The Associated Press: Donald Who? Pelosi, Democrats Vow To ‘Own August’ On Issues
Congressional Democrats on Thursday pivoted away from questions of impeachment by saying they are going to “own” the upcoming August recess on issues like health care and prescription drug costs. “We will own August, make it too hot to handle for the Senate” to ignore Democratic legislative goals to streamline government and lower the cost of health care and prescription drugs, Pelosi said. Other Democrats gathered on the House steps under brilliant sunshine echoed that phrasing in a likely preview of the party’s message during the many town halls they’ve scheduled over the next six weeks. (Kellman, 7/25)

The New York Times: Divided House Passes 2-Year Budget Deal To Raise Spending
A divided House on Thursday passed a two-year budget deal that would raise spending by hundreds of billions of dollars over existing caps and allow the government to keep borrowing to cover its debts, amid grumbling from fiscal conservatives over the measure’s effect on the federal deficit. (Cochrane, 7/25)

The Wall Street Journal: House Approves Debt-Ceiling Bill Despite GOP Dissent
Members of both parties have celebrated the end of the sequestration threat, while some conservatives have bemoaned that federal spending could balloon without it. Those cuts would have reduced overall federal spending by 10% early next year, trimming $71 billion in military spending and $55 billion in domestic spending, compared with current levels. “I think it’s marvelous. It allows Congress to do what Congress should do, and that’s legislate on an annual basis,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R., N.D.), a member of the Senate Budget Committee. “The Budget Control Act, while it was a disciplinary tool, it was far too draconian.” (Duehren and Davidson, 7/25)

USA Today: Donald Trump's Budget Deal With Nancy Pelosi Passes House
Non-defense appropriations would increase by $56.5 billion over two years, giving domestic programs 4% increases on average in the first year of the pact. Defense appropriations would increase by $46.5 billion over those two years, with the defense budget hitting $738 billion next year, a 3% hike, followed by only a further $2.5 billion increase in 2021. Tough decisions are still ahead. Because the agreement provides only a broad spending outline, appropriators will have to decide this fall how much money to allocate to individual programs, a contentious process that often touches off intense partisan squabbles. (Lalljee, 7/25)

Politico: Sweeping Budget Deal Passes House Despite Weak GOP Support
Trump had to be called upon to help. "House Republicans should support the TWO YEAR BUDGET AGREEMENT which greatly helps our Military and our Vets. I am totally with you!," Trump tweeted seven hours before the vote. The president also joined in on a conference call Thursday morning to make a hard sell to several House Republicans who remained wary of voting for the bill, assuring that he would remain supportive of the deal and vowing to back them up if they walked the proverbial plank, according to a source who was on the call. (Bresnahan, Scholtes and Emma, 7/25)

The Washington Post: House Passes Two-Year Budget Deal To Lift Spending, Suspend Debt Ceiling
But even some close Trump allies shrugged off the president’s views, especially as it became evident the legislation was going to pass with or without their votes. “We don’t believe we should bankrupt America,” said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). “We have a difference of opinion on this particular issue, one that’s not going to change.” Unlike in some past budget battles, where Meadows and other conservatives lobbied Trump until the end to oppose bipartisan compromise, Meadows said that after making his views known, he had not tried to change the president’s mind. (Werner and Paletta, 7/25)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

Modern Healthcare: Congress Gets First Proposal On Social Determinants Of Health
House lawmakers want government agencies to team up to manage needs like food, housing and transportation for certain groups in Medicaid, in what stands as the first federal proposal on social determinants of health. On Thursday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.) introduced the bill to launch a multi-agency council and fund $25 million in grants for "Social Determinants Accelerator Plans." (Luthi, 7/25)

Stat: Senators Advance Major Drug Pricing Bill — And Keep Caps On Price Hikes
A key Senate committee on Thursday advanced a sweeping bill to lower drug prices after its members voted — narrowly — to retain its most controversial element: a cap on some drug price increases under Medicare. The broader package passed by a 19-9 margin and earned unanimous support from Democrats. GOP lawmakers opposed the legislation by a 9-5 margin. Just before the final vote on the package, a top Republican had attempted to strip the bill of its most contentious element: a cap on drug price increases that exceed the rate of inflation in the Medicare program. (Facher and Florko, 7/25)

The Associated Press: Drug Cost Bill Advances But GOP Resistance Spells Trouble
The bill would for the first time limit out-of-pocket costs medication costs faced by seniors to $3,100, starting in 2022. Currently there is no cap, and some Medicare recipients face copays rivaling a mortgage payment. It would also require drug companies to pay rebates to Medicare if they raise prices faster than inflation. Those inflation rebates are a problem for some Republican senators, who see them as a pathway to government price controls. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/25)

The Hill: Senate Panel Advances Bipartisan Bill To Lower Drug Prices Amid GOP Blowback 
The large number of GOP defections doesn't bode well for the likelihood of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) bringing the bill up for a vote in the full Senate, at least not without substantial changes. The bill would impose a limit on drug price increases in Medicare’s prescription drug program, called Part D, by forcing drug companies to pay money back if their prices rise faster than inflation. (Sullivan, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: Senate Drug-Pricing Bill Passes Committee Unscathed
The provision would affect how much of a price increase Medicare will pay for existing drugs; it basically demands full rebates for the amount that a company raises the price for a drug above the rate of inflation. It is considered the cornerstone of the proposed legislation negotiated over six months by committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). It also accounts for a large portion of the more than $100 billion in savings over a decade projected by the Congressional Budget Office for the government and Medicare beneficiaries. Throughout Thursday's committee markup, Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), John Thune (R-S.D.) and others blasted the policy as a "price control" or hurting the "free market" aspects of Medicare Part D. These statements echoed points laid out by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the leading trade association for pharmaceutical companies. (Luthi, 7/25)

Kaiser Health News: GOP Senators Distance Themselves From Grassley And Trump’s Efforts To Cut Drug Prices
Other obstacles have piled up. Wyden announced that Democrats, who provided most of the bill’s support in committee, would not allow a Senate vote without the Republicans agreeing to hold votes on cementing insurance protections for people with preexisting conditions. Democrats have complained for months that GOP efforts to kill the Affordable Care Act will leave people with these medical problems without any recourse to get affordable health care. Democrats also want to empower federal health officials to negotiate drug prices. Here are the three major problems revealed in Thursday’s hearing. (Huetteman, 7/25)

