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Renuka Rayasam | (TNS) KFF Health News In April, just 12 weeks into her pregnancy, Kathleen Clark was standing at the receptionist window of her OB-GYN’s office when she was asked to pay $960, the total the office estimated she would owe after she delivered. Clark, 39, was shocked that she was asked to pay that amount during this second prenatal visit. Normally, patients receive the bill after insurance has paid its part, and for pregnant women that’s usually only when the pregnancy ends. It would be months before the office filed the claim with her health insurer. Clark said she felt stuck. The Cleveland, Tennessee, obstetrics practice was affiliated with a birthing center where she wanted to deliver. Plus, she and her husband had been wanting to have a baby for a long time. And Clark was emotional, because just weeks earlier her mother had died. “You’re standing there at the window, and there’s people all around, and you’re trying to be really nice,” recalled Clark, through tears. “So, I paid it.” On online baby message boards and other social media forums , pregnant women say they are being asked by their providers to pay out-of-pocket fees earlier than expected. The practice is legal, but patient advocacy groups call it unethical. Medical providers argue that asking for payment up front ensures they get compensated for their services. How frequently this happens is hard to track because it is considered a private transaction between the provider and the patient. Therefore, the payments are not recorded in insurance claims data and are not studied by researchers. Patients, medical billing experts, and patient advocates say the billing practice causes unexpected anxiety at a time of already heightened stress and financial pressure. Estimates can sometimes be higher than what a patient might ultimately owe and force people to fight for refunds if they miscarry or the amount paid was higher than the final bill. Up-front payments also create hurdles for women who may want to switch providers if they are unhappy with their care. In some cases, they may cause women to forgo prenatal care altogether, especially in places where few other maternity care options exist. It’s “holding their treatment hostage,” said Caitlin Donovan, a senior director at the Patient Advocate Foundation . Medical billing and women’s health experts believe OB-GYN offices adopted the practice to manage the high cost of maternity care and the way it is billed for in the U.S. When a pregnancy ends, OB-GYNs typically file a single insurance claim for routine prenatal care, labor, delivery, and, often, postpartum care. That practice of bundling all maternity care into one billing code began three decades ago, said Lisa Satterfield, senior director of health and payment policy at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists . But such bundled billing has become outdated, she said. Previously, pregnant patients had been subject to copayments for each prenatal visit, which might lead them to skip crucial appointments to save money. But the Affordable Care Act now requires all commercial insurers to fully cover certain prenatal services. Plus, it’s become more common for pregnant women to switch providers, or have different providers handle prenatal care, labor, and delivery — especially in rural areas where patient transfers are common. Some providers say prepayments allow them to spread out one-time payments over the course of the pregnancy to ensure that they are compensated for the care they do provide, even if they don’t ultimately deliver the baby. “You have people who, unfortunately, are not getting paid for the work that they do,” said Pamela Boatner, who works as a midwife in a Georgia hospital. While she believes women should receive pregnancy care regardless of their ability to pay, she also understands that some providers want to make sure their bill isn’t ignored after the baby is delivered. New parents might be overloaded with hospital bills and the costs of caring for a new child, and they may lack income if a parent isn’t working, Boatner said. In the U.S., having a baby can be expensive. People who obtain health insurance through large employers pay an average of nearly $3,000 out-of-pocket for pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker . In addition, many people are opting for high-deductible health insurance plans, leaving them to shoulder a larger share of the costs. Of the 100 million U.S. people with health care debt, 12% attribute at least some of it to maternity care, according to a 2022 KFF poll . Families need time to save money for the high costs of pregnancy, childbirth, and child care, especially if they lack paid maternity leave, said Joy Burkhard , CEO of the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, a Los Angeles-based policy think tank. Asking them to prepay “is another gut punch,” she said. “What if you don’t have the money? Do you put it on credit cards and hope your credit card goes through?” Calculating the final costs of childbirth depends on multiple factors, such as the timing of the pregnancy , plan benefits, and health complications, said Erin Duffy , a health policy researcher at the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. The final bill for the patient is unclear until a health plan decides how much of the claim it will cover, she