Alex Jones still fighting asset sale

AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman says that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has asked a bankruptcy court judge to stop the sale of his Infowars platform, accusing satirical news company The Onion and Connecticut families of using a “flagrantly non-compliant Frankenstein bid” to win the auction for his media empire last week. Attorneys for Jones filed for a restraining order and temporary injunction on the sale of his company Free Speech Systems and Infowars on Monday evening. This comes after the backup bidder, First United American Companies LLC — a business associated with the ShopAlexJones.com website — filed a motion to disqualify The Onion’s winning bid on Monday morning.

The company behind The Onion, Global Tetrahedron LLC, with the backing of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims’ families in Connecticut, bought Free Speech Systems and Infowars in an auction last week. According to court filings, First United American Companies believed the cash value of its bid to be higher than the cash value of Global Tetrahedron’s bid. Walter Cicack, the attorney representing First United American Companies, claimed bankruptcy Trustee Christopher Murray colluded with The Onion and the families and violated the terms of the auction set by the judge. The auction attracted only two bids, according to court records and stated by Murray in a status conference held Thursday. Each bid, Murray said in the conference, had different finances and plans, and so Murray made his decision based on which offer would best benefit Jones’ unsecured creditors. First United American Companies’ final bid was $3.5 million for the rights to Infowars and Free Speech Systems, according to evidence submitted in the Monday filing by First United American Companies. The Onion’s final bid was $1.75 million in cash assets with a distributable proceeds waiver — meaning the Connecticut families would forgo up to 100% of their entitlement of the funds to better serve the unsecured creditors depending on the amount of other bids — and the sharing of future revenue that Infowars and Free Speech Systems generates to the families.

Two Texas judges may be next Supreme Court picks

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Express-News reports that two conservative judges from Texas are being floated as possible U.S. Supreme Court nominees amid speculation that a justice may retire during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. Judges Andrew Oldham and James Ho, both on the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, are viewed as likely members of Trump’s shortlist in the event of a vacancy on the high court, according to several legal experts. Both came up through Texas legal circles and were among the Trump appointees named to the 5th Circuit who have shifted the court further right. “The Trump administration will look for someone who’s got perfect ideological purity, and I think either of those two 5th Circuit judges would fit that mold,” said Lucas Powe, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

Conservative and legal activists are speculating that some of the U.S. Supreme Court’s oldest justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, may retire in the next two years, when Republicans will have a majority in the U.S. Senate and could confirm a nominee without the need for any Democratic support. Conservative justices currently hold a 6-3 majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, including three Trump appointees. If Trump can successfully replace sitting members with younger justices, he will not only have nominated a majority of the court but also solidified a conservative majority for generations. Federal judges are appointed to life terms. Legal experts said the 5th Circuit, which covers Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana, is a natural place to look for appointees. It is widely known as one of the most conservative benches in the country that has upheld Texas’ abortion restrictions, struck down gun prohibitions for domestic abusers and greenlit Texas’ border security measures.

Can the grid handle more data centers?

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Report says CPS Energy is actively working to plan for extreme growth in electricity demand over the next decade as new data centers come online in the state, executives told the utility’s board of trustees on Monday. Because San Antonio is located in the geographic center of Texas, CPS Energy will have to play a large part in upping the transmission capacity of electricity within the state as data centers continue to pop up across the state, said Elaina Ball, the utility’s chief strategy officer. CPS Energy expects to spend about $1.3 billion on transmission projects over the next five years to add a load-serving capacity of 1 gigawatt — enough electricity to power about 750,000 homes — to help Texas carry the demand load that new data centers will be generating, Chief Energy Delivery Officer Richard Medina said.

Data centers are specialized facilities designed to store, manage and process large volumes of digital data. They consume roughly 10 to 50 times the energy that a typical office building does. While data centers accounted for about 4% of the total U.S. electricity consumption load in 2023, it is projected to consume up to 9.1% of that load by 2030, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. Texas ranks second in the amount of electricity consumed by data centers within the United States. “We have never seen an industry demand an increase for power like we’re seeing right now,” Ball said. “Probably the closest was when there was adoption of HVAC technology, but it truly is a stunning amount of growth that everyone in our industry is grappling with 
 and we are no different here in Central Texas.” CPS Energy is planning to build three new substations and 15 new or upgraded transmission lines over the next three to five years, Medina said. In total, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has approved nine “San Antonio South Reliability Projects” to increase statewide system capacity, support growth and increase renewable generation in south and central Texas over the next decade. CPS Energy’s board of trustees approved the route and construction of two of these projects on Monday.

