Drugmaker sues to protect its ability to gouge patients

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:28 GMT

And the Chutzpah Award goes to drugmaker Merck, which on Tuesday sued the Biden administration over Medicare finally being allowed to negotiate drug prices on behalf of millions of beneficiaries.Merck, which pocketed a record $14.5 billion in profit last year, says the Medicare-negotiation provision of the Inflation Reduction Act is "tantamount to extortion."Put another way, the company says allowing market forces to determine a fair price for prescription meds interferes with its ability to extort the highest possible amounts of money from sick people.Merck is demanding that the Health and Human Services Department be blocked from compelling drugmakers to haggle over Medicare prices.Take the cancer drug Keytruda for example. Merck booked $21 billion in sales last year, making the drug responsible for roughly a third of the company's total revenue.If Medicare had been able to negotiate costs, Merck seems to be suggesting, the company might have made billions of dollars less from pat...

Only government flags can fly outside Orange County offices, Board of Supervisors votes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:28 GMT

The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to mandate that only county, state and U.S. flags be flown outside county offices.The 3-2 vote came after impassioned speeches on both sides during the board’s meeting in Santa Ana.At the center of the debate was the LGBTQ Pride flag and what some believed could have happened if officials approved flying it during Pride month.“If we do this, we would have no choice but to fly a Christian flag … BLM or Don’t Tread on Me, that’s what we are trying to avoid,” Chairman Donald P. Wagner said during the discussion.Wagner added that the timing of the vote during Pride month was no coincidence, while one activist called the timing offensive.More than a dozen demonstrators on both sides of the debate sounded off outside the county administration building during the vote Tuesday.Activists from the LGBTQ Center of Orange County said that flying the Pride flag is important for visibility and for their community to be recognized as a safe s...

Jack in the Box teams up with Snoop Dogg for new munchie meal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:28 GMT

Jack in the Box and Snoop Dogg are teaming up to drop the new Snoop’s Munchie Meal at Jack in the Box restaurants nationwide.The meal, which will be available beginning on June 12, will include a variety of popular sweet and salty food items from the fast-food company. The meal will cost $14 and include: What the heck is Grimace? And why is it getting its own McDonald’s meal? • Spicy Sauced and Loaded Chicken Sandwich• Classic Taco• Medium Curly Fries• Baked Brownie• SpriteLeading up to the announcement, The fast-food company has recently teased the possibility of working with the world-renowned rapper on its Twitter account. Taco Bell bringing back the fan-favorite Volcano Menu in June Customers can purchase Snoop’s Munchie meal in person or online on the Jack in the Box website or app from June 12 until Aug. 6.

'Never Have I Ever' cast talk final season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:28 GMT

It's the last hurrah for our favorite high schoolers of Netflix's "Never Have I Ever." The series is set to drop its fourth and final season in just days. "What 'Never Have I Ever' was so awesome about was being able to do just fun things every day that was different," actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who plays Devi, explained to KTLA 5's Romeo Escobar.While the series focuses on high school kids, the show has garnered a fanbase of adults. "I think there are different reasons why people have related to this show," Richa Moorjani revealed, who plays Kamala. "First of all this show is very funny. I think if you have a show that's so well-written, it's funny and it's heartfelt and makes you feel all of the emotions, that itself makes you relate to it."For those feeling melancholy that the series is coming to an end, Ramona Wong, who plays Eleanor, called Season 4 her "favorite."Season 4 of "Never Have I Ever" hits Netflix on June 8.

Paz Lim Pronounced Dead in Rear-End Crash on Interstate 215 [Menifee, CA]

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:28 GMT

62-Year-Old Menifee Woman Killed in Chain-Reaction Crash at Scott RoadMENIFEE, CA (June 6, 2023) – Thursday night, a rear-end collision along Interstate 215 claimed the life of 62-year-old Paz Lim.According to CHP, the fatal crash occurred around 10:00 p.m. in the northbound lanes of I-215 at Scott Road.Investigators said a Dodge Ram driver failed to notice Lim’s brake light and rear-ended her Toyota Camry. Subsequently, the impact sent the Camry under a Freightliner tractor-trailer.In addition, the Dodge pickup also struck a Nissan Quest after the first crash.Tragically, the first responders declared 62-year-old Paz Lim of Menifee dead at the scene. The Dodge driver was reported to have sustained minor injuries.In the end, authorities closed the entire northbound lanes of Interstate 215 for at least three hours.No other injuries were reported from the incident. The CHP Temecula Office encourages those who witnessed the fatal incident to contact 951-506-2000.Sweet James sends ...

