Target to $28 from $36
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Supreme Court says Kentucky AG can defend state's abortion law
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled 8-1 that Kentucky’s Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, may defend an abortion restriction that lower courts struck down as unconstitutional.
The case was procedural in nature and did not directly address the legality of Kentucky’s now-defunct, GOP-backed abortion law, which would effectively ban after 15 weeks the most common abortion method used in the second trimester of pregnancy.
In their Thursday ruling, the majority held that Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron (R) should be allowed to step in and defend the restrictive abortion law after the state’s Democratic governor declined to do so. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a solo dissent.
The case arose after a messy collision between electoral politics and a government’s legal position in a contentious court fight raised the question of who had the legal right to represent Kentucky’s interests in court.
The dispute began when EMW Women's Surgical Center — Kentucky’s only abortion clinic — and two of its doctors sued on the grounds that the law, House Bill 454, placed an unconstitutional burden on abortion access.
A federal judge in Louisville struck down the law in 2019, prompting an appeal from the state’s then-Republican-led administration. That ruling was affirmed the next year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
But while the appeal was pending, Kentucky voters in 2019 elected Democrat Andy Beshear as governor, whose administration later dropped the case. That same election saw Kentucky voters elect Cameron, a Republican, as attorney general.
The Supreme Court’s Thursday decision reversed the 6th Circuit’s refusal to let Cameron step in to defend the abortion restriction, HB 454, on appeal.
“The Sixth Circuit panel failed to account for the strength of the Kentucky attorney general’s interest in taking up the defense of HB 454,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority.
The ruling returns the case to the 6th Circuit, where Cameron is expected to intervene.
In a separate case this term, the Supreme Court is weighing a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy and poses a direct challenge to the court’s landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which recognized a constitutional right to abortion up to around 24 weeks.
House passes bill to expand health benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits
The House on Thursday passed legislation that would expand access to health care for veterans exposed to toxins, such as chemicals emanating from burn pits, during their military service.
Lawmakers passed the bill largely along party lines, 256-174. Thirty-four Republicans joined Democrats in support.
Passage of the bill came two days after President Biden announced during his State of the Union address that the Department of Veterans Affairs will add nine respiratory cancers to its list of service-connected disabilities to expand benefits eligibility for affected veterans.
The bill passed in the House would expand VA health care eligibility for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits by establishing a presumption of service connection for about two dozen types of respiratory illnesses — like chronic bronchitis and asthma — and cancers.
It's estimated that about 3.5 million U.S. service members have been exposed to burn pits, according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonprofit veterans organization. A survey from the nonprofit found that 86 percent of its members reported exposure to burn pits or other toxics, with 89 percent reporting symptoms that might have been caused by that exposure.
“When we sent our service members into harm’s way, we made a pact to care for them when they came home. But for too long, Congress and the Department of Veterans Affairs have been slow to accept responsibility and cost of that care, citing high costs or lack of absolute, scientific proof of illness connections to service,” said House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.). “The result is a disability claims process that is cumbersome and one that places the burden of proof for toxic exposure on veterans themselves.”
“When our country goes to war, we don’t nickel and dime the Department of Defense. And we shouldn’t try to pinch pennies when it comes to covering the care for toxic-exposed veterans,” Takano said.
Biden said during his State of the Union address that his late son, Beau Biden, may have developed his brain cancer from exposure to a burn pit while serving in Iraq.
Such burn pits were often used at military sites in Iraq and Afghanistan to incinerate garbage like human waste, munitions, plastics, jet fuel and paint.
“They came home, many of the world’s fittest and best trained warriors in the world, never the same,” Biden said. “Headaches. Numbness. Dizziness. A cancer that would put them in a flag-draped coffin.”
That was the part of his address interrupted by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who in a breach of decorum yelled out that Biden put service members in coffins, referencing the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer.
Republicans argued the legislation could exacerbate VA backlogs and would add too much to the deficit, given its nearly $300 billion price tag over a decade.
