In brief: FDA approves pill to boost women’s sex drive

WASHINGTON – Federal health officials have approved the first prescription drug to boost sexual desire in women, a milestone long sought by the pharmaceutical industry.

But safety restrictions on the daily pill, called Addyi, mean it will probably never achieve the blockbuster sales of men’s impotence drugs like Viagra, which have generated billions of dollars.

The new drug’s label will carry a bold warning that combining it with alcohol can cause dangerously low blood pressure and fainting. Those problems can also occur if the drug is taken alongside certain common medications, including drugs used to treat yeast infections.

Guilty plea expected from Fogle on porn

INDIANAPOLIS – An Indiana television station is reporting that Subway pitchman Jared Fogle is expected to plead guilty to child-pornography charges.

The report on Fox 59 comes six weeks after authorities seized electronics and other items from Fogle’s home in Zionsville, an affluent Indianapolis suburb.

Citing sources it did not identify, the station said Fogle would enter a plea Wednesday. It also said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Indianapolis planned to hold a news conference Wednesday.

The 37-year-old Fogle became a Subway pitchman more than 15 years ago after shedding more than 200 pounds as a college student.

Exec pleads guilty in West Virginia spill

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – One of the final executives charged in a chemical spill that contaminated West Virginia’s biggest drinking water supply has pleaded guilty.

In federal court Tuesday in Charleston, former Freedom Industries executive Dennis Farrell pleaded guilty in front of Judge Thomas Johnston.

The plea deal calls for a sentence of 30 days to two years in prison, as well as a fine up to $200,000.

In January 2014, a Freedom tank leaked coal-cleaning chemicals into the water supply for 300,000 people, spurring a ban on using tap water for up to 10 days.

White House hires transgender staff

EDGARTOWN, Mass. – The White House has hired its first openly transgender staff member.

The White House announced Raffi Freedman-Gurspan’s appointment Tuesday. Freedman-Gurspan is an outreach and recruitment director for presidential personnel in the Office of Personnel. Transgender advocates say she is the first openly transgender official to serve in the White House.

Freedman-Gurspan previously was a policy adviser for the National Center for Transgender Equality’s racial and economic justice initiative.

California renews right-to-die bill

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California lawmakers are making a new push to allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives after previous efforts stalled amid religious opposition.

Democratic legislators introduced the bill, which allows doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs, in a special session on health care convened by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Religious groups and advocates for people with disabilities opposed a nearly identical bill this year, saying it goes against the will of God and puts terminally ill patients at risk for coerced death. The measure passed the state Senate but stalled in the Assembly. Sens. Lois Wolk of Davis and Bill Monning of Carmel could not get support from fellow Democrats on the panel who lost parents to cancer.

The new bill would bypass that committee.

The right-to-die group Compassion and Choices has said it would attempt to qualify a 2016 ballot measure if they lose in the Legislature.