These days, we know where almost everything comes from. Everyday items like food, clothes and pens all carry labels listing where things are grown, manufactured or even designed.

So why is it so hard to find where prescription drugs are made?

That question set off a 14-month investigation into where our medications are made, how the FDA polices drug manufacturers and what happens when inspectors report issues inside factories.

The vast majority of prescriptions filled in the United States are for generic drugs, which are often far cheaper than brand-name alternatives.

For years, Congress, doctors and watchdog groups have questioned the quality of generic drugs made overseas. India produces about half of all generics used in the U.S., but the labels on pill bottles often don’t list where a drug is manufactured. Inspection reports describe unsafe manufacturing conditions at generic drug factories, but the Food and Drug Administration redacts the names of the medications made in those factories. That means if drugs made in errant factories wind up in your medicine cabinet, you’d have no way of knowing.

These days, we know where almost everything comes from. Everyday items like food, clothes and pens all carry labels listing where things are grown, manufactured or even designed.

So why is it so hard to find where prescription drugs are made?

That question set off a 14-month investigation into where our medications are made, how the FDA polices drug manufacturers and what happens when inspectors report issues inside factories.

The vast majority of prescriptions filled in the United States are for generic drugs, which are often far cheaper than brand-name alternatives.

For years, Congress, doctors and watchdog groups have questioned the quality of generic drugs made overseas. India produces about half of all generics used in the U.S., but the labels on pill bottles often don’t list where a drug is manufactured. Inspection reports describe unsafe manufacturing conditions at generic drug factories, but the Food and Drug Administration redacts the names of the medications made in those factories. That means if drugs made in errant factories wind up in your medicine cabinet, you’d have no way of knowing.

In November 2015, world leaders descended on Paris to negotiate a historic agreement to limit global warming. But on the summit’s opening day, attention turned to a private citizen slouched awkwardly in a chair on stage: Bill Gates.

Gates, with his characteristic flop of sandy hair, grinned impishly as President Barack Obama called him a “visionary” and a “driving force” behind a pair of pledges that both saw as key to the larger agreement. First the world’s largest economies would double their spending on research into clean-energy technologies. Then investors like Gates would back the startups that emerged. The Microsoft cofounder had already enlisted two dozen other billionaires to join the effort.

For Gates, who’d become increasingly consumed by this unprecedented threat to human well-being, the moment marked his arrival as a leading figure in the fight against climate change.

“If we back over 50 different breakthrough approaches, we know that several of those will give us the solution that we need,” Gates said during his own speech. He would invest at least $2 billion of his own money in companies developing geothermal wells, new kinds of nuclear reactors and machines that pull carbon from the air, to name just a few.

With much less fanfare, however, Gates has put more than double that amount into a very dirty, old-school industry. At the time of the Paris summit, he was already the dominant shareholder of America’s No. 2 landfill operator, Republic Services. He has since increased his stake to 38% of the company, a position worth $29 billion.

A US judge ruled on Tuesday that Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in southern California, was “unlawfully serving” as the head of the US attorney’s office and was disqualified from overseeing two criminal prosecutions.

The order, however, will not immediately go into effect, and the Department of Justice has said it intends to appeal.

The ruling was part of a long-running legal battle challenging the Trump administration’s maneuvers to keep Essayli in office despite not being confirmed by the US Senate. Essayli, a former Republican state lawmaker and ally of Donald Trump, became an interim US attorney in April 2025, but he was not formally nominated by the president, which allowed him to lead the office without going through the standard confirmation process.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a last-ditch effort by Missouri Republicans to use a newly drawn congressional map, which was designed to maximize their political power, for this year’s midterm elections.

In a brief order issued by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court left in place a Missouri Supreme Court ruling last week that said the map could not be used while a ballot initiative that could lead to the redrawn map’s being tossed out by voters moves forward. Kavanaugh handles emergency requests that arise from Missouri.

The 2025 Republican redistricting plan, part of a wave prompted by President Donald Trump, was designed to eliminate one of the state’s two Democratic-held seats, currently held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

But the Supreme Court’s decision means the 2022 map, with six Republican-held seats and two Democratic-held seats, will remain in place.

The legal clash erupted after the 2025 redistricting plan was enacted.

A group called People Not Politicians Missouri, led by Richard von Glahn, gathered signatures in support of a state referendum that would veto the Legislature’s map and put it on hold for the 2026 election.

But Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, refused to put the measure on the ballot, arguing that redistricting plans are not subject to being overturned by voters.

The Missouri Supreme Court found that Hoskins should not have rejected the plan, unanimously concluding there is nothing in state law that says redistricting plans are exempt from the referendum process.

The referendum petition was “legal, sufficient and timely,” the court found.

Kacey Musgraves is facing backlash from some fans after she showed support for immigrant families during a birthday performance.