Stat: Grassley To Pharma: Support My Drug Pricing Bill, Or Get Ready For Trump
The Senate’s most senior Republican, facing backlash from drug makers and his own party, is trying out a new pitch for his sweeping drug pricing package: You might not like it, but it’s better than what the Trump administration and House Democrats are likely to come up with. “Who knows what he’s going to do at the last minute,” Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told reporters Thursday, referring to Trump. (Florko, 7/25)

Reuters: Drug Makers Met With Trump To Argue Against Senate Pricing Bill
The main pharmaceutical industry lobbying group said on Thursday it and some drugmakers met with President Donald Trump to voice opposition to a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill that aims to lower prescription drug prices. The White House, which has said it backs the legislation, has promised to bring down drug prices for U.S. consumers, an important campaign issue for Trump, a Republican, as well as for Democratic rivals vying to oppose him in the November 2020 presidential election. (7/25)

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, heard opposition from the industry in a meeting with pharma representatives —

The Hill: Trump Meets With Pharma Executives Amid Drug Pricing Push 
Trump has railed against high drug prices and has put forward a proposal to tie Medicare drug prices to lower prices in other countries, which PhRMA strongly opposes. Trump has also said he is working on an executive order on drug prices, though details are not clear. The White House downplayed the implications of the meeting with drug company executives, saying Trump is not negotiating with them and that it was McCarthy who asked for the meeting.(Sullivan, 7/25)

Bloomberg: Trump Meets With Drug Industry Lobby As Pricing Bill Advances
“We had a productive meeting with President Trump on how to lower medicine costs for patients,” said Holly Campbell, a spokeswoman for the trade group. She added: “We agree our health care system needs to change and are committed to working with the Administration and Congress to advance policy reforms that will result in immediate and meaningful savings for patients at the pharmacy counter.” The person said the session took place at the request of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican. (Sink and Edney, 7/25)

And in other pharmaceutical news —

Kaiser Health News: Klobuchar Says D.C. Has Enough Drug Lobbyists To Double-Team Lawmakers
Senior citizens care a lot about drug prices and the future of Medicare, so it was no surprise that at a July 15 AARP-sponsored presidential candidate forum in Iowa the first question posed to Sen. Amy Klobuchar was on those topics. As president, Klobuchar said, she would unleash the bargaining power of Medicare to lower drug prices. But she noted what she would be up against: “There are, literally, two pharmaceutical lobbyists for every member of Congress. They think they own Congress. They don’t own me.” (Appleby, 7/26)

The Hill: Trump Gives Boost To State Drug Import Plans 
The Trump administration has softened its stance on drug importation, giving a boost to states that want to curb rising drug prices by importing medications from Canada. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar last week said he and President Trump “are committed” to making importation work. (Weixel, 7/25)

The New York Times: Juul Targeted Schools, Camps And Youth Programs, House Panel Claims
Last summer, with public concern about teenage vaping growing, Juul Labs paid a charter school organization in Baltimore $134,000 to set up a five-week summer camp to teach children healthy lifestyles. The curriculum was created by Juul — maker of the very vaping devices that were causing the most alarm among parents, health experts and public officials. In April 2017, a Juul representative visited the Dwight School in New York City to meet with students — with no teachers present — and told them the company’s e-cigarettes were “totally safe.” (Kaplan, 7/25)

The Associated Press: Juul Exec: Never Intended Electronic Cigarette For Teens
A top executive for Juul Labs said that his company never intended its electronic cigarettes to be adopted by underage teenagers, as House lawmakers on Thursday accused the company of fueling the vaping craze among high schoolers. Co-founder James Monsees testified that Juul developed its blockbuster vaping device and flavor pods for adult smokers who want to stop. He acknowledged statistics showing "a significant number of underage Americans are using e-cigarettes, including Juul products." (Perrone and Lardner, 7/25)

Reuters: U.S. Lawmakers Grill E-Cig Maker Juul Over Efforts Targeted At Schoolchildren
E-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc funded a "holistic health education" camp as part of efforts to market directly to school-aged children, members of a U.S. congressional panel said on Thursday, citing internal company documents. Democrats on a subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform released a cache of internal Juul emails and other documents that committee staff described as early attempts to "enter schools and convey its messaging directly to teenage children." Juul's use of social media influencers to promote its vaping devices in the years after it launched in 2015 also came under scrutiny. (Kirkham and Pietsch, 7/25)

Bloomberg: Juul Targeted Children At Schools And Online, U.S. House Panel Says 
The findings were presented Thursday as part of an investigation into youth e-cigarette use by a panel of the House Oversight and Reform committee. The panel said they gathered thousands of pages of documents to try to determine whether Juul had knowingly marketed to underage users. U.S. representatives called advocates and company executives to testify on Capitol Hill on Wednesday and Thursday, including Juul co-founder James Monsees and Chief Administrative Officer Ashley Gould. (Huet, 7/25)

CBS News: Juul Congressional Hearing: Juul Came To A 9th Grade Classroom, Told Kids Their Products Were 'Totally Safe,' Teens Told Congress
Caleb Mintz, now 17, said he and his friend, Phillip Fuhrman, who also testified, were in the 9th grade when Juul came to their school to give students a presentation. Mintz said his school holds a mental health and addiction seminar three times a year, during which the teachers leave the room so the students have a safe space to talk. During this particular seminar, the students were alone in a classroom with a Juul representative. Mintz testified that the representative said, repeatedly, Juul is "totally safe." (O'Kane, 7/25)

CNN: Juul Told Ninth Graders Vaping Is 'Totally Safe,' Teens Testify
Experts say that Juul itself contributed to epidemic-levels of vaping among teens, in part by raising nicotine levels and triggering an "arms race" of the addictive chemical. "I believe the presenter was sending mixed messages by saying Juul was 'totally safe' and following up every totally safe statement with 'but we don't want you as customers,' " said Mintz. "I believe that the presenter was playing on the rebellious side of teens," he added, "where when teens are told not to do something, they are more likely to do it." (Azad, 7/25)

