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NEW YORK — The rumbling buses echoed for blocks on the quiet campus at Fordham University. Nebraska’s sprawling football operation had arrived. This isn’t the typical home team, the FCS-level Rams that just completed a 2-10 season. The Huskers took the practice field on a cold and sunny Thursday afternoon flanked by social-media cameras and a host of staffers. A post-practice grab-and-go buffet line greeted players afterward as they headed the few miles back toward downtown Manhattan and an evening at a high-profile ping-pong club. “Just looking around, spending time with each other,” freshman linebacker Vincent Shavers said of more time in New York City. “I ain’t never did this before with no other team so I’m very happy. I’m grateful for them.” Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” played on the sound system as Nebraska went through workouts two days before the Pinstripe Bowl. The Huskers practiced at Joe Moglia Field — Moglia, a Fordham alumnus, was once the executive advisor to former NU coach Bo Pelini in 2009 and 2010 — on an artificial surface shared also by the Fordham soccer and baseball teams. Baseball’s press box named after another famous graduate, Vin Scully, was only yards away as the visiting Big Ten team went through drills. The gated campus — just a couple blocks away from bustling neighborhood streets in the Bronx — was covered with small piles of snow scattered throughout. Temperatures in the sun felt perhaps in the mid-40s while shady conditions felt closer to 20. New Nebraska assistant coaches Daikiel Shorts (receivers) and Phil Simpson (outside linebackers) spoke with a smattering of reporters afterward along with a few players. Coach Matt Rhule will talk midday Friday as part of a Pinstripe availability before kickoff Saturday at noon eastern time. Get local news delivered to your inbox!One of the bigger drivers of Medicaid’s rising costs in Virginia is the ballooning expense of covering weight-loss drugs, a state Senate Finance Committee review found. That cost climbed to $267.8 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30, more than three times the bill from when Virginia Medicaid began covering the increasingly commonly prescribed medications two years earlier, senior legislative analyst Mike Tweedy told the committee at its annual retreat at the Hotel Madison in Harrisonburg. But when the state Department of Medical Assistance Services added coverage of the new weight-loss drugs in November 2022, decision-makers had no information about the fiscal impact, he said. About 30 states cover the medications. With the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s view that obesity has become a major public health issue and as regulators consider authorizing use of the drugs for other conditions, the new medications look set to put still more upward pressure on Medicaid costs, Tweedy said. The injectable drug Ozempic costs patients in the U.S. $969 a month, more than six times the Canadian price. The managed care plans that cover most of Virginia Medicaid’s patients began reporting significant price increases to Medicaid officials in late spring last year. The drugs are expensive, and Americans pay more for them than people in other countries do, according to a U.S. Senate Health Education and Pensions Committee study. Ozempic costs diabetic patients in the States $969 a month, more than six times the Canadian price, while Wegovy costs Americans using it to treat obesity $1,349 a month, or more than 14 times the price in Great Britain. Tweedy said the standards for when and how the department pays for the medications is one area where it needs to focus on cost effectiveness and controlling spending growth. Another is emergency room payments. Medicaid’s payments for ER care have increased 15% a year for the past two years, Tweedy said. The state last year lost a federal court case challenging a longstanding policy toward cutting Medicaid payments to emergency room physicians if a patient came to the ER with a nonemergency, paying instead as if the doctors performed more routine care. While the General Assembly approved a new program last year, Medicaid has not implemented the program, Tweedy said. Policymakers and insurers have long tried to rein in claims for unnecessary ER visits, arguing that they are one reason why U.S. health care costs are so much higher than in other nations. One reason why many Medicaid patients may be turning to emergency rooms for treatment is that Medicaid, unlike commercial insurance, does not require the people it covers — basically low-income families and adults as well as people with severe disabilities — to pay for part of the cost out of pocket, Tweedy said. They often don't feel there are other available options for care, either. One approach some hospitals have started using — setting up urgent care clinics near their ERs in order to triage care — is less common in urban areas where many Medicaid recipients live, he said. Virginia Medicaid is facing an unusual need for additional funds this year and next than the current budget for those years set