said. But sometimes the option to wait for the insurer is taken away. During Jamie Daw’s first pregnancy in 2020, her OB-GYN accepted her refusal to pay in advance because Daw wanted to see the final bill. But in 2023, during her second pregnancy, a private midwifery practice in New York told her that since she had a high-deductible plan, it was mandatory to pay $2,000 spread out with monthly payments. Daw, a health policy researcher at Columbia University, delivered in September 2023 and got a refund check that November for $640 to cover the difference between the estimate and the final bill. “I study health insurance,” she said. “But, as most of us know, it’s so complicated when you’re really living it.” While the Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cover some prenatal services, it doesn’t prohibit providers from sending their final bill to patients early. It would be a challenge politically and practically for state and federal governments to attempt to regulate the timing of the payment request, said Sabrina Corlette , a co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. Medical lobbying groups are powerful and contracts between insurers and medical providers are proprietary. Because of the legal gray area, Lacy Marshall , an insurance broker at Rapha Health and Life in Texas, advises clients to ask their insurer if they can refuse to prepay their deductible. Some insurance plans prohibit providers in their network from requiring payment up front. If the insurer says they can refuse to pay up front, Marshall said, she tells clients to get established with a practice before declining to pay, so that the provider can’t refuse treatment. Related Articles Which health insurance plan may be right for you? California case is the first confirmed bird flu infection in a US child What’s up with that brown haze across Colorado’s Front Range when it’s not summer ozone season? Your cool black kitchenware could be slowly poisoning you, study says. Here’s what to do Does fluoride cause cancer, IQ loss, and more? Fact-checking Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s claims Clark said she met her insurance deductible after paying for genetic testing, extra ultrasounds, and other services out of her health care flexible spending account. Then she called her OB-GYN’s office and asked for a refund. “I got my spine back,” said Clark, who had previously worked at a health insurer and a medical office. She got an initial check for about half the $960 she originally paid. In August, Clark was sent to the hospital after her blood pressure spiked. A high-risk pregnancy specialist — not her original OB-GYN practice — delivered her son, Peter, prematurely via emergency cesarean section at 30 weeks. It was only after she resolved most of the bills from the delivery that she received the rest of her refund from the other OB-GYN practice. This final check came in October, just days after Clark brought Peter home from the hospital, and after multiple calls to the office. She said it all added stress to an already stressful period. “Why am I having to pay the price as a patient?” she said. “I’m just trying to have a baby.” ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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AP News Summary at 5:03 p.m. ESTOTTAWA — Donald Trump ’s comment to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about Canada becoming “a 51st state” was a “joke” made in a good-humoured social context and not a serious comment, says Dominic LeBlanc, the only cabinet minister at a Mar-a-Lago dinner Friday night. Citing two unnamed sources, Fox News reported Monday night that Trump said he would levy his threatened 25 per cent tariffs against Canadian products if his concern about border security and trade deficits isn’t resolved. Fox News further reported that when Trudeau replied it would kill the Canadian economy, Trump said if Canada can’t survive unless it is ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion, it could become “the 51st state” and Trudeau could become governor. Fox News also reported that so-called nervous laughter ensued with someone at the table saying Canada would be a very liberal state, and Trump suggesting it could become two — one conservative and one liberal. The details reported by Fox News report were not confirmed by the Canadian government, but nor was the statement attributed to Trump denied. Before a cabinet meeting Tuesday, LeBlanc was asked if it shows Trump thinks Canada is a joke. He responded defensively, saying, “Not at all, not at all. That was not the context at all. In a three-hour social evening at the president’s residence in Florida on a long weekend of American Thanksgiving, the conversation was going to be lighthearted. The President was telling jokes. The President was teasing us. It was, of course, on that issue, in no way a serious comment we had.” LeBlanc repeated the government’s lines since Saturday that the two leaders and a handful of advisers had a wide-ranging conversation about trade and border security issues “that was very productive.” “But the fact that there’s a warm, cordial relationship between the two leaders and the President is able to joke like that for us was a — we don’t have a transcript. Nobody, if you look carefully at the picture, nobody had pads that were taking notes. It was a social evening,” LeBlanc insisted. “It