Latest news with #Sorensen
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Baldwin hears from Medicaid recipients in Superior
May 29—SUPERIOR — The Lake Superior Community Health Center relies on Medicaid reimbursements to fund 60% to 70% of its budget in any given year, according to CEO Lee Homan. The health care facility in East End provided space Thursday, May 29, for U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., to hear from area residents about their concerns after House Republicans advanced a budget bill May 22 that would change Medicaid. Baldwin said the bill includes cuts that could potentially kick 14 million Americans, including 228,000 Wisconsinites, off their health insurance. However, U.S. Rep Tom Tiffany, R-Wisconsin, said "cuts" isn't the right word. It's about reforming the system that was designed to help people with disabilities, pregnant mothers and indigent people, he told the Telegram in a phone call. "We want to save the program, OK, because otherwise it's going to go broke," Tiffany said. Baldwin has a different view of the bill, which is still awaiting a vote in the Senate. "They used tricks in order to mask the cuts that they were making ... like work reporting requirements," she said. "Well, most people on Medicaid work, but these reporting requirements and having them more frequent are meant to trip you up so that you lose your eligibility even though you're eligible. There are all sorts of gimmicks, but most of it is more paperwork, more bureaucracy, and frankly more government to process that red tape." Barbara Sorensen, who has a 43-year-old son on Medicaid, told the congresswoman it takes about five weeks from receiving the first letter to recertification for Medicaid. "I can't imagine doing it twice a year, and who's going to pay for it?" Sorensen said. "It's an unfunded mandate." Her son has relied on Medicaid all of his life after being diagnosed with autism, low muscle tone and sensory integration problems, Sorensen said. She said he didn't walk until he was 34 months old but still managed to graduate from high school and has worked for the city of Ashland picking up litter since 2002. "Those people who are writing these bills don't know that they're already working," Sorensen said of many Medicaid recipients. Carla Becker said Medicaid has been instrumental in allowing her to advocate for her daughter, Willow. Adopted from foster care, Willow remains eligible for the medical portion of Forward Health, which Becker said has allowed her to get the care Willow needs to address multiple medical issues. "It seems like the amount of money being spent on something that's not health care, in my opinion, seems like waste, fraud and abuse," Becker said of the proposed reporting requirements. Brianna Pearson said her autistic son is on a children's waiver through children's long-term care, and she doesn't know what she would do if it was cut. She is also a peer support specialist with indiGO in Superior and talked about the potential impact on the people she serves. "It would not only affect their coverages," Pearson said. "It would affect the supports they get from long-term care like IRIS (Include, Respect, I Self-Direct) and Inclusa, which are a lot of the consumers I work with." Baldwin said understanding Medicaid is a challenge because it goes by so many names, including BadgerCare, Katie Beckett for children, IRIS for adults and Family Care in Wisconsin, and MNCare in Minnesota. Dawn Becerra, 68, said many don't realize the "trickle down" supports provided by Medicaid. She has been caring for her mother with dementia for five years. She said without programs like Endeavors Adult Development Center in Balsam Lake, she and her husband wouldn't be able to get out together because someone has to be with her mother all the time. She said her mother's care at Endeavors is funded through the Aging and Disability Resource Center with Medicare and Medicaid funding. Baldwin noted that health care facilities in rural parts of the state have already been closing, leaving communities with little or no health care readily available. "We know that critical access hospitals that serve rural communities are on the brink," the congresswoman said. "They have very low margins. We know that skilled nursing facilities that serve out seniors, over half of which rely on Medicaid ... are on the brink." If Medicaid cuts do go through, Homan said Lake Superior Community Health Care would continue to provide care irrespective of ability to pay. But an increase in uninsured patients would have a financial impact on the organization, the CEO said. Tiffany said millions of Medicaid recipients are able-bodied adults but choose not to work. People who are in the U.S. illegally are also benefiting from the program, he argues. "There are hundreds of billions of dollars going out in Medicaid benefits to people like that — this is not how the program was originally created," he said.