NBC News: Juul Comes Under Fire For Allegedly Hijacking Teen Anti-Smoking Curriculum
Emails Stanford University shared with NBC News suggest Juul offered to pay schools up to $20,000 to teach the curriculum as part of an anti-tobacco education seminar. A representative from Juul Labs, Inc. told the subcommittee the company once had a program to educate students about tobacco addiction and prevention. "When we started seeing media reports of youth using Juul products in 2017, we engaged with education experts, including several retired superintendents and principals, and they advised us and helped us to create a curriculum and advised reaching out to schools," Ashley Gould, chief administrative officer at Juul, said at the hearing. (Edward, 7/25)

CNBC: Juul Hearing: Co-Founder James Monsees Defends Vaping Giant
The divide was apparent on Thursday. Democrats ripped into the Juul executives, accusing the company of purposely luring teenagers to its e-cigarettes with fruity flavors and youthful advertising. Republicans appeared more sympathetic to Juul, reminding colleagues that millions of Americans still smoke and struggle to quit. “I want to tell you, I’ve been involved in public health for a long time in the Bay Area,” Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., told Monsees. “You, sir, are an example to me of the worst of the Bay Area. You don’t ask for permission, you ask for forgiveness. You’re nothing but a marketer of a poison, and your target is young people.” (LaVito, 7/25)

The Washington Post: House Panel Accuses E-Cigarette Maker Juul Of Targeting Children
Critics at the hearing blamed Juul for what former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb has called an “epidemic” of youth vaping. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.) called Monsees “an example of the worst of the Bay Area. You don’t ask for permission, you ask for forgiveness. You’re nothing but a marketer of a poison, and your target is young people.” Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said, “Juul’s failure to take any responsibility for the marketing they use is extraordinary.” (McGinley and Wan, 7/25)

The Hill: House Panel Claims Juul Deliberately Targeted Children, Teens 
Monsees emphasized that Juul is meant to be an alternative to adult smokers. He said that unlike tobacco companies, "we embrace appropriate regulation." Juul has been on the front lines of advocating to raise the age to purchase tobacco to 21. "Put simply, Juul Labs isn't Big Tobacco," Monsees said. (Weixel, 7/25)

CQ: Juul Co-Founder Faces Hill Skepticism On Underage Vaping
In May, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introduced a bill (S 1541) to increase the legal age to purchase tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to 21. Monsees said Juul supports that and similar efforts. “If we create that distance, that divide, so it is much harder for someone in high school to find a willing participant to illegally buy products and distribute them to minors, that goes a really long way,” he said. Monsees was also questioned about why tobacco company Altria has invested in Juul​​​​​. (Lindarte, 7/25)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Vaping Suspected Of Causing Lung Damage In 8 Wisconsin Teens
Eight teens from Milwaukee, Waukesha and Winnebago counties have been hospitalized in the last month with severe lung damage doctors suspect is tied to vaping. The teens were brought to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin with extreme cough, significant shortness of breath and fatigue. Some had lost weight from vomiting and diarrhea, hospital officials said Thursday. (Rutledge and Spicuzza, 7/25)

The Associated Press: Governors Weigh Health Care Plans As They Await Court Ruling
As they gather at a conference in Utah, governors from around the U.S. are starting to think about what they will do if an appeals court upholds a lower court ruling overturning former President Barack Obama's signature health care law. More than 20 million Americans would be at risk of losing their health insurance if the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agrees with a Texas-based federal judge who declared the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional last December because Congress had eliminated an unpopular tax it imposed on people who did not buy insurance. (McCombs, 7/25)

Colorado Politics: Polis Crows About Colorado Health Care At National Conference
Colorado's Jared Polis was one of a group of Democratic governors claiming a major success on health care at a national conference Thursday. "Coloradans, like all Americans, are tired of being ripped off on heath care costs," Polis said at the National Governors Association’s summer meeting in Salt Lake City. Polis said one of the first things he did after taking office in January was to create the Office of Saving People Money on Healthcare. (Bunch, 7/25)

The New York Times: McKinsey Advised Johnson & Johnson On Increasing Opioid Sales
At the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, the rule is sacrosanct: Never publicly disclose client advice. And for the most part, adherence to that rule has served the company well. But in recent months, as government officials seek to assign blame for the opioid crisis that has strangled large parts of the nation, McKinsey’s advice is surfacing in ways that are deeply embarrassing for the influential firm, whose clients include many of the world’s most admired companies. One lawsuit stated that McKinsey advised a pharmaceutical company to “get more patients on higher doses of opioids” and study techniques “for keeping patients on opioids longer.” (Bogdanich, 7/25)

The Washington Post: Rob Portman Says Drug Companies Should Be Required To Help Those Hurt By Opioids
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said drug companies responsible for distributing billions of opioids to Americans, leading to an epidemic of addictions and overdose deaths, should be required to help those hurt by the drug. On the Senate floor on Thursday, Portman delivered a lengthy speech in response to The Washington Post’s investigation that revealed drug companies were able to circulate 76 billion pain pills from 2006 to 2012. (Itkowitz, 7/25)

WBUR: Mass. AG Healey Is Investigating Andover-Based Pharmacy's Opioid Prescriptions
The Massachusetts attorney general is investigating an Andover-based pharmacy for potentially improperly prescribing opioids to customers. Injured Workers Pharmacy (IWP) is a home delivery pharmacy that works with attorneys on worker’s compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits across the country. (Willmsen, 7/25)

Nashville Tennessean: More Than 250K Dirty Syringes Collected In Nashville After Law Change
Eighteen months ago, in a van parked on a city street corner, a heroin user dropped a syringe into a red plastic box marked with a hazardous waste warning. Nashville had gathered its first dirty needle. Since then, more than 250,000 used syringes were collected by Street Works, the city’s only syringe exchange program. The Street Works exchange operates five days a week from a roving van, handing out clean needles and collecting dirty ones. (Kelman, 7/25)

Miami Herald: Opioid Crisis Brought 5.5 Billion Pills To Florida
In a seven-year span that saw an opioid epidemic reach crisis levels, 5,556,553,071 hydrocodone and oxycodone pills flooded into Florida.They poured across the state through shady clinics that became known as “pill mills.” But hundreds of millions streamed through grocery stores and chain pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, according to newly released data provided by the Drug Enforcement Agency to The Washington Post and analyzed by the Herald/Times. (Mahoney and Taylor, 7/25)

Arizona Republic: Millions Of Opioid Pills Flowed From Arizona Pharmacies
A small independent pharmacy called Uptown Drug dispensed 5.6 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills in this northwest Arizona city from 2006 to 2012. That's almost 200 pills per resident. (Hinkle, 7/25)

