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** Q&A on Biden, Trump Special Counsels
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In a span of about eight weeks, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced the appointment of not one but two special counsels to investigate the current president and a former president.

On Nov. 18, Garland announced the appointment of Jack Smith, a former federal prosecutor, to oversee two investigations involving former President Donald Trump. Smith is charged with investigating "whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote" on Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump’s handling of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence after he was no longer president.

Then, on Jan. 12, Garland appointed former federal prosecutor Robert Hur to investigate the “possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records discovered at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the Wilmington, Delaware, private residence” of President Joe Biden.

Staff Writer D'Angelo Gore takes a look at this unprecedented appointment of special counsels in a Q&A we published this week.

D'Angelo answers questions such as: What is a special counsel? What authority does a special counsel have? What happens when the special counsels are done investigating?

He also provides some background information on the two special prosecutors.

Read the full story, "What to Know About the Special Counsels Investigating Trump and Biden ([link removed]) ."
HOW WE KNOW
In her article debunking a widespread and persistent claim that there is a "surge" of young athletes dying because of COVID-19 vaccines, Staff Writer Sara Spencer interviewed several sports medicine experts. All the experts said the same thing: The statistics don't show an increase. Among others, Sara consulted with Dr. Kristen Kucera, director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, which annually catalogs injuries for high school and college athletes -- including sudden cardiac arrests. Kucera told Sara that the number of deaths for the 2021-22 school year is "actually fewer than we captured in 2018-19.” Read more ([link removed]) .
FEATURED FACT
Ongoing research into gas stoves has raised safety concerns, particularly for children with asthma. “Indoor gas stove use for cooking is associated with an increased risk of current asthma among children and is prevalent in 35% of households in the United States,” according to research published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in December. Another study in Environmental Science and Technology found that “families who don’t use their range hoods or who have poor ventilation can surpass” the national standard for nitrogen dioxide “within a few minutes of stove usage, particularly in smaller kitchens.” Read more ([link removed]) .
REPLY ALL

Reader: I have a question about Covid19 treatments for which hospitals were paid. I understand hospitals were paid $13,000 for each patient that diagnosed as dying from Covid19. I also understand that hospitals were paid $35,000 for each Covid19 patient put on a ventilator. In addition there is the drug Remdesivir. How much money were the hospitals paid IF they administered Remdesivir to a Covid19 patient?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: We wrote about this topic in a story called “Hospital Payments and the COVID-19 Death Count ([link removed]) .” The story addressed the unsupported claim that hospitals were inflating the number of COVID-19 deaths to make money. We found no evidence of that.

As we wrote, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ([link removed]) , or CARES Act, which became law in March 2020, pays hospitals higher Medicare rates for COVID-19 patients and treatment, but there is no evidence of fraudulent reporting. The CARES Act pays an additional 20% on top of traditional Medicare rates for COVID-19 patients during the public health emergency, and by reimbursing hospitals for treating the uninsured patients with the disease (at that enhanced Medicare rate).

The payment for remdesivir and other treatments would be included in the enhanced payments for treating COVID-19 patients.

Our story says:

Medicare — the federal health insurance program ([link removed]) for Americans 65 and older, a central at-risk population ([link removed]) when it comes to COVID-19 — pays hospitals in part using fixed rates at discharge based off a grouping system known as diagnosis-related groups.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has classified ([link removed]) COVID-19 cases with existing groups ([link removed]) for respiratory infections and inflammations. A CMS spokesperson told us exact payments vary, depending on a patient’s principal diagnosis and severity, as well as treatments and procedures. There are also geographic variations.

An analysis ([link removed]) by the Kaiser Family Foundation looked at average Medicare payments for hospital admissions for the existing diagnosis-related groups and noted that the “average Medicare payment for respiratory infections and inflammations with major comorbidities or complications in 2017 … was $13,297. For more severe hospitalizations, we use the average Medicare payment for a respiratory system diagnosis with ventilator support for greater than 96 hours, which was $40,218.”

The public health emergency for COVID-19 is still in effect. The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services has repeatedly extended the public health emergency for 90 days ([link removed]) at a time, most recently on Jan. 11 ([link removed]) .


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "Hot Air Over Gas Stoves ([link removed]) ": The Biden administration is not planning to ban gas stoves. But comments from a commissioner on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission about gas stoves being a “hidden hazard” and that “products that can’t be made safe can be banned” provided just enough fuel for some politicians to stoke fear and outrage.
* "McCarthy Distorts Facts About DOJ Search of Mar-a-Lago ([link removed]) ": In questioning why the FBI “raid[ed] President Trump,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy falsely claimed that government officials “could have come and taken” classified government documents stored at Donald Trump’s private club and residence in Florida “any time they wanted.”
* "No Surge in Athlete Deaths, Contrary to Widespread Anti-Vaccine Claims ([link removed]) ": Sports medicine experts say there has been no increase in sudden death or cardiac injury among U.S. athletes since the COVID-19 vaccines became available. Yet anti-vaccine campaigners, comparing unreliable numbers to an unrelated study, have again spread a false narrative about vaccine safety since NFL player Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest.
* "COVID-19 Vaccines Tested in Clinical Trials, Despite Bogus Social Media Claims ([link removed]) ": The COVID-19 vaccines were tested in large, randomized controlled trials before the Food and Drug Administration authorized them for emergency use. But a popular YouTube video spins a conspiracy theory that distorts legal codes to falsely claim otherwise.
* "Timeline of Biden’s Classified Documents ([link removed]) ": President Joe Biden now finds himself ensnared in his own classified documents investigation, after attorneys working for him found several small batches of documents marked as classified from Biden’s time as vice president. Here’s our timeline of what we know about Biden’s situation so far.

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