The Nation

DALLAS — Finding accessible health care services while on the road is a problem many drivers face. After all, not many medical clinics offer parking for big rigs. To help make accessing health care easier and more convenient for professional drivers, CallonDoc, a telemedicine company, has partnered with Trucker Path, an app that connects a large community of truckers. CallonDoc.com is available on the Trucker Path app seven days a week, offering drivers convenient, one-touch-of-the-button online access to health care providers. Through this partnership, drivers can quickly submit their health care needs to CallonDoc doctors, and any required prescriptions can be filled at any pharmacy along the driver’s route. According to reports from Trucker Path and drivers, CallonDoc is “an essential and affordable way for traveling workers to access health care.” “With the rising cost of insurance and the dependence on ‘in-network’ providers, telemedicine will continue to become the go-to non-emergency service for the traveling worker,” said Matt Wible, senior customer success manager for Trucker Path. “CallonDoc.com makes prescription refills or medical consultations very easy and cost effective for those non-emergency emergencies.” CallonDoc users simply respond to a five-minute questionnaire; then CallonDoc doctors review each case and can prescribe appropriate prescriptions. Patients can pick up prescriptions at the U.S. pharmacy of their choice the same day. “Our goal at CallonDoc is to utilize the technology we have available to revolutionize the way people can have access to the prescriptions they need in a time-convenient and hassle-free way,” said Dr. TJ Oshun, founder and CEO of CallonDoc. “I want to make health care affordable and available for everyone, as well as create an easy resource for the traveling workforce.” For a $40 consultation fee, users can obtain treatment for conditions within categories such as urgent care, prescription refills, men/women’s health, psychiatry, chronic conditions and more. CallonDoc also offers discount codes on prescriptions as well as a 100% money-back guarantee. For more information, click here.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas has brought down a drug and money laundering operation that they say funded a trucking operation. According to a news release from the office, the final defendant in the multi-person indictment was sentenced to federal prison on Sept. 30. United States District Judge James M. Moody sentenced Termaine Ontario Slaughter, 36, of Parkin, Arkansas, to 90 months’ imprisonment and five years of supervised release. On Nov. 18, 2020, Slaughter pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Slaughter is the fourth and final defendant to be sentenced in an Indictment that was filed on June 6, 2018. Three of the defendants received federal prison sentences. “Our office and our federal partners will use every resource available to dismantle and disrupt drug trafficking organizations in Arkansas,” said Jonathan D. Ross, acting United States attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. “In this case, we tracked the money, and it led us to straight to criminals who were trying to poison our communities. As these drug traffickers learned, if you choose this line of work, enjoy the money while you can, because it won’t last nearly as long as your prison sentence.” Beginning in 2014 and continuing through 2018, Slaughter, Demario Smith, 40, of Southaven, Mississippi, Elliott Davis, 41, of Colt, Arkansas, Montana Smith, 45, of Parkin, Arkansas, and others were involved in the distribution of methamphetamine in the Forrest City, Arkansas, area, the news release stated. Slaughter and Demario Smith used drug proceeds to fund a trucking business called Prudent Transport and a rental property business called Upscale Properties. Evidence showed that Slaughter and his associates imported methamphetamine from the Dallas area using couriers who rode the Megabus from Memphis to Dallas and back, according to the news release. The organization also imported methamphetamine from California using the United States mail and other mailing services. “An extensive analysis of records from the trucking business and rental properties showed that from 2013-2017 Slaughter’s personal and business accounts had $733,811 in deposits coming from unidentified sources,” the news release stated. “Analysis showed that there were $877,359.60 in cash expenditures on vehicles and other items that did not come from the accounts, including the purchase of tractor trailers for the trucking business. Bank records revealed that cash deposits in amounts under $10,000 were systematically made at bank branches in Memphis, Mississippi, and Arkansas, with corresponding amounts of cash being withdrawn from other bank locations on the same date or close in time.” Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jarad Harper noted that the investigation is “an extraordinary example of thorough and methodical financial exploitation in order to disrupt and dismantle the financial infrastructure of these methamphetamine drug trafficking organizations.” He continued: “The DEA will relentlessly pursue, exploit, and seize these illicit assets drug traffickers intentionally and nefariously conceal to circumvent reporting requirements. Working with all of our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, we will continue to combine our resources in order to identify these ill-gotten funds used to facilitate drug trafficking and violent crime in our region. By depleting these drug traffickers of their proceeds and eliminating their ability to continue distributing this poison in Arkansas and beyond, we are saving lives.” On Nov. 19, 2020, Demario Smith pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and on May 26, 2021, was sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment. On Nov. 19, 2020, Davis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and on June 8, 2021, he was sentenced to 51 months’ imprisonment. On Nov. 19, 2020, Montana Smith pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, and on June 9, 2021, he was sentenced to five years’ probation. During the Sept. 30 sentencing hearing, in addition to receiving his prison sentence, Slaughter agreed to forfeit numerous firearms and five vehicles, including four over-the-road trucks used by Prudent Transport and a Dodge Challenger.  

