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Britain Approves World’s First Gene Therapy For Sickle Cell

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s medicines regulator has authorized the world’s first gene therapy treatment for sickle cell disease, in a move that could offer relief to thousands of people with the crippling disease in the U.K. In a statement Thursday, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency said it approved Casgevy, the first medicine licensed using the gene editing tool CRISPR, which won its makers a Nobel prize in 2020. The agency approved the treatment for patients with sickle cell disease and thalassemia who are 12 years old and over. Casgevy is made by Vertex ...

Rep. Santos Will Not Seek Reelection After Scathing Ethics Committee Report

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee in a scathing report Thursday said it has amassed “overwhelming evidence” of lawbreaking by Republican Rep. George Santos of New York that has been sent to the Justice Department, concluding flatly that he “cannot be trusted” after a monthslong investigation into his conduct. Shortly after the panel’s report was released, Santos blasted it in a tweet on X as a “disgusting politicized smear” but said he would not be seeking reelection to a second term. He gave no indication, however, that he would step aside before his term ...

When All Things Are Considered, Biden’s Polling Really Well

Don’t you love those polls that have pundits racing to the news channels bucked up with hyper confidence? When you have one like the recent New York Times/Siena College poll saying that Donald Trump was leading Joe Biden in five out of six battleground states, the click-baiting headlines virtually write themselves. But do the “early data points” say much about what will really happen a year from now? The pundits doing the hard-sell on their powers of divination say yes. After all, if the polls don’t mean anything, who needs their interpretations? On Election Day, Democrats ...

Attitudes of Gratitude, Ingratitude

We have again entered the season of gratitude. You remember gratitude, don’t you? It was what we expressed before we became entitled. Last Saturday was the observance of Veterans Day, during which many thanked those who served in the military and have protected our freedoms. Next week is Thanksgiving when some people will thank God for the many blessings he has bestowed on America, despite our rebellion against his commands. Even given the culture rot and political turmoil we are experiencing, there is still much for which to be thankful. Then comes Christmas when gratitude to ...

Making a Bet on Future Energy

The International Energy Agency has its opinion. Darren Woods has his. If you are the betting sort, wager on Woods. He just wagered $59.5 billion. The IEA, which thinks consumption of petroleum will peak and begin to decline by 2030, says the world is at “the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era.” Woods, ExxonMobil’s CEO, is spending $59.5 billion to buy Pioneer Natural Resources, whose CEO told the Financial Times that, including the natural gas and natural gas liquids with the oil, what ExxonMobil is buying in the Texas-New Mexico Permian Basin is “as big as Saudi ...

Dolly Parton’s New Album Is Detour From Country

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Last year, Dolly Parton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — against her wishes. Now, almost exactly a year later, she’s releasing her first rock ‘n’ roll album, appropriately titled “Rockstar,” on Friday. In 2022, Parton shared a statement announcing that she didn’t feel she had “earned” the right to be nominated, but the Hall inducted her anyway. “I just didn’t think that I had done enough in the rock world to be considered, to be put in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame when there were so many great rock artists that are not even ...