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Bus collision blaze kills at least 20 in southern India

admin - Latest News - October 24, 2025
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Bus collision blaze kills at least 20 in southern India



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Oct. 24, 2025, 4:27 AM EDTBy The Associated PressMONTGOMERY, Ala. — Statues of Rosa Parks and Helen Keller, pivotal figures who fought for justice and inspired change across the world, will be unveiled Friday on the grounds of the Alabama Capitol.The monuments honoring the two famed native Alabamians — one who fought against racial segregation and one who fought for the rights of people with disabilities — will be the first statues of women on the lawn of the Alabama Capitol. The additions will reflect a broader history of the state as they are added to the grounds that also include several tributes to the Confederacy, which was formed at the site in 1861.While inside the Capitol there is a bust of former Gov. Lurleen Wallace, the state’s first female governor who died in office in 1968, there were no monuments to famous women on the Capitol grounds.Rep. Laura Hall, who sponsored the 2019 legislation that authorized the monuments, said it is important that visitors to the Capitol, “see the full picture, the history and the impact that women have played.”“Helen Keller and Rosa Parks just seemed to be the image that — whether you were Black or white, Democrat or Republican — you could identify with and realize the impact that they had on history,” Hall said.Known as the mother of the modern civil rights movement, Parks was arrested on Dec. 1, 1955 when she refused to leave her bus seat for a white passenger. Her action ignited the yearlong boycott of the segregated city bus system by Black passengers and helped usher in the civil rights movement.Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She became deaf and blind after a serious illness shortly before her second birthday. With the help of tutor Anne Sullivan, Keller learned to communicate through sign language and Braille. Keller went on to become a well-known writer and lecturer. She championed the rights of workers, the poor, women, and people with disabilities around the world.The statue of Parks sits by the Alabama Capitol steps facing Dexter Avenue, the street where Parks boarded the bus and made history in 1955. The statue honoring the civil rights icon sits across from a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.The statue of Keller sits facing the Alabama Statehouse.The statue presentation on Friday has been more than six years in the making.Alabama lawmakers in 2019 approved Hall’s legislation to place the monuments to Parks and Keller on the grounds of the state Capitol. The Alabama Women’s Tribute Statue Commission has been quietly at work, commissioning the statues and finalizing the displays.The Associated PressThe Associated Press
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Nov. 11, 2025, 3:00 PM ESTBy Berkeley Lovelace Jr.As President Donald Trump touts new deals to cut the cost of blockbuster drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, he’s barely mentioned Medicare’s drug price negotiation program — even though the government is expected to announce lower prices before the end of the month.The program, created under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, gave Medicare the authority to negotiate directly with drugmakers on some of the costliest medications. A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) spokesperson said the agency is preparing to release the second round of negotiated prices by Nov. 30 — covering 15 drugs, up from 10 last year, and adding Ozempic and Wegovy to the list. The newly negotiated prices won’t take effect until 2027. Trump announces deal to lower cost of weight loss drug01:59The lack of attention has puzzled health policy experts, who say the program could play an important role in lowering prescription drug costs for millions of older adults in the U.S.About 1-in-5 adults say they’ve not filled a prescription because of cost, according to a poll from the nonpartisan health policy research group KFF.“Certainly, the flurry of announcements and lack of details [on negotiations] make things confusing,” said Dr. Benjamin Rome, a primary care physician and health policy researcher at Harvard Medical School. Trump’s approach to lowering drug prices has leaned heavily on executive orders and voluntary deals with drugmakers, rather than legislation. Last week, he announced agreements with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly — the makers of Wegovy and Zepbound, respectively — to lower prices for some doses in exchange for tariff relief and accelerated Food and Drug Administration review of new drugs. Several experts described the details as murky and questioned whether the agreements would translate into real savings for Americans. Trump has struck similar deals with Pfizer and Astrazenca.Rome said the Medicare negotiation program is seen as the steadier, more reliable path to lowering costs for Americans.Drugmakers can decline to participate — but doing so would likely require pulling their drugs from Medicare entirely, cutting them off from one of the nation’s largest markets. Several companies have challenged the negotiation program in court, but those lawsuits have so far been unsuccessful. “Although it’s great that the Trump administration wants to aggressively negotiate lower prices with pharmaceutical companies, these ad hoc negotiations seem to be more about announcing short-term political victories,” Rome said. “I would be very skeptical of relying solely on voluntary deals with drug manufacturers as a main policy for making medications more affordable to Americans,” Rome added. “By contrast, the IRA absolutely will save money for taxpayers through the negotiation process.”Despite the looming announcement, the White House has said little publicly about the