The New York Times: Top Border Official Is Reassigned Amid Criticism Of Conditions For Migrant Children
The highest ranking immigration official in the troubled El Paso region of the southwest border, where hundreds of children were reportedly held for weeks without enough food or the ability to bathe, has been temporarily removed from his job amid growing criticism over health and safety conditions for migrants there. Aaron Hull, a veteran border official who became the sector chief in El Paso in 2017, will be moved to Detroit on Monday, where he will oversee operations along the much slower and less contentious Canadian border, according to a statement from the agency. (Dickerson and Kanno-Youngs, 7/25)

In other news on the crisis —

Politico: Dems Abruptly Pull Border Bill, Avoiding Intraparty Fight
House Democratic leaders on Thursday punted a vote on a sweeping bill that would have overhauled Trump's migrant detention policies, backing away from a major battle within their caucus over immigration on the eve of their six-week summer recess. Top Democrats had furiously worked to win support for a border bill this week from Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), a freshman representing a border district who has become one of the top advocates to fix conditions for migrants. (Ferris, 7/25)

The Hill: New Migrant Children's Shelter To Remain Open But Empty, Officials Say 
The Trump administration's expensive new facility for holding unaccompanied migrant children in Carrizo Springs, Texas, will remain open, but empty of any children, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said Thursday. HHS spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer said that as of Thursday, the last group of children will be discharged to an "appropriate sponsor or transferred from the Carrizo Springs temporary facility to other state licensed programs in HHS’ network of care providers." (Weixel, 7/25)

Kaiser Health News: Migrant Moms Await Due Dates And Court Dates
A growing number of expectant mothers are among the migrants pouring in daily from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador — even Haiti — to more than 30 already overflowing shelters in Tijuana, Mexico. “More women are arriving pregnant or with babies,” said pastor Gustavo Banda of the Embajadores de Jesús (Ambassadors of Jesus) church, which operates a shelter in Cañón del Alacrán (Scorpion’s Canyon) on the outskirts of Tijuana. “We have a lot of Haitian women and some Central American.” Some women also get pregnant while they wait. (de Marco, 7/26)

Politico: New Texas Anti-Abortion Group Vies For Family Planning Funds
A new faith-based, anti-abortion health group in Texas is suing HHS for the right to receive federal family planning funds — another sign such groups are moving aggressively to win some of the backing that long went to organizations like Planned Parenthood. The class action lawsuit filed on behalf of religious health care providers that oppose abortion argues that the newly-formed Vita Nuova Inc. and groups like it have the right to Title X grants under new Trump administration rules that are tied up in multiple court battles. (Ollstein and Rayasam, 7/24)

Austin American-Statesman: Texas Anti-Abortion Health Care Provider Sues Feds Over Family Planning Money
The people behind Heidi Group, a Round Rock-based anti-abortion health care provider previously blamed by Texas officials for failing to deliver on state contracts for women’s health services, created a new health organization and almost immediately sued the federal government over access to family planning money. Carol Everett, the founder of Heidi Group and a vocal abortion opponent, has started Vita Nuova — “new life” in Italian and the title of an autobiographical love story by Dante — “to provide health care to low-income women and their families,” according to a July 2 filing with the secretary of state’s office. (Chang, 7/25)

Kansas City Star: Missouri House Speaker Haahr Asks Parson For Medicaid Answer
The Missouri House Speaker says he has requested more information from Gov. Mike Parson’s administration about why 120,000 people — including about 95,000 kids — have been dropped from the state’s Medicaid rolls in the last 18 months. If the answers aren’t sufficient, Rep. Elijah Haahr said, he’s open to Democrats’ requests for a legislative investigation. It would be led by fellow Republican Reps. David Wood and Jon Patterson — who both have health care backgrounds. (Marso and Thomas, 7/25)

St. Louis Public Radio: Politically Speaking: Rep. Doug Clemens On Medicaid Drop Of Children — And The West Lake Landfill
The latest episode of Politically Speaking features state Rep. Doug Clemens talking to St. Louis Public Radio’s Julie O'Donoghue and Jason Rosenbaum about his first impressions of legislative life. The St. Ann Democrat represents the 72nd House District, which takes in portions of Maryland Heights, St. Ann and Breckenridge Hills. (Rosenbaum and O'Donoghue, 7/25)

Springfield News-Leader: Springfield Faithful To Push For Medicaid Expansion In Missouri
A southwest Missouri faith group is gearing up to help put Medicaid expansion on the ballot next year. In a meeting Thursday, Susan Schmalzbauer, an organizer with Faith Voices of Southwest Missouri, said she hoped to see members of the faith-based group gather thousands of signatures on petitions to help force a vote on an issue long rejected by a hostile Republican legislature. (Huguelet, 7/25)

Politico Pro: Exclusive: HHS Auditor May Call On Florida Medicaid To Repay $436M
The HHS inspector general could soon call on Florida to refund the federal government $436 million in Medicaid funds that were improperly paid to the country’s largest public hospital, according to a draft report obtained by POLITICO. The independent auditor’s office forthcoming report could provide a politically awkward moment for top Florida Republicans closely allied with President Donald Trump. (Pradhan, 7/25)

Politico Pro: Senate Passes Funding Patch For Medicaid Mental Health Pilot
The Senate this afternoon approved funding to keep a $1 billion Medicaid pilot providing mental health and addiction services running through mid-September. An amendment to H.R. 3253, a broader Medicaid bill, offered by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) passed on voice vote. It would provide roughly $60 million to continue services through Sept. 13. Talks to further extend the short-term funding faced opposition from conservatives over cost. (Ehley, 7/25)

