Month: December 2014

Study: Pot use higher in Colorado

USA TODAY: …The Denver Post reports the study by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found about 1 out of 8 Colorado residents older than 12 had used marijuana in the past month. Only Rhode Island topped Colorado in the percentage of residents who reported using pot as often, according to the study. […]

Are Lancaster General Health and U of P following lead of Allegheny Health Network and Johns Hopkins?

The new 10-year master collaboration agreement, which was unveiled Monday, aims to expand patient options for affordable health care, use group purchasing and other initiatives to reduce costs, enable AHN to improve care by tapping the resources of Johns Hopkins’ Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, and let both organizations team up on new electronic record platforms and various research efforts.

Corbett leaves governorship with unsettled legacy

PHILLY.COM / AP: …Corbett cut hundreds of millions of dollars from social service programs, including the elimination of $200 monthly cash payments to poor adults unable to work and subsidized health insurance for low-income adults… Meanwhile, Corbett championed the business community. He cut business taxes every year, reducing payments by hundreds of millions of dollars […]

Patients’ Costs Skyrocket; Specialists’ Incomes Soar

Ms. Little’s seemingly minor medical problem — she had the least dangerous form of skin cancer — racked up big bills because it involved three doctors from specialties that are among the highest compensated in medicine, and it was done on the grounds of a hospital. Many specialists have become particularly adept at the business of medicine by becoming more entrepreneurial, protecting their turf through aggressive lobbying by their medical societies, and most of all, increasing revenues by offering new procedures — or doing more of lucrative ones…

Oil’s Swift Fall Raises Fortunes of U.S. Abroad

he price plunge may also influence Iran’s deliberations over whether to agree to a deal on its nuclear program with the West; force the oil-rich nations of the Middle East to reassess their role in managing global supply; and give a boost to the economies of the biggest oil-consuming nations, notably the United States and China…

No, North Korea Didn’t Hack Sony

DAILY BEAST COLUMN: The news that the satirical movie—which revolves around a plot to murder Kim Jong-Un—will have a Christmas Day release as planned, will prompt renewed scrutiny of whether, as the US authorities have officially claimed, the cyber attack on Sony really was the work of an elite group of North Korean government hackers. […]

Turnpike considers plans to replace tunnels in Somerset County

PITTSBURGH POST – GAZETTE: The turnpike commission is considering six options for abandoning the 6,070-foot-long tunnels, longest on the turnpike mainline. Three would involve building new tunnels and three would carve an open highway through the mountain either to the north or south of the existing tunnels. Preliminary cost estimates for the “cut” options range […]