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Wednesday: Clear skies. Light winds. High temps 102-105, lows 70's. |
Thursday: Clear skies. Light winds. High temps 102-106, lows near 70. |
Friday: Clear skies. Light winds. High temps 101-104, lows near 70. |
Saturday: Clear skies. Light winds. High temps 100-102, lows near 70. |
Sunday: Clear skies. Light winds. High temps around 100-102, lows near 70. |
March 24, 2019, 7:48 a.m. |
March 23, 2019, 7:37 a.m. |
March 23, 2019, 4:52 p.m. |
March 23, 2019, 8:14 a.m. |
March 23, 2019, 2:11 p.m. |
The Australian Medical Association has seized on official Medicare figures that show a slight quarterly drop in bulk billing since the Coalition was re-elected, calling it “more than just a blip”. |
Bulk billing for GP services fell to 85.4% in the September quarter, down from 85.9% in the June quarter. |
The AMA has previously criticised the Coalition’s policy of continuing the GP rebate freeze. Its former president, Brian Owler, said in May the only way that GPs could maintain their services would be for them to start to charge patients. |
On Tuesday, the AMA’s vice-president, Tony Bartone, said the figures were starting to show what doctors already knew anecdotally. |
“For many, many months – the best part of a few years – all doctors, all practices, have been absorbing the costs, absorbing the pressures,” he said. “A tipping point had to be reached sooner or later and I think we’ve crossed that line now. |
The quarterly figures, usually heralded by the health minister, were quietly published by the Department of Health on Friday. |
The figures also show average out-of-pocket costs for patients who aren’t bulk billed have doubled over the past decade, to $34.61 per visit in the September quarter. |
Average out-of-pocket costs have risen in every state and territory since the same quarter in 2015-16 – topping $40 in the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory. |
The president of the Royal Australian College of GPs, Bastian Seidel, said while the figures showed a drop in bulk billing rates, it would likely take another batch of quarterly numbers to get a better picture of what was happening. |
He said the government needed to release specific figures on how many GP consultations were being bulk billed, because the current figures may be skewed by the inclusion of many other Medicare items like management plans which doctors typically do bulk bill. |
The shadow health minister, Catherine King, said Malcolm Turnbull’s election promise that no one would pay more to see the doctor as a result of the freeze was a “complete and utter lie”. |
“This is the evidence Malcolm Turnbull didn’t want revealed – bulk billing is dropping and he knows it,” King said. |
The health minister, Sussan Ley, hailed the figures as evidence Labor’s so-called “Mediscare” campaign against the government’s GP freeze was a lie. |
She pointed to the growth in bulk billing since the September quarter last year – from 84.6% to 85.4%. |
Labor promised to protect Medicare and bulk billing during the federal election campaign by pledging to lift the GP rebate freeze. |
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report. |
San Jose State’s baseball program has been placed on probation for two years for practice time violations committed under a former coach. |
The NCAA announced Thursday that the program will be fined $5,000, be publicly reprimanded and have reductions in practice time both in and out of season. Former coach Jason Hawkins also was given a one-year show-cause penalty. Hawkins resigned in February after previously having been placed on administrative leave. |
Hawkins is accused of asking players to participate in voluntary activities before and after practices. He then listed those activities on the daily practice schedules and players believed their presence was mandatory. Coaches also observed some of the activities and held practices that ran longer than their scheduled ... |
•Oregon State baseball coach Pat Casey, who led the Beavers to three national championships, announced his retirement after 24 seasons with the team. |
Casey’s most recent College World Series title came this summer, following back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007. Since 2005, the Beavers have made the NCAA regional field 12 times and they’ve advanced to the CWS six times. The team also won five conference championships under Casey. |
Casey, 59, was hired by the Beavers in 1995 after a stint at Division III George Fox. He compiled a 900-458-6 (.662) record at Oregon State. |
College football: Two Florida International players were shot and Opa-locka, Fla., police said they were looking for suspects in what they called a drive-by attack. |
The players were identified as running back Anthony Jones and offensive lineman Mershawn Miller. Jones was shot in the face and back. Miller was shot in the arm. Both players were taken to Ryder Trauma Center, Jones getting airlifted there and Miller taken by ambulance. |
Opa-locka’s police chief said both players were in stable condition and that their injuries were not life-threatening. |
College basketball: Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes received a three-year contract extension through the 2023-24 season and a raise that will earn him $21 million over the next six years. |
