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Scripps Health cutting ties with insurance covering thousands of SD seniors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Scripps Health is cutting coverage for thousands of seniors in San Diego County at the end of this year when it stops its participation in the Medicare Advantage program. On Monday, Lisa Bock and her wife Lori received what they call a shocking letter from their Medicare Advantage Plan, SCAN. It read in part, "as you may have heard, Scripps Clinic and Scripps Coastal primary care doctors will not be contracting with Medicare Advantage HMO plans by January 1, 2024 … Because your SCAN plan is an HMO, this means you may not be able to see your current primary care doctor after December 31, 2023." Updated COVID-19 vaccines are now available in San Diego: Where to find them “When Lori read that, she just went through the roof because she loves her primary care doctor," Bock recalled. “I’m freaking out … she started hyperventilating. I had to calm her down."Lori and Lisa are just two out of the more than 30,000 elderly San Diegans under one of several health plans like SCA...

SDG&E customers to see dip in next energy bill. Here's how much will be reduced

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego Gas & Electric customers are expected to see a reduction in their energy bills next month with the distribution of another installment of state climate credits.On Wednesday, SDG&E announced that the final credit for this year will be applied to electricity statements in October, with each household expected to receive about $60.70 to put towards their bill.The climate credits are a biannual benefit given to millions of ratepayers as a part of California's Greenhouse Cap-and-Trade program, which creates an economic incentive for investor-owned utility companies to invest in clean energy as a means of emission mitigation. Auditor ‘concerned’ with CA regulators’ monitoring of energy rate hikes Companies are allotted a certain number of "emission allowances," representing one ton of greenhouse gases they are allowed to emit, that is based on a statewide cap set by state energy officials. According to the California Public Utilities Commission, investor-o...

Lemon Grove man sentenced in attempted murder of girlfriend, daughters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A Lemon Grove man who attempted to murder his girlfriend and her two juvenile daughters in 2021 was sentenced to a prison sentence of 116 years-to-life in court on Wednesday.Pablo Ramirez, 52, was found guilty on July 27 of attempted murder, attempted manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a felon in connection to the shooting, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's office.“Pablo Ramirez destroyed a family and stole the hopes and dreams of a young woman who was just beginning her life,” DA Summer Stephan said in a release. “Today’s sentence provides a measure of justice and will hold this callous defendant accountable for his malicious acts.”Ramirez was arrested by San Diego County Sheriff's deputies on Sept. 8, 2021 after midnight. Law enforcement was dispatched to his home in the 1400 block of Bakersfield Street after one of the daughters escaped to call 9-1-1. Teacher, hockey coach sentenced to 16 years in ‘Mr. Pickles’ child sex abuse case Acco...

Asylum-seeker surge prompts some to attempt hopping border fence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection is reporting a record number of migrant apprehensions in the San Diego sector as more asylum-seekers continue to gather along the San Ysidro border fence.The surge has prompted some migrants awaiting processing to make a mad dash across the wall, including about a dozen who were spotted on video jumping over the fence Wednesday morning.The migrants seen in the video surrendered to border agents in the "enforcement zone" between the two barriers shortly later. However, officials say one man did make it over the second fence, running about a quarter mile on the beach before giving up in exhaustion.According to Border Patrol, roughly 100 migrants have shown up along the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego every day over the last couple weeks. This year so far, the agency estimates that as many as 204,000 migrants have been picked-up in the area. Over $5M in illicit marijuana seized at Otay Mesa Port of Entry The surge has put additional p...

