Comment on Today in History: August 19, 2018

MIAMI GARDENS — The NFL’s top-ranked player has two touchdowns this season. He’s tied for 48th in yards per catch. He has roughly half the catches, half the targets and half the first downs per game from his previous two Miami Dolphins seasons. How did Tyreek Hill get turned into Braxton Berrios? It’s not the wrist injury, his coaches say.

Feeling stuffy and ready to reach for NyQuil, Benadryl, or Sudafed PE? Not so fast. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed ending the use of oral phenylephrine, a common ingredient found in many cold and allergy medicines — and some pharmacies already are yanking the popular products off shelves. Florida researchers have been studying the effectiveness of oral phenylephrine for two decades.

By JILL COLVIN, Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting a man whose views public health officials have decried as dangerous in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid. “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump said Thursday in a post on his Truth Social site announcing the appointment.

“Red One” has some clever ideas. In theaters this week, the blend of action, comedy, adventure and fantasy is set in a world where Santa Claus is real. And, as is customary in Christmas stories, he does, in fact, deliver gifts to billions of homes around the world on the eve of the big holiday. In “Red One,” however, he does so as the head of a military-like, magic-powered operation, one that prepares year-round so the night goes perfectly.

Calls are mounting for the U. S. House Ethics Committee to make public a report that could shed more light on sexual misconduct allegations involving Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz and his ties to disgraced former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg. Gaetz’s Wednesday resignation from Congress halted the House investigation, which is said to be “highly critical” of the North Florida Republican.

INDIANAPOLIS — As Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra spoke after Thursday’s practice at Gainbridge Fieldhouse about the need for a bounce back after Tuesday night’s crushing overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons, forward Jimmy Butler was nowhere in sight. The same will be the case with Friday night’s game against the Indiana Pacers, the fifth game on this six-game trip. Out since spraining his right ankle during the first quarter of a loss to the Denver Nuggets last week, Friday will mark Butler’s third consecutive absence.