“We are not doing right by our veterans by being fiscally irresponsible in their name. And I say that as a veteran myself,” said Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee who previously served in the Army.
Republicans further pointed to the Senate passage of a similar but narrower bill last month to expand post-9/11 combat veterans’ window of eligibility for health benefits from five to 10 years after discharge from military service, arguing that the House should just clear that measure and send it to Biden’s desk.
“Every day that the House fails to send it to the president is another day that a sick veteran doesn’t get the care they need,” said Rep. Mike Bost (Ill.), the top Republican on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.) introduced more comprehensive legislation similar to what passed in the House on Thursday that would create new presumptions of service connection for veterans exposed to toxins and boost federal research into toxic exposures.
It’s expected that the House and Senate will ultimately reconcile those measures and send a combined package for Biden’s signature.
Surgeon general demands data on COVID-19 misinformation from major tech firms
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has reportedly asked Big Tech companies to hand over data regarding COVID-19 misinformation, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
In a formal notice, Murthy requested major tech platforms submit information about the prevalence and scale of COVID-19 misinformation on their sites, from social networks, search engines, crowdsourced platforms, e-commerce platforms and instant messaging systems.
The Surgeon general last summer issued an advisory calling health misinformation an "urgent threat," and urging tech and social media platforms to redesign algorithms to reduce misinformation amplification and to bolster their monitoring of it.
“It can cause confusion, sow distrust, and undermine public health efforts, including our ongoing work to end the COVID-19 pandemic," Murthy said in a statement in July.
During the pandemic, COVID-19 misinformation has spread rapidly amid contentious debates over masks, vaccinations and basic public health data, including the number of deaths reported by states or federal governments.
Misinformation about vaccinations took center stage earlier this year when Neil Young said he would pull his music off the music platform Spotify in protest over podcast host Joe Rogan, who had interviewed guests questioning the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
President Biden on Wednesday unveiled a new pandemic roadmap. Part of that plan will "equip Americans with tools to identify misinformation and to invest in longer-term efforts to build resilience against health misinformation."
In his notice to major tech platforms, Murthy is requesting specific information on demographics affected by misinformation as well as sources of misinformation and “exactly how many users saw or may have been exposed to instances of Covid-19 misinformation,” according to the notice reviewed by The Times.
“Technology companies now have the opportunity to be open and transparent with the American people about the misinformation on their platforms,” Murthy said in a statement. “This is about protecting the nation’s health.”
HHS head calls Texas order to treat gender-affirming care as child abuse 'unconscionable'
- The Department of Health and Human Services in new guidance specifies that child welfare agencies are responsible for making critical gender-affirming care available to transgender youth despite state efforts to restrict it.
- HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra on Wednesday called Texas Gov. Abbott’s (R) recent order for state agencies to investigate gender-affirming health care as child abuse “discriminatory and unconscionable.”
- HHS on Wednesday also released new guidance on patient privacy and said it is illegal to deny care to an individual based on their gender identity.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in guidance released Wednesday specified that child welfare agencies have a responsibility to protect transgender youth by making gender-affirming care readily available and accessible.
LGBTQ+ youth, particularly trans youth, are often unable to access “necessary and affirming medical care” as a result of “intentionally erected systemic barriers,” the department said .
“These include policies that discourage, penalize, or otherwise impede providing such care and policies that falsely seek to characterize gender-affirming care, both of which present a severe risk of creating further barriers to access to such care,” reads a portion of the guidance.
, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said a (R) for state agencies to investigate gender-affirming health care as child abuse was unethical.
“The Texas government’s attacks against transgender youth and those who love and care for them are discriminatory and unconscionable. These actions are clearly dangerous to the health of transgender youth in Texas,” he said.
The governor’s order late last month came shortly after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) authored an opinion in which he said some types of gender-affirming treatment under his interpretation of Texas law.
