In the News

Tennessee hospitals and community health centers could be getting more than a half-billion dollars from the federal government over the next decade to help them recover the cost of treating patients who cannot afford to pay.

A Medicare-reform bill that is awaiting approval by the U.S. Senate would send $53 million in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments to Tennessee hospitals each year for the next 10 years. Tennessee is the only state that doesn’t automatically receive the payments every year.

A bipartisan effort to legalize medical marijuana at the federal level is now underway in both Houses of Congress, and its sponsors acknowledge they face an uphill climb to passage - but they believe the public is on their side.

"Polls show that at least 86 percent of Americans say medical marijuana should be available," said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, in an interview with CBS News. "Legislators rarely lead, they generally follow. I guess it's called cultural lag...Eventually, people in Congress start catching up."

City officials are working on applications for federal funds to be used to reduce the number of backlogged rape kit cases.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen announced this week that two new federal grants aimed at eliminating such backlogs around the country are now accepting applications. Together, the grants have $41 million available to cities nationwide.

“Yes, we did see it and we do plan to apply. It will help us in many ways if we are selected for an award,” said Doug McGowen, head of the city’s Sexual Assault Kit task force.

CHICAGO — To White Sox fan Theresa Pawlicki, the small crowd of people gathered outside Holy Family Church for Minnie Minoso’s funeral service Saturday seemed, oddly, like a reunion of long-lost friends.

“Just talking to all these fans, hearing their stories about Minnie, they all have such a special connection to him,” she said, blinking to hold back tears.

Orestes “Minnie” Minoso — the “Cuban Comet” who broke barriers for Latin baseball players in America — was remembered Saturday as a pioneer for Chicago’s immigrants, a loving family man and a true baseball fan long past his playing days.

At Minoso’s funeral Saturday, family members, friends and former teammates offered tales of the man who loved the Chicago White Sox so much he refused to change his clothes when the team had a winning streak.

All aboard! Dogs and cats could ride along as passengers on some Amtrak trains under a pilot program passed by the U.S. House as part of a bill to reauthorize funding for the rail service.

The bill was passed 316-101 by the House on Wednesday. It would allow at least one car on many Amtrak trains to be designated so that passengers “may transport a domesticated cat or dog in the same manner as carry-on baggage.”

Amtrak officials would be required to report to House and Senate committees within a year on how the program was working.

When Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, took to the House floor on Wednesday, he paid tribute to former White Sox player Minnie Minoso, the first black player from Latin America, who died on Sunday.

Cohen told a touching tale about an encounter he had with Minoso in 1955 in Memphis, where the White Sox were playing an exhibition game. At the time, Cohen was a young Sox fan recovering from polio and using crutches to get around.

Cohen said he was wearing a White Sox cap and t-shirt while getting autographs prior to the start of the game, when a white player gave him a baseball.

WASHINGTON — Some are standing with President Obama. Some are protesting the actions of the House speaker, John A. Boehner. Still others say they do not want to be props in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election campaign.