negotiation program or how it fits into Trump’s broader push to lower drug prices.In an emailed statement, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said: “Democrats endlessly touted the Inflation Reduction Act, which ironically under Biden’s watch did little but increase Medicare premiums. The Trump administration is focused on results, and our historic drug pricing deals with global pharmaceutical giants are proof that we will continue to deliver meaningful change for the American people.”Last year, the Biden administration announced agreements to lower prices on 10 prescription drugs under Medicare, with those cuts set to take effect in 2026. The drugs included the blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis, along with several cancer and diabetes treatments. At the time, administration officials projected the negotiations would save Medicare enrollees $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the first year. Experts say the second round may have an even larger impact than last year’s since some of the drugs on the list — particularly Ozempic and Wegovy — are becoming the most widely used and most expensive in Medicare.The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan government group that provides budget and economic information to Congress, projects that, because of negotiations, the net price of Ozempic and Wegovy will “fall substantially” beginning in 2027 — cutting Medicare’s spending on each patient who uses the drugs by one third. The CBO also expects that those lower prices are likely to put pressure on other GLP-1 drugs, including Mounjaro and Zepbound.Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, said it’s possible the negotiations may have factored into Trump’s deal on Wegovy and Zepbound last week. When asked on a call with reporters whether Trump’s deal was related to the negotiations, senior administration officials insisted it was not. “We’re all eagerly awaiting the announcement of what prices have been negotiated,” Dusetzina said. “It could very well be that this is where the negotiations landed.”Other experts raised questions about how Trump’s deal fits with the negotiations — or whether the two efforts are even aligned at all. Tricia Neuman, executive director of the program on Medicare policy at KFF, said it’s “not clear how the recent White House announcement dovetails with the Inflation Reduction Act when it comes to negotiated prices for GLP-1s.”Rome said Trump’s deals are unlikely to interfere or undermine the negotiation process.“That process is very clearly spelled out by CMS and has been ongoing throughout the year and will repeat for another 20 drugs early next year,” he said. “I don’t think these side deals with Lilly and Novo will change that.” Neuman added that while the voluntary deals may be drawing more attention from the White House, they don’t replace the long term impacts of Medicare negotiations.“The IRA’s Medicare negotiations program is baked into the law, and is up and running, and could ultimately lead to lower prices for far more drugs over time,” she said. Berkeley Lovelace Jr.Berkeley Lovelace Jr. is a health and medical reporter for NBC News. He covers the Food and Drug Administration, with a special focus on Covid vaccines, prescription drug pricing and health care. He previously covered the biotech and pharmaceutical industry with CNBC.
November 7, 2025
Nov. 7, 2025, 5:26 PM EST / Updated Nov. 7, 2025, 5:42 PM ESTBy Tim Stelloh, Rachel White, Justin Smith and Marissa MaierIt was almost the perfect crime.But in the end, a pair of mundane events on Kentucky’s Bluegrass Parkway — a flat tire and a phone call — played an outsize role in solving the disappearance and presumed death of Crystal Rogers more than a decade ago.That, at least, is how the prosecutor who tried three men convicted this year in connection with Rogers’ death views the resolution of a case that was based on a mountain of circumstantial evidence. Authorities never found Rogers’ body. Nor did they identify a crime scene or a murder weapon.“If they had not gotten a flat tire, we probably wouldn’t have solved this case,” said Shane Young, the commonwealth’s attorney for the state’s 9th Judicial Circuit. “That phone call was the one hiccup in the plan because that phone call was not supposed to be made.”For more on the case, tune in to “The Trouble in Bardstown” on “Dateline” at at 9 ET/8 CT tonight.DATELINE FRIDAY SNEAK PEEK: The Trouble in Bardstown01:48In an exclusive interview with “Dateline,” the veteran prosecutor reflected on the yearslong effort to bring justice to Rogers’ family and to other unsolved homicide victims in Bardstown, the scenic small town in the heart of Kentucky’s bourbon region where Rogers lived. Among the other victims is Rogers’ father, Tommy Ballard, who was gunned down roughly a year and a half after his daughter vanished on July 3, 2015.Tommy Ballard.DatelineAt the time, Ballard, 54, was leading an effort to investigate his daughter’s disappearance.Rogers’ boyfriend, Brooks Houck, 44, was convicted of murder in Rogers’ killing and sentenced to life in prison in September. His attorneys are appealing the verdict.Two men whom prosecutors identified as accomplices, Steve Lawson and his son, Joey Lawson, were convicted of conspiracy and tampering with physical evidence. Steve Lawson, 55, was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Joey Lawson, 34, was sentenced to 25 years to life. They’re also appealing their convictions.In court, attorneys for the men said they were victims of police coercion — one of the lawyers described the interrogation tactics to “Dateline” as “the Bardstown inquisition” — and said there was no physical evidence linking them to the murder.A relationship on the rocks?Young was tasked with taking over the case as a special prosecutor in 2022. At trial, Young argued the couple’s relationship was deteriorating. The killing, he said, was motivated by Houck’s fear of losing custody of the couple’s 2-year-old son. Rogers