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Politico
2 days ago
- Health
- Politico
New York's abortion fund to run out of money
Beat Memo The New York Abortion Access Fund is struggling to keep up with demands as more people from out of state request financial assistance and as the cost of the procedure rises, POLITICO Pro's Maya Kaufman reports. The organization — which pays clinics on behalf of patients who cannot afford an abortion — continues to see rising demand driven by Florida and other southern states since the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. About 34 percent of people who reached out to the fund in 2024 were calling from outside New York, executive director Chelsea Williams-Diggs told POLITICO. That has risen to 38 percent so far this year. At the same time, abortions are getting more expensive. More of the fund's clients are seeking abortions later in pregnancy, which tend to be more medically complex, and therefore costlier, procedures. And only a few clinics in New York City perform abortions after 19 weeks, so even the fund's local clients may face travel costs, Williams-Diggs said. Meanwhile, philanthropic donations have declined since a 'post-Dobbs bump' after the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, Williams-Diggs said. Both the city and the state provide funding, she added, but it comes with strings that make the money difficult and slow to access — so much so that her organization recently took out a $1 million loan to bridge the gap. 'It's catching up to us,' she said. The state Senate directed $1 million to the organization last year through the Reproductive Freedom and Equity Grant Fund, which Gov. Kathy Hochul created in 2022. The fund was not previously accessible to organizations that offer direct patient assistance for abortions. But Williams-Diggs said the money has yet to come in the door, because her organization still has to submit required documentation. Meanwhile, reproductive health advocates are pressing Hochul's administration to make those dollars available for practical support, such as transportation, for people seeking abortions. IN OTHER NEWS: — New York, the home of one of the costliest Medicaid programs in the country, is expected to see virtually every facet of spending face the brunt of deep federal aid cuts,POLITICO's Nick Reisman and Maya Kaufman report. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul's budget chief warned the state will suffer a $750 million hit this fiscal year due to cuts to the state's Essential Plan that take effect Jan. 1. That amounts to a $3 billion annual cut when the state's new fiscal year starts April 1. 'Nobody is prepared to backfill $3 billion in cuts from Congress,' said Blake Washington, the director of the governor's budget office. 'There's no state in the union that can do that, particularly on a recurring basis.' The state's Essential Plan, which covers roughly 1.6 million low-income New Yorkers who are ineligible for Medicaid, relies on billions of dollars in federal funding that will start drying up in January under the megabill. On top of that, the state will have to spend upwards of $500 million over several years to stand up a system for administering the megabill's new Medicaid work requirements, Washington said. 'We've never seen health care cuts like these,' Democratic Assemblymember Amy Paulin said. 'We've never seen a systemic cut to health care in this country like we're seeing in this federal bill. We can't just tax people in New York and make it up. I don't see how we do that. It's too much money.' ON THE AGENDA: — Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. The NYC Health + Hospitals board of directors' capital committee meets, followed by a meeting of the finance committee. GOT TIPS? Send story ideas and feedback to Maya Kaufman at mkaufman@ and Katelyn Cordero at kcordero@ Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. What you may have missed — Fatal overdoses in New York City continued trending downward during the third quarter of 2024, hitting their lowest level since early 2020, according to provisional data released last week. The new data shows 498 people died from an overdose during that three-month period, down from 564 deaths in the prior quarter and 647 in the quarter before that. It is the fewest overdose deaths in any quarter since the first three months of 2020, when the city tallied 456 fatal overdoses. 'For too long, opioid overdoses have ripped families and communities apart, but there is light on the horizon with opioid overdose deaths citywide seeing their lowest numbers in five years,' Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. 'We are committed to maintaining this downward trend by continuing to invest in the programs and treatments that support those who are struggling.' ODDS AND ENDS NOW WE KNOW — Twenty New York hospitals lost obstetric services between 2010 and 2022, per a new analysis. TODAY'S TIP — Feeling burnt out? Ashwagandha could help. STUDY THIS — Via NBC: A large new study found a link between premenstrual disorders and cardiovascular disease. WHAT WE'RE READING — Why are mothers in New York having so many c-sections? (Times Union) — State legislators across the U.S. are weighing laws around menopause care and training for doctors. (CNN) — FDA offers to trade faster drug reviews for lower U.S. prices. (Bloomberg) Around POLITICO — Big Pharma and labor make for strange bedfellows in fight against California drug pricing bill, Rachel Bluth reports. — How hospitals could still escape the megabill's Medicaid cuts, via Robert King, Amanda Chu and David Lim. MISSED A ROUNDUP? Get caught up on the New York Health Care Newsletter.
