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Reynders to take over as EU competition chief

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders will take over as the European Commission’s competition chief, after Margrethe Vestager announced that she had gone on leave to run for the presidency of the European Investment Bank (EIB).Vestager had earlier agreed to go on leave when her candidacy for the EIB became official. If she’s picked to head the lender by finance ministers at a September 15-16 meeting, she would then resign and Denmark would put forward a new commissioner. Should she not get the job, she’ll return to her role in charge of digital and competition policy.Her temporary absence caused a big reshuffle of the Commission’s portfolios. “The President has decided to assign the steering and coordination responsibility for ‘A Europe Fit for the digital age’ to Vice-President Jourová, and the portfolio responsibility for Competition to Commissioner Reynders, who will report directly to the President for this responsibility,” the Commission said in a s...

Person taken to hospital after pickup truck crashes into wooded area in Hanover

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

A person was taken to an area hospital Tuesday after a single-vehicle crash into a wooded area in Hanover, local fire officials said.Fire officials said the crash happened in the parking lot of a Shaws store off Columbia Road. The Hanover Fire Department later shared a photo from the scene around 1 p.m. showing a pickup truck wedged against a tree. One person was trapped inside the truck after the crash and had to be freed using extrication equipment and chainsaws, according to the fire department, before they were taken to the hospital.Fire officials said crews remained on scene as of around 1 p.m.

Boy rescued after spending the night clinging to a tree to escape deadly flooding in Spain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

(CNN) — A 10-year-old boy has been rescued near Madrid after spending the night clinging to a tree to escape severe flooding as Storm Dana lashed the country with torrential rains in recent days, killing at least three people.The boy disappeared with his mother, father, and sister when their car “fell into” the Alberche River in the town of Aldea del Fresno, in the Madrid region of Spain, on Sunday night, Spanish state broadcaster RTVE reported on Monday.The mother and sister were found that night and transported to hospital, but the boy was missing until around 8 a.m. on Monday morning, when he was found by the guard of a private property, RTVE reported. Searches are still ongoing for the boy’s father.The heavy rains in Spain have claimed the lives of at least three people in the province of Toledo following severe flooding in the area, Emiliano García-Page, the president of the Castilla-La Mancha region, confirmed on Monday.On Sunday, Garcia-Page described the storm...

Capitol Hill doctor: McConnell did not have a stroke or seizure when freezing before cameras

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

(CNN) — The Capitol’s attending physician, Brian Monahan, said in a new letter that Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell did not suffer a stroke or seizure – and is not suffering from Parkinson’s disease – after the 81-year-old Kentuckian was evaluated by a group of neurologists following two recent health scares in front of TV cameras.The new letter, released by McConnell’s office Tuesday, comes after he froze in front of cameras for the second time in as many months, raising questions about whether the GOP leader could continue to hold his powerful position atop the Senate GOP Conference. After he froze last week in Covington, Kentucky, McConnell was evaluated by four neurologists, according to a person familiar with the matter.Monahan said in the Tuesday letter that he consulted with McConnell’s neurologists and conducted several evaluations, including brain MRI imaging and a test that measures electrical imaging in the brain.“There is no evidence that you h...

Texas AG Ken Paxton pleads not guilty at impeachment trial then leaves as arguments get underway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

By JAKE BLEIBERG and PAUL J. WEBER (Associated Press)AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton began Tuesday and hurtled Republicans into a reckoning over whether to oust a prominent member of their party after years of alleged corruption or stand with one of former President Donald Trump’s biggest defenders. The historic trial — the first impeachment proceedings in Texas in nearly a half-century — is the gravest threat to date for Paxton, who has spent nearly his entire three terms in office under felony indictment on securities fraud charges and, later, the clouds of an ongoing FBI investigation.In an era of bitter partisanship across the U.S., the trial is a rare instance of a political party seeking to hold one of its own to account for allegations of wrongdoing. For years in Texas, many Republicans have resisted criticizing or facing head-on the litany of legal troubles surrounding Paxton, who has remained popular am...

Opinion: Dems despise market economy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

In last year’s scramble to include government price controls on prescription drugs in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats were willing to say almost anything. They reassured us that their scheme applied only to Medicare and would phase in slowly, with ample opportunity for stock-taking.That was so 2022. This year, Democrats are letting the cat out of the bag. They want big government to set the prices for most new medicines, including those covered by private insurance plans. And they want it starting now.They hate the market economy and are willing to gut private-sector development of new breakthrough medical treatments.They don’t have the votes in Congress to pass their latest plan. Still, their willingness to propose such a measure with formal legislation should be a wake-up call to everyone opposed to Medicare for All and socialist healthcare.First, Senate Democrats brought forth their Strengthening Medicare and Reducing Taxpayer Prices Act, which would expand t...

Don’t poo-poo these states’ pleas to keep the parks pristine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

Erika Bolstsad | (TNS) Tribune News ServiceDENVER — Earlier this summer, Adam Ducharme made an unpleasant discovery while helping volunteers install signs telling visitors where to camp, park or launch boats near Leadville, a mountain town surrounded by 14,000-foot peaks in central Colorado.“We were digging holes, putting in signs, and then backfilling the holes with rocks and sort of compounding it with dirt,” Ducharme said. “And every third rock that I picked up to put into the hole had human waste on it.”Ducharme, the region’s first tourism director, was hired last year to not only market the area, but also to help manage the effects of throngs of visitors who have descended on the scenic state after outdoor recreation boomed during the pandemic.To address sustainability concerns, Colorado is the first state to fold what tourism officials call a “destination stewardship” department into its state-level tourism office, said Hayes Norris, the communications manager at the Colorado ...

After United Airlines stopped all departures, flights resume as airline fixes ‘technology issue’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

After all United Airlines’ departures were stopped across the U.S. on the day after Labor Day, flights resumed as the airline fixed a “technology issue.”Shortly after 1:30 p.m., United sent out an alert of a nationwide ground stop.“We are experiencing a systemwide technology issue and are holding all aircraft at their departure airports,” United tweeted. “Flights that are already airborne are continuing to their destination as planned.“We will share more information as it becomes available,” the airline added. “Thank you for your patience as we work on a resolution to get you on your way as soon as possible.”United asked the Federal Aviation Administration to pause the airline’s departures nationwide, according to the FAA.Then less than a hour later, United lifted the ground stop for the U.S. and Canada.“We have identified a fix for the technology issue and flights have resumed,” United tweeted. “We&...

Silverglate: Robert Kennedy Jr’s political crucifixion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

Having attained the age of 81 and being both a criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer and a writer for my entire career, I have lived through many difficult, contentious and divisive periods. Indeed, I was a journalist before I became a lawyer, having covered the now-famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom organized by the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in August 1963.  I am a self-described “newspaper junkie,” reading five major daily newspapers plus many weeklies as well as serious magazines.Never, however, can I recall a period when I have, sadly, concluded that I am unable to believe much of what is reported in the media on certain topics.  These involve two major areas: (1) any and all matters relating to former President Donald Trump, and (2) certain aspects of the upcoming presidential election. I am not at all a Trump fan, but I do get uncomfortable by the grain of truth in his ranting and railing at “fake news.” But now I want to focus upon my second gripe....

Advances in surgery are improving survival for people with melanoma

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

Mayo Clinic Staff | (TNS) Mayo Clinic News NetworkThe National Cancer Institute estimates that 97,610 people will be diagnosed with melanoma in 2023, making up 5% of all new cancer diagnoses. Fortunately, screening and treatment have improved, allowing care teams to catch melanoma earlier when it’s easier to treat. As a result, the number of people who survive the disease has steadily increased.Tina Hieken, M.D., a Mayo Clinic surgical oncologist with a particular interest in melanoma, answers questions about treatment and advances in surgery that are helping to improve outcomes for people diagnosed with the disease:Who is diagnosed with early-stage melanoma?We have seen a shift over the last several decades to an increase in people being diagnosed with earlier-stage disease, along with an overall increase in the incidence of melanoma. Melanoma has historically been one of the most rapidly increasing cancers, but this has varied by age. In adults age 50 and older, rates contin...