Hasta La Gadget!

Maryland lawmakers have passed a first-in-the-nation measure that lets the state attorney general sue generic drug makers that sharply raise prices in a move aimed at fighting what legislators call “price-gouging.”

The bill overwhelmingly was approved by the Democratic-controlled legislature on Monday and hailed by Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh as a way to check sharply higher prices for crucial generic drugs.

The Maryland measure comes as concerns about rising U.S. drug costs have been building for years. For example the 2015 decision by Turing Pharmaceuticals to increase the cost of a life-saving, anti-infection drug by 5,000 percent sparked widespread outrage.

The legislation takes aim at a generic drug market that makes up 88 percent of U.S. pharmaceutical sales and totaled $75 billion in 2015, according to Frosh’s office.

“The market seems to bear it and so some of these manufacturers are charging as much as they possibly can,” Frosh said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, has not said whether he would sign the legislation. His representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

The bill allows Maryland’s state authority on Medicaid, a federal healthcare program for the poor, to let the attorney general’s office know when it sees patients being charged an “unconscionable increase” for essential generic drugs.

The attorney general could then seek an explanation from the manufacturer and sue to protect consumers, with a fine of up to $10,000 for each violation. A judge could order the company to reverse its price increase.

Generics are pharmaceuticals that are equivalent to a brand-name drug. They usually are available after patent protections for the original maker run out.

The bill did not touch on branded prescription drugs new to the market since their manufacturers have development and patent costs they are entitled to recoup, Frosh said.

Maryland is the first state to pass a measure to combat excessive price increases, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Tennessee have similar legislation pending, the conference said.

The legislation would have a “chilling effect” on the generic market in Maryland, said Chester Davis Jr., president of the Association for Accessible Medicines, which represents generic drug makers.

Use of generic drugs had saved Maryland $3.7 billion in 2015, he said.

“To focus on the side of the ecosystem that is actually driving the savings and not the costs definitely seems counterintuitive to us,” he said.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Lisa Shumaker)

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Despite Ivanka Trump’s attempts to cut ties with her brand, some people still don’t want to be associated with the name “Trump.” Chef Angela Dimayuga is one of those people.

In a recent Instagram post, Dimayuga (who is the executive chef of Mission Chinese Food), says she was approached by a freelance writer for IvankaTrump.com about an interview.

“I would love to conduct an interview (via telephone/email) with you spotlighting your work as a strong female entrepreneur,” freelancer Adi Heyman wrote, adding that the website was “a non-political platform of empowerment for modern working women.” 

The attempt to flatter Dimayuga didn’t work. In an interview with The Huffington Post, the chef said she saw the message mid-service. She chose not to write back right away, instead collaborating on a response with her friend, activist Shakirah Simley, and eloquently explained just why she wouldn’t grant an interview to the “non-political platform.” 

Below is her response in its entirety: 

Hi Adi, 

Thank you for thinking of me. I’m glad you are a fan of my work so much that you want to provide more visibility for my career to inspire “other working women.” However, I’m for women who actually empower other women. 

I don’t believe that IvankaTrump.com is truly “a non-political platform of empowerment for [women]”. So long as the name Trump is involved, it is political and frankly, an option for the IvankaTrump.com business to make a profit. 

I don’t see anything empowering about defunding Planned Parenthood, barring asylum from women refugees, rolling back safeguards for equal pay, and treating POC/LGBT and the communities that support these groups like second class citizens.

As a queer person of color and daughter of immigrant parents I am not interested in being profiled as an aspirational figure for those that support a brand and a President that slyly disparages female empowerment. Sharing my story with a brand and family that silences our same voices is futile. 

Thank you for the consideration. 

Dimayuga told HuffPost about her decision to publish her response publicly, in order to show solidarity with others who are like her. 

“It’s important for me to acknowledge the intersectional community in which I’ve been able to creatively thrive in,” the chef said. And as a woman in the male-dominated restaurant business, Dimayuga says she learned to speak up. 

“I learned that only 6 percent of executive positions in kitchens are held by women. I am also queer, and have immigrant parents,” Dimayuga wrote. “I’ve come to the understanding that people want to hear what I have to say from my unique point of view. It’s a responsibility that gives me purpose, so making clear and pointed decisions on what I involve my time with is important.” 