Hamilton Spectator
4 days ago
- Sport
- Hamilton Spectator
Head coach Jesper Sorensen guiding Vancouver Whitecaps to new highs
VANCOUVER - Jesper Sorensen believes in giving his players room to make mistakes. 'If you're afraid of making mistakes, you'll make nothing. That's the problem. Because you will end up making mistakes,' the Vancouver Whitecaps' head coach said in a recent interview. 'So making mistakes is a big part of a fluid game … where there's a lot of transition moments and a lot of moments where things are not going perfectly. And my job is to try to construct a safety net behind the mistakes.' Sorensen's first five months in charge haven't featured many missteps — just an astounding start to the season. A 0-0 draw against Minnesota United on Wednesday extended the club's unbeaten streak to 15 games (7-0-8) across all competitions. A third of the way through the Major League Soccer campaign, Vancouver sits atop the Western Conference standings with a 9-1-5 record. The 'Caps have also stunned giants in CONCACAF Champions Cup play this year, ousting five-time champions CF Monterrey from the round of 16 and besting Lionel Messi's Inter Miami twice in the semifinals. The team will look to write the final chapter in their fairy tale run when they face LIGA MX side Cruz Azul in the tournament final on Sunday. 'It's been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of work. And it's been a time that I couldn't have foreseen, becoming this successful,' Sorensen said. 'And it's been great. Everybody has been great.' The 51-year-old former midfielder from Aarhus, Denmark, was introduced as the MLS-era Whitecaps' sixth full-time head coach on Jan. 14, just hours before the team took off for training camp in Marbella, Spain. He replaced Vanni Sartini, the eccentric Italian whose three-and-a-half season tenure saw the 'Caps win three straight Canadian Championship titles, but fail to get past the first round of the MLS playoffs. Though he'd played more than 300 matches in Denmark's top league, Sorensen was a relative unknown for many North American soccer fans before taking the job in Vancouver. He joined the 'Caps following two years as head coach of Brondby IF in the Danish Superliga, and two and a half more as assistant. He also spent more than a year in charge of Denmark's under-21 national squad. Sorensen's track record of quickly guiding new teams to positive results and his passion for player development stood out to Whitecaps CEO and sporting director Axel Schuster, who also liked the coach's 'calmness and confidence in himself.' 'I would love to say that I had seen all of this coming and that I was exactly expecting this,' Schuster said. 'I have to say that he's over-delivering on the results. But in general, he is exactly what we hoped he would be.' Sorensen's first game with the 'Caps ended in a frustrating 2-1 loss to Costa Rica's Deportivo Saprissa in Champions Cup play on Feb. 20, but the team rebounded with three straight wins across all competitions before the squad dropped its first match of the MLS season on March 22, a 3-1 decision to the Chicago Fire. The Whitecaps have not lost since. 'I think we've played amazing football. I think we are playing entertaining football. Actually, I would be a little bit arrogant if I said that we had imagined it to be as good as it is,' said 'Caps assistant coach Jan Michaelsen, who's known Sorensen since the 1990s when they played together at Akademisk Boldklub in Denmark. 'But we have to continue. We have the quality in the team. I think we have shown the quality. Now we just have to continue. That is the hardest job.' Under Sorensen, the 'Caps have been relentless, a team that attacks in waves and isn't afraid to pick the ball off an opponent's feet. It's a style of play that suits the players, said striker Brian White, who leads the team with 15 goals across all competitions. 'I think he's allowed everyone to kind of flourish and play their kind of game, and in respect to the way we want to play as a team,' he said. 'So I think he's found a way to get the best out of everybody, and I think we're just playing really well as a team.' The new coach isn't convinced that he's found new strengths in his athletes. What he's done, Sorensen said, is find ways to play to their existing strengths by utilizing them in the right moments. 'Sometimes it's also maybe a player that hasn't had the chance often is given a chance a couple of times,' he said. 'And then he can grow with the challenge. And then you can set even higher demands on the player like that. 'And I think it's very important, because players want demands, because then they know that you have expectations for them.' Knowing they can grow makes players hungrier, said Sebastian Berhalter, who's become a stalwart presence for Vancouver this season. 'I think we always had those strengths and it's about how he just pulled them out of us,' said the midfielder, who recently earned his first call-up to the U.S. national team. 'He's been really good at talking to each individual player and making sure that we know we're all going on the same page.' While some of the team's young talent has shone under the new bench boss, a vast array of players have seen their game develop this season, said 'Caps captain Ryan Gauld. 'I'd say he's got a passion for it and he's very good at individuals and coaching the younger players,' said the attacking midfielder, who's been sidelined since early March with a knee injury. 