Texas lawmakers push for more exceptions to strict abortion ban

AUSTIN – Weeks after ProPublica reported on the deaths of two pregnant women whose miscarriages went untreated in Texas, state lawmakers have filed bills that would create new exceptions to the state’s strict abortion laws, broadening doctors’ ability to intervene when their patients face health risks. The legislation comes after the lawmaker who wrote one of Texas’ recent abortion bans wrote an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle defending the current exceptions as “plenty clear.” But more than 100 Texas OB-GYNs disagree with his position. In a public letter, written in response to ProPublica’s reporting, they urged changes. “As OB-GYNs in Texas, we know firsthand how much these laws restrict our ability to provide our patients with quality, evidence-based care,” they said.

Texas’ abortion ban threatens up to 99 years in prison, $100,000 in fines and loss of medical license for doctors who provide abortions. The state’s health and safety code currently includes exceptions if a pregnant woman “has a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced.” A separate exception exists that provides doctors with some legal protections if they perform an abortion for an ectopic pregnancy or in cases when a patient’s water breaks. The bills, filed in the state House and Senate last week, create new health exceptions. They would allow doctors to induce or perform abortions necessary to preserve the mental or physical health of a patient, including preserving the patient’s fertility. Doctors could also provide abortions in cases where the fetus had an anomaly that would make it unable to survive outside the womb or able to survive only with “extraordinary medical interventions.” State Rep. Donna Howard, who filed the bill in the Texas House, said ProPublica’s recent reporting adds to evidence that the current legislation is a threat to the safety of pregnant women in Texas and increases the urgency to make changes. “This is my reaction,” she said. “It’s one of extreme sadness and disbelief that we are at a point where we are allowing women to die because we haven’t been able to clarify the law,” she said.

SpaceX launch aborts attempt to catch booster with mechanical arms

BROWNSVILLE (AP) — SpaceX on Tuesday launched another Starship rocket, but passed up catching the booster with giant mechanical arms.

Unlike last month’s success, the booster was directed to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. The catch was called off just four minutes into the test flight from Texas for safety reasons, and the booster hit the water three minutes later.

SpaceX’s Elon Musk said Wednesday via X that the booster catch was aborted due to lost communication with a launch tower computer.

At the same time, the empty spacecraft launched from Texas atop Starship soared across the Gulf of Mexico on a near loop around the world similar to October’s test flight. Skimming space, the shiny retro-looking craft descended into the Indian Ocean for a controlled but destructive end to the hourlong demo.

It was the sixth test for the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket that SpaceX and NASA hope to use to get astronauts back on the moon and eventually Mars.

SpaceX kept the same flight path as last time, but changed some steps along the way as well as the time of day. Starship blasted off in late afternoon instead of early morning to ensure daylight to see the spacecraft’s descent.

Among the new objectives that were achieved: igniting one of the spacecraft’s engines in space, which would be necessary when returning from orbit. There were also thermal protection experiments aboard the spacecraft, with some areas stripped of heat tiles to see whether catch mechanisms might work there on future flights. And the spacecraft descended nose-first during the last part of entry, before flipping and splashing down upright into the Indian Ocean. Even more upgrades are planned for the next test flight.

Donald Trump flew in for the launch in the latest sign of a deepening bond between the president-elect and Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO.

SpaceX wants to eventually return and reuse the entire 400-foot (121-meter) Starship. Full-scale recycling would drive down the cost of hauling cargo and people to the moon and Mars, while speeding things up. The recycling of SpaceX’s Falcon rockets flying out of Florida and California has already saved the company time and money.

NASA is paying SpaceX more than $4 billion to land astronauts on the moon via Starship on back-to-back missions later this decade. Musk envisions launching a fleet of Starships to build a city one day on Mars.

