First Edition: Sept. 28, 2021

KHN: The ‘Burn Scars’ Of Wildfires Threaten The West’s Drinking Water
Colorado saw its worst fire season last year, with the three largest fires in state history and more than 600,000 acres burned. But some of the effects didn’t appear until this July, when heavy rain pushed sediment from damaged forests down mountainsides, causing mudslides that shut down sections of Interstate 70 for almost two weeks. Immense quantities of sediment choked the rivers that supply most of the state’s water. In western Colorado’s Glenwood Springs, the water became so murky that the town twice had to shut off the valves that pump water from nearby rivers to avoid overwhelming its filtration system. City managers sent alerts to the town’s 10,000 residents, telling them to minimize water use until the sediment moved downstream. (Reardon, 9/28)

KHN: Wildfire Smoke Is Here To Stay. Here’s How To Clean The Air Inside Your Home. 
The fierce wildfires that broke out across much of the western United States this summer, spreading smoke across hundreds of miles, continue to pose a serious health hazard to millions. More are expected this fall. That’s a major health concern because microscopic particles in wildfire smoke, carried by the wind, can penetrate deep into your lungs and travel into your bloodstream. One study linked wildfire smoke exposure to a twofold increase in the rate of asthma and a 40% rise in strokes and heart attacks. Other research tied smoke to hospital admissions, ER visits and premature deaths. (Wolfson, 9/28)

KHN: An Ad’s Charge That Price Haggling Would ‘Swipe $500 Billion From Medicare’ Is Incorrect
The advertisement opens with a doctor sitting across from his patient and holding a prescription drug pill bottle. “You want to continue with this medication?” the doctor asks while an older patient nods. The doctor then explains that he can no longer provide the medicine to her because insurance companies and Washington bureaucrats “are working together to swipe $500 billion from Medicare to pay for [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer’s out-of-control spending spree.” (Knight, 9/28)

AP: Biden, McConnell Get COVID-19 Boosters, Encourage Vaccines
Seventy-eight-year-old Joe Biden and 79-year-old Mitch McConnell got their booster shots Monday, the Democratic president and the Republican Senate leader urging Americans across the political spectrum to get vaccinated or plus up with boosters when eligible for the extra dose of protection. The shots, administered just hours apart on either end of Pennsylvania Avenue, came on the first workday after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration recommended a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine for Americans 65 and older and approved them for others with preexisting medical conditions and high-risk work environments. (Miller, 9/27)

Stat: Biden Administration Backs Scientific Advisers But Not What They Have To Say
Over the past month, the United States public has received a booster dose of confusion. Follow this whiplash-inducing chain of events. (Herper, 9/27)

The Hill: Business Groups Want Seat At The Table On Biden Vaccine Rule
Business groups are growing increasingly frustrated as Labor Department officials move forward with President Biden’s vaccine requirement without seeking their input. While lobbying groups that represent some of the country’s biggest corporations don’t oppose the rule, which will require employers with more than 100 workers to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing, those same organizations have presented Biden officials with lengthy lists of questions about the rule that have so far gone unanswered. (Evers-Hillstrom, 9/27)

Politico: Top CDC Official Steps Aside As Head Of Pandemic Task Force 
The veteran official leading the pandemic response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stepping aside, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Henry Walke, who has overseen the CDC’s Covid-19 response for more than a year, will be replaced by Barbara Mahon, the deputy chief of the agency’s enteric-disease branch, those sources said. Walke will remain at the agency as director of the CDC’s Division of Preparedness and Emerging Infections. (Banco and Owermohle, 9/27)

The Hill: FDA Official Taking On Responsibilities To Lead Vaccine Office
Peter Marks, a high-ranking official at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), took on responsibilities to lead the agency’s vaccine office on Monday, as the office prepares for the retirement of two others who had publicly cast doubt on the need for COVID-19 boosters. An FDA spokesperson said the agency elevated Marks to acting director of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review “to prepare for the upcoming retirement of two senior members of the team” in the fall. (Coleman, 9/27)

