Category Archives: WPTF News

Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC as her evening show is canceled

Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC as her evening show is canceled

NEW YORK (AP) — Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC, the network’s new president announced in a memo to staff on Monday, marking an end to the political analyst and anchor’s prime time news show. Reid’s namesake show, “The ReidOut,” has been a fixture of MSNBC’s evening programming since 2020. In the hourlong newscast, held at 7 p.m. E.T., Reid conducts extensive interviews with politicians and other newsmakers. In the coming weeks, Kulter added, rotating anchors will host Reid’s hour. Current hosts of MSNBC’s “The Weekend” — Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez — will now move to weekdays at 7 p.m. to host a new ensemble news program.… Continue Reading

Patients struggle with lack of consistent coverage for popular weight-loss drugs

Patients struggle with lack of consistent coverage for popular weight-loss drugs

Supplies of high-demand obesity treatments are improving, but that doesn’t mean they’re easier to get. Many employers and health insurers are scaling back coverage of Wegovy or Zepbound and a key government program, Medicare, doesn’t cover the drugs for obesity. Clouding the picture even further, some big employers are adding coverage. But their commitment isn’t guaranteed. Treatment prices that can top hundreds of dollars monthly even after discounts make it hard for many to afford these drugs on their own. That makes the life-changing weight-loss that patients seek largely dependent on the coverage they have and how long it lasts.… Continue Reading

Roberta Flack, Grammy-winning singer with an intimate style, dies at 88

Roberta Flack, Grammy-winning singer with an intimate style, dies at 88

NEW YORK (AP) — Roberta Flack has died at 88. The Grammy-winning singer and pianist was known for her intimate vocal and musical style on “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and other hits. Her publicist says she died Monday, surrounded by her family. Flack became an overnight star in the early 1970s after Clint Eastwood used “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his film “Play Misty for Me.” Flack’s other hits included “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and a duet with former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, “Where is the Love?”… Continue Reading

Withers had 16 points, 11 rebounds in North Carolina’s 81-66 win over Virginia

Withers had 16 points, 11 rebounds in North Carolina’s 81-66 win over Virginia

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Jae’Lyn Withers scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Ian Jackson also scored 16 points and North Carolina defeated Virginia 81-66 on Saturday. Withers was 4 of 6 on 3-pointers in posting his second double-double this season and Jackson added three more 3s. Ven-Allen Lubin scored 14 points, RJ Davis 12 and Drake Powell 11 for the Tar Heels (17-11, 10-6 ACC), who made 9 of 16 from the arc and outrebounded the Cavaliers 35-21. Isaac McKneely scored 17 points and became the 52nd Cavalier to reach 1,000 career points. Dai Dai Ames added 12 for Virginia (13-14, 6-10).… Continue Reading

Pope Francis is in critical condition after a long respiratory crisis, requiring oxygen at high flow

Pope Francis is in critical condition after a long respiratory crisis, requiring oxygen at high flow

ROME (AP) — The Vatican says Pope Francis is in critical condition after he suffered a long asthmatic respiratory crisis that required high flows of oxygen. Francis has been hospitalized for a week with a complex lung infection. The Vatican said on Saturday that Francis also received blood transfusions after tests showed low blood platelets, which are needed for clotting. The statement said that the “Holy Father continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair although in more pain than yesterday. At the moment the prognosis is reserved.”… Continue Reading

USDA scholarship for students at North Carolina A&T suspended

USDA scholarship for students at North Carolina A&T suspended

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal scholarship aimed at boosting students from underserved and rural areas attending historically Black colleges and universities has been put on hold. The U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended the 1890 Scholars Program, which provided recipients with full tuition and fees for students studying agriculture, food or natural resource sciences at one of 19 universities, known as the 1890 land grant institutions. It’s not clear exactly when the program was suspended, but some members of Congress first issued statements criticizing the suspension of the program on Thursday. A message seeking more detail was left Saturday with the Department of Agriculture.… Continue Reading

North Carolina’s insurance commissioner is out of the hospital after heart surgery

North Carolina’s insurance commissioner is out of the hospital after heart surgery

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey is out of the hospital 10 days after undergoing heart surgery. The Republican underwent what his department called “elective” surgery to “correct a congenital heart defect.” Causey told a Greensboro newspaper that he had developed an aneurysm. The 74-year-old was released Thursday. Causey said the surgery wasn’t disclosed beforehand in part because he didn’t want to alarm anybody ahead of time unnecessarily. He said the defect was discovered in late 2023. Further examination showed he had developed an aneurysm. Causey was first elected commissioner in 2016. He won a third four-year term this past November.… Continue Reading

Trump loyalist Kash Patel is confirmed as FBI director by the Senate despite deep Democratic doubts

Trump loyalist Kash Patel is confirmed as FBI director by the Senate despite deep Democratic doubts

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has narrowly voted to confirm Kash Patel as as President Donald Trump’s FBI director. The vote Thursday puts the Trump loyalist atop the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency despite Democrats’ doubts about his qualifications and concerns he’ll do Trump’s bidding and go after the Republican president’s adversaries. Patel has fiercely criticized an agency that’s now gripped by turmoil. Trump’s Justice Department has forced out a group of senior FBI officials and made a highly unusual demand for the names of thousands of agents who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.… Continue Reading

Robot umpires are getting their first MLB test during spring training

Robot umpires are getting their first MLB test during spring training

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A computerized system that calls balls and strikes is being tested during Major League Baseball spring training exhibition games starting Thursday after four years of experiments in the minor leagues. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is an advocate of the Automated Ball-Strike System, which potentially as early as 2026 could be used to aid MLB home plate umpires, but not replace them. Starting in 2024, MLB focused testing on a challenge system in which the human umpire makes each original call. Data from the spring training test could cause MLB to make alterations to the system for Triple-A games this season.… Continue Reading

Snowy roads lead to hundreds of Virginia and North Carolina crashes as Arctic air brings record cold

Snowy roads lead to hundreds of Virginia and North Carolina crashes as Arctic air brings record cold

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Snowy roads led to hundreds of crashes throughout Virginia and North Carolina, including a series of crashes on an interstate highway involving more than 50 vehicles. Officials continued to ask people to avoid travel on Thursday to allow crews to work on the roads. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol says it responded to nearly 1,200 collisions statewide on Wednesday. Virginia State Police reported early Thursday that there had been nearly 500 crashes statewide since the storm began, including at least 45 involving injuries. An Arctic air mass is bringing widespread, record-breaking cold to the central United States and forecasters expected some locations to experience their coldest temperatures on record this late in the season.… Continue Reading

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