Associated Press

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‘Unique and Beloved’ Carol Burnett Snags Top Humor Prize

Posted on 05/21/2013 by Associated Press | General News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Entertainment | Your LifeBy Brett Zongker, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Carol Burnett, who became famous for playing a variety of characters in sketch comedy routines on her namesake television show, was named the winner of the nation’s top humor prize on Tuesday. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said Burnett will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Oct. 20 in Washington. A gala performance featuring top names in comedy will be taped and broadcast nationally Oct. 30 on …

Creator of ‘Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile’ Dies at 91

Posted on 05/21/2013 by Associated Press | General News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Entertainment | LegacyNEW YORK (AP) — Bernard Waber, the author of such children’s favorites as “The House on East 88th Street” and “Lyle, Lyle Crocodile,” has died. Waber died May 16 at his Long Island home after a long illness, publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced Monday. He was 91. Waber’s “warmth, energy, artfulness, elegance, and abiding respect for children were epitomized in his books,” Houghton’s senior vice president and publisher of books for young readers, Betsy Groban, said in a statement. His …

Ray Manzarek, Founding Member of The Doors, Dies at 74

Posted on 05/21/2013 by Associated Press | General News | Comments

LegacyBy Chris Talbot, AP Music Writer Ray Manzarek, a founding member of the 1960s rock group The Doors whose versatile and often haunting keyboards complemented Jim Morrison’s gloomy baritone and helped set the mood for some of rock’s most enduring songs, has died. He was 74. [Listen to some of Manzarek’s greatest riffs, courtesy of public radio producer Paul Ingles and PRX, the Public Radio Exchange: Manzarek died Monday in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family, said publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald. …

Merck Insomnia Drug Carries Risks of Drowsy Driving, Suicidal Thoughts

Posted on 05/20/2013 by Associated Press | General News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthBy Matthew Perrone, AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health regulators say an experimental insomnia drug from Merck can help patients fall asleep, but it also carries worrisome side effects, including daytime drowsiness and suicidal thinking. Related: ER Visits Soar for Older Adults Taking Ambien The Food and Drug Administration on Monday released its review of the company’s sleep aid, suvorexant, ahead of a public meeting on Wednesday. The pill works by temporarily blocking chemical messengers that keep people …

Is Grief a Mental Illness?

Posted on 05/16/2013 by Associated Press | General News | Comments

Bulletin Today | health care | Personal HealthBy Lindsey Tanner, Medical Writer, The Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — In the new psychiatric manual of mental disorders, grief soon after a loved one’s death can be considered major depression. Extreme childhood temper tantrums get a fancy name. And certain “senior moments” are called “mild neurocognitive disorder.” Those changes are just some of the reasons prominent critics say the American Psychiatric Association is out of control, turning common human problems into mental illnesses in a trend they say will …

Senate Confirms Former Nurse to Run Medicare

Posted on 05/16/2013 by Associated Press | General News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Medicare | PoliticsBy Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A former intensive care nurse with a businesslike approach to a politically divisive public policy area won Senate approval May 15 to run Medicare and other major health insurance programs. By an overwhelming 91-7 vote, the Senate confirmed Marilyn Tavenner to oversee Medicare, Medicaid, children’s health insurance and coverage for the uninsured under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Together, the programs under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services …