This was the sixth launch of a fully assembled Starship since 2023. The first three ended up exploding.

Texas offers Trump land on US-Mexico border for potential mass deportations

McALLEN (AP) — Texas is offering a parcel of rural ranchland along the U.S.-Mexico border to use as a staging area for potential mass deportations under President-elect Donald Trump.

The property, which Texas originally purchased last month, is located in rural Starr County in the Rio Grande Valley. Republican Dawn Buckingham, the Texas Land Commissioner, sent a letter on Thursday to Trump extending the offer.

The land offer is the latest illustration of a sharp divide between states and local governments on whether to support or resist Trump’s plans for mass deportations of migrants living in the U.S. illegally. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to become a “sanctuary” jurisdiction, limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities to carry out deportations.

Texas leaders have long backed aggressive measures on the border to curb crossings, including installing razor-wire barriers and passing a law last year that would allow law enforcement to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally.

“By offering this newly-acquired 1400-acre property to the incoming Trump Administration for the construction of a facility for the processing, detention, and coordination of what will be the largest deportation of violent criminals in our nation’s history, I stand united with President Donald Trump to ensure American families are protected,” Buckingham said in a statement.

Trump has said he plans to begin his deportation efforts on the first day of his presidency. He frequently attacked illegal immigration during his campaign, linking a record spike in unauthorized border crossings to issues ranging from drug trafficking to high housing prices.

There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally. Questions remain about how people would be identified and where they would be detained.

The president-elect’s transition team did not say whether they would accept Texas’ offer but sent a statement.

“On day one, President Trump will marshal every lever of power to secure the border, protect their communities, and launch the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrant criminals in history,” Karoline Leavitt, the transition spokeswoman for Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, said Wednesday.

The Texas General Land Office did not respond to a request for comment on the amount paid for the land, but the commissioner stated the previous owner resisted the creation of a border wall.

A 1.5-mile (2.4 kilometer) stretch of border wall was built under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021 on that land. Buckingham said with the recent purchase, the state has created another easement for more border wall construction.

Dallas doctor gets 190 years for tampering with IV bags used in surgeries

DALLAS (AP) — A Dallas anesthesiologist was sentenced Wednesday to 190 years in prison for injecting a nerve-blocking agent and other drugs into bags of intravenous fluid at a surgical center where he worked, leading to the death of a coworker and causing cardiac emergencies for several patients.

The emergencies began two days after Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr. was notified of a disciplinary inquiry into an incident during which he allegedly “deviated from the standard of care” during an anesthesia procedure when a patient experienced a medical emergency.

Ortiz, who had a history of disciplinary actions against him, complained to other physicians that the center was trying to “crucify” him.

Court documents show that Ortiz, who was arrested in September 2022 and convicted in April, waived his appearance at sentencing in federal court.

An attorney listed in court documents for Ortiz did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

Prosecutors said numerous patients at Surgicare North Dallas suffered cardiac emergencies during routine medical procedures performed by various doctors from May through August in 2022. Another anesthesiologist who had worked there died while treating herself for dehydration using an IV bag from the facility, prosecutors said.

The surgical center staff concluded that these cases suggested a pattern of intentional adulteration of IV bags used at the center.

They identified 10 additional unexpected cardiac emergencies that occurred during otherwise unremarkable surgeries in the months before his arrest, which was an exceptionally high rate of complications over such a short period, according to the complaint.

His medical license was suspended following his arrest by the Texas Medical Board.

Harrison County authorities searching for missing family

Harrison County authorities searching for missing familyMARSHALL – The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a missing family from Marshall. According to our news partner KETK, Gerardo Roman, Alondra Rodriguez, Jazel Roman, and Gerardo Roman Jr. were last seen on Friday, November 15 leaving Trinity Episcopal School where Alondra is an employee.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office at 903-923-4000 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 903-935-9969.