'And us, the older boys, the more experienced boys, we're learning a lot in training sessions as well. But especially the young boys, the amount they're learning off him and picking up, little things that they can do to improve their games, is huge for them. And I think that's why everyone's been enjoying it so much.' Sorensen, too, has been learning since stepping into the job. Before joining the Whitecaps, he'd spent his entire career playing and then coaching in Denmark. The new gig has brought an abundance of travel and a chance to explore North America — if only in short bursts. On every 'Caps road trip, he tries to take a walk and see part of the city. The packed MLS schedule is a challenge, he admitted, especially when he's trying to stay in touch with his wife, Pernille, and three young adult sons back home in Denmark, scheduling calls across a nine-hour time difference. Sorensen is learning to navigate those challenges for the sport he fell in love with 'instantly' as a kid. 'I played football every day after school, and I played in school, and I played all the time. And it was great,' he said, adding that he also dabbled in badminton and handball. 'When I was a kid, we were fortunate that there was not much television. In Denmark, you only had one channel and there was no internet. So all the time you were moving. And sport was the most fun thing for me to do.' That love hasn't waned. Sorensen remains passionate about soccer and exploring all of its complexities. It's a passion that bubbles out of him as he talks about why he turned to coaching after his playing career. 'I love studying the game,' he said. 'Finding new things, seeing new trends, learning about the game because it's so complex. It's the most complex game I think there is. 'I love it. I love the game.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Head coach Jesper Sorensen guiding Vancouver Whitecaps to new highs
VANCOUVER – Jesper Sorensen believes in giving his players room to make mistakes. 'If you're afraid of making mistakes, you'll make nothing. That's the problem. Because you will end up making mistakes,' the Vancouver Whitecaps' head coach said in a recent interview. 'So making mistakes is a big part of a fluid game … where there's a lot of transition moments and a lot of moments where things are not going perfectly. And my job is to try to construct a safety net behind the mistakes.' Sorensen's first five months in charge haven't featured many missteps — just an astounding start to the season. A 0-0 draw against Minnesota United on Wednesday extended the club's unbeaten streak to 15 games (7-0-8) across all competitions. A third of the way through the Major League Soccer campaign, Vancouver sits atop the Western Conference standings with a 9-1-5 record. The 'Caps have also stunned giants in CONCACAF Champions Cup play this year, ousting five-time champions CF Monterrey from the round of 16 and besting Lionel Messi's Inter Miami twice in the semifinals. The team will look to write the final chapter in their fairy tale run when they face LIGA MX side Cruz Azul in the tournament final on Sunday. 'It's been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of work. And it's been a time that I couldn't have foreseen, becoming this successful,' Sorensen said. 'And it's been great. Everybody has been great.' The 51-year-old former midfielder from Aarhus, Denmark, was introduced as the MLS-era Whitecaps' sixth full-time head coach on Jan. 14, just hours before the team took off for training camp in Marbella, Spain. He replaced Vanni Sartini, the eccentric Italian whose three-and-a-half season tenure saw the 'Caps win three straight Canadian Championship titles, but fail to get past the first round of the MLS playoffs. Though he'd played more than 300 matches in Denmark's top league, Sorensen was a relative unknown for many North American soccer fans before taking the job in Vancouver. He joined the 'Caps following two years as head coach of Brondby IF in the Danish Superliga, and two and a half more as assistant. He also spent more than a year in charge of Denmark's under-21 national squad. Sorensen's track record of quickly guiding new teams to positive results and his passion for player development stood out to Whitecaps CEO and sporting director Axel Schuster, who also liked the coach's 'calmness and confidence in himself.' 'I would love to say that I had seen all of this coming and that I was exactly expecting this,' Schuster said. 'I have to say that he's over-delivering on the results. But in general, he is exactly what we hoped he would be.' Sorensen's first game with the 'Caps ended in a frustrating 2-1 loss to Costa Rica's Deportivo Saprissa in Champions Cup play on Feb. 20, but the team rebounded with three straight wins across all competitions before the squad dropped its first match of the MLS season on March 22, a 3-1 decision to the Chicago Fire. The Whitecaps have not lost since. 'I think we've played amazing football. I think we are playing entertaining football. Actually, I would be a little bit arrogant if I said that we had imagined it to be as good as it is,' said 'Caps assistant coach Jan Michaelsen, who's known Sorensen since the 1990s when they played together at Akademisk Boldklub in Denmark. 