The FDA is weighing a possible rule change that would make birth control pills available without a prescription from a doctor for the very first time. This comes as manufacturer HRA Pharma seeks approval for its over the counter drug Opill. In a document released last Friday, however, FDA officials raised concerns about patients with a history of breast cancer who should not take the drug and those who reported taking it improperly. The agency is expected to make a decision by this summer.
BAD CYBER HABITS
A new report from cyber threat intelligence firm SpyCloud found unsafe internet habits from employees of Fortune 1000 companies. The report identified 2 billion "cookies" — the saved data in your browser that helps keep track of your online activity — on the dark web. It also found that 62 percent of employees who had been exposed used the same passwords after getting hacked. Finally, the report found that telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Verizon were uniquely vulnerable to hacking, data breaches, and leaked passwords.
The world population grew by 75 million people over the past year and on New Year's Day, it was estimated to stand at more than 8 billion people, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday.
UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow. Wisconsin-La Crosse fired Gow on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, after learning Gow and his wife have been producing and appearing in pornographic videos. Gow maintains the firing violated his free speech rights.
The U.S. military is now putting independent lawyers in charge of its investigations of sexual assault and other major crimes, what Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has called the "most important reform" to the military justice system in recent history.
A decades-old law bans Medicare from paying for weight loss drugs. Now, drugmakers and a wide-ranging bipartisan coalition of lawmakers are gearing up to push for that to change next year.
Barring a court order, in March Texas police will start being able to arrest people they suspect have entered the U.S. illegally, but increases in border crossings since a 2021 law authorizing some arrests shows the limits of that approach in the face of desperation that causes people to risk everything and travel thousands of miles to the U.S.
Mexico began clearing tents, both occupied and unoccupied, from the encampment in the border city of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, starting Tuesday.
