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◼︎ GOVERNMENT
Stephen Miller’s Appointment Energizes RFK Jr. and His MAHA Allies
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again devotees are setting sky-high expectations for the White House now that Stephen Miller is running the show there. Since President Donald Trump named Miller to replace Susie Wiles as his chief of staff, Kennedy and his supporters have celebrated Miller as a steadfast ally. “Next to me, Stephen Miller is the strongest MAHA supporter in the administration,”
Kennedy wrote on social media platform X on Friday. “It’s time to unleash the Kraken.”
If Kennedy’s right, it would be quite the comeback. Most MAHA-backed candidates lost in last week’s election amid the movement’s mounting frustration with the GOP and as other issues like the economy took priority over MAHA’s concerns.
The disappointment of Kennedy’s supporters with the White House reached a flash point in February when Trump moved to bolster the production of a pesticide they think causes cancer. Their suspicions that corporations were influencing White House policy were reinforced when administration aides delayed the release of Kennedy’s plan to define ultraprocessed foods.
Last week, former Kennedy adviser Calley Means confirmed their fears in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. Means accused Wiles of doing industry’s bidding by holding Kennedy back. A spokesperson for Wiles has rejected Means’ accusations.
Rand Paul Plans to Be Top Republican on Senate Health Committee
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Wednesday he is seeking the top GOP spot on the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee next Congress, a move that would likely signal a major shift for the focus of Republicans on the panel.
Paul, an ophthalmologist, is the most senior Republican on the panel. He is currently the chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee but would give that up to move to the HELP Committee. The transition comes amid the fallout from massive Republican losses in the midterm elections that will reshape the committee.
Current HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) lost his primary election earlier this year, and other members, including Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), also lost. “As a physician and the author of dozens of bills on health care, education, and labor, I know the issues before this committee affect nearly every American family, from the cost of health care and how schools serve our children to how people earn a living and save for retirement,” Paul said in a statement.
Former FDA Head Accuses Trump Aides of Bowing to Industry
Former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary on Tuesday backed up a former White House adviser’s criticisms about industry influence over the administration’s health care policies.
“A lot of pressure from White House and HHS aides was not on medical cures or healthy food but instead on getting more vapes approved and catering to lobbyists,” Makary told POLITICO. “Americans don’t want their kids smoking strawberry banana vapes — they want a government that stands up to corruption.”
Former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary on Tuesday backed up a former White House adviser’s criticisms about industry influence over the administration’s health care policies.
“A lot of pressure from White House and HHS aides was not on medical cures or healthy food but instead on getting more vapes approved and catering to lobbyists,” Makary told POLITICO. “Americans don’t want their kids smoking strawberry banana vapes — they want a government that stands up to corruption.”
Cassidy Sets Key Vote on Overton, Even as He Remains Undecided on Nominee to Lead FDA
The Senate health committee has scheduled a pivotal vote for next week on the nomination of Heidi Overton to serve as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration — despite lingering doubts from Republicans on the panel.
The vote is set for Nov. 18, according to a committee release. If it passes, Overton’s nomination would then go to the full Senate, where Republicans are racing to confirm nominees before Democrats take power in January. The committee will also vote on James O’Neill’s nomination to serve as director of the National Science Foundation and three other nominations.
Even as he scheduled the vote, committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) remained undecided on Overton, he wrote in a post on X. It would take just one Republican on the committee to sink her nomination, assuming all Democrats vote against her.
◼︎ BIG PHARMA
Hospital Wastewater Boosts Growth of Resistant Bacteria, Study Finds
Hospital wastewater has long been viewed as a potential driver of antibiotic resistance in the environment. New research out of Sweden bolsters this argument. In a study published late last month in Nature Communications, a team of researchers from the University of Gothenburg collected wastewater from 10 hospitals and eight municipal treatment plants in Sweden’s Vastra Gotaland region.
In a series of experiments, they found that the water from the hospital sewers promoted the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, while the water from the municipal treatment plants had no effect.
Senior study author Joakim Larsson, PhD, who directs the Centre for Antibiotic Resistance Research at the University of Gothenburg, said the findings provide direct evidence linking antibiotics excreted by hospital patients to observed environmental effects and highlight hospital sewers as a more likely site for resistance evolution than previously considered. And the implications stretch beyond Sweden.
“The findings suggest that similar resistance selection occurs in the sewers of most hospitals worldwide,” Larsson said in a university press release.
