In a career spanning less than a decade in Bollywood, known to be a tough space for outsiders, Anushka Sharma has carved a niche by slipping into a variety of roles with ease. The actress-producer says, as compared to earlier times, stardom is more accessible today.
Anushka doesn’t wish to restrict herself as an actress and would love to portray a new role with every film. She considers herself incapable of getting a tag like her co-stars and Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan.
“It’s not common to give somebody a tag like ‘King of Romance’ (Shah Rukh) now. It’s a special thing. I don’t think that something like this… like we gave Mr Bachchan ‘The Angry Young Man’ tag, and we call Shah Rukh as ‘King of Romance’… can happen now.
“I feel it will not happen any more because the meaning of stardom has changed completely. It is not what it used to be earlier. Stardom is more accessible today,” Anushka told IANS in an interview.
“During Amitji and Shah Rukh’s times, the meaning of stardom was different. Today it has changed. Still if it is there, then I feel as an actor you should accept everything that the audience gives you.
“It is love that you are receiving from the audience, it’s a kind of acceptance that you are getting. I don’t need any such kind of tag because I don’t believe I am capable of being able to fulfill that tag,” added the actress, who was last seen onscreen in “Jab Harry Met Sejal”.
Despite starring opposite big names on the silver screen, Anushka has still been able to make an impact with her acting in films like “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi”, “Jab Tak Hai Jaan”, “PK”, “Dil Dhadakne Do” and “Sultan”. Decoding why, she says she has been able to do so because she has never felt anxious about sharing the frame with them — nor was she awestruck by them.
She stressed that it helps to be “unaware” of the actor who stars with you and seeing him as the “character he is playing”.
“There are a lot of of feelings which you don’t speak onscreen, but it gets denoted through some emotion or facial expression. I feel that the more I will be real, I will be relatable also,” Anushka said.
As a producer, Anushka has backed offbeat films like “NH10” and “Phillauri”. She says her satisfaction lies in constantly evolving and indulging in work “of any relevance”.
“I feel you get some kind of diversity in your career by doing different films. That can only happen if you are working with different directors.
“I have had the fortune of working with big directors which every actor would have dreamt of. I have worked with names like Yash Chopra, Aditya Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani, Karan Johar and Vishal Bhardwaj… Only a director can add diversity to an actor’s filmography,” added Anushka, who will next be seen onscreen in “Pari”.
NEW YORK – ‘Bollywood – The Films! The Songs! The Stars!’ (DK; hardcover; 352 pages; $40), a comprehensive illustrated guide and coffee table book is a tribute to India’s tinsel town, filled with trivia and facts about some of the most beloved actors, films, and songs – replete with riveting background history – that Bollywood industry has produced since its inception in 1913.
The title of the book itself is controversial, with Bollywood for most encapsulating only the world of Hindi commercial films, not India’s massive film industry which includes regional cinema.
Actor Amitabh Bachchan, who’s given the foreword to the dazzling book, makes no qualms about saying so.
“I abhor the title of this book,” Bachchan, arguably India’s greatest thespian for over five decades now, begins with, in his foreword. “The Indian Film Industry is what I shall always refer to as Cinema in India. We are an independent creative industry and not a derivative; any attempt to imply otherwise, shall not find favor with me.”
Bachchan, while lamenting the absence of film documentation of the Indian film industry, which he terms as a “malaise”, gives a couple of interesting anecdotes that cleaves open the intrinsic value of Bollywood for fans.
Bachchan recounts what a Russian man said after being asked what it was that attracted him to Hindi cinema. The man said, “When I come out of the theater after watching a Hindi film, I have a smile on my face and a dry tear on my cheek.’ Bachchan’s father, the poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan gave a more introspective answer to what it meant to him: “I get to see poetic justice in three hours! You and me shall not see this in a lifetime…perhaps several lifetimes!”
The book is also great for those who may take new meaning in that Russian gentleman’s words, recounted by Bachchan, especially if they come out of the theater after watching one of the sub-par Hindi films being churned out nowadays, and realize that the smile on their face is more a smirk, out of ridicule over a mediocre film; the tear on the cheek is for anguish at lost time and money wasted.
This book may provide relief and succor to those who sigh over the sunset of the golden age of Bollywood, given way now to mostly crass films laden with hideous humor and abominable scripts – sink into a plush sofa, delve back into time, revive the power of memorable Hindi films, which once came out in a gush.
A feature of ‘Bollywood’ is that the book details superbly almost all popular films and stars, in chronological order. The timeline of Bollywood is in itself a revelation, clubbing both prominent actors and film in a specific time frame. The last chapter of the book, titled, ‘The Age of Big Money – 2000 Present’, begin with the films ‘Kaho Naa…Pyaar hai’ and ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ to ‘Bajirao Mastani’ and ‘Dangal’. The chapter also delves into the advent of the Filmfare awards and the rise of the concept of the small town in films, including the setting of gangster noir films like ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’.
Here’s one trivia which I picked out randomly from the book, from one of my favorite films: ‘Ijaazat’ by Gulzar, who also wrote the script and the lyrics, including for the hauntingly beautiful song ‘Mera Kuch Saaman (Some of my Possessions): When Gulzar gave composer R. D. Burman the unusual, blank verse lyrics, the latter exclaimed, “Next, you’ll ask me to compose music for the headline of The Times of India!”
The song went on to win the National Award for Best Lyricist and Singer.
India’s Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj meets Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
UNITED NATIONS – India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s address to the 72nd United Nations General Assembly here, in New York, is not till September 23rd, but she’s made good use of her time since she landed on Monday, with a series of meetings on the sidelines with world leaders, and her American and Japanese counterparts, Rex Tillerson and Taro Kono, apart from attending a meeting on UN reforms, hosted by the US and chaired by president Donald Trump.
Swaraj, who was received at the airport by the Indian Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna, and India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin, has only pleasantries and friendly exchanges scheduled this week before she flies home to India on Sunday, as an interaction with her Pakistan counterpart, foreign minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, has been ruled out.
