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How Cigna saves millions by having its doctors reject claims without reading them

How Cigna saves millions by having its doctors reject claims without reading them

ProPublica reports: When a stubborn pain in Nick van Terheyden’s bones would not subside, his doctor had a hunch what was wrong. Without enough vitamin D in the blood, the body will pull that vital nutrient from the bones. Left untreated, a vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis. A blood test in the fall of 2021 confirmed the doctor’s diagnosis, and van Terheyden expected his company’s insurance plan, managed by Cigna, to cover the cost of the bloodwork. Instead,…

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Inciting terrorism: Trump tries to intimidate prosecutors and jurors with threats of ‘death & destruction’

Inciting terrorism: Trump tries to intimidate prosecutors and jurors with threats of ‘death & destruction’

The Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump warned early Friday of “potential death & destruction” if he is charged in Manhattan in a criminal case related to alleged hush-money payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels to conceal an affair. The post-midnight posting on Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform, was his latest — and most explicit — allusion to violence that could follow an indictment stemming from an investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), whom Trump…

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Donald Trump is on the wrong side of the religious right

Donald Trump is on the wrong side of the religious right

Tim Alberta writes: The sanctuary buzzed as Mike Pence climbed into the elevated pulpit, standing 15 feet above the pews, a Celtic cross over his left shoulder. The former vice president had spoken here, at Hillsdale College, the private Christian school tucked into the knolls of southern Michigan, on several previous occasions. But this was his first time inside Christ Chapel, the magnificent, recently erected campus cathedral inspired by the St. Martin-in-the-Fields parish of England. The space offers a spiritual…

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The Republican plan to make voting irrelevant

The Republican plan to make voting irrelevant

Sherrilyn Ifill writes: On Tuesday, it was reported by NBC News that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell continues to recover at a rehabilitation center after his fall at a restaurant in Washington earlier this month. McConnell spoke with fellow Republican Senators over the phone from the facility and “sounded like Mitch,” according to Senate Minority Whip John Thune. The news brought to mind McConnell’s exceptional instincts as a political calculator, and in particular his past cynical and perhaps prescient deliberations…

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American contractor killed in drone attack on base in Syria

American contractor killed in drone attack on base in Syria

The New York Times reports: A U.S. contractor was killed and another contractor and five U.S. service members were injured when a self-destructing drone struck a maintenance facility on a coalition base in northeast Syria on Thursday, the Pentagon said in a statement. U.S. intelligence analysts concluded that the drone was of “Iranian origin,” according to the Pentagon statement, which said the attack took place near Hasaka at 1:38 p.m. local time. In response, at President Biden’s direction, Defense Secretary…

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Why the world needs a fire department

Why the world needs a fire department

Douglas P. Fry writes: The threats posed by extreme wildfires are a global challenge that require a global response. Wildfires are increasing in frequency and severity on all inhabited continents. Writing in Science this month, Bo Zhang and colleagues note that an “increase in fire emissions poses a widening threat to climate.” For example, the record-breaking 2020 fire season in California negated more than 18 years of carbon dioxide reductions in the state. Wildfires fuel climate change, and climate change…

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Why climate ‘doomers’ are replacing climate ‘deniers’

Why climate ‘doomers’ are replacing climate ‘deniers’

The Washington Post reports: When Sean Youra was 26 years old and working as an engineer, he started watching documentaries about climate change. Youra, who was struggling with depression and the loss of a family member, was horrified by what he learned about melting ice and rising extreme weather. He started spending hours on YouTube, watching videos made by fringe scientists who warned that the world was teetering on the edge of societal collapse — or even near-term human extinction….

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Fossil teeth reveal how brains developed in utero over millions of years of human evolution – new research

Fossil teeth reveal how brains developed in utero over millions of years of human evolution – new research

Any hominid fossil find with molar teeth can be plugged into a new equation that reveals its species’ prenatal growth rate. Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images By Tesla Monson, Western Washington University Fossilized bones help tell the story of what human beings and our predecessors were doing hundreds of thousands of years ago. But how can you learn about important parts of our ancestors’ life cycle – like pregnancy or gestation – that leave no obvious trace in the fossil…

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Norway watches warily as Russian subs and aircraft step up Arctic patrols

Norway watches warily as Russian subs and aircraft step up Arctic patrols

NBC News reports: NATO ally Norway has announced that it is boosting the number of naval patrols near vital undersea gas pipelines off its coast, and released a trove of videos exclusively to NBC News illustrating what it sees as a growing Russian threat in the Arctic. The videos provided by the Royal Norwegian Air Force capture the high-stakes cat-and-mouse game between the two militaries, with Russian attack submarines patrolling near a maze of undersea pipelines carrying vast amounts of…

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She posted a question about the war in Ukraine on Instagram. Then she faced a prison term

She posted a question about the war in Ukraine on Instagram. Then she faced a prison term

The New York Times reports: Sitting in a small courtroom flanked by her two lawyers last month, Olesya Krivtsova was facing a stiff penalty for her fondness for posting on social media. Barely 20 and until this year a university student in northern Russia, she was accused of “justifying terrorism” and “discrediting the Russian armed forces,” and was facing up to a decade in prison. Her apparent crime? An Instagram post asking why Ukrainians had rejoiced when the main bridge…

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When Russia runs out of museum-grade tanks, is it going to send in the cavalry?

When Russia runs out of museum-grade tanks, is it going to send in the cavalry?

Kyiv Post reports: A trainload of obsolete, museum-grade T-54 tanks was spotted on a transport train heading west from a Russian military repair base, news reports said on Thursday. Still images and videos geolocated to Russia’s far-eastern Primorsky region showed at least 14 outdated combat vehicles aboard flatcars rolling past a rail crossing. Screen grabs by the Georgia-based Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) showed some clearly identifiable as the T-54B model. The shipment most likely departed from the 1295th Central Tank…

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How the unedifying ‘lessons of Iraq’ reappraisals obscure the war’s real lessons

How the unedifying ‘lessons of Iraq’ reappraisals obscure the war’s real lessons

Muhammad Idrees Ahmad writes: During the 1992 U.S. presidential campaign, Democratic Party candidate Bill Clinton distinguished himself from the Republican incumbent George H. W. Bush with regard to Bosnia by supporting a “lift and strike” policy. Armed with weapons from the old Yugoslav Army, Bosnian Serbs were on a rampage, and a United Nations embargo was preventing Muslim Bosniaks from being able to defend themselves, even as the Bush administration looked on. Clinton’s proposal would lift the arms blockade and…

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Israel passes law shielding Netanyahu from being removed amid protests over judicial changes

Israel passes law shielding Netanyahu from being removed amid protests over judicial changes

CNN reports: Benjamin Netanyahu resisted calls to drop his controversial overhaul of Israel’s judiciary in a fiery televised address Thursday, hours after his government passed a law that was condemned by critics as an effort to protect his position. Israeli opposition politicians earlier condemned the new law, which would limit the ways a sitting prime minister can be declared unfit for office, describing it as a way to protect Netanyahu, who is facing an ongoing corruption trial. By a 61-to-47…

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Rahul Gandhi: India’s Congress leader sentenced to jail for Modi ‘thieves’ remark

Rahul Gandhi: India’s Congress leader sentenced to jail for Modi ‘thieves’ remark

BBC News reports: Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has been sentenced to two years in prison in a criminal defamation case. The Congress MP was convicted by the court in Gujarat state for 2019 comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname at an election rally. Mr Gandhi, who was present in court for sentencing, remains out of jail on bail for 30 days and will appeal. His party said he was being targeted for exposing the government’s “dark deeds”. Elections…

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