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U.S. employers are bracing for the largest increase in health insurance costs in a decade next year, according forecasts from healthcare consultants, but workers may be somewhat spared this time around in a tight labor market. Benefit consultants from Mercer, Aon (AON.N) and Willis Towers Watson (WTW.O) see employer healthcare costs jumping 5.4% to 8.5% in 2024 due to medical inflation, soaring demand for costly weight-loss drugs and wider availability of high-priced gene therapies. Advertisement · Scroll to continue A survey conducted by Mercer, a unit of Marsh McLennan (MMC.N), found over two thirds of employers either do not plan...

A Central Coast mother is accused of showing up at her son’s pee wee football game drunk and armed with a gun; her actions now leading to an emergency meeting to talk about beefed-up security at youth football games. Salinas police say Alejandrea Rocha, 36, took a gun to her son's game Sunday morning at Alvarez High School. That game was between the Alvarez Titans and the Watsonville Jr. Wildcatz. Advertisement “You know it’s unfortunate I'm not sure what her thought processes were I don't know anything about her, but I feel bad for the kids, I feel bad for...

Oil prices could soar back into the triple-digits if crude supply faces more pressure – and that could bring global economic growth to a near standstill, according to JPMorgan. In a note on Tuesday, the bank's strategists noted oil prices have jumped 27% over the past month to trade at a 10-month high. Around 25% of that change is attributable to higher-than-expected oil demand, while 75% is attributable to major supply cuts, such as from OPEC+, which has repeatedly slashed its crude production over the past year.

If there is anyone I trust to genetically engineer humans, it’s Google. I’m sure nothing can go wrong here. All of this was “predicted” almost 20 years ago. Why does Hollywood always tell us what they have planned for us? The Guardian: Scientists at Google DeepMind have built an artificial intelligence program that can predict whether millions of genetic mutations are either harmless or likely to cause disease, in an effort to speed up research and the diagnosis of rare disorders. The program makes predictions about so-called missense mutations, where a single letter is misspelt in the DNA code. Such...

(WHNT) — The millions of people who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to help cover the cost of groceries and other necessities are about to get a bump in their benefits starting on Oct. 1. SNAP, which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, used to be called the Food Stamp Program. Next month, the benefits will automatically rise to reflect the recent changes in the cost of living due to high inflation. Benefit changes will be based on the Consumer Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for June 2022. According to a report from Forbes Advisor,...

When Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill—named the Safer Streets For All Act—he emphasized it did not legalize prostitution. But pimps quickly posted celebratory messages on social media. Stephany Powell, director of law enforcement training and survivor services for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, saw one message proclaiming, “The streets belong to us now.”Powell, a former vice sergeant for the Los Angeles Police Department, fought hard against the bill. She and other anti-trafficking advocates argued it would further enable pimps and traffickers while impeding law enforcement and nonprofits from intervening quickly to help victims escape the brutal realities...

Cassidy Hutchinson, the former Trump aide turned crucial January 6 witness, says in a new book she was groped by Rudy Giuliani, who was “like a wolf closing in on its prey”, on the day of the attack on the Capitol. Describing meeting with Giuliani backstage at Donald Trump’s speech near the White House before his supporters marched on Congress in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Hutchinson says the former New York mayor turned Trump lawyer put his hand “under my blazer, then my skirt”. “I feel his frozen fingers trail up my thigh,” she writes. “He tilts...

The biggest story of Hispanic Heritage Month, which began last Friday, is that Hispanics are coming home to the Republican Party. Earlier this month, the New York Times published a bombshell article headlined "Consistent Signs of Erosion in Black and Hispanic Support for Biden." The piece chronicles the ongoing political migration among minorities, especially Hispanics, from Democrats to Republicans. It highlights twelve "high-quality" 2024 election polls that show Biden holds a mere 50% to 40% lead among Hispanic voters. That's down significantly from the 65% of Hispanics who voted for him in 2020. This polling destroys the media narrative that...

Congressional staffers are being advised not to wear jewelry or become distracted on cell phones while walking around in crime-ridden, Democrat-run Washington, DC. House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-WI) held a meeting that included Capitol Police and focused on things staffers can do to lessen the chances of becoming targets of criminals as crime surges in D.C., the Washington Times reported. Steil said, “There’s no indication that crime is being reduced in our nation’s capital, so people are working to make sure that they’re protected.

The head of the United Nations warned Wednesday that the “gates of hell” are at hand as climate change intensifies, and top international officials said the world’s leaders still aren’t doing nearly enough to curb pollution of heat-trapping gases. They pleaded with major emitting nations to do more. Those nations remained silent. They weren’t allowed to speak because, organizers said, they had no new actions to take. The only countries that touted their efforts — “first movers and doers,” the United Nations called them — were responsible for just one-ninth of the world’s annual carbon pollution. “Humanity has opened the...