wasn’t a meeting in a boardroom with 10 bureaucrats keeping notes ... And there were moments where it was entertaining and funny, and there were moments where we were able to do, we think, some good work for Canada.” On Tuesday, Trump posted a photoshopped image on his Truth Social platform, of him standing next to a large Canadian flag overlooking a mountain range, dominated by what looked to be (and Google Lens said was) the Matterhorn in Switzerland, with the message: “Oh Canada!” It was not clear what Trump’s intention was. On Tuesday, Trump posted a photoshopped image on his Truth Social platform, of him standing next to a large Canadian flag overlooking a mountain range, dominated by what looked to be (and Google Lens said was) the Matterhorn in Switzerland, with the message: “Oh Canada!” Neither Trudeau nor Chrystia Freeland, his deputy and finance minister who was not on the trip, commented to reporters Tuesday about the so-called joke about the 51st state. Former Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose in an interview with the CBC said while it’s not clear exactly what was said, she didn’t take it as a joke. “It’s not funny, and it’s not funny to be threatened with a 25 per cent tariff across the board for a country that is so dependent on trade with the U.S.,” said Ambrose. Ambrose previously sat on Trudeau’s outside advisory council during the renegotiation of NAFTA, and doesn’t believe that Trudeau and Trump have the kind of rapport that will exempt Canada from tariffs. “I don’t think that there’s a special relationship between the two leaders, and that’s unfortunate, because I think relationships do make a difference.” But she said the “saving grace” may be that many premiers and U.S. governors, and business leaders do have the ability to “bring to bear some pressure on President Trump.” No Canadian media were at Mar-a-Lago or even aware of the trip before internet flight trackers published the prime minister’s plane was en route to Florida. The prime minister’s team said Trump’s advisers had insisted the meeting remain confidential until the dinner started. Canadian accounts of what was said after their meeting, including the Star’s, relied on brief comments by LeBlanc over the weekend, and on confidential sources — who spoke on condition they not be identified in order to talk about the private discussions. The Star reported Saturday on what Trump and Trudeau discussed, and on Monday, the Star reported Trudeau’s team believes it may be possible for Canada to get a reprieve on the threatened tariffs if it addresses the border concerns of the incoming Trump Administration. A senior Canadian official said Trump was clear his focus is on stopping illegal immigration, any flow of illegal drugs — especially fentanyl — and also that he likes tariffs and dislikes trade deficits. But sources did not reveal Trump’s 51st-state comment before Fox News published it. Several Canadian cabinet ministers declined comment Tuesday. “I’ll pass, thank you,” said Jenna Sudds, the minister of families, children and social development. “I think he was trying to joke, but I wasn’t there,” said International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen. J Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne insisted the meeting itself is important. “The one thing that you should take note is that Prime Minister Trudeau was the first leader of the G7 to be hosted by President Trump. I think that is really significant. That is a testament to the strategic nature of our relationship.” With a file from Ryan Tumilty
Amy Dowden surprises fans with unexpected return to Strictly after shock exitB&M European Value Retail ( LON:BME – Get Free Report ) had its target price decreased by stock analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group from GBX 600 ($7.52) to GBX 565 ($7.08) in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 63.15% from the company’s current price. B&M European Value Retail Trading Up 2.2 % LON BME opened at GBX 346.30 ($4.34) on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of £3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 961.94 and a beta of 1.05. B&M European Value Retail has a 52-week low of GBX 324.80 ($4.07) and a 52-week high of GBX 618.20 ($7.75). The firm has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 398.66 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 449.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 308.86. Insider Buying and Selling In other B&M European Value Retail news, insider Alex Russo sold 8,602 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 424 ($5.32), for a total transaction of £36,472.48 ($45,722.05). 4.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. B&M European Value Retail Company Profile B&M European Value Retail SA operates general merchandise and grocery stores. The company operates a chain of stores under the B&M, Heron Foods, and B&M Express in the United Kingdom; and stores under the B&M brand in France. It also provides property management services. The company was founded in 1978 and is based in Munsbach, Luxembourg. Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than B&M European Value Retail The Role Economic Reports Play in a Successful Investment Strategy Vertiv’s Cool Tech Makes Its Stock Red-Hot Manufacturing Stocks Investing MarketBeat Week in Review – 11/18 – 11/22 Consumer Discretionary Stocks Explained 2 Finance Stocks With Competitive Advantages You Can’t Ignore Receive News & Ratings for B&M European Value Retail Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for B&M European Value Retail and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