Stat: 5 Burning Questions About Digital Health IPOs — And Some Answers
Silicon Valley venture capital investors and Wall Street investment firms got in early on a new generation of slick and savvy health-tech startups. Now, anyone with an internet connection will be able to bet on them, too. The question is whether the sector can live up to its hype. Two leading companies in the sector — diabetes coaching startup Livongo and hospital data cruncher Health Catalyst — went public on the Nasdaq on Thursday. (Robbins, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: VA To Spend $4.9B Maintaining EHR During Cerner Transition
It will cost the Veterans Affairs Department at least $4.89 billion to maintain its current electronic health record system during its Cerner transition, a VA official told lawmakers Thursday. The VA currently uses a homegrown EHR called VistA, which agency programmers and clinicians developed in the 1970s. Now, under a $10 billion contract that the VA inked with Cerner last year, the agency plans to transition to a Cerner EHR, bringing its first sites live on the new system in 2020. (Cohen, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: After Shutdown, Telemedicine Company Call9's Founder Plans A Comeback
New York City healthcare startups raised nearly $1.9 billion in investments last year as investors searched for the next big tech company. Of course, not all bets pay off. Investors in telemedicine startup Call9, which had raised $40 million in equity and debt financing since its founding in 2015, learned that the hard way last month, when the company announced it would shut down and lay off its remaining 100 workers after peaking with a staff of about 200. (LaMantia, 7/25)

The Advocate: Amedisys Inks Deal With Tech Company To Coordinate Patient Care
Baton Rouge-based home health care company Amedisys signed an agreement with ClearCare to connect the local company's home health centers to personal care agencies. Amedisys already has 322 home health agencies across 34 states whereas ClearCare's technology software is used by more than 4,000 personal care businesses across the country with more than 600,000 caregivers working there. (Mosbrucker, 7/25)

Kaiser Health News: Robotic Surgical Tool, Not Medical Evidence, Drives Free Hernia Screenings
Some hospitals are trying a curious new tactic to attract patients: free hernia screenings. One Illinois hospital raffled off tickets for a smart speaker to entice people to get their abdomens checked by a surgeon, while an Indiana hospital offered a chance to win dinner at a chophouse. Announcements for screening events in Colorado and Maryland warned about “life-threatening” complications that could arise if hernias are left untreated. And hospitals in Georgia and California included a chance to “test-drive” a surgical robot. (Jaklevic, 7/26)

A Second Opinion: Rethinking American Health Care With Sen. Bill Frist, M.D.: Aneesh Chopra
Aneesh Chopra is best known as our nation’s first U.S. Chief Technology Officer. During his time in the White House, President Obama said “Aneesh found countless ways to engage the American people using technology, from electronic health records for veterans, to expanding access to broadband for rural communities, to modernizing government records." Today he serves as President of CareJourney, which harnesses open data, methodologies, and APIs to provide market intelligence and actionable insights to help payers and providers. (7/22)

Stat: Health Websites Are Notoriously Misleading. So We Rated Their Reliability
For millions of Americans, including health professionals, the resurgence of measles is a confounding and frightening development. How can a disease declared eliminated nearly two decades ago come back when it can be prevented with a vaccine proven to be safe and effective? But that’s not the reality for those getting their health information from online sources such as NaturalNews.com, one of many health-focused sites that peddle false and misleading claims to large audiences. (Gregory, 7/26)

Stat: Few Medical Journals Disclose Conflicts Held By Their Editorial Teams
Although professional journals wield substantial influence over medical research and practice, very few of the publications report conflicts of interest held by their editorial staffs, potentially undermining confidence in the role they play in medicine, a new study finds. To wit, 129 of 130 high-impact medical journals that were reviewed required authors to disclose conflicts, but only 16 of those same journals — or 12% — reported potential conflicts held by individual editors. Meanwhile, in half of 26 journal categories examined — mostly, medical specialties — not one journal provided public disclosure of conflicts held by individual editors. (Silverman, 7/26)

Tampa Bay Times: Why Is Flesh-Eating Bacteria On The Rise? Some Point To Climate Change.
If it seems like you're seeing more reports about flesh-eating bacteria, you actually are. The number of cases is up, though only slightly. And scientists have begun pointing to an increasingly familiar cause: climate change. The trend will likely continue because of steadily warming temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, which provide a "breeding ground" for the bacteria, said Dr. Sally Alrabaa, an an infectious disease specialist with USF Health and Tampa General Hospital. (Griffin, 7/25)

The New York Times: Man Dies Of ‘Brain-Eating’ Amoeba After Swimming In Lake
A man in North Carolina died on Monday after he went swimming in a lake and was infected by Naegleria fowleri, a single-celled organism known as the “brain-eating amoeba.” The man, Eddie Gray, 59, fell ill after he visited the Fantasy Lake Water Park in Cumberland County July 12, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement on Thursday. (Fortin, 7/25)

The Associated Press: First CRISPR Study Inside The Body To Start In US
Patients are about to be enrolled in the first study to test a gene-editing technique known as CRISPR inside the body to try to cure an inherited form of blindness. People with the disease have normal eyes but lack a gene that converts light into signals to the brain that enable sight. The experimental treatment aims to supply kids and adults with a healthy version of the gene they lack, using a tool that cuts or "edits" DNA in a specific spot. (7/25)

NPR: Why You Should Put Down Your Phone And Say Hello To A Stranger
A body of research has shown that we might just be short-changing our own happiness by ignoring opportunities to connect with the people around us. Several years ago, University of British Columbia psychologist Elizabeth Dunn and her colleague Gillian M. Sandstrom, tested whether short conversations with strangers could lift moods. They asked participants to enter a busy coffee shop and grab a beverage — half to get in and get out, and half to strike up a conversation with the cashier. (Nicolaus, 7/26)

The Associated Press: Girls Report More Harassment Amid Rise In US Cyberbullying
Rachel Whalen remembers feeling gutted in high school when a former friend would mock her online postings, threaten to unfollow or unfriend her on social media and post inside jokes about her to others online. The cyberbullying was so distressing that Whalen said she contemplated suicide. Once she got help, she decided to limit her time on social media. It helps to take a break from it for perspective, said Whalen, now a 19-year-old college student in Utah. There’s a rise in cyberbullying nationwide, with three times as many girls reporting being harassed online or by text message than boys, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. (Ho, 7/26)

Los Angeles Times: Gender Gap In STEM Fields Could Be Due To Girls' Reading Skills, Not Math Ability
Why don’t more girls grow up to become scientists and engineers? It’s not that they’re bad at math, a new study argues. It’s that they’re even better at reading. This comparative advantage in reading is the primary reason why women are outnumbered by men in technical fields, according to a report published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study authors, economists Thomas Breda of the Paris School of Economics and Clotilde Napp of the French National Center for Scientific Research, came to this conclusion by analyzing survey data from 300,000 high school students in 64 countries around the world. (De Marco, 7/25)

