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FDA has approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill,

WASHINGTON (AP) — FDA has approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill, a long-awaited milestone that will expand access for U.S. women and girls.

The US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the birth control pill Opill to be available over-the-counter — the first nonprescription birth control pill in the United States.

“Today’s approval marks the first time a nonprescription daily oral contraceptive will be an available option for millions of people in the United States,” said Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, the director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a statement. “When used as directed, daily oral contraception is safe and is expected to be more effective than currently available nonprescription contraceptive methods in preventing unintended pregnancy.”

Opill is a “mini-pill” that uses only the hormone progestin.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/13/health/f ... the%20Unit

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Judge puts newly signed Iowa abortion law on hold

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) - On Monday, a judge placed a temporary injunction on the newly signed bill that would restrict abortion after roughly six weeks’ gestation, or whenever cardiac activity is detected.

In their ruling, the judge stated that the court must follow the Iowa Supreme Court precedent and preserve the status quo while litigation moves forward. The judge did however direct the Iowa Board of Medicine to adopt rulemaking under the bill’s new guidelines.

The injunction would last until a future court decision.

Governor Kim Reynolds signed what supporters called the “fetal heartbeat bill” into law Friday as Planned Parenthood and other petitioners were in court trying to stop the law from taking effect.

The Iowa State Senate passed the bill last week in a special session held just a couple of weeks after the Iowa Supreme Court failed to revive a 2018 law with similar wording. Planned Parenthood, the Emma Goldman Clinic, and others filed a lawsuit to try to stop this law from going into effect.

https://www.wowt.com/2023/07/17/judge-p ... -law-hold/

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Mitch McConnell freezes at press conference and is escorted away

July 26, 2023

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suddenly stopped speaking during a weekly Republican leadership press conference, appearing to freeze, and then went silent and was walked away. Ali Vitali reports on what happened after that.

https://www.msnbc.com/chris-jansing-reports/watch/mitch-mcconnell-freezes-at-press-conference-and-is-escorted-away-189328965894

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Biden chooses former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley to lead the Social Security Administration
Source: AP

President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to lead the Social Security Administration.

If confirmed, O’Malley would run one of the biggest social programs in the nation and grapple with the surrounding uncertainty over its funding. Roughly 70 million people — including retirees, disabled people and children — receive Social Security benefits.

“Governor O’Malley is a lifelong public servant who has spent his career making government more accessible and transparent, while keeping the American people at the heart of his work,” Biden said in a statement. “As Governor, he made government work more effectively across his administration and enhanced the way millions of people accessed critical services.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/social-secur ... d252c97da9

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McConnell's office says he will serve through 2024 as GOP leader
Source: CNN

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to serve the rest of the 118th Congress as the GOP leader, the Kentucky Republican’s office said in a statement Friday.

Questions about the future of McConnell, 81, were swiftly raised this week after he froze for 30 seconds during a news conference. The statement doesn’t address his plans in the next Congress, which begins in 2025.

McConnell suffered a concussion and broken ribs from a fall he endured earlier this year. He was hospitalized and forced to go to rehab for several weeks before returning to the Senate in the spring. Following the news conference on Wednesday, CNN reported that McConnell has also suffered two other falls this year, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

McConnell declined to explain why he paused and left his news conference, though an aide said he was feeling light-headed.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/28/politics ... index.html

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New IRS paperless system will reduce deficit by $2.6 trillion over 10 years, Yellen says
Source: CNBC

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen praised a new initiative by the IRS that she said will reduce the federal deficit by $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years — an extension of the Biden administration’s pledged $1 trillion in deficit reduction from the Inflation Reduction Act.

The agency’s new “paperless processing” program will help reduce the burden of processing the 200 million paper documents received each year at a cost of around $40 million annually in storage costs by allowing customers to digitally submit documents to the IRS.

The initiative is a “key” to unlocking other system improvements, said Yellen, including error reductions in tax processing and secure data access for taxpayers. “I urge Congress to provide stable and sufficient annual appropriations for the IRS in order to sustain and build on this progress,” Yellen said.

She also applauded the Biden administration’s efforts to close the tax gap that, without intervention, would have reached $7 trillion over the next decade. The IRS has prioritized hiring personnel to assist in auditing large corporations, complex business partnerships and other wealthy taxpayers, a process that takes up to 50 times longer compared with simple audits. The agency has already recovered roughly $38 million from about 175 delinquent tax cases for millionaires, said Yellen.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/02/yellen- ... years.html

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DeSantis suspends elected Florida state attorney Monique Worrell accusing her of being soft on crime
Source: CNBC

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday suspended Monique Worrell, the state attorney for Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit, accusing her of under-prosecuting criminals in her jurisdiction.

Worrell, a Democratic elected official who took office in 2021, has been “clearly and fundamentally derelict” in her duties, the Republican governor claimed at a press conference in Tallahassee.

An executive order signed by DeSantis and Secretary of State Cord Byrd accused Worrell of “systematically” allowing criminals to evade incarceration, either by dropping charges or declining to allege provable facts.

Her actions constitute “both neglect of duty and incompetence,” according to the executive order. DeSantis acknowledged that prosecutors like Worrell “do have a certain amount of discretion about which cases to bring and which not.” But Worrell has “abused that discretion,” he said.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/desanti ... rrell.html