Latest news with #Bledsoe
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Narbonne begins rebuilding after exodus of players, coaches
Doug Bledsoe has made the rounds as a high school football coach. He's been head coach at North Hollywood, Dorsey, Pasadena and University. He says his latest coaching position will be his last until his 3-year-old grandson reaches high school. It's going to be his most challenging, trying to rebuild a Narbonne program that once again had an exodus of players and coaches after rule violations caused the City Section to impose a three-year playoff ban and make the program vacate its City title. This also happened in 2019 and the team dropped to 2-9 during a similar transition year in 2021. Bledsoe insists, 'The Narbonne Gauchos ain't dead.' He has four returning all-league players, including King'leon Sheard, a defensive end who had two sacks in last season's City Section Open Division final won by the Gauchos. They chose to stay even though there will be no playoffs when the 10-game regular season ends. 'They love the school,' Bledsoe said. 'We told them what we could do for them.' There's about 30 varsity players. Bledsoe is confident he and his staff can prepare his many new varsity players for the season ahead. Playing 10 games will be better than the eight games played last season when Marine League coaches boycotted playing the Gauchos, resulting in the loss of four games. A new coach and a new principal give the Gauchos a chance to start over. The harsh penalty imposed also could be reduced with good behavior. One sign of the dramatic change in a year's time is that the Gauchos had 27 transfers in the football program a year ago. There are currently none in the City Section transfer portal for this season. The starting quarterback will be basketball point guard Quamare Meadows, who was the JV quarterback two seasons ago but didn't play last season. Narbonne opens on the road against Los Osos on Aug. 22. It will play its first league game in two seasons against runner-up San Pedro on Oct. 3.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Republican physician politician says he might return to Kentucky to run for Congress
In 2022, Dr. Ralph Alvarado, then a Kentucky lawmaker, presents a bill to a Kentucky Senate committee. Alvarado became Tennessee's health commissioner in 2023. (LRC Public Information) The commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health and a former Kentucky state senator is considering running for Congress in a Central Kentucky district. Dr. Ralph Alvarado, the 2019 running mate of former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, announced in a social media post that he is considering a run after Republican state Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe, of Lexington, said she will not be seeking the seat. Its current occupant, Republican Andy Barr, is running next year for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Mitch McConnell. Bledsoe, long speculated to be considering a run for Congress, issued a statement about her decision on social media Monday afternoon, citing personal reasons. Alvarado bids Kentucky Senate farewell, special election May 16 to choose his successor Bledsoe also said she would work to hold the congressional seat for Republicans, adding that 'a great candidate for this seat will be announcing in the coming days, and I'm going to be all-in with him.' 'This was not an easy decision, but I know it's the right one,' Bledsoe said in her statement. 'I had every confidence in my ability to win and to serve, but ultimately this timing is just not right for me and my family. I am in a unique and meaningful season of life. My children are in high school, and these years you only get once. As I imagined what it would be like to fully commit to a campaign and to service in Washington, I kept coming back to Friday night games, school events, and everyday moments I don't want to miss — and that my children deserve to share with me.' The state senator added that she remains committed to working in the legislature and vowed to be 'in the fight on the campaign trail here at home' including supporting Barr in his race for U.S. Senate. Other notable Republicans in the primary are former Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Lexington businessman Nate Morris. The current seat holder, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, will not be seeking reelection in 2026. In a recent interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader, Bledsoe said that in addition to focusing on her children, she also will need more surgeries to recover from a 2023 accident where a horse kicked her in the face. Another state lawmaker, Republican Rep. Ryan Dotson, of Winchester, has announced his campaign for the congressional seat. On the Democratic side, former Kentucky House Democratic caucus chair Cherlynn Stevenson and former Lexington council member David Kloiber are running for the seat. Kentucky's primary elections will be held in May of 2026. Alvarado, a physician, represented a state Senate district that includes Clark and parts of Fayette and Montgomery counties from 2015 until 2023 when Republican Gov. Bill Lee tapped him to become Tennessee's health commissioner. In a post on X, he said his goal in Congress would be to support President Donald Trump. 'Both as a Doctor and in public service, my passion has always been in helping as many people as possible. Right now, President Trump needs strong allies in Congress to continue advancing this America First, Kentucky First agenda — I'd have his back 100%. We have been overwhelmed by the encouragement we've received from our friends and neighbors throughout Central Kentucky and will have an announcement to make soon.'
