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Ticker: FDA panel backs over-the-counter pill; Brigham and Women’s receives $100M gift 

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:30:07 GMT

Federal health advisers said Wednesday that a decades-old birth control pill should be sold without a prescription, paving the way for a likely U.S. approval of the first over-the-counter contraceptive medication.The panel of FDA advisers voted unanimously in favor of drugmaker Perrigo’s request to sell its once-a-day medication on store shelves alongside eye drops and allergy pills.The recommendation came at the close of a two-day meeting focused on whether women could safely and effectively take the pill without a doctor’s supervision. A final FDA decision is expected this summer.Perrigo’s drug, Opill, would be the first contraceptive pill to be moved out from behind the pharmacy counter. The company said sales could begin late this year if OK’d.“In the balance between benefit and risk, we’d have a hard time justifying not taking this action,” said Maria Coyle, an Ohio State University pharmacist, who chaired the panel. “The drug is ...

Army sergeant who fatally shot BLM protester in Texas sentenced to 25 years as governor seeks pardon

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:30:07 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A U.S. Army sergeant who fatally shot an armed protester at a Black Lives Matter march in Texas was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday, after prosecutors used his social media history and text messages to portray him as a racist who may commit violence again.Daniel Perry’s sentence now pushes the case toward a potentially thorny decision for Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has said he wants to issue a swift pardon.Abbott requested the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to send him a pardon recommendation for Perry shortly after he was convicted in April of killing Garrett Foster at the Austin march in July 2020.Abbott lauded Texas’ tough Stand Your Ground self-defense laws and said Perry was railroaded by a liberal prosecutor. Since then, Perry’s trail of texts and online posts, including shockingly racist images, have been made public and the governor has stayed silent on the matter. Abbott’s office did not respond to an Associat...

Missouri lawmakers ban gender-affirming care, trans athletes; Kansas City moves to defy state

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:30:07 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers approved two bills Wednesday that ban gender-affirming health care for minors, and prevent transgender girls and women from participating on female sports teams. But local officials in Kansas City moved to defy the state, as they heard testimony about creating a sanctuary for people seeking gender-affirming treatment.Transgender minors in Missouri would no longer have access to puberty blockers, hormones or gender-affirming surgery under one bill passed by the Republican-led House. The ban also affects some adults — Medicaid health care won’t cover any gender-affirming care in the state, and surgery will no longer be available to prisoners and inmates.Another bill bans transgender student-athletes from joining girls’ and women’s teams from kindergarten through college, both at public and private schools. Schools that allow transgender girls and women to play on such teams would lose state funding.Gov. Mike Parson is expected to sign both...

Ohio Constitution change aimed at thwarting abortion rights push appears headed to August ballot

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:30:07 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — After a critical vote Wednesday, the Ohio House agreed to send to voters in August a measure making it more difficult to amend the state’s constitution, just months before an amendment guaranteeing abortion rights lands on the statewide ballot.It asks voters to raise the threshold for future constitutional amendments from 50% plus one to a 60% supermajority.The Ohio Statehouse resounded with protests before the House voted to approve the resolution. The measure needed to return to the Senate for a technical vote before heading to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, which has set an 11:59 p.m. deadline.Its success capped a months-long effort led spearheaded by a faction of Republican lawmakers and the state’s GOP elections chief and carried out by anti-abortion and gun rights groups.Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling guaranteeing abortion rights last year, other states’ amendments involving the procedure h...

Disney posts higher second-quarter earnings and revenue thanks to strong theme parks business

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:30:07 GMT

Ongoing strength at its theme parks and an improving streaming business propelled The Walt Disney Co. to higher profits and revenue in its fiscal second quarter.But the company lost 4 million streaming subscribers to its Disney+ service and its shares fell 4.5% in after-hours trading. The entertainment giant, which is in the midst of a “ strategic reorganization,” has been working on trimming about 7,000 jobs as part of a targeted $5.5 billion cost savings across the company.Bob Iger, who returned in November to take over the CEO post from Bob Chapek, has been working over the past six months to turn around Disney’s streaming business while simultaneously making sure that the financial might coming from its theme parks doesn’t waver.He’s also had to contend with trying to protect Disney World’s theme park district from a takeover by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Disney sued DeSantis in late April, alleging the governor waged a “targeted campaign of government reta...

