The X Factor Reveals Season 2 Finalists
Label: Lifestyle
TV Watch
The X Factor
Carly Rose Sonenclar, Emblem3, Tate Stevens and Fifth Harmony
Ray Mickshaw/FOX (4)
Sparks will fly at the finale!
On Thursday, The X Factor revealed its top three acts, who will perform next week in the final night of competition – in hopes of taking home the $5 million recording contract.
Simon Cowell said it would take a miracle to get his girl group, Fifth Harmony, to the finale after they performed Shontelle's "Impossible" and Ellie Goulding's "Anything Could Happen" on Wednesday. Keep reading to find out if their dream came true ...
Apparently, miracles do happen! Fifth Harmony was the first act to be sent through to the finale.
They will compete against departing judge L.A. Reid's country singer, Tate Stevens, and Britney Spears's only remaining contestant, Carly Rose Sonenclar.
That means Simon's promising boy band, Emblem3, are out of the running for the big prize.
"This is the way it goes on competitions," Simon said. "I'm gutted really for them ... But it happens."
Fewer health care options for illegal immigrants
Label: HealthALAMO, Texas (AP) — For years, Sonia Limas would drag her daughters to the emergency room whenever they fell sick. As an illegal immigrant, she had no health insurance, and the only place she knew to seek treatment was the hospital — the most expensive setting for those covering the cost.
The family's options improved somewhat a decade ago with the expansion of community health clinics, which offered free or low-cost care with help from the federal government. But President Barack Obama's health care overhaul threatens to roll back some of those services if clinics and hospitals are overwhelmed with newly insured patients and can't afford to care for as many poor families.
To be clear, Obama's law was never intended to help Limas and an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants like her. Instead, it envisions that 32 million uninsured Americans will get access to coverage by 2019. Because that should mean fewer uninsured patients showing up at hospitals, the Obama program slashed the federal reimbursement for uncompensated care.
But in states with large illegal immigrant populations, the math may not work, especially if lawmakers don't expand Medicaid, the joint state-federal health program for the poor and disabled.
When the reform has been fully implemented, illegal immigrants will make up the nation's second-largest population of uninsured, or about 25 percent. The only larger group will be people who qualify for insurance but fail to enroll, according to a 2012 study by the Washington-based Urban Institute.
And since about two-thirds of illegal immigrants live in just eight states, those areas will have a disproportionate share of the uninsured to care for.
In communities "where the number of undocumented immigrants is greatest, the strain has reached the breaking point," Rich Umbdenstock, president of the American Hospital Association, wrote last year in a letter to Obama, asking him to keep in mind the uncompensated care hospitals gave to that group. "In response, many hospitals have had to curtail services, delay implementing services, or close beds."
The federal government has offered to expand Medicaid, but states must decide whether to take the deal. And in some of those eight states — including Texas, Florida and New Jersey — hospitals are scrambling to determine whether they will still have enough money to treat the remaining uninsured.
Without a Medicaid expansion, the influx of new patients and the looming cuts in federal funding could inflict "a double whammy" in Texas, said David Lopez, CEO of the Harris Health System in Houston, which spends 10 to 15 percent of its $1.2 billion annual budget to care for illegal immigrants.
Realistically, taxpayers are already paying for some of the treatment provided to illegal immigrants because hospitals are required by law to stabilize and treat any patients that arrive in an emergency room, regardless of their ability to pay. The money to cover the costs typically comes from federal, state and local taxes.
A solid accounting of money spent treating illegal immigrants is elusive because most hospitals do not ask for immigration status. But some states have tried.
California, which is home to the nation's largest population of illegal immigrants, spent an estimated $1.2 billion last year through Medicaid to care for 822,500 illegal immigrants.
The New Jersey Hospital Association in 2010 estimated that it cost between $600 million and $650 million annually to treat 550,000 illegal immigrants.
And in Texas, a 2010 analysis by the Health and Human Services Commission found that the agency had provided $96 million in benefits to illegal immigrants, up from $81 million two years earlier. The state's public hospital districts spent an additional $717 million in uncompensated care to treat that population.