The Washington Post: Senate Republicans Block Measure To Fund Government, Stave Off U.S. Default 
Senate Republicans on Monday blocked a bill that would fund the government, provide billions of dollars in hurricane relief and stave off a default in U.S. debts, part of the party’s renewed campaign to undermine President Biden’s broader economic agenda. The GOP’s opposition dealt a death blow to the measure, which had passed the House last week, and now adds to the pressure on Democrats to devise their own path forward ahead of urgent fiscal deadlines. A failure to address the issues could cause severe financial calamity, the White House has warned, potentially plunging the United States into another recession. (Romm, 9/27)

Politico: Pelosi Steers Dems Toward Infrastructure Vote, Without Spending Bill In Tow
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reversing a months-long vow to push through the two major planks of Democrats’ domestic agenda in tandem, a huge shift just days before a critical infrastructure vote. Pelosi explained her thinking in a rare Monday night caucus session, saying she and President Joe Biden are continuing to push the Senate on negotiations related to the social spending package, but the House must move ahead on infrastructure this week before surface transportation funding expires Thursday. (Caygle and Ferris, 9/27)

Politico: Democrats Grapple With Cuts To Health Care Priorities 
Top House Democrats are voicing a new willingness to pare down their ambitious health care proposals within the sweeping $3.5 trillion social spending bill as they scramble to build consensus ahead of a potential vote this week. President Joe Biden’s call for $400 billion to boost long-term care services is expected to be sharply trimmed, lawmakers and advocates told POLITICO. And plans to expand Medicaid to more than 2 million people in states that have for a decade refused to do so may also have to be curtailed, said Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), one of Congress’ most enthusiastic supporters of that effort. (Ollstein, 9/27)

Politico: Facing A Heap Of Defeat, Progressives Stake Hopes On Spending Bill
Immigration, voting rights, policing, gun control: Congress is filled with liberal hopes crushed by the reality of slim Democratic majorities. So progressives are digging in on what could be their last chance at success in years. As Democrats race to pull together a multitrillion-dollar party-line social spending package, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s left flank is pushing as hard as it can to see progressive priorities reflected. They’ve repeatedly vowed to tank a bipartisan infrastructure bill on the floor as soon as this week if they don’t see more movement — a strategic flex that reflects how many of their other goals have withered. (Levine, Wu and Ferris, 9/27)

Politico: Dems May Drop Debt Fight To Avoid Shutdown 
Democrats are hinting they’re willing to drop the debt ceiling from their government funding package this week in order to avoid a government shutdown, a sign that their slim majorities are eager to avoid a shuttered federal government on their watch. Senate Republicans sank Democrats’ plans to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling together on Monday evening, sending Democratic leaders scrambling to avoid a government shutdown that would kick in Friday morning. They have several options, Democrats said in the aftermath, but a government shutdown is not one. (Everett, Levine and Scholtes, 9/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Kyrsten Sinema Is Enigma At Center Of Democrats’ Spending Talks 
Senate Democrats trying to pass a sweeping education, healthcare and climate package must first crack an enigma: What does centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema want? Ms. Sinema, a key vote in the evenly divided Senate, has made clear she won’t support the package’s current $3.5 trillion price tag, announcing her opposition in July and reiterating it since then. The first-term senator from a swing state has held meetings with party leaders to discuss the legislation, but she hasn’t publicly suggested specific changes. Many Democrats remain uncertain over her policy stance and her political calculations. (Collins and Peterson, 9/26)

CBS News: Murder Rate Climbed 29% In 2020 Amid Gun Stockpiling And Pandemic Pressures 
Murders rose nearly 30% nationwide last year, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Report data released Monday, which revealed the greatest percentage of  homicides involving guns on record, amid the pandemic's onset. Homicides and manslaughter jumped 29.4% from 2019 to 2020, the largest year-to-year spike since the federal government began tracking violent crime in the 1960s. Though well below the peak of U.S. killings in the 1980s and early 1990s, 4,901 additional killings were carried out in 2020, compared to 2019. (Sganga, 9/27)

The New York Times: Murders Spiked In 2020 In Cities Across The United States 
There is no simple explanation for the steep rise. A number of key factors are driving the violence, including the economic and social toll taken by the pandemic and a sharp increase in gun purchases. “It is a perfect storm,” said Chief Harold Medina of the Albuquerque Police Department. He cited Covid-19, the fallout from social justice protests and other contributors. “There is not just one factor that we can point at to say why we are where we are,” he said. (MacFarquhar, 9/27)