Indian Express
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
French-Caribbean musician David Walters performed from his latest album, ‘Soul Tropical' on his debut India Tour
Braving the precariousness of the stage is the litmus test every singer must take to transition into a performer. And, David Walters passes with flying colours. The French-Caribbean musician, who concluded his first India tour last week, displayed an impressive hold on a full house at Delhi's The Piano Man. Navigating a tightly packed, vertically dense venue, which already had the audience tapping their feet, he went on to take the engagement with his music several notches higher. Walters was performing from his latest album 'Soul Tropical', a masterclass in how seemingly different genres can come together to create music that is both soulful and yet peppy enough to shake a leg to. 'It is music to heal and my most danceable music yet,' says Walters in an email conversation. 'Dance helps us heal, it cares for us and uplifts us, just like music. They are not opposed but complementary,' says the musician, known for creating genre-blending sounds — from Broken Beat to Nu-Jazz and Lounge – in his electro-jazz collective Zimpala that he founded in the 2000s. The nearly lyrics-free composition, bolstered with the keyboards and guitar riffs, and the beats of the drums and congos seamlessly merged to erupt in a composition celebrating Caribbean culture. 'Life in all its forms' is the musician's muse. 'What inspires me is what I experience and my deep inspirations come from my emotions. They are numerous and infinite,' he says. As a dancing Walters swayed, his audience vindicated the universality of music with a sky illuminated with phone lights. 'I like to leave as much space for music as for words. But not everything is said with words alone. We must also be able to share silence and choruses,' he says. Walters began his career as a DJ, something that not only gave him a deep understanding of the sounds of different kinds of music but also the confidence of a performer. He then went on to become a hip-hop beatmaker, followed by training in percussion, singing, and finally, the guitar – all aimed towards achieving what he calls a 'harmonic understanding'. A lover of 'traditional music in its purest form', understanding the DNA of classical music is crucial to him. Revisiting classical music, he believes, keeps it relevant for the youth but he also believes that remixes are a reflection of an era, 'a bit like an archive'. 'We can't avoid remixes because they allow the new generation to discover a colour that fades over time. Certain remixes have introduced me to traditional artists, and I've discovered superb producers thanks to traditional music,' he says. Walters is also an advocate of collaborations between musicians. He feels they facilitate accessibility to different musical traditions and cultures. His most popular collaborations are with Nigerian artistes Seun Kuti and Keziah Jones, Brazilian singer Flavia Coelho, and French pianist Arthur H among others. A few years ago, he also teamed up with the Indian folk band, Rajasthani Roots. 'We have similar rhythmic keys. The ideas came naturally and flowed like a river. It remains one of my most beautiful live music collaborations,' he says. No wonder Walters is back in India, this time, on a full-fledged tour. Besides performing across cities, he worked on new collaborations with local musicians in Bengaluru, Kolkata and Jaipur. 'We revisited part of my repertoire with the Indian traditional flavour. I have deep respect for the meaning, depth and learning of Indian classical music,' he adds.
