Health cost-cutting measures dropped
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. special interests have been chipping away at cost containment aspects of proposed healthcare reform measures, analysts say.
Only two ideas originally floated by the Obama administration to help slow the skyrocketing costs of healthcare remain -- a scaled-back tax on gold-plated "Cadillac" private health insurance policies and a non-partisan Medicare budget-cutting commission -- and both are under furious assault by lobbyists, The New York Times reported Sunday.
Earlier proposals to help offset healthcare reform costs by dropping the income tax exemption for employer-paid health insurance, allowing government to negotiate Medicare drug prices and creating a "public option" government insurer to muscle to fee payments lower have all been eliminated under pressure from private insurers, businesses and labor groups, the newspaper said.
The "Cadillac" tax is also opposed by labor and business lobbyists, prompting 157 House Democrats -- a majority of the party -- to sign a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi denouncing the idea.
Meanwhile, the proposal for the Medicare commission, which is meant to sidestep interest group pressure, has been modified to include caps on how much health industry groups would have to lose under government payment reductions, the Times said.
Gay rights activists march on Washington
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Thousands of gay and lesbian activists took part in the National Equality March in Washington Sunday, seeking wider civil rights, organizers said.
With protesters offering chants of "Yes we can" in English and Spanish, they hoisted banners and signs demanding equal rights for gays and lesbians as they rallied past the White House, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The demonstrators were energized Saturday night by a speech by U.S. President Barack Obama, who vowed to target the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, as well as the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Obama stopped short of saying when that would happen, but vowed to continue his support for gay rights.
"We will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman," Obama said.
Obama will live up to his pledge to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"I think it has to be done in the right way, which is to get a buy-in from the military, which I think is now possible," Levin said. "Other militaries in the West, the British and other Western armies, have ended this discriminatory policy. We can do it successfully."
Perry replaces 4th forensics board member
AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he has replaced another member of the state board investigating allegations an innocent man was executed.
Perry's office said Sunday he has named the fourth replacement member of the nine-member Forensic Science Commission since Sept. 30, the most he is constitutionally allowed to replace, CNN reported.
Perry's critics charge the forensics board replacements are politically motivated as the board examines the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, executed in 2004 after being convicted of killing his three daughters in a 1991 house fire. Willingham's attorneys and supporters say Perry ignored late-emerging evidence that forensic evidence used to convict him was botched.
The Houston Chronicle reported Sunday that documents obtained through a public records request indicate Perry's office received a fax 88 minutes before Willingham's execution detailing an arson expert's opinion that evidence used at the man's trial was tainted by "major errors" and relied on discredited arson examination techniques.
Perry spokesman Chris Cutrone told the newspaper "there was ample time for the (state's) general counsel to read and analyze the report and to brief the governor on its content."
The governor has said there was sufficient evidence to convict Willingham.
Snow expected for parts of Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Parts of Minnesota will receive several inches of snow from an advancing storm system, the National Weather Service predicted Sunday.
The St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press said the weather service forecast snow for the Twin Cities area starting Sunday night and moving into Monday, with some areas seeing a mix of rain and snow.
The storm system is expected to dissipate Monday, but road conditions in Minnesota during the snowfall could be dangerous.
The Pioneer Press said the last time measurable snow fell on Minneapolis and St. Paul in October was Oct. 20-21, 2002. Measurable snowfall in the first half of October in the Twin Cities is rare with only eight instances since 1948. In 1991, the state was hit by a deadly blizzard that started on Halloween Day.
AccuWeather.com said parts of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska also were expected to receive snow Sunday.
Certain areas of the states could face between t3-6 inches of snow, while a portion of the Rockies and the Northern Plains will likely only face as much as 3 inches.