POSEY COUNTY, Ind. – A 31-year-old Springfield, Missouri, woman was arrested on Sept. 30 for possession of meth, cocaine and marijuana inside her 18-wheeler, according to a news release from the Indiana State Police (ISP). The report stated that an Indiana state trooper stopped Tiffanie Vallotton’s rig on Interstate 64 near the 3.5 mile-marker after she made an unsafe lane movement. The trooper “developed probable cause to search the semi (revealing) approximately 3 grams of methamphetamine, approximately 1 gram of cocaine and a small amount of marijuana,” according to the report. Vallotton was arrested and taken to the Posey County Jail, where she is currently being held without bond.

WASHINGTON — About the only thing Congress could agree upon on Thursday was that the country is in need of vast infrastructure improvements. But it’s how to fund them that’s causing great ire on Capitol Hill. Democrats are deeply at odds, trust torn, as progressive lawmakers threaten to withhold votes on the roads-and-bridges infrastructure bill they view as insufficient unless it is paired with President Joe Biden’s broader vision. In the narrowly controlled House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has no votes to spare. Meanwhile, Biden’s government overhaul is at risk as Democrats charged into high-stakes trouble Thursday on the first piece, a slimmer $1 trillion public works bill Pelosi was meeting privately with factions of lawmakers throughout the day, determined to push ahead, strike a deal with Biden over his bigger $3.5 trillion effort and avoid what would be a stunning setback if voting on the public works bill failed or had to be scrapped. All this on a day that should be a win for Biden and his party with Congress poised to usher through legislation to keep government running past Thursday’s fiscal yearend deadline and avert a federal shutdown that had been threatened by Republican blockades. “Step by step,” Pelosi said at the Capitol, suggesting a deal with Biden was within reach. “This is the path — it’s not a fork in the road,” she said. “This is the fun part.” The risks are clear, but so is the potential reward as Biden and his party reach for a giant legislative accomplishment — promising a vast rewrite of the nation’s balance sheet with an ever-slim majority in Congress. His idea is to essentially raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy and use that money to expand government health care, education and other programs — an impact that would be felt in countless American lives. The public works bill is one piece of that broader vision, a $1 trillion investment in routine transportation, broadband, water systems and other projects bolstered with extra funding. It has won broad, bipartisan support in the Senate but has now become snared by the broader debate. Attention remains squarely focused on Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, centrist Democrats who helped steer that bipartisan bill to passage, but a concern that the overall size of Biden’s plan. They view it as too big, but have infuriated colleagues by not making any counter-proposals public. Under scrutiny, Manchin called an impromptu press conference Thursday outside the Capitol, insisting he has been clear from the start — his topline is $1.5 trillion — when in fact he has repeatedly given mixed signals about what he could support. “I’m willing to sit down and work on the $1.5,” Manchin told reporters, as protesters seeking a bigger package and Biden’s priorities chanted behind him. Manchin said he told the president as much during their talks this week. Tensions spiked late Wednesday when Manchin sent out a fiery statement, decrying the broad spending as “fiscal insanity” and warning it would not get his vote without adjustments. Sinema was similarly working to stave off criticism and her office said claims that she has not been forthcoming are “false” — though she has not publicly disclosed her views over what size package she wants. Sinema has put dollar figures on the table and “continues to engage directly in good-faith discussions” with both Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, spokesman John LaBombard said in a statement. The centrist senators’ refusal to bring negotiations with Biden to a close enraged progressive lawmakers and almost ensured they would tank the bipartisan public works bill if there was no end in sight to the White House talks with the centrist senators. Democrats’ campaign promises on the line, the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, said exiting Pelosi’s office that the progressives’ views were unchanged — they won’t vote for one bill without the other. “We’re gonna stay here all weekend if we need to to see if we can get to a deal,” she said. In a deepening party split, centrists warned off canceling Thursday’s vote as a “breach of trust that would slow the momentum in moving forward in delivering the Biden agenda,” said Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., a leader of the centrist Blue Dog Democrats. At the same time, Congress was moving to resolve a more immediate crisis that arose after Republicans refused to approve legislation to keep the government funded past Thursday’s fiscal yearend and raise the nation’s debt limit to avoid a dangerous default on borrowing. The Senate was voting Thursday to provide government funding to avoid a federal shutdown, keeping operations going temporarily to Dec. 3. The House was expected to quickly follow. The debt ceiling debate shifts to October, ahead of another deadline when Treasury Department has warned money would run out to pay past bills. Thursday’s congressional floor schedule was filled with question marks in the places where there should be the announced timing of votes. With Republicans lockstep opposed to the president’s big plan, deriding it as slide to socialist-style spending, Biden as been hunkered down at the White House reaching for a deal with members of his own party for a signature