NEWS OF THE DAY
1 Cancer deaths: Cancer deaths have dropped more in states that expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act than in states that did not, new research reveals. The report Wednesday is the first evidence tying cancer survival to the health care change, which began in 2014 after the law known as “Obamacare” took full effect, said one study leader, Dr. Anna Lee of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The law let states expand Medicaid eligibility and offer subsidies to help people buy health insurance. Twentyseven states and Washington, D.C., did that, and 20 million Americans gained coverage that way.
2 Sexual assault case: A judge dismissed criminal charges Wednesday against former Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon arising from the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal. Simon was ordered to trial last year on charges that she lied to police about her knowledge of a sexual misconduct complaint against Nassar, who was a campus doctor and now is serving decades in prison. But Eaton County Judge John Maurer dismissed the case. Simon insisted that she knew only that a complaint had been filed against the sports doctor at the East Lansing university. Nassar was convicted on charges related to his serial molestation of young women and girls under the guise of medical treatment.
3 Fatal mauling: A suburban Chicago woman who recently adopted a French bulldog that had been bred to fight was fatally mauled by the dog over the weekend, a coroner said. A friend found Lisa Urso, 52, unresponsive on the patio behind her Ingleside, Ill., home on Saturday evening. Investigators determined she had been attacked by the French bull inside her home, but she made it out to her patio, where she died. Urso suffered many bite wounds and scratches on her legs, arms and torso.
4 Coal moratorium: A coalition of U.S. states, environmentalists and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe asked a federal judge in U.S. District Court in Great Falls, Mont., on Wednesday to revive a moratorium on coal sales from federal lands that was imposed under former President Barack Obama then dropped by the Trump administration. The case centers on whether the Trump administration looked closely enough at climate change and other impacts from burning coal after deciding to end the moratorium in 2017. Coal production has been dropping for years because of competition from cheaper fuels and pollution costs, despite strong backing for the industry from President Trump. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the decline.
5 Big fish: A 9yearold boy in Tennessee caught a monster fish, reeling in an 80pound sturgeon that outweighed him by far. Coye Price, who weighs just 55 pounds, hooked the sturgeon on Old Hickory Lake, where pictures were taken before returning it to the water, the Tennessean newspaper reported. The endangered lake sturgeon are some of the largest and longestliving fish in Tennessee. There have been efforts to restore the species, which can grow up to 8 feet and live up to 150 years, after their population declined due to overfishing and habitat loss.
Chronicle News Services