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 @ISIDEWITHNewsHealthcareElectiontelehealthlaborCoalitionAustralia•••1 day ago

Labor and Coalition Clash Over $200 Million Telehealth Expansion Ahead of Election

In the lead-up to the federal election, healthcare has become a central issue as Labor promises to rebrand and expand the national telehealth hotline, offering free after-hours access to all Australians. The $204 million plan would turn Healthdirect into 1800 MEDICARE, broadening its reach and integrating it more closely with GP services. The Coalition has dismissed the move as merely a rebranding of existing services but has pledged to match the funding if elected. Both major parties are now committed to expanding telehealth, making it a key battleground in their pitches to voters. This focus underscores the importance of accessible healthcare in the upcoming election.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…6mos6MO

L.A. Times Owner Declines To Endorse Harris Over Stance On Gaza War

As the nation counted down this fall to a bitterly polarized election, the editorial board of The Los Angeles Times drew up a detailed outline for an endorsement that seemed obvious for an institution that had leaned liberal for generations: Vice President Kamala Harris should be the next president of the United States.For days, readers in overwhelmingly liberal Southern California speculated angrily about a decision that was widely regarded as a favor to Mr. Trump and a vote of no confidence in Ms. Harris.Thousands of readers canceled subscriptions. Three members of the editorial board resigned. Nearly 200 staff members signed an open letter to management demanding an explanation, complaining that the decision this close to the election had undermined the news organization’s trust with readers. The Times’s News Guild, the newsroom’s union, lodged a protest. In social media posts and subsequent interviews with his own news organization, Dr. Soon-Shiong framed the choice as an attempt at neutrality.But in a statement on Saturday that was swiftly challenged by the paper, his daughter, Nika Soon-Shiong, 31, a progressive political activist who has frequently been accused of trying to meddle in the paper’s news coverage, said the decision was motivated by Ms. Harris’s continued support for Israel in its war in Gaza.“Our family made the joint decision not to endorse a Presidential candidate. This was the first and only time I have been involved in the process,” Ms. Soon-Shiong, who has no formal role at the paper, said in a statement to The New York Times. “As a citizen of a country openly financing genocide, and as a family that experienced South African Apartheid, the endorsement was an opportunity to repudiate justifications for the widespread targeting of journalists and ongoing war on children.”The editor of editorials, who was among those who have resigned, said she was taken aback by the daughter’s assertion. “If that was the reason that Dr. Soon-Shiong blocked an endorsement of Kamala Harris, it was not communicated to me or the editorial writers,” Mariel Garza, who resigned on Tuesday, said in a statement. “If the family’s goal was to ‘repudiate justifications for the widespread targeting of journalists and ongoing war on children,’ remaining silent did not accomplish that.”

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…5mos5MO

FBI Director Chris Wray Will Resign

The F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, told bureau employees on Wednesday that he intended to resign before the Trump administration begins, bowing to the reality that President-elect Donald J. Trump had publicly declared his desire to replace him.Mr. Wray made the disclosure while addressing employees Wednesday afternoon in remarks that tacitly acknowledged the politically charged position the F.B.I. now faces with an incoming president who openly scorns the agency.“I’ve decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January and then step down,” Mr. Wray said, adding, “This is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.”The director spoke wistfully about his time at the F.B.I. “This is not easy for me,” he said. “I love this place, I love our mission and I love our people.”The announcement comes after Mr. Trump said in late November that he intended to nominate Kash Patel, a longtime loyalist, to run the F.B.I., and more than two years before Mr. Wray’s 10-year term would have expired.Paul Abbate, the deputy F.B.I. director, is set to retire in April but would typically serve as acting director until Mr. Patel is confirmed. It is not clear who would replace Mr. Abbate, the most senior agent in the bureau.Over more than seven years, Mr. Wray oversaw one of the most consequential and tumultuous periods in the bureau’s history, juggling high-profile criminal investigations of political figures, heated congressional inquiries and two attempted assassinations of Mr. Trump.

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