g star 28
None
--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 13, 2024-- UnitedHealth Group today issued the following update: Claims approval rates Whether the killer and his parents were UnitedHealthcare members We grieve the passing of our dear friend and colleague and continue to work closely with law enforcement and their investigation of this horrific crime. About UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group is a health care and well-being company with a mission to help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone through two distinct and complementary businesses. Optum delivers care aided by technology and data, empowering people, partners and providers with the guidance and tools they need to achieve better health. UnitedHealthcare offers a full range of health benefits, enabling affordable coverage, simplifying the health care experience and delivering access to high-quality care. Visit UnitedHealth Group at www.unitedhealthgroup.com and follow UnitedHealth Group on LinkedIn . View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241213224931/en/ Media:uhgmedia@uhg.com KEYWORD: MINNESOTA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES HEALTH INSURANCE HEALTH INSURANCE MANAGED CARE GENERAL HEALTH SOURCE: UnitedHealth Group Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/13/2024 06:57 PM/DISC: 12/13/2024 06:56 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241213224931/en
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump on Sunday pushed Russian leader Vladimir Putin to act to reach an immediate ceasefire with Ukraine, describing it as part of his active efforts as president-elect to end the war despite being weeks from taking office. “Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness,” Trump wrote on social media, referring to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a television interview that aired Sunday, Trump also said he would be open to reducing military aid to Ukraine and pulling the United States out of NATO. Those are two threats that have alarmed Ukraine, NATO allies and many in the U.S. national security community. Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if he were actively working to end the nearly 3-year-old Ukraine war, Trump said, “I am.” He refused to say if he had spoken to Putin since winning the election in November. “I don’t want to say anything about that, because I don’t want to do anything that could impede the negotiation,” Trump said. ‘Russia brought war to our land’ Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire went beyond the public policy stands taken by both the Biden administration and Ukraine and drew a cautious response from Zelenskyy. It also marks Trump’s wading unusually deeply into efforts before his inauguration on Jan. 20 to resolve one of the major global crises facing the lame-duck Biden administration. Trump made his proposal after a weekend meeting in Paris with French and Ukrainian leaders in Paris, where many world leaders had gathered to celebrate the restoration of the Notre Dame cathedral after a 2019 fire. None of the advisers traveling with him appeared to have expertise on Ukraine. Kyiv would like to close a deal, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin.” “I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The World is waiting!” Trump added. He was referring to mediation efforts by China that many in the West have seen as favoring Russia. Zelenskyy described his discussions Saturday with Trump, brought together by French President Emmanuel Macron, as “constructive.” In a post Sunday on the Telegram messaging app, Zelenskyy cautioned that Ukraine needs a “just and robust peace, that Russians will not destroy within a few years.” “When we talk about an effective peace with Russia, we must talk first of all about effective peace guarantees,” Zelenskyy said. “Ukrainians want peace more than anyone else. Russia brought war to our land.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Trump’s post by repeating Moscow’s longstanding message that it is open to talks with Ukraine.
Bucks snap a 2-game skid with a 118-113 victory over the Nets
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A white ex-Kansas police detective died Monday in an apparent suicide just before the start of his criminal trial over allegations that he sexually assaulted Black women and terrorized those who tried fight back. Local police found Roger Golubski dead of a gunshot wound on the back porch of his split-level home outside Kansas City, Kansas. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, called in to help, said “there are no indications of foul play" in the 71-year-old's death, discovered after a neighbor heard a gunshot. Fifty miles (80 kilometers) to the west, federal prosecutors and Golubski's attorneys were inside the federal courthouse in Topeka for the start of jury selection with Golubski facing six felony counts of violating women's civil rights. Prosecutors say that, for years, female residents of poor neighborhoods in Kansas City feared that if they crossed paths with Golubski, he’d demand sexual favors and threaten to harm or jail their relatives. He had pleaded not guilty. His death led U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse to dismiss the charges at prosecutors' request, though a second criminal case involving three other co-defendants remains. U.S. Department of Justice officials said it's “difficult” when a case cannot “be fully and fairly heard in a public trial,” but advocates for the women who accused Golubski of abusing them were angry, feeling that they and the community were denied a reckoning. “There is no justice for the victims,” said Anita Randle-Stanley, who came to Topeka from the Kansas City area to watch jury selection, adding that Golubski began harassing her when she was a teenager decades ago. Allegations at the heart of the case — that Golubski preyed on women for decades with seeming impunity — outraged the community and deepened its historical distrust of law enforcement. The prosecution followed earlier reports of similar abuse allegations across the country where