News From Around the Web
#1 Federal Government Shuts Down After Senate Fails to Pass Funding Measures - ABC News, The White House (community note), Kamala Harris (community note), Global Eye News, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (community note), U.S. Senator John Fetterman, Chuck Schumer, Karoline Leavitt (community note), Ted Cruz, Robby Starbuck, Eric Daugherty, and Nick Sortor on X
The federal government shut down at 12:01 a.m. On Wednesday, the Senate was unable to pass Democratic and Republican proposals on Tuesday. Both proposals fell short of the 60 votes needed to pass. The Democratic plan, which would have restored $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts passed into law this summer on top of a permanent extension of the Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, went down along party lines, 47-53. Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman and independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, voted for the Republican plan that would have extended funding for seven weeks, but it failed on a 55-45 vote. Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against it...
#2 Pfizer Does Deal With Trump on Prescription Drug Prices - Nandita Bose and Patrick Wingrove for Reuters, k_gaita, BusterSMiami, Shannon Joy/Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH, Prof. Jim Dockins, Q95 FM, The HighWire, and The National Desk on X
Pfizer and President Donald Trump on Tuesday said they had cut a deal in which the U.S.-based drugmaker agreed to lower prescription drug prices in the Medicaid program to what it charges in other developed countries in exchange for tariff relief. Trump also said Pfizer would offer that most-favored-nation pricing on all new drugs launched in the U.S. and flagged that other drugmakers will follow suit. US patients often pay nearly three times more than in other developed nations for prescription drugs. Pfizer, the first drug company to announce a deal with the Trump administration, Pfizer shares rise more than 6%, and other drugmakers are also up White House plans a direct-to-consumer website for Americans to buy drugs...
#3 From Fever to Fallout: Does Tylenol Tip the Scale Toward Autism? - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards for The HighWire, UncoverDC, Camus, Timothy Williamson, Jeremy Bentham, Dr. Theo, and LBC/AlexBennett/GuidoDeoVindice on X
Currently making headlines in the news for its probable link to autism, acetaminophen (also known as “paracetamol” in many countries) is a chemical pain reliever and fever reducer with roots dating back to the 19th century. It was synthesized around 1878, but its adoption as a safe pain-reliever is thanks to earlier pain drugs (such as phenacetin and acetanilide) having known toxicity issues; thus, the door was opened for acetaminophen to be peddled as a “safer alternative.” In 1955, family-owned McNeil Laboratories introduced prescription-only Tylenol Elixir for Children in the United States, marketed with the slogan “for little hot heads” and featuring packaging shaped like a red fire truck. How cute. Yet, the billion-dollar pharmaceutical company admitted in private in 2018 that it was aware of a likely association between Tylenol in pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism in children. The Daily Caller recently shared that Rachel Weinstein, U.S. director of epidemiology for Janssen, the pharmaceutical arm of Johnson & Johnson, wrote at the time...#4 Elon Musk Leads Charge Against Netflix over Cartoon Director’s Charlie Kirk Comments - Hungarian Conservative, Elon Musk/Doge Designer, Libs of TikTok, Jeffery Mead, and MAGA Voice/Lilith on X
It seems that the ‘culture war’ is still raging on, even after President Trump’s triumphant comeback victory in the 2024 US presidential election. The new ‘theatre of war’: the American streaming giant Netflix, and the ‘commander’ leading the charge is eccentric billionaire Elon Musk again. Users on Musk’s social media platform X have unearthed that Hamish Steele, creator of the 2022 Netflix animated series Dead End: Paranormal Park, had made some peculiar statements about Charlie Kirk’s assassination. In the aftermath of the killing, he posted on X in response to an unidentified other user: ‘You sympathy [sic!] for any of the families slaughtered by your weapons but one random nazi gets shot and it’s a public statement. You’re such a f***king evil shit.’ With the term ‘random nazi’, he is presumably referring to Kirk...
#5 State of Calamity in Philippines Province as Earthquake Kills 69 - BBC, GMA Integrated News, The Wall Street Journal, Rukiga F.M, Good Morning America, and DW News on X
At least 69 people have been killed and dozens injured after a powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck the central Philippines late on Tuesday. The province of Cebu, which suffered the brunt of the damage, declared a state of calamity early on Wednesday, after thousands spent the night on the streets amid repeated aftershocks. One Cebu resident told the BBC he was among them, adding that power and water supplies were cut off. He says the voices of crying children could be heard around him, adding that they were "traumatised". The earthquake comes barely more than a week after the country was hit by back-to-back typhoons which killed more than 20 people.