CIDRAP: US COVID-19 Cases Drop For First Time In 3 Months
The summer surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta (B1617.2) variant may be tapering off after causing the fourth wave of heightened pandemic activity in the United States. The 7-day average of new daily COVID-19 cases is 118,015, with 1,996 deaths, according to the Washington Post tracker. In the past week, new daily cases fell 20%, deaths fell 0.8%, and hospitalizations fell 8.9%. (Soucheray, 9/27)

The Washington Post: Pace Of U.S. Covid Vaccinations Continues To Slow In September 
The pace of new coronavirus vaccinations has slowed in the United States, with the average number of vaccines administered down almost 12 percent from the previous week, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s an overall downward trajectory since the beginning of September, as the seven-day average number of administered vaccine doses reported to the CDC per day was 683,329 as of September 23, which is an 18 percent drop from the start of the month when 836,359 vaccine doses were reported to the CDC per day. (9/28)

CNN: People In The Northeast Could Prevent A Covid-19 Surge Like The One In The South By Following These Measures, Fauci Says 
As weather grows colder and children spend more time in school, a surge of Covid-19 cases like the one in the South could be in store for the Northeast -- but it is not too late to get ahead of it, Dr. Anthony Fauci said. "It is within our power, and within our grasp, to prevent that from occurring," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Monday. The way to do it, he said, is by utilizing mitigation measures like wearing masks indoors and in schools, as well as increasing vaccination rates. (Holcombe, 9/28)

AP: Federal Judges: NYC Can Impose Vaccine Mandate On Teachers
The nation’s largest school district can immediately impose a vaccine mandate on its teachers and other workers, after all, a federal appeals panel decided Monday, leading lawyers for teachers to say they’ll ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. The city’s Department of Education said the mandate would now go into effect at the end of Friday, so that all teachers and staff would be vaccinated by Oct. 4, the following Monday. (Neumeister, 9/28)

The Washington Post: New York Hospitals Brace For Staff Shortages As Vaccine Mandate Begins 
Thousands of unvaccinated hospital employees in New York are likely to lose their jobs with a statewide vaccine mandate kicking in Monday night at midnight, the first major test of such rules for health-care workers nationwide. Several hospitals have warned that the requirement, announced in August, is already causing staff shortages that will force them to curtail patient care. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has called such issues “completely avoidable” and said she is prepared to activate the National Guard or recruit health-care workers from elsewhere to fill the gaps. (Slater, 9/27)

AP: Novant Health Fires More Than 175 For Not Getting Vaccinated
A North Carolina-based hospital system announced Monday that more than 175 of its workers have been fired for failing to comply with its COVID-19 vaccination requirement. Last week, Novant Health announced 375 employees had been suspended and given five days to comply with the mandate. The deadline was Friday. (9/27)

AP: Federal Judge Requires Vaccines For California Prison Staff
A federal judge on Monday ordered that all employees entering California prisons be vaccinated or have a religious or medical exemption, as he tries to head off another coronavirus outbreak like the one that killed 28 inmates and a correctional officer at San Quentin State Prison last year. Inmates who want in-person visits or who work outside prisons, including inmate firefighters, must also be fully vaccinated or have a religious or medical exemption. The prison guard’s union said it may appeal the mandate. (Thompson, 9/27)

NPR: Arizona's School Mask Mandate Ban Ruled Unconstitutional 
An Arizona judge ruled that a ban on public school mask mandates, as well as a variety of other laws shoehorned into the state budget by Republican lawmakers, is unconstitutional. The ruling frees public school leaders across Arizona to require students, staff and visitors to wear masks on campus. The law banning that authority was scheduled to take effect on Wednesday. (Giles, 9/27)

AP: Judge Extends Order Halting Iowa Schools Mask Mandate Ban
A federal judge on Monday extended a restraining order for 14 days that prohibits Iowa officials from enforcing a law that bans school districts from enacting mask mandates. The order issued by Judge Robert Pratt extends his initial order from Sept. 13 until Oct. 11 which means school districts may impose mask mandates and the state cannot stop them. (Pitt, 9/27)

