Archives: Morning Breakouts

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the President's comments on health reform during his State of the Union address.

President Obama urged passage for a health reform bill that would 'relieve the burden on middle-class' Americans.

Though it is unlikely that the President's State of the Union speech will offer a specific plan for moving health reform forward, diverse groups -- including the Catholic bishops and the largest labor union federation -- were urging Democrats not to give up.

Biovac Institute, a South African vaccine maker, said Monday that it is working with other major pharmaceutical firms to increase its annual capacity sevenfold to 35 million doses by 2013, Reuters reports. Morena Makhoana, the company's deputy chief executive, said that 25 million of those doses will remain in Africa.

"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday she resents criticism of the U.S. effort to help stricken Haiti and pledged to redouble efforts to help survivors of the Jan. 12 earthquake," the Associated Press/CBSNews.com reports. "I deeply resent those who attack our country, the generosity of our people and the leadership of our president in trying to respond to historically disastrous conditions after the earthquake," she said.

As president of the G8 in 2010, "Canada will champion a new G8 identity focused on ending child mortality and other health woes in poorer countries when it hosts the club of industrialized nations in June, the government said Tuesday," Agence France-Presse reports. A spokesman for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper explained Tuesday that Harper will use his keynote address at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, to provide more details about the new G8 agenda, according to AFP (1/26).

During a Council of Europe meeting on Tuesday to address the WHO's handling of the H1N1 virus, the WHO said it had not "fallen under the sway of drugs firms and exaggerated the dangers of the H1N1 flu virus, but said it might have handled the crisis better," Reuters reports. "Critics say the WHO relied too much on advice from advisers in the pay of the pharmaceutical industry, triggering an internal review by the WHO and an inquiry by the Council of Europe, a pan European human rights watchdog," writes the news service (Reilhac, 1/26).

News outlets report on the impending doctor shortage in New Jersey, a health care expansion plan in Iowa, an increase in new HIV infections in Minnesota and a possible hospital deal in New York.

Democrats Tuesday backpedaled on sticking to a timetable while they discussed the practicality of using budget reconciliation to pass a health overhaul package.

Lawmakers, including Sens. Lincoln, Nelson, Baucus and Kerry, are scrambling to find a new direction for their health care talks.

NPR interviews with two leading health care experts

House Democrats have concerns about whether Senate can deliver the changes they want.

As President Barack Obama prepares to give his State of the Union address this evening, new polls show public support for congressional health bills is low, with a majority wanting more focus on the economy instead.