8 Things to Remember About Dexter’s Childhood Before ‘Original Sin’ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — John Elway says any remorse over bypassing Josh Allen in the 2018 NFL draft is quickly dissipating with rookie Bo Nix's rapid rise, suggesting the Denver Broncos have finally found their next franchise quarterback. Elway said Nix, the sixth passer selected in April's draft, is an ideal fit in Denver with coach Sean Payton navigating his transition to the pros and Vance Joseph's defense serving as a pressure release valve for the former Oregon QB. “We’ve seen the progression of Bo in continuing to get better and better each week and Sean giving him more each week and trusting him more and more to where last week we saw his best game of the year,” Elway said in a nod to Nix's first game with 300 yards and four touchdown throws in a rout of Atlanta. For that performance, Nix earned his second straight NFL Rookie of the Week honor along with the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award. “I think the sky’s the limit," Elway said, “and that’s just going to continue to get better and better.” In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Elway also touted former coach Mike Shanahan's Hall of Fame credentials, spoke about the future of University of Colorado star and Heisman favorite Travis Hunter and discussed his ongoing bout with a chronic hand condition. Elway spent the last half of his decade as the Broncos’ GM in a futile search for a worthy successor to Peyton Manning, a pursuit that continued as he transitioned into a two-year consultant role that ended after the 2022 season. “You have all these young quarterbacks and you look at the ones that make it and the ones that don’t and it’s so important to have the right system and a coach that really knows how to tutelage quarterbacks, and Sean’s really good at that,” Elway said. “I think the combination of Bo’s maturity, having started 61 games in college, his athletic ability and his knowledge of the game has been such a tremendous help for him,'" Elway added. “But also Vance Joseph’s done a heck of a job on the defensive side to where all that pressure’s not being put on Bo and the offense to score all the time.” Payton and his staff have methodically expanded Nix’s repertoire and incorporated his speed into their blueprints. Elway lauded them for “what they’re doing offensively and how they’re breaking Bo into the NFL because it’s a huge jump and I think patience is something that goes a long way in the NFL when it comes down to quarterbacks.” Elway said he hopes to sit down with Nix at some point when things slow down for the rookie. Nix, whose six wins are one more than Elway had as a rookie, said he looks forward to meeting the man who won two Super Bowls during his Hall of Fame playing career and another from the front office. “He’s a legend not only here for this organization, but for the entire NFL," Nix said, adding, "most guys, they would love to have a chat with John Elway, just pick his brain. It’s just awesome that I’m even in that situation.” Orange Crush linebacker Randy Gradishar joined Elway in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, something Elway called “way, way overdue.” Elway suggested it's also long past time for the Hall to honor Shanahan, who won back-to-back Super Bowls in Denver with Elway at QB and whose footprint you see every weekend in the NFL because of his expansive coaching tree. Elway called University of Colorado stars Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders “both great athletes." He said he really hopes Sanders gets drafted by a team that will bring him along like the Broncos have done with Nix and he sees Hunter being able to play both ways in the pros but not full time. Elway said he thinks Hunter will be primarily a corner in the NFL but with significant contributions on offense: “He's great at both. He's got great instincts, and that's what you need at corner." It's been five years since Elway announced he was dealing with Dupuytren’s contracture, a chronic condition that typically appears after age 40 and causes one or more fingers to permanently bend toward the palm. Elway's ring fingers on both hands were originally affected and he said now the middle finger on his right hand is starting to pull forward. So, he’ll get another injection of a drug called Xiaflex, which is the only FDA-approved non-surgical treatment, one that he's endorsing in an awareness campaign for the chronic condition that affects 17 million Americans. The condition can make it difficult to do everyday tasks such as shaking hands or picking up a coffee mug. Elway said what bothered him most was “I couldn't pick up a football and I could not imagine not being able to put my hand around a football." AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Here's How We Know Pam Bondi Is a Great Choice for Attorney General
