FDA warns consumers to stop using weight-loss pill Hydroxycut

WASHINGTON - Government health officials are announcing the recall of popular weight loss pill Hydroxycut, after reports of liver damage and other health problems.
Food and Drug Administration officials said Friday the manufacturer of Hydroxycut has launched a nationwide recall of the dietary supplement, used by people trying to shed pounds and by body builders to sharpen their muscles.

Hydroxycut is advertised as made from natural ingredients. It accounts for about 90 percent of the market for weight loss supplements, with sales of about 1 million bottles a year.
Dietary supplements are not as tightly regulated by the government as medications. Manufacturers don't need FDA approval ahead of time before marketing their products.

Source: MSNBC

Supreme Court Justice Souter To Retire

Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s planned retirement touches off a fierce fight between the parties that could reinvigorate moping Republicans and, depending on his choice, enhance or tarnish President Barack Obama’s bipartisan image.
Within hours of Thursday night’s leak about Souter’s plans, Republicans were circulating claims that potential nominees were “liberal” and “activist,” and pointing reporters to comments that Obama and Vice President Joe Biden had made about the confirmation process when they were in the Senate.
Souter, 69, is squarely in the court’s liberal branch, even though he was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, so the retirement is unlikely to result in any deep shift in the balance of power.
The White House had thought that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 76, might be the first vacancy Obama would have a chance to fill, and the unofficial lists of potential nominees are topped by women.
White House Counsel Gregory Craig will play the lead role in the selection process. Biden presided over six confirmation hearing when he was Judiciary Committee chairman, five of them for current justices.
The president faces competing imperatives in replacing Souter, including the pressure to appoint the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court and his own ties to prominent legal academics beginning with his years at Harvard Law School.

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Taxpayers to get rude surprise

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions of Americans enjoying their small windfall from President Barack Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit are in for an unpleasant surprise next spring.
The government is going to want some of that money back.
The tax credit is supposed to provide up to $400 to individuals and $800 to married couples as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in the past month.
But new tax withholding tables issued by the IRS could cause millions of taxpayers to get hundreds of dollars more than they are entitled to under the credit, money that will have to be repaid at tax time.
At-risk taxpayers include a broad swath of the public: married couples in which both spouses work; workers with more than one job; retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from their pension payments and Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income.
The Internal Revenue Service acknowledges problems with the withholding tables but has done little to warn average taxpayers.
"They need to get the Goodyear blimp out there on this," said Tom Ochsenschlager, vice president of taxation for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

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