#6 Trump Pulls Nomination of E.J. Antoni to Lead Bureau of Labor Statistics, AP Source Says - Seung Min Kim and Josh Boak for A News, Craig Caplan, Grace Chong MBI, Kevin Roberts, Andrew Kaczynski, and KATV News on X
The White House is withdrawing the nomination of E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, according to a White House official and an AP source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the action, which has yet to be publicly announced. The White House official declined to say the reasons for withdrawing the nomination, only to say that Antoni was a talented economist and that President Donald Trump plans to announce a new nominee soon. The Senate received paperwork formally withdrawing Antoni’s nomination on Tuesday...
#7 Bishops, Catholic Groups Slam Cardinal Cupich’s Plan to Honor Pro-Abortion Sen Dick Durbin: ‘Great Scandal’ - Fox News, Catholic Sat/Matt Walsh/Francisco Herrera, AutisticByAssociation, National Catholic Register, and Catholic Vote on X
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has decided not to receive a “Lifetime Achievement Award,” scheduled to be presented in November at the archdiocese’s “Keep Hope Alive” celebration, according to a statement by Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich Sept. 30. The award, scheduled to be given to Durbin for his work on immigration issues, had met with significant opposition from several Catholic bishops due to the Catholic senator’s longstanding public position in favor of abortion. “While I am saddened by this news, I respect his decision,” Cardinal Cupich said in his statement. “But I want to make clear that the decision to present him an award was specifically in recognition of his singular contribution to immigration reform and his unwavering support of immigrants, which is so needed in our day.”
#8 HHS Doubles AI-Backed Childhood Cancer Research Funding - National Institute of Health, HHS.gov, Nick Sortor, Karoline Leavitt, Triple H (community note), and Benny Johnson on X
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a doubling of funding for its Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The funding surge is designed to accelerate the development of improved diagnostics, treatments, and prevention strategies. President Trump in 2019 established the CCDI to collect, generate, and analyze childhood cancer data. Its budget will rise from $50 million to $100 million, giving the federal government stronger data for this effort. The initiative will also bring in private-sector partners to apply advanced artificial intelligence to speed up cures for pediatric cancer.
#9 Walmart to Eliminate Synthetic Food Dyes From Store Brands - Jing Feng and Vicky Nguyen for NBC News, iNews24, TODAY, Walmart News, TENET RESEARCH, and SNN on X
Big changes are coming to the food aisles of America’s largest retailer. Walmart announced Wednesday it will eliminate synthetic dyes from all its private-label brand food products. Those brands include Marketside, Bettergoods, and Great Value, which is the nation’s largest consumer packaged goods brand, found in 90% of households, according to NielsenIQ. The retailer has set a full implementation deadline of January 2027. It also pledged to eliminate 30 other ingredients, including certain preservatives, artificial sweeteners, and fat substitutes...
#10 Anti-Defamation League Retires Glossary of Extremist Groups After Backlash for Including Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA - Elizabeth Pritchett for Fox News, Pericles/ADL, /Elon Musk/Rupert Lowe MP, Nick Sortor, Libs of TikTok, and Right Angle News Network on X
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) removed its entire "Glossary of Extremism and Hate" on Tuesday after receiving backlash, including from Elon Musk and Republican lawmakers, for listing Turning Point USA (TPUSA) as an extremist group. The outrage comes nearly three weeks after TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University while speaking with a crowd on campus. TPUSA's backgrounder page on the ADL website falls under the "Center of Extremism" tag and describes the conservative group as having ties to "a range of right-wing extremists and has generated support from anti-Muslim bigots, alt-lite activists and some corners of the white supremacist alt-right."
In the letter shared Monday, the woman recounted the events of the shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, in which four people were killed. She said she needed to share what she went through for her dad and "for anyone who can set aside hate."When he [the gunman] came over to me, I felt very calm, peaceful even as I kneeled next to my dad, my hands still on dad," she wrote. "It felt like a long time I stared into his eyes while answering his question." "The only way I can describe it is I saw into his soul. I never took my eyes off his eyes, something happened, I saw pain, he felt lost. I deeply felt it with every fiber of my being. I forgave him, I forgave him right there, not in words, but with my heart," she wrote....
And Now for Something Special
Michigan Church Shooting Survivor Says She Looked Gunman Who Killed Her Father in the Eyes: “I Forgave Him Right There” - Kierra Frazier for ABC News