hundreds of officers have lost their badges after allegations of sexual assaults. Some of the women and their advocates were upset that Golubski was under house arrest while he underwent kidney dialysis treatments three times a week. Cheryl Pilate, an attorney representing some of the women, said she has questions about how well the government was monitoring Golubski. “The community had an enormous interest in seeing this trial go forward,” she added. “Now, the victims, the community and justice itself have been cheated.” Ex-detective described as ‘despondent’ over coverage After Golubski failed to appear in court Monday, his lead attorney, Christopher Joseph, said his client “was despondent about the media coverage.” Joseph said he had talked to Golubski regularly, including Monday morning, and he was shocked to hear that his client had apparently killed himself. As for Golubski’s death, he said, “I don’t know the details.” Golubski was accused of sexually assaulting one woman starting when she was barely a teenager and another after her twin sons were arrested. The case against Golubski was part of a string of lawsuits and criminal allegations that has led the county prosecutor’s office to begin a $1.7 million effort to reexamine cases Golubski worked on during his 35 years on the force. One double murder case Golubski investigated already has resulted in an exoneration , and an organization run by rapper Jay-Z is suing to obtain police records. Joseph had said lawsuits over the allegations were an “inspiration for fabrication” by his accusers. But prosecutors said that, along with the two women whose accounts are the heart of the criminal case, seven others were going to testify that Golubski abused or harassed them. “We have to keep fighting,” said Starr Cooper, who was in the courthouse Monday to watch jury selection and said Golubski victimized her mother before her death in 1983. Advocates for women rally, lament lack of trial About 50 people had a short rally Monday morning in sub-freezing temperatures outside the federal courthouse in Topeka to show their support for the women accusing Golubski of abusing them. They held signs with slogans such as, “Justice Now!” Lora McDonald, executive director of MORE2, a Kansas City-area social justice group, said participants learned that Golubski didn’t show up in court just as a rally began in Topeka. They dispersed before prosecutors announced his death in court. They later joined Pilate in calling for an independent, outside investigation into Golubski's death. “Golubski terrorized an entire community and co-conspired with dangerous people,” McDonald said. “Our rally today was not just about Roger Golubski. Rather, it was about the department in which his criminal activity flourished." Pilate lamented that without a trial for Golubski, "In the eyes of the law he died an innocent man.” Max Seifert, a former Kansas City police officer who graduated from the police academy with Golubski in 1975, said Golubski's supporters will treat him as a martyred victim of unfair pretrial publicity. He contends the department condoned misconduct. “I feel that there is always going to be a cloud of mystery about this,” he added. Decades of whispered allegations Stories about Golubski remained just whispers in the neighborhoods near Kansas City’s former cattle stockyards partly because of the extreme poverty of a place where crime was abundant and some homes are boarded up. One neighborhood where Golubski worked is part of Kansas’ second-poorest zip code. Fellow officers once revered Golubski for his ability to clear cases, and he rose to the rank of captain in Kansas City before retiring there in 2010 and then working on a suburban police force for six more years. His former partner served a stint as police chief. The inquiry into Golubski stems from the case of Lamonte McIntyre, who started writing to McCloskey’s nonprofit nearly two decades ago. McIntyre was just 17 in 1994 when he was arrested and charged in connection with a double homicide, within hours of the crimes. He had an alibi; no physical evidence linked him to the killings; and an eyewitness believed the killer was an underling of a local drug dealer. In the other federal criminal case involving Golubski, that drug dealer also was charged with him, accused of running a violent sex trafficking operation. McIntyre's mother said in a 2014 affidavit that she wonders whether her refusal to grant regular sexual favors to Golubski prompted him to retaliate against her son. In 2022, the local government agreed to pay $12.5 million to McIntyre and his mother to settle a lawsuit after a deposition in which Golubski invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent 555 times. The state also paid McIntyre $1.5 million. The last name of a woman who says the ex-detective harassed her for years has been corrected. She is Anita Randle-Stanley, not Randel-Stanley. Hollingsworth and Ingram reported from Edwardsville, Kansas.Some tech industry leaders are pushing the incoming Trump administration to increase visas for highly skilled workers from other nations. Related Articles National Politics | Trump threat to immigrant health care tempered by economic hopes National Politics | In states that ban abortion, social safety net programs often fail families National Politics | Court rules Georgia lawmakers can subpoena Fani Willis for information related to her Trump case National Politics | New 2025 laws hit hot topics from AI in movies to rapid-fire guns National Politics | Trump has pressed for voting changes. GOP majorities in Congress will try to make that happen The heart of the argument is, for America to remain competitive, the country needs to expand the number of skilled visas it gives out. The previous Trump administration did not increase the skilled visa program, instead clamping down on visas for students and educated workers, increasing denial rates. Not everyone in corporate America thinks the skilled worker program is great. Former workers at IT company Cognizant recently won a federal class-action lawsuit that said the company favored Indian employees over Americans from 2013 