•Former USF head coach and NBA player Rex Walters of San Jose has joined the coaching staff at Nevada. He is a special assistant to head coach Eric Musselman. |
NHL: Deputy commissioner Bill Daly says the NHL does not expect to change its rules on marijuana with the legalization of cannabis in Canada coming Oct. 17. |
Daly said in an interview that the move won’t affect the NHL/NHLPA drug-testing policy. Daly said the league tests for marijuana but a positive test by itself does not lead to a suspension. |
•The Columbus Blue Jackets gave multiyear contract extensions to president of hockey operations John Davidson, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen and assistant general manager Bill Zito, who was promoted to associate general manager. Terms weren’t disclosed. |
Motor sports: Canadian IndyCar driver Robert Wickens fractured his spinal cord and neck and suffered seven other serious injuries when he crashed at Pocono Raceway on Aug. 19, his family said. |
Wickens’ family revealed the injuries he suffered when his car launched into the fence at the Pennsylvania track. Among them are a thoracic spinal fracture, a fractured neck, tibia and fibula fractures to both legs and a fractured right forearm. |
Soccer: In the opening night of the UEFA Nations League tournament, Croatia and Portugal played to a 1-1 draw. ... Germany and France drew 0-0. ... Memphis Depay scored twice and the Netherlands beat Peru 2-1. ...Wales swept past Ireland 4-1. ... Ukraine beat the Czech Republic 2-1. ... Norway beat Cyprus 2-0. ... Bulg... |
•The president of the second-tier Mexican soccer club Dorados of Sinaloa said Argentine great Diego Maradona has been hired as the team’s coach. |
Emails sent almost three years ago revealed the Brisbane City Council was aware of alleged "unlawful activities" involving IT staff, despite lord mayor Graham Quirk denying knowledge of the allegations in August. |
On August 23 the council sought an urgent meeting with Indian technology company HCL, which provides IT services to the council, amid allegations of wage theft. |
The Services Union secretary Neil Henderson alleged Indian workers brought to Australia by HCL had been working extraordinary hours, including no weekend or public-holiday rates or overtime, equating to thousands in unpaid hours. |
When Cr Quirk was asked about this at a council meeting on August 28, he said the council had not been aware of any exploitative practices in relation to HCL. |
The council outsourced its IT functions to HCL in 2013, a move that cost 55 jobs within the council but would deliver savings of about $8 million over five years. |
Emails sent on December 2, 2015, sighted by Fairfax Media, revealed an IT worker wrote to the council to express concerns about “unfair and unlawful activities” that had been happening. |
“I have been very patient ... but now it’s actually hurting me and my family in some ways,” the worker wrote. |
“HCL, as well as BCC management, knows about this issue but they are just ignoring it. |
Labor lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding accused Cr Quirk of lying to get himself out of trouble and to keep his job. |
“He should resign, I really mean that,” he said. |
“He [Cr Quirk] got up in council and said he never knew anything about it, that’s a lie." |
A spokesman for the lord mayor said the IT worker requested whistleblower protection and so the lord mayor had not been made aware. |
“Council was formally advised of employee concerns in August this year and immediately acted to investigate the allegations,” the spokesman said. |
Three weeks ago HCL resolved the matter directly with the employees involved. |
Tom Cotton Eats Birthday Cake Almost Every Day : It's All Politics The freshman senator from Arkansas, who wrote the letter to Iran and rallied 46 other Republicans to object to a nuclear deal, revealed his guilty pleasure: eating birthday cake nearly every day. |
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.: "Sometimes I just buy birthday cakes, and I eat them." |
Every day is a birthday for Tom Cotton. |
Cotton has a reputation for being a very serious man. The military veteran, Harvard Law graduate and freshman U.S. senator gained wide attention for being able to rally 46 of his Republican colleagues in the Senate to join in writing a letter to Iran's leaders objecting to a nuclear deal. |
So this is a side most would not expect. |
"You have been described as having very little appetite for frivolity. Do you have any guilty pleasures? I run a lot every morning." |
"But I do it so I can indulge in the guilty pleasure of eating birthday cake. |
"Even if it's not somebody's birthday? Yes. She went to the grocery store yesterday and picked up a white birthday cake." |
Cotton not only eats birthday cake almost every day, but he also found someone who can share in that. |
That's where the silly ended, though, in the interview. |
"There are probably some good stories from the Army, but they're all classified." |
+ nine = 11 Required Please enter the correct value. |
The technology behind next-generation sequencing (NGS) might be complicated, but the potential to make boatloads of money from it is quite simple. |
In September, scientists used cutting-edge techniques to insert genes in common pigeons that will allow them to alter the pigeons' offspring with DNA from the extinct passenger pigeon. |
