Hasta La Gadget!

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Health insurance companies in California may not refuse to cover the cost of abortions, state insurance officials have ruled in a reversal of policy stemming from the decision by two Catholic universities to drop elective abortions from their employee health plans.

Although the federal Affordable Care Act does not compel employers to provide workers with health insurance that includes abortion coverage, the director of California’s Department of Managed Health Care said in a letter to seven insurance companies on Friday that the state Constitution and a 1975 state law prohibits them from selling group plans that exclude the procedure. The law in question requires such plans to encompass all “medically necessary” care.

“Abortion is a basic health care service,” department director Michelle Rouillard wrote in the letter. “All health plans must treat maternity services and legal abortion neutrally.”

Jesuit-run Santa Clara University and Loyola Marymount University notified employees last fall that they planned to stop paying for elective abortions, but said faculty and staff members could pay for supplemental coverage that would be provided through a third party. The two schools said their insurers, Anthem Blue Cross and Kaiser Permanente, had cleared the move with the state.

University employees who objected to the decision and abortion-rights groups lobbied the women’ caucus of the California Legislature, which in turn asked Gov. Jerry Brown to clarify and reverse the health care department’s determination.

In her letter to the insurers, Roullaird said her department had “erroneously approved or did not object” to a small number of health insurance policies that excluded abortions. She asked the companies to review their plans, including any the department had already approved, to make sure they are in accordance with the new guidance.

The two insurance companies told the San Jose Mercury News (http://bit.ly/1t2Pjgu) that they would comply with the directive. Loyola and Santa Clara representatives said they would explore their options with Anthem Blue Cross and Kaiser Permanente.

Two groups that oppose abortion, the Life Legal Defense Foundation and Alliance Defending Freedom, sent a letter to Rouillard on Friday saying that under federal law California cannot force employers to cover elective abortions. The groups said they would file a civil rights complaint with the federal government unless the state’s previous determination was reinstated.

“Pro-life employers have the freedom to choose health insurance plans that do not conflict with their beliefs on the dignity of human life,” Life Legal Defense Foundation Legal Director Catherine Short said. “California cannot be allowed to discriminate against health plans that don’t cover elective abortions and force people to purchase coverage that conflicts with their convictions.”

PORTERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of rural San Joaquin Valley residents no longer can get drinking water from their home faucets because California’s extreme drought has dried up their individual wells, government officials and community groups said.

The situation has become so dire that the Tulare County Office of Emergency Services had 12-gallon-per person rations of bottled water delivered on Friday in East Porterville, where at least 182 of the 1,400 households have reported having no or not enough water, according to the Porterville Recorder (http://bit.ly/1rsgwsZ ).

Many people in the unincorporated community about 52 miles north of Bakersfield also have been relying on a county-supplied 5,000-gallon water tank filled with non-potable water for bathing and flushing toilets, The Recorder said.

Emergency services manager Andrew Lockman, said the supplies of bottled water distributed by firefighters, the Red Cross and volunteer groups on Friday cost the county $30,000 and were designed to last about three weeks but are only a temporary fix. To get future deliveries, officials are asking low-income residents to apply for aid and for companies to make bottled water donations like the one a local casino made a few weeks ago.

“Right now we’re trying to provide immediate relief,” Lockman said. “This is conceived as an emergency plan right now.”

Officials said the problem is partly due to the shallowness of some residential wells in East Porterville that are replenished by groundwater from the Tule River, the Fresno Bee said (http://bit.ly/1zkf4aD ). But river flows are way down due to the ongoing drought, leaving some wells dry.

East Porterville resident Angelica Gallegos fought back tears as she described being without water for four months in the home she shares with her husband,, three children and two other adults.

“It’s hard,” she told The Bee. “I can’t shower the children like I used to.”

Farmworker Oliva Sanchez said she still gets a trickle from her tap, but dirt started coming out with the water about a week ago.

“I try to use the least possible. I’ll move if I have to,” she said.

Along with experiencing inconvenience and thirst, some residents have been reluctant to speak up about being waterless because they are afraid their landlords will evict them or social workers will take their children away, The Recorder reported.

“We want to make it abundantly clear we are not going to make this harder for anyone,” Lockman stressed. “These lists aren’t going anywhere. (Child Welfare Services) isn’t getting a list. They (CWS) made it abundantly clear they are not going to remove children because of no water. We just want to help the people.”

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Information from: The Porterville Recorder.

With the constant stream of horrible (although important) news stories out there right now, I would like to share a story about a small community of strangers coming together for a good cause.

I was sitting in Tompkins Square Park when a few people nearby noticed that two boys were struggling to help their dog, who had chased an errant tennis ball and subsequently got its head lodged tightly underneath a spiked fence.

Within minutes, a crowd of ten people had gathered to try and help the owners rescue the dog. The crushing weight of the fence quickly became apparent as the dog, who remained relatively calm throughout, began to groan and audibly choke in the most heartbreaking notes.

The crowd swelled, and, after thirty minutes of various rescue attempts, the group had efficiently designated tasks to certain onlookers: two shirtless teenagers covered in tattoos ran to a nearby apartment to “get Manuel’s wrench,” a well-dressed older man called the fire department, and a toothless man with a bike, who kept yelling how much “it hurts to get your head stuck under a fence…it happened to me once,” was to meet the firefighters and guide them to where the dog was.

Now, with fifty people gathered, including a few other dogs who had taken notice of the situation, the firefighters moved in. After a very tense few moments of anticipation, the dog jumped up from underneath the fence and shook with joy. The crowd erupted in a coordinated chant of “F-D-N-Y,” as the firefighters took their turns petting the dog.

This crowd of absolutely random people instantly began to rely on one another to help these boys and their dog. As the crowd dispersed, I saw a young girl in the arms of her young mother, both crying out of obvious relief and happiness. Nearby, a homeless person, a yoga student/instructor, and that shirtless teenager now holding “Manuel’s wrench,” all stood around the dog, cheering together.

Humanity can be humane sometimes, too.

Maybe you don’t want to commit to a playground friend for life. Maybe you just wanna meet new people, just have a casual game of hopscotch. Thankfully, there’s a new app that’s disrupting online playdating. Meet Kinder.

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Shaylee was busy playing with her toys on the couch when footage from one of NASA’s Space Shuttle launches started playing on television. Anyone who’s witnessed something as awe-inspiring as human spaceflight will surely identify with her sense of wonder. All together now: ISSAROCKETSHIIIIIIIIP!

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