The prime focus of the UN this year is on the nuclear threat posed by North Korea and the horrific ethnic cleansing in Myanmar, with over 400,000 Rohingya Muslims forced to emigrate to neighboring Bangladesh, as atrocities by the civil government of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her brutal military rise to new levels of genocide.
In her meetings with Tillerson and Kono, North Korea and China featured prominently, as the trio lambasted the former and discussed issues that dealt with weapons technology proliferation – with India clearly insinuating that Pakistan was to blame for nuclear weapons that North Korea now is terrorizing the world with – and maritime security.
“I think I am giving you enough material to try to figure out what we are talking about,” Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson for India’s External Affairs Ministry, told the media, on the North Korea-Pakistan nexus.
Japan has installed a missile shield to protect against a possible North Korea attack, after a missile launched on Friday flew over Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.
India also came down hard on China’s’ One Belt, One Road’ project, which includes the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
“On connectivity initiatives, the importance of basing them on universally recognized international norms, prudent financing and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity was underlined,” a statement released after the meeting, read.
Swaraj also held a series of meetings with leader and ministers of other countries, including with Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui, Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics and the Bolivian foreign minister Fernando Huanacuni Mamani.
Ivanka Trump with Sushma Swaraj.
Swaraj also met with Ivanka Trump, an Adviser to President Trump, on Monday. They discussed women empowerment and the upcoming Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad, in November, entitled ‘Women First, Prosperity for All’, to which the First Daughter will lead a US delegation.
Ivanka Trump inspired the World Bank fund for women entrepreneurs, which has a target of making $1 billion for women entrepreneurs.
“I have long respected India’s accomplished and charismatic Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, and it was an honor to meet her today,” Ivanka Trump tweeted after her meeting with Swaraj, adding: “We had a great discussion on women entrepreneurship, the upcoming GES2017 and workforce development in the US and India.”
With leaders of over 100 countries converging with their entourage in New York to deliver a speech to for the 193-member body UN General Assembly, it’s a nightmare for traffic all over the city this time of the year, but President’s Trump’s vehement declaration to “totally destroy” North Korea if it doesn’t denuclearize, would have stopped traffic anyway, if motorists were able to listen to his debut speech, delivered on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump talks with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley as they attend a session on reforming the United Nations at U.N. Headquarters in New York, U.S., September 18, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
There were exclamations and stunned looks inside the hall when Trump issued his warning to “Rocket Man”, as he termed North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, and warned him to desist from his “hostile behavior”.
“No one has shown more contempt for other nations and for the well-being of their own people than the depraved regime in North Korea,” said Trump, adding later in his speech, “The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.”
Trump also seemed to target his ire at China when he said: “It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade with such a regime but would arm, supply and financially support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict.”
Trump’s 41-minute speech at the UN also slammed Iran – whom he termed as an ““economically depleted rogue state” which indulges in violence and exports it too, as well as Venezuela, and Cuba. Trump had already warned Venezuela earlier this year that the US might intervene militarily.
Earlier, at a meet organized to talk about UN reforms, where Swaraj was present, Trump blasted the faulty bureaucracy and mismanagement which has led to widespread discontent among member states.
“The United Nations must hold every level of management accountable, protect whistleblowers and focus on results rather than on process,” Trump said.
“I am confident that if we work together and champion truly bold reforms the United Nations will emerge as a stronger, more effective, more just and greater force for peace and harmony in the world,” Trump said.
The United States is the biggest UN contributor, providing 22 percent of its $5.4 billion budget and 28.5 percent of its $7.3 billion peacekeeping budget.
India’s new Consul General in New York Sandeep Chakravorty, center, receiving an Honor Citation from NYS Legislature, presented by Assemblyman Tom McKevitt. Also in the picture, Varinder Bhalla, Congressman Tom Suozzi and NY Supreme Court Justice Steven Bucaria.(Photo: Indian American Voters Forum)
The Indian American Voters Forum in Albertson, Long Island, hosted a reception Sept. 1, for India’s new Consul General in New York, Sandeep Chakravorty and Deputy Consul General Paramita Tripathi.
The event was attended by among others, Congressman Tom Suozzi, D-NY, New York State Supreme Court Justice Steven Bucaria, State Assemblyman Thomas McKevitt, Nassau County Legislator Laura Curran and Dr. Marc Herman, candidate for Oyster Bay Supervisor. Nearly 50 members of the Indian community including Padmashree Dattatreyudu Nori, Air India North America Head Vandana Sharma, business representatives, prominent physicians, community activists, and heads of several organizations also attended.
The Consul General, formerly India’s Ambassador to Peru and Bolivia, was felicitated with an Honor Citation presented by Assemblyman McKevitt on behalf of the New York State Legislature.
Gunjan Rastogi, a member of the Indian American Voters Forum and Vice President of the India Association of Long Island apprised the Consul General of the mission and achievements of the Forum.
Suozzi spoke about his enduring association with the Indian American community on Long Island for nearly past two decades, as Nassau County Executive and the Mayor of Glen Cove. The Long Island Congressman, currently member of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committee, also talked about his dedication to strengthen the bond between the world’s largest and its oldest democracies.
The Consul General invited Suozzi to visit India and offered full support for the trip. “Congressman, I wish the entire nation of India – its 1.3 billion people – could hear your speech about taking the relationship between our two nations to the next level.”
NEW YORK – The Malayalee Association of Southern Connecticut (MASCONN) celebrated Onam on September 9, at Madison Middle School, Trumbull, CT. Over 300 people attended the meet.
A four-hours long cultural extravaganza, with a break for the traditional lunch feast Onamsadhya, kicked off with the lighting of the traditional nailavilakku, a lamp, followed by the ‘arrival’ of the legendary King Mahabali, who was welcomed to the stage by the audience.
MASCONN member Dotty Josh with King Mahabali.
Masconn members Aparna Bijoy Namboodri, Aswathi Rajesh, Amy Lloyd, Sabitha Ranjit, Mahima Hardy, Veena Ramesh, Mia Wilson, and Teressa Joseph performed a traditional thiruvathirakkali dance, to start the cultural part of the festivities.
