hKansas Gov. Sebelius tapped to lead HHS

hKansas Gov. Sebelius tapped to lead HHS

WASHINGTON — Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is President Barack Obama’s choice for secretary of health and human services, a White House source said Saturday.

The source, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said Obama will formally announce the nomination Monday.

The Sebelius pick caps a week in which Obama underscored his resolve to pass a major health-care overhaul this year.

He issued a challenge to Congress in his speech Tuesday, and followed up Thursday with a budget that requested an eye-popping $634 billion over 10 years, which the administration called a “down payment” on coverage for all.

This week, Obama will host lawmakers of both parties and representatives of major interest groups, from insurers to drug companies to consumers, at a White House summit on health-care reform.

Buffett optimistic despite worst year for company

OMAHA, Neb — Warren Buffett remains optimistic about the prospects for his company and the nation even though Berkshire Hathaway Inc. turned in its worst performance in 2008, and the widely-followed investor says the economy will likely remain a mess beyond this year.

Buffett used his annual letter Saturday to reassure shareholders that the Omaha-based insurance and investment company has the financial strength needed to withstand the current turmoil and improve after the worst showing of Buffett’s 44 years as chairman and CEO.

Buffett wrote he’s certain “the economy will be in shambles throughout 2009 — and, for that matter, probably well beyond — but that conclusion does not tell us whether the stock market will rise or fall.”

Woman gives birth to twins from 2 wombs

MARQUETTE, Mich. — A Michigan woman with two wombs has given birth to twin daughters — one from each uterus.

The Mining Journal and WLUC-TV report that Sarah Reinfelder’s two healthy babies were delivered seven weeks premature Thursday by cesarean section at Marquette General Hospital in the Upper Peninsula.

The 21-year-old Sault Ste. Marie woman has a condition known as uterus didelphys, and doctors say such twin births are rare. The uteri are different sizes, with the larger twin born from the larger uterus.

Dr. Connie Hedmark and Dr. Breanna Pond first delivered Kaylin Joy, then Valerie Marie, the larger twin by one pound. Kaylin Joy weighed 3 pounds, 15 ounces.

Neonatologist Julie Frei says she expects that the twins, who don’t have fully developed lung function, likely will be hospitalized for three or four weeks.

Mother gets 3 months for attacking sex offender

TACOMA, Wash. — A judge has sentenced a mother to three months in jail for hitting a convicted sex offender with an aluminum baseball bat.

Before her sentencing Friday, Tammy Lee Gibson told Pierce County Superior Court Judge Susan Serko that laws were needed to keep convicted sexual predators away from children.

Gibson, 40, who has two daughters, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of third-degree assault in January. She initially was charged with second-degree assault and felony harassment, which could have meant an eight-month jail sentence if she’d been convicted.

Court papers said Gibson hit William Allen Baldwin, a 24-year-old sex offender, with the bat after accusing him of molesting her children in June 2008 even though he had not. Baldwin was living in a trailer park near Gibson.

Associated Press