Federal authorities charged 107 doctors, nurses and social workers in seven cities with Medicare fraud Wednesday in a nationwide crackdown on unrelated scams that allegedly bilked the taxpayer-funded program of $452 million.
It's the highest dollar amount ever in a single Medicare bust, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.
Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder partnered in 2009 to increase enforcement by allocating more money and staff and creating strike forces in fraud hot spots. On Wednesday, hundreds of agents swept the nation, raiding businesses, seizing documents and charging suspects in Baton Rouge, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and Tampa.
'The Scream' earns $120M at auction
One of the art world's most recognizable images -- Edvard Munch's The Scream -- sold for a record $119,922,500 at auction in New York City.
The 1895 artwork -- a modern symbol of human anxiety -- was sold at Sotheby's. Neither the buyer's name nor any details about the buyer were released. Munch's image of a man holding his head and screaming under a streaked, blood-red sky is one of four versions by the Norwegian expressionist painter. The auctioned piece at Sotheby's is the only one left in private hands.
The previous record for an artwork sold at auction was $106.5 million for Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, sold by Christie's in 2010.
Occupy Cleveland will lose permit
A decision not to renew an Occupy Cleveland's permit was already in the works when five supporters of the protest group were charged in a bridge bombing plot this week, a city official said.
Ken Silliman, chief of staff to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, said the permit for the encampment was issued in the fall on the understanding that Occupy protesters would need a tent through Cleveland's winter. He said officials had already decided not to renew now that good weather is approaching. The five men are accused of plotting to blow up a Cleveland-area bridge.
Terrorist can't sue over 'torture memos'
An appeals court threw out a convicted terrorist's lawsuit accusing a high-ranking Bush administration lawyer who wrote the so-called "torture memos" of authorizing illegally harsh treatment of "enemy combatants."
Former deputy assistant attorney general John Yoo is protected from such lawsuits because the law defining treatment of enemy combatants was unsettled in the two years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when the memos were written, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled.
A Yoo memo in 2002 to then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales advised that treatment of suspects was torture only if it caused pain levels equivalent to "organ failure, impairment of bodily function or even death."
Penn State to help fund abuse research
Penn State has given more than $1.1 million in football bowl revenue to its new center for child abuse research and treatment, officials said.
School President Rodney Erickson said the Center for the Protection of Children, started in the wake of child sex-abuse allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, will offer treatment for abused children and a primary care clinic for foster kids.
"We expect that the center will become a national leader in clinical care, research, education and direction of policy related to child abuse and neglect," Erickson said.
Also
CAPE CANAVERAL -- The first commercial cargo run to the International Space Station set for Monday was delayed for more software testing. No new date has been set for the launch.
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