Dance performance at the meet.
Unni Thoyakkattu, President of Masconn, in his welcome address, said the organization has “grown by leaps and bounds and we strive to meet the growing needs of our community.”
Celebrated around the world by Malayalees during the month of Chingam of the Kerala calendar, which falls in August-September, the Onam festivities, which mark the onset of the harvest season, and the arrival to Earth of the legendary King Maveli, last for 10 days.
Unni Thoyakkattu, President of MASCONN, serving lunch to guests.
Intricately decorated pookalam (flower arrangement), onamsadhya comprising of a dozen and more dishes served on banana leaf, thrilling snake boat race and exotic kaikottikali dance, are some of the remarkable features of Onam celebrations in Kerala.
In his Onam message, at Trumbull, King Mahabali told the audience that the “beauty of the festival lies in its secular fabric. People of all religions, castes and communities celebrate the festival with equal joy and verve. Onam also helps to create an atmosphere of peace and brotherhood by way of various team sports organized on the day.”
MASCONN Vice President Tijo Josh. All photos courtesy of Bennet Mathew.
Masconn Vice President Tijo Josh gave a vote of thanks to members and volunteers who helped organize successfully the 9th edition of the annual festival.
Dancers and musicians from the well-known tri-state organization, Surati, performed before some 800 delegates and dignitaries from around the world at the United Nations Sept. 8, for the event ‘India @70’ celebrating 70 years of India’s independence.
The performance featured 15 dancers and musicians who performed Indian classical, folk, martial arts, Bollywood as well as hip-hop, jazz, Afro-fusion, Flamenco and other world music and dance genres.
The program was hosted by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.
The performances were designed to highlight the various genres of Indian dance and music as well as art forms from all over the world, to drive home the universality of dance and music, and demonstrating the goodwill and camaraderie between nations.
“We feel fortunate to have been hand-picked to showcase authentic Indian performing arts and world music and dance in all it’s diversity, for this momentous occasion at this prestigious venue,” said Rimli Roy, Founder and Artistic Director of Surati, who
conceptualized and directed the performances.
Shere-Punjab Midwest Sports & Cultural Club of Chicago held its annual Kabaddi tournament on Sunday Sept. 3, at Busse Woods Forest Preserve at Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Sport enthusiasts, friends and community members from Midwest states, including Michigan, Indiana and Ohio besides Chicagoland showed up in droves. Teams from other states also showed up.
California, North Carolina, Seattle and Chicago teams played 5 exciting and nail-biting matches. The final was between Seattle and North Carolina.
Among the six competing teams, the final match was between old rivals Tony Sanghera’s team from Chicago and Lakhbir Dhindsa’s team from Kenosha. Kenosha won by one point.
Seattle grabbed the first prize and North Carolina was declared runner up. Best Stopper prize went to Pala Jalalpur. Sandeep Surkhpur and Laadi were awarded the Best Raider prize.
Seattle Team with Shere Punjab members.
The contest was sponsored by Amarjit Singh Dhindsa and family and the chief guest was Gurcharan Singh Jhaj. Speaking at the occasion Amardev Singh Bandesha from Shere Punjab Sports Club said that “Beside culture and religion, we need to encourage participation in our Desi sports to our new generation.” Another club member Parminder Singh Walia said that “Shere Punjab is one of the first ones to start this championship in Midwest and our effort is to maintain the originality of this sport and to pass it on to the next generation”.
Local businesses provided meals, and Punjabi folk singer Baljit Malwa and local talent Jessie performed live.
Match commentator Makhan Ali kept the crowd informed and entertained. Kabaddi Coach Paramjit Singh Kammi and match referees Raja Talan, Rana Bhandal, Pammi coach were also honored for their work and dedication. President S. Balwinder Singh Chatha in his closing remarks, thanked all the members, board of trustees, volunteers and sponsors.
Around 170 members of Indian Seniors of Chicago met at Manav Seva Mandir, Bensenville, IL. Sept. 9, to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi and Navratri Garba.
Prayers were recited followed by Hanhuman Chalisa and a presentation was made by President Narsinh Patel acknowledging the donors.
Bipin Shah spoke about the importance of Ganesh Chaturthi and Sharad Shah gave an informative lecture on Navratri, also known as Navdurga festival.
There was entertainment coordinated by Arvindbhai Kotak. Naran Mody handed out birthday cards to seniors whose birthday falls September, and the 80th birthday of Naresh Dekhtawala was celebrated.
Vice President Dr, Rasik Shah presented a bouquet to Dekhtawala on behalf of all the members. Everyone joined the aarti and Raas garba.
Gujarati Samaj of Chicago (GSC) organized Navratri Garba at Manav Seva Mandir at Bensenville, IL on Sept. 15.
More than 500 people danced at the Navratri celebrations sponsored by Jayshree Patel (New York Life), Nikhil Shah & Raj Patel (Home Smart Connect), and Niranjan Nathvani ( Big Suchir).
Orchestra was provided by Hitesh Master and his team. All the GSC Members along with current General Secretary Jayesh Parikh and past president Suryakant Patel enjoyed an evening of dance and devotion.
Hurricane Maria which bore down menacingly on the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Tuesday after devastating the tiny island nation of Dominica and Hurricane Jose (top) are both seen in the Atlantic Ocean in this NOAA’s GOES East satellite image taken at 21:45 p.m. EDT on September 19, 2017 (0145 UTC, September 20, 2017). Courtesy NASA/NOAA GOES Project/Handout via REUTERS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico on Wednesday as the strongest storm to hit the U.S. territory in nearly 90 years, ripping windows from their fixtures and sending debris hurtling through the streets as it approached the capital, San Juan.
Maria, the second major hurricane to roar through the Caribbean this month, made landfall near Yabucoa, on the southwest coast of the island of 3.4 million people. Thousands of people were seeking safety in shelters.
Carrying winds of 145 miles per hour (233 kph) and driving high storm surges, Maria’s eye was located about 15 miles (25 km) southwest of San Juan at 9 a.m. ET (1300 GMT), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Buildings trembled as the storm battered San Juan and sent torn off pieces of metal barricades clattering along streets.