'But we have to continue. We have the quality in the team. I think we have shown the quality. Now we just have to continue. That is the hardest job.' Under Sorensen, the 'Caps have been relentless, a team that attacks in waves and isn't afraid to pick the ball off an opponent's feet. It's a style of play that suits the players, said striker Brian White, who leads the team with 15 goals across all competitions. 'I think he's allowed everyone to kind of flourish and play their kind of game, and in respect to the way we want to play as a team,' he said. 'So I think he's found a way to get the best out of everybody, and I think we're just playing really well as a team.' The new coach isn't convinced that he's found new strengths in his athletes. What he's done, Sorensen said, is find ways to play to their existing strengths by utilizing them in the right moments. 'Sometimes it's also maybe a player that hasn't had the chance often is given a chance a couple of times,' he said. 'And then he can grow with the challenge. And then you can set even higher demands on the player like that. 'And I think it's very important, because players want demands, because then they know that you have expectations for them.' Knowing they can grow makes players hungrier, said Sebastian Berhalter, who's become a stalwart presence for Vancouver this season. 'I think we always had those strengths and it's about how he just pulled them out of us,' said the midfielder, who recently earned his first call-up to the U.S. national team. 'He's been really good at talking to each individual player and making sure that we know we're all going on the same page.' While some of the team's young talent has shone under the new bench boss, a vast array of players have seen their game develop this season, said 'Caps captain Ryan Gauld. 'I'd say he's got a passion for it and he's very good at individuals and coaching the younger players,' said the attacking midfielder, who's been sidelined since early March with a knee injury. 'And us, the older boys, the more experienced boys, we're learning a lot in training sessions as well. But especially the young boys, the amount they're learning off him and picking up, little things that they can do to improve their games, is huge for them. And I think that's why everyone's been enjoying it so much.' Sorensen, too, has been learning since stepping into the job. Before joining the Whitecaps, he'd spent his entire career playing and then coaching in Denmark. The new gig has brought an abundance of travel and a chance to explore North America — if only in short bursts. On every 'Caps road trip, he tries to take a walk and see part of the city. The packed MLS schedule is a challenge, he admitted, especially when he's trying to stay in touch with his wife, Pernille, and three young adult sons back home in Denmark, scheduling calls across a nine-hour time difference. Sorensen is learning to navigate those challenges for the sport he fell in love with 'instantly' as a kid. 'I played football every day after school, and I played in school, and I played all the time. And it was great,' he said, adding that he also dabbled in badminton and handball. 'When I was a kid, we were fortunate that there was not much television. In Denmark, you only had one channel and there was no internet. So all the time you were moving. And sport was the most fun thing for me to do.' That love hasn't waned. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Sorensen remains passionate about soccer and exploring all of its complexities. It's a passion that bubbles out of him as he talks about why he turned to coaching after his playing career. 'I love studying the game,' he said. 'Finding new things, seeing new trends, learning about the game because it's so complex. It's the most complex game I think there is. 'I love it. I love the game.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Chicago Blackhawks hire Jeff Blashill as head coach, hoping for a turnaround
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks hired Jeff Blashill on Thursday, giving him a second chance to prove himself as a head coach in the NHL. Blashill, a 51-year-old Michigan native, coached the Detroit Red Wings for seven seasons. He was let go after the team went 32-40-10 during the 2021-22 season. While Blashill had an underwhelming stay with Detroit, finishing with a 204-261-72 record, he has a player development background that likely was appealing for the rebuilding Blackhawks. He has coached in the AHL and USHL, along with the college ranks. Blashill, a former college goaltender for Ferris State, spent the last three seasons as an assistant to Jon Cooper with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The previous four coaches for Chicago — Anders Sorensen, Luke Richardson, Derek King and Jeremy Colliton — had never been a head coach in the NHL when they got the job with the Blackhawks. Chicago went 25-46-11 this year, finishing last in the Central Division and No. 31 in the NHL for the second straight season. General manager Kyle Davidson fired Richardson in December, and Sorensen was promoted from the minors to serve as the team's interim coach for the rest of the season. Sorensen was a candidate for the full-time job, but he is expected to remain with the franchise in some capacity. 'We love Anders,' Davidson said at the team's end-of-season media availability in April. 'He's been part of the organization for some time. He's a great hockey mind, he's a great person and those are the type of people we want in our organization.' Blashill inherits a team with the makings of what looks like a good young nucleus, led by Connor Bedard. It has two first-round selections in each of the next two drafts, to go along with salary-cap flexibility for free agency. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Artyom Levshunov, Colton Dach, Sam Rinzel, Oliver Moore and Ryan Greene each made their NHL debut this year, ramping up hope for the future. But the Blackhawks averaged just 2.73 goals this season and allowed 3.56 goals per game, 31st in the NHL behind only San Jose. The team has made just one postseason appearance since 2017, and that was the expanded playoff format after the 2020 season was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Blashill steps into his new job amid preparations for the franchise's centennial 2025-26 season. ___ AP NHL:
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Novo Nordisk's former chief makes comeback to steer choice of new CEO
By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Maggie Fick COPENHAGEN/LONDON (Reuters) -Years before Novo Nordisk's obesity drug Wegovy became a U.S. blockbuster, then-CEO Lars Rebien Sorensen told a press conference in Copenhagen: "You ain't seen nothing yet." More than a decade later, the 70-year-old is returning to Denmark's biggest company and is expected to strongly influence its future direction - most immediately through the selection of a new chief executive. His appointment as an observer on the board follows the removal on Friday of current CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen by Novo and the Novo Nordisk Foundation - the company's controlling shareholder, which Sorensen chairs. Jorgensen succeeded Sorensen as CEO in 2017. Six people interviewed by Reuters said they think Sorensen will use his influence to push for an external hire, the first in Novo's 103-year history. The company has had only five chief executives, all Danes. A source close to Novo who spoke on condition of anonymity said Sorensen would look for someone who could recharge the company's U.S. performance, and that such a candidate was likely to come from outside. Under Jorgensen's leadership, Novo became a world leader in the lucrative weight-loss drug market, launching Wegovy in 2021. But in the United States, its largest and most profitable market, the drug has been struggling against U.S. rival Eli Lilly's Zepbound. The decision to remove Jorgensen showed the Foundation's frustration with management over the execution of a strategy to shift Novo's focus to obesity from diabetes care, devised when Sorensen was CEO, the same person said. Novo Nordisk chair Helge Lund on Friday said the company's strategy is unchanged despite the shake-up. Lund said last week the search would include internal and external candidates and Jorgensen will stay on until a successor is appointed. The Foundation declined to comment on Thursday. A Novo Nordisk spokesperson said Sorensen will participate in board meetings but holds no voting rights as an observer. He will become a full board member at the next AGM. NEW STYLE Novo's shares have more than halved from their peak when the company was valued at $615 billion in June last year, one reason cited by the Foundation for intervening to remove Jorgensen. At one point Europe's most valuable company, its expansion bolstered Denmark's economy and the country's global standing. Nevertheless, Friday's move stunned investors, analysts and many Danes, who viewed it as a public humiliation of Jorgensen and the company's board. The change of CEO also comes at a critical moment for the pharmaceutical industry as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens tariffs on pharmaceutical products and wants drugmakers to cut U.S. prices of brand-name medicines. Financial analysts Reuters spoke to last week said an American chief executive might be better placed to deal with the Trump administration. Investors and analysts do not see Sorensen himself - who during his 16 years in charge was twice named global CEO of the year by Harvard Business Review - as a candidate for the job. When he stepped down as CEO in 2016, Novo cited as reasons increased competition in the U.S. market and pricing pressures for insulin, then its most profitable line. But some people said Sorensen might want someone with a similar style to his own. "He was very self-confident and a great communicator," said Frank Horning Andersen, a former analyst at Jyske Bank who covered Novo during Sorensen's tenure. In contrast, Jorgensen, an economist by training, is a self-described introvert. UNDER SCRUTINY Pointing to "market challenges", Sorensen said on Friday the "timing is right for a new profile as CEO of the company". Gareth Powell, head of healthcare at London-based investment fund Polar Capital, told Reuters the Foundation's move to oust Jorgensen implied "a greater degree of scrutiny". "I think they need to be very careful going externally (for a CEO) because they've got to keep the pace up whilst they're going through this process," he said. "But if they think they need to do something dramatic here, then maybe an external (hire) shakes things up." As CEO, Sorensen had his own clash with the Foundation, over plans in 2004 for a merger with Swiss-based drug company Serono that could have seen company headquarters moved to Switzerland. The Foundation blocked the deal to preserve Novo's Danish roots, according to Kurt Jacobsen, professor emeritus at Copenhagen Business School, who wrote a book about the company. "Sorensen was furious," Jacobsen said.
