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Politics
4:39 pm
Thu May 23, 2013

Health Officials Decry Texas' Snubbing Of Medicaid Billions

Credit Eric Gay / AP
Texas Gov. Rick Perry addresses the opening session of the Texas Legislature in Austin earlier this year.

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 5:05 pm

The state of Texas is turning down billions of federal dollars that would have paid for health care coverage for 1.5 million poor Texans.

By refusing to participate in Medicaid expansion, which is part of the Affordable Care Act, the state will leave on the table an estimated $100 billion over the next decade.

Texas' share of the cost would have been just 7 percent of the total, but for Gov. Rick Perry and the state's Republican-dominated Legislature, even $1 in the name of "Obamacare" was a dollar too much.

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The Record
4:15 pm
Thu May 23, 2013

Georges Moustaki, Who Wrote Songs For Edith Piaf, Dies

Credit Keystone-France / Getty Images
Georges Moustaki with Edith Piaf in New York in 1958. Moustaki wrote the lyrics to "Milord," one of Piaf's biggest hits.

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 5:05 pm

Movie Interviews
3:03 pm
Thu May 23, 2013

Julianne Moore, Relishing Complicated Characters

In the film What Maisie Knew, Julianne Moore plays a troubled rock star whose young daughter witnesses her parents' volatile behavior as they argue over custody during their rocky separation.

On the surface, Moore's character, Susanna, might seem to be an entirely terrible one — a self-involved person and inappropriate mother who's not paying attention to her child. But Moore makes her more complicated than that.

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Television
2:36 pm
Thu May 23, 2013

Douglas, Damon Illuminate HBO's 'Candelabra'

Credit Claudette Barius / HBO
Michael Douglas stars as the flamboyant pianist and entertainer Liberace in Steven Soderbergh's new HBO biopic, Behind the Candelabra.

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 5:43 pm

Before you see any of Behind the Candelabra -- when you just consider the concept of the TV movie and its casting — this new HBO Films production raises all sorts of questions: How much will be based on verifiable fact, and how much will be fictionalized? On an anything-goes premium-cable network such as HBO, how graphic will the sex scenes be?

And the most important questions involve the drama's two leading men, playing an ultra-flamboyant piano player and the wide-eyed young man who becomes his behind-the-scenes companion for five years. Michael Douglas? Matt Damon?

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Arts & Life
12:55 pm
Thu May 23, 2013

A Read Down Memory Lane: Lessons From Your Former Self

Writings from childhood — cards, stories and other notes — can hide for decades, like time capsules tucked away in boxes, old bedrooms, attics and journals. Writer Jim Sollisch talks about how old thank you notes from his youth foreshadowed his adult life.

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