From FOXNews.com:

President Obama is not worried about the “procedural” debate over whether House Democratic leaders should go ahead with a plan to approve health care reform without a traditional vote, he told Fox News on Wednesday.

President Obama is not worried about the “procedural” debate over whether House Democratic leaders should go ahead with a plan to approve health care reform without a traditional vote, he told Fox News on Wednesday.

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The president, in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, was responding for the first time to the controversy over a plan to use a parliamentary trick to allow the House to pass the Senate’s health care bill without forcing members to vote for it directly. The esoteric procedure has drawn fierce protest from Republicans who say Democrats are trying to avoid accountability, but the president said there will be no doubt about where lawmakers stand on health care reform.

Watch the Obama interview in its entirety on Special Report Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel.

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Via: WRAL.com

The sentencing phase of the Abdullah Shareef murder trial begins today. Yesterday Shareef was found guilty on eight of nine charges, including first-degree murder. Shareef had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to running over five people and killing one of them. During the near month-long trial, defense attorneys argued that Shareef is schizophrenic. Shareef could face the death penalty.

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Via: News14.com

Vice President Joe Biden will visit the Cree Company in Durham Thursday. He and Energy Secretary Steven Chu will tour and speak at the facility. The company manufactures energy efficient LED lighting. The Obama administration is pushing its clean energy economy advancement and the creation of manufacturing jobs.

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Via: News14.com

The NBA Board of Governors has unanimously approved Michael Jordan’s bid to buy a controlling interest in the Charlotte Bobcats.

Jordan is the sole investor in the ownership group, but he’s expected to try to find local partners. The deal includes taking on more than $150 million in debt, covering future losses and putting forward capital to make improvements. Jordan’s agreed purchase price…$275 Million Dollars.

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This company’s reprehensible behavior underscores the need for substantive health care reform in this country. If insurance companies can only be relied upon to look after healthy patients, and then make it a policy to abandon them when they get sick, what’s the point of having health insurance at all? Click here to find out how you can advocate for much-needed health care reform in the United States. – NewsOne Staff

From Reuters:

In May, 2002, Jerome Mitchell, a 17-year old college freshman from rural South Carolina, learned he had contracted HIV. The news, of course, was devastating, but Mitchell believed that he had one thing going for him: On his own initiative, in anticipation of his first year in college, he had purchased his own health insurance.

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Shortly after his diagnosis, however, his insurance company, Fortis, revoked his policy. Mitchell was told that without further treatment his HIV would become full-blown AIDS within a year or two and he would most likely die within two years after that.

So he hired an attorney — not because he wanted to sue anyone; on the contrary, the shy African-American teenager expected his insurance was canceled by mistake and would be reinstated once he set the company straight.

But Fortis, now known as Assurant Health, ignored his attorney’s letters, as they had earlier inquiries from a case worker at a local clinic who was helping him. So Mitchell sued.

In 2004, a jury in Florence County, South Carolina, ordered Assurant Health, part of Assurant Inc, to pay Mitchell $15 million for wrongly revoking his heath insurance policy.

In September 2009, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s verdict, although the court reduced the amount to be paid him to $10 million.

Click here to read more.

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Via: CNN.com

It looks like Paula Abdul may be headed back to TV! Sources confirm to me exclusively that the ex-American Idol judge is finalizing a deal to headline an updated version of Star Search, the great-granddaddy of all televised singing competitions, for ABC. Abdul’s role is still being defined, but I hear it will likely include some combination of hosting and judging.

The First Lady has penned a piece for Newsweek explaining why she’s opted to use her platform to combat childhood obesity. Particularly among Black Americans, both children and adults are disproportionately likely to be overweight or obese, and to be affected by the health problems that frequently result from that. To learn more about Mrs. Obama’s campaign for healthier living, click here. – NewsOne Staff

From Newsweek:

For years, we’ve known about the epidemic of childhood obesity in America. We’ve heard the statistics—how one third of all kids in this country are either overweight or obese. We’ve seen the effects on how our kids feel, and how they feel about themselves. And we know the risks to their health and to our economy—the billions of dollars we spend each year treating obesity-related conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

But we also know that it wasn’t always like this. Back when many of us were growing up, we led lives that kept most of us at a pretty healthy weight. We walked to school every day, ran around at recess and gym and for hours before dinner, and ate home-cooked meals that always seemed to have a vegetable on the plate.

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For many kids today, those walks to school have been replaced by car and bus rides. Afternoons playing outside have been replaced with afternoons inside with TV, videogames, and the Internet. And with many parents working longer hours, or multiple jobs, they don’t have time for family meals around the table anymore.

It’s now clear that between the pressures of today’s economy and the breakneck pace of modern life, the well-being of our kids has too often gotten lost in the shuffle.

And let’s be honest with ourselves: our kids didn’t do this to themselves. Our kids don’t decide what’s served in the school cafeteria or whether there’s time for gym class or recess. Our kids don’t choose to make food products with tons of sugar and sodium in supersize portions, and then have those products marketed to them everywhere they turn. And no matter how much they beg for fast food and candy, our kids shouldn’t be the ones calling the shots at dinnertime. We’re in charge. We make these decisions.

Click here to read more.

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Michelle Obama Calls For United Effort To Fight Childhood Obesity

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Van Jones was interviewed by Roland Martin on Washington Watch. In the interview he said the U.S.A. was like the Titanic that hit an Iceberg and Obama was the captain who saved the ship and that in doing so it was a “miracle.”

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Via: WRAL.com

HAZMAT crews in Oxford responded to on home on Hazelwood Court last night, and authorities evacuated nearby homes, after a woman’s body was found in a car with toxic chemicals on a seat near her. “The woman in the vehicle does not appear to have suffered any external wounds and at this time, the police investigation is simply being dubbed a death investigation.

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Via: WRAL.com

John Edwards’ former mistress, Rielle Hunter, is breaking her silence two years after the scandal of the couple’s affair became public. The interview includes several racy photos of Hunter in a white button down shirt and a string of pearls. Another picture show hunter and her daughter, the child Edwards fathered. According to the Washington Post, which obtained an early copy of the interview, Hunter says she is still in love with “Johnny,” as she refers to Edwards, and believes that he loves her.

For more of this article CLICK HERE