Broken windows, mangled awnings and gutters dangled haphazardly from buildings or were ripped off entirely. Toilets bubbled noisily and belched foul air as the hurricane rumbled through the city’s water and sewage lines.
On its passage through the Caribbean, Maria killed at least one person in the French territory of Guadeloupe and devastated the tiny island nation of Dominica.
Hurricane Irma, which ranked as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, also left a trail of destruction in several Caribbean islands and Florida this month, killing at least 84 people in the Caribbean and the U.S. mainland.
“We have not experienced an event of this magnitude in our modern history,” Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello said in a televised message on Tuesday.
“Although it looks like a direct hit with major damage to Puerto Rico is inevitable, I ask for America’s prayers,” he said, adding the government had set up 500 shelters.
Maria was expected to dump as much as 25 inches (66 cm) of rain on parts of Puerto Rico, the NHC said. Storm surges, when hurricanes push ocean water dangerously over normal levels, could be up to 9 feet (2.7 meters). The heavy rainfall could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, it added.
“This a catastrophe we’re going through,” said Madeline Morales, 62, a saleswoman in San Juan who abandoned her coastal home before the storm hit to seek refuge in a hotel on higher ground.
Maria was set to be the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico since 1928, when the San Felipe Segundo hurricane slammed the island and killed about 300 people, the National Weather Service said.
Before hitting Puerto Rico, Maria passed west of St. Croix, home to about half of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ 103,000 residents, as a rare Category 5 storm, the top of the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. Authorities expected to start assessing storm damage on St. Croix from daybreak.
Maria was on a track to pass just north of the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic on Wednesday night and Thursday, the NHC said. So far, it did not look likely to threaten the continental United States.
PUERTO RICO’S FINANCIAL TROUBLE
“This is going to be catastrophic for our island,” said Grisele Cruz, who was staying at a shelter in the southeastern city of Guayama. “We’re going to be without services for a long time.”
Irma grazed north of Puerto Rico but did not hit the island directly. But it storm knocked out power for 70 percent of the island, and killed at least three people.
Puerto Rico is grappling with the largest municipal debt crisis in U.S. history, with both its government and the public utility having filed for bankruptcy protection amid disputes with creditors.
Maria plowed into Dominica, a mountainous country of 72,000 people, late on Monday causing what Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit called “mind-boggling” destruction.
North of Dominica, the French island territory of Guadeloupe appeared to have been hit hard. The Guadeloupe prefecture said one person was killed by a falling tree and at least two people were missing in a shipwreck.
Some roofs had been ripped off, roads were blocked by fallen trees, 80,000 households were without power and there was flooding in some southern coastal areas, the prefecture said in Twitter posts.
There were hurricane warnings and watches in effect for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Culebra, and Vieques, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the southeastern Bahamas and the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to Puerto Plata.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed the latest plan by congressional Republicans to gut Obamacare while a sponsor of the bill faced blistering criticism from comedian Jimmy Kimmel who said the senator “lied right to my face” about it.
Trump, on Twitter, called the measure sponsored by Republican Senators Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham “great,” adding: “I hope Republican Senators will vote for Graham-Cassidy and fulfill their promise to Repeal & Replace ObamaCare. Money direct to States!”
After previous proposals failed in the Senate in July, Republicans are using the Graham-Cassidy bill to make one last push this year to pass legislation to dismantle the 2010 law, a goal of theirs for seven years. The Affordable Care Act was the top legislative achievement of Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, and replacing it was one of Trump’s most repeated campaign promises.
Cassidy, the target of Kimmel’s wrath, defended the bill, which would give healthcare money to states in block grants, let them opt out of certain Obamacare consumer protections and waive requirements that insurers cover certain benefits, and end an expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled.
The senator has said any healthcare bill must pass what he called “the Jimmy Kimmel test” of providing affordable care for children, after the comedian and late-night TV host became part of the healthcare debate in may when he emotionally revealed that his newborn son had emergency heart surgery.
Cassidy appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in May and said he backed access to preventative care regardless of income.
“This guy, Bill Cassidy, just lied right to my face,” Kimmel said on his show on Tuesday. “He said he would only support a healthcare bill that made sure a child like mine would get the health coverage he needs no matter how much money his parents make.
“Stop using my name, OK? Because I don’t want my name on it. There’s a new ‘Jimmy Kimmel test’ for you. It’s called the lie detector test. You’re welcome to stop by the studio and take it any time,” he said to cheers from his audience.
On Wednesday morning, Cassidy said his proposal would protect people who are already ill, although it does let states waive an Obamacare mandate that insurers cannot charge people who have pre-existing medical conditions more than those who are healthy.
“I’m sorry he does not understand,” Cassidy, a gastroenterologist who represents Louisiana, said of Kimmel on CNN.
“There is a specific provision that says that if a state applies for a waiver, it must ensure that those with pre-existing conditions have affordable and adequate coverage,” Cassidy said.
In a statement, Cassidy called his bill “must-pass” legislation and pointed out that Republicans faced a Sept. 30 deadline to get it through the Senate.
CLINTON WEIGHS IN
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate defeated by Trump in last year’s election, weighed in on Wednesday, writing on Twitter, “Nothing is more important than saving the Affordable Care Act from another cruel effort to take health care away from millions of people.”
Republicans say the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, is an example of government overreach into the healthcare system. Democrats point out that it has expanded health insurance coverage to some 20 million people.
It remains unclear whether the Cassidy-Graham bill can win over enough wavering Republicans senators to win passage, including John McCain, whose “no” vote helped sink the last bill in July.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Committee has not yet assessed the effects of the new bill. The CBO had found that prior Republican legislation that failed in July would have deprived an estimated 22 million Americans of health insurance.
Medical advocacy groups and hospitals have lined up against the latest proposal, while a bipartisan group of 10 governors wrote a letter to Senate leaders asking them not to consider the Cassidy-Graham bill.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who fell a single vote short of securing passage of another healthcare overhaul bill in July, said on Tuesday the Graham-Cassidy legislation “has a great deal of support,” but would not commit to bringing it to the Senate floor for consideration.