AP: Iowa University Faculty Want To Require Masks In Classrooms
Faculty at Iowa public universities are demanding the right to require masks in their classrooms regardless of state law or policies against them. Biology professor Steve O’Kane Jr. has pushed a resolution among colleagues at the University of Northern Iowa saying faculty should be allowed to manage their classrooms. O’Kane told The Cedar Rapids Gazette that he’s already imposed a mask mandates for his students and lowers their lab grades if they refuse to comply. (9/27)

AP: Judge Won't Block Creighton University's Vaccine Mandate
A judge has refused to block Creighton University’s requirement that all students get vaccinated against COVID-19 despite the objections of a handful of students who said getting the shots would violate their religious beliefs against abortion. Douglas County District Judge Marlon Polk said last week that he wouldn’t issue a temporary order blocking the vaccine mandate, and he doesn’t believe the students will ultimately prevail with their challenge to the rule because they had signed a form promising to get vaccinated as soon as a vaccine was fully approved by regulators. (Funk, 9/27)

CBS News: Harvard Business School Moves Classes Online Amid Rise In COVID Cases
Harvard Business School says it is reverting to remote learning after beginning the semester with in-person classes, citing a rise in breakthrough COVID-19 cases among its students. All first-year and some second-year MBA students will take classes online beginning this week. Classes will take place remotely at least until October 3, the school said in a statement. (Cerullo, 9/27)

AP: House Votes To Extend Lamont's COVID Power Amid Protests
Connecticut lawmakers moved closer Monday toward extending Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont’s emergency powers during the coronavirus pandemic for the sixth time, an issue that has become more contentious with each extension. The House of Representatives voted 80-60 in favor of extending Lamont’s renewed declaration of public health and civil preparedness emergencies. Ten Democrats joined all of the Republicans in opposition. The Senate is scheduled to vote on Tuesday. (Haigh, 9/27)

AP: Health Officials See COVID Cases Tied To Pendleton Round-Up
Health officials in Umatilla County, Oregon, say they are starting to see COVID-19 cases linked to the Pendleton Round-Up. Umatilla County Public Health Director Joseph Fiumara told county commissioners Monday the county’s case count last week was 550 cases of COVID-19, and Fiumara said he had 151 pending cases from the weekend. (9/28)

Politico: Texas Airline Pilots Warn That Vaccine Mandates Could Roil Holiday Flights
Unions representing pilots at Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, both based in Texas, are asking for exemptions to President Joe Biden's pending vaccine mandate, with one of those unions warning that holiday travel could be disrupted if they have to comply. In a Sept. 24 letter distributed to 15 officials across the FAA, Congress, DOT and others, the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 14,000 pilots at American, suggested mandatory vaccinations could cause disruptions across the aviation industry as airlines will be forced to “offer unpaid leaves of absence or, worse, implement mass terminations of unvaccinated pilots.” (Pawlyk, 9/27)

Bloomberg: Airlines Demand Virus-Busting Seats To Ease Covid Deep Cleaning
Demand for airplane-seat coverings that repel viruses and bacteria has soared during the Covid-19 pandemic, as carriers look to cut the time and cost of cleaning cabins. “The stakes are high for airlines,” said Quentin Munier, head of strategy and innovation at the seat division of aircraft-parts giant Safran SA. Tenders for new orders increasingly call for fabrics with virus-killing properties, he said. (Patel, 9/28)

The Washington Post: New U.S. Travel Rules Close Door On Those Fully Vaccinated With Russia’s Sputnik V 
The United States announced last week that it would soon open its doors to foreign travelers vaccinated against the coronavirus, loosening restrictions for broad swaths of global visitors for the first time since the pandemic began. But the new rules, set to take effect in November, appear to also shut out many people who consider themselves to be fully immunized — including millions who have received two doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. (Taylor, 9/27)