legislative accomplishment. The president canceled a planned trip to Chicago where he was to discuss the importance of COVID-19 vaccines, met separately with Manchin and Sinema at the White House and even showed up at Wednesday evening’s annual congressional baseball game, a gesture of goodwill during the rare bipartisan event among lawmakers. “I think it’s pretty clear we’re in the middle of a negotiation and that everybody’s going to have to give a little,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. Together, Sens. Manchin and Sinema are holding the keys to unlocking the stalemate over Biden’s sweeping vision, the heart of his 2020 campaign pledges. While neither has said no to a deal, they have yet to signal yes — and they part ways on specifics, according to a person familiar with the private talks and granted anonymity to discuss them. Manchin appears to have fewer questions about the revenue side of the equation — the higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy — than the spending plans and particular policies, especially those related to climate change that are important to his coal-centric state. He also wants any expansion of aid programs to Americans to be based on income needs, not simply for everyone. hough Sinema is less publicly open in her views, she focuses her questions on the menu of tax options, including the increased corporate rate that some in the business community argue could make the U.S. less competitive overseas and the individual rate that others warn could snare small business owners. Biden insists the price tag actually will be zero because the expansion of government programs would be largely paid for with higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy — businesses earning more than $5 million a year, and individuals earning more than $400,000 a year, or $450,000 for couples.

KIRKLAND, Wash. – A Kenworth T680 Next Generation model decked out in a special holiday wrap will transport the 2021 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree from California to Washington, D.C., with a full slate of community celebrations during the journey. This year’s U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree – an 84-foot tall White Fir – is scheduled to be harvested Oct. 25 from the Six Rivers National Forest in California, according to a news release from Paccar, who manufactures Kenworth trucks. System Transport will operate the rig on its 3,300-mile route. The tour theme is “Six Rivers, Many Peoples, One Tree.” “It is an honor for System Transport to be selected to deliver the 2021 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. We expect a very memorable journey and look forward to sharing the Tree with people at the many events and out on the highway,” Dennis Williams, president and CEO of Trans-System, said. The community celebrations will take place from Oct. 29 – Nov. 16 throughout California and across the U.S.,  culminating with the official tree lighting on the White House West Lawn in early December. Smaller companion trees also will be provided to decorate offices inside of the U.S. Capitol building and other sites throughout Washington, D.C., along with 15,000 handmade ornaments created by Californians. “Kenworth is proud to play a part in delivering the ‘People’s Tree’ to Washington, D.C. for the eighth consecutive year,” said Genevieve Bekkerus, Kenworth marketing director. “This cross-country tour offers numerous opportunities to see this national symbol of celebration out on the highway or at the community events, and the Kenworth T680 Next Gen is the perfect truck for this important undertaking.” The Kenworth T680 Next Gen was assembled by the employees at the Kenworth manufacturing plant in Chillicothe, Ohio. The truck will return home with the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree for a special event Nov. 15-16 for plant employees. “This annual journey is only possible with the help of strong community partnerships throughout California and beyond state lines,” said Bruce Ward, president of Choose Outdoors, which works with the Forest Service to promote outdoor recreation and public access to federal lands for recreational purposes. “We’re grateful for the time and resources that Kenworth and System Transport are providing to help make this the best year yet.” Below is the 2021 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Tour public schedule: Oct. 29: Crescent City and Eureka, California Oct. 30: Willow Creek and Fortuna, California Oct. 31: Ukiah, California Nov. 1: Sausalito and Vallejo, California Nov. 2: Dixon, California Nov. 3: Sacramento and Sonora, California Nov. 4: Mariposa, California Nov. 6: Pasadena and Redlands, California Nov. 8: Holbrook, Arizona Nov. 9: Phoenix, Arizona Nov. 11: Albuquerque, New Mexico Nov. 13: Fayetteville, Arkansas and Springfield, Missouri Nov. 16: Williamsport, Maryland Nov. 19: Delivery to West Lawn, U.S. Capitol Building (Washington, D.C.)  

POINTE COUPEE PARISH, La. — A Louisiana jury has awarded $16 million to the family of an 89-year-old man killed in a 2020 wreck with an 18-wheeler. Charles R. “Puddin” Glaser Sr., himself a former trucker, died two weeks after the May 2020 collision on U.S. 190 near Lottie in Pointe Coupee, according to The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. On Sept. 24, the jury found that the 18-wheeler driver and Texas-based Rail 1 LLC were 80% at fault after the driver made a U-turn into the path of Glaser’s vehicle. Jurors found Glaser to be 20% at fault because he was speeding. This ruling is just one of several so-called “nuclear verdicts” that jurors have handed down against truckers and trucking companies in recent years. The verdicts are so named because of their substantial awards. The largest, by far, came when a Florida jury ruled on Aug. 27 that two trucking companies were complicit in the 2017 death of an 18-year-old honor student, awarding the family of the late Connor Dzion a total of $1 billion in damages.    