The suspect in the high-profile killing of a health insurance CEO that has gripped the United States graduated from an Ivy League university, reportedly hails from a wealthy family, and wrote social media posts brimming with cerebral musings. Luigi Mangione, 26, was thrust into the spotlight Monday after police revealed he is their person of interest in the brutal murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a father of two, last week in broad daylight in Manhattan in a case that laid bare deep frustration and anger with America's privatized medical system. News of his capture in Pennsylvania -- following a tip from a McDonald's worker --triggered an explosion of online activity, with Mangione quickly amassing new followers on social media as citizen sleuths and US media tried to understand who he is. While some lauded him as a hero and lamented his arrest, others analyzed his intellectual takes in search of ideological clues. A photo on one of his social media accounts includes an X-ray of an apparently injured spine. No explicit political affiliation has emerged. Meanwhile, memes and jokes proliferated, many riffing on his first name and comparing him to the "Mario Bros." character Luigi, sometimes depicted in AI-altered images wielding a gun or holding a Big Mac. "Godspeed. Please know that we all hear you," wrote one user on Facebook. "I want to donate to your defense fund," added another. According to Mangione's LinkedIn profile, he is employed as a data engineer at TrueCar, a California-based online auto marketplace. A company spokesperson told AFP Mangione "has not been an employee of our company since 2023." Although he had been living in Hawaii ahead of the killing, he originally hails from Towson, Maryland, near Baltimore. He comes from a prominent and wealthy Italian-American family, according to the Baltimore Banner. The family owns local businesses, including the Hayfields Country Club, its website says. A standout student, Mangione graduated at the top of his high school class in 2016. In an interview with his local paper at the time, he praised his teachers for fostering a passion for learning beyond grades and encouraging intellectual curiosity. A former student who knew Mangione at the Gilman School told AFP the suspect struck him as "a normal guy, nice kid." "There was nothing about him that was off, at least from my perception," this person said, asking that their name not be used. "Seemed to just be smiling, and kind of seemed like he was a smart kid. Ended up being valedictorian, which confirmed that," the former student said. Mangione went on to attend the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, where he completed both a bachelor's and master's degree in computer science by 2020, according to a university spokesperson. While at Penn, Mangione co-led a group of 60 undergraduates who collaborated on video game projects, as noted in a now-deleted university webpage, archived on the Wayback Machine. On Instagram, where his following has skyrocketed from hundreds to tens of thousands, Mangione shared snapshots of his travels in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Hawaii. He also posted shirtless photos flaunting a six-pack and appeared in celebratory posts with fellow members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. However, it is on X (formerly Twitter) that users have scoured Mangione's posts for potential motives. His header photo -- an X-ray of a spine with bolts -- remains cryptic, with no public explanation. Finding a coherent political ideology has also proved elusive, though he had written a review of Ted Kaczynski's manifesto on the online site goodreads, calling it "prescient." Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, carried out a string of bombings in the United States from 1978 to 1995, a campaign he said was aimed at halting the advance of modern society and technology. Mangione called Kaczynski "rightfully imprisoned," while also saying "'violence never solved anything' is a statement uttered by cowards and predators." According to CNN, handwritten documents recovered when Mangione was arrested included the phrase "these parasites had it coming." Mangione has also linked approvingly to posts criticizing secularism as a harmful consequence of Christianity's decline. In April, he wrote, "Horror vacui (nature abhors a vacuum)." The following month, he posted an essay he wrote in high school titled "How Christianity Prospered by Appealing to the Lower Classes of Ancient Rome." In another post from April, he speculated that Japan's low birthrate stems from societal disconnection, adding that "fleshlights" and other vaginal-replica sex toys should be banned. ia/nro/dw
NoneGERMANTOWN, Tenn. , Dec. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc., or MAA (NYSE: MAA), today announced that its board of directors approved a quarterly dividend payment of $1.515 per share of common stock to be paid on January 31, 2025 , to shareholders of record on January 15, 2025 . Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Investigators probing the cause of the worst civil aviation accident ever in South Korea will focus on a bird strike and the unusual landing-gear failure in the final moments of the fateful flight that left all but two of the 181 occupants of the Boeing Co. 737 jet dead. The 737-800 aircraft operated by Jeju Air Co. crashed at Muan International Airport on Sunday morning, skidding along the runway on its belly before smashing into a wall, where it exploded into a ball of fire. Only a pair of flight attendants survived. While the aircraft was almost entirely destroyed, investigators will have valuable data to work with as they reconstruct the event. One vital key will be a readout of the two flight recorders, which were already pulled from the wreckage, though one device is damaged and may need longer to analyze. Then there’s footage showing the aircraft during approach with one engine apparently flaming out, alongside videos of the plane coming in to the airport and sliding along the runway at high speed, appearing largely intact, before the impact with the embankment. The accident poses several unusual mysteries, and investigators have said it’s too soon to speculate what may have caused the crash. Mid-air bird strikes are rare but not entirely uncommon and seldom deadly because aircraft can operate on one engine for some time. Why the landing gear didn’t deploy also remains unclear, or indeed if there’s a link between that malfunction and the bird strike that was discussed between cockpit and control tower just before the landing. The pilot, considered an experienced captain with close to 7,000 hours of active duty, issued a mayday emergency call minutes after the control tower warned of a bird strike. He aborted his first landing, started a go-around and switched direction on the runway in his second attempt. The control tower granted clearance to land in the opposite direction, and officials said it’s unlikely that the runway length caused the crash. The Boeing 737 involved in the crash is a predecessor to the latest Max variant. It’s considered a reliable workhorse that passed routine maintenance checks, in a country with deep expertise for aircraft servicing. Around the world, there are more than 4,000 planes of its type in service. Even if one of the black boxes was damaged in the crash, the data storage units can often be reconstructed to aid the investigation. The fortified devices contain vital statistics and performance metrics of a flight, as well as taped conversations and sounds from the cockpit. Muan’s control tower warned of the risk of a bird strike at 8:57 a.m. local time, about two minutes before the pilot declared an emergency, officials said. The airport had four staffers working to prevent bird strikes at the time of the crash, including one outside the tower. Birds are an aviation hazard because they can be ingested into the turbine or damage other parts of the plane and cause engine failure. In 2009, an Airbus A320 landed in the Hudson River in New York after a bird strike damaged both engines, in what has become known as the “Miracle on the Hudson” because everyone on board survived. Jeju Air’s 15-year-old plane, registered HL8088, entered service with the carrier in 2017. It was initially delivered in 2009 to Irish discount airline Ryanair Holdings Plc, according to the Planespotters.net database. The jet was configured to seat as many as 189 passengers. Founded in 2005, Jeju Air operates 42 aircraft, according to its website. There was no sign of malfunction during regular maintenance checks, Kim E-Bae, chief executive officer of Jeju Air, said at a news briefing. The jet was returning from Bangkok overnight in a 41⁄2 hour flight. The plane, which YTN said had been chartered by a local travel agency for a Christmas holiday trip, previously left Muan for the Thai capital on Saturday evening. Muan is a small regional airport located in the country’s south that opened in 2007. It was built to help connect cities including Gwangju and Mokpo and increased its regular service of international flights this year, including those of Jeju Air. The two surviving flight attendants were taken to hospital, and one of the two survivors is in intensive care unit with a thoracic spine fracture, the doctor at the hospital said in a press briefing. Boeing said it’s in contact with Jeju Air and ready to offer support. Aircraft manufacturers typically send specialists to crash sites to aid an investigation. Recovery of the victims, some of whom were ejected from the aircraft after the impact, has been completed and salvage crews are now searching the wreckage for passengers’ belongings, Yonhap said. More than 1,500 people including police, military, coast guard and local government personnel are assisting at the crash site, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. The airport’s runway will remain closed in coming days. The accident is the deadliest passenger airline disaster in South Korea to date, surpassing the fatality toll from an Air China plane crash near Busan in 2002 that killed 129 people, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The crash is also among the worst globally this decade. South Korea is currently experiencing a deepening political crisis after its president provoked public outrage by briefly imposing martial law earlier this month. Acting President Choi Sang-mok declared a week of mourning. The crash is the second major air disaster in less than a week. An incident in Russian airspace led to the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft on Dec. 25, killing dozens. After a year of not a single fatal accident among the 37 million commercial aircraft movements in 2023, this year has seen a rising number of cases. Early in January, an approaching Japan Airlines Co. Airbus A350 crashed into a small plane on a runway in Tokyo, killing five occupants in the stationary aircraft. A few days later, a door plug blew out of an airborne Boeing 737 Max 9 flying in the U.S. Though nobody was killed in that accident, the episode threw the U.S. planemaker into deep crisis because it exposed sloppy workmanship at the company. In August, a smaller ATR turboprop plane operated by Brazil’s VoePass crashed near Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport, killing 58 passengers and four crew members.