The New York Times: NBA Vaccine Skeptics Speak Out 
More than 90 percent of N.B.A. players have been vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the league, and all referees and key team personnel without exemptions will be, too, by the season’s start in three weeks. But a few high-profile players, including the Nets star guard Kyrie Irving, have expressed skepticism about vaccines or been evasive about their vaccination status. Because the Nets are projected to be a top championship contender, and the team is one of just three whose players must be vaccinated to play in their home arenas, Irving’s vaccination status could be as much of a factor in the N.B.A. rankings as his team’s play. (Deb, 9/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Crunch Time Is Here For Players Who Oppose Covid-19 Vaccinations
Media day for the Brooklyn Nets was billed as a potentially explosive spectacle in which leading scorer Kyrie Irving might set out his reasons for not being vaccinated against Covid-19 and signal whether he was willing to miss every Nets practice, home game and potential playoffs this season in order to maintain that position. In the end, Irving spoke from an undisclosed location on Zoom because the 29-year-old guard wasn’t allowed to enter the Barclays Center. Then he declined to address how or whether he would comply with New York City’s requirement to prove vaccination in order to be in an indoor sports arena. (Radnofsky and Bachman, 9/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Vaccination Status Is The New Must-Have On Your Resume
Job seekers are considering a new addition to their résumés: Covid-19 vaccination status. As employers make vaccine rules for workers and some limit hiring to the vaccinated, people are starting to volunteer their vaccination status on job applications, in résumés and on their LinkedIn profiles. David Morgan, chief executive of Snorkel-Mart, an online snorkeling gear wholesaler and retailer, started requiring full vaccination for the company’s 20-plus employees in the spring. He says he favors candidates who are candid about their vaccine status on their résumés because it prevents surprises late in the hiring process. (Thomas, 9/27)

NPR: Religious Exemptions To Vaccines: Who Wants Them And What's Legal
Some city and state workers around the country have already begun to resist workplace vaccination rules on religious grounds. Soon those rules will be the norm in the private sector too, with the Biden administration's announcement this month that businesses with 100 or more employees must require those employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing. NPR correspondents Andrea Hsu and Shannon Bond explain what the law says about religious exemptions to vaccine rules in the workplace. (9/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Sanofi Ends A Covid-19 Vaccine Effort, Saying Market Is Already Well Served 
Sanofi won’t proceed with the development of one of its experimental Covid-19 vaccines, saying it didn’t make sense to go forward in an already-crowded market. The decision comes despite promising early results for the shot. The French healthcare giant said Tuesday that the vaccine—a so-called mRNA shot that uses the same technology as shots developed by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. —produced neutralizing antibodies against the virus in early-stage clinical trials. But it said it had decided not to proceed with larger studies, called Phase 3 trials, which would be required to win regulatory approval. (Roland, 9/28)

Stat: With Solid Data On MRNA Covid Vaccine, Sanofi Looks To Other Pathogens
French vaccine giant Sanofi announced positive results of a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its first mRNA vaccine on Tuesday, saying the early findings with a Covid-19 vaccine give the company confidence to shift gears on its mRNA program to pursue vaccines for other pathogens. The first in its sights is an influenza vaccine Sanofi hopes to begin testing in clinical trials next year. (Branswell, 9/28)

CBS News: Pfizer Is Testing A Pill To Ward Off COVID-19 
Pfizer said Monday that it is now testing a pill that could help people ward off COVID-19 if a close contact, such as family member, gets the virus. The drugmaker said it is looking at the efficacy of the pill as used in combination with a low dose of the HIV drug ritonavir in people who are at least 18 years old and live in the same household with someone who has COVID-19. Pfizer plans to enroll 2,660 people in the late-stage study. Those participating will get either the treatment combination or a fake drug orally twice a day for five to 10 days. (9/27)

AP: Biden To Name African-Born Doctor To Lead HIV/AIDS Response
President Joe Biden said Monday that he intends to nominate Dr. John N. Nkengasong to coordinate the U.S. response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic worldwide. Nkengasong, a U.S. citizen born in Cameroon, would be the first person of African descent to hold the position. The Senate must approve his eventual nomination. (9/27)

CIDRAP: Anticoagulants Linked With Reduced COVID Hospitalization, Death
Taking anticoagulants before contracting COVID-19 is associated with a 43% lower risk for hospital admission, and receiving anticoagulants while in the hospital is tied to a lower death rate, according to a study published late last week in EClinicalMedicine. The researchers created a retrospective cohort of 6,195 adults with COVID-19 across M Health Fairview hospitals and clinics in the midwestern United States from Mar 4 to Aug 27, 2020. Of these, 598 were immediately hospitalized and the remainder were initially treated as outpatients. Overall, case fatality was 2.8%, with hospitalized patients having a 13% mortality rate, and the researchers note that 5.9% of outpatients eventually needed hospitalization. (9/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Merck Nears Deal To Acquire Acceleron Pharma 
Merck & Co. is in advanced talks to acquire Acceleron Pharma Inc., XLRN 6.69% according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that would bolster the pharmaceutical giant’s rare-disease business. The deal for Acceleron, which has a market value of around $11 billion, could be announced this week, assuming talks don’t fall apart, the people said. (Lombardo and Dummett, 9/27)