Son, father charged in Oakland killing of suspected truck thief

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:28 GMT

OAKLAND — A man police said first lied about his involvement has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting last month of a man suspected of stealing his father’s truck, according to authorities and court records.The suspect’s father, who authorities said was also initially untruthful, has been charged with being an accessory after the fact.Besides the murder count, the son, Jose Campos Rodas, 29, of Oakland, is also charged with shooting at an occupied vehicle in the death of Manuel Zambrano, 38.His father, Mario Campos Caceres, 52, is charged with being an accessory after the fact in that he observed the shooting and aided his son to avoid arrest and prosecution, court records say.Zambrano, who died May 22, was initially found shot about 10:48 a.m. May 14 inside the stolen truck, in the 3900 block of International Boulevard.According to police and court documents, Campos Caceres’ Ford pickup truck was stolen earlier that day from an East Oakland flea ma...

Bay Area weather ‘a bit odd’ but a cool clearing is expected

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:28 GMT

In just a few hours Tuesday, the Bay Area weather showed an array of looks. For a while, the skies turned gray and even a bit steamy, with a bit of unusual mugginess. In some area, droplets fell lightly, barely wetting the ground.And then, for a brief spell, there was even clear blue sky amid a shining sun.“It’s a bit odd,” National Weather Service meteorologist Dial Hoang said Tuesday. “But we’re gonna be moving back to a more typical summer pattern.”That switch was already underway by Tuesday afternoon and would continue Wednesday, he said. A low-pressure system that was crossing through Southern California gradually continued to migrate east, taking with it the stormy bands that carried enough moisture to dump some rain in the region.It mostly was not measurable, but it did bring more than one patch of thunder and lightning, according to the weather service. Most of those thunderstorms were off the coast, “though we did see some of it rea...

49ers’ Deebo Samuel gives harsh self-assessment of 2022: `I was awful’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:28 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Not satisfied with what the 49ers got from Deebo Samuel last season?You’re not alone.“It was awful,” Samuel said Tuesday. ‘I was awful . . . in every way.”Samuel offered that harsh self-assessment on the first day of the 49ers’ mandatory minicamp, which continues Wednesday and ends Thursday with a family gathering and marks the end of the offseason until training camp begins in July.Samuel, 27, was working off to the side and did not participate in team drills, 11-on-11 or 7-on-7 sessions. Plenty of top tier 49ers were essentially spectators, including defensive end Nick Bosa, left tackle Trent Williams and linebackers Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw.Attendance at the voluntary sessions as been sporadic for Samuel, although he’s getting in much more work than he did a year ago when he was essentially absent and a “hold-in” while a three-year contract extension worth a maximum of $73.5 million was being negotiated...

GOP hardliners revolt over McCarthy’s debt limit deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:28 GMT

By Manu Raju, Melanie Zanona and Morgan Rimmer | CNNA bloc of Republican hardliners blindsided GOP leaders on Tuesday and derailed two bills, a move they said was retaliation for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s deal with President Joe Biden to suspend the national debt limit.The revolt underscored the fragility of McCarthy’s narrow majority and the lingering tensions with the right-wing of his conference over the debt deal. But the protest also indicated that the members have not yet decided on whether to call for a vote ousting McCarthy from the speakership, something that would rip apart the House GOP and send the chamber into chaos.For now, the conservatives have settled on a strategy to scramble McCarthy’s legislative agenda until they believe he will listen to their list of demands. And they argue that McCarthy blatantly violated a deal he cut in January to assume the speakership on the 15th ballot, though all the details of that agreement were never publicly released and the sp...