Planned Parenthood in Alaska sues state official over abortion

By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - Planned Parenthood in Alaska sued the state health commissioner on Wednesday over new regulations that prevent state Medicaid from covering elective abortions. The new regulations, set to go into effect on Sunday, require abortion doctors who receive Medicaid payments to certify that a procedure is "medically necessary" to prevent serious risk to the woman's health, or that the patient is a victim of rape and incest. The group, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, is seeking to have the regulations struck down as an unconstitutional violation of equal protection, said Planned Parenthood spokesman Joshua Decker.



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Supreme Court denies convicted Missouri killer's appeals

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted a temporary stay of execution for a Missouri man convicted of killing a jewelry store owner during a 1991 robbery, denying last-minute appeals that in part challenged the drug to be used. But there was no immediate word on whether Herbert Smulls, 56, would be executed before a death warrant expires at midnight, thanks to another stay his lawyer said remained in effect at the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Smulls was convicted of shooting jewelry-store owner Stephen Honickman to death while robbing his store in July 1991. Honickman's wife, Florence Honickman, was also shot during the attack and sustained permanent injuries.

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Study: Kids' obesity risk starts before school age

Those efforts to fight obesity in schools? Think younger. A new study finds that much of a child's "weight fate" is set by age 5, and that nearly half of kids who became obese by the eighth grade were already overweight when they started kindergarten.

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University of Missouri president wants probe of rape claim response

By Kevin Murphy KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - The University of Missouri's president called on Wednesday for an independent counsel to investigate how school officials responded to the alleged 2010 rape of a student on the female swim team who later committed suicide. The Missouri case comes in the wake of growing concern about sexual assaults in schools and in the military. Last week, President Barack Obama announced the creation of a White House task force to look into the problem of sexual assaults on campus. University president Tim Wolfe said at a news conference that he wants to determine if the university acted properly in matters related to Sasha Menu Courey.



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Wisconsin man sentenced for starving, imprisoning daughter

By Brendan O'Brien MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - A Wisconsin man was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison for imprisoning his teenage daughter in a basement for six years and forcing her to eat her own excrement, a local prosecutor said. Chad Chritton, 42, was also sentenced in Dane County Circuit Court to an additional five years of extended supervision after a jury found him guilty in November of four felonies, including child abuse and neglecting a child, according to district attorney Ismael Ozanne. His wife Melinda Drabek-Chritton, 44, was sentenced to five years in prison in July on similar charges. Prosecutors had accused the Madison couple of holding the girl in the basement of their home for about six years.



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New treatment could reduce kids' peanut allergies

LONDON (AP) — An experimental therapy that fed children with peanut allergies small amounts of peanut flour has helped more than 80 percent of them safely eat a handful of the previously worrisome nuts.



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Bird Flu Isn’t Just China’s Problem Anymore

As the first human cases of H7N9 bird flu infection outside of China begin to emerge—in Taiwan and Hong Kong—health officials around the world are preparing for a potentially perfect storm for a massive flu outbreak. On Thursday, billions of Chinese will be on the move to celebrate the Lunar New Year, creating ripe conditions for the spread of the influenza virus from those already infected. And that means the next plane could bring a pandemic to the U.S. or anywhere else around the world. “The bottom line is the health security of the U.S. is only as strong as the health security of every country around the world,” says Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.



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