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VIDEO: Today's Headline News from Associated Press

2-YEAR-OLD GIRL GETS WINDPIPE MADE FROM STEM CELLS

 

CHICAGO (AP) -- A 2-year-old girl born without a windpipe now has a new one grown from her own stem cells, the youngest patient in the world to benefit from the experimental treatment.

 

Hannah Warren has been unable to breathe, eat, drink or swallow on her own since she was born in South Korea in 2010. Until the operation at a central Illinois hospital, she had spent her entire life in a hospital in Seoul. Doctors there told her parents there was no hope and they expected her to die.

 

The stem cells came from Hannah's bone marrow, extracted with a special needle inserted into her hip bone. They were seeded in a lab onto a plastic scaffold, where it took less than a week for them to multiply and create a new windpipe.

 

About the size of a 3-inch tube of penne pasta, it was implanted April 9 in a nine-hour procedure.

 

Early signs indicate the windpipe is working, Hannah's doctors announced Tuesday, although she is still on a ventilator. They believe she will eventually be able to live at home and lead a normal life.

 

"We feel like she's reborn," said Hannah's father, Darryl Warren.

 

PARAMEDIC IS FIRST WITNESS IN JACKSON CIVIL CASE

 

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A paramedic is the first witness to testify in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Michael Jackson's mother against concert giant AEG Live.

 

Paramedic Richard Senneff took the witness stand on Tuesday.

 

He had attempted to revive the pop star after becoming one of the first people to respond to his home in 2009.

 

Senneff testified twice in previous criminal proceedings against Conrad Murray, the former physician who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death.

 

Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, left the courtroom during the testimony.

 

She is suing AEG, claiming it failed to properly investigate Murray before allowing him to serve as her son's tour doctor.

 

AEG has denied any wrongdoing.

 

LAYING BARE YOUR FINANCES TO APPLY FOR HEALTH CARE

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After a storm of complaints, the Obama administration on Tuesday unveiled simplified forms to apply for insurance under the president's new health care law. You won't have to lay bare your medical history but you will have to detail your finances.

 

An earlier version of the forms had provoked widespread griping that they were as bad as tax forms and might overwhelm uninsured people, causing them to give up in frustration.

 

The biggest change: a five-page short form that single people can fill out. That form includes a cover page with instructions and another page if you want to designate someone to help you through the process.

 

But the abridged application form for families still runs to 12 pages, even if most households will not have to fill out every page. Most people are expected to take another option, applying online.

 

The ease or difficulty of applying for benefits takes on added importance because Americans remain confused about what the health care law will mean for them. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Tuesday found that 4 in 10 are unaware it's the law of the land. Some think it's been repealed by Congress. In fact, it's still on track.

 

At his news conference Tuesday, President Barack Obama hailed the simplified forms as an example of how his team listened to criticism from consumer groups and made a fix.