Dexter: Original Sin will take audiences back in time to find out how the man became the monster — er, the monster-slayer — in the Showtime thriller. The prequel series, which premieres on Paramount+ with Showtime on Friday, December 13, takes place 15 years before we first met Dexter (then played by Michael C. Hall , who still narrates the new series) in the original Dexter . Taking over the title role in this iteration is Patrick Gibson , who has the character’s steely-eyed stares and smug sauntering style down to a science. With new characters being introduced in some familiar settings, the new series will bring some new details about Dexter’s past to light, but it will also inevitably retread some familiar territory from the first show, which had ample flashbacks. Here’s what to remember about Dexter ‘s past before Dexter: Original Sin . Dexter didn’t find out until he was a fully grown serial murderer that he had a big brother who was also running around slaughtering people. The Ice Truck Killer who stalked Dexter was actually Brian Moser, his slightly older brother who was not adopted (or even mentioned) by Harry. Dexter only found out about Brian because the Ice Truck Killer left clues that were tailored to catch his attention — reminding him of scenes from his past as part of the Morgan family. Laura Moser was the single mother to Brian and Dexter and worked as a confidential informant for Harry and the Miami-Metro Police Department against the Colombian cartel. She was brutally dismembered right in front of Brian and Dexter, who were left wading in her blood inside a shipping container. Harry adopted Dexter as his own upon finding him in the container, but Brian was sent into the foster system. In flashbacks in Dexter , it became clear that he was not a normal teenager with typical feelings or tendencies. In fact, he had an innate bloodlust that his father recognized and tried to quell with hunting trips, to the exclusion of his daughter Debra. Harry wanted to protect Dexter from himself — particularly his self-destructive impulses. Though Harry tried to find other ways for Dexter to quench his thirst for blood, so to speak, he soon gave in and encouraged him to kill someone when he discovered Nurse Mary was poisoning Harry and other patients in the hospital after his heart attack. Once Dexter began to kill, Harry worked hard to create a framework for his adoptive son to work within that, if he followed it to the letter, would keep his morality and freedom intact. The rules included being certain that the mark was worthy of being murdered and leaving no trace of evidence behind. Even after Harry’s death, Dexter worked to strictly adhere to this code in every kill. Randy Tepper/Showtime Dexter repeatedly revealed that he felt empty on the inside, and it was Harry who taught him to feign normal human feelings and social interactions around others — even if it meant faking a smile in his own family photos. Little by little throughout Dexter , we learn that Harry Morgan had several affairs while married to Doris, including with Laura Morgan and another confidential informant. Though Harry is definitely the most common star of Dexter’s flashback memories, his adoptive mother Doris is also a fixture of his past. She died when Deb was 16 and didn’t know about Dexter’s violent tendencies, even if she didn’t totally understand him at times. Dexter: Original Sin , Series Premiere, Streaming, Friday, December 13, Paramount+ with Showtime, Sunday, December 15, 10/9c, Paramount+ with Showtime More Headlines:Former US President Jimmy Carter Dead at 100
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AP Trending SummaryBrief at 6:06 p.m. ESTMatchday 6 of the Champions League league phase is halfway over and we've had our first team eliminated from being able to make the knockouts in RB Leipzig following their 3-2 loss to Aston Villa. There's worry for Real Madrid as Kylian Mbappe left their 3-2 victory over Atalanta with an injury after scoring a goal. The victory will lift Real Madrid back into contention for the top eight but they'll need help to get there. It was quite an eventful day with four teams scoring three or more goals, but let's take a look at some of the highlights from Tuesday's fixtures. Tuesday's Champions League scores Girona 0, Liverpool 1 Dinamo Zagreb 0, Celtic 0 Atalanta 2, Real Madrid 3 Bayer Leverkusen 1, Inter 0 Brest 1, PSV 0 Shakhtar Donetsk 1, Bayern 5 Club Brugge 2, Sporting 1 RB Salzburg 0, PSG 3 RB Leipzig 2, Aston Villa 3 Player of the day: Marco Bizot, GK (Brest) Facing PSV at home, Brest had a formidable opponent but was able to survive securing a 1-0 victory, and a large reason for that is the performance of Marco Bizot in net. The Dutch keeper made five saves to keep only his second clean sheet in Champions League play, pushing the French side one step closer to qualifying for the knockout stages. In their initial UCL voyage, Brest have punched above their weight and it has been a true team effort to do it scoring 10 goals and only conceding