If large states such as Florida and Texas make good on their intention to forgo federal money to expand Medicaid, the decision "basically eviscerates" the effects of the health care overhaul in those areas because of "who lives there and what they're eligible for," said Lisa Clemans-Cope, a senior researcher at the Urban Institute.
Seeking to curb expenses, hospitals might change what qualifies as an emergency or cap the number of uninsured patients they treat. And although it's believed states with the most illegal immigrants will face a smaller cut, they will still lose money.
The potential impacts of reform are a hot topic at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In addition to offering its own charity care, some MD Anderson oncologists volunteer at a county-funded clinic at Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital that largely treats the uninsured.
"In a sense we've been in the worst-case scenario in Texas for a long time," said Lewis Foxhall, MD Anderson's vice president of health policy in Houston. "The large number of uninsured and the large low-income population creates a very difficult problem for us."
Community clinics are a key part of the reform plan and were supposed to take up some of the slack for hospitals. Clinics received $11 billion in new funding over five years so they could expand to help care for a swell of newly insured who might otherwise overwhelm doctors' offices. But in the first year, $600 million was cut from the centers' usual allocation, leaving many to use the money to fill gaps rather than expand.
There is concern that clinics could themselves be inundated with newly insured patients, forcing many illegal immigrants back to emergency rooms.
Limas, 44, moved to the border town of Alamo 13 years ago with her husband and three daughters. Now single, she supports the family by teaching a citizenship class in Spanish at the local community center and selling cookies and cakes she whips up in her trailer. Soon, she hopes to seek a work permit of her own.
For now, the clinic helps with basic health care needs. If necessary, Limas will return to the emergency room, where the attendants help her fill out paperwork to ensure the government covers the bills she cannot afford.
"They always attended to me," she said, "even though it's slow."
___
Sherman can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/chrisshermanAP .
Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP .
State population rises in sign of economic recovery
Label: BusinessCalifornia's population has grown to 37.8 million, continuing the state's trend of slowing but steady growth — about 1% annually — over the last decade, according to new population estimates released by the state Department of Finance.
The population increased by 256,000 people since July 2011, a growth rate of 0.7%. It's roughly the same growth rate as last year, but some experts pointed to an uptick in the number of people moving in and out of California and between counties as a sign of economic recovery.
"We've been mired in this deep slump, economically and demographically, and we're all looking for signs of revival," said USC demography and urban planning professor Dowell Myers. "During the recession, everyone froze. People didn't move as fast as normal."
In Los Angeles County, more people moved out than into the county in 2011, but at a significantly slower rate than in 2010, the state numbers show.
"Overall, movements are speeding up in both directions, but L.A.'s attraction is winning the war," said Myers, who also noticed an increase in movement in the entire western region, particularly among young adults. "It means the system is unfreezing, it's loosening up....This is the beginning."
Recent estimates by the American Community Survey showed that about 100,000 more Californians left the state than moved here. Most of those who left headed to Texas, Arizona and Oregon.
But state demographers cautioned that the out-of-state migration numbers may appear misleading because immigrants often enter through California before settling in other states.
"People see that so many people are leaving the state, and they think 'oh, it's because California business is bad,' " said Bill Schooling, chief of demographics research for the state Department of Finance. "It's more that California, particularly with counties like L.A., is a huge gateway state."
Los Angeles remains the state's most populous county, with more than 9.9 million residents. More than 26% of the state's entire population lives within the Los Angeles County limits.
Schooling noted that much of the state's population growth was concentrated in coastal counties, where people tend to be younger and more mobile.
Economists also said that job growth has been much stronger along the coast, particularly with growth in foreign trade, technology and tourism.
"The state recovery really started in the Bay Area, spread to Orange County and San Diego, and in the last six months, has spread to L.A. County," said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. "Slow population growth is consistent with the early phase of recovery."
Births helped maintain the population growth, with 503,000 babies born in California between July 2011 and July 2012. There were 234,000 deaths in the state during the same time, a slight increase from past years, according to the state estimates.
Until the state becomes more stable economically, it is difficult to make long-term population projections, experts said.
