Election preview Libertarian candidates for U.S. Senate

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ASHEBORO The Libertarian Party has two candidates, Sean Haugh of Durham and Tim DAnnunzio of Raeford, running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Kay Hagan.

The winner of the May 6 primary will represent the party on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Neither candidate responded to requests to answer questions for this article.

Haugh, born in 1960, maintains a Facebook campaign page at Haugh for Senate. His Facebook page indicates he was born in Arizona, moved to Boston, then to Durham, up to New York and back to Durham. There is no indication of work experience.

I retired from politics in 2010 and only returned because I saw the need for someone to articulate the libertarian message in this race, he said on Facebook.

DAnnunzio, 56, is a former Republican turned Libertarian. He has run in at least two other races. In 2010, he attempted a run to be the Republican candidate in the District 8 race against then incumbent Democrat Rep. Larry Kissell. He lost. In 2012, he lost in a District 4 race against Democrat David Price. DAnnunzio appears not to have a campaign site. He does maintain a personal Facebook page on which he posts about political issues.

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Election preview Libertarian candidates for U.S. Senate

Future Islands Dance Like No One's Watching in 'Seasons' Live Video

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Future Islands have been enjoying a serious moment in the sun of late. Both literally via the Coachella stage, which they return to this weekend, and figuratively for the buzz kicked up by their gone-viral Letterman performance and made good upon by their essential new album Singles. Those wonderfully sincere Baltimore synth-punks also performed at SPIN's annual SXSW day party at Stubb's this year. Watch them perform their excellent new song "Seasons (Waiting on You)" above yes, you will see Sam Herring dance and be sure to revisit our feature on Future Islands, "Dance Like No One's Watching." Also catch performances from Temples and Cloud Nothings.

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Future Islands Dance Like No One's Watching in 'Seasons' Live Video

Neanderthal genetic landscape reveals key differences with humans

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When scientists first sequenced the genome of a Neanderthal, our extinct, heavy-browed human cousin, we learned a surprising amount about our own species too: many modern humans carry Neanderthal genes, proving we interbred with them long ago.

Now, researchers have offered the first glimpse of the Neanderthal epigenome, and once again their results offer tantalizing new theories about the modern human brain and skeleton.

While the findings are surprising, the fact that the Neanderthal epigenome holds important secrets should not be. In the past decade, scientists have discovered that epigenetics, the chemical signals that regulate how genes are expressed, are almost as important as genetics in understanding how organisms look and act.

By exploiting a trick of how ancient DNA degrades, an Israeli-led team of researchers has created a map of the Neanderthal epigenetic landscape and that of another extinct human species, the Denisovans. Their work, hailed as a fantastically exciting technical achievement, was published Thursday in the journal Science.

The most intriguing findings of the study are the clues that emerged when the researchers compared those archaic epigenetic maps to those of present-day humans.

More than 99 per cent of the ancient and modern maps were the same, which is what one would expect to find in closely-related human species that shared a common ancestor approximately 600,000 years ago.

But the maps were almost twice as likely to differ in regions associated with disease and, in a third of those cases, in regions associated with psychological and neurological diseases.

Scientists are a long way from being able to understand what this means, stressed Liran Carmel, who led the study along with Eran Meshorer and David Gokhman, all of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

But this raises the hypothesis that perhaps many genes in our brain have changed recently, specifically in our lineage, the lineage leading to Homo sapiens. And perhaps things like autism, schizophrenia and Alzheimers are side-effects of these very recent changes, said Carmel.

This is an interesting suggestion, that (brain disease) is a side-effect of us being Homo sapiens and having our unique cognitive capabilities.

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Neanderthal genetic landscape reveals key differences with humans

Health care 8212 a team approach

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Doctors throughout southern New Hampshire are embracing a new way of caring for people through Patient Centered Medical Homes, a team-based approach supporters say increases the quality of health care and decreases the cost.

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care recently wrapped up a 15-month pilot program with Foundation Medical Partners, the physicians group of Southern New Hampshire Health Systems, and Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center.

The model of care is built on a foundation of care that is coordinated through a primary physician who taps into a network of nurse practitioners, clinicians, therapists and other health care providers to design individual health care strategies for each patient.