six in their matches so far. Match of the day: RB Leipzig 2, Aston Villa 3 This match had everything from lead changes to tactical shifts which defined the game and of course a golazo, but we'll save that for later. Aston Villa rose to third in the table with this victory but to pull things off, they had to deal with RB Leipzig leveling twice in the 27th and the 62nd minute. An 85th-minute goal from Ross Barkley would prove to be the difference in the clash for Unai Emery's men, serving a dual purpose of knocking out RB Leipzig and putting Villa closer to an automatic spot in the last 16. That may not have happened if Jhon Duran hadn't been introduced at halftime and immediately scored, but that's the kind of impact that the Colombian has had during this season, scoring his third goal of this UCL campaign. A deflected effort from distance! 😮 Ross Barkley makes it happen for Villa 💥 pic.twitter.com/I7HGg4DdiF Best goal: Cristoph Baumgartner (RB Leipzig) It may have been a match to forget for Leipzig but that doesn't mean that they didn't produce a memorable moment. It was a wild goal where Lois Openda kept his head up to pick out his attacking partner before Christoph Baumgartner hit a sweet volley into the top corner leaving Emi Martinez helpless. Christoph Baumgartner finishes off a textbook counterattack by RB Leipzig! 💫👏 pic.twitter.com/J9mp0AZApY Moment of concern: Mbappe goes off for Real Madrid It should've been a result that Los Blancos celebrated but with another significant injury striking the club, it's a time where everyone will be holding their breath. Just after getting Vinicius Junior back and seeing how much his impact was missed with a goal and an assist in a victory offer Atalanta, Mbappe had to be taken off after only 36 minutes of play for what is being called a thigh injury. In that time, Mbappe scored a goal and put three shots on target, seeming to be on track for his best performance in a Real Madrid shirt. Now, depending on the severity of his injury, that could need to be rebuilt but only time will tell. Biggest disappointment: Sporting CP's slide Struggles were expected after Ruben Amorim left to take over Manchester United but four consecutive losses in all competitions later and Sporting CP could not only see a chance at the top eight in the league phase slip away. Only being on 10 points, they could be out of knockout contention altogether if this slide continues. Viktor Gyokeres can only do so much leading the line when the defense and midfield are letting him down, but this could go down as an epic collapse if the ship can't be righted. Off the bench and onto the scoresheet for Casper Nielsen to give Club Brugge the lead 💫 pic.twitter.com/3KBkR7CmPkA decision by Donald Trump's transition team to skip over filing ethics and disclosure forms to the General Services Administration has allowed them to rake in cash from outside sources to fund his transition efforts while not disclosing where the cash is coming from and how much they are taking in. According to an alarming report from the New York Times, the unprecedented decision to blow off federal funding of the transition by the the president-elect's team opens the door to " secret money " which is alarming ethics experts who believe it will result in unknown actors calling the shots in the incoming Trump White House . As the Times' Ken Bensinger and David Fahrenthold wrote, "President-elect Donald J. Trump is keeping secret the names of the donors who are funding his transition effort, a break from tradition that could make it impossible to see what interest groups, businesses or wealthy people are helping launch his second term," adding, "Mr. Trump is the first president-elect to sidestep the restrictions, provoking alarm among ethics experts." ALSO READ: The America-attacking Trump is coming for our military — and then he's coming for us The report notes Trump and his team are forgoing up to $7.2 million in federal funds by not signing an agreement with the Biden administration, which allows them to raise unlimited funds –– including from undisclosed foreign nationals. Heath Brown, a professor of public policy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, claimed that should raise red flags. “When the money isn’t disclosed, it’s not clear how much everybody is giving, who is giving it and what they are getting in return for their donations,” he explained. “It’s an area where the vast majority of Americans would agree that they want to know who is paying that bill.” "Mr. Trump’s transition team, formally known as Trump Vance 2025 Transition Inc., has revealed nothing about how much money it hopes to raise, who has contributed to the fund or how it is spending the money," the Times is reporting before adding, "The current Trump transition, like its predecessors, is set up as a 'dark money' nonprofit. Those groups typically do not have to disclose their donors, even to the Internal Revenue Service. But unlike Mr. Trump’s team this year, earlier transitions accepted financial support from the General Services Administration, which oversees much of the transition process." According to Brian Galle, a Georgetown University law professor, the IRS could require an audit for transparency, but that it seems unlikely. “Given the political sensitivity of this organization, I’d say the odds of their being audited are zero," he predicted. You can read more here .