TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalIowa Republicans choose not to look for overspending on Medicaid prescriptions
The Iowa Department of Human Services will not audit a practice that could be inflating costs for Medicaid prescription drug payments by millions of dollars a year.
State Representative John Forbes raised concerns after finding discrepancies on bills for some prescriptions his Urbandale pharmacy filled for patients served by Amerigroup, one of Iowa’s Medicaid managed-care providers. Earlier this month, House members unanimously approved Forbes’ amendment to the health and human services budget, instructing DHS to “audit all prescription drug benefit claims managed by a pharmacy benefit manager under the Medicaid program.”
However, House and Senate Republicans dropped that section from the final version of House File 766.
State Senator Mark Costello, who floor managed the health and human services budget in the upper chamber, claimed Iowa’s Medicaid director Michael Randol and an Amerigroup representative had told him the audit was unnecessary.
Read more: https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2019/04/28/iowa-republicans-choose-not-to-look-for-overspending-on-medicaid-prescriptions/
UT grad students rally for higher pay, tuition support
Hundreds of University of Texas graduate students rallied Wednesday to call on administrators to raise stipends and tuition waivers so that they can afford to live in Austin.
Hoisting signs that read “UT runs on grad student labor” and “We teach your classes, you better pay our (expletive),” the students spoke about living in cheap, roach-infested apartments, working outside jobs on top of their duties as teaching assistants and going without health insurance at times.
Research by a group of students dubbed Underpaid at UT shows that 65% of graduate students receive stipends of less than $18,000 a year, which is $7,000 below the cost of living calculated by the university. And although most top-tier research universities around the nation waive tuition entirely for graduate students with teaching or research appointments, UT waives only a portion, resulting in an average shortfall of more than $1,000 per student each semester. Some of UT’s roughly 200 academic departments cover that gap, but many students have to pay all or part of the bill.
“I am very empathetic to the position of the students,” said Mark J.T. Smith, dean of the graduate school and senior vice provost for academic affairs. “We understand the stresses involved. We recognize that this is an issue that does need to be fixed.”
Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190501/ut-grad-students-rally-for-higher-pay-tuition-support
Texas Senate gives initial OK to bill requiring counseling before abortion
The Texas Senate on Thursday gave initial approval 21-10 to a bill that would require women to receive counseling from a third party organization before an abortion, over arguments from Democrats that such a requirement would be overly burdensome and could give state health officials too much discretion in implementing the program.
Senate Bill 2243 by Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, would require a woman to meet with a counselor to discuss available resources for pregnant women in the state, including housing, child care, adoption services and others. Any counseling about abortion would be required to be medically accurate.
The counselor also would administer screening for domestic violence and human trafficking.
“A lack of information or fear or isolation or feeling alone — all of these are probably the worst reasons or the worst conditions under which any of us would make any big decision,” Paxton said during the debate, noting that the bill would ensure women receive guidance so “they can make a decision that is based on reality, not on fear or lack of information.”
Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190502/texas-senate-gives-initial-ok-to-bill-requiring-counseling-before-abortion
House urges repeal of Texas program that turns many low-income drivers into scofflaws
AUSTIN -- A much-criticized program that charges drivers huge fines on top of existing penalties for violations such as speeding and DWI would be eliminated under a bill the House unanimously approved Thursday.
The Driver Responsibility Program would go away if House Bill 2048 becomes law.
As of Sept. 1, more than 1.4 million Texans who’ve lost their driver licenses because they can’t afford to pay the surcharges could get their licenses reinstated if the only reason for suspension was failure to pay.
The bill, passed 143-0, now goes to the Senate.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-politics/2019/05/02/house-urges-repeal-texas-program-turns-many-low-income-drivers-scofflaws
Student who wore Confederate flag cape stirs up outrage at Texas high school
A Confederate flag is roiling a North Texas school district after a Royse City student wore one to class recently.
The incident in late April has inflamed residents and activists and has led to at least one racist incident when students in an SUV leaving campus shouted "white power" and were caught on video, according to WFAA-TV (Channel 8).
The flag has since been confiscated and the student "received consequences in accordance with board policy," Royse City Superintendent Kevin Worthy wrote in a letter quoted in the Royse City Herald Banner.
As for the students who shouted the racist slogan, "identification of the subject(s) is underway and discipline, if at all possible, for this off campus action will occur," the letter stated.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/hunt-county/2019/05/02/student-hunt-county-high-school-stirs-outrage-confederate-flag-cape
Walz signs repeal of marital rape exemption in Minnesota
Gov. Tim Walz has signed a bill repealing a Minnesota law that prevented prosecutors from filing rape charges against people accused of sexually assaulting their spouses.
