USA

USA: 10 drugs targeted for Medicare price negotiations as Biden pitches cost reductions

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden touted the potential cost savings of Medicare’s first-ever price negotiations for widely used prescription drugs on Tuesday as he struggles to convince Americans that he’s improved their lives as he runs for reelection.

The drugs include the blood thinner Eliquis, diabetes treatment Jardiance and eight other medications. The negotiation process was authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed last year, capping decades of debate over whether the federal government should be allowed to haggle with pharmaceutical companies.

USA: The only defendant in the Georgia election indictment to spend time in jail is released on bond

ATLANTA (AP) — The only person who spent time behind bars as a result of the sweeping indictment related to efforts to overturn then-President Donald Trump ‘s 2020 election loss in Georgia was released from jail Wednesday after he was granted bond a day earlier.

A lawyer for Harrison William Prescott Floyd on Tuesday negotiated a $100,000 bond with the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

USA: Judge’s illness delays sentencing for ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio in Jan. 6 case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The sentencing for former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of orchestrating the far-right extremist group’s attack on the U.S. Capitol after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, has been delayed until next week because the judge hearing the case became sick.

Prosecutors are seeking 33 years behind bars for Tarrio, who had been scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday. That would be the longest sentence so far among hundreds of Capitol riot cases.

USA: University of North Carolina graduate student left building right after killing adviser, police say

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — A University of North Carolina graduate student walked into a classroom building, shot his faculty adviser and quickly left, authorities said a day after the attack paralyzed campus as police searched for the gunman.

Tailei Qi, 34, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and having a gun on educational property in Monday’s killing of Zijie Yan inside a science building at the state’s flagship public university.

USA: Judge holds Giuliani liable in Georgia election workers’ defamation case and orders him to pay fees

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday held Rudy Giuliani liable in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who say they were falsely accused of fraud, entering a default judgment against the former New York City mayor and ordering him to pay tens of thousands of dollars in lawyers’ fees.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said the punishment was necessary because Giuliani had ignored his duty as a defendant to turn over information requested by election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea’ ArShaye Moss, as part of their lawsuit.

USA: 11 taken to hospital as Delta jetliner hits turbulence near Atlanta airport

ATLANTA (AP) — Eleven people on a Delta Air Lines flight were taken to the hospital on Tuesday after the plane hit turbulence while heading to Atlanta, officials said.

Flight 175 had left Milan, Italy, and was about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when the crew reported severe turbulence, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which said it will investigate.

The Airbus A350 landed safely at the airport shortly before 7 p.m.

USA: White House says Putin and Kim Jong Un traded letters as Russia looks for munitions from North Korea

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Wednesday said that it has new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for the war in Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the latest finding just weeks after the White House said that it had determined that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a recent visit to Pyongyang called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow for its Ukraine war.

USA: Tribal ranger draws weapon on climate activists blocking road to Burning Man; conduct under review

NIXON, Nev. (AP) — A tribal ranger’s conduct is under review after he pointed a weapon Sunday at environmental activists and plowed his patrol vehicle through their blockade on the road leading to the annual Burning Man counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert.

The incident unfolded on a rural stretch of highway on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe reservation in northwestern Nevada. The protest calling attention to climate change stopped traffic as attendees were headed to the Black Rock Desert north of the reservation for opening day of Burning Man.

USA: Millions more workers would be entitled to overtime pay under a proposed Biden administration rule

NEW YORK (AP) — The Biden administration will propose a new rule Wednesday that would make 3.6 million more U.S. workers eligible for overtime pay, reviving an Obama-era policy effort that was ultimately scuttled in court.

USA: As Trump and Republicans target Georgia’s Fani Willis for retribution, the state’s governor opts out

ATLANTA (AP) — Some Republicans in Washington and Georgia began attacking Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis immediately after she announced the Aug. 14 indictment of former President Donald Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. But others, including Gov. Brian Kemp, have been conspicuous in their unwillingness to pile on.

Subscribe to USA