$49 Wegovy Copycat Pill Sparks Selloff In Novo Shares

Tyler Durden
Thu, 02/05/2026 – 12:40

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/49-wegovy-copycat-pill-sparks-selloff-novo-shares 

NEW YORK — The Trump administration on Thursday will launch TrumpRx, a website it says will help patients buy prescription drugs directly from manufacturers at a discounted rate at a time when health care and the cost of living are growing concerns for Americans.

The government-hosted website is not expected to be a platform for buying medication but instead set up as a facilitator, pointing Americans to drugmakers’ direct-to-consumer websites where they can make purchases.

The site’s unveiling, set for Thursday evening, was announced by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who in a post on X called it “a state of the art website for Americans consumers to purchase low cost prescription drugs.”

She said President Donald Trump will make the announcement alongside Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and Joe Gebbia, director of Trump’s National Design Studio.

The president first teased TrumpRx in September while announcing the first of his more than 15 deals with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices to match the lowest price offered in other developed nations. He said in December the website would provide “massive discounts to all consumers” — though it’s unclear whether the prices available on drugmakers’ websites will routinely be any lower than what many consumers could get through their insurance coverage.

The website’s expected Thursday release comes after it faced multiple delays, for reasons the administration hasn’t publicly shared. Last fall, Oz told Trump the site would share prices for consumers before the end of the year. An expected launch in late January was also pushed back.

The president has spent the past several months seeking to spotlight his efforts to lower drug prices for Americans. He’s done that through deals with major pharmaceutical companies, including some of the biggest drugmakers like Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Merck, which have agreed to lower prices of their Medicaid drugs to so-called “most favored nations” pricing. As part of the deals, many of the companies’ new drugs will also be launched at discounted rates for consumer markets through TrumpRx.

Many of the details of Trump’s deals with manufacturers remain unclear, and drug prices for patients in the U.S. can depend on many factors, including the competition a treatment faces and insurance coverage. Most people have coverage through work, the individual insurance market or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare, which shield them from much of the cost.

Trump’s administration also has negotiated lower prices for several prescription drugs for Medicare enrollees, through a direct negotiation program created by a 2022 law.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/05/trumprx-website-discounted-drugs/ 

Brenda Renee Langstraat Bui, the president and CEO of the Chicago Public Library Foundation, and a woman described as a “quiet giant” and “a partner who loved to say ‘let’s make things happen,’” died last Friday at the age of 52.

Her death was announced by the Foundation in a statement on Monday, which said that she “passed away on Friday evening as a result of a tragic accident at her home.” A spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner’s office said the cause and manner of her death are pending.

Since then, the Chicago community has taken to social media to express support for Langstraat Bui’s legacy and her service to Chicago, from reading enrichment to the enrichment of Chicago’s parks.

“As a civic leader, she was supportive of so many organizations, providing her energy and ideas, as well as her enthusiasm for each of our efforts to make Chicago a stronger community,” said Phillip Bahar, former executive director of Chicago Humanities.

Langstraat Bui’s career in nonprofits began in 1998 when she worked as a development professional at the Chicago Humanities Festival and evolved to include stints as CEO of Working In The Schools, a nonprofit provider of mentoring and literacy enrichment, and the now-defunct Parkways Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Chicago Park District. In her time at both agencies, their budgets grew from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Amid all her successes, she always kept a humility about her, her mother Karen Langstraat said.

Langstraat Bui helmed the CPLF, a nonprofit established in 1986 as the fundraising partner of the Chicago Public Library, for more than seven years. In the role, she had a budget of $7 million last year and expanded the annual Chicago Public Library Foundation Awards, filming and broadcasting the event worldwide. During her leadership, the CPL’s programming grew to serve more than 440,000 Chicagoans at its 81 branches, according to CPLF marketing director Rica Bouso.

Langstraat Bui’s passion for lifelong learning was reflected in her support of the 81 Club initiative, a partnership with Chicago Public Schools that gives every student a library card, without fines and late fees being a barrier to access.

“Brenda Langstraat Bui was my partner in everything regarding the Chicago Public Library … the best partner imaginable,” said Chicago Public Library commissioner Chris Brown. “Brenda didn’t just champion reading; she lived it.”