Abbott and Paxton’s views have already been , and a Texas judge this week state government efforts to investigate families of transgender minors filed by the ACLU of Texas and Lambda Legal.
Several district attorneys in Texas have also said they the families of trans youth.
Becerra on Wednesday said his department will take “immediate action if needed” to support transgender youth and their families in Texas.
“HHS is closely monitoring the situation in Texas, and will use every tool at our disposal to keep Texans safe,” he said. “Any individual or family in Texas who is being targeted by a child welfare investigation because of this discriminatory gubernatorial order is encouraged to contact our Office for Civil Rights to report their experience.”
“At HHS, we listen to medical experts and doctors, and they agree with us, that access to affirming care for transgender youth is essential and can be life-saving,” he added.
Gender-affirming healthcare, including including hormone therapy, puberty blockers and surgeries, has been shown of depression and suicide among transgender adolescents – who already of mental health issues and self-harm.
The HHS on Wednesday also , clarifying that health care providers are not required to disclose private patient information related to gender-affirming care. A issued by the department Wednesday specifies that it is illegal to deny medical care based on an individual’s gender identity.
by the White House, President Joe Biden called Abbott’s order “government overreach at its worst” and accused the governor of launching an attack on transgender youth and their families “just to score political points.”
“Children, their parents, and their doctors should have the freedom to make the medical decisions that are best for each young person—without politicians getting in the way,” he said.
Senate Republicans oppose Biden's $22.5 billion COVID-relief request
Senior Senate Republicans, including the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, say they do not support the Biden administration’s request for another $22.5 billion to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the Appropriations panel, on Thursday said he doesn’t support doling out another $22.5 billion for COVID relief when billions of dollars in federal aid remain unspent.
“No, I don’t,” he said when asked if the administration’s request is warranted. “I think that we ought to determine — and we’ve asked the administration — how much unspent money is there. There are billions of dollars unspent.
“The American people need an accounting on how much is left. Let’s spend that first before we start borrowing more,” he added.
Shelby made his comments a day after the acting White House budget director Shalanda Young, sent a letter to Capitol Hill requesting $22.5 billion to address “immediate needs to avoid disruption to ongoing COVID response efforts over the next few months.”
Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said Shelby’s view is “very widely” held in the Senate GOP conference and predicted there would be strong Republican resistance to adding $22.5 billion in new COVID relief to a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package negotiators are trying to wrap up by March 11.
“There’s a general belief that there’s a lot of money out there still floating around and before we put more out, we need to get an accounting for that,” Thune said. “And I think that includes even people who otherwise might be inclined to support some of the things that would be included there.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a conservative member of the GOP conference, on Thursday warned against adding to the deficit and possibly further fueling inflation.
“We see inflation galloping across the country. That is caused by the trillions in new spending and trillions in new debt the Democrats have ran through. Just this week, President Biden gave a State of the Union address complaining about inflation but it seems he has no idea where it comes from,” he said.
“When it comes to COVID relief funds, the Democrats have no idea what’s been spent already. There are billions still unspent and everyone acknowledges there are billions in fraud on top of that,” he added.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), however, told reporters on Thursday that the additional funding request “is absolutely necessary” and predicted that Congress would have to spend even more than that to help treat the ongoing pandemic.
“In fact, we probably will need more as we need more therapies,” she said.
NYMOX Submits NDA to FDA for Prostate Hyperplasia Treatment
Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation (NASDAQ: NYMX) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce today that it has submitted the Company’s New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA for Fexapotide Triflutate to seek marketing approval in the U.S. for Fexapotide Triflutate for the treatment of men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
The submission of the application does not involve any guarantees or forward looking statements regarding outcomes of the submission. The Company will continue to make updates on all material and required developments with the application, and in accordance with prior statements provided in the Company’s regular SEC filings.
Nymox intends to submit applications in other major markets in the near term and will provide updates at the appropriate times in due course.
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