Savings doubted in Medicare bid
WASHINGTON — Raising the eligibility age for enrolling in Medicare won’t produce nearly the cost savings that had been assumed previously, said a new report issued Thursday.
The Congressional Budget Office analysis says that phasing in an increase in the eligibility age from 65 to 67 years old would lower the budget deficit by just $19 billion over the coming decade. Savings would rise more in future years, however.
The CBO report says many people who otherwise would be on Medicare would be eligible for subsidies under the new health care law.
Slain-teacher case
DANVERS, Mass. — A teacher who was allegedly killed by one of her students had asked him to stay after school the day she was killed, a classmate said Thursday, as students met with grief counselors and tried to come to grips with the slaying of the popular teacher.
Philip Chism, 14, was charged with murder Wednesday in the death of Colleen Ritzer, a 24-year-old math teacher at Danvers High School.
Rania Rhaddaoui sat two seats away from the Chism boy in Ms. Ritzer’s Algebra I class, the final class of the school day. She said the boy was drawing in a notebook rather than taking notes Tuesday.
National Guard shooting
MILLINGTON, Tenn. — A member of the National Guard opened fire at an armory outside a U.S. Navy base in Tennessee, wounding two soldiers before being subdued and disarmed by others soldiers, officials said Thursday.
Millington Police Chief Rita Stanback said the shooter was apprehended Thursday by other National Guard members.
Also in the nation …
A federal appeals panel in Manhattan on Thursday unanimously upheld the conviction of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the only terrorist detainee to be held in the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and then moved into the civilian court system for trial. … George Soros, the billionaire investor, philanthropist and backer of liberal causes, has signed on to be a co-chair of the national finance council for Ready for Hillary, the super-PAC mobilizing support for a possible 2016 presidential bid by Hillary Rodham Clinton. … The National Park Service announced Thursday that it would reopen Ellis Island to visitors Monday, virtually a year since Hurricane Sandy swamped the New York Harbor island and its immigration museum.