After Sept. 30, the last day of the fiscal year, procedural rules will make it much more difficult for Republicans. The bill after Oct. 1 would need 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate to be brought up for consideration, rather than a simple majority until the end of the month. Republicans have a 52-48 majority in the Senate.
Micro-blogging website Twitter has hired Indian-American Sriram Krishnan as senior director of product. Krishnan was formerly a top executive at Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, immediately prior to joining the new company. He also held a senior position at Facebook before that, which he left in 2016. He also worked at Yahoo and Microsoft before that. He starts at his new job Oct. 2, according to his tweet.
“I’m going to be joining Twitter and become a part of #theflock to work with the fantastic product team there,” said the San Francisco resident originally from Chennai, on Twitter.
Appropriately, his tweet about the new job was seconded by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey — “So so so so so so excited to have you Sriram! Welcome home,” tweeted Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
“You may know Sriram from Tech Twitter — he’s a regular fixture there, pontificating, debating and snarking in 140 characters or less,” noted the news site TechCrunch.
Considered a ‘fixture’ of Silicon Valley, Krishnan’s work has focused on marketing and advertizing for tech companies. “While Twitter has a cadre of very dedicated users, it’s proven a challenge for the company to find the right combination of services and user experience to attract and keep a wider audience, to help drive its bigger strategy of monetising through advertising,” TechCrunch added.
“It is something I deeply care about and I couldn’t pass up a chance to be a part of it,” Krishnan Tweeted, adding “Can’t wait to get started Oct 2nd and work with @jack, @kcoleman, @mrdonut, @anthonynoto and everyone else!”
Krishnan is expected to report to Keith Coleman, Twitter’s vice president of product.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Krishnan led product vision, strategy, development and execution across multiple mobile ad products at Facebook; He founded Audience Network, Facebook’s mobile ad network, leading all product work across Audience Network including native ads, autoplay video, etc. growing it to a $1b+ run-rate business with thousands of publishers and millions of advertisers; He also founded and built mobile app engagement ads and deeplink ads, apart from leading work on various parts of mobile app install ads, and driving a significant percentage of Facebook’s revenue from 2014-2016..
He is a graduate of Anna University (2001-2005) in B.Tech, where his field of study was information technology.
The woman called 911, frantic. Her baby was locked in the car. While emergency workers headed to the scene, a man nearby received an alert on his phone about the situation. He was an emergency worker too, with tools to unlock the car. The man went outside with his equipment and unlocked the car, to the mother’s great delight. She thanked him and drove off, before the emergency workers arrived, without even knowing why the man came to her rescue.
“This happened from an app,” said the app’s proud father and creator, entrepreneur Andrew Frame. The man had gotten his alert through the phone app “Citizen,” which monitors 911 police and fire calls in New York City and posts their locations as well as key details in real time, and also pushes alerts to those in the area. The relieved mother of the baby “had no idea,” Frame said. “She was the recipient of a ‘good samaritan.’ He didn’t even open the app.” Someone else told Frame the story of being in a Manhattan hotel and learning of a fire there before the hotel alerted the guests to it. “That’s using technology in a positive way,” Frame said.
Cautiously, Frame is moving Citizen forward. On Tuesday, he unveiled a beta version in San Francisco, the app’s second market. They have no plans to roll it out in other cities yet, or to promote it through mass marketing or other hype. “We’re still in the early stages of figuring it out,” Frame said in an interview. “We have to carefully assess how the app is being used, we have to make sure it’s not being hijacked in negative ways. We want to make sure it’s being used in a positive and productive way. To our delight, it is.”
Citizen had a rocky start when it began life last year as “Vigilante,” and seemed to encourage users to intervene with crimes in progress. Apple took it down from its app store after a day. The New York Police Department were openly unimpressed. “Crimes in progress should be handled by the NYPD and not a vigilante with a cell phone,” the department said last October.
But Frame retooled it as Citizen, which now makes it clear, both in on-screen warnings and its Terms of Service, that it “does not allow users to interfere with active crime scenes or disrupt law enforcement. Both are clearly forbidden in our Terms of Service, and we’ve been encouraged by the responsible engagement of our New York user base,” Frame’s company said in a release announcing the San Francisco roll-out.
The ability to know of, and avoid, an incident in progress may be Citizen’s best feature, though it’s one that will be hard to measure. But if I’m in New York’s Greenwich Village with my kids and I get an alert about an armed robbery at Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street, I’m going to detour away from there. That’s good information to have, and it’s free. There is also the potential for someone to try to intervene when getting such an alert, and possibly make matters worse. Frame knows this is coming, and said he’ll deal with it as needed.
The New York police press office, in an unsigned e-mail this week, recycled their previous comment that, “If an individual is the victim of a crime, would like to report a crime, or needs police assistance, the NYPD urges them to call 911 or speak to a police officer,” even though Citizen does not enable users to report a crime or call for assistance. It acts on already reported incidents broadcast by 911 dispatchers. The New York police email also added, “There are several sources of information regarding crime data available to the public. Please be referred to the links below.” though Citizen does not collect or distribute crime data. A follow-up email seeking clarification went unanswered.
“I think they’re studying and observing the impact,” Frame said of the NYPD, and he has had contact with police officials who don’t necessarily see it as a threat. “We don’t have a political viewpoint,” Frame said. “This is just about safety. Transparency and safety.”
Citizen uses about 20 employees to monitor the unencrypted police and fire calls in New York’s five boroughs around the clock. When they hear something that could be a public safety issue, or just a curiosity for people nearby, they post it to the app and send out an alert to users nearby with an accompanying map of the area. Users can avoid the area, or approach and shoot video and livestream it on the app, which a surprising number of folks do. Frame said the app has about 120,000 users in New York, not counting outside observers.
The posts are straightforward, careful not to sensationalize what little is known about an event as it is erupting. Here are the last five posts as I’m looking at the app right now:
“Possible Robbery; Prospect Ave. and Westchester Ave.; The suspect reportedly fled northbound on Prospect Avenue in a black Camry.”