Modern Healthcare: Intermountain Launching Outpatient Imaging Company 
Intermountain Healthcare plans to launch a new subsidiary, Tellica Imaging, to offer MRIs and CT scans outside its hospitals, the company announced Monday. The new entity will kick off operations in Utah, with plans to open three standalone imaging sites in the Beehive State later this year, before adding at least five more locations starting next year, the Salt Lake City-based health system said in a news release. (Christ, 9/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Theranos Trial Jurors To Weigh Whether Investors Were Dupes Or Savvy Speculators 
The outcome of Elizabeth Holmes’s trial partly hinges on how jurors answer the question of whether investors in Theranos Inc. were savvy speculators who made an unwise but informed bet or were hoodwinked by a lying founder. Theranos’s investors, who bet almost $1 billion on the company and lost nearly all of it, are a disparate group: a professional football team owner, a media magnate, a Mexican tycoon, a four-star military general, a Greek shipping heir and the family office of a billionaire Republican Party donor, who all invested alongside the hedge funds and venture-capital firms that more traditionally back startups. (Somerville, 9/27)

NPR: The DEA Is Warning Of A Rise In Overdose Deaths From Fake Drugs Laced With Fentanyl 
In its first public safety alert in six years, the Drug Enforcement Administration is warning about a dramatic increase in fake prescription drugs being sold on the black market containing a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl. The DEA said the counterfeit pills — made to look like real opioid medications such as oxycodone, Percocet or Adderall — are sold on the street by dealers or online, including through social media platforms. (Mann and Neuman, 9/27)

The Washington Post: With Overdose Deaths Soaring, DEA Warns About Fentanyl-, Meth-Laced Pills
The Drug Enforcement Administration issued a public warning Monday that a growing number of fake pills bought online are laced with potentially lethal amounts of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, and blamed social media sites for not doing more to protect their users. “We decided to do this because the amounts are staggering,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in an interview with The Washington Post. “We are in the midst, in my view, of an overdose crisis, and the counterfeit pills are driving so much of it.” (Barrett and Dwoskin, 9/27)

ABC News: Marijuana Use Did Not Climb Following Legalization In States: Study 
Recreational pot has become legal for more Americans, but despite that ease of access, marijuana use hasn't ignited, a study released Monday found. An article published in The Journal of the American Medical Association found there was no increase in cannabis use among the general population or among previous users after their states legalized marijuana. (Pereira, 9/27)

NBC News: Los Angeles DA Moves To Dismiss Nearly 60,000 Marijuana Convictions
Prosecutors in Los Angeles will move to dismiss nearly 60,000 marijuana-related convictions about five years after California voters approved recreational cannabis, the district attorney's office said Monday. Officials identified about 58,000 cases that are eligible for dismissal, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said. The cases go back three decades. Last year, Jackie Lacey, then the district attorney, dismissed 66,000 convictions related to pot. (Helsel, 9/27)

AP: US Aims To Relax Testing Of Contaminants At Nuke Weapon Lab
The U.S. Energy Department wants to switch to less stringent testing for detecting cancer-causing chemicals at and around one of its premier nuclear weapons laboratories despite concerns from environmentalists and New Mexico regulators. The federal agency is using New Mexico’s three-year review of surface water rules to push for a test at Los Alamos National Laboratory that’s more limited in detecting polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. Medical research has shown the chemicals can cause cancer, impair children’s brain development, hurt reproductive systems and increase the chance of heart and liver diseases. (9/27)

AP: Boy Dies From Brain-Eating Amoeba Found At Texas Splash Pad
A child has died after being infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba that was found at a Texas splash pad he had visited, and a review discovered lapses in water-quality testing at several parks, officials said Monday. Officials in Arlington, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, said the city and Tarrant County Public Health were notified on Sept. 5 that a child had been hospitalized with primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare and often fatal infection caused by the naegleria fowleri ameba. The boy, who was not identified by officials, died at the hospital on Sept. 11. (9/27)