"This is a step in the right direction," Myers said. "And we will, we should, have much better news next year."
rosanna.xia@latimes.com
India Ink: The Guns N' Roses Concert in Gurgaon, India, Featured Axl Rose's Trademark Vocals and A Clash Among Band Members
Label: WorldThe legendary American rock band Guns N’ Roses made the outsourcing boomtown of Gurgaon the last stop on their debut tour of India Wednesday night, a tour 20 years in the making.
In 1992, the band had been slated to play Mumbai (then Bombay), but cancelled after riots that pitted Hindus against Muslims shook the city. They played Israel instead.
The show in Gurgaon, just outside New Delhi, hit all of the band’s high notes, including anthems like “Patience” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” but also the kind of low that has haunted it for decades: an apparent squabble between band members toward the end.
The venue was the so-called Leisure Valley, a bare patch of earth in the center of Gurgaon’s business district, a clutch of high-rises housing the Indian offices of international companies like Google and Accenture. A crowd of about 8,000, just over half the venue’s capacity, turned up for the show, made up of office workers in suits and ties, college students in black T-shirts and even entire families.
The band’s leader, Axl Rose, took the stage exactly on time amid roaring guitar riffs, and the band thundered immediately into the title track of their latest album, “Chinese Democracy.” Dubbed “the Titanic of rock albums” by the New York Times critic Jon Pareles when it came out in 2008, “Chinese Democracy” took 15 years to make and may be the most expensive album ever produced.
The crowd, mostly familiar with earlier albums like “Appetite for Destruction,” struggled to recognize the opening song. But they warmed up as the guitarist DJ Ashba teased into the anthemic introductory notes of “Welcome to the Jungle.”
As Mr. Rose began his trademark shrieking vocals, the crowd seemed to hold its breath, perhaps collectively wondering if the 50-year-old still had the pipes. By the end of the show, it was clear that the growl of the ’90s was missing, but for a not-so-healthy looking guy, he sounded good. Those legendary screams in songs like “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Live and Let Die” and “Paradise City” were close enough to the originals to give a slight tingle to the spine.
In all, the band played a three-hour set, rolling out newer songs and revisiting some classics like “It’s So Easy” and “Mr. Brownstone,” as well as throwing in a handful of covers, such as Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.”
But Guns N’ Roses’ trademark epic ballads didn’t always fare so well. “Estranged,” from the “Use Your Illusion” double album, was a particular test – the band only managed to play a passable version of the melody-heavy, nine-minute piece of musical theater. It wasn’t something the purest Guns N’ Roses fans (and I include myself in that camp) were happy about. That sometimes-ethereal piece of music calls for three good guitarists, and the three on stage were mediocre.
Much of the crowd seemed to be hearing the songs from “Chinese Democracy” for the first time, but the melodious grooves of “This I Love,” “Street of Dreams” and “Catcher in the Rye” seemed to hit the right nerve, and attendees swayed in time.
The band really got the crowd’s attention, though, by throwing in a cover of AC/DC’s “Riff Raff.”
In true Indian fashion, hawkers sold popcorn and peanuts during the show. Looking at the eclectic mix of concertgoers, which seemed to include both middle-aged parents bringing their kids and kids bringing their middle-aged parents, it seemed that more than one generation had been waiting for this concert to happen.
Each band member got a showcase song: the bassist Tommy Stinson sang one of his own, called “Motivation,” while the pianist Dizzy Reed did a rendition of Led Zeppelin’s classic “No Quarter.” (View the entire set list here.)
The song that got the loudest crowd response was, as expected, the seminal “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” with its instantly recognizable opening guitar riff. This was quickly followed by two other Gunners classics, “November Rain” and “Don’t Cry.” The latter was the 23rd song of the night, and Mr. Rose was both visibly and vocally drained.
Still, the band went through “Civil War” and “Nightrain” before exiting the stage, leaving concertgoers wondering aloud whether it was over or not. (Concerts of this scale in Delhi are still rare, so many people didn’t know whether to expect an encore or not.)
