First Edition: July 21, 2022

KHN: ‘So Rudderless’: A Couple’s Quest For Autism Treatment For Their Son Hits Repeated Obstacles
When Sebastian Rios was a toddler, he hardly talked. “Don’t worry,” his pediatrician told Amparo and Victor Rios, Sebastian’s parents. Kids who grow up in households in which both Spanish and English are spoken are sometimes slower to develop language skills, she said. Plus, Sebastian was developing well in other ways: When he was just 18 months old, for example, he could identify the magnetized letters of the alphabet on the refrigerator at their home in Bronxville, a short train ride north of New York City. (Andrews, 7/21)

KHN: Parents Become Drug Developers To Save Their Children’s Lives
Maggie Carmichael wasn’t developing like other kids. As a toddler, she wasn’t walking and had a limited vocabulary for her age. She was diagnosed with PMM2-CDG, potentially fatal gene mutations that cause abnormal enzyme activity — and affect fewer than 1,000 people worldwide. Her parents, Holly and Dan Carmichael, raised $250,000 for scientists to screen existing drugs to find a potential treatment, and in a single-patient trial with Maggie as the test subject, one drug showed promising results. The young girl stopped face-planting when crawling, she began using a walker instead of her wheelchair, and her lexicon expanded. (Whitlock, 7/21)

The Hill: Clarence Thomas Opinion Sparks House Vote Thursday To Protect Access To Contraception
Pelosi said the risk to contraception access could have a “terrible impact” on communities of color and families across the board. “Who are these people who are saying they want to outlaw it? It’s about control. They don’t like birth control, but they want to control women, and we cannot let that happen,” she said. (Gans, 7/20)

The Hill: Pence Outlines Vision For ‘Post-Roe America’ In South Carolina Speech
“I believe with all my heart that with Roe gone we have the opportunity to become a more perfect union,” Pence said in a speech at the Florence Baptist Temple in Florence, S.C. “But make no mistake about it: As we gather tonight, we must recognize that we have only come to the end of the beginning,” Pence continued. “Standing here in the first days of post-Roe America, we must resolve that we will not rest, we will not relent, until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the nation.” (Samuels, 7/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Attorney General Merrick Garland Says Government Could Sue States Over Abortion Access
Attorney General Merrick Garland threatened to sue states that have outlawed or restricted abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month—and said the Justice Department would ask a judge to toss out a Texas lawsuit seeking to block federal rules requiring doctors to perform abortions in emergency situations. (Gurman, 7/20)

Politico: Former Religious Right Leader: I Saw Our Phrases In Alito’s Abortion Opinion
A former leader of the religious right contends that an effort he helped lead to influence conservative Supreme Court justices through prayer sessions, private dinners and other social events contributed to the stridency of the court’s opinion last month striking down Roe v. Wade. (Gerstein, 7/20)

AP: House Dems Move To Protect Contraception From Supreme Court
The House planned to vote Thursday on the legislation and send it to the Senate, where its fate seemed uncertain. The push underscored that Democrats are latching onto their own version of culture-war battles to appeal to female, progressive and minority voters by casting the court and Republicans as extremists intent on obliterating rights taken for granted for years. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said now that the “radical, Republican-stacked Supreme Court” overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, GOP lawmakers want to do more than ban abortion. (Fram, 7/21)

Bloomberg: Democratic Senators Question School Surveillance Startups On Abortion Searches
Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey asked GoGuardian, Gaggle.Net Inc., Bark Technologies Inc. and Securly Inc. — startups that provide tools that monitor students’ online activity — whether the companies’ tools flag search terms such as “abortion” or “contraception,” and who is notified if they do. The companies are set up to communicate certain web activities of students with administrators, parents, and, at times, law enforcement. (Anand, 7/21)

Reuters: U.S. Abortion Ruling Will Not Affect Overseas Aid - Diplomat
The U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that recognized the right of women nationally to terminate pregnancies. Calling the decision "sobering" domestically, Loyce Pace, Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs at the U.S Department of Health, said it would not affect the country's position as the largest bilateral donor to family planning services globally. (7/20)

