Articles

Trump administration $21M gamble on Pepcid as a COVID remedy fizzles

As the coronavirus began its deadly march through the world, two well-respected American doctors identified a possible but seemingly unlikely remedy: Pepcid, the heartburn medication found on drugstore shelves everywhere. There were no published data or studies to suggest its effectiveness against the novel coronavirus. But that didn’t stop the Trump administration from granting a $21 million emergency contract that is now the subject of whistleblower complaints.

Read More

Poll: 3 in 4 Americans back requiring wearing masks

Three out of four Americans, including a majority of Republicans, favor requiring people to wear face coverings while outside their homes, a new poll finds, reflecting fresh alarm over spiking coronavirus cases and a growing embrace of government advice intended to safeguard public health.

Read More

Trump, Barr to expand anti-crime surge to several US cities

President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr are expected to announce Wednesday that federal agents will surge into several American cities including Chicago to help combat rising crime, expanding the administration’s intervention in local enforcement as Trump runs for reelection under a “law and order” mantle.

Read More

US executes 3 in first federal death sentences since 2003

The federal government last week carried out its first executions in almost two decades after the US Supreme Court in separate 5-4 rulings turned away last-minute appeals from two condemned inmates’ legal teams. Their executions, and that of a third defendant, were carried out by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute.

Read More

Thomas spoke, Roberts ruled in unusual Supreme Court term

Justice Clarence Thomas spoke and Chief Justice John Roberts ruled. The US Supreme Court’s most unusual term featured victories for immigrants, abortion rights, LGBTQ workers and religious freedoms. The usually quiet Thomas’ baritone was heard by the whole world when the coronavirus outbreak upended the court’s traditional way of doing business. When the biggest decisions were handed down, the chief justice was almost always in the majority and dictated the reach of the court’s most controversial cases, whether they were won by the left or the right.

Read More

Mueller defends Russia probe, says Stone remains a felon

Former special counsel Robert Mueller sharply defended his investigation into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, writing in a newspaper opinion piece Saturday that the probe was of “paramount importance” and asserting that a Trump ally, Roger Stone, “remains a convicted felon, and rightly so” despite the president’s decision to commute his prison sentence. Meanwhile, a federal prosecutor who worked on the Russia investigation will release a book in September, a publishing company announced Monday.

Read More

Cost transparency efforts advance in medicine

The Trump administration won a court ruling last month upholding its plan to require insurers and hospitals to disclose prices for common tests and procedures in a bid to promote competition and push down costs. The federal court decision comes as Indiana prepares to enact its own health care price transparency legislation next year.

Read More