Key elements of the programs include expanded hours and access to doctors and health care providers and broad use of electronic medical records that allow a team to tailor treatments and reduce unnecessary or duplicate procedures and costly tests.

Its a proactive approach from the front desk to the physician, said William Brewster, medical director for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and an internist with a practice in Somersworth. Brewster said the new approach involves a different mindset that makes health care genuinely patient-centered.

During the 15-month pilot program, expanded office hours and access to providers cut high-cost visits to the emergency room by 10 to 12 percent. Immunization rates also increased dramatically. And according to Mark Santos, chief operating officer for the Foundation Medical Partners, the success isnt just in the numbers.

With a walk-in service open seven days a week, patients can come in on Thanksgiving Day in the afternoon and see someone who has their electronic medical record in front of them, Santos said. Not only does that health care provider have the relevant information needed to treat the patient, but it also creates a much safer encounter, Santos said.

By creating a team approach or continuum of care, patients can access more support services that are coordinated by, but not directly provided, by doctors.

There are a lot of talented people besides doctors working in health care, Santos said. When patients are able to see those health care specialists through the program, doctors have more time to devote to more complicated cases that require more care.

And according to Mary Wallen, a spokeswoman for Harvard Pilgrim, the team approach increases the quality of care for patients.

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Health care 8212 a team approach

Health care enrollments reach 8 million, president announces

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By McClatchy Newspapers

Published: 9:53 PM - 04/17/14 Last updated: 9:54 PM - 04/17/14

WASHINGTON Driven by a last-minute flood of enrollments, particularly in California, sign-ups for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's online marketplaces hit 8 million, President Barack Obama announced Thursday.

The total exceeded the initial forecast by 1 million people and capped a notable comeback after a disastrous debut last fall gave rise to predictions the law would collapse in its maiden year.

The health law, often called Obamacare, instead has brought about the largest increase in insurance coverage in the United States in the half a century since Medicare and Medicaid were created.

This thing is working, Obama said from the White House briefing room.

He took repeated jabs at his Republican critics who continue to pledge to roll back the law, showing a new willingness to go on the political offensive on the subject.

The repeal debate is, and should be, over, he declared. We've been having a political fight about this for five years. We need to move on to something else.

The final surge of enrollments came heavily from California, which signed up more than 200,000 consumers in the last two weeks, state officials said Thursday. Those late arrivals brought the state's total to nearly 1.4 million people, far ahead of all other states.

Although the numbers will continue to fluctuate throughout the year as some people obtain insurance and others drop it, Thursday's announcement marked a significant milestone as the first open enrollment period ended for most people.

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Health care enrollments reach 8 million, president announces

8 million health care sign-ups take sting out of GOP attacks

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A newly insured patient through the Affordable Care Act receives a checkup April 15 in Hollywood, Florida. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Today in the Morning Line:

Health care: President Barack Obama took to the White House briefing room Thursday to announce that eight million people had signed up for insurance through federal and state exchanges under the health care law. He said 35 percent of the enrollees were under 35 years of age. (A caveat here: That number includes children who would be covered by the plans. In fact, just 28 percent of enrollees were between 18 and 34. The percentage is key to controlling costs and almost more important than the overall number of signups.) Regardless, the health care news is politically significant for the White House and Democrats. It takes some of the sting out of conservatives withering attacks on the law and highlights the potential danger of Republicans singular messaging focus against Obamacare. If Republicans want to attack a law thats working, thats their business, Obama touted Thursday. But his message was less to Republicans, and more to skittish Democrats: I think Democrats should forcefully defend and be proud. I do not think we should apologize for it. We should not be defensive about it. I think it is a strong, good, right story to tell.

How this might change the playing field: Though Republicans hold the upper hand in the race for control of the Senate, Democrats are still within striking distance in key races, and Thursdays announcement is welcome news for them. That said, vulnerable Democrats have a reason to be skittish. Its important to remember that many of the key Senate races this year are taking place in states favorable to Republicans, where Mitt Romney won by large margins, and where the president and the health care law are deeply unpopular. But, IF the health care law bad news is over, it could perhaps mean the playing field shrinks a bit again in the states where Republicans have expanded places Obama won in 2012. The field widened to 12 states with the prospect of going up to 14, including Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, Virginia and potentially Oregon and Minnesota. But does the wave recede a bit now to the original seven GOP targets (plus a couple others): South Dakota, Montana, West Virginia, Arkansas, Alaska, North Carolina and Louisiana? That doesnt mean Colorado, Iowa, Michigan and New Hampshire are off the table or even that Republicans cant win there. By no means. Of course they can. But Democrats have to be feeling a little bit better about their chances. Its something to watch in the polls in coming months.

