What We're Reading: New Healthcare Partnership; Fitness App Revealed Military Sites; Abortion Bill Fails

Three Big Companies Team Up on Employee Healthcare

Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase & Co are partnering to deliver healthcare in a new way to their employees. The companies will focus on technology solutions to provide employees and their families with high-quality, transparent, and affordable healthcare, according to a press release. The effort is in early planning stages and requires the formation of an independent company that will draw on the combined capabilities of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan.

Fitness App Inadvertently Revealed Military Sites

A fitness app that is also a social network has accidentally revealed the locations of military bases and personnel through a global heat map. Strava allows users to map their workouts and post them online, and a 20-year-old on Twitter first identified the intelligence that could be gleaned from the online data, reported The New York Times. The data made available could put members of the military at risk, and also made visible the outlines of known military bases in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. However, it also made visible base-like shapes in places where the United States is not known to have people stationed.

Senate Blocks Abortion Ban Bill

A bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy fell short of the 60 votes needed to pass. Politico reported that, while some Democrats broke party lines to vote for the bill, Senators Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted with Democrats to block the bill. The 20-week ban on abortion passed the House by 237 to 189 in October. The bill did include exceptions for pregnancies that threatened a woman’s life or were the result of rape or incest.