“She and I have been to Ireland and Rome and Vietnam and Mexico,” said Ve Bui, Langstraat Bui’s husband. “Everywhere we went, she always wanted to visit and take a picture in front of the library in the country or city that we were in.”

Reading was how Langstraat Bui moved in the world. In one moment, she was talking with American Library Association president Deborah Doyle about the importance of the freedom to read. The next moment, she was volunteering as a literacy mentor with kindergartners through Working In The Schools. Langstraat Bui also served on the Lookingglass Theatre Company board and sat on the board of United for Libraries, a national board of advocates for public libraries. In the latter, she served with Skip Dye at Penguin Random House.

“She was the person who turned ‘what if’ into ‘why not’ and then into ‘let’s do it,” Dye said in an email to the Tribune. “She could see abundance where others saw limitation. She taught me/us that leadership could be generous, playful, and fearless all at once.”

Mary Dempsey, former commissioner of the Chicago Public Library, recognized her work ethic, as did friend, colleague and WITS CEO Tena Latona.”Good people find good people, and Brenda was good people that found every good person there was,” she said. “She was an absolute dream of a human.”

“Many Chicagoans felt like their lives were reflected in the places that she touched,” said Tribune columnist Heidi Stevens.

“In the more than a quarter century I knew Brenda, I can’t think of a single memory of her that didn’t embody her trademark care, enthusiasm, loyalty, and deep care for Chicago and its literary community,” said author Gina Frangello.

Poet, author and Urban Gateways CEO Leslé Honoré composed a poem to memorialize her friend’s impact on the city (“You ever meet someone,” it reads in part, “Who faced the world’s / Darkness / Mined light like gold / Tossed it like pixie dust / on the City they loved.”). The poem, Ve Bui says, embodies and personifies what his wife did daily.

“Brenda met people as an associate, made them into a colleague, turned a colleague into a friend and turned friends into family, over and over and over again. She was everybody’s champion,” Honoré said.

Brenda Langstraat Bui helps youth with reading as a literacy mentor with Working in the Schools at Talcott Dual Language Fine and Performing Arts Museum Academy in Spring 2025. (Moll Jean Nye)

Langstraat Bui was born on August 8, 1973, to Phil and Karen Langstraat. She was the middle child of three (Juleen Ritchie, the eldest, and Jana McGraw, the youngest) and raised in Indianola, Iowa. It was a home full of music. Her mother, a piano teacher with a degree in music education, saw that by the age of 4, Langstraat Bui was taking lessons.

“Brenda was always wanting to know more, to hear more,” Karen Langstraat said. In school, she was a flutist, cellist and sprinter. Her mother believed the foundation in music informed Brenda’s curiosity. As a toddler, her mom referred to her as “my little Brenda, the reader.” The two would spend time at the library, then read the chosen books together in a rocking chair. By the time Brenda entered kindergarten, she could read headlines in the newspaper. Langstraat Bui’s love of reading offered her an opportunity to skip first grade. Not wanting to leave her friends, she opted to stay with her buddies — one of whom immigrated from Vietnam and would become her husband after their 25th high school reunion. Their love story was immortalized in a 2022 New York Times article.

“Because she stayed in that grade and didn’t move up … and I flunked kindergarten, so if I hadn’t taken two years of kindergarten, we would not have been in the same class,” Bui said.

Nearing high school age, Karen Langstraat said it became apparent that her daughter would rather read than practice the piano. Langstraat Bui would go on to attend Wheaton College and the University of Illinois Chicago, focusing on literature and creative writing. A spiritual person, Langstraat Bui collected mala beads and read everything from Shakespeare to poetry to Mark Twain, Percival Everett and Amy Tan, Bui said.

“That speaks to the foundation that Mama Langstraat built, which teaches interests to different types of things,” Bui said. “She asked questions and remembered everything and would pick up right where you left off when she sees you again — that speaks to her incredible ability with relationships, she knows everyone by heart. When you were with Brenda, you were the most important person in her life.”

Langstraat Bui is survived by her husband, siblings and parents, as well as seven nieces and nephews, her father-in-law Ban Bui; eight sisters-in-law, eight brothers-in-law and 42 Bui nephews and nieces.