Could the law ever become popular? To a bigger point President Obama addressed yesterday, he was asked essentially whether the law could ever become popular. His answer: My view is that the longer we see the law benefiting millions of people, the longer we see accusations that the law is hurting millions of people being completely debunked, and the more the average American that has health insurance sees its not affecting them in a negative way, then it becomes less of a political football. Democrats point to the fact that social-welfare programs like Medicare didnt start out popular but have later become untouchable. Thats possible, but its still VERY early to say. Its highly unlikely the partisanship in the numbers on the law budge until Obama leaves office. Asked whether the law will ever move past the current partisanship, Obama said, Thats going to take more time. As weve written previously, its probably unlikely to change much until theres a Republican PRESIDENT who embraces the law and tries to fix it.

2016: Clintons numbers back to politics as usual: Hillary Clinton gets just a 49 to 45 percent favorable rating in a Fox News poll. (It is traditionally a good poll.) Thats a stark dropoff from her numbers when serving as secretary of state, but the more polarized view is to be expected, as Clinton is seen increasingly as the likely Democratic nominee. Its why it has always been in her interest to NOT appear political for as long as possible before 2016. The poll also finds that Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Chris Christies favorable ratings are all underwater. In fact, Paul is the only one who is a net-positive with independents. In head-to-head matchups, Clinton beats Christie 50 to 42 percent, Bush and Paul 51 to 42 percent.

Daily Presidential Trivia: On this day in 1994, former President Richard Nixon suffered a stroke and died four days later. He is buried beside his wife, Pat, in California. How did the two meet? Be the first to Tweet us the correct answer @NewsHour, @rachelwellford, @DomenicoPBS, and youll get a Morning Line shout-out. Congratulations to former NewsHour producer Katelyn Polantz (@kpolantz) for getting yesterdays answer- CIA Director Allen Dulles. An honorable mention to Colter Diehl (@colterdiehl), who came in a close second.

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8 million health care sign-ups take sting out of GOP attacks

Obama: 8 million signed up for health care – NBC40.net

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By JOSH LEDERMAN and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Eight million people have signed up for health care through new insurance exchanges and the proportion of younger applicants has increased, President Barack Obama said Thursday. The enrollments exceeded expectations and offered new hope to Democrats who are defending the law ahead of the midterm elections.

An impromptu appearance in the White House briefing room offered the president an opportunity to trumpet the new figures, which beat initial projections by 1 million. With an eye toward November, Obama castigated Republicans for continuing to seek out every opportunity to thwart the Affordable Care Act.

"This thing is working," Obama said of his signature domestic achievement.

Touting modest progress on another front, Obama said 35 percent of enrollees are under 35 years old, suggesting that in the final weeks of enrollment, the administration managed to sign up higher numbers of younger, healthier people who are critical to the law's viability.

The most coveted age group comprises those between 18 and 34 years old. White House officials said that for the 36 states where the federal government is taking the lead, 28 percent are in that age group - a step in the right direction from March, when the administration said just 25 percent were 18 to 34.

In a sharp rebuke to his political opponents, Obama called out states that have refused to embrace an expansion of Medicaid under "Obamacare," arguing that their opposition was rooted in nothing more than sheer ideology and political spite.

"That's wrong. It should stop," he said. "Those folks should be able to get health insurance like everybody else."

Although the first year's open enrollment season for the exchanges closed on March 31, the administration is still tallying the number of total enrollees. States managing their own exchanges have been slower to report data, and some Americans who started applications before the deadline were given extra time to complete their enrollment.

The demographic figures also give Democrats an opportunity to blunt the pessimism of Republicans, some of whom have accused the White House of "cooking the books" by announcing large overall enrollment numbers that tell only part of the story.

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Obama: 8 million signed up for health care - NBC40.net