Man arrested in Athens after drugs, paraphernalia found

Man arrested in Athens after drugs, paraphernalia foundHENDERSON COUNTY– A 66-year-old man is at the Henderson County Jail after authorities found him in possession of methamphetamine and supplies used in narcotic distribution during a Tuesday search. According to the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, at around 6:30 p.m. investigators executed a narcotics search warrant at Singletree Trail just outside of Athens.
During the search, Ricky Clyde Hurt, 66 of Athens, was found in possession of “a large amount of suspected methamphetamine,” baggies and scales, the sheriff’s office said. Hurt was charged with manufacture of delivery of a controlled substance and is being held at the jail on a $150,000 bond.

Toddler injured in accidental shooting

Toddler injured in accidental shootingOVERTON — A 2-year-old has been airlifted to an out-of-state hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound to the chest, Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said. According to our news partner KETK, at around noon on Wednesday, officials were dispatched to the 109000 block of CR 29 near Overton at the Smith and Rusk County line of a reported accidental shooting of a 2-year-old. When officials arrived, the child had already been taken to the Overton Fire Department and later air-lifted to an out-of-state hospital.

The child reportedly sustained a gunshot wound to the side of the chest, and was an in-and-out wound. Smith said the child is in stable condition after undergoing surgery. No arrests have been made.

Two arrests made, more expected in vehicle burglary spree

Two arrests made, more expected in vehicle burglary spreeHOPKINS COUNTY– Our news partner, KETK, reports that two people are behind bars and three others have warrants for their arrest in connection to recent East Texas vehicle burglaries.

According to Hopkins County Sheriff, Lewis Tatum, the department began working with other East Texas law enforcement agencies that were also affected by the vehicle burglaries but the investigation proved to be difficult due to large crime spree area. “We are proud to announce that at this time Hopkins County has issued warrants on five individuals for engaging in organized criminal activity,” the sheriff’s office said. “Their bond is set at $1 million for each suspect. Two of the suspects are in custody in another county near Houston.”

In recent months, more than twelve East Texas sheriff’s offices including Wood, Van Zandt, Henderson, Rains, Rusk, Nacogdoches counties reported on vehicle burglaries with some saying the suspects were considered armed and dangerous.In October, Hopkins County shared that some firearms that were taken from vehicles during the crime spree were prevented from being smuggled into Mexico.

Sheriff Tatum said the Hopkins County Sheriff’s office will continue to work to protect the citizens of Hopkins County and their property.

Grocery chains vie for a place on Thanksgiving tables with dinner deals

NEW YORK (AP) — With Thanksgiving less than two weeks away, Walmart, Target, Aldi and other grocers are competing for a place on holiday tables with turkey dinner deals and other promotions to tempt Americans who haven’t recovered from recent food price inflation.

Walmart, the nation’s largest food retailer, first bundled the makings of a traditional turkey feast into a meal deal three years ago. This year, the 29-item offer, which includes a frozen turkey and ingredients for side dishes, costs less than $55 and is intended to serve eight. That calculates to less than $7 per person.

Target’s version for four people costs $20, $5 less than the company’s 2023 Thanksgiving meal, and includes a frozen turkey, stuffing mix and canned green beans and canned jellied cranberry sauce. Aldi’s offers a frozen Butterball turkey with gravy mix as well as pumpkin ingredients for pumpkin pie and ingredients for side dishes like sweet potato casserole. The German-owned supermarket chain priced it for $47 and said that was less than it charged for the same items in 2019.

Meijer, with more than 500 supercenters in the Midwest, jumped into the fray last week by offering a frozen turkey for 49 cents per pound or lower and a $37 Thanksgiving family meal for a group of four to six.

Comparing the respective menus to determine which represents the best value is difficult since recommended serving sizes and contents vary. But the promotions, introduced earlier than ever and at a time when many households remain put off by higher prices, underscore the importance of Thanksgiving to grocers, analysts said.

THANKSGIVING IS A SALES FEAST FOR GROCERS

While consumer perceptions of grocery prices is based on the cost of staples like eggs and milk, “the Thanksgiving meal has become essentially a new benchmark,” Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at Publicis Groupe, a global marketing and communications company.

It’s the occasion for the second-largest holiday meal for retailers behind the feasts that accompany the winter holidays. Compared with an average, Thanksgiving meal shopping delivered a $2.4 billion sales lift during the week before and after the holiday last year, market research firm Circana said. Shopping for Christmas, Hanukah and New Year’s Day meals gave stores a $5.3 billion sales uplift compared with an average week, Circana said.

