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VIDEO: Today's Headline News from Associated Press

HEALTH CARE: MORE OLDER AMERICANS SO FAR

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's an older, costlier crowd that's signing up so far for health insurance under President Barack Obama's law, according to government figures released Monday. Enrollments are lower for the healthy, younger Americans who will be needed to keep premiums from rising.

 

Young adults from 18 to 34 are only 24 percent of total enrollment, the administration said in its first signup figures broken down for age, gender and other details. With the HealthCare.gov website now working, the figures cover the more than 2 million Americans who had signed up for government-subsidized private insurance through the end of December in new federal and state markets.

 

Enrolling young and healthy people is important because they generally pay more into the system than they take out, subsidizing older adults. While 24 percent is not a bad start, say independent experts, it should be closer to 40 percent to help keep premiums down.

 

Adults ages 55-64 were the most heavily represented in the signups, accounting for 33 percent of the total. Overall, the premiums paid by people in that demographic don't fully cover their medical expenses. Some are in the waiting room for Medicare; that coverage starts at age 65.

 

AFTER 40 YEARS, CASE OF SLAIN TEEN GOES TO TRIAL

 

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) -- Judith Cabanillas was just 13 when a middle-of-the-night phone call from police conveyed the shattering news: Her older sister had been found murdered in an Iowa farmhouse. Her mother screamed uncontrollably.

 

That was in 1974. Year after year, the slaying went unsolved as Cabanillas grew up and became mother to her own daughter, who was named after her dead sibling. But she worked tirelessly to keep the case from fading away.

 

Now, almost four decades after that call, her quest could be near an end as authorities put a suspect on trial Tuesday in the death of Mary Jayne Jones, a carefree 17-year-old with beautiful brown eyes who worked at a drive-in restaurant.

 

"We hope that we can get some justice for Jayne, that she can finally rest in peace and we can stop grieving so hard for her," Cabanillas said. "It's been a long road."

 

When her body was discovered, investigators quickly suspected the homeowner's cousin, who had been accused of luring another woman to the same house days earlier and forcing her to perform a sex act.

 

But authorities did not charge Robert "Gene" Pilcher in the murder because they had no hard evidence. That changed in 2010, when DNA testing linked Pilcher to the sheets on the bed where Mary Jayne's naked body was found.

 

His trial on a first-degree murder charge is expected to last two weeks in Ottumwa.

 

ALUMINUM REVOLUTION: FORD INTRODUCES A NEW F-150

 

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- Ford pickups have been doing the country's work for 66 years. They've hauled grain, towed logs and plowed snow. They've cleared debris after tornadoes and pulled floats in the Rose Bowl parade.

 

They've shouldered those loads with parts forged from steel. Until now.

 

On Monday, Ford unveils a new F-150 with a body built almost entirely out of aluminum. The lighter material shaves as much as 700 pounds off the 5,000-pound truck, a revolutionary change for a vehicle known for its heft and an industry still heavily reliant on steel. The change is Ford's response to small-business owners' desire for a more fuel-efficient and nimble truck - and stricter government requirements on fuel economy. And it sprang from a challenge by Ford's CEO to move beyond the traditional design for a full-size pickup.

 

Ninety-seven percent of the body of the 2015 F-150 is aluminum, the most extensive use of aluminum ever in a truck. And this isn't just any truck. F-Series trucks - which include the F-150 and heavier duty models like the F-250 - have been the best-selling vehicles in the U.S. for the last 32 years; last year, Ford sold an F-Series every 41 seconds.