And bringing back a pigeon that went extinct in 1914 is just the start of the breakthroughs in the NGS market. Eventually, the tech could help cure cancer and eliminate Alzheimer's. |
The NGS market was valued at $4.62 billion in 2015, and it's expected to skyrocket 362% to $21.4 billion by 2025, according to Grand View Research. |
The profit opportunity is going to be huge, but finding the best medical tech stock in this complicated market isn't easy. |
There's a lot of hype around gene-editing companies, but there is one that's more deserving of your hard-earned money. |
That's why we brought in an expert. |
Money Morning Defense and Tech Specialist Michael Robinson is a 30-year veteran of tech markets with a Rolodex of Silicon Valley CEOs. |
NEW YORK — Here we go again! |
The current jackpot for the national Powerball lottery has reached $348 million after going weeks without a big winner. |
The latest drawing was Saturday night: The winning numbers were 3-12-16-32-34 and the Powerball was 14. About 1.3 million people won something — for a total of $12.8 million. |
But no one took the jackpot home. The next drawing is on Wednesday. |
The last jackpot to reach this level eventually grew into the largest in U.S. history — $1.5 billion. |
While the jackpot is advertised as being worth $348 million, a winner will only receive that amount if she takes the annuity — the money is paid out over 30 years. |
The lump sum option, which is more popular, has a cash value of $226.1 million. |
As the pot grows, more and more people are likely to rush out to pick their numbers. But the odds of winning aren’t great. |
Individual tickets have only a 1 in 292 million chance of having the jackpot-winning six-digit combination. |
Even just guessing the Powerball number, which will get you $4, is hard — the odds are 1 in 38. |
Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett have delivered, but the rest of Duke's roster isn't exactly thriving right now. Winners and losers from Saturday. |
Late January college basketball games can be tricky, offering a snapshot of what teams will look like in March while showcasing others that are far from a finished product. |
One loss might not seem huge now, but the NCAA tournament selection committee examines the full body of work, so any blemish midway through the conference season could be a major difference-maker on Selection Sunday. |
Tennessee: The Volunteers (18-1, 11-0) have taken over the top spot in the coaches poll and looked the part in a convincing home win over West Virginia. This balanced Tennessee team does a lot of things well, ranking top-five in the nation in field-goal percentage, assist-to-turnover ratio and blocked shots per game. S... |
Virginia: The Cavaliers (18-1, 6-1) bounced back from their first loss of the season – last Saturday's setback vs. Duke – by clobbering Wake Forest earlier in the week and crushing Notre Dame on the road Saturday. UVA's nation-leading defense takes much of the credit, but against the Irish on Saturday, a balanced offen... |
Kentucky: The ninth-ranked Wildcats (16-3, 5-1) continue to jell together more and more as the season progresses and Saturday's 71-63 home win over No. 10 Kansas showcased how far coach John Calipari has taken this team since November, especially in crunch time. What makes Kentucky so dangerous heading into February is... |
Iowa State: The Cyclones (15-5, 4-3) picked up a résumé-boosting non-conference victory by taking down a top-20 team in Ole Miss. There's plenty of room to enhance or damage credentials in a rough Big 12 schedule, so beating an NCAA tournament-bound team on the road will pay off in the long run. |
Marquette: The 11th-ranked Golden Eagles (18-3, 7-1) trailed Xavier by double-digits midway through the first half on Saturday before storming back for an 87-82 victory, keeping Marquette near the top of the Big East title race with Villanova. Markus Howard is having an All-America-caliber season, finishing with 31 poi... |
Duke: Even though the Blue Devils (17-2, 6-1) came out on top at home against Georgia Tech, pulling away 66-53, it wasn't a pretty outing in point guard Tre Jones' return. They trailed 29-27 at halftime and shot just 9.5 percent from beyond the arc as a team. While R.J. Barrett (24 points) and Zion Williamson (22 point... |
Maryland: The Terrapins (16-5, 7-3) vaulted to No. 16 in the coaches poll and No. 13 in the Associated Presspoll last week after seven consecutive Big Ten wins. This week they lost a road game to No. 5 Michigan State before falling to bottom-feeder Illinois, 78-67, on Saturday in New York. Mark Turgeon's group turned t... |
Kansas State: The Wildcats (15-5, 5-2) entered Saturday's contest having won five games in a row, including a huge victory over No. 13 Texas Tech on Tuesday, jumping to the top of the Big 12 standings with Kansas. While K-State's 65-53 road loss to Texas A&M won't affect the team's conference outlook, it certainly matt... |
Auburn: The No. 15 Tigers' 92-84 loss at No. 22 Mississippi State was their third consecutive defeat, dropping them to 2-4 in league play. Auburn's missed opportunity – it trailed by just two points at the half – currently leaves the Tigers in the bottom half of a crowded and competitive Southeastern Conference. For th... |
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