aside: some $632.4 million. One reason for that is a $160 million shortfall Medicaid saw at the June 30 end of the last fiscal year, mainly because the post-pandemic decline in enrollment happened more slowly than expected, Tweedy told the committee. Others include a projected $289.7 million increase in fee for service payments, a $36.2 million increase in managed care rates, a $61.7 million increase in supplemental payments to hospitals and $59.2 million for Indian Health Clinics to cover specified nontribal costs. In addition, increased payments to Medicare — the federal insurance program for people ages 65 or older and people with certain disabilities — and pharmacy rebates are pushing up Medicaid costs. Dave Ress (804) 649-6948 dress@timesdispatch.com Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

DETROIT — In the end, the amount and way the Red Wings were losing lately was simply too much to ignore. And with that, the Wings fired coach Derek Lalonde and replaced him with Todd McLellan on Thursday. In a release just after noon, the Wings announced that Steve Yzerman, the Wings' executive vice-president and general manager, named McLellan the team's 29th head coach in franchise history and signed McLellan to a multi-year contract. The Wings also hired Trent Yawney as an assistant coach, replacing Bob Boughner, who oversaw the defense and penalty-kill. McLellan will be behind the bench Friday, as the Wings return from the three-day NHL holiday break to host Toronto (7 p.m., FSN/97.1). Yzerman and McLellan will address the media on Friday. The Wings have struggled to a 13-17-4 record, good for 30 points, just two points above Buffalo for last place in the Eastern Conference. They trail Ottawa by eight points (38-30) for the final of two Eastern Conference wild-card positions. After just missing the playoffs last spring on the final night of the season on a tiebreaker, the Wings struggled from the start this season. They lost three of their first four games and have struggled mightily to get to, or above, the .500 mark ever since. The Wings have lost their last three games, and the way they did likely pushed Yzerman to replace Lalonde. The Wings let a third-period lead slip away at Little Caesars on Dec. 20 to Montreal and lost, 4-3, then lost the next night in Montreal, 5-1, watching the Canadiens score the last five goals consecutively with not a ton of pushback. Monday, the Wings were shut, 4-0, at LCA, looking listless, at times. The Wings were serenaded with a loud chorus of boos after each period, culminating with a lot of pent-up frustration at the end of the game. Lalonde, 52, ended his Wings career with an 89-86-23 record. This was his first NHL head-coaching job, and he was in his third season guiding the Wings. After last season's exciting finish and near-playoff miss, there was plenty of optimism heading into this Wings season. The team's overall defense needed to improve, and scoring was expected to be an issue because of the personnel losses the Wings had, but the roster appeared to be competitive. But Lalonde wasn't able to appreciably fix any of the problem areas. The Wings rank 25th in goals-against (3.26), only slightly better than last season's final average (3.35). Scoring goals has been a larger-than-expected issue. With the departures of Jake Walman, Shayne Gostisbehere, David Perron, Robby Fabbri and Daniel Sprong, the Wings were hoping for internal improvement, but it hasn't happened. They currently rank 29th, at 2.56 goals scored per game (the Wings were 13th last season, scoring 3.12 goals per game). Add to that, a dismal penalty kill that ranks 31st (68.8%), and it's made for a frustrating season. In steps McLellan, 57, who was an assistant coach under Mike Babcock from 2005-08. Yzerman, incidentally, was the captain in his final playing season and first season for McLellan in Detroit under Babcock. McLellan has 16 seasons of NHL head-coaching experience, posting a 598-412-134 regular-season record and a 42-46 postseason mark with the Los Angeles Kings (2019-24), Edmonton Oilers (2015-19) and San Jose Sharks (2008-15). His 598 regular-season wins are ranked 24th in NHL history and sixth-most among active coaches behind Paul Maurice (891), Lindy Ruff (876), Peter Laviolette (823), John Tortorella (757) and Peter DeBoer (632). Teams coached by McLellan have reached the 50-win mark three times and the 100-point plateau six times. McLellan’s teams have also advanced to the Stanley Cup playoffs nine times, including six consecutive postseason appearances with the Sharks. Known as an upbeat coach with strong communication skills, McLellan is regarded as an effective coach of young players dating back to a successful junior hockey coaching career. McLellan, along with Yzerman, will be under increasing pressure to end a Wings' streak of not making the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons. Only Buffalo, at 13 seasons, has a longer current streak. ©2024 The Detroit News. Visit detroitnews.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Appalachian State hires South Carolina offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains as head coach