Dimayuga said the response to her post has been “unanimously positive.” Even celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain commented on her Instagram, calling Dimayuga “My hero!”

”The sheer number of people that have been supportive just shows that there is a stronger and bigger community than I see on the day-to-day that are willing to actually help, protect, support women and those in marginalized communities,” Dimayuga said. 

She added, “I’m not interested in a catfight―I just found an opportunity to speak and share my narrative and my truth to vocalize my values and my own integrity. For me, it was an opportunity to say I belonged to a community where I hope to enrich the different spheres I live in and to cultivate empowering environments that are safe for us.” 

As of press time, the chef told HuffPost the freelancer has not reached back out to her. She has, however, gained an interesting new follower on her account: Ivanka Trump. 

Ivanka Trump’s personal Instagram confirms the recent follow: 

The HuffPost Lifestyle newsletter will make you happier and healthier, one email at a time. Sign up here.

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Dr. Abdel Hay Tennari, who treated at least 22 critical victims from the alleged toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun, said his patients’ symptoms were consistent with Sarin gas and the field hospital where he works has run out of the antidote.

AS WORLD LEADERS issued statements of outrage over the alleged chemical attack early Tuesday morning in the southeastern Syrian province of Idlib that killed dozens of civilians, Dr. Abdel Hay Tennari was rushing to treat the victims arriving at the Sarmin Field Hospital.

Speaking to Syria Deeply by phone, he said that the 22 critical patients he had treated so far all exhibited signs of exposure to a nerve agent. Their symptoms – foaming at the mouth and fluid filling the lungs, which can lead to suffocation – were consistent with the effects of Sarin gas, he said. At least 74 people died in the alleged chemical attack, according to a document detailing the victims’ names, released by the Idlib Health Directorate.

World leaders accused Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government of carrying out the attack. However, Damascus issued a statement categorically denying that it used any form of poisonous gas in Khan Sheikhoun.

Tennari, an internal medicine specialist undertaking his residency on respiratory diseases at a field hospital supported by the Syrian-American Medical Society in Idlib, said many of his patients reported seeing a government airplane drop a rocket on the area just prior to feeling symptoms. Additionally, at least three government airstrikes reportedly targeted and destroyed the National Hospital in Marrat al-Numan on Sunday. Just 15 miles (25km) away from Khan Sheikhoun, this hospital “would have been used to treat and save a large number of the patients,” Tennari said.

Russia claimed that the Syrian warplanes targeted rebel “workshops, which produced chemical warfare munitions” east of Khan Sheikhoun, according to a statement from its defence ministry. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would present evidence proving this claim to the United Nations Security Council, which convened for an emergency meeting on Wednesday.

Members of the U.N. Security Council are expected to vote on a resolution condemning the alleged chemical attack and ordering the Syrian government to release information regarding their air operations in Syria, according to the New York Times. If confirmed, Tuesday’s incident in Khan Sheikhoun would be the deadliest chemical attack since 2013, when Syrian government forces allegedly used Sarin gas in Eastern Ghouta, killing hundreds of people.

Syria Deeply spoke with Dr. Tennari about the situation in Khan Sheikhoun and how the hospital is coping with the influx of victims from the alleged chemical attack.

Syria Deeply: What did your patients tell you about the incident?

Dr. Abdel Hay Tennari: They told me that there was an attack from an airplane and they saw a rocket that was released from the airplane. Soon after, they started having problems breathing and they felt weakness in their bodies. So many people died from the attack [in Khan Sheikhoun] and many who arrived at hospitals were already dead.

We received 22 patients where I practice at Sarmin Field Hospital, and many of these people arrived with severe injuries. We know that other hospitals closer to the attack have received many more patients, many of them children and elderly people. Many parents have been separated from their children following the attack and families are looking for their children everywhere. They are going from hospital to hospital trying to find their children. I saw one baby; he was so tiny, and he was alone. We have no idea who his parents are and because he is so small we can’t ask him.

There are hundreds of victims, and so far we can confirm that 65 people have died. The more [critical] patients [that I have treated] are those who had inhaled high amounts of the toxin.

Syria Deeply: Assad’s government has denied that their military used chemical weapons in Khan Sheikhoun. Do you believe this to be true?

