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Health minister tells committee he didn’t interfere in arm’s-length drug price agency

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:18:44 GMT

OTTAWA — Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said Thursday he did not put any undue political pressure on the independent federal agency that regulates the price of patented drugs to influence its efforts to lower medicine costs.Duclos defended himself against the accusation at the House of Commons health committee, which is investigating reforms to the way the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board regulates the cost of drugs.The board has a mandate to make sure drug costs don’t become excessively expensive, which includes looking at the price of similar medications in other countries.The reforms will see the board compare Canadian drug prices to those in a wider range of countries. The changes were delayed multiple times, and finally came into force in July.The agency was in the process of consulting on the finer details associated with the new rule in November when Duclos wrote to its acting chair and suggested the process be paused to give drug companies, patient groups, provi...

‘Little hero:’ Boy stops Michigan school bus with ill driver

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:18:44 GMT

WARREN, Mich. (AP) — A boy grabbed the steering wheel on a school bus and hit the brakes, bringing the vehicle to a safe stop on a busy Detroit-area road after the driver had passed out, authorities said.“Someone call 911. Now!” seventh-grader Dillon Reeves shouted to dozens of other middle-school kids on the bus Wednesday.Dillon was hailed as a hero: He stopped the bus as it was veering toward oncoming traffic.“In my 35-plus years of education, this was an extraordinary act of courage and maturity on his part,” said Robert Livernois, superintendent of Warren Consolidated Schools.The incident was recorded on a video camera just above the driver. The video shows the driver fanning herself with a baseball cap and informing the transportation office that she needs to pull over.Seconds later, Dillon jumped into action, hitting the brake pedal and clutching the steering wheel.“I don’t know that it could have gone any better,” Livernois said, noting that adults helped kids out...

Downers Grove South High School coach arrested on child pornography charge

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:18:44 GMT

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. — An assistant girls track coach at Downers Grove South High School is under arrest and charged with possessing child pornography.According to federal court documents, Homeland Security Investigations agents served a search warrant at Glenn Messmer's home on Tuesday and found multiple child pornography files on his computer, including child pornography of girls as young as four years old. Cow located in Niles after ‘senior prank’; students cited Federal authorities allege the 46-year-old interacted with at least two minors in Georgia on Snapchat and Telegram. According to the documents, Messmer is alleged to have convinced the minors to produce child sexual abuse material and provided specific instructions in at least one instance.He then paid the minors for the child pornography using CashApp, according to the documents.In an interview, he told authorities he solicited between 30 to 60 underage girls for nude photos on Snapchat and paid a total of $2,000 to th...

Migrants in Chicago look to shelters for help

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:18:44 GMT

CHICAGO -- The Olive Branch Mission is among the groups providing assistance to the migrants who arrived in Chicago from South and Central America. Currently, they're housing about a dozen mothers and children.The shelter started welcoming migrants since November and has seen more than a 100 of them walking through their doors. ‘We feel isolated from society’: Migrants in Chicago seek assistance with housing The shelter director said once they arrive, they're provided a room with a bed, clothing, food, and toiletries. Then within the days, the shelter director said they meet with a case manager and social worker to help them with the paperwork process of applying for government benefits.The most recent group of migrants arrived about a week ago.WGN spoke with a Venezuelan mother on Wednesday, who expressed the need for legal help, WIC, Medicare, and for her children to have the opportunity to go to school. She said she hasn't received any of those benefits yet, but the shelter dir...

1 dead, 1 injured after shooting on Chicago's Near South Side

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:18:44 GMT

CHICAGO — One person is dead and a man is injured after they were shot while inside a car Thursday afternoon on the Near South Side, Chicago police said.Chicago Police Department officers were called to the shooting around 3:30 p.m. in the 1900 block of South State Street. 1 dead in 4-car crash on Jane Adams Tollway in Schaumburg Two people were inside a car when someone in a stolen white Kia drove by and shot at them, police said.One person, a male of unknown age, was shot and later died, police said. An 18-year-old man was shot in the hand and taken to a hospital in good condition.Officers later found the stolen Kia near Cermak and State, police said.No one has been arrested in connection with the shooting and the incident is under investigation by Area Three detectives.

