Author: completebodyneeds

Swift-moving floodwater destroyed or heavily damaged 135 homes in Kerr County, Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday from Kerrville after taking a helicopter survey of affected areas and receiving a briefing by state and area officials. Water that surged over the banks of the Guadalupe River last week also damaged 490 homes and about 100 businesses in Kerr County, Abbott said. “For Kerr County, the majority of impacted residents are owner-occupied single-family homes indicating a substantial need for long-term housing, recovery, repair and rebuilding assistance,” Abbott said during a news conference. The Guadalupe River downstream of Kerrville peaked at 37.08 feet…

The families of two men who discovered through DNA tests that they were switched at birth 38 years ago are accusing a North Dakota hospital of robbing them of the lives they were supposed to lead. Kyle Bylin discovered his birth family after taking an at-home test he chose randomly during a Christmas gift-exchange. That led to his biological aunt on a genealogy platform. Her nephew, Jeremy Morrison, then had his DNA tested. The results were irrefutable. “That’s when my mind was just completely blown,” Bylin said. “We could have never imagined that it was an actual birth switch that…

In America’s EV stronghold, another type of vehicle is rapidly gaining ground. Hybrids accounted for almost one in every four automobiles registered in California in the second quarter, according to newly released data from the California New Car Dealers Association. That was up from a year ago and easily outpaced sales of electric vehicles, which made up 17.8% of the quarter’s total. Soaring demand for hybrid cars, which offer both a gas tank and electric motor to improve fuel efficiency, is putting them on pace to surpass annual EV sales in the state for the first time since 2020. Related:…

The Justice Department is investigating whether Harvard University is allowing Chinese donors to create scholarships that exclude American students, adding to the barrage of federal inquiries the Trump administration has opened in its battle against the Ivy League school. Justice Department officials announced the new review Monday, saying Harvard’s foreign funding disclosures “raised concerns” about possible discrimination against U.S. students. The agency did not specify which scholarship programs are being targeted and emphasized it “has not reached any conclusions.” The investigation is aimed at Harvard’s “China-based financial aid programs,” the Justice Department said. The agency said Chinese donors have given…

WVU Health Systems knew for years that employees were stealing highly addictive drugs. A federal settlement shows the medical system didn’t take enough steps to report and stop the problem. Between 2017 and 2024, drugs were disappearing inside the WVU Health System while the state was engulfed in a deadly and widespread opioid epidemic. In 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration launched an investigation. Federal officials found systemwide theft and lax record keeping, and said the state’s biggest hospital system failed to stop nurses and other staff from stealing controlled substances. WVU Health Systems and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern…

Applicants hoping to become insurance agents in Georgia may soon be able to start work even if they don’t ace the license exam. The state Office of Commissioner of Insurance will hold a hearing next week on proposed changes to Administrative Rule 120-2-3-.09, which would allow applicants who score 60% or higher on the exam to receive a temporary license if they have an agent sponsor and a request from an insurance company. The current rule requires applicants to score at least 70% on the exam. The hearing, which also will examine rule changes for health insurance matters, is scheduled…

A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday signed off on artificial intelligence company Anthropic’s landmark $1.5 billion settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by a group of authors who accused it of misusing their books to train its AI chatbot Claude. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin granted final approval of the settlement, the largest known settlement of a U.S. copyright case, rejecting arguments that it was too small. The case is one of dozens brought by copyright owners including authors and news outlets against tech companies over the training of their large language models, and the first major…

It’s no surprise given the penetration of artificial intelligence into lives and businesses that it appears insurers are gearing up to exclude AI risk in some of their commercial liability policies. Three ISO exclusions have garnered more interest from carriers, according to an attorney who practices in the cyber space and an expert who helped write the exclusions. “There’s been a major shift in the insurance industry’s treatment of AI-related risks and insurers are moving very quickly to limit this exposure,” said Alana McMullin, a partner in Lathrop GPM, whose practice focuses on defending clients in complex insurance disputes, products…

Amgen reached a $74 million settlement of a lawsuit accusing the biotechnology company of waiting too long to disclose that it might owe the Internal Revenue Service $10.7 billion for underreporting six years of taxes. A preliminary settlement of the proposed class action was filed late Monday in Manhattan federal court and requires a judge’s approval. Amgen denied wrongdoing, and on Tuesday said it still believed the claims lacked merit. The IRS accused Amgen of underpaying taxes between 2010 and 2015, mainly for improperly shifting profits to a Puerto Rico unit that made many of its drugs. Puerto Rico is…

Europe’s status as the planet’s fastest-warming continent is becoming a serious drag on its economic prospects. The region, where temperatures are rising at a pace that’s roughly twice the global average, can no longer afford to ignore the economic impact of global warming, according to economists interviewed by Bloomberg. They say governments will need to invest billions of euros in the years ahead to protect citizens from increasingly dangerous heat waves that are already cutting productivity, hurting industry and resulting in significant numbers of deaths. This summer’s heat waves should be a “wake-up call for all European policymakers,” Carsten Brzeski,…