NPR: Trouble Sleeping? Try A Warm Bath To Cool Down
Graduate student Shahab Haghayegh has long had trouble sleeping. But when the biomedical engineering student began his doctoral program at the University of Texas at Austin five years ago, his issues worsened. "I would go to bed at 3 or 4 a.m. and wake up at 8 a.m.," he says. The exhausted Haghayegh was getting an average of just 4 or 5 hours sleep a night. After years of near constant fatigue, he tried a bedtime home remedy: "I started using warm baths," he says. This seemed to help — actually, a lot. These days, Haghayegh says, he's able to fall asleep at midnight, getting three or four more hours of sleep per day. (Neilson, 7/25)

Reuters: In Roundup Case, U.S. Judge Cuts $2 Billion Verdict Against Bayer To $86 Million
A California judge on Thursday reduced a $2 billion jury verdict, slashing the award for a couple who blamed Bayer AG's glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup for their cancer to $86.7 million. Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith of the California Superior Court in Oakland said the jury's billion-dollar punitive damages awards were excessive and unconstitutional, but rejected Bayer's request to strike the punitive award outright. (7/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Roundup Verdict Cut To $86.7 Million From $2 Billion
Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco reduced a more than $80 million verdict to $25.3 million in the case of a Northern California resident with similar allegations. Bayer, which inherited the Roundup litigation when it bought Monsanto Co. last year, has come under fire from investors after losing three trials in California tying Roundup to cancer. Bayer is now appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts, which have each been lowered by the judges who oversaw the trials. (Randazzo, 7/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: Alameda County Judge Reduces $2 Billion Jury Award In Monsanto Case To $86.7 Million
Evidence at the Oakland trial, though disputed, supports the jury’s conclusion that Roundup was “a substantial factor” in causing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in both Alva and Alberta Pilliod, said Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith. She said the evidence also supported the jury’s finding that Monsanto had known the herbicide’s active ingredient, glyphosate, could be dangerous while the Pilliods were still using it and had failed to warn them. Further, Smith said, there was clear evidence that Monsanto, after learning of the dangers, “made efforts to impede, discourage or distort scientific inquiry” by regulators who approved its use, “reprehensible” conduct that justifies punitive damages. (Egelko, 7/25)

CBS News: Glyphosate, Amid Courtroom Battles, Faces A Test Inside America's Homes
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weed killer Roundup, is facing an unprecedented test in the courtroom, with more than 11,200 people alleging in pending lawsuits that exposure to the chemical led to cancer or other injuries. At the same time, the chemical is facing a trial of public opinion amid rising concerns about its safety. Tests from environmental groups are raising alarm with consumers, such as a recent study finding 21 oat-based cereal and snack products, including Cheerios, contain traces of glyphosate. That caught the attention of many parents, given the popularity of Cheerios among kids. Now, a new, small study from another environmental group found higher levels of glyphosate in children than their parents. (Picchi, 7/25)

The New York Times: Doctors In Debt: These Physicians Gladly Struck A Deal With California
Dr. Michael Gabriel Galvez, a pediatric hand surgeon who treats mostly low-income patients at a hospital in California’s Central Valley, jokes with families that he went to “30th grade.” But that did not come cheap. The debt he has accrued from 18 years of higher education and medical training, including Stanford Medical School, fellowships and residency, is about $250,000. (And that does not include credit card debt.) (Rueb and Zraick, 7/25)

The Washington Post: Backlash Intensifies Over D.C. Plan To End Disabilities Services Contract
Backlash intensified this week to the D.C. government’s effort to end a 14-year-old partnership with Georgetown University that provides a range of medical and social services for people with disabilities. The District’s Department on Disability Services has announced that it will end its contract with Georgetown in August, moving the services currently offered by the university in-house or replacing them through another contractor. City officials say the move has been in the works for years and will maintain the same services now offered while shifting some costs to the federal government. (Jamison, 7/25)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 27K Wisconsin Households Could Lose Food Stamps Under Trump Proposal
More than 27,000 households in Wisconsin could lose their access to food stamps under a new proposal from the Trump administration. These families receive federally funded subsidies for food by being enrolled in other need-based assistance programs but otherwise might not be eligible, what the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls a loophole it wants to close. (Beck, 7/25)

Health News Florida: Florida Supreme Court Agrees To Take Hospital ER Liability Case
In a case stemming from the death of a woman after a botched cosmetic procedure, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide whether a hospital can be liable for treatment provided by emergency-room doctors who are independent contractors. Justices said they will take up an appeal in a Miami-Dade County case involving the 2013 death of Suyima Torres, who was taken by ambulance to Doctors Hospital after she became unconscious following a cosmetic procedure at a clinic. (Saunders, 7/25)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Health Officials Warn Of Measles Exposure At Westside Shops
Los Angeles County officials warned Thursday that a county resident with measles may have exposed others at several shops on the Westside. Officials identified businesses in Venice, Brentwood and Santa Monica that the infected person visited, along with a coffee shop in downtown L.A., over a three-day period last week. (Karlamangla, 7/25)

The Washington Post: 76 Baltimore Police Misconduct Cases Have Been Allowed To Expire Since 2016
An ongoing failure by Baltimore police internal affairs detectives to investigate misconduct complaints against officers in a timely manner has resulted in 76 such cases expiring without any conclusions on the officers’ guilt or innocence since 2016, the Baltimore Sun has found. Emails between Baltimore police commanders, obtained by the Sun through a public records request, show a pattern of detectives and their internal affairs supervisors failing to investigate administrative misconduct cases within Maryland’s one-year limit for such work. (Rector, 7/25)

Georgia Health News: Illinois Activists Join Georgians’ Fight Over Ethylene Oxide
Everyone was struggling to absorb news that broke last week that state and federal environmental regulators had flagged certain neighborhoods in the area as having higher cancer risks because of a toxic gas called ethylene oxide. In the Smyrna area, which straddles the line between Cobb and Fulton counties, the ethylene oxide comes from a plant run by Sterigenics, which uses the gas to sterilize medical products and supplies, drugs and spices. (Miller and Goodman, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: Texas Labs To Pay $56 Million To UnitedHealthcare
A group of five Texas lab companies agreed to pay $56.2 million to UnitedHealthcare to settle allegations that the labs submitted millions of dollars in fraudulent claims for unnecessary and expensive urine tests. The lab companies sued UnitedHealthcare in 2016 for refusing to pay claims for the labs' services. UnitedHealthcare then filed counterclaims, alleging that the three owners of the out-of-network labs orchestrated a scheme in which they paid kickbacks to providers for ordering urine tests that were often medically unnecessary. (Livingston, 7/25)