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lexington state senator ends speculation, says she won't run for Congress
State Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe is not running for Congress after all. After months of speculation about the Lexington Republican's potential candidacy for the 6th Congressional District — which is set to become vacant with Rep. Andy Barr running for U.S. Senate — Bledsoe closed the door on a run for the district in a Monday interview with the Herald-Leader. The former member of Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council told the Herald-Leader that her decision was informed by a desire to be present for her kids finishing high school and a need for further surgeries to recover from a 2023 accident where a horse kicked her in the face. 'This was not an easy decision, but I know it's the right one. I had every confidence in my ability to win and to serve, but ultimately the timing is just not right for me and my family,' Bledsoe wrote in a statement. 'As I imagined what it would take to fully commit to a campaign and to service in Washington, I kept coming back to Friday night games, school events, and everyday moments I don't want to miss.' On the Republican side, only state Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, has declared for the office. However, Bledsoe hinted in her statement that she would support someone who has yet to enter the race. 'A great candidate for this seat will be announcing in the coming days, and I'm going to be all-in with him,' Bledsoe wrote. Moments after Bledsoe's announcement, former GOP state senator and current Tennessee health department commissioner Ralph Alvarado hinted that he'd run for the seat. 'With my dear friend Amanda Mays Bledsoe announcing she's not running for Congress in KY-6, I wanted to let everyone know that my wife, Dawn, and I are strongly considering this race,' Alvarado wrote. 'Both as a doctor and in public service, my passion has always been in helping as many people as possible.' Two prominent Democrats have declared for the 6th Congressional District. Cherlynn Stevenson, a former member of Democratic House leadership, and David Kloiber, a former Lexington city councilman and mayoral candidate, are both vying for the nomination. Since her election to the state Senate in 2022, Bledsoe has risen the ranks to become vice chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations & Revenue Committee and has been assigned roles covering weighty issues like artificial intelligence. Bledsoe's state Senate district covers a swath of South Lexington as well as Woodford, Mercer and Boyle counties. Some Republicans saw her as the prohibitive favorite in the race for the 6th Congressional District nomination. Former state representative Killian Timoney called her the 'class entry' that would scare Democrats because of her bipartisan and policy bona fides. 'There are a lot of really good potential candidates, but if you're asking my opinion of who the class entry is on that one, it's definitely Amanda. I don't think there's a Democrat out there that could beat her,' Timoney said in April. Now, some politicos believe Bledsoe's deferral changes the calculus. 'Sen. Bledsoe was the clear frontrunner in the field with her high name ID in Fayette County combined with strong fundraising ability, support from a wide cross-section of the party, and vast policy skills,' T.J. Litafik, a Lexington-based GOP consultant, said. 'Her decision not to run throws the nomination wide open and could very well make for an especially competitive and interesting primary next May.'
Time of India
01-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
How Operation Gold Rush was planned and executed, which busted the largest health care fraud in US history
How did the fraud take place? Live Events How the operation was planned and executed Tactical execution and surveillance (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel US federal agents launched Operation Gold Rush in the early months of 2023, a top-secret crackdown that would ultimately dismantle the largest health care fraud scheme in American history. Over two years of silent tracking and coordinated stings culminated in the exposure of a $10.6 billion conspiracy, one so vast that it touched over a million Medicare beneficiaries, impersonated thousands of doctors, and manipulated America's largest health care safety net with chilling individuals have been charged, and more are expected. But the real legacy of Operation Gold Rush may be its playbook for how the government stopped fraud in its tracks, before the damage was criminal playbook was clear: purchase small, legitimate medical supply companies already enrolled in Medicare, then use them as shells to submit floods of fake claims for durable medical equipment, especially urinary catheters and glucose acquiring over 30 such companies across the US, the perpetrators didn't need to build a fraud operation from scratch. They bought one pre-approved, already inside the primarily from Estonia, Russia, and Kazakhstan, submitted claims for inexpensive, low-scrutiny medical items. In one instance, over 1 billion urinary catheters were billed to Medicare, far more than the US could manufacture in that time.'I don't even know if [the United States] has the ability to manufacture 1 billion catheters in such a short time,' said Isaac Bledsoe, director of strategic projects and initiatives at the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general's office, which helped lead the investigation along with the Justice Department and FBI . 