The Grammy-winning country singer celebrated her 38th birthday on Friday by marking the opening night of her Middle of Nowhere tour in Chicago. At one point during the performance, she paused the show and urged the audience to donate to the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights as her “birthday wish.”

“It’s a wonderful organization, and they help give aid — legal aid — and money to children whose parents have been deported unfairly,” Musgraves said on stage. “It’s not a political thing. It’s just, these kids need help.”

She continued: “They have no guidance and no way to get through this thing without their home base or their parents. So anyway, 50 cents, whatever the hell, I don't know, whatever you want to do, but that would mean a lot to me. If you don't want to, that's totally fine too.”

The plea was met with applause and cheers from her crowd at the United Center. However, once videos of the moment started circulating online, conservative political commentators were quick to unleash their wrath on the “Follow Your Arrow” singer.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk likely broke Wisconsin law when he handed out $1 million checks to voters in the 2025 state Supreme Court election, a bipartisan panel has found.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission last week referred two complaints to the Brown County district attorney’s office, which can choose to bring criminal charges over violating the state law against election bribery. Prosecutors have 40 days to report back to the commission.

Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, was deeply involved in the effort to flip majority control of the highest court in battleground Wisconsin.

The tech titan and groups he supported spent at least $20 million on the candidate backed by Republicans, Brad Schimel. However, he lost by 10 percentage points to Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford.

A month after the lopsided loss, Musk announced that he would be spending far less on political campaigns. Spending on the election topped $100 million, making it the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.

Prosecutors will decide if Musk should be charged over the $1 million checks

The complaints, which are confidential under state law, were brought by voters in Milwaukee and Green Bay, which is in Brown County. Musk handed out checks at a rally there just days before the election.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission, consisting of three Democrats and three Republicans, voted 5-1 in closed session on Thursday to refer the complaints to the district attorney, the commission’s spokesperson Emilee Miklas said.

Brown County District Attorney David Lasee, a Republican, did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.

The motion approved by the elections commission said it found probable cause that Musk broke Wisconsin law by making a social media post offering $1 million to people who voted in the Supreme Court election “in order to induce them to vote in that election.”

https://archive.ph/h2Idy

A growing number of candidates are seeking federal office without the backing of either major party, as more Americans identify as political independents heading into the 2026 midterm elections.

A Newsweek analysis of independent congressional candidate lists found 217 entries across U.S. House and Senate races in the 2026 cycle: 170 for the House and 47 Senate hopefuls.

When multiple candidates running in the same House district or Senate state are combined, the lists cover 153 distinct contests—129 House districts or at-large seats and 24 Senate races. The largest concentrations appear in Texas, Illinois, New York, California, Washington and Virginia.

An 11th hour U.S.-Iran cease-fire has triggered a spectacular rally for stocks and the opposite for oil prices.

That’s even as a lasting deal has not been agreed, with an estimated 800- plus stranded vessels in the Persian Gulf.

The worry for some is that the sharp stock rebound may be getting ahead of itself. In that camp is a senior trader at Goldman Sachs, Rich Privorotsky, who sees major risk ahead as the market tries to “move past Iran.”

In a note to clients, Privorotsky cautioned that “this isn’t a great level to chase,” with regard to the S&P 500

He noted that the index had already recouped two-thirds of losses incurred when the conflict began in late February; from its most recent record high in January, the S&P 500 was down about 5%.

Commenting that “cease-fires are fragile by definition,” Privorotsky said strikes have been seen overnight across the Gulf region despite the cease-fire. “You can hand-wave some of that as lag effects, but the disagreement around proxies (e.g. Lebanon with Israel) leaves plenty of scope for this to break,” he said.

The market will ultimately judge “actual flows through the Strait over time,” he said. “I struggle to see new highs for equities, but positioning still argues for forced buying to run its course first.”

U.S. lawmakers will try again next week to pass a resolution to halt the Iran war and force President Donald Trump to obtain ​Congress' approval for any further attacks, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said ‌on Wednesday, hours after Trump announced a two-week ceasefire.

"Congress must reassert its authority, especially at this dangerous moment," Schumer told a press conference at his office in New York.

Trump agreed to the ceasefire ​on Tuesday, less than two hours before his deadline for Tehran to ​reopen the blockaded Strait of Hormuz or face devastating attacks on its ⁠civilian infrastructure.

Trump's threat that "a whole civilization will die tonight" prompted global concern and ​censure from Democrats, dozens of whom called for Trump's removal from office. The 1949 Geneva ​Conventions on humanitarian conduct in war prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for civilians.

Schumer called Trump's statements "unhinged" and criticized the war for failing to weaken Iran's government or rein in its nuclear ​program, while global fuel prices have risen.