was likely killed at the Houck family farm, prosecutors have said.That theory was partly backed up by a cousin of Rogers’ who testified that when she saw Rogers on July 3, Rogers said she and Houck were going on a surprise date that night.In interviews with police, Houck said he’d last seen Rogers that evening, after they’d gone to the farm for several hours with their toddler and walked around in the fields. Back at home, he said he fell asleep before Rogers did, according to a video of the interview.Crystal Rogers.DatelineThe next morning, Houck said that when he awoke, Rogers was gone — something he said she’d done before when she needed space, according to the video.Jon Snow, the former Nelson County Sheriff’s detective who questioned Houck, pressed him for details during a follow-up interview. It was raining on July 3, Snow pointed out, but Houck said he’d spent hours outside with their toddler.“Four and a half hours is a long time to be outside in the rain, in the mud, with a 2 1/2 year old,” Snow said. “Does that make sense?”“I understand what you’re saying,” Houck responded.Problems on the parkwayAccording to prosecutors, the Lawsons were responsible for getting rid of Rogers’ car — a maroon Chevrolet Impala that was found, with a flat tire, on July 5 on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway.“I think the plan was to make it look like she left,” Young told “Dateline.” “Whether they were gonna drive the car into a lake or a river or whatever, I don’t think the car was ever supposed to be found again.”Crystal Rogers and Brooks Houck.DatelineBut then, according to the prosecution, Joey Lawson got a flat tire while driving the Impala. So he dialed his father, who then called Houck, Young said. (Joey Lawson has denied driving the car or playing a role in Rogers’ disappearance.)The call was made around midnight and lasted just 13 seconds, according to Snow. In the follow-up interview with the detective, Houck said that he didn’t recall what the conversation was about, but that it had been made by Steve Lawson, who worked for him.So Houck dialed Steve Lawson on the spot, a video of the interview shows.Steve Lawson during a police interview.Dateline“Can you remember what you asked me or what you were after?” Houck said.“Sure, I can,” Steve Lawson responded. “I called and asked you for them numbers for the house.”Steve Lawson initially denied having been on the parkway, though he later admitted it to a grand jury. Under questioning from investigators, he said that the phone call from his son was actually a request to pick him up on the parkway, a video of the interview shows.An FBI analysis of Steve Lawson’s phone confirmed that he’d been on the parkway, near the spot where Rogers’ Impala was found on the night of her disappearance. At trial, Joey Lawson’s attorneys disputed the analysis and said the phone actually showed Steve Lawson not on the parkway, but on a road parallel to it.Joey Lawson.DatelineThe same FBI analysis showed that Joey Lawson had repeatedly called his father before Steve Lawson finally answered and made the 13-second call to Houck, according to Steve Keary, an FBI agent who investigated the case.Steve Lawson told authorities that when he arrived at the parkway, he found Rogers’ Impala, got in and scooted the seat forward, a video of the interview shows. His son was taller than Rogers, he said, and Steve Lawson said he was worried his son had gotten caught up in something bad. Moving the seat, he told investigators, was his way of covering that up.Steve Lawson also told authorities that before Rogers’ disappearance, Houck had described the couple’s relationship as troubled and said he wanted her “gone.”“To me, ‘gone’ means gone,” a video of the interview shows him saying.Making the case in courtEven though investigators had only gathered circumstantial evidence, Young told “Dateline” that he believed they’d gathered enough to prove their case.Shane Young.DatelineIn Houck’s trial, the jury returned a guilty verdict in only a few hours.It’s unclear if two people identified by prosecutors at trial as unindicted co-conspirators will face charges, he said.One of those alleged co-conspirators is Houck’s brother, former Bardstown police officer Nick Houck. The department’s former police, Chief Rick McCubbin, told “Dateline” that he fired Nick Houck because McCubbin believed he hadn’t fully cooperated with the investigation into Rogers’ disappearance.Nick Houck has denied playing a role in the disappearance and has never been charged with a crime. His attorney did not respond to a detailed list of questions from “Dateline.”Prosecutors say they have identified a possible link between Nick Houck and the killing of Rogers’ father, Tommy Ballard, who was fatally shot while on a hunting trip with Rogers’ 11-year-old son on Nov. 19, 2016. In a court hearing and in his interview with “Dateline,” Young said that Nick Houck sold a gun to an undercover officer that investigators believe has the same or a similar caliber as the weapon used to kill Ballard.Officer Jason Ellis.FBIHe sold the firearm using the name Nick Ballard, Young told “Dateline.” Houck has not been charged with a crime in Tommy Ballard’s death.Young is also investigating the killing of Bardstown police officer Jason Ellis, who was fatally shot on May 25, 2013, while clearing tree branches from an exit ramp on the Bluegrass Parkway — branches that investigators believe were placed intentionally. McCubbin said there was evidence the shooter had been lying in wait at the top of a nearby rock wall.Asked if he expects charges in either case, Young said: “Don’t know. We’re working on them.”Tim StellohTim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.Rachel WhiteJustin SmithJustin Smith is the sheriff of Larimer County, Colorado, a graduate of the FBI National Academy and a member of the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections.Marissa MaierMarissa Maier is a producer for “Dateline.”
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