TikTok says it regrets Indonesia’s decision to ban e-commerce sales on social media platforms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:19 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Chinese-owned app TikTok on Thursday said it regretted the Indonesian government’s decision to ban e-commerce transactions on social media platforms and particularly the impact it would have on the millions of sellers who use TikTok Shop.But TikTok Indonesia said in a statement it will respect the regulations and laws that apply in Indonesia and “will take a constructive path forward.”“We deeply regret the government’s announcement, especially how it will impact the livelihoods of the six million sellers and nearly seven million affiliate creators who use TikTok Shop,” said the statement sent to The Associated Press on Thursday.Indonesia banned goods transactions on social media platforms such as TikTok in a bid to protect small businesses from e-commerce competition, accusing them of predatory pricing.Indonesia’s Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan on Monday announced the decision after a meeting with President Joko Widodo. The ban ”is to prevent the domin...

Separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh says it will dismantle itself by January 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:19 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — The separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh announced Thursday that it will dismantle itself and the unrecognized republic will cease to exist by Jan. 1, 2024. The move comes after Azerbaijan carried out a lightning offensive to reclaim full control over its breakaway region and demanded that Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh lay down their weapons and the separatist government dismantle itself. Nagorno-Karabakh was run by separatist authorities for about 30 years.The Associated Press

Production at German Volkswagen plants resumes after disruption caused by an IT problem

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:19 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Production at Volkswagen is resuming after a problem with the German automaker’s information technology network caused a severe disruption, the company said Thursday.Volkswagen said on Wednesday evening that the IT disruption caused production to halt at its four vehicle manufacturing plants in Germany — its Wolfsburg headquarters, Emden, Zwickau and Osnabrueck. It also affected some other facilities, including at subsidiary Audi, it said.The company said Thursday morning that the IT infrastructure problems were resolved during the night and production was resuming, German news agency dpa reported. It said there were no indications of any external cause for the disruption.The Associated Press

After Malaysia bans his book, author says his depiction of Indonesian maid was misunderstood

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:19 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government has banned a book following protests over what was perceived as an insulting depiction of an Indonesian maid, and the book’s author on Thursday apologized for the offensive material and said it was misunderstood.Boey Chee Ming, a Malaysian artist now based in the United States, said he was shocked to learn that his book “When I was a Kid 3” was banned by the government almost a decade after it was released in 2014. It was his third book in a series of graphic novels about his childhood in Malaysia.The Home Ministry has said the book contained material that was “likely to be prejudicial to morality” and issued the ban on Sept. 15, local media reported. Indonesian non-governmental organization Corong Rakyat staged a rally outside the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta in June to protest the book, which it said belittled Indonesian maids, Malaysia’s national Bernama news agency reported. Home Ministry officials couldn̵...

Shelters for migrants are filling up across Germany as attitudes toward the newcomers harden

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:19 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Dozens of people from around the world lined up on a sunny morning this week in front of a former mental health hospital in Berlin to apply for asylum in Germany.There were two older women from Moldova. A young man from Somalia sat next to them on a bench. A group of five young Pakistanis chatted loudly, standing behind two pregnant women from Vietnam.The newcomers are among more than 10,000 migrants who have applied for asylum in the German capital this year, and are coming at a time when Berlin is running out of space to accommodate them.“The situation is not very good at the moment,” Sascha Langenbach, the spokesperson for the state office for refugee affairs in Berlin, said in an interview this week. “This is much more than we expected last year.”The former mental health hospital in Berlin’s Reinickendorf neighborhood was turned into the city’s registration center for asylum-seekers in 2019 and can house up to 1,000 migrants. But it’s full. Offici...

First C5+1 Leaders' Summit: C5+1 resilience through security, economic, and energy partnership

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:19 GMT

This week, we – the presidents of the United States, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan – met on the occasion of the first-ever C5+1 Presidential Summit, held during the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City and commit to the following principles of further interaction. Resilience through Partnership United in an unwavering commitment to uphold the principles of the United Nations Charter, our partnership is founded on respect for the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of all states. We commend the considerable progress made on shared objectives since the first C5+1 ministerial meeting in 2015. The establishment of the C5+1 Secretariat in 2022 and the Working Groups on Economy, Energy and the Environment, and Security have further deepened our engagement. We remain committed to enhancing our partnership through the C5+1 platform. Dedicated to our pu...