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Humana wasn't kidding when it hinted last week of big premium hikes for 2017 in those ObamaCare markets where it remains. This year, the nation's fifth-largest insurer offers the cheapest bronze and silver plans in Michigan's largest market, including Detroit. But Humana has filed for a 50% premium hike for its low-cost silver plan. Meanwhile, Humana wants a 38% premium increase for its lowest-cost bronze plan. So far only Oregon, where insurers are requesting an average 27% premium hike, and Virginia, where insurers want an 18% hike, are the only two states to make all rate filings available.

Pension fund chiefs from California and New York City urged Exxon Mobil shareholders on Wednesday to back a measure that would force the company to finely detail how its business will be impacted as governments move to tackle climate change. CalPERS investment director Anne Simpson and NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer also said in a letter they would engage other shareholders as they push the world's largest publicly-traded oil company to say more about how its revenues, reserves and operations could be hurt by the Paris Agreement that governments signed in December to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. Their...

Citizens turned out in massive crowds to add their signatures to the recall referendum against Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro. And for good reason. The country is in a state of paralysis: frequent blackouts; food, medicine and vaccine scarcities; closed-down factories and frequent looting. Chaos and anarchy hang over the nation that not so long ago was the most rich and advanced in Latin America. Without a doubt the fault of the country's dire situation is on the late president Hugo Chávez. His socialist policies devastated Venezuela's flourishing economy. But in a less obvious way, Venezuelan citizens are also to blame....

A Mexican judge has ruled that drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman can be extradited to face charges in the United States, the country's federal court authority said on Monday, days after he was moved to a prison on the U.S. border. He faces charges ranging from money laundering to drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder in cities that include Chicago, Miami and New York. Juan Pablo Badillo, one of Guzman's lawyers, said his client's legal situation was still being processed and that to extradite him now would be a violation of his human rights.

US Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. wants colleges to stop asking applicants about their criminal histories early in the admissions process. Because a disproportionate number of people who have been charged with crimes are people of color, the U.S. Department of Education says, these questions increase the barriers disadvantaged students face when seeking an education. “We believe in second chances and we believe in fairness,” King said in a statement. “We must ensure that more people ... have the chance at higher education opportunities.” The Department of Education is sending a guide, called “Beyond the Box,” with suggestions...

CHICAGO (WLS) - The violence plaguing Chicago did not stop this Mother's Day weekend. At least 49 people were shot and seven died over the last three days in locations all over the city. On Friday, mothers who lost children to violence pleaded for calm over the weekend, but their pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears. Community members spoke out against the violence on a weekend when mothers are supposed to be spending time with their children, not saying goodbye.

Two men were killed and at least 22 other people have been wounded in shootings since Friday afternoon across the city, according to Chicago police.

For some Democrats, Donald Trump may seem to be a gift - set to steer Republicans into a trainwreck election in November - but senior Democrat Harry Reid said on Thursday he worried people might be too confident. "Am I concerned about it? Of course I am," the U.S. Senate Democratic leader said. "I think this race could be a debacle for the Republicans," Reid added. "But I'm not taking anything for granted. I'm not being over confident." "By nominating Trump, I guess it's the natural evolution of a party that's spent eight years defining itself entirely on what it's...

State lawmakers in California are circulating legislation that would open the door for illegal immigrants to buy health insurance from Covered California, the state's Obamacare exchange. State Sen. Ricardo Lara introduced the bill to pave the way for illegal immigrants to purchase health plans from Covered California. Many people believe this move to not grant money makes the legislation mainly symbolic because most illegal immigrants would not practically be able to pay for health premiums on their own, according to Kaiser Health. Covered California staff personnel presented an analysis of the proposed legislation to the organization's board last month and...

California's public employee unions used their muscle this week to fight back a legislative bid to open their books, killing in committee a bill that would force them to post online how dues are spent -- and a second bill requiring a union vote every two years. "These members want to belong to a union. They want to be represented by a union. They just want to know where their money's at," said bill sponsor Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, a Republican. The two bills went down Wednesday on a party-line vote, after dozens of union members came out against the legislation....

