Morning Wire XX
[0] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley.
[1] It's Friday, January 19th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
[2] The annual March for Life is taking place in Frid Washington, D .C. today.
[3] Energized by the recent Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, thousands marched from the Capitol to the Supreme Court and heard speeches from House Speaker Mike Johnson and Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, who just won the College National Championship.
[4] The Daily Signals, Mary Margaret Olaihan, was there for the events.
[5] This was the 51st annual March for Life took place in Washington, D .C. It's the second March for Life since Roe v. Wade was overturned, but you're still seeing big turnout, especially from college students, kids, families who tell me they want to make abortion unthinkable.
[6] It's very snowy here in Washington, D .C. Some of these kids are telling me they've never seen snow in their lives, but they're here to march for the unborn.
[7] A Democratic opposition research firm is beefing up its efforts to suppress any third -party candidates who may pose a challenge to President Biden.
[8] Daily Wire's senior editor Cabot Phillips has more.
[9] The group American Bridge has hired election attorney Mark Elias to keep third -party groups, including no labels and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. off the ballot, especially in battleground states including Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona.
[10] Traditionally, American Bridge has focused their attack ads on Republican candidates, But this year, they are expanding their efforts to include those on the left.
[11] The group's president told Reuters, quote, we are not ruling out legal action with our attorneys if we identify a problem, and that applies for all third -party threats to President Biden.
[12] No labels has filed a complaint with the DOJ, alleging the group is launching a, quote, illegal conspiracy to use intimidation, harassment, and fear to keep donors from supporting their third -party efforts.
[13] The judge overseeing the Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis his racketeering and election interference case against Trump has set a hearing date regarding the DA's alleged misconduct.
[14] Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Jocamo reports.
[15] Earlier this month, Michael Roman, a co -defendant in the Trump case, accused Willis of being in a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
[16] Roman and his legal team seek to have the DA and her office, along with Wade, disqualified from prosecuting the case.
[17] They also want all criminal charges against Roman dismissed.
[18] The filing says Willis chose to hire a private special prosecutor to preside over the case, and in doing so, use the prosecution to pay her partner a large sum of money.
[19] The hearing is set for February 15th.
[20] Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee directed the DA's office to respond to the motion by February 2nd.
[21] That Ozempic prescription will cost you more in 2024.
[22] Pharmaceutical companies, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, both raised prices of more than 700 brand -name drugs.
[23] The price of the widely popular diabetes and weight loss drug, Ozempic, increased 3 .5 % to about $970 for just one month's supply.
[24] Mungaro, a similar drug, increased to more than $1 ,000 a month, a 4 .5 % increase.
[25] 46, Brooklyn, a non -profit drug pricing research firm, compiled the price increases for the Wall Street Journal.
[26] Drug prices are a hot -button political issue for both Democrats and Republicans.
[27] Last year, the federal government began penalizing drug companies that raised prices at a rate higher than inflation.
[28] China's economy grew by 5 .2 % in 2023.
[29] That's a bit better than their 5 % target.
[30] China's premier Li Chiang delivered that news in Davos in front of a group of elite business leaders.
[31] China hopes those leaders will do business with the communist country and stop disinvesting.
[32] But Derek Scissors from the American Enterprise Institute warns that China may have exaggerated their growth.
[33] People have been using the word crisis a little loosely as applied to 2023, and there's no crisis.
[34] But that doesn't mean that Chinese economy is healthy.
[35] You have disinflation, meaning that you have falling inflation to the point where people are starting to worry, well, are we going to get outright deflation?
[36] So far that's only in the property sector.
[37] But if it spreads, that's harm to Chinese growth.
[38] That suggests when China announced 5 % GDP growth, it's an exaggeration.
[39] The good news for homebuyers, analysts at Fannie Mae believe mortgage rates will dip below 6 % by the end of 2024 and that the housing market will begin a gradual return to a more normal balance.
[40] The lower rates are expected to cause a surge in loan refinancing, which is already on the rise.
[41] Mortgage rates for 30 -year traditional loans are currently at 6 .6%.
[42] That's down from a high of 7 .8 % last fall.
[43] Housing prices, which grew 7 % last year, are expected to level off and grow by about 3 % this year.
[44] A vitamin a day could keep the memory loss away.
[45] That's what one study found.
[46] On Thursday, researchers at Mass General Brigham in Boston released their new study, which compares the results of taking a daily multivitamin with those of taking a placebo.
[47] The results show that the group taking a vitamin slowed cognitive aging by about two.
[48] years.
[49] Some doctors caution, though, that the time frame is too short and more studies need to be conducted.
[50] Japan has landed an unmanned spacecraft on the moon.
[51] Japan's aerospace exploration agency says their smart lander for investigating moon or slim spacecraft touched down just after midnight Saturday, Tokyo time.
[52] If the landing is confirmed, it will make Japan just the fifth nation to complete a moon landing, after the U .S., the Soviet Union, China, and India.
[53] All right.
[54] Those are your drive home updates this afternoon.
[55] To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire .com and for more in -depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to our latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.