The Washington Post: Woman Says She Carried Dead Fetus For 2 Weeks After Texas Abortion Ban
“My doctor had said that since the heartbeat bill had just passed, she didn’t want me to do a D and C. And she asked that I try to miscarry at home,” said [Marlena] Stell, 42, of Conroe, Tex. “It just was emotionally difficult walking around, knowing that I had a dead fetus inside.” Stell, a beauty influencer with about 1.5 million YouTube subscribers, is sharing her story in the weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade as a reminder that the restrictive abortion laws adopted by states such as Texas could affect those who have suffered miscarriages. (Bella, 7/20)

The New York Times: Georgia’s 6-Week Abortion Ban Begins Immediately After Court Ruling
A federal appeals court panel immediately allowed a Georgia law that bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy to go into effect on Wednesday, ending a yearslong battle over one of the country’s most restrictive laws. The law, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019, prohibits most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which is typically when doctors can begin to detect a fetus’s cardiac activity. ... (Fawcett, 7/20)

The Hill: Minnesota Republican Scrutinized For Pro-Life Speech: ‘Our Culture Loudly But Also Stealthily Promotes’ Abortions
Former NFL player and Minnesota lieutenant governor candidate Matt Birk (R) is facing scrutiny after saying women have abortions in pursuit of their careers. Speaking at the National Right to Life Convention in Georgia last month, Birk said that American culture “stealthily promotes” abortions by “telling women they should look a certain way” and saying that they should have careers instead of children. (Oshin, 7/20)

AP: Abortion Rights Group Opposes Effort To Restore Arizona Ban
Planned Parenthood Arizona said in a legal filing Wednesday the courts need to “harmonize” the state’s two different laws on abortion after Attorney General Mark Brnovich moved last week to reinstate an almost complete ban on the procedure dating back more than a century. Brnovich on July 13 asked a court in Tucson to lift an order that had blocked the earlier ban. The newly conservative U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, leaving it up to states to decide how to regulate abortions. (Snow, 7/21)

AP: North Dakota's Lawyers Say July 28 Abortion Ban Should Stick
A motion seeking to block enforcement of a so-called trigger law that would shut down North Dakota’s lone abortion clinic should be denied because the law was administered properly and the lawsuit on the constitutionality of the ban is unlikely to succeed, the state attorney general’s office says. (Kolpack, 7/20)

The 19th: Crisis Pregnancy Centers To Deter People From Abortions Open Near New Mexico Clinics
With Roe v. Wade overturned, abortion providers are flocking to New Mexico, one of the largest southwestern states that protects abortion access. So-called “crisis pregnancy centers” are following their lead. (Luthra, 7/20)

Newsweek: WHO To Hold Another Emergency Meeting Over Global Monkeypox Epidemics
The World Health Organization (WHO) is due to hold an emergency committee meeting on Thursday at which it may decide whether monkeypox represents a global health emergency. It will be the second time the emergency committee has convened over monkeypox, with the last meeting being held on June 23. At that time, it was decided that the monkeypox outbreak did not constitute a global health emergency, or Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). (Browne, 7/20)

Reuters: WHO Reports 14,000 Cases Of Monkeypox Globally, Five Deaths In Africa
The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 14,000 cases of monkeypox worldwide, with five deaths reported in Africa, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. Most of the cases reported thus far have been found in Europe, particularly among men who have sex with men, the WHO said, although all the deaths have occurred in Africa, the region where monkeypox outbreaks have historically been found. (7/20)

The Hill: Senate Chair ‘Concerned’ With Monkeypox Response
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said she is “concerned” by the state of the U.S. monkeypox response in a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra. (Sullivan, Weixel and Choi, 7/20)

CIDRAP: A Smart Monkeypox Vaccine Strategy Will Be Key, Experts Say
"Eventually we can bring this under control." That's the message Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), puts forth about the growing global monkeypox outbreak in a new editorial in Science. But in order to do so, millions of vaccine doses must be made available, a process that will likely take months—if not years. (Soucheray, 7/20)