Looking on as Walz signed the bill Thursday was Jenny Teeson. The Andover woman went public after prosecutors dropped a felony charge against her now former husband, who drugged her and made a video of himself raping her while she was unconscious. He served just 30 days in jail for invasion of privacy.
Gov. Tim Walz has signed a bill repealing a Minnesota law that prevented prosecutors from filing rape charges against people accused of sexually assaulting their spouses.
Looking on as Walz signed the bill Thursday was Jenny Teeson. The Andover woman went public after prosecutors dropped a felony charge against her now former husband, who drugged her and made a video of himself raping her while she was unconscious. He served just 30 days in jail for invasion of privacy.
Read more: https://www.twincities.com/2019/05/02/walz-signs-repeal-of-marital-rape-exemption-in-minnesota/
A Chilean mining company lays claim to Minnesota's water
Beneath the dense and dusky hush of the Superior National Forest is a sprawling fortune of copper- and nickel-bearing ores weighing more than 4.4 billion tons.
Our smart phones and computers rely on these metals. They’re used in our water and power infrastructure, as well as the wind turbines and solar cells ushering in the world’s green revolution.
Although northeastern Minnesota’s reserves are considered low-grade, with the desired minerals composing just .4 percent of their host rock, Chilean copper conglomerate Antofagasta believes they’re profitable enough to mine.
Much of what the company has in store is closely guarded information. Antofagasta wants to secure federal land leases prior to publishing formal plans.
Read more: http://www.citypages.com/news/a-chilean-mining-company-lays-claim-to-minnesotas-water/509288371
Walz says state should pull plug on troubled MNLARS system
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota should pull the plug on its troubled vehicle registration system and replace it quickly with commercial software used by other 12 states, Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday as he accepted the findings of outside experts who said it's not worth putting further resources into a system that never fully recovered from its failed launch in 2017.
While replacing MNLARS, which state agencies developed in-house, with a turnkey "packaged software solution" will cost more in the short run, the experts said there are fewer risks in switching to an outside vendor than in trying to complete the necessary fixes internally.
"I understand this is a pretty drastic course of action," Walz said at a news conference.
Altogether, Walz acknowledged, taxpayers are going to be out around $186 million, including over $100 million that the state has already spent on developing MNLARS over more than a decade. But legislative leaders from both parties, including some harsh MNLARS critics, welcomed the governor's decision and said they're ready to work out the details of authorizing the switch.
Read more: https://www.mankatofreepress.com/news/state_news/walz-says-state-should-pull-plug-on-troubled-mnlars-system/article_ae957296-ebcd-5d5d-b82e-f669fabf1431.html
Judge: Man can recover money from neo-Nazi website founder
A Muslim-American radio host can recover monetary damages against a neo-Nazi website operator who falsely accused him of terrorism, a federal judge ruled without deciding on a dollar amount.
SiriusXM Radio show host Dean Obeidallah is seeking more than $1 million in damages against The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin, who hasn't responded to Obeidallah's libel lawsuit.
Chief U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. agreed Wednesday to enter a default judgment against Anglin and his company, Moonbase Holdings LLC. Sargus scheduled a June 12 hearing in Columbus, Ohio, to determine the proper amount of damages and fees.
Obeidallah "has adequately stated his claims and is entitled to monetary relief," Sargus wrote. But the judge added that an evidentiary hearing is necessary "because Obeidallah's evidence does not provide definite figures of his injuries."
Read more: https://www.mankatofreepress.com/region/judge-man-can-recover-money-from-neo-nazi-website-founder/article_6d3cecf2-d415-5def-b00a-2247e99fcaf3.html
Foxconn CEO meets with Trump, Wisconsin governor
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Foxconn Technology Group leader Terry Gou met privately with Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers for the first time on Thursday, a day after Gou recommitted to a massive project in the state following a White House meeting with President Donald Trump.
Questions about Foxconn's commitment to the Wisconsin project have swirled for months, but Gou and the project's backers tried to put those to rest. Evers, who ran for office as a critic of Foxconn, said he hoped the project would be successful, even if it's smaller than originally envisioned.
Foxconn, the world's largest electronics company whose customers include Apple, Amazon and Google, plans to build a display screen factory in southeast Wisconsin. Foxconn reached the deal with former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Evers was critical of the taxpayer credits promised to the company during his successful campaign against Walker last year.
Evers told reporters Thursday that he planned to tell Gou he looked forward to making sure the Wisconsin project was successful. But Evers said there was no question the project was going to be smaller than originally planned, given that Foxconn has said publicly it's building a factory that makes smaller display screens than the existing contract envisioned.
Read more: https://www.mankatofreepress.com/region/foxconn-ceo-meets-with-trump-wisconsin-governor/article_89c12429-b960-5a0b-82a7-fb916ca4cba6.html
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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