The government’s plan to restrict gambling advertising would reduce Australia’s annual gambling spending by $62.7 million a year, or just 0.8%, but a complete ban on advertising would have “higher net benefits” but would place a significant burden on media and sports regulations, the government report says. The Anthony Albanese Office of Impact Analysis (OIA) … Read more
By Shaanth Nanguneri, Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s free health care program for adults who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid may have improperly awarded $15 million in benefits-related payments to recipients, according to a recent audit of the state-administered federal program. The “questionable” funding was revealed this week in a 124-page … Read more
Chatbots are rapidly becoming a popular tool used to outsource routine tasks. And many times I’ve wished I could outsource my fitness routine. I’m not a big gym fan, but when an email arrived in my inbox inviting me to form a team for a Hyrocks-style fitness challenge to raise money for an Irish cancer … Read more
The state of Maine recently released a 10-year blueprint for protecting and managing native flora and fauna, from the smallest beetle to popular giants like elk to apex predators like great white sharks. “Maine’s most vulnerable wildlife is at a crossroads,” state Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Judy Camuso said in a statement last Friday. … Read more
Mayor Zoran Mamdani is betting his public safety legacy on an overhaul of how the city responds to mental health emergencies, but that requires fixing de Blasio-era programs that have failed to deliver on promises for years. Nearly five years after its creation, the Behavioral Health Emergency Response Division, also known as B-HEARD, has been … Read more
In a letter several weeks ago, the man who manages health care benefits for state employees and their families listed a number of ways that a major Oregon-based health insurance company is failing them. Ali Hassoun, director of the Oregon Public Employees Benefits Commission, wrote in a Feb. 26 letter to Providence Health Plan that … Read more
Ollie Super has been in and out of cancer treatments since being diagnosed with neuroblastoma while in foster care as a toddler. Now the 8th and 2nd graders are working on it again. Her cancer returned late last year. Ollie’s parents, who adopted her in 2020, tried to enroll her in a clinical trial using … Read more
Fresno Unified retirees filed a class action lawsuit against the school district, alleging it caused serious harm to retirees’ health and well-being by switching retirees’ healthcare plan to a Medicare Advantage plan in 2023. [–> The lawsuit, filed by Emily Brandt, a retired Bullard High School English teacher, represents a class of 6,200 retirees. The … Read more
A property developer who illegally felled hundreds of native trees has submitted new plans to build a $10 million luxury mansion in Sydney’s south and cut down even more vegetation, despite being ordered to remediate environmentally friendly land. Amir Abu Abara, owner of the 7.4 hectare property in Baden Ridge, was fined $70,000 in July … Read more