From the world of journalism:

Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper chain, leaked word yesterday that it plans to cut another 1,000 to 2,000 jobs out its 41,500-person workforce in the next few months, mostly at its 80 regional dailies across the country. Advertising revenue slumped 34 percent in the first quarter.

In health care news:

What standards will Congress impose on insurers that participate in the exchanges that will be set up under the health care reform legislation under consideration in the House and Senate? The urgency of that question is raised  by two stories in the morning papers. First, the bankrupting reality of underinsurance receives front page treatment from the New York Times. The story features a couple forced into bankruptcy after their Aetna policy failed to cover even a portion of an older heart patient's hospital bills. . . . Also,  Wal-Mart endorses a pay-or-play provision in health care reform, according to the Wall Street Journal. Yet the company provides insurance for just 52 percent of its workers, many of whom are part-time, and even then it is often limited coverage. The company said in its letter to President Obama, jointly signed with the Service Employees International Union and the Center for American Progress, that it wanted a level playing field with its rivals, many of which do not provide any health insurance. . . .

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel yesterday recommended a ban on prescription pills that combine narcotics with the milder pain reliever, acetaminophen, which is sold over the counter as Excedrin and Tylenol. The committee a day earlier had called for stronger warning labels on over-the-counter cold medications that combine acetaminophen with other ingredients. Overdosing on acetaminophen each year causes a high proportion of the 42,000 hospitalizations and 400 deaths from liver toxicity, and many of those cases occur when chronic pain patients unwittingly take OTC acetaminophen on top of a  prescription pain killer that already contains the milder drug. . . .

Geron shares soar 15% after it announced it would begin providing General Electric's health care unit with stem cells for use in a new line of diagnostic equipment aimed at early testing of drug toxicity. GE's move into servicing drug developers is an effort to diversify in the face of payer resistance to buying more imaging equipment, which is the mainstay of its health care unit, the Journal reports. . . .