Oakland Plans Citywide Water Gun Fight to Promote Anti–Gun Violence Efforts
The Insulin Racket ; Gut Microbes Eat Our Medications ; and More Picks
The Insulin Racket (Chris)
From the American Prospect: “Insulin is a 100-year-old drug whose wholesale price has tripled in ten years. The reasons why explain everything wrong with America’s broken prescription drug market.”
Houston — Houston? — Becomes a Leader in Renewable Energy (Chris)
The author writes, “After Hurricane Harvey’s climate-change uppercut flooded thousands of Houston homes in 2017, the city launched a climate action plan to meet the goal set out by the Paris Agreement of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. In an EPA list released in February this year of the top 100 green-power users in the United States, Houston ranks No. 11, one spot behind the U.S. General Services Administration, the agency that manages government buildings.”
Facebook May Pose a Greater Danger Than Wall Street (Reader Jim)
From Truthdig: “Immediately after Facebook released its Libra cryptocurrency plan, financial regulators in Europe voiced concerns over the potential danger of Facebook running a ‘shadow bank.’ Maxine Waters, who heads the Financial Services Committee for the U.S. House of Representatives, asked Facebook to halt its development of Libra until hearings could be held. She said: ‘This is like starting a bank without having to go through any steps to do it.’”
New White House Press Secretary Yanked Arizona Reporters’ Access After Critical Coverage (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “[Stephanie] Grisham asked members of the Arizona press corps who covered the legislature to consent to what Stephenson called an ‘invasive’ background check into reporters’ addresses, driving records, and criminal and civil histories. … Reporters quickly came to suspect the policy was, in fact, specifically designed to retaliate against [Hank] Stephenson, whose reporting had revealed how Republican House Speaker David Gowan used state-owned vehicles to travel thousands of miles while running for Congress.”
Gut Microbes Eat Our Medications (Mili)
The author writes, “Researchers have discovered one of the first concrete examples of how the microbiome can interfere with a drug’s intended path through the body. Focusing on levodopa (L-dopa), the primary treatment for Parkinson’s disease, they identified which bacteria out of the trillions of species is responsible for degrading the drug and how to stop this microbial interference.”
