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FDA approves over-the-counter hearing aids, the Academy apologizes to Sacheen Littlefeather for 1973 Oscars, a new ruling on Alec Baldwin’s fatal ‘Rust’ shooting, Salman Rushdie’s status, and more news.
After years of negotiations, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a new rule that will allow people who are perceived to have mild to moderate hearing loss to be able to purchase hearing aids without a prescription. Over-the-counter hearing aids could be available as soon as October, 180Gadgets reported.
The long-awaited move will make the devices more affordable and accessible to millions of Americans living with hearing loss, AARP reported. It is estimated that 37.5 million Americans, about 15%, suffer some hearing loss, but due to the expense, only about one-fifth of those ever get devices due to the cost, which runs between $2000-$6000 a pair, and lack of insurance coverage.
Nearly 50 years after the event, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has formally apologized to Native American actress Sacheen Littlefeather for her mistreatment at the 1973 Academy Awards. She was booed after declining the Best Actor Oscar on the behalf of actor Marlon Brando, CBS reported. Littlefeather read a speech written by Brando, who refused the Oscar over “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry … and on television, in movie reruns, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee.”
A top government medical examiner has ruled that the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of the movie Rust late last year was an accident, according to new information this week.
No decision has been made by prosecutors on whether Baldwin will face criminal charges while they wait to collect cell phone and data. Baldwin’s attorney said: “This is the third time the New Mexico authorities have found that Alec Baldwin had no authority or knowledge of the allegedly unsafe conditions on the set, that he was told by the person in charge of safety on the set that the gun was ‘cold,’ and believed the gun was safe.”
Scotland issued the “Period Products Act,” making the availability of sanitary products a right. It became the first country in the world to do so, the BBC reported. The law went into effect on Monday.
“As the cost-of-living crisis takes hold, the Period Products Act is a beacon of hope which shows what can be achieved when politicians come together for the good of the people we serve,” said Labour MSP Monica Lennon.
Author Salman Rushdie is reportedly awake and “articulate” in conversations with investigators following a stabbing attack by a 24-year-old Muslim extremist in New York last Friday, CNN reported.
Following the attack, Rushdie, 75, underwent emergency surgery for stab wounds to his neck, stomach, right eye, chest, and right thigh. Rushdie is reportedly off a ventilator but remains in critical condition. Doctors have previously said he suffered severed nerves in one arm, damage to his liver, and will likely lose an eye. Rushdie has long been a target of Islamic extremists after publishing his novel The Satanic Verses in 1988, having to go into hiding after Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini considered the book sacrilegious and issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death in 1989.