“Teenager Possibly Stabbed; 269 Clarkson Avenue; Police at the scene have called for no further units to respond.”
“Theft; 5301 4th Avenue; Police have received a report of a theft of personal property.”
“Man Destroying Property; 92-49 215th Place; The man may be suffering from a mental illness.”
“Group Fight; Washington Ave & Park Pl.; The suspects are described only as a group of Black men and Hispanic men.”
(As I scroll down, there is another report of “Child Locked in Vehicle.” What’s up with all the locked-in kids, New York?)
As events unfold, Citizen adds more detail about the emergency response and what is found. And sometimes it’s not an emergency, it’s just a big crowd or a blocked-off street, and Citizen can provide some answers as to what’s going on. As I look at the phone now, I see, “Electrical Union Protesters Gathering for Rally in Foley Square,” which apparently started out as “Incident Reported at Foley Square.” Additional officers were sent. Someone starting streaming video of it. And then someone at Citizen determined that it was a rally of electrical workers who “have been striking for workers’ rights and affordable health care for several months,” and posted that information too.
Frame said any fears of Citizen users jumping into the fray of a crime in progress haven’t been realized so far. “We haven’t seen that at all,” Frame said. “We’re watching very carefully.” The new promotional video for the San Francisco roll-out features a dramatization of users streaming video as they spot a car with a suspected child kidnapper, but not actually chasing the car, and which the police then use to find the kidnapper.
The app is about making more information available to more people. “The transparency movement is happening with or without us,” Frame said. “I think it’s here.”
And though Frame says, “We don’t have a revenue model yet,” he has lined up significant financial support from venture capital groups such as Kapor Capital, with backers such as former NAACP president Benjamin Jealous and entertainment mogul Russell Simmons, and more recently Sequoia Capital, which was an early investor in nascent outfits such as Apple, Google and YouTube, and has committed $12 million in Series A funding. “If you can build value that’s unique and grow it,” Frame said, “business and revenue opportunities start to emerge.”
Under a gorgeous sky, on a perfect day in September, 70 volunteers gathered at the break of dawn in Skillman Park, NJ, to start preparing for a grand event: the Inaugural Vibha NY/NJ 5k Dream Mile Walk/Run under the aegis of the all-volunteer non-profit Vibha.
The remarkable feature of the event was the enthusiasm and drive displayed by the young organizers – middle school teens, under the tutelage of their parents, arranged most of the details of the 5K, and had been planning the event for several months pouring their energy, talent and ideas into the preparatory stages, then participating avidly all the way in the execution of the event and finally ensuring that the actual event day was a resounding and smooth success.
After several hours of energetic activity this Saturday morning, the Race was flagged off with 473 participants at 9 am on September 16th. The fun atmosphere at the venue was enhanced by kids activities, with food, music, the hypnotic drumbeat of a traditional Indian dhol and a lovely Flash Mob performance by young volunteers all combining to creating a festive and lively atmosphere.
The runners/ walkers, and the 75 volunteers were all supporting the efforts of Vibha to bring to children in India and the US opportunities that they would otherwise not encounter. Children of migrant workers, day laborers, girl children, children from financially strapped backgrounds are equipped with books, school fees, nutritional meals, vitamin supplements, shoes, book bags through Vibha’s commitment to their welfare.
Vibha, a nation-wide nonprofit has 18 action centers across the US and has raised $ 15 million since its inception in 1991, by the tireless commitment of its volunteers. To date, through 250 supported projects, they have impacted the lives of 300,000 children. Currently they support 30 projects in India and 7 in the US.
Participants wore classy red Tshirts with the logs of sponsors displayed on the back, volunteers sported blue tshirts.
Walkers were impressed by the chips embedded in the bibs and the automated time tracking this allowed.
“This is the most professional 5K I have ever attended”, said a glowing participant, after Montgomery Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker congratulated the winners.
The Walk raised 12K with 10 percent of funds going to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Bag Project of Princeton, NJ which supplies a bag of essential items to children in crisis. The remaining amount funds ongoing India projects.
NEW YORK – Friends of MP: NY/NJ, a group of Indian Americans hailing from the state of Madhya Pradesh, who live in New York and the tristate area, held their third annual Picnic on Sunday, Sept. 17, at the Princeton Country Club Picnic Area of Mercer Parks in New Jersey.
The event brought together around 300 people and featured delicious food, games and fun activities such as a photo booth with MP memorabilia, snow cones and candy floss in Indore style along with Cricket and Volleyball.
Food included the morning breakfast known as “Indore Kaa Sarafa” and other Indori dishes like Pohe with Indori Sev, Kachori, Saboodana Khichdi and Garadu as well as Dal, Batee and Choorma for lunch, served in special Thali and chilled Jaljeera to go along with it.
Also, the tradition of providing name tags to all attendees which were made out in Hindi was continued.
The afternoon saw surprise messages from the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP National Gen Secretary Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya (from Indore) and Principal Secretary to MP CM, Shri SK Mishra as well as the Indian Consulate in New York.
As the date coincided with the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attendees conveyed their greetings to him.
The picnic was organized by the families of Jitendra Muchhhal, Rajesh Mittal, Sandeep Jain, Raj Bansal, Pankaj Gupta, Rajiv Goyal, Anupam Sarwaikar, Rakesh Bhargava, Dr. Rajesh Kakani, Nipun Joshi, Avinash Jhawar, Navneet Trivedi and Anjani Mittal.
Pope Francis delivers “Urbi et Orbi” message from the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 5, 2015. (Photo: REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi
The Catholic Church official recalled to the Vatican because U.S. investigators suspected him of crimes involving child pornography is a diplomat who has served the church in positions around the globe.
The diplomat in question is Monsignor Carlo Alberto Capella. The church and U.S. State Department and Justice Department officials refused to name the suspect on the record, but his identity was reported by the Italian news agency ANSA, then confirmed by The New York Times and The Guardian.