'The absurdity, the brazenness of these actors is really just astounding.'The fraud ring didn't just invent fake patients. Instead, they stole the identities of more than 1.2 million real Americans, often buying Medicare numbers on illicit marketplaces like Craigslist and LinkedIn. With those, they forged claims under real names, often using doctors' identities without the heart of Operation Gold Rush's success was a fundamental shift in Medicare's fraud defense the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) followed a 'pay and chase' model: pay the claim, then investigate. But in early 2023, as anomalies in catheter billing volumes surged, CMS teamed up with the HHS Inspector General, the FBI, and the Justice Department, building real-time flagging systems and placing suspicious claims in escrow before Bledsoe, director of strategic projects at HHS-OIG, called it a 'massive pivot.''We didn't just catch them. We stopped the money before it moved. That's the real win here,' he fraud teams used artificial intelligence, virtual private server tracing, subpoenaed bank trails, and even airport surveillance. Several conspirators were caught as they attempted to flee the US, while others were arrested abroad in cooperation with Estonian executed undercover inspections, documented the interiors of supposed businesses, and found empty shelves, no supplies, no patients, just paperwork and billing terminals. One Kentucky office had billed Medicare for $667 million while visibly housing no medical prosecutors later said some companies were run entirely by overseas actors who had never set foot in the United States. US-based office managers, hired online, were instructed only to collect mail and deposit 400,000 Medicare beneficiaries filed complaints about being charged for products they never received. Over 7,000 physicians found their identities stolen to legitimize false despite the scale, federal agents froze over $5.5 billion in payments, allowing only a fraction to be Justice Department unveiled the full extent of Operation Gold Rush on June 30, 2025, calling it a watershed moment in fraud enforcement. A new Health Care Fraud Data Fusion Center is now under development, designed to use AI and cloud analytics to detect fraud in real time, mirroring the success of this operation.'As the criminals get smarter, we get smarter,' said Chris Schrank, HHS Deputy Inspector General. 'Operation Gold Rush wasn't just about stopping one scheme. It's a new model for everything that comes next.'
Time of India
19-06-2025
- Time of India
Ex-NBA star Eric Bledsoe arrested at Los Angeles gas station after allegedly striking woman in domestic violence case
Former point guard Eric Bledsoe, a 2010 first-round draft pick and 12-year league veteran, was arrested early Wednesday morning in California following a troubling domestic violence allegation. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now According to reports from TMZ Sports and the California Highway Patrol (CHP), officers responded to a 2:30 a.m. call about a domestic dispute that had occurred on a freeway outside Los Angeles. The investigation led them to a nearby gas station off US-101, where Bledsoe was located with a woman who appeared to have suffered facial injuries. Eric Bledsoe's alleged violent outburst leads to arrest Authorities say the woman at the scene showed 'bruising and swelling to her face' and informed officers that Eric Bledsoe had hit her. After reportedly refusing to provide a statement to law enforcement, Bledsoe was taken into custody and booked on a felony domestic violence charge. He was held on $50,000 bail. This arrest marks Bledsoe's second brush with domestic violence allegations. In 2022, he was previously arrested after his girlfriend, Briona Mae, accused him of abuse in a now-deleted Instagram post. The post, which included images of her injuries, read: 'Domestic violence is real! This wasn't the first time but I sat here and stayed so it's my fault! ERIC BLEDSOE really is a monster.' That case was later dropped due to 'inconsistent statements' and lack of sufficient evidence, according to authorities. Bledsoe's name again surfaced just two months ago when police responded to a call from his Los Angeles neighbors reporting a domestic disturbance. Though officers confirmed a dispute had taken place at his residence with Mae, no arrests were made, and there were no visible signs of physical violence (via Daily Mail). Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The identity of the woman involved in Wednesday's incident has not yet been confirmed, but law enforcement has not ruled out a connection to Mae. TMZ reports Bledsoe and Mae share twin daughters and have been in an on-and-off relationship since 2020. Despite his off-court troubles, Bledsoe enjoyed a productive NBA career. He played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks, and New Orleans Pelicans. He averaged 13.7 points, 4.7 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game, while shooting 45.2% from the field. Bledsoe was also named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team in 2018–19 and the Second Team the following season. His last NBA appearance was during the 2021–22 campaign. Following his NBA stint, Bledsoe played professionally overseas in China with the Shanghai Sharks and recently reemerged on the court with La Familia, the University of Kentucky alumni team, in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), where they reached the Final Four. Also Read: While Bledsoe's future on the court remains uncertain, his legal situation off the court is now front and center. As investigations continue, the basketball community watches closely, and for many, the focus now shifts to whether accountability will follow the charges laid against him.
