from the International Space Station A view of Hurricane Ian from the International Space Station, on Monday. “We are extremely concerned about the potential impacts Hurricane Ian may have on phosphate facilities around the state,” Whitlock added. Share this -Link copiedIan strengthens into Category 4 storm Hurricane Ian has strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it advances upon Florida's west coast. Share this -Link copiedSatellite images show Hurricane Ian approaching Florida Hurricane Ian over the Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday.

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