The Hill: LGBT Groups Warn California Could Become Epicenter Of Monkeypox Outbreak
A coalition of LGBT organizations called on the Biden administration on Wednesday to expand testing and vaccine access for the monkeypox virus, warning that if no action is taken, California could become the epicenter for the disease. In a letter addressed to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky, the coalition raised alarm over the number of monkeypox cases — also known as hMPXV — that are effecting men who have sex with men and the transgender community. (Vella, 7/20)

The Mercury News: Q&A: Monkeypox Cases Are Climbing Fast. What's My Risk Of Catching It?
As monkeypox cases rise across the country and with 122 reported among six counties in the Bay Area as of Monday, the new virus is raising questions from a public weary of outbreaks. And while experts try to figure out exactly how the virus spreads, the Bay Area is experiencing a severe lack of vaccine supply. San Francisco announced Friday that it would be receiving around 4,000 doses of the shot, far fewer than the 35,000 it had requested earlier in the week from the federal government. Other local Bay Area counties also are reporting shortages. The federal government plans to release around 1.6 million doses in the coming months. (Greschler, 7/19)

Modesto Bee: Stanislaus County Has First Case Of Monkeypox Disease
Stanislaus County health officials have reported the county’s first case of monkeypox illness. A news release Tuesday said an adult male was infected with monkeypox disease, which has been causing outbreaks in the United States and other countries. (Carlson, 7/19)

The Hill: Biden Labels Climate Change An ‘Emergency,’ Stopping Short Of Declaration
“As president, I have a responsibility to act with urgency and resolve when our nation faces clear and present danger. And that is what climate change is about,” Biden said. “This is an emergency.” “As president, I’ll use my executive powers to combat the climate crisis in the absence of congressional action,” he added. (Frazin and Chalfant, 7/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Is Pressed To Declare Emergencies After Climate, Abortion Setbacks
The president is facing calls to declare a public-health emergency to expand access to abortions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. He is also being pressed to use a national-emergency declaration and other emergency powers to tackle climate-related priorities after they were stripped out of Democrats’ budget bill because of opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.). (Parti, 7/20)

The Washington Post: U.S. Heat Wave: Over 100 Million People Under Alerts In 28 States
Dallas, Oklahoma City and Tulsa could all approach 110 degrees in the days ahead, and some locations have blown past that. The top reading came from Mangum in southwest Oklahoma, which hit 115 degrees at 5:55 p.m.(Cappucci and Kornfield, 7/20)

The Wall Street Journal: More Than 100 Million Americans Face Dangerous Heat Wave
More than 100 million Americans were in the path of a dangerous heat wave Wednesday, from the West to the Northeast, officials said. Temperatures in the triple digits were recorded from Arizona to Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service. (Ansari and Lukpat, 7/20)

The Hill: Where The Scorching July Heatwave Is Hitting The US Hardest
At least 28 states issued heat warnings on Wednesday, as states like Oklahoma and Texas recorded temperatures as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Beyond the two states, areas in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri all experienced temperatures more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit above historical averages for this time of year, according to maps posted by Tropical Tidbits based on NWS data. (Schonfeld, 7/20)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Weather: Baltimore Health Commissioner Declares Code Red Ahead Of Expected Hottest Temperatures Of Year 
A heat wave is expected to bake Baltimore for the next couple of days, leading the city health commissioner to declare a Code Red Extreme Heat Alert. Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa issued the alert for Thursday through Sunday. (Ho, 7/20)

AP: Spanish Worker's Death Shows Need To Adapt To Climate Change
When José Antonio González started his afternoon shift sweeping the streets of Madrid, the temperature was 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) amid a heat wave gripping Spain. After a long time without a job, González couldn’t afford to pass up a one-month summer contract to sweep the city, where he lived in a working-class neighborhood. Three hours later, the 60-year-old collapsed with heat stroke and was found lying in the street he was cleaning. An ambulance took the father of two to the hospital, where he died on Saturday. (Redondo and Hatton, 7/20)

