Out with the bad, in with the good — cholesterol, that is
Why do we hear so much about bad cholesterol and so little about good cholesterol? It’s mostly because your good cholesterol level is largely determined by genetics, says Dr. Jose Mejia, an Excela Health primary care physician. That means there’s only so much you can do about it, he says....
Sickle cell anemia: Symptoms, causes and treatment
It’s important to know the symptoms, causes and treatment of sickle cell anemia, an inherited blood disorder that, in the United States, is more common among African Americans. Sickle cell anemia is an inherited form of anemia — a condition in which there aren’t enough healthy red blood cells to...
AP Fact check: Trump’s false assurances on coronavirus
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump persisted Monday in making false assurances about U.S. preparedness for the coronavirus outbreak and the prospects for a quick vaccine, or even cure. In remarks at the White House and an evening rally in North Carolina, Trump reached for silver linings as the number of...
Exit polls: Netanyahu short of majority in Israel vote
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party on Monday emerged as the largest party in the country’s third election in under a year, according to exit polls, but it was unclear whether the embattled Israeli leader could secure a parliamentary majority as he prepares to go on trial for...
California man gets 66 months prison for harassing Parkland, Fla., victims
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A California man who is on the autism spectrum was sentenced Monday to more than five years in prison for cyberstalking families of Parkland, Fla., school shooting victims. U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz imposed the sentence on 22-year-old Brandon Fleury of Santa Ana, Calif., rejecting a...
More testing sheds light on how coronavirus is spreading in U.S.; death total hits 6Video
SEATTLE — An increase in testing for the coronavirus began shedding light Monday on how the illness has spread in the United States, including among nursing home residents in one Washington state facility. U.S. health officials updated the number of COVID-19 cases to 91 in 10 states after Oregon and...
Pennsylvania Supreme Court to review child sex abuse time limits decision
HARRISBURG — A mid-level appeals court decision issued last summer that allowed some victims of childhood sexual abuse a way to pursue lawsuits despite time limits will be reviewed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the justices announced Monday. The high court granted a request to hear the case that was...
Prosecutor: Ex-convict was in bed with victim when arrested
NEW YORK — An ex-convict accused of forcing young women he met in his daughter’s dormitory into prostitution or forced labor after winning their trust was in bed with a victim when he was arrested, a prosecutor said Monday as the New Jersey man lost a bid to be freed...
Turkey’s Erdogan hopes to broker Syria truce in Moscow
BEIRUT — Turkey’s president Monday said he hopes to broker a cease-fire in Syria this week in Moscow when he meets with his Russian counterpart, after growing alarm over direct clashes in northwest Syria between Turkish troops and Syrian forces backed by Russia. The Syrian government’s monthslong offensive into Idlib...
New guidelines urge hepatitis C check for most adults
WASHINGTON — Most American adults need to be checked for hepatitis C, say guidelines released Monday that urge millions more people to get screened for the liver-damaging virus that can fester for decades before it’s spotted. The call for expanded screening for Americans ages 18 to 79 is the first...
Snowy Wyoming highway pileup kills 3, injures dozens
RAWLINS, Wyo. — At least three people died and dozens were injured in a pileup involving more than 100 vehicles amid blowing snow that closed part of Interstate 80 in Wyoming, officials said Monday. The pileup and another one nearby around the same time involving 40 vehicles happened in snowy,...
Study: Methane emissions from burping dairy cows can be reduced
For scientists studying climate change, belching cows are no laughing matter. Penn State researchers say they have found a way to reduce methane emissions from burping dairy cows, which constitutes 5% of the greenhouse gases generated in the United States. The research team, led by Alexander Hristov, Penn State distinguished...
Klobuchar is ending her presidential bid, will endorse BidenVideo
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar ended her Democratic presidential campaign on Monday and plans to endorse rival Joe Biden in an effort to unify moderate voters behind the former vice president’s White House bid. She is flying to Dallas and plans to join Biden at his rally Monday night, according to...
5 key questions ahead of critical Super Tuesday primaries
DENVER (AP) — Tuesday is the biggest day of the primary calendar, when 14 states from the Atlantic to the Pacific vote on the Democratic presidential nominee. The roster includes the nation’s two most populous states, California and Texas, and nearly one-third of all the delegates at July’s Democratic National...
Israelis vote in 3rd election in a year focused on NetanyahuVideo
JERUSALEM — Israelis voted Monday in an unprecedented third election in less than a year to decide whether longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stays in power despite his upcoming trial on corruption charges. Netanyahu, the longest-serving leader in Israeli history, has been a caretaker prime minister for more than a...
Trump to make first visit of 2020 to Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump is making his first visit this year to the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania, in a town hall-style event hosted by Fox News in Scranton on Thursday. The one-hour event will be at the Scranton Cultural Center. The location is important for this year’s presidential...
Coronavirus ravaging Iran kills confidant of its supreme leader
TEHRAN, Iran — A member of a council that advises Iran’s supreme leader died Monday from the new coronavirus, becoming the highest-ranking official within the Islamic Republic’s Shiite theocracy to be killed by the illness ravaging the country. The death of Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi came as Iran announced...
Esper: U.S. to start initial troop pullback from Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark Esper says he has given the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan the go-ahead to begin the initial withdrawal of U.S. troops. Speaking at a Pentagon news conference Monday, Esper said he was not sure whether the drawdown had begun, but said it is required to...
American Jewish History Museum seeks bankruptcy protection
PHILADELPHIA — The National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, seeking relief from debt brought by construction efforts. Phil Darivoff, chair of the museum’s board, told The Philadelphia Inquirer the museum has been carrying millions of dollars in debt since it opened its 100,000-square-foot...
Milwaukee brewery employees return to work after shooting
MILWAUKEE — Molson Coors employees returned to work Monday amid heightened security at the Milwaukee brewery where a worker last week fatally shot five co-workers and then himself. Additional guards, both armed and unarmed, were patrolling the grounds, according to a company email. Several Milwaukee police vehicles were stationed around...
Supreme Court justices reject appeal over bump stock ban
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal of the federal ban on bump stocks, devices that allow semi-automatic firearms to fire rapidly like machine guns. The justices did not comment in declining to review a lower court-ruling that upheld the ban, which took effect nearly a year...
Supreme Court to decide fate of Obama health care lawVideo
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide a lawsuit that threatens the Obama-era health care law, a case that will keep health care squarely in front of voters even though a decision won’t come until after the 2020 election. The court said it would hear an appeal by...
Ex-guard frees dozens of hostages in Manila mall, is subdued
MANILA, Philippines — A recently dismissed security guard freed his hostages and walked out of a shopping mall in the Philippine capital on Monday, ending a daylong hostage crisis in an upscale commercial district near the police and military headquarters, officials said. The former guard at the commercial complex, identified...
Authorities announce 2nd coronavirus death in U.S.
SEATTLE — Health officials in Washington state said Sunday night that a second person had died from the coronavirus — a man in his 70s from a nursing facility near Seattle where dozens of people were sick and had been tested for the virus. Researchers said earlier the virus may...
Louisiana clinic prepares for Supreme Court abortion fight
SHREVEPORT, La. — The Hope Medical Group for Women in northern Louisiana fields phone calls every day from anxious pregnant women who ask if abortion is still legal and if the clinic, one of only three that provides abortions in the state, is still open. Despite the protesters who sometimes...