Amidst chants for an encore, Mr. Rose came back onstage and declared himself happy to be playing in India. “This has been a longtime dream,” he said. Then he dedicated the entire show to Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar maestro who died on Tuesday. The dedication was followed by an acoustic jam between the guitarists Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal and DJ Ashba, then the mellow classic “Patience.”
As the clock neared 10 p.m., the opening riff to “Paradise City” blared through the speakers. The band had managed to finish a three-city tour of India successfully, without any major hiccups, fulfilling the dreams of many in the audience who had craved a chance to see their music heroes from yesteryear live.
But it was not over yet. After all, what is Guns N’ Roses without some drama?
After the band came out together for a final bow, Mr. Rose seemed to decide he still had one more song in him. He called the band members back on stage. Mr. Stinson seemed to balk: he was visible from where I sat nearly throwing his bass backstage, as a roadie tried to stop him.
The rest of the band started playing “Nice Boys” from “Rose Tattoo,” but Mr. Stinson didn’t come onstage. Mr. Rose disappeared backstage, and reappeared moments later. He was followed by Mr. Stinson, who threw his bass onto a pile of equipment, flipped the middle finger at some crew members and left. The band finished the last song without a bassist.
Kabir Taneja is a freelance journalist who owns all of the Guns N’ Roses albums, including “Chinese Democracy.” You can contact him on Twitter @KabirTaneja.
Google Maps makes its way back to the iPhone
Label: Technology(Reuters) – Google‘s navigation tool has returned to the iPhone, months after Apple‘s home-grown mapping service flopped, prompting user complaints, the firing of an executive and a public apology from Apple’s CEO.
The Google Maps app will be compatible with any iPhone or iPod Touch that runs iOS 5.1 or higher, the company said in a blog post. (http://link.reuters.com/jek64t)
Apple launched its own service in early September, and dropped Google Maps, when it launched the iPhone 5 and rolled out iOS 6, an upgrade to its mobile software platform.
Users complained that Apple’s new map service, based on Dutch navigation equipment and digital map maker TomTom’s data, contained errors and lacked features that made Google Maps popular.
In October, Scott Forstall, a long-time lieutenant of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, was asked to leave the company partly because of his refusal to take responsibility for the mishandling of the mapping software.
While Apple Maps offered soaring ‘flyover’ views of major cities, it had no public transit directions, limited traffic information, and obvious mistakes such as putting one city in the middle of the ocean.
This led to Apple chief executive Tim Cook apologizing to customers frustrated with the service and, in an unusual move for the U.S. consumer group, directed them to rival services such as Google’s Maps instead.
(Reporting by Tej Sapru and Ankur Banerjee in Bangalore; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Dan Lalor)
Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Tevin Hunte Is 'So Happy' After His Voice Elimination
Label: Lifestyle
TV Watch
The Voice
Team Cee Lo's Trevin Hunte was eliminated on Tuesday's episode of The Voice, but the soulful singer isn't letting the end of this journey hold him back.
"I feel like the best person on the planet Earth. I am so happy and excited to be honest," Hunte told PEOPLE after the show. I feel like a weight has been lifted. Being away from family and friends and what you're used to was definitely a hard thing for me."
Hunte is looking forward to his mom's cooking and seeing his friends back home, and he won't waste a second wondering what if he'd made it further.
"I have no regrets. I am glad that I took a leap of faith and auditioned," he said. "I auditioned for American Idol and told my family I didn't have the strength to do it again. But I am definitely happy and excited that I made it this far."
And he still has a long way to go. "I'm only 18," he said. "I'm just really excited."
Congress examines science behind HGH test for NFL
Label: HealthWASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee has opened a hearing to examine the science behind a human growth hormone test the NFL wants to start using on its players.
Nearly two full seasons have passed since the league and the players' union signed a labor deal that set the stage for HGH testing.
The NFL Players Association won't concede the validity of a test that's used by Olympic sports and Major League Baseball, and the sides haven't been able to agree on a scientist to help resolve that impasse.
Among the witnesses before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday is Pro Football Hall of Fame member Dick Butkus. In his prepared statement, Butkus writes: "Now, let's get on with it. The HGH testing process is proven to be reliable."