Iowa Public Radio: Iowa DNR Starts Testing For Manganese In Public Water Systems
State environmental officials have started testing the state’s public water supply systems for an emerging chemical of concern.The metal manganese can contaminate drinking water, but has no federal or state health regulations in place. The mineral naturally occurs in groundwater, surface water and soil. It’s also an essential nutrient for people, which is found in foods like nuts and seeds, and is considered to benefit bone health. (Peikes, 7/25)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Medical Care, Forced Lockdowns And Unsanitary Conditions Still Problems At Cuyahoga County Jail, State Says
Cuyahoga County failed to address a myriad of problems at its jail in the eight months since federal jail inspectors documented dozens of problems in the facility they said is rife with “inhumane" conditions, according to state jail inspectors. A July 18 letter from John Adams, the supervisor in charge of Ohio’s jail inspections, said the jail still struggles to provide adequate medical care for inmates, that inmates are still subjected to forced lockdowns called “red-zoning” and are forced to live in squalid conditions. (Ferrise, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: UHS To Pay Feds $127 Million In Behavioral Health Settlement
Universal Health Services announced Thursday it has agreed to settle civil complaints against its behavioral health facilities for $127 million, pending federal approval. The King of Prussia, Pa.-based hospital chain said it reached the agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division and on behalf of various states' attorneys general. It will resolve accusations against the company's behavioral health facilities. The agreement is still subject to requisite approvals and the execution of a definitive settlement and related agreements, according to UHS. (Bannow, 7/25)

Cincinnati Enquirer: CVS Pharmacist Loses License For Stealing Drugs
An employee at the CVS pharmacy in Middletown was suspended by the Ohio Board of Pharmacy after she was convicted for stealing stimulants, according to the board's meeting minutes. In April 2018, CVS began noticing shortages in its supply of stimulants, including three strengths of dexmethylphenidate, focalin and dextroamphetamine, the document said. All three of these drugs are used to treat ADHD. (Berry, 7/25)

Health News Florida: Lawmakers Ask For New Hearing In Major Medical Marijuana Case
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is asking an appellate court to revisit a decision that Florida officials argue injected “confusion and uncertainty” into the state’s medical marijuana industry. DeSantis and health officials on Wednesday asked the 1st District Court of Appeal for a hearing by the full court, known as an “en banc” hearing, after a July 9 ruling that Florida’s “vertical integration” system requiring licensed operators to grow, process and distribute cannabis and by-products runs afoul of a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana. (Kam, 7/25)

The New York Times: For Years, Alcohol Was My Only Comfort. Then It Nearly Killed Me.
On Sept. 29, 2016, I was at a private book signing in Williamson County, Tenn., for Alberto Gonzales, the former United States attorney general. As the chairwoman for the Montgomery County Young Republicans, I spent a lot of time sharing drinks with Tennessee’s political class. At the end of the evening, I decided to drive home, even though I knew I had drunk too much. I had taken these back roads so many times, I told myself; I could make it home. Twenty minutes into my hourlong trek, I passed out. When I regained consciousness, I was upside down in a ditch. A stranger stopped to pull me out of my car. The police arrived and arrested me immediately. The next morning, reality set in. I had done so much damage in my life that my son, Taj, who was 16 at the time, refused to talk to me. That was the last night I drank. (King, 7/24)

Wired: How Scientists Built A ‘Living Drug’ To Beat Cancer
In 2010 Emily Whitehead was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a cancer of certain cells in the immune system. This is the most common form of childhood cancer, her parents were told, and Emily had a good chance to beat it with chemotherapy. Remission rates for the most common variety were around 85 percent.It would be 20 months before they’d understand the shadow behind that sunny statistic, and the chilling prospect of volunteering their daughter as patient zero for the world’s first living drug. Emily started on the 26-month chemo regimen. She lost her hair and most of her kid energy, but the curative poison seemed to be doing its job, sickening her body as it killed the disease. Still her cancer, like all cancers, was alive, a constellation of mutant cells that continued to mutate into new variations. Some of these new mutants were immune to the chemotherapy and continued to thrive. (Graeber, 7/25)

FiveThirtyEight: We Don’t Really Know How Stressed Americans Are About Climate
After three summers in a row of major natural disaster headlines, there’s a good chance that if you aren’t currently experiencing a disaster, you’re bracing for one, wondering whether (or how) summer will strike. Public health organizations and media talk a lot about the “new normal” — the idea that, as climate changes, disasters that were once rare events are increasingly common. That could also translate to a new normal for mental health. What does it mean for our emotions when summer is spent waiting for something bad to happen? There’s a short answer and a long answer to this question. The short version is, basically, we don’t know yet — but scientists are really interested in finding out. (Koerth-Baker, 7/25)

Previous KHN coverage: ‘Climate Grief’: Fears About The Planet’s Future Weigh On Americans’ Mental Health

The Atlantic: A 'Cure' For Baldness Could Be Around The Corner
In the tunnels under New York, commuters squeeze into lumbering trains and try not to make eye contact with the people whose sweaty bodies are pressed against theirs. As they surrender to the will of the transit authority, their eyes wander upward to find an unlikely promise of control: Many cars are plastered with ads that say “Balding is now optional.” These ads feature men in various states of elation. The men all have hair—and not simply the errant tufts that have appeared for years in infomercials for “hair restoration.” No, this hair comes in the form of thick, leonine coiffures. (Hamblin, 7/25)

The New York Times: When You Wear Sunscreen, You’re Taking Part In A Safety Study
The Food and Drug Administration almost never tests products itself. But in May, the Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a randomized trial, conducted by F.D.A. researchers, to determine whether the chemicals in four commercially available sunscreens are absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream. Four times daily, subjects were coated in one of the formulas in an amount determined to be the maximum a person might use: two milligrams per square centimeter of skin over 75 percent of the body. Later, blood samples were drawn and analyzed. All of the sunscreen chemicals were detected in concentrations that exceeded an F.D.A. threshold past which manufacturers are required to do further toxicology tests. “People who use sunscreens very reasonably presume they have been tested and are safe and effective,” says Kanade Shinkai, a dermatologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and an author of an editorial accompanying the JAMA study. “And we don’t really have that evidence.” (Tingley, 7/23)