Capella, 50, has had a wide-ranging career in the church that brought him to the United States only this past year. Born in the town of Carpi in Northern Italy, he was ordained as a priest in 1993, pursued a degree in canon law and then entered the Vatican’s corps of diplomats in 2004, according to the Associated Press. In that role, he was posted in India and then Hong Kong before another stint at the Vatican.
In 2008, according to a document from the Archdiocese of Milan, Pope Benedict XVI conferred the rank of “Chaplain of His Holiness” on Capella – a recognition of service to the church that bestowed on him the title of Monsignor.
In August, the State Department contacted the Vatican to say that U.S. officials had turned up evidence implicating Capella in a child pornography case. At the Vatican Embassy in Washington, Capella was one of four staff members with diplomatic immunity, protecting him from prosecution in America. The embassy on Massachusetts Avenue NW, near the U.S. Vice President’s residence, also employs about a dozen locally hired staff members, according to people familiar with the embassy’s operations.
The church transferred Capella back to the Vatican and said that it is investigating the case. A State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to remark more frankly about the case, said that the United States had asked the Vatican to waive Capella’s immunity so that he could be prosecuted here. The Vatican refused.
In Vatican City, Capella could face consequences in two disciplinary systems: Under church law, he could be defrocked as a priest, and under civil law in the Holy See, which is also an independent nation, he could face criminal penalties. The city-state’s criminal law says people convicted of possessing child pornography face up to two years in prison and $12,000 in fines, and those convicted of producing or distributing the images face steeper penalties.
Desi Talk Chicago will be celebrating 2nd Annual Diwali Mela on Sunday, October 8 12:00 pm to 8:00 P.M. at The Meadows Club 2950 W Golf Rd, Rolling Meadows, IL 60008. The chief guest of the event would be Consulate General Neeta Bhushan. Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emmanuel and other elected officials have also been invited. Last year over 120 participants performed and the event was attended by over 5000 people. This year, the organizers anticipate attracting an even larger crowd. US Bank, Western Union and Star Plus are few major sponsors of the event.
Diwali is synonymous with shopping; new clothes, jewelry, handicrafts, household items to name a few. Vendors showcase a variety of these items at Diwali Mela Chicago from various parts of US and India for display and sale. The organizers pride themselves with showcasing a unique and artful number of items from vendors that are mostly home-based and do not have regular shops; so, the only way to buy these exclusive handpicked items is at Diwali Mela Chicago. Performances by Bollywood celebrities and local talent are the highlight of Diwali Mela Chicago. Full day entertainment for all ages include Indian classical and folk-dance performances, Bollywood karaoke singing, antakshari, Bollywood dances, Rangoli, Garba-Raas, bhangra, DJ Music and dancing. “We performed at the mela last year and are looking forward to this year’s performance. It’s a great platform for local dance schools to showcase their talent”, said one of the dance group coordinators.
The all-day event attracts crowds from the entire Midwest as it is a unique program with authentic shopping experiences. In addition to the cultural performances, the shopping experience featuring stalls and variety of booths for clothes, ethnic jewelry, and special booth on children’s stories book seem to be a huge attraction for the patrons. One of the highlights of the event is the unveiling of a Diwali book along with story-telling describing the five-day Diwali festivities. “This book talks about all five days of Diwali festivities starting from Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj explaining significance of each day. Our effort is to teach mythology through fun stories”, said one of the writers of the book Ajanta Chakraborty. Dance varieties will range from Bollywood, fusion and classical. The venue offers free parking and free admission coupled with a great variety of entertainment and authentic shopping extravaganza.
“Desi Talk Chicago first started Diwali Mela last year and its was very successful. It is very rare that an organization offers a free event to the public and that too at a great venue. Most of the events have a ticket price but Desi Talk Mela offers free admission and provides great entertainment and a variety of shopping booths for all ages”, said Bhailal Patel, Executive Vice President Desi Talk Chicago.
Those interested in having a booth at the event may call: 773-856-3445 or 212-675-7515 x 102 and for participation in cultural activities the phone-number is 201-450-2818.
NEW YORK – Indian American Nirav Patel has decided to run as a Democrat for the Assembly of the state of New Jersey.
“I pledge that I am running for Assembly in order to serve the people of the 12th Legislative District,” Patel stated on his website, and while he is new to politics, he wants to guide New Jersey in the right direction “after eight years of a failed governor.”
Patel believes that his opponents’ spending habits to lower tax bills are out of control and states that “New Jersey has one of the highest property tax rates in the nation and our taxes only go up year after year.”
He also mentions that the state is currently ranked #50 out of 50 in terms of how much federal funding it receives for what the residents pay in federal taxes.
“As your state Assemblyman, I will also fight to ensure New Jersey applies for more grants and lobbies for more federal funding than we currently receive,” he said.
Patel also wants to rebuild the state’s infrastructure because New Jersey is a critical shipping hub on the East Coast.
“Under the failed Christie administration, NJ Transit saw a 90% reduction in funding, and the Governor constantly stripped money from our transportation budget in order to fund tax cuts for his wealthy donors,” he explained adding that as a Northeastern state next to the ocean, New Jersey faces the challenges of both winter weather and salt in the air, which degrade and destroy the infrastructure of the state, asking to build more roads, bridges and tunnels.
Patel also states that the opioid epidemic is getting out of hand and wants to introduce a threefold plan:
We will work with local law enforcement and healthcare providers to create a system that treats addicts for their heath issues, rather than just incarceration.
We will create a system that allows athletic trainers, school nurses, families, and doctors to work together to ensure the usage of medication in schools is regulated to prevent addiction from occurring.
We will work with EMTs to ensure a sufficient supply of Narcan, a drug used to treat overdoses, to bring down the high death toll attached to opioid addiction.
Adding that “if we are able to enact this plan” then “we should be able to address both the root causes of” it “as well as help those who are already addicted.”
“I will be available, I will be transparent, and my door will be open to any constituent with any concern, no matter how small they may think their issue may be,” Patel said, as “It is time to put the service back in public service.”
Patel is the son of Raju Patel, a well-known activist in Jersey City; he has acquired training in chemical engineering, is a graduate in the economics field along with earning a Doctorate in Pharmacy and now works as a pharmacist.