$100-million gift to cover costs for 30-plus UCLA medical students
Label: BusinessMore than 30 incoming medical school students will get a full ride to UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine thanks to a $100-million gift from the school's benefactor.
The donation by Geffen, a philanthropist and entertainment executive, will create a scholarship fund to cover the recipients' entire cost of medical school, including tuition, room and board, books and other expenses.
"It is a fantastic vote of confidence for higher education," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. "We're eternally grateful."
The gift, which will be announced Thursday, makes Geffen the largest individual donor to UCLA and to any single UC campus. In 2002, Geffen donated $200 million in unrestricted funds to the medical school. At the time, the campus was renamed in his honor.
Geffen, 69, declined to comment but said in a statement that students shouldn't be discouraged by the expense of medical school.
"The cost of a world-class medical education should not deter our future innovators, doctors and scientists from the path they hope to pursue," he said. "We need the students at this world-class institution to be driven by determination and the desire to do their best work and not by the fear of crushing debt. I hope in doing this that others will be inspired to do the same."
More than 85% of medical school students nationwide graduate with some debt. Among those, the average is $170,000, according to the Assn. of American Medical Colleges. That debt often influences graduates' career choices and has contributed to a shortage of primary care doctors, who often earn less than specialists. That shortage will be exacerbated by the aging of the population and the federal expansion of health coverage to the uninsured.
The UCLA scholarships are "unprecedented," said John Prescott, chief academic officer for the association. "My mouth dropped open when I saw this," he said. "It is going to create quite a legacy for the school."
The medical school's dean, A. Eugene Washington, said that he was thrilled by the donation and that it will free scholarship recipients from the tremendous burden of debt. The four-year tab for medical school students entering next fall could exceed $300,000 in tuition, housing, fees and other costs.
The scholarship will allow the school to free up some of the money it uses for financial aid and will enable students to follow their passions and become leading physicians and researchers without worrying about paying off loans, he said. "It is going to be for a group of the top students who will be freed up to pursue whatever their interests are," he said.
The David Geffen Medical Scholarship Fund will provide scholarships for up to 33 students beginning medical school in 2013. Up to three of the scholarships are available for students pursuing a joint doctorate and medical school degree. The students will be chosen based on merit, not financial need.
Block said the scholarships will help recruit more of the nation's top medical school applicants. Already, more than 7,500 applicants compete for 163 first-year slots at the school.
Emily Dubina, 25, a third-year medical school student at UCLA, received a partial scholarship from Geffen's original contribution. The new scholarships, she said, are an amazing opportunity that will take away a lot of the stress of day-to-day life. The recipients will be able to focus on becoming great physicians rather than on how much money they are spending on their education.
"I so wish they had that when I started," she said. "Life would have been much better."
Geffen began his career as a mail room worker at the William Morris Agency in Manhattan and later earned a fortune in the record and movie industries. He formed DreamWorks SKG in 1994 with Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg. He has also become a well-known benefactor, giving to such organizations as the Motion Picture and Television Fund and to the Geffen Playhouse.
anna.gorman@latimes.com
Hugh Hefner's Engagement Ring to Crystal Harris Revealed
Label: LifestyleThe wedding's back on – though it may be a good idea to save that gift receipt.
The onetime Playmate of the Month then ripped Hef's bedroom skills, calling him a two-second man, to which Hefner replied, "I missed a bullet" by not marrying her.
Hugh Hefner, 86, officially confirms that he is once again engaged to Crystal Harris, 26, telling his Twitter followers, "I've given Crystal Harris a ring. I love the girl."
And to prove it, Harris posted photos of the big diamond sparkler, calling it "my beautiful ring."
Neither announced a wedding date, though sources tell PEOPLE they're planning to tie the knot at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve.
Whether that still happens remains to be seen.
This is the plan they had in 2011 – a wedding at the mansion – except that Harris called it off just days before the nuptials were scheduled to happen in front of 300 invited guests.
Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris
David Livingston / Getty
A year later, Hefner's "runaway bunny" bounded back to him.
• Reporting by JENNIFER GARCIA
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