to 2022. A Bloomberg investigation found Cognizant, and other similar outsourcing companies, mainly used its skilled work visas for lower-level positions. Workers alleged Cognizant preferred Indian workers because they could be paid less and were more willing to accept inconvenient or less-favorable assignments. Question: Should the U.S. increase immigration levels for highly skilled workers? Economists Caroline Freund, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy YES: Innovation is our superpower and it relies on people. Sourcing talent from 8 billion people in the world instead of 330 million here makes sense. Nearly half our Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children. Growing them also relies on expanding our skilled workforce. The cap on skilled-worker visas has hardly changed since the computer age started. With AI on the horizon, attracting and building talent is more important than ever. Kelly Cunningham, San Diego Institute for Economic Research YES: After years of openly allowing millions of undocumented entrants into the country, why is there controversy over legally increasing somewhat the number having desirable skills? Undocumented immigration significantly impacts lower skill level jobs and wages competing with domestic workers at every skill level. Why should special cases be made against those having higher skills? Could they just not walk across the border anyway, why make it more inconvenient to those with desirable skills? James Hamilton, UC San Diego YES: Knowledge and technology are key drivers of the U.S. economy. Students come from all over the world to learn at U.S. universities, and their spending contributed $50 billion to U.S. exports last year. Technological advantage is what keeps us ahead of the rest of the world. Highly skilled immigrants contribute much more in taxes than they receive in public benefits. The skills immigrants bring to America can make us all better off. Norm Miller, University of San Diego YES: According to Forbes, the majority of billion-dollar startups were founded by foreigners. I’ve interviewed dozens of data analysts and programmers from Berkeley, UCSD, USD and a few other schools and 75% of them are foreign. There simply are not enough American graduates to fill the AI and data mining related jobs now exploding in the U.S. If we wish to remain a competitive economy, we need highly skilled and bright immigrants to come here and stay. David Ely, San Diego State University YES: Being able to employ highly skilled workers from a larger pool of candidates would strengthen the competitiveness of U.S. companies by increasing their capacity to perform research and innovate. This would boost the country’s economic output. Skilled workers from other nations that cannot remain in the U.S. will find jobs working for foreign rivals. The demand for H-1B visas far exceeds the current cap of 85,000, demonstrating a need to modify this program. Executives Phil Blair, Manpower YES: Every country needs skilled workers, at all levels, to grow its economy. We should take advantage of the opportunity these workers provide our employers who need these skills. It should be blended into our immigration policies allowing for both short and long term visas. Gary London, London Moeder Advisors YES: San Diego is a premiere example of how highly skilled workers from around the globe enrich a community and its regional economy. Of course Visa levels need to be increased. But let’s go further. Tie visas and immigration with a provision that those who are admitted and educated at a U.S. university be incentivized, or even required, to be employed in the U.S. in exchange for their admittance. Bob Rauch, R.A. Rauch & Associates NO: While attracting high-skilled immigrants can fill critical gaps in sectors like technology, health care and advanced manufacturing, increasing high-skilled immigration could displace American workers and drive down wages in certain industries. There are already many qualified American workers available for some of these jobs. We should balance the need for specialized skills with the impact on the domestic workforce. I believe we can begin to increase the number of visas after a careful review of abuse. Austin Neudecker, Weave Growth YES: We should expand skilled visas to drive innovation and economic growth. Individuals who perform high-skilled work in labor-restricted industries or graduate from respected colleges with relevant degrees should be prioritized for naturalization. We depend on immigration for GDP growth, tax revenue, research, and so much more. Despite the abhorrent rhetoric and curtailing of visas in the first term, I hope the incoming administration can be persuaded to enact positive changes to a clearly flawed system. Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health YES: But it should be based upon need, not politics. There are several industries that have or could have skilled workforce shortages, especially if the next administration tightens immigration as promised and expected. Over the years, there have been nursing shortages that have been met partially by trained and skilled nurses from other countries. The physician shortage is expected to get worse in the years to come. So, this visa program may very well be needed. Jamie Moraga, Franklin Revere NO: While skilled immigration could boost our economy and competitiveness, the U.S. should prioritize developing our domestic workforce. Hiring foreign nationals in sensitive industries or government-related work, especially in advanced technology or defense, raises security concerns. A balanced approach could involve targeted increases in non-sensitive high-demand fields coupled with investment in domestic STEM education and training programs. This could address immediate needs while strengthening the long-term STEM capabilities of the American workforce. Not participating this week: Alan Gin, University of San DiegoHaney Hong, San Diego County Taxpayers AssociationRay Major, economist Have an idea for an Econometer question? Email me at phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com . Follow me on Threads: @phillip020