Politico: GOP Freezes Up On Same-Sex Marriage
Mitt Romney doesn’t think it’s necessary. Richard Burr hasn’t read it. And Todd Young is “fixated” on microchips. Those are some of the answers Republicans gave Wednesday on whether they’d back legislation writing same-sex marriage into law. And though Democrats want assurances the bill could pass the Senate before taking it up, Chuck Schumer may have to take a gamble to find out if the landmark legislation has the GOP support necessary to clear a 60-vote threshold. (Everett, 7/20)

The New York Times: Same-Sex Marriage Bill, Considered Dead On Arrival, Gains New Life
... But when the House called its vote this week on the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify federal protections for same-sex couples that were put in place in a 2015 ruling, 47 Republicans voted “yes.” That raised the possibility that there could be a narrow bipartisan path for the legislation to move ahead in the Senate and make its way to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law. (Karni, 7/20)

The New York Times: The Biden Administration Is Elevating A Division Of H.H.S. To More Broadly Oversee Pandemic Responses
The Biden administration is creating a new division within the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate the nation’s response to pandemic threats and other health emergencies, a recognition that the department is structurally ill equipped to handle disasters like the coronavirus pandemic. The change, announced internally on Wednesday, will elevate an existing office — that of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, known as ASPR — to its own operating division, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. (Gay Stolberg and Weiland, 7/20)

Newsweek: Biden Blames Delaware Oil Slicks For His Cancer And 'So Damn Many' Others
While delivering a speech about climate change in Somerset, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, Biden said that environmental pollution during his childhood was so rampant that people needed to wipe oil off of car windshields to be able to drive. The president suggested that the pollution was to blame for the skin cancer that he would later experience, saying that Delaware used to have the "highest cancer rate in the nation." (Slisco, 7/20)

Stat: Wyden Outlines A Drug Pricing Reform Wishlist To Follow Medicare Negotiation
Democrats may be closer than ever to passing sweeping drug pricing reforms, but Sen. Ron Wyden says there’s more to do. (Florko, 7/20)

Reuters: U.S. Announces $1.2 Bln Healthcare Crackdown Tied To Telehealth, Cardiovascular Tests
The U.S. Justice Department unveiled a $1.2 billion healthcare fraud crackdown on Wednesday, revealing criminal charges against 36 defendants for alleged fraudulent billing schemes tied to telemedicine, genetic and cardiovascular testing, and equipment. The criminal charges, which were unsealed across 13 federal districts between July 11 through July 20, target clinical laboratory owners, marketers, medical professionals and telemedicine executives. (Lynch, 7/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Data-Privacy Bill Advances In Congress, But States Throw Up Objections
Bipartisan legislation to give Americans more control over their online data moved forward in Congress on Wednesday, even as new objections to the bill emerged from California and other states. The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 53-2 to approve the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, with backers calling it a milestone. (McKinnon, 7/20)

The Hill: House Committee Advances Bill To Ban Assault Weapons
The House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to ban assault weapons on Wednesday, the first time in two decades a congressional panel has moved to prohibit the sale, transfer and possession of the popular firearms. The committee approved the Assault Weapons Ban of 2021 in a 25-18 vote following an hours-long markup. (Schnell, 7/20)

Axios: Post-Pandemic Affordable Care Act Premium Hikes On The Horizon
Democrats' 11th-hour scramble to avoid steep Affordable Care Act premium increases for enrollees next year glosses over the reality that premiums are going up regardless for many people, thanks to the steady upward march of health care prices. (Owens and Dreher, 7/21)

The Colorado Sun: Will A Half-Million Coloradans Lose Medicaid After The Pandemic?
Colorado has added nearly 500,000 people to its Medicaid rolls since early 2020, an increase of 32%. The latest extension of the federal order — which says that states can cut no one off the Medicaid rolls during the global crisis, whether they are eligible or not — is set to expire Oct. 13. (Brown, 7/20)

The Washington Post: Alena Analeigh Wicker, 13, Just Got Accepted To Medical School
Alena Analeigh Wicker is like other 13-year-olds in that she enjoys going to the movies, playing soccer, baking and hanging out with friends. But very much unlike other teenagers, she just got accepted to medical school. “I’m still a normal 13-year-old,” said Alena, a student at both Arizona State University and Oakwood University, where she is simultaneously earning two separate undergraduate degrees in biological sciences. “I just have extremely good time management skills and I’m very disciplined.” (Page, 7/20)