Tennari: Patients have said that the attack came from a regime airplane; the regime also used chemical agents before when they attacked Eastern Ghouta near Damascus four years ago. Also, 36 hours before the chemical attack, the regime launched three airstrikes on Marrat al-Numan Hospital, completely destroying the hospital. Marrat al-Numan is a large central hospital which is 25km from the site of the attack. This hospital would have been used to treat and save a large number of the patients [from Khan Sheikhoun]. We believe that the regime has purposely attacked this hospital [to cause maximum casualties]. They have done this before by attacking other hospitals in Idlib and throughout Syria.

Syria Deeply: Were you able to tell what type of toxin your patients inhaled?

Tennari: The chemical agent is Sarin. We feel that [the regime used] Sarin because of two main things. First, the symptoms exhibited by the patients are consistent with the use of Sarin. This includes: shortness of breath, huge amount of excessive secretion from the mouth and lungs with induced dyspnea [breathing difficulties], and constricted pupils. Hundreds of people [from the same attack] have displayed these same symptoms.

Second, the patients I have treated have recovered after being given Pralidoxime, which is an antidote to Sarin. Those who were given the Sarin antidote became stable in about an hour. The fact that patients responded so quickly to the antidote makes us believe that the regime used the chemical agent Sarin.

Syria Deeply: There have been rumors circulating that families are being told that a person who otherwise appears to have died from the effects of the chemical could be revived within 48 hours. Do you have a response to this?

Tennari: There are rumors that are being widely spread through social media channels like WhatsApp, Telegram messenger and Facebook that, during the attack on Ghouta four years ago, some victims came back [to life]. My guess is that those [victims] were not seen by doctors or checked with the correct machine to see if there was cardiac activity [prior to being confirmed dead]. But this is a rumor. A patient who is dead, or a severe [patient] who has not received treatment will not survive. But people hear rumors and they rush to believe it.

Syria Deeply: Is Pralidoxime being used to treat all patients exposed to the chemical agent?

Tennari: Unfortunately, we have a shortage of the antidote, so only the most severe patients received it. We have [now] referred the difficult cases to Turkey, because they have the antidote there. But even this is risky because it takes two or three hours to get to Turkey and many patients will lose their lives on the way.

As a doctor, I am afraid because now we don’t have the antidote anymore. If the regime uses Sarin again, we won’t be able to treat and save people.

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Hunter Hayes recently returned from a long run in Europe, where he performed for military troops in the U.K., Germany, Spain and Italy. The “Invisible” singer was humbled by the opportunity, and wants to do everything he can to shed light on their “heavy” experiences. 

Being a public figure, the 25-year-old feels he has the platform to spread awareness, which is why he takes the time to help our servicemen and -women in any way he can. 

“My thing is if you got a microphone, you got a responsibility,” he told The Huffington Post during a Build Series interview Tuesday. “It’s not saying that everybody’s got to say the same thing, but I just really connect with the people who spread love, who lift, who encourage, who strengthen. And, to me, [veteran] stories strengthen. [They] lift people up, [they] inspire.” 

Hayes, who recently released a new video for “Yesterday’s Song” and plans to debut more music soon, is partnering with Heartgard Plus and Warrior Canine Connection for the Heartgardians program to make sure dog-assisted therapy is available for all service members and veterans who may need it.

“I want to positively affect any man or woman serving our country,” Hayes said. “It’s incredible, the strength that they have, and the stories are just so inspirational.”

Aside from this passion project, Hayes has been in the studio working on a new album, which will showcase a more “moody, intense” vibe. Although many know him for his happy tunes and high-pitched tone, Hayes says his voice has changed since he debuted his first record when he was 19. 

“This voice that I had when I was 16 and then 19 and then 20, it got harder at 21, and then 22, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, what am I doing?’” he said. “It got so hard that I had to embrace where my new voice is and also learn, musically, to kind of embrace space.” 

Hayes assured fans that the album is coming and to just to patient. 

“I’m having to hold back the reins on telling you all the details,” he told HuffPost. “But we’re so almost done!” 

Watch the full Build Series interview with Hunter Hayes below: 

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Microsoft’s Project Scorpio console promises to be seriously powerful compared to the Xbox One, but what good is all that power if your games don’t take advantage of it? You might not have to worry too much. The company has dished out details on its…