FDA seizes thousands of units of counterfeit Ozempic
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that it had seized thousands of units of counterfeit Ozempic, the diabetes drug also widely used for weight loss. Some fraudulent Ozempic products may still be on the market, according to the agency. The FDA and Novo Nordisk, the company that makes Ozempic, are now testing the seized medications to determine what is in them. So far, the agency has confirmed that the needles accompanying these injectable medications are counterfeit and may not be sterile. The labels, the packaging and the accompanying information for patients and health care providers are also all fraudulent.
Justices in Wisconsin order new legislative maps
The Wisconsin Supreme Court said Friday that the state’s heavily gerrymandered legislative maps that favor Republicans are unconstitutional and ordered new maps before the 2024 election. The ruling has the potential to produce a seismic political shift in the crucial presidential swing state. Justice Jill Karofsky, writing for the majority, said Wisconsin’s current maps violate a requirement in the state constitution “that Wisconsin’s state legislative districts must be composed of physically adjoining territory.” “Given the language in the constitution, the question before us is straightforward,” she wrote. “When legislative districts are composed of separate, detached parts, do they consist of ‘contiguous territory’? We conclude that they do not.”
After Trump pardons, Democratic lawmaker seeks more transparency
In the aftermath of last-minute pardons that President Donald Trump issued to allies and well-connected applicants, a Democratic senator is proposing legislation to require more transparency around the process of presidential pardons and more disclosure from people lobbying on behalf of those seeking clemency. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a former prosecutor, plans to introduce a measure seeking to bring greater public awareness to the often opaque circumstances surrounding presidential pardons. It would also require more notification to the Justice Department and consultation on the potential effect any pardon would have “on the success of any ongoing investigation or prosecution.”
After Czech mass shooting, a nation in mourning
After days of hunting in vain for clues to a double murder of a man and his baby daughter in a forest east of Prague last week, Czech police called off their search for the killer. The next day, the target of the search killed 14 more people and wounded more than 20 others Thursday at Charles University and sent a nation into mourning. Czech police connected the two episodes through ballistic analysis, saying Friday that the gun used to kill the father and baby Dec. 15 had been “found in the house where the shooter at the university lived.”
By wire sources