Agents Seize Record Amount of Methamphetamine During Columbus Investigation

In what the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is describing as one of their biggest arrests in years, authorities recovered eight pounds of methamphetamine from a Columbus apartment and detained two people.

DEA agents in collaboration with officers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol raided the Columbus apartment on Wednesday. Inside, more meth was discovered than the DEA had ever found in a single arrest in Central Ohio. 

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Twitter Censored Accurate COVID Information that Conflicted with Federal Sentiments, New Files Show

Twitter altered the COVID conversation by censoring information that was true but not in line with U.S. government policy, discrediting public health experts who disagreed and suppressing contrarian users, the latest installment of the “Twitter Files” showed Monday.

“[B]oth the Trump and Biden administrations directly pressed Twitter executives to moderate the platform’s pandemic content according to their wishes,” reporter David Zweig said in the 10th Twitter Files release. 

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Governor DeWine Signs Executive Order Authorizing the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to Ban the Sale and Use of Tianeptine

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed Executive Order 2022-17-D on Thursday, to suspend the normal rule making process to allow the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy to classify all products containing tianeptine, as a Schedule I controlled substance.

According to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) tianeptine is an antidepressant drug that is not approved by the United States for medical use. The FDA has warned that many companies are illegally marketing and selling products containing tianeptine to the public with unproven beneficial claims (i.e., dietary supplement, treatment for anxiety, depression, or opioid disorder). Effective December 22, 2022, no one may sell or pocess any product containing tianeptine in the state of Ohio.

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Ohio Bill Aims to Permit Use of Ivermectin and Alternative COVID-19 Drugs

A bill in support of the use of alternative COVID-19 treatments received its first hearing in Lame-duck session at the Ohio Statehouse.

House Bill (HB) 631 sponsored by State Representative Kris Jordan (R-Ostrander), named the COVID-19 Health Care Professional-Patient Relationship Protection Act, aims to protect the use of doctor-patient relationships in Ohio by codifying the authority for healthcare professionals to administer alternative drug therapies for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 or one of its variants.

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Columbus Leaders Announce New Proposal on Gun Restrictions

Democratic leaders in Columbus proposed new legislation on Thursday to extend gun restrictions in the city.

Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, City Attorney Zach Klein, and City Council President Shannon G. Hardin announced their proposition of “common sense” laws to reduce gun violence.

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Ohio Law Enforcement Seizes Enough Fentanyl to Kill 190,000 People

Law enforcement officials seized 570 grams of fentanyl on Monday in southwest Ohio which the Butler County Sheriff’s Office says is enough to kill 190,000 people, which is roughly half the population of Butler County.

Law enforcement seized the lethal drugs as part of an operation by the Butler County Undercover Regional Narcotics (BURN) Task Force with the assistance of the Hamilton Police Department’s Vice and Neighborhood Police Section.

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Commentary: Tennessee Legislature Must Pass Big COVID Test in ‘Special Session’

The red state/blue state dichotomy is not simple.

Nowhere is that more apparent than Tennessee where—despite having one of the most conservative electorates in the country—the leadership has been passive at best in responding to the wishes of their supporters during these days of great crisis.

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Jobless Claims Increase to 719,000 as Recovery Continues

Unemployment sign

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased to 719,000 last week, even as the economy continues to slowly recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented an increase in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending March 20, when 658,000 new jobless claims were reported. That number was revised down from the 684,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

Roughly 18.2 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the report.

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