Under pressure from the military and his mother, Jacob Cohen was feeling increasingly cornered. Mr. Cohen did not want to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. He knew the shots had not been available for long. He was worried about their safety. While Mr. Cohen initially resisted receiving a shot, he faced restrictions such as being forced to remain on base while vaccinated soldiers left. He was also pressured by military commanders, who scheduled a vaccination appointment for him and contacted his mother as part of a multipronged campaign. "They told me, 'Come on. It's your mother. She's crying. She's worried. What...

Blatant weaponisation of the Justice System is tainting the 2024 presidential election. In the Democratic primaries a mentally incompetent octogenarian dragged down by an apparently kleptocratic son has one good point in his favour as a presidential candidate - he is more competent than his running mate. She makes him look good. Kennedy has character and courage but that gives him no chance with the DNC On the Republican side Trump looks unbeatable but there is a contest of ideas. Donald Trump was a very good president at a very hard time. Governor Ron DeSantis was sensational in resisting lockdowns....

Menu Around the Web Here's What a Walk-in Shower Should Cost West Shore Home SICK! Lawless AG Merrick Garland Lectures on Holocaust to Defend His Policies of Persecuting, Indicting and Imprisoning His Political Opponents (VIDEO) By Jim Hoft Sep. 20, 2023 10:30 am222 Comments TruthGettrGabTelegramShareTweet This is one very evil little man. No wonder Barack Obama wanted him on the US Supreme Court! After indicting the leading presidential candidate in America on bogus, manufactured, partisan charges Merrick Garland had the nerve on Wednesday to compare his ancestors fleeing Eastern Europe during the Holocaust to his lawless targeting, indicting and imprisoning...

Sarah Ashton-Crillo has been suspended from duties as Ukrainian military spokesperson pending an investigation, following comments by the transgender former US soldier threatening to "hunt down" critics of the US’ involvement in the Ukraine war.

On this date in 1821, Brazil’s saint of freedom was martyred by the Portuguese. Francisco José das Chagas, fondly remembered as Corporal Chaguinha, led a mutiny in Santos of enlistees aggrieved by wages five years overdue, and the unequal treatment of Brazilian as compared to Portuguese soldiers. It was a fraught and contradictory political moment; the Portuguese royal family had spent the past decade-plus in the quasi-exile of their New World colony after fleeing Napoleon. In the process they had (even formally) elevated Brazil from a mere dependency to a coequal in the empire, and attempts to reverse this promotion...

In a slight surprise, Ohio’s congressional maps will remain unchanged for the 2024 cycle. The plaintiffs for a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the maps dropped their case. As a result, the Ohio Supreme Court dropped the case without comment. This unusual choice by the plaintiffs likely comes as a response to the imminent threat of a stronger Republican gerrymander that could change the current map’s 10-5 Republican majority into a harsher 13-2 majority. However, this only delays the inevitable – the map will still need to be redrawn after the 2024 cycle, as it was only approved for...

Hundreds of Pennsylvania high school students staged a walkout after their school district said transgender students may use any restroom they want. Students from Pennsylvania’s Perkiomen Valley District protested the school board’s decision not to adopt a policy that would require students to use the restroom that corresponds to their biological sex, according to a report by Fox News. Wow! Pennsylvania students stage a walkout to protest the bathroom policies which allow males in female restrooms pic.twitter.com/1GoS74oWIZ — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 20, 2023 The policy was proposed by local father Tim Jagger, who said that his daughter had...

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will make $4.6 billion available to help states, localities and tribes implement their climate plans. The funds represent the bulk of a $5 billion effort under the Inflation Reduction Act to help local and state governments cut their greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. The administration has already put an additional $250 million to help them develop the plans. Biden administration officials told reporters that four states — Florida, Iowa, Kentucky and South Dakota — declined to participate; major metropolitan areas in those states did receive planning grants.

Archaeologists working with Norway’s Secrets of the Ice program recently got a shock when a arrow shaft they had previously dated to the Iron Age turned out to be some 4,000 years old....after the researchers cleaned the glacial silt off one end, they found a notch befitting a stone arrowhead and not an iron one. The team co-directed by Lars Holger Pilø – an archaeologist with the local Department of Cultural Heritage – concluded that the arrow dated to the Stone Age, pending radiocarbon dating.Whatever the results, the arrow joins a wealth recovered by Secrets of the Ice, which has...

A Disturbing Development: Ukraine’s Alleged Involvement in Sudan Sparks Global Concern In a deeply unsettling turn of events, reports have emerged of Ukraine’s potential role in attacks against the Wagner Group in Sudan, a move that raises alarm bells about a potential escalation towards a global conflict. According to CNN, citing an undisclosed Ukrainian military source, Ukrainian intelligence services may have orchestrated a series of drone strikes and a ground operation targeting a Wagner-backed militia near Sudan’s capital. This startling revelation signifies that the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has transcended its original boundaries, extending far beyond the front...