Ozempic and Zepbound Users Face 6 Rebound Risks After Stopping, Doctor Warns
While GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound have reshaped weight management and diabetes control, research shows that many patients stop taking them within a year. Research has found that cycling off these medications can bring potential rebound risks, ranging from rapid weight regain to the loss of cardiovascular protection.
Dr. Frank Dumont, internal medicine physician and executive medical director at Virta Health in San Francisco, spoke with Fox News Digital about why patients stop taking GLP-1s, the potential risks and how to maintain progress afterward.
Some patients may stop taking GLP-1 medications because of medical concerns or side effects, while others prefer not to remain on long-term medication, Dumont said.
Common side effects include nausea, vomiting, constipation and diarrhea.
◼︎ BIG BROTHER
The Confidential Payments Meta and TikTok Made to Addicted Teens
The world’s biggest social media companies have reached a dozen confidential settlements in recent months with teen plaintiffs over claims the platforms damaged their mental health. The payouts were secret, but Bloomberg Businessweek has learned that most ranged from $2 million to $2.5 million.
And in just the past two weeks, Meta Platforms Inc. agreed to pay two of these teens a combined $7 million, according to people familiar with the payments who didn’t want to be identified discussing confidential information.
These settlement numbers, reported for the first time, provide a rare glimpse into what the companies are willing to pay to avoid high-profile trials with teen users — and the looming financial risk such cases present. Roughly 9,800 personal injury cases are pending in state and federal court against Meta, Google’s YouTube, Snap Inc. and TikTok Inc.
Tiktok and YouTube Fuel Rise in Junk Food Advertising to Kids
For decades, food and beverage companies have primarily marketed to young people through TV ads, including with characters like Tony the Tiger or Toucan Sam. However, as businesses invest more marketing dollars behind social media, there’s been limited studies on how children are exposed to messaging on platforms such as TikTok or YouTube.
Researchers used screen recordings to track the food marketing children and adolescents saw while using their devices as normal for 30 minutes. The study is meant to be a “real-world picture of young people’s exposure across digital platforms, including social media, web browsing and mobile games,” Lisa Powell, lead researcher and director of the Food Policy Research Program at the University of Illinois Chicago,said in a statement.
The study, which involved over 1,000 children aged 8 to 17, claims to be the first in the U.S. to examine youth exposure to food advertising across digital media platforms and is the largest globally to date.
How You Could End Up in a Government Surveillance Database and Never Know It
“You can’t get a breath of fresh air in or out of that place without us knowing, correct?” Columbine Valley Police Sgt. Jamie Milliman told Chrisanna Elser in September 2025 while issuing her a summons at her home in Colorado. In the exchange, which was captured by Elser’s doorbell camera, Milliman accused her of stealing a package from a porch in the nearby town of Bow Mar.
Police had used Flock license plate readers to identify Elser’s green Rivian after the vehicle was caught driving through Bow Mar around the time of the theft. But the video of the porch theft, which Elser later found herself on Nextdoor, did not show the suspect ever getting into any car. It just showed a woman running off with a package.
◼︎ BIG CHEMICAL
Groups Urge Democrats to Remove Farm Bill Amendments That “Undermine” Pesticide Safety
More than 170 groups are calling on Democratic leaders in Congress to remove provisions in the Farm Bill that the groups say would weaken protections for endangered species and leave farmers and others exposed to harmful pesticides.
The Nov. 6 letter, comes on the heels of historic Democratic wins in midterm elections — including rare Senate seat wins in key farm states such as Texas, Iowa and Kansas — that give Democrats majorities in both the House and Senate next year and increased leverage in Farm Bill negotiations.
The Farm Bill is a massive piece of legislation renewed roughly every five years that guides the federal government’s food and farm policy. The most recent Farm Bill was passed in 2018 but received three one-year extensions. The current extension expires Dec. 11.
The Poison Pipeline
Even when governments ban dangerous pesticides, a fractured regulatory landscape and criminal networks keep them flowing. Brazil, an agricultural superpower, is one of the world’s biggest consumers of pesticides. In 2020, it banned paraquat after its health regulator found strong evidence that occupational exposure to the chemical causes Parkinson’s disease. But the ban hasn’t stopped paraquat from entering the country.
An investigation by Lighthouse Reports, Bloomberg and Repórter Brasil found paraquat in the country’s drinking water, along with carbofuran and aldicarb, two other pesticides banned in Brazil.
Our analysis found that a third of Brazilian municipalities that tested their water between 2023 and 2026 detected banned pesticides, and 28% found traces of paraquat. In the agricultural state of São Paulo, almost 60% of tests detected at least one of five banned pesticides.