The New York Times: 8 Ultraviolet Wands Could Pose Danger Of Radiation Injury, F.D.A. Warns
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers against purchasing eight ultraviolet wands used for disinfection because of high levels of radiation that could cause injuries, the agency said on Wednesday. Some of the UV wands are said to have as much as 3,000 times the recommended amount of exposure to ultraviolet-C radiation, the F.D.A. said. (Oxenden, 7/20)

CIDRAP: Unvaccinated Police, Firefighters Report Low Trust In COVID-19 Vaccines
Although unvaccinated police officers and firefighters are more likely to develop COVID-19, they are less likely to trust that the vaccines are effective and safe, according to a US study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. University of Miami researchers led the study of 1,415 police officers and firefighters from Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, and Utah participating in two studies from January to September 2021. Participants worked at least 20 hours a week in roles requiring them to come within 3 feet of others. (7/20)

CIDRAP: Influenza Surveillance Systems May Have Caught Initial COVID-19 Activity
An increased number of cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) that tested negative for influenza were present in global influenza surveillance networks early in the COVID-19 pandemic, an average of 13.3 weeks before the first reported COVID-19 peaks in 16 of the 28 countries included in a study published today in PLOS Medicine. (7/20)

Zenger News: 'Holy Grail' Blood Test Can Diagnose Cancer Years Before Symptoms
A blood test that can diagnose any type of cancer years before symptoms appear could be on the horizon. Scientists have discovered a protein released in the early stages of the disease when tumors are most curable. It is produced by a gene named KRAS - the most frequent mutation across all tumors including lung, bowel and pancreatic. (Kitanovska, 7/20)

Stat: How Does The Brain Decide What Memories Are Good And Bad? 
In a new study, scientists took a key step toward unraveling how our brain assigns positive or negative emotions to our experiences. (Wosen, 7/20)

Stat: Eggs Survive Decades Without Aging. Now, Scientists May Know Why 
In a high-stakes evolutionary gambit, female mammals are born with a finite supply of immature eggs. Propagating future generations depends on this reserve of pre-egg cells, or “primordial oocytes,” staying alive and out of the way of harmful, mutation-causing molecules — sometimes for decades — so they can give rise to mature eggs capable of producing healthy offspring. (Molteni, 7/20)

Bloomberg: Nurse Burnout Reaches New High As Latest Omicron Variant Surges
Many people may be moving on from Covid, but nurses certainly aren’t — and as the latest variant sweeps the US, the mental stresses on the profession have reached new highs. A survey of 2,500 nurses released Wednesday finds that 64% are looking to leave the health-care profession, a nearly 40% increase from a similar survey a year ago. Three-quarters of those surveyed said they’ve experienced burnout since the pandemic began and half said they had experienced feelings of trauma, extreme stress or PTSD. (Johnson, 7/20)

Stat: As Health Care Faces Nursing Shortages, Nurses Are Flocking To Remote Jobs
Burned out and fed up with their work conditions, nurses are leaving the bedside in droves, leaving empty positions and for-hire signs lingering in hospitals and clinics around the country. (Palmer, 7/21)

Axios: Health Industry Profits Projected To Rise Following The Pandemic
Health care profits will rise significantly over the next few years, according to a new McKinsey & Company estimate — further evidence that providers and payers are doing just fine in the wake of the pandemic. (Owens, 7/20)

Stat: Biogen Agrees To Pay $900 Million To Settle Whistleblower Case Alleging Kickbacks And Sham Speaking Events
After a decade of legal squabbling, Biogen has agreed in principle to pay $900 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a former employee who alleged the company paid kickbacks to hundreds of physicians to boost sales of its multiple sclerosis drugs. (Silverman, 7/20)