Services will be held in Indianola at 1 p.m. Feb. 10 at the Indianola Community Church. A private burial will be in Oakwood Cemetery in Pella, Iowa. Memorials may be directed to CPLF,  WITS or the Indianola Public Library. A Chicago celebration of life is also planned.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/05/public-library-foundation-president-obit/ 

Maryland Gov. Moore Caught In Yet Another Background Lie?

Tyler Durden
Thu, 02/05/2026 – 12:20

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/maryland-gov-moore-busted-yet-another-background-lie 

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate barely budged this week, staying close to 6% as the spring homebuying season nears.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate edged up to 6.11%, essentially flat compared to last week when it was 6.1%, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.89%.

This is the latest increase since the average rate eased three weeks ago to 6.06%, its lowest level in more than three years.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also ticked up this week. That average rate inched up to 5.5% from 5.49% last week. A year ago, it was at 6.05%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.21% at midday Thursday, down from 4.23% a week ago.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/05/long-term-mortgage/ 

Former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and his wife, Erin, have listed their six-bedroom, 4,393-square-foot house in Green Oaks for just under $2.1 million.

Doyle, 29, was the Bears’ offensive coordinator for just one year, although in that role he didn’t actually call offensive plays. Instead, head coach Ben Johnson called all offensive plays. Doyle left the Bears on Jan. 30 to take the same position with the Baltimore Ravens.

In March 2025, Doyle and his wife bought the house in Green Oaks for $1.95 million from the Bears’ previous offensive coordinator, Shane Waldron, who had been fired in the middle of the 2024 season.

Built in 1994, the house, which is in Green Oaks but has a Libertyville mailing address, has five bathrooms, a two-story foyer, a private home office, a great room with a gas fireplace and a kitchen that was remodeled in 2020 and that has high-end appliances, custom-built cabinetry, quartzite countertops, barn wood accents and a butler’s pantry.

Other features include a three-seasons room, a first-floor bedroom and a second-floor primary suite with two walk-in closets and a spa-like bath with heated floors and a steam shower. The lower level was finished in 2023 and has an exercise room, a wine cellar, an entertainment area, a recreation space for children, a craft room and an additional bedroom with a full bath. Outside on the 0.92-acre property are a recently installed in-ground saltwater pool and recently installed brick patios.

For now, the house is listed in an agents-only private listing network.

Listing agent Jeff Ohm did not respond to a request for comment.

The home had a $26,827 property tax bill in the 2024 tax year.

Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/05/bears-declan-doyle-libertyville/ 

Connie Martin always knew who her ancestors were growing up.

“There was a big picture of (her great-grandmother) in grandma Lizzie’s bedroom. … She’s the first born enslaved person in our family. Her name is Delcy, which was Lizzie’s mother, and there’s a big, huge, 20-by-20-by 26 picture of her on the wall in black and white, with her piercing eyes that used to scare us to death when we were little girls.”

But it was not until the Aurora resident was in her 30s with children of her own that she learned the secret language her ancestors communicated in during the Antebellum period in the 1850s.

It was a language few knew about because it could result in death, she said. Those who did know it used it sparingly. It was a visual language — one that relied on messages relayed through the symbols sewn into quilts for communication. A language that could be displayed outside and help other enslaved people (or “freedom seekers,” as she calls them) find their way to emancipation.

Aurora resident Connie Martin, an Illinois Humanities’ Road Scholar lecturer, stands in front of the dozen replica quilts her mother made that were part of her presentation in Batavia last month. Martin’s talk draws heavily on her own family history. (David Sharos/For The Beacon-News)

Since 2016, Martin, an Illinois Humanities Road Scholar, has been sharing the story of how her ancestors and abolitionists used quilts to direct freedom seekers to routes through the Underground Railroad.

On Wednesday, Feb. 11, Martin will give a presentation on the quilts and her family’s story at Naper Settlement in Naperville. Last year, Martin’s presentation at the Settlement was “Hidden Messages and Negro Spirituals on the Underground Railroad,” a lecture on how music helped people escape slavery, which was also based on her family stories.

“When (Martin) came to our site, it was super engaging, super interesting,” said Jessica Toran, director of education for Naper Settlement. “After she had spoken about the fact that she also does another presentation with Civil War quilts, we had so many guests that came up to us after and begged us to have her come back again.”