Walmart launched its offer on Oct. 14, two weeks earlier than last year and plans to make it available through Dec. 24. The two bundles the retailer offered last year contained different items, but Walmart said this year’s selected products cost 3.5% less.

Joan Driggs, a Circana vice president, expects shoppers to buy items on sale for half of what they need to prepare Thanksgiving dinner meal. That’s double the amount from 2022, when retailers pulled back on promotions due to limited supplies left over from the coronavirus pandemic.

Consumers still aren’t seeing discounts as deep as the ones grocers trotted out in pre-pandemic 2019, Driggs said. To attract customers, retailers therefore are creating strategies like meal bundles, which may “lessen the stress” for shoppers since they show the cost per person, she said.

Angel Rosario-Sanchez, 24, a New Jersey resident who was at a Walmart store in Secaucus on Wednesday, said he planned to have Thanksgiving with his friends but had not shopped for groceries yet. Seeing the big displays of Thanksgiving products in the store made him want to return to buy some.

“I always count on Walmart for deals,” said Rosario-Sanchez, who usually selects food from Walmart’s lower-end, Great Value brand. “Inflation is too much, and it needs to go back to where it originally was.”

GRABBING BARGAINS WITH STORE LABELS AND NATIONAL BRANDS

For the past two years, Walmart, Target and others have seen price-conscious shoppers shift more of their purchases to store label brands. In response, retailers have improved their selections or created new food lines brands.

Walmart in April launched Bettergoods, its biggest store-label food brand in 20 years in terms of the breadth of items, to appeal to younger customers who aren’t loyal to national brands and want chef-inspired foods that are more affordably priced.

But store brands aren’t necessarily cheaper.

Wells Fargo’s Agri-Food Institute, a team of national industry advisors that provides economic insights and research, compared the costs of store brands and national name brands for a typical Thanksgiving dinner. The name-brand versions of cranberry sauce were less expensive than the store brands the team inventoried, while the name brand pumpkin pies versus store brand versions were the same price.

Robin Wenzel, the head of the Wells Fargo institute, thinks the makers of some familiar brands realized they “overshot” with some of their post-pandemic price increases and are retrenching.

The Agri-Food Institute’s 10-person Thanksgiving menu includes turkey, stuffing, salad, cranberries, dinner rolls and pumpkin pie. Using all name-brand would cost $90 this year, 0.5% less than last year. Preparing the same meal with store-branded food would cost $73, or 2.7% more than a year ago.

That gives shoppers the option to mix and match, Wenzel said.

A TURKEY DINNER COSTS LESS, BUT CONSUMERS MAY NOT NOTICE

The latest government snapshot on inflation showed grocery prices rose just 0.1% from September to October and are up just 1.1% over the past year. That’s providing some relief to consumers after food costs surged roughly 23% over the past three years.

For main Thanksgiving entrées and beverages, prices are easing, but given the spike in food prices in recent years, consumers may or may not feel it.

A 15-item Thanksgiving meal costs an average of $65.51 this year, down nearly 3% from last year but 42% higher overall than in 2019, retail intelligence provider Datasembly said. For example, a 12-ounce can of jellied cranberry sauce averaged $2.89, which is 1% lower than a year ago but still 90% higher compared with 2019.

A 10-pound frozen turkey averages $10.40 this year, a 19% decrease from 2023 but still 6% higher than in 2019, the data firm said. Prices for some Thanksgiving products are still going up: A 30-ounce box of pumpkin pie mix now costs an average of $5.56, up 6% compared with a year ago and nearly 70% more than five years ago, according to Datasembly.

Like many food retailers, Walmart put a mix of store and name-brand products into its Thanksgiving bundle. The meal deal includes Ocean Spray canned jellied cranberry sauce, and green beans and dinner rolls from the in-house Great Value line. The bundle also includes a white whole frozen turkey from the national brand Shady Brook Farms, and fresh items like a 5-pound pound bag of russet potatoes.

Still, plenty will bypass the bundles at Walmart and elsewhere.