It's still early days for the Affordable Care Act. But it may be dismaying to some consumers to learn that it appears 2017 may bring another year of big rate hikes. The first two states to release insurers' premium proposals for next year suggest that individual insurance premiums could rise by as much as one-third. In Oregon, the steepest requested rate hike is 32.3 percent. In Virginia, five of the biggest insurers are asking for increases of 9.4 percent to 37.1 percent for individual policies. The proposed rate hikes follow an average increase of 8 percent for 2016, and are...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday he would scrap a slew of federal regulations that he said are even more of a burden on American business owners than high taxes. "We're lowering taxes very substantially and we're going to be getting rid of a tremendous amount of regulations," Trump said in an interview with CNBC.

Donald Trump's vow to round up and deport all of America's undocumented immigrants if he is elected president could shrink the economy by around 2 percent, according to a study to be released on Thursday by conservative think tank the American Action Forum. The research adds to concerns about the Republican White House nominee's policy proposals, which range from tearing up international trade agreements to building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. About 6.8 million of the more than 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally are employed, according to government statistics. Removing them would cause...

Rising temperatures, rising sea levels and the increasing likelihood of extreme weather will all alter children's lives and the lives of their own children. And yet, children are largely left out of discussions about appropriate responses to climate change, according to a journal released by Princeton University and the Brookings Institution. The findings in this issue have clear implications for policymakers and researchers trying to tackle the many challenges that climate change poses: * Policies must be developed to prepare and adapt in the face of inevitable climate change. States, cities and communities throughout the world must promote preparedness and...

Lynn Kersey has some advice for pregnant women who bought health insurance policies from Covered California and want to keep them: Don't report your pregnancy to the agency. Why? Two of Kersey's clients with Covered California health plans recently were thrown into Medi-Cal - the state's health program for low-income residents - without their consent or prior notice after they reported their pregnancies to the state's health insurance exchange. The two women are among about 1,900 across the state who were automatically transferred from the exchange to Medi-Cal since October, even though they were supposed to have the option to...

Recent advertisements, splashed across billboards, buses and radio waves, have taken a pointed approach to discussing the link between farms and water pollution. Now, the EPA is under fire for its indirect funding of the campaign. One example, which ran on buses, included a photo of livestock standing in a stream and text that read: "Unregulated agriculture is putting our waterways at risk." The What's Upstream? campaign has drawn criticism for both its approach and its funding - which includes grant money from the Environmental Protection Agency. Lawmakers have called it an "anti-farmer campaign." The Whatcom Transportation Authority pulled the...

To help address the nation's pressing need for better air quality, the U.S. EPA has awarded a research team co-led by a University of Washington civil engineer a $10 million Air, Climate and Energy (ACE) grant. The researchers will use a new approach combining air pollution research with the related areas of climate change and energy usage. Since air pollution and climate change are both largely caused by the combustion of fossil fuels, this integrated approach will address commonalities and encourage solutions that will positively impact all three areas. "A critical need facing our country is addressing air pollution and...

Four people were killed and at least six others were wounded in shootings Monday across Chicago. A teenage boy was killed and another was wounded in a West Englewood neighborhood shooting on the South Side. The two teens, ages 14 and 15, were walking east in an alley in the 7100 block of South Laflin about 9:35 p.m. when a male walked up and shot them. About three hours earlier, a 14-year-old boy was gunned down in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side. Earlier Monday, a 21-year-old woman was shot to death in the Edgewater neighborhood...

ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, La. - A $48 million grant for Isle de Jean Charles, La., is the first allocation of federal tax dollars to move an entire community struggling with the effects of climate change. With a first-of-its-kind "climate resilience" grant to resettle the island's native residents, Washington is ready to help. "Yes, this is our grandpa's land," Ms. Bourg said. "But it's going under one way or another." In January, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced grants totaling $1 billion in 13 states to help communities adapt to climate change, by building stronger levees, dams and...

Let no one say that India isn't doing its bit to fight global climate change: Government scientists are working hard to reduce carbon emissions by making cows less gassy. Consider the numbers: India is home to more than 280 million cows, and 200 million more ruminant animals like sheep, goats, yaks and buffalo. Scientists at the Cow Research Institute in Mathura, around 100 miles south of New Delhi, are tinkering with cattle feed, seeking a formula that will create less gas for the cows to belch out. But a team of researchers in the southern state of Kerala is working...