Patel will be working with candidate Phil Murphy, who is running for governor.
People accompany caskets, holding the bodies of victims who died in an earthquake, through the streets in Atzala, on the outskirts of Puebla, Mexico September 20, 2017. Picture taken September 20, 2017. REUTERS/Imelda Medina
MEXICO CITY – Rescuers labored against long odds into the dawn on Thursday to save a 12-year-old schoolgirl and untold other survivors who may be trapped beneath crumpled buildings in central Mexico following the country’s deadliest earthquake in 32 years.
More than 50 survivors have been plucked from several disaster sites since Tuesday afternoon’s 7.1-magnitude quake, leading to impassioned choruses of “Yes we can!” from the first responders, volunteers and spectators gathered around the ruins.
At least 237 others have died and 1,900 were injured.
As the odds of survival lengthened with each passing hour, officials vowed to continue with search-and-rescue efforts such as the one at a collapsed school in southern Mexico City where Navy-led rescuers could communicate with the 12-year-old girl but were still unable to dig her free.
Eleven other children were rescued from the Enrique Rebsamen School, where the students are aged roughly six to 15 but 21 students and four adults there were killed.
Rescuers previously had seen a hand protruding from the debris and the girl wiggled her fingers when asked if she was still alive, according to broadcaster Televisa, whose cameras and reporters had special access to the scene to provide nonstop live coverage.
But some 15 hours into the effort, Admiral Jose Luis Vergara said rescuers still could not pinpoint her location.
“There’s a girl alive in there, we’re pretty sure of that, but we still don’t know how to get to her,” Vergara told Televisa.
“The hours that have passed complicate the chances of finding alive or in good health the person who might be trapped,” he said.
As Vergara spoke, a human chain of hard-hatted rescuers removed a large chunk of concrete from the floodlit scene.
Rescuers periodically demanded “total silence” from bystanders, who would freeze in place and stay quiet to better hear any calls for help.
As with other disaster sites throughout central Mexico, officials dared not employ heavy lifting equipment for fear of crushing anyone below.
Throughout the capital, crews were joined by volunteers and bystanders who used dogs, cameras, motion detectors and heat-seeking equipment to detect victims who may still be alive. Some 52 buildings collapsed in Mexico City alone and more in the surrounding states.
The quake killed 102 people in Mexico City and the remaining 135 from five surrounding states, officials said late on Wednesday.
At least nine Latin American countries pledged to rush in search-and-rescue teams or technical assistance, with crews from Panama and El Salvador already on the job, as did the United States, Spain, Japan and Israel.
The Panamanian team of 32 rescue workers dressed in orange jumpsuits and helmets and two dogs arrived with seven days’ worth of food, water and supplies and prepared to work around the clock, said Cesar Lange, leader of the Panamanian Civil Protection unit.
The earthquake struck about 150 km (90 miles) southeast of Mexico City on Tuesday afternoon, shattering glass, shearing off sides of buildings and leaving others in dusty piles of destruction.
It came on the same date as a 1985 tremor that killed thousands and still resonates in Mexico. Annual September 19 earthquake drills were being held a few hours before the nation got rocked once again.
Mexico was still recovering from another powerful quake less than two weeks ago that killed nearly 100 people in the south of the country.
The epicenter was 51 km (32 miles) beneath the surface, sending major shockwaves through the metropolitan area of some 20 million people. Much of the capital is built upon an ancient lake bed that shakes like jelly during a quake.
A new analysis released Thursday morning buttresses a growing body of evidence that the Senate’s Cassidy-Graham health-care bill would slash federal spending on health coverage and cause most states to lose billions of dollars in such aid.
According to the report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Republican plan to dismantle much of the Affordable Care would cut federal spending on health insurance by an average of 11 percent between 2020 and 2026 in the 31 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have expanded their Medicaid programs under the law. The states that have not expanded Medicaid – all but one led by Republicans – would gain an average of 12 percent during that period.
As a result, states that kept their Medicaid programs small would receive an extra $73 billion, while the federal money to the Medicaid expansion states would be cut a total of $180 billion.
Overall, the analysis by Kaiser, a respected health-policy organization, predicts a slightly smaller decrease than other assessments of government spending. The pending bill – which is known by the names of its primary sponsors, Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina – would abolish key aspects of the ACA, replacing most of the law’s rules with block grants to states and ending the way Medicaid has worked for more than a half-century.
Using a different method of calculating the legislation’s effects, Kaiser forecasts an overall reduction of $160 billion between 2020, when most of the bill’s changes would begin, and 2026, when it would stop funding the block grants. That compares with $215 billion less in federal spending predicted in an analysis this week by Avalere Health, a consulting firm, and $243 billion in a report by a liberal think tank, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
All three analyses show that, no matter whether Congress renewed spending for the block grants after 2026, federal aid for Medicaid would plummet across the country because the program’s entitlement funding would be replaced with a per-person cap. And over time, annual increases under that new method would tighten.
Such independent assessments are significant as the bill hurtles toward an expected vote next week, so quickly that the Congressional Budget Office is still working on even a rudimentary official forecast.
Some worried states – including those with senators whose support for the Cassidy-Graham plan will be crucial for its passage – are doing their own assessments of the legislation’s impact.
Alaska’s conclusions are expected to be completed on Thursday. That state is significant politically because its governor, Bill Walker, an independent, is one of 10 who signed a letter this week opposing the bill. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, is widely considered a key swing vote on the measure.
In Colorado, an analysis already indicates that it would lose more than $1 billion annually in federal funding by 2025. In 2027, when the block grant money ends, this amount would increase to nearly $3 billion annually. At least 300,000 Coloradans would lose their Medicaid coverage starting in 2021 as a consequence, state officials expect. By 2026, the number would hit 350,000 and then keep climbing.
Kaiser had hoped to produce estimates of the plans’ effects on the number of Americans with insurance coverage, but president Drew Altman said that it proved too difficult to predict what health policies each state would adopt to use its block grant.