While visiting the Walmart in Secaucus, New Jersey, Nadia Rivest, 70, said she already had shopped at the discounter to buy turkey, fish and chicken for her Thanksgiving meal. But she was only interested in buying fresh items, not canned goods.

“I like red pepper, red tomatoes, something fresh,” she said.

UT Tyler receives $2.25 million grant from Department of Education

UT Tyler receives .25 million grant from Department of EducationTYLER — The University of Texas at Tyler received a $2.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to fund initiatives designed to bolster retention and graduation rates. According to a news release from the university, the grant is part of a federal initiative aimed at strengthening the academic quality and management of institutions that educate under-served students.

“This grant will significantly enhance our ability to support students from the moment they arrive on campus to the day they walk across the stage at graduation,” said UT Tyler President Julie V. Philley, MD. “By offering more tailored academic support, we are committed to fostering an environment where every student can achieve their full potential.” Continue reading UT Tyler receives $2.25 million grant from Department of Education

What to know about Dr. Oz as Trump picks him to lead Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) -- President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that heart surgeon-turned-TV-host Dr. Mehmet Oz would lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

"America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again," Trump said in a statement. "He is an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor and World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades."

The position of CMS administrator requires Senate confirmation.

Here's what to know about Oz, his medical career and some medical claims he's made that have come under fire.

Is Oz a real doctor?

Oz graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed a Master of Business Administration from UPenn's Wharton School of Business at the same time.

He completed his surgical training in cardiothoracic surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital (Columbia Campus).

He was previously the director of the Cardiovascular Institute at New York Presbyterian Hospital and vice-chairman and professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. His title was then changed to Professor Emeritus of Surgery in 2018.

Medicine "was my calling," Oz said in a Wharton Magazine profile from 2010. "I knew it from a very early age. I played a lot of sports growing up, and like a lot of other athletes, I really enjoyed the challenge of using my hands. I just loved the idea of being in a field where you could [do that]."

Oz began his TV career as a health expert on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" before launching "The Dr. Oz Show," which ran from 2009 to 2022. The show ended when Oz launched an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.

What would Oz run as CMS administrator?

CMS administers the Medicare program, the federal health insurance program for those mostly aged 65 and older.

The agency also works with state programs to administer Medicaid, which is health insurance for disabled and low-income Americans, and the Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides low-cost coverage to children with families that don't qualify for Medicaid.

Oz has supported Medicare Advantage, which is run by commercial insurers and has been promoted by Trump. Project 2025 -- a plan of conservative policy proposals proposed by the Heritage Foundation and not endorsed by Trump -- has proposed Medicare Advantage be the default option for Medicare coverage.

Experts have said this could privatize the program and prevent people from receiving care from doctors and hospitals that don't accept Medicare Advantage.

In Tuesday's announcement, Trump said Oz would work closely with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. the president-elect's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CMS.

What are Dr. Oz's past controversies?

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oz promoted hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, as a COVID-19 treatment. Trump later touted the drug as a "game changer," although medical researchers warned more study was needed.

In June 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat COVID-19, saying evidence shows the recommended dose is unlikely to be effective against the virus.

Oz also made past statements indicating that he endorsed spacing out childhood vaccines and expressed ambivalence towards a discredited theory that vaccines cause autism, according to a 2022 study. In later episodes of his TV show, Oz would go on to endorse the measles, mumps, rubella shot.

Oz also came under fire due to his claims about certain "miracle" products to help consumers lose weight.

During a 2014 hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on consumer protection, then-Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri grilled Oz, claiming he had a role in "perpetuating" scams.

"When you feature a product on your show, it creates what has become known as the 'Oz effect,' dramatically boosting sales and driving scam artists to pop up overnight using false and deceptive ads to sell questionable products," she said. "While I understand that your message is also focused on basics like healthy eating and exercise, I'm concerned that you are melding medical advice news and entertainment in a way that harms consumers."

During the hearing, Oz defended his statements, saying he believed in the benefits of the products he promoted on his show.

"I actually do personally believe in the items I talk about in the show. I passionately study them. I recognize that often times they don't have the scientific muster to present as fact. But, nevertheless, I give my audience the advice I give my family all the time. I give my family these products, specifically the ones you mentioned. I'm comfortable with that part," he said.

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