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s plan for a massive expansion of social programs and infrastructure improvements is being framed by supporters as such a high-stakes endeavor that it’s “too big to fail.” It also may be too big to describe. House progressives are threatening to block passage of the infrastructure section of the plan as Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling to pass it quickly this week so Congress can tackle the social safety net package next. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the chair of the progressive caucus, which has 95 House members, told NBC News that “nothing has changed” and that more than half her caucus is prepared to vote down the infrastructure bill if it comes up before the larger tax-and-spending bill has passed the Senate. The White House has been struggling to sell the public on a wide range of initiatives packaged under the imprecise slogan of “Build Back Better.” A series of crises, from Afghanistan to COVID-19, along with the convoluted legislative process have hampered the White House’s ability to promote the $3.5 trillion package or even say definitively what’s in it. The price tag is sure to shrink and it’s possible that components could change. The package, now the subject of furious negotiations on Capitol Hill, would fundamentally transform the government’s relationship with its citizens and dramatically expand the social safety net. It sets out to broaden well-known programs — for example, adding dental vision and hearing aid benefits to Medicare and continuing the Obama-era health law’s temporary subsidies that helped people buy insurance during the pandemic, But anxiety has risen among congressional Democrats during the negotiations, with some blame placed on Biden. He had planned to spend recent weeks driving support for the legislation but was sidetracked by the tumult in Afghanistan and the surge in coronavirus cases. Some Democrats worry the president’s pitch on the package doesn’t always click with people looking for a more concrete idea of what’s in it for them. “This is a case where the parts are greater than the sum: It’s important for people to know what the parts are, they are very popular and would have a very positive impact on people’s life,” said David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. “But it’s become a battle over price tag and that’s unappealing. That’s the battlefield where Republicans want Democrats to fight.” Polling suggests that elements in the bill such as child care and infrastructure are popular with large parts of the public. But advocates worry the voters don’t know that those things are in the plan. “”Building Back Better’ doesn’t say to people what we are building back — at least when you talk about bridges, people have an idea,” said Robert Blendon, a longtime public opinion analyst at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “It’s the price you pay when you are not dealing with a single issue. … ‘Building Back’ is the slogan, but there’s just no evidence that the public grasps what is in this bill.” The need for a reset was so clear that the West Wing decided that White House press secretary Jen Psaki would begin her Monday briefing by delivering a detailed rundown of just what’s in the bill. That’s according to two of the more than a half-dozen White House aides and Democrats close to the West Wing who were interviewed for this story but spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations. Psaki began the briefing by stating: “I wanted to take the opportunity just to remind everyone, specifically in the public, of what we’re talking about in these packages and why the president is fighting so hard to get his agenda forward.” Then she went through elements of the package, including plans to address climate change, lower education costs and promote access to child care. White House aides say this is not the right time for Biden to be barnstorming to promote his agenda. They note that key Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia are not generally responsive to national political pressure — and certainly not to presidential demands. Aides believe it’s a better for Biden to talk through exactly what will be necessary to get those two Democrats on board. The president canceled plans for a Wednesday visit to Chicago to promote vaccinations so that he could remain in Washington as negotiations reach a critical stage. His Biden administration has found itself constantly pulled off its intended message of a nation rebounding to new heights. Initial signs of an economic boom from the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package ran headfirst into a shortage of computer chips and other goods that have caused higher inflation, a persistent problem that was largely unforeseen by Biden’s team, according to one administration official. Some Democrats are pushing back on the hand-wringing over how to sell the big bill, believing the details should not come as much of a surprise. Beyond the new programs, the package is made up of long-standing Democratic priorities on health care, education and climate change on which many lawmakers have campaigned. “This agenda is not some fringe wish list: It is the president’s agenda, the Democratic agenda, and what we all promised voters when they delivered us the House, Senate, and White House,” Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a statement. That hasn’t satisfied some Democratic allies. For example, $10 billion for high-speed rail was shifted from a $1 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill into the larger package of spending initiatives. Andy Kunz, president and CEO of the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, urged Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to more forcefully sell it “If they were talking about it more, that would definitely help in letting the American people know what’s at stake here,” he said. With hurricanes, floods and wildfires dominating local news most of the summer, the machinations in Washington have not broken through to where people are actually following the debate. “The top concern about messaging is that it’s not getting far and wide enough,” said Margarida Jorge, campaign director for Lower Drug Prices Now, a coalition backing a component of Biden’s bill, authority for Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. “Mostly people in the states have not been reading about the content of the bill,” Jorge said. “If they’re reading anything at all it’s about the size.”