The talk at Naper Settlement is one of many Martin will be giving for Black History Month.

“My February calendar is completely booked,” Martin said. “I only have three days that I don’t have a presentation in the whole month. … And March is halfway booked because people book me for Women’s History Month.”

Before Martin started giving talks on her family history, her mother Clarice Boswell did the same for nearly 16 years. Her mother also wrote a book on how her family survived slavery called, “Lizzie’s Story: A Slave Family’s Journey to Freedom.”

For the quilt lecture, Martin uses a combination of stories passed down to her grandmother Lizzie and information found in an old family Bible.

“My mother was a fifth-generation descendant so we never needed ancestry.com,” Martin said. “We can go all the way back until we can’t go back anymore, which is really a rare thing for African-Americans in this country. There’s not that many African-Americans who can do what we can do — go all the way back like that.”

Her great-great-grandparents, Eli and Leah, were brought to the U.S. and forced into slavery in the 1850s. They worked on a plantation in Kentucky, where an enslaved blacksmith and midwife would help them not only acclimate to the life of slavery, but also help other enslaved people on the plantation get to freedom.

The blacksmith and midwife also taught Eli and Leah the quilt codes. Each quilt would have a distinctive pattern or image that would provide crucial guidance for freedom seekers, such as directions to safe houses or where to find food and water.

“There could be a quilt code that can tell you to watch for bear paw tracks in the wet banks in the spring, that will lead you to springs and water to get food to eat,” Martin said.

People who were fleeing slavery knew where to look for the quilts, but slaveholders never learned about them and the secret codes. Abolitionists were strategic with how they used and placed quilts on the plantation, Martin said. For example, they would never be hung on a clothesline by themselves, but rather mixed in with other laundry so they did not look out of place.

The codes were so secretive that not all enslaved people knew about them. Only those who decided to seek freedom would be given the information by the abolitionists.

Martin has given her presentation to countless audiences, including programs at schools, churches, park district and twice for the American Medical Association.

“People are curious about African-American history, which is American history,” Martin said. “People are curious and want to know about how freedom seekers, in many ways, fought for freedom.”

She hopes her talks not only teach people more about Black history, but spark an interest in their own family history.

“That’s my main happiness is to have people take a closer look at their family connections and what they could find out while people in their family are still alive,” Martin said.

cstein@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/05/martin-quilts-slaves-messages-settlement-naperville/ 

TACO? Trump Says DHS Won’t Go Into Cities Unless Mayors “Ask” And “Say Please” As Part Of “Softer Touch”

Tyler Durden
Thu, 02/05/2026 – 12:00

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/taco-trump-says-dhs-wont-go-cities-unless-mayors-ask-and-say-please-part-softer-touch 

Associated Press

CIUDAD DE PANAMÁ (AP) — El presidente panameño José Raúl Mulino rechazó el jueves los pronunciamientos de China y Hong Kong tras el fallo de la Corte Suprema de Justicia que declaró inconstitucional el contrato de concesión de los puertos en el canal operados por la filial de CK Hutchison Holdings.

Durante su conferencia semanal el mandatario sostuvo que Panamá es un Estado de Derecho, con un sistema de justicia independiente.

“Panamá es un país digno, tampoco se va a dejar amenazar por ningún país sobre la tierra”, afirmó el presidente al referirse directamente a los comunicados difundidos por autoridades de Hong Kong y Macao, así como a los comentarios posteriores de China sobre el fallo judicial panameño.

“Hay una gran diferencia entre una economía regida por el Comité Central del Partido Comunista Chino y una institucionalidad democrática que es la que rige en Panamá”, agregó Mulino.

La semana pasada la Corte Suprema panameña dictaminó que la concesión otorgada a Panama Ports Company (PPC) —la filial de Hutchison en Panamá— era inconstitucional, en un fallo que impulsa el objetivo de Estados Unidos de bloquear cualquier influencia de China sobre la estratégica vía fluvial.

El mandatario subrayó que Hong Kong es una región administrativa especial de China y que la comunicación diplomática de Panamá se canaliza exclusivamente con Beijing a través de la Cancillería.