Reuters: Biogen Leans On New Alzheimer's Drug To Calm Investor Worries
Biogen Inc (BIIB.O) on Wednesday tried to assuage investor worries by laying out a plan for its Alzheimer's disease drug being developed with Eisai Co Ltd (4523.T) and promising to draw lessons from the setbacks to its treatment Aduhelm. Biogen also disclosed that it had agreed to pay $900 million to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit accusing it of paying doctors kickbacks to prescribe multiple sclerosis drugs. The case had been set to go on trial next week in Boston. It did not admit wrongdoing. (Mishra, 7/20)

Reuters: Merck's Keytruda Fails Head And Neck Cancer Trial
Merck & Co Inc said on Wednesday its cancer therapy Keytruda failed to meet the main goal of a late-stage trial testing it in patients with head and neck cancer. The company said Keytruda, its blockbuster cancer drug, in combination with chemoraditation therapy showed improvement in event-free survival, or the period of time a patient remains free of complications compared to a placebo. (7/20)

Bloomberg: Apple Argues It’s Now a Major Force in the Health-Care World
Apple Inc. published a nearly 60-page report Wednesday outlining all its health features and partnerships with medical institutions, arguing that such offerings are key to the tech giant’s future. The company pointed to its breadth of existing services -- from sleep monitoring and fitness classes to atrial-fibrillation detection and cycle tracking -- and promised to build on that foundation. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, who oversees Apple’s health endeavors, said in a statement attached to the report that the company will continue to innovate in “science-based technology.” (Gurman, 7/20)

CIDRAP: First Local Dengue Case In Florida Prompts Health Alert
The Florida Department of Health this week announced a mosquito-borne illness advisory after the first local dengue illness of 2022 was identified in a Miami-Dade County resident. Officials urged people to take preventive steps, such as draining standing water from items such as buckets and flowerpots and wearing protective clothing and mosquito repellent. They also issued a reminder about symptoms, which can be asymptomatic or mild, but can also include fever, headache, eye pain, and musculoskeletal pain. (7/20)

AP: Nurse Gets Year In Prison For Replacing Fentanyl With Saline
A nurse who previously worked at a Florida hospital has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for stealing fentanyl and replacing the powerful pain medication with saline. Monique Elizabeth Carter, 36, of Middleburg, was sentenced Tuesday in Jacksonville federal court, according to court records. She pleaded guilty in April to tampering with a consumer product. (7/20)

AP: State-Licensed Medical Marijuana Store Opens Next Week
Patients enrolled in South Dakota’s medical marijuana program will have their first opportunity to buy cannabis from a state-licensed facility next week. It has been a year and a-half since state voters overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana. The co-owner of one dispensary, United Rd. in Hartford, says the business has secured the first initial inventory available to state-run stores and the showroom is ready for customers. (7/20)

AP: Weekly Tests Dropped For Unvaccinated State Employees
Minnesota state government employees who are unvaccinated for COVID-19 are no longer required to take weekly tests for the virus in order to stay in the workplace. The requirement that went into effect in September 2021 meant thousands of employees took tests each week. Those that didn’t comply were subjected to suspensions or other discipline. A state official said the requirement was rescinded because of the evolving nature of the virus. (7/20)

AP: Oregon Urges Return To Mask Wearing As Hospitals Feel Strain
Oregon health officials are urging people in 21 counties with high COVID-19 cases — including the three Portland-area counties — to return to mask wearing because the hospital system is again under extreme strain. (7/21)

KQED: Closure Of Oakland's Largest Homeless Encampment Put On Hold — For Now
Residents at Oakland’s largest encampment of unhoused people got a reprieve Tuesday after a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order, blocking a state agency from evicting them. Caltrans had planned on Wednesday to remove many of the estimated 200 people who live at the sprawling Wood Street encampment, which stretches from north of 34th Street to 18th Street underneath the I-880 freeway, between Wood Street and the BNSF and Union Pacific railroad tracks in West Oakland. (Baldassari, 7/19)

Stat: Crash Course Seeks To Boost Ranks Of Native American Doctors 
She’d just used a defibrillator to resuscitate a man whose heart had stopped, and now, in the next room, a baby’s head was crowning, the mother emitting a stream of loud, harrowing moans. (McFarling, 7/21)