Newsweek: More Than 27,000 Pounds Of DiGiorno Pizza Recalled After Packaging Mix-Up
A packaging mix-up and undeclared allergens have led to the recall of a batch of more than 27,000 pounds of DiGiorno pepperoni pizzas by owner Nestlé USA. Nestlé USA recalled a batch of 26-ounce boxes labeled DiGiorno Crispy Pan Crust Pepperoni Pizzas because instead they contained Three Meat Crispy Pan Crust Pizzas, which have soy protein in them. The protein is in the sausage crumbles and beef toppings, and can be dangerous to people with soy allergies. (Dutton, 9/28)

The Washington Post: 130 Georgetown University Students And Employees Sickened With Gastrointestinal Illness 
More than one hundred students, faculty and staff on Georgetown University’s campus have reported nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps — all symptoms that could be consistent with norovirus, officials said Monday. University leaders first reported the gastrointestinal illness Sept. 21, after about 12 students on the main campus in Northwest Washington reported severe stomach pains, vomiting and diarrhea. Days later, that number grew to 90 and “fewer than 15” people had been transported to emergency rooms, officials said. As of Monday, 130 students and employees had reported some combination of symptoms. (Lumpkin, 9/27)

AP: Court Says It Will Wait To Rule On Georgia Abortion Law
A federal appeals court said Monday that it will wait until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a case that seeks to overturn its landmark decision guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion before weighing in on a restrictive Georgia abortion law that a lower court blocked. Mississippi has argued in court filings that the U.S. Supreme Court should overturn its decision in Roe v. Wade, which affirmed the right to an abortion. The high court is set to hear arguments in that case in December. Mississippi’s law would ban abortions later than 15 weeks into a pregnancy. (Brumback, 9/28)

AP: Senate Republicans To Vote On "Born-Alive" Legislation
The state Senate was set to vote Tuesday on a bill that would make health care providers who let a child that survives an abortion guilty of a felony. The Republican-authored measure would require any health care provider present at the time of an abortion that results in a child born alive to provide the same level of care that any reasonable provider would give to any other child born alive. (9/28)

The Washington Post: Women’s March Plans Return To D.C. To Fight For Abortion Access 
The Women’s March returns to Washington this Saturday for its fifth annual event. Though recent marches have been smaller than the first, which drew millions of participants, organizers say women have plenty to protest. The pandemic revealed striking wage and employment gaps for women, and a national child care crisis has left many overwhelmed and tapped out financially. Most of the previous marches have occurred in January, but organizers decided to host this year’s event in October to fight imminent threats to abortion access. (Parks, 9/27)

AP: Wisconsin Assembly To Vote On $100 Million For Mental Health
The Wisconsin Assembly is scheduled to vote on a Republican-authored bill that would require Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to spend $100 million on COVID-19 relief funding on mental health programs in schools. The measure up for approval Tuesday faces a nearly certain veto from Evers. He has already vetoed two similar bills that would direct how he spends COVID-19 funding from the federal government that is currently left to the discretion of the governor to hand out. (9/28)

AP: State Asks To Delay Order That It Create Mental Health Plan
The state of Mississippi intends to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that it come up with a plan detailing how it will work to prevent unnecessary institutionalization of people with mental illness. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves told the state it had 120 days to submit a plan to the U.S. Justice Department and a mental health expert. He ordered that the final plan, incorporating their feedback, be completed in 180 days. (Willingham, 9/27)

AP: Cuba Launches Commercial Exports Of COVID-19 Vaccines
Cuba has begun commercial exports of its homegrown COVID-19 vaccines, sending shipments of the three-dose Abdala vaccine to Vietnam and Venezuela. President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced the arrival in Vietnam on his Twitter feed Sunday. The official Cubadebate news website said the shipment included 900,000 doses purchased by Hanoi and 150,000 more donated by Cuba. (Rodriguez, 9/27)

Bloomberg: ImmunityBio Plans Trial For Second Covid-19 Shot In South Africa  
ImmunityBio Inc., the U.S. company controlled by biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, is planning to conduct a trial for a second Covid-19 shot in South Africa. (Sguazzin, 9/28)