Source: ABC News

Prosecutors in District Attorney Fani Willis' office have requested an interview with Trump's attorney Christina Bobb, according to multiple sources. It is not clear what information prosecutors hope to gain from Bobb, whose role in Trump's handling of classified documents is also being examined by special prosecutor Jack Smith.

Criminal defense attorney John Lauro, who represents Bobb, confirmed to ABC News that Fulton County prosecutors called him last week and requested an interview with Bobb.

The prosecutors did not specify what information they were looking to glean from speaking with Bobb, Lauro said, adding that prosecutors "knew nothing about any role that Christina Bobb had, since she had nothing to do with Georgia."

Bobb plans to deny the request from Fulton County prosecutors, Lauro said.


Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/fulton-county-prosecutors-now-seek-question-trump-attorney/story?id=97994017

Source: The Hill

The only hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, has announced it will no longer provide obstetrical services, blaming stringent restrictions on reproductive care enacted by the state’s government.

According to the Idaho Statesman, which first reported the change at Bonner General, Idaho has one of the most severe bans on abortion in the U.S., with state physicians facing felony charges and revocation of their licenses if they violate the law.

“Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving. Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult,” the hospital said in its news release. “In addition, the Idaho Legislature continues to introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as the standard of care. Consequences for Idaho Physicians providing the standard of care may include civil litigation and criminal prosecution, leading to jail time or fines.”

Bonner General delivered 265 babies in 2022, according to the Statesman.


Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3909594-idaho-citys-only-hospital-blames-anti-abortion-laws-as-it-ends-obstetrical-services/

Source: BBC News

Two banks connected with the late Jeffrey Epstein will face lawsuits over claims they enabled his sex trafficking, a US court has ruled.

Two women who say the financier sexually abused them brought the case against JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank.

In a four-page order Judge Rakoff wrote that the women and Virgin Islands government could try to make the case the banks had "knowingly benefited from participating in a sex trafficking venture".

He also allowed the women to pursue claims the banks were negligent and obstructed enforcement of a federal anti-trafficking law.


Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65017982?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Source: CBS News

The Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010 by former President Barack Obama, has expanded health insurance coverage across the U.S. and significantly reduced racial and ethnic disparities in access to healthcare, according to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund.

"Since its passage in 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has helped cut the U.S. uninsured rate nearly in half while significantly reducing racial and ethnic disparities in both insurance coverage and access to care — particularly in states that expanded their Medicaid programs," reads the report.

Data shows that prior to the 2013 implementation of the Medicaid expansion — a provision of the ACA that made more families eligible for Medicaid coverage — 40.2% of the Hispanic population, 24.4% of the Black population, and 14.5% of the White population were uninsured in America. However, by 2021, those numbers dropped significantly to 24.5%, 13.5%, and 8.2%, respectively.

With more than five million people gaining coverage between 2020 and 2022 over the course of the pandemic, the overall uninsured rate in the U.S. dropped to just 8%, a historic low, according to the report.



Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/affordable-care-act-obamacare-reduced-racial-and-ethnic-disparities-healthcare/

Source: The New Daily

Humanity has had its “final warning” on the state of our climate, according to an alarming new scientific report.

More than 300 scientists signed off on the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with the most authoritative global body on climate change urging countries to “aim higher, act faster, or risk losing it all” in its final report of the 2020s.

The IPCC Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report, compiled by hundreds of scientists from 67 countries, was released on Monday, and it draws together the contributions of the IPCC’s sixth assessment cycle.


Read more: https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/science/environment/2023/03/20/climate-change-ipcc-warning/

Source: Associated Press

A Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among military pilots and for the first time has shown that ground crews who fuel, maintain and launch those aircraft are also getting sick.

The data had long been sought by retired military aviators who have raised alarms for years about the number of air and ground crew members they knew who had cancer. They were told that earlier military studies had found they were not at greater risk than the general U.S. population.

In its yearlong study of almost 900,000 service members who flew on or worked on military aircraft between 1992 and 2017, the Pentagon found that air crew members had an 87% higher rate of melanoma and a 39% higher rate of thyroid cancer, while men had a 16% higher rate of prostate cancer and women a 16% higher rate of breast cancer. Overall, the air crews had a 24% higher rate of cancer of all types.

The study showed ground crews had a 19% higher rate of brain and nervous system cancers, a 15% higher rate of thyroid cancer and a 9% higher rate of kidney or renal cancers, while women had a 7% higher rate of breast cancer. The overall rate for cancers of all types was 3% higher.

Read more: https://fortune.com/2023/03/19/pentagon-study-military-air-force-ground-crew-high-cancer-rates-top-gun/

Source: Politico

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg offered a private retort to Donald Trump’s message Saturday urging supporters to protest his expected indictment, telling office employees in an email that “we do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York,” according to a copy obtained by POLITICO.

“Our law enforcement partners will ensure that any specific or credible threats against the office will be fully investigated and that the proper safeguards are in place so all 1,600 of us have a secure work environment,” Bragg wrote, adding that the office has been coordinating with the New York Police Department and Office of Court Administration, the administrative arm of the court system in New York.

Bragg added that “as with all of our investigations, we will continue to apply the law evenly and fairly, and speak publicly only when appropriate.” In his email, Bragg didn’t identify Trump by name, referring only to the “public comments surrounding an ongoing investigation by this office.”


Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/18/manhattan-da-bragg-privately-warns-on-intimidation-threats-to-rule-of-law-00087745

Source: UPI

The percentage of mothers who died while pregnant or within 42 days of the end of their pregnancy grew at an alarming rate in 2021, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.

The new CDC report published Thursday used data from the National Vital Statistics System, and could show how the rise in mortality rates may have been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the report, the CDC calculated mortality rates as the number of deaths per 100,000 births. The data shows that mortality rates have been rising since well before the pandemic but began to spike after the emergence of COVID-19.

In 2018, the CDC recorded 3,791,712 live births and the death of 658 expectant or new mothers for a mortality rate of 17.4 per 100,000 live births.



Read more: https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2023/03/16/maternal-death-rate-climbed-2021-cdc-data/5441679024799/

Source: BBC News

The United States remains one of the most dangerous wealthy nations for a woman to give birth.

Maternal mortality rose by 40% at the height of the pandemic, according to new data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That rate was more than double for black women, who were nearly three times more likely to die than white women, according to the CDC.

Compared to other countries, the maternal mortality rate was twice as high in the US than in the UK, Germany and France; and three times higher than in Spain, Italy, Japan and several other countries, according to the most recent global comparison data kept by the World Bank.


Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64981965

Source: BBC News

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said there was evidence of the illegal transfer of hundreds of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The Commission's report is categorical that Russia also committed other war crimes in Ukraine.

They include attacks on hospitals, torture, rape and willful killings.

Ukraine government figures put the number of children forcibly taken to Russia at 16,221.



Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64985009?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA