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Eye care much higher for NC Medicare patients

By Alena Rehberger | April 28, 2014

In North Carolina, Medicare data shows spending on a $2,000-a-dose eye drugs topped $25 million in 2012. Yet a $50 “off-label” alternative – proven equally effective in multiple studies and manufactured by the same company – is rarely prescribed in North Carolina, according to a WRAL analysis of 2012 Medicare Part B spending data released…

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Increase in heroin use brings longer waiting lists for addiction treatment centers in New York region

By Alena Rehberger | April 28, 2014

Today, the recovering addict climbs into a taxi cab at 5 a.m. every weekday for a 60-mile drive to Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, where he receives methadone treatment. And that came only after a two-month delay on the program’s waiting list, which is now often nine months or longer. Across the Southern Tier, getting hooked…

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Washington state loses waiver for No Child Left Behind

By Alena Rehberger | April 28, 2014

Washington has become the first state in the country to lose its waiver for No Child Left Behind. This after the state voted down the use of student test scores as part of teacher evaluations. Schools will lose control of about $40 million. However, private tutoring companies could be positioned to reap the benefits. With…

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Federal judges admit conflicts of interest

By Alena Rehberger | April 28, 2014

When Linda Wolicki-Gables and her husband appealed a lawsuit all the way to the second-highest court in the nation against Johnson & Johnson over a malfunctioning medication pump that had been implanted in her body, the couple had no idea that one of the judges who decided their case had a financial stake in the…

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Savannah companies owned by women, minorities not contacted for school construction despite contractor’s pledge

By Alena Rehberger | April 28, 2014

When the Savannah-Chatham School Board agreed to pay JE Dunn/Rives E. Worrell construction company $21 million to build a new Hesse Elementary campus, they believed the 50 percent JE Dunn/Rives E. Worrell promised to women- and minority-owned subcontractors would make a huge impact on the local economy. Now, that’s open to question.

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FBI examines lobbying by Brownback loyalists

By Alena Rehberger | April 28, 2014

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is exploring whether confidantes of Gov. Sam Brownback operated influence-peddling operations in Kansas pivoting on personal access to the Republican governor and top administration officials. The Topeka Capital-Journal learned the months-long inquiry involves Parallel Strategies, a rapidly expanding Topeka consulting and lobbying firm created in 2013 by a trio of…

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Milwaukee County Board pays labor law firm for secretive counsel

By Alena Rehberger | April 28, 2014

Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic gets a number of perks as the chairwoman of the Milwaukee County Board, ranging from better pay than her colleagues to the power to appoint committee leaders. And, it now appears, the Bay View Democrat also gets her own private law firm.

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Physical therapy has become Medicare gold mine

By Alena Rehberger | April 28, 2014

A few miles from the Coney Island boardwalk in Brooklyn stands an outpost of what, on paper, is a giant of American medicine. Nothing about the place hints at the money that is said to flow there. But in 2012, according to federal data, $4.1 million from Medicare coursed through the office in a modest…

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Illinois Department of Transportation increased the number of patronage positions

By Alena Rehberger | April 28, 2014

The Illinois Department of Transportation increased the number of patronage positions — jobs that can be filled based on politics or loyalty — by 57 percent in the last decade, documents released Friday show.

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Obamacare work in progress for Appalachian residents in Floyd County, KY

By Alena Rehberger | April 28, 2014

Four months after the Affordable Care Act took effect, a team of journalists from USA Today and The Courier-Journal has found that in Floyd County, Obamacare is a neither a train wreck nor a cure-all. It’s a work in progress; widely misrepresented and misunderstood, it’s helped some people and hurt others, while a handful seem…

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