Extra, Extra

Idalia Update: “Idalia has strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of up to 80 mph and is expected to intensify considerably into a powerful Category 3 hurricane before making landfall in Florida on Wednesday.” Here’s the latest on what looks to be a major storm.

+ Something is Gotten in the State of Denmark: “The company’s shadow is so expansive that Danish economists are now debating whether the country needs to publish another set of economic statistics that strips out Novo Nordisk. In other words, there’s Novo Nordisk, and there’s the rest of the economy.” How big are drugs like Ozempic? “The Danish company behind two popular obesity medications, is reaping huge profits and is now responsible for most of the country’s economic growth.” NYT (Gift Article): How Ozempic and Weight Loss Drugs Are Reshaping Denmark’s Economy.

+ Drug Test: “The Biden administration unveiled Tuesday the names of the first 10 drugs subject to price negotiations in Medicare, including several popular blood thinners and diabetes medications.” Can they really bring down drug prices, even for a subsection of patients? Any progress would be a miracle cure.

+ Under the Influence: “The fake accounts posted links to articles praising China and denigrating U.S. and European foreign policy, as well as seemingly personal comments that appear to be copied and pasted from a numbered list, resulting in hundreds of identical posts.” Meta says Chinese, Russian influence operations are among the biggest it’s taken down. (At this point, it’s a refreshing change of pace to learn that fake news is being spread by foreign influencers, as opposed to domestic ones.)

+ Tenn Goes to Eleven: “The vote to silence Jones prompted loud cries and chants that drowned out proceedings for several minutes even after the House speaker ordered the gallery to be cleared out. Moments prior, Jones had been criticizing legislation that would have allowed more law enforcement officers in schools and began listing other resources that the state should be providing.” GOP silences ‘Tennessee Three’ Democrat on House floor for day on ‘out of order’ rule; crowd erupts. The Tennessee House provides an excellent microcosm for the craziness infecting American politics.

+ Brain Damage: “A neurosurgeon investigating a woman’s mystery symptoms in an Australian hospital says she plucked a wriggling worm from the patient’s brain.” And that’s as much of that article as I read…