“La decisión de la Corte es única, es definitiva, es final y toca acatarla”, señaló.

En un comunicado emitido cinco días después de conocerse el fallo de la Corte panameña, PPC anunció el inicio de un arbitraje internacional y acusó al Estado panameño de una campaña dirigida específicamente en su contra.

“Yo rechazo en lo absoluto que Panamá ha tenido un año hostigando o amenazando a la empresa china hongkonesa. Eso es total y absolutamente falso”, afirmó Mulino.

El mandatario explicó que durante el último año se mantuvieron conversaciones con la empresa, tanto en Panamá como en el exterior, y que la posibilidad de un fallo adverso siempre estuvo sobre la mesa. Reiteró que mientras el fallo no se ejecute PPC continúa operando con normalidad.

El gobierno de Panamá anunció que una vez culmine el proceso judicial y sus notificaciones y la concesión se termine formalmente una subsidiaria de la empresa danesa de logística A.P. Moller-Maersk operará los puertos en una fase de transición hasta que se pueda licitar y adjudicar una nueva concesión.

Mulino aclaró que no volverá a otorgarse una sola concesión para ambas terminales.

Finalmente, el presidente insistió en que existe una estrategia definida desde hace un año para manejar esta transición y aseguró que el objetivo es dar tranquilidad al mercado naviero y a la comunidad portuaria.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/05/presidente-dice-que-panam-no-se-dejar-amenazar-por-china-fallo-sobre-puertos-es-definitivo/ 

A Compass Travel Center truck stop with two restaurants, a lounge for the drivers, a convenience store and plenty of gas pumps is planning to open on Skokie Highway in North Chicago by the end of the year.

North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. said the city has worked for more than five years to bring a truck stop to the 7.7-acre parcel of vacant land approximately a quarter-mile south of Buckley Road on the west side of Skokie Highway.

“This is great for economic development along the entire Skokie Highway corridor,” Rockingham said. “It’s an economic development engine. (Compass) will make other land ready for development.”

The North Chicago City Council unanimously approved a development agreement between the city and Compass Travel without debate Monday at City Hall, bringing the dream closer to reality.

Now in the first year of his sixth term as mayor, Rockingham said he believed the land was well-suited for a truck stop with access for both northbound and southbound traffic. The city began seeking potential truck stop operators more than five years ago.

During the search process, the first potential operator opted not to proceed, and then negotiations began with Compass. Rockingham said the company agreed on a deal, and the development agreement was prepared for approval by both the city and Compass.

“This will help the entire area,” he said. “All the other businesses will benefit,” he added, referring to enterprises on both sides of Skokie Highway.

Taylor Wegrzyn, the city’s economic and community development director, said Compass first had to acquire all of the land from several owners. The city did not own any of it. It is all part of a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district created to foster business development.

Once Compass prepares the land to build with additional roads and other necessary infrastructure, Wegrzyn said Compass will start construction with a goal of opening late this year.

In front of the 11,000-square-foot building, he said there will be 20 gas fueling stations. Behind the building will be five diesel pumps for large semi-trailer trucks carrying big loads.

Inside the building, Wegrzyn said there will be amenities for long-distance truckers and the everyday motorist. The truckers’ lounge will be equipped with showers and some comfortable seating.

“It will have easy access from the back,” he said. “It will give them a place to relax so they don’t have to sleep in their rig.”

Two restaurants are planned. Wegrzyn said one will be a quick-service coffee shop with a drive-through. The other restaurant will be a casual sit-down diner. The main area will have video games, ready-made foods like hot dogs and pizza, and more.

“There will be merchandise for the road,” he said. “It will have things for truckers like emergency equipment, small electronics and some clothes.”

Both the city and Compass have the potential to benefit economically from the TIF. Wegrzyn said the current equalized assessed value is $425,000. When the travel center opens, it is expected to climb to $3.25 million. The project is anticipated to generate $20 million of gas sales annually, potentially generating $400,000 in sales and motor fuel tax.

Wegrzyn said Compass can potentially receive $3.54 million from its share of the additional property, motor fuel and sales taxes generated from the development, according to the development agreement. The company receives a percentage of the increased tax revenue, not to exceed $3.54 million over time.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/05/north-chicago-truck-stop/