Florida woman's car totaled in her driveway by Amazon driver

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:18:44 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Sara Dooley was sitting in her driveway on a Friday night in February when an Amazon delivery driver made a big mistake. "He hits the gas thinking he's going to go out — and he rams right back into my car," Dooley said. "It knocked it forward and backward. And the step he uses to get into the truck was actually in my car."Her 2018 Toyota RAV4 was left with back-end damage. Dooley says it took weeks to get the car into a body shop, and then Amazon's insurance company told her the shop found more damage, and it was too costly to repair. Indiana woman accused of posting another woman’s nude pictures on Facebook "They started saying, 'Oh, we're going to total it," Dooley said. "That's just two days after I had just paid the car off."Two days after she paid off her first car, she learned it was a total loss. She says Amazon is paying for a rental car and she was told she'd get a check for the value of her car. But now, two months after the accident, Dooley says Ama...

New bipartisan bill would require Supreme Court code of ethics

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:18:44 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) – After allegations that some Supreme Court justices have received questionable real estate deals and trips, lawmakers on Capitol Hill want the high court to adopt new ethical standards.A new bipartisan bill from senators Susan Collins and Angus King aims to force the Supreme Court to adopt a code of ethics for justices within a year and designate someone to handle complaints.“There are no ethic guidelines, guardrails, at the highest court of the land. This seems ridiculous,” Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) said.Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) added, “as they're working to strip away basic rights they're also failing to hold themselves accountable for some common sense ethical standards.”In an interview with NewsNation, Texas Senator Ted Cruz slammed Democrats for questioning the ethics of Justice Clarence Thomas after recent reports show Thomas accepted undisclosed luxury vacations and made real estate deals with a GOP mega donor.“This is all garbage, this is left-wing and ...

Hall of Famers & World War II veterans: See who the Bears have taken with No. 9 pick

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:18:44 GMT

LAKE FOREST — One of the things that fans look at when a team either falls or trades into a spot in the NFL Draft is what they've done at that position before.Bears' fans did the same when general manager Ryan Poles traded the No. 1 overall pick for a host of selections including wide receiver D.J. Moore. That gives the Bears the ninth overall pick in 2023 and it has a very interesting history when it comes to the franchise. It's a group that includes a Hall of Famer, a player who was yet wasn't on the Bears' only Super Bowl championship squad, along with three athletes who were part of the armed services during World War II.Here's a history of the Bears' players that have been taken with the ninth overall pick in the NFL Draft.(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)Brian Urlacher - 2000The standout of the group is Brian Urlacher as he joined the Bears from New Mexico in the 2000 NFL Draft. Over the course of the next 13 seasons, he would establish himself as one of the greatest linebackers in the h...

MedWatch Daily Digest: New info on Autism, opioid addiction and eating disorders

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:18:44 GMT

For Thursday, April 27 WGN’s Medical Reporter Dina Bair has the latest on new information including the following. More Coverage: WGN's Medical Watch Some new insight into what causes Autism. Changes in a father's sperm are linked to Autistic traits in their children. Genes may play a role in opioid addiction and the results of a new study may help in the development of better treatments for opioid use disorder. And a deadly eating disorder may start in the gut.

Nikki Haley goes after Biden's age: He’s unlikely to ‘make it' to 86

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:18:44 GMT

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley bashed President Biden over his age, saying he isn’t likely to make it until 86 years old, which would be his age at the end of a second term.“I think we can all be very clear and say with a matter of fact that if you vote for Joe Biden, you really are counting on a President Harris because the idea that he would make until 86 years old is not something that I think is likely,” Haley said on Fox News on Wednesday.Biden launched his reelection campaign on Tuesday with a video establishing the Biden-Harris ticket for 2024; he has faced questions over his age and whether he is up for a full campaign season and four more years in office. Haley launched her presidential campaign in February and proposed a competency test for politicians over 75 years old, taking a stab at Biden, 80, as well as former President Trump, who is 76.Haley told Fox this week that Biden’s age is “why I’ve continued to say we need to have mental competency tests … sta...