Canada removes Terry Fox from passport, prompting backlash

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:30:07 GMT

The federal government’s decision to remove Terry Fox from Canadian passports is drawing some backlash.The Canadian hero’s image was removed as part of a broader overhaul of the travel document.It was not specific to him, with other iconic Canadian imagery, including a representation of Vimy Ridge, also being taken out.The move isn’t sitting well with many, including Dave Teixeira, the organizer of the Terry Fox Hometown Run.“I would advocate that he should be on more things. He’s one of Canada’s greatest heroes. He was a young person in the early 80s who inspired a nation and a world to do better. And because of him, there’s been a lot of suffering that’s been alleviated because of the money raised for cancer (research),” Teixeira told CityNews Wednesday.Related articles: Canada will allow online passport renewal services this fall, new design unveiledCanada’s passport application backlog now ‘virtually eliminated,’ minister say...

Idaho man who dangled from Senate balcony during Capitol riot receives 15-month prison sentence

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:30:07 GMT

An Idaho man who traveled to Washington in a car loaded with weapons and was photographed dangling from the Senate balcony during the Capitol riot was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison. Josiah Colt, one of the first rioters to reach the Senate floor on Jan. 6, 2021, later pleaded guilty that year to obstructing Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s White House victory. Also Wednesday, a man who accompanied Colt to the District of Columbia in a rental car with two pistols, knives, a stun gun, body armor and other gear was sentenced to about three years in prison, according to court records. Las Vegas resident Nathaniel DeGrave, who also entered the Senate gallery, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and assault charges last year. Both men had agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of their plea deals. Prosecutors say Colt, DeGrave and a third man, Ronald Sandlin, came to Washington prepared for violence and were intent on stopping lawmakers from certifying the ...

Ex-officer pleads guilty to assaulting man during unrest in Minneapolis after murder of George Floyd

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:30:07 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former Minneapolis police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to assaulting a man during the unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd by another officer in 2020.Justin Stetson’s guilty plea to a felony charge of third-degree assault means he can never again work as a law enforcement officer in Minnesota. And under the terms, he offered a written apology to Jaleel Stallings that included an acknowledgement that he participated in a harmful institutional culture of policing.Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office prosecuted the case, called Stetson’s admission historic. But Stallings filed an objection with the court calling the deal too lenient and saying it fails to hold him accountable because it keeps the former officer out of prison.Stetson and other officers were enforcing a curfew the night of May 30, 2020, when his group spotted four people in a parking lot. One was Stallings, an Army veteran with a permit to carry a gun. The...

German leaders fail to reach breakthrough in dispute over growing cost of hosting migrants

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:30:07 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised a further 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) Wednesday for communities struggling to provide housing, schools and other basic services to a growing number of migrants, but failed to reach a breakthrough in talks with state leaders on the underlying issue of federal funding.The pledge was part of a package of measures agreed between Scholz and the governors of Germany’s 16 states, who have been arguing for months over who has to pay for the rising costs.“This billion is important, but of course it doesn’t solve the fundamental question,” said Stephan Weil, governor of Lower Saxony state.Still, he said, the progress achieved so far made him confident that a broader agreement could be reached by November.Scholz called the meeting “very constructive,” adding that the two sides had also agreed to digitize the process of handling asylum requests and accelerating deportations for people whose bids are rejected.The federal government wi...

On heels of damning sex abuse verdict, Trump to face voters on live CNN town hall

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:30:07 GMT

WASHINGTON — Twice impeached, recently indicted and now on the hook for a $5 million judgment that found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation, a defiant Donald Trump is looking to make more must-see TV. The former U.S. president is bringing his bid to win back the White House to CNN in prime time, just one day after a jury in New York concluded that he sexually assaulted magazine writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s.  “It could be a total disaster for all, including me. Let’s see what happens,” Trump says in a video posted Wednesday to his Truth Social feed, claiming the live town hall in New Hampshire was the cable network’s idea. “CNN is rightfully desperate to get those fantastic Trump ratings back … they made me a deal I couldn’t refuse.”Wednesday night’s ratings will surely be higher, for better or for worse, now that Carroll has proven in court that Trump sexually abused her in a Manhattan department store dressing roo...