SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For weeks, Mehmet Oz has been waging a public feud with California leaders over health care fraud, accusing the blue state of failing to adequately combat such abuse.

Oz, who heads the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, alleged that there was approximately $3.5 billion of fraud in the hospice and home health ...Read more

BOSTON — The Public Employee Committee, which bargains health insurance benefits on behalf of City of Boston unions, is firing back at the Wu administration after its “ultimatum” over dropping GLP-1 weight loss coverage to cut costs.

Elissa Cadillic, PEC co-chair, said a “majority” of city unions considered the city’s offer to ...Read more

Most people who get their health coverage through the Affordable Care Act say they face sharply higher costs, with many worried they will have to pare back other expenses to cover them, according to a poll released Thursday. Some are uncertain whether they will be able to continue paying their premiums all year.

Still, 69% of those enrolled ...Read more

MIAMI — Two moms who agonized for years about the unsolved 2009 murder of their teenage sons in Liberty City are suing the Miami Police Department for not telling them that the killer had secretly confessed and been granted immunity from prosecution.

Adding insult to injury, they say, the department won’t release the case file to them ...Read more

WASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition have introduced a lengthy bill aimed at navigating rising energy costs for American consumers.

Reps. Sean Casten of Illinois and Mike Levin of California are leading the charge on the 419-page legislative effort unveiled Wednesday that they’ve dubbed ...Read more

Iran maintained attacks on energy assets around the Middle East even after U.S. President Donald Trump called for restraint, with strikes on key oil and gas infrastructure triggering a fresh surge in prices.

Tehran’s response to Israel’s assault on the giant South Pars gas field “is underway and not yet complete,” the semi-official ...Read more

The sex abuse allegations against famed labor leader Cesar Chavez has prompted immediate calls that his name be stripped from schools, parks, streets, buildings and holidays.

The claims immediately became a political issue across California and other states, where Chavez has been memorialized in many ways since his death in 1993.

Gov. Gavin ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to announce a new Office of Community Safety on Thursday, a step towards fulfilling his campaign pledge to install a new city department to handle responses to mental health crises rather than leave that largely to the NYPD.

The mayor is slated to announce Renita Francois, a former city official under ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has asked for an additional $200 billion from Congress to pay for the war against Iran, a person familiar with the matter said, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued that the campaign was ahead of schedule and disputed that the U.S. was getting embroiled in a quagmire.

The person, who asked not to be identified ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court broke new ground this month when it ruled the Constitution forbids school policies in California that prevent parents from being told about their child's gender transition at school.

But the reach of this new parental right remains unclear.

Does it mean all parents have a right to be informed if their child is ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A new poll shows California voters are sharply divided over two brewing statewide ballot measures stirring up the nation's partisan and economic divides: a one-time tax on billionaires to pay for mostly healthcare and a voter ID mandate that includes citizenship verification.

The survey conducted by UC Berkeley's ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Almost a decade ago, a Simi Valley-based medical supply company began providing the California Department of Justice urinalysis tests for law enforcement agencies around the state that didn't have local forensic labs to test for alcohol.

For most of that time, the test kits Andwin Scientific supplied were faulty, potentially ...Read more

There’s no doubt that raising sales taxes in order to lower property taxes will shift more of South Dakota’s tax burden to lower-income residents, Republican Senate Majority Leader Jim Mehlhaff said.

“It is regressive,” he said. “There’s no denying that.”

But Mehlhaff said the state’s modest sales tax increase will bring a much...Read more

Sen. Markwayne Mullin won a committee vote to become the new Homeland Security secretary by a narrow 8-7 margin with a boost from Democratic Sen. John Fetterman.

The nomination of Mullin, who has a bitter feud with Republican colleague Sen. Rand Paul, advanced to the full Senate after Fetterman broke ranks with the rest of his party to advance ...Read more

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday presented several high-powered rifles tied to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, along with a ballistics expert who testified that high-velocity bullets he tested were fired from one of the guns.

“These three ammunition components were all identified as having been fired from the same ...Read more

Sheldon Ekirch is used to being disappointed by her health insurance company.

That’s why Ekirch, 31, of Henrico, Virginia, was stunned when she learned Anthem would finally have to pay for life-changing medical treatment.

For two years, she had battled the company to cover blood plasma infusions called intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG. ...Read more