Politico Pulse Check: Neera Tanden On Medicare Extra, The Democratic Primary And Trump's Legacy
Neera Tanden is one of the most prominent voices in the Democratic party — and her organization, the Center for American Progress, has been pumping out policy ideas ahead of the 2020 election, helping shape the Democratic primary. Neera sits down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss CAP's signature Medicare Extra proposal and Democrats' debate over Medicare for All, what she makes of the Democratic primary, President Donald Trump's influence on politics and why Neera blames Trump for the "warfare" gripping America, and if the Democratic party has a leadership gap. (7/26)

Fox News: We Can Find Areas Of Consensus When It Comes To Health Care. Here's Proof
There has been a lot of talk over the past several months about scrapping America’s current health care system and moving to a government-run health insurance system like the so-called “Medicare-for-all” plan. That would not solve anything. In fact, it would do the exact opposite. By putting health care decisions in the hands of federal bureaucrats in Washington, Americans would lose their ability to choose the health care options best for them. They would also see reduced quality of care and higher costs. It’s not often reported, but the truth is that the majority of Americans are largely satisfied with their health care plans. There are, however, significant problems that need to be addressed. (Sen. Chuck Grassley, 7/26)

CNN: The Vaping Epidemic Is A Major Public Health Threat To Our Kids
It's a new version of an old battle. As a novice congressman, I ran up against the most powerful lobby in Washington. It was explained to my class of freshman Democrats that we should not attack tobacco. It was a big local issue in Kentucky, the Carolinas and beyond. Southern Democrats were linked by tobacco even if production was negligible in their individual districts. In the minds of many, looking the other way on this issue produced Democratic votes for scores of other fights. (Sen. Dick Durbin, 7/25)

Stat: Moral Injury And Burnout In Medicine: A Year Of Lessons Learned
When we began exploring the concept of moral injury to explain the deep distress that U.S. health care professionals feel today, it was something of a thought experiment aimed at erasing the preconceived notions of what was driving the disillusionment of so many of our colleagues in a field they had worked so hard to join. As physicians, we suspected that the “burnout” of individual clinicians, though real and epidemic, was actually a symptom of some deeper structural dysfunction in the health care system. The concept of “moral injury” seemed to encapsulate the organizing principle behind myriad drivers of distress: the growing number of reasons we couldn’t keep the oath we had made to always put our patients first. (Wendy Dean and Simon G. Talbot, 7/26)

The Hill: Unpayable Medical Debt Is A Pre-Existing Condition
Congress is preoccupied with battling over health care costs and solutions. But there is an urgent matter that needs to be addressed before it crafts any legislation: $1 Trillion in past un-payable medical debt owed by Americans. Republicans and Democrats must work together to make it disappear. None of the solutions being proposed in Congress are structured to rescue millions of Americans from an overhang in medical debt that grows at the rate of billions of dollars a year. It is pre-existing, it is huge—and it demands immediate attention. (Jerry Ashton, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: Medical Advances Save Lives, But The Word Has To Get Out
Every day, researchers are finding new or improved ways to address pressing health needs and help us live healthier lives. For example, a recent Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute-funded study on enhanced primary care and electronic health coaching for childhood obesity showed a year-to-year reduction in participants' BMI. In the same study, parents also reported better access to resources to help their children maintain a healthy weight. Designed from the beginning with input from parents, children, pediatric clinicians and community health providers, this obesity intervention translated healthcare reminders into digestible pieces of information, provided location-specific resources, and offered advice and support outside of the primary care practice. (Ann Greiner, Dr. Darilyn Moyer, and Beverley Johnson, 7/25)

Los Angeles Times: Deleting The Graphic ‘13 Reasons Why' Suicide Scene Won't Fix Anything
Two years after the series “13 Reasons Why” debuted, Netflix has finally edited out a graphic and highly controversial suicide scene. The network deserves some credit for deleting the on-camera suicide of a teenage girl, Hannah Baker, who remains a central character of the show even in death. But her suicide never should have been shown in the first place. U.S. and international guidelines for safe and responsible portrayals of suicide in the media recommend that graphic depictions of suicide be avoided. (Mark Sinyor, 7/25)

The Washington Post: Chlorpyrifos Is Closely Related To Nerve Agents Used In World War II. Trump’s EPA Doesn’t Care.
Here’s a question: Do you think that a chemical cousin of nerve agents used in World War II that alters the brain function of children should be used as a pesticide? I’d hazard a guess that most people think this is a bad idea. The Trump administration, on the other hand, thinks this is just fine. What I’m talking about here is the decision from President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency — going against decades of science and its own scientist’s advice —to reject an Obama-era petition to ban the pesticide called chlorpyrifos. (Joseph G. Allen, 7/25)

Boston Globe: Mass. Would Not Be Immune From Damage Caused By Repealing The Affordable Care Act
If the Trump administration and the Justice Department succeed in invalidating the Affordable Care Act in a New Orleans courtroom, the damage will be staggering. Millions of Americans — including the elderly, the poor, and those with cancer, diabetes, and other preexisting conditions — face the loss of their health care coverage.Massachusetts is certainly not immune from these adverse impacts. Hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents will lose health care coverage or some sort of protection provided directly by the ACA. The case is likely going to end up before the Supreme Court again. (Tom Croswell, 7/24)

The Washington Post: I Hope “Orange Is The New Black” Will Prove How Dysfunctional Our Criminal Justice System Is
In 2005, I walked out of a federal prison after serving my 13-month sentence for a first-time drug offense I had committed 11 years earlier. Although ecstatic to be released, I carried with me deep concern for the women who were still behind the gate: Women who had been torn from their children. Women who struggled with mental illness. Women sentenced for shockingly long prison terms for offenses very like my own. Women who helped me survive my time as they navigated their own exiles. All of these women were struggling to survive in a system built by and for men, in prisons operated in a way that was at best neglectful and at worst viciously punitive. What I had witnessed during my time inside was not justice. (Piper Kerman, 7/25)

The Washington Post: Here’s What’s Wrong With Trump’s Food Stamp Rule Change
The state