Chicago Tribune
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Scott Vehill, artistic force behind Prop Thtr, dies at 68
Scott Vehill was the co-founder and longtime artistic director of Chicago's Prop Thtr, a scrappy, experimental theater company that throughout its 44-year history has staged intense, intellectually challenging plays, often on shoestring budgets, and put an emphasis on new work. 'Scott made a lot of things happen,' said Stefan Brun, Prop's co-founder with Vehill in 1980 and the group's executive director. 'He was the vision guy, and somebody else would follow up. He had vision, he really cared about the people, and … he loved the stories.' Vehill, 68, died of complications from Parkinson's disease on June 5 at his Lincoln Park home, said his wife of 30 years, Kristen. Born in Detroit, Vehill grew up in the Southwest Side's Marquette Park neighborhood and later in north suburban Wildwood. After graduating from Warren Township High School in Gurnee, Vehill attended downstate Monmouth College before transferring to Columbia College Chicago. After producing student theater together at Columbia, Vehill and Brun founded Prop in a space that formerly housed a strip joint on an off-the-beaten-track stretch of North Lincoln Avenue. With a program of nontraditional performance, European and Beat Generation theater, Prop had to fight to survive and attract audiences, Brun said. 'We started it together, but he is the one who held it,' Brun said. 'Many other people came through, including (onetime managing director) Jonathan Lavan and (onetime artistic director) Olivia Lilley, but Scott was Prop. There was no ruling aesthetic — the show we were currently doing was who we were.' Vehill kept the theater company moving forward after Brun left Chicago in 1987 for Germany. Although his title was artistic director, he was a jack-of-all-trades, directing performances, co-authoring plays and, as Tribune theater critic Chris Jones wrote in 2000, finding ways 'to pay utility bills, keep the doors open at a variety of rented spaces and produce … forms of esoteric theater in dark garages with the minimum of financial resources.' Prop put up three to four productions a year. Some pushed the boundaries — a 1986 staging of 'Biker Macbeth,' an adaptation of the Shakespeare play, drew a stinging review from the Tribune — while others, such as the 1988 staging of Vehill's adaptation of William S. Burroughs' novel 'The Last Words of Dutch Schultz,' garnered critical praise. 'Everything about him was bigger than life,' said Charles Pike, a co-star of the Burroughs adaptation. 'Scott embraced chaos. He saw that sometimes things needed to be broken, and he did not hesitate to break them. He had a heart for the outcast, for the underdog. He was a sucker for a good Chicago story. And we both embraced Beat literature and wanted to make sure that future generations saw (Lawrence) Ferlinghetti, (Jack) Kerouac and Burroughs the way he saw them.' Vehill directed plays by Neil Gray Giuntoli, who also co-starred in Prop's staging of 'The Last Words of Dutch Schultz,' and Paul Peditto, who was part of the old Igloo theater group. Vehill collaborated often with Peditto, both at Igloo and also at Chicago's bygone Live Bait Theater, where in 1991, the duo staged 'BUK,' a drama inspired by the life and work of poet Charles Bukowski. Prop's hard-hitting, commercially successful and critically acclaimed 1994 stage adaptation of Nelson Algren's 'Never Come Morning' garnered nine awards at the annual Joseph Jefferson Citation Awards for productions operating without Actors' Equity contracts — still a record for a non-Equity production. Vehill subsequently tried, without success, to raise money to turn the novel into a film. In 1995, Vehill directed Prop's spoof of former President Ronald Reagan's life before politics, in a play titled 'Reagan: Dementia in Absentia — An Unauthorized Tribute.' Two years later, Vehill staged Peditto's '1,001 Afternoons in Chicago,' a play inspired by screenwriter Ben Hecht's daily columns from the early 1920s in the Chicago Daily News. In 2000, Vehill directed a play about countercultural writer Terry Southern. In 2004, he directed 'Struggling Truths,' a fable exploring the origins of Tibet's conflicts with China. 'It's like a Brechtian parable and the audience, who will be literally divided into two sections, must decide which is the truth about Tibet,' Vehill said of 'Struggling Truths.' 'Was it a people's revolution that got rid of a feudal regime or was it an embattled Buddhist theocracy threatened by a totalitarian state? Both sides will try to stir up an audience to back their cause.' In 2006, Vehill oversaw the staging of Prop's biggest hit ever, 'Hizzoner,' a critical and popular success featuring Giuntoli playing Mayor Richard J. Daley. In a 2006 review, Jones called it a 'thoroughly gripping … bio-drama' that was not to be missed 'for students of the old man and the city he maybe hurt and maybe saved.' The production of 'Hizzoner' was in keeping with Jones' 2002 assessment in the Tribune that Prop is a theater company that is 'proudly blue-collar' and 'cheerfully intellectual,' with 'hard-working and mature creative leaders.' In the late 1990s, Vehill helped found the National New Play Network, a consortium of theaters from around the country committed to showcasing new work. Prop became the Chicago hub of the network, whose rolling world premiere program simultaneously brings new productions to partner theaters across the U.S. More than a decade ago, illness caused Vehill to pull back from Prop, his wife said. For the past two years, about 20 or so friends gathered monthly at Vehill's home to bring the homebound Vehill art in the form of songs, readings and even visual artwork, in what were affectionately called 'Scotty Salons,' his wife said. 'Kristen told me that the therapeutic benefit lasted for several days afterward,' said Keith Fort, who chair's Prop's board and organized the salons. 'That's the healing power of art.' In addition to his wife, Vehill is survived by three sisters, Julie 'Gigi' Paddock, Trisha Peck and Jaime Freiler; and a brother, Raoul. A celebration of life will take place from 5 to 11 p.m. on Friday, July 18, at Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California Ave.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
KB Home Keeps Toughing It Out
KB Home saw revenue and earnings fall sharply from year-ago levels, but the homebuilder still topped expectations. A difficult market environment in homebuilding is weighing on the entire industry, but KB Home is working to be more efficient with its operations to compensate. Nevertheless, some investors weren't satisfied with guidance for the full 2025 fiscal year. 10 stocks we like better than KB Home › Here's our initial take on KB Home's (NYSE: KBH) fiscal 2025 second-quarter financial report. Metric Q2 FY 2024 Q2 FY 2025 Change vs. Expectations Total revenue $1.71 billion $1.53 billion -11% Beat Adjusted earnings per share $2.15 $1.50 -30% Beat Homes delivered 3,523 3,120 -11% n/a Average selling price $483,000 $488,700 +1% n/a KB Home's management described the homebuilder's financial performance for the fiscal second quarter (ending May 31) as "solid," but there's no doubt that things are tough in the housing market. Revenue was down 11% year over year as the number of homes that KB Home delivered during the quarter fell by the same percentage. Net income plunged 36% as the homebuilder dealt with lower profit margins and higher overhead costs, and it took sizable repurchases of stock to cut the decline in earnings on a per-share basis to 30%. The company also had to offer larger concessions in order to get homebuyers to move forward with purchases. CEO Jeff Mezger tried to find good things about the challenges KB Home faces. The CEO pointed to shorter build times and lower construction costs as having been valuable in keeping KB Home operations going. At the same time, though, the company is cutting back on land acquisition and development investments as it waits for market conditions to improve. That, in turn, is freeing up more money for share buybacks. KB Home spent $200 million to repurchase stock at an average cost of about $54 per share. At that price, purchases boost book value, which is another positive. It's not apparent when conditions in housing will improve. KB Home's guidance for fiscal 2025 includes revenue of between $6.3 billion and $6.5 billion, with average selling prices remaining in the $480,000-to-$490,000 range. That implies some level of bounceback in the second half of the fiscal year, but that seems far from certain at this point, given macroeconomic pressures and continued high interest rates. KB Home shares responded negatively to the report despite the company posting quarterly results that topped expectations. The stock fell about 2% in the first hour of trading in the after-hours market late Monday following the release. At this point, investors seem to be comfortable with the declines in key metrics that KB Home has already suffered, but they want to see clearer signs that an end is in sight. Even once housing market conditions improve, it could take a while for KB Home to get back up to speed. Backlogs have fallen precipitously, going from 6,270 homes 12 months ago to just 4,776 currently. The value of that backlog is down 27% to $2.29 billion. Cancellation rates have grown as well, rising to 16% from 13% a year ago. Inventories have also risen, indicating weak demand. None of these factors affect the long-term thesis for KB Home, with structural shortages in available housing having a sizable impact across the U.S. in many fast-growing markets. In the meantime, KB Home hopes that now will prove to be an astute time to make major stock repurchases to add shareholder value even when its core business is going through short-term challenges. Full earnings report Investor relations page Additional podcast coverage of homebuilder and solar stocks Before you buy stock in KB Home, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and KB Home wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $676,023!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $883,692!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 793% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends KB Home and recommends the following options: short July 2025 $60 calls on KB Home. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. KB Home Keeps Toughing It Out was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Huge: See lawmaker fighting Trump DOJ's bid to imprison Dems for ICE 'oversight'
New Jersey Congresswoman Rep. LaMonica McIver joins MSNBC's Ari Melber on The Beat to discuss her recent indictment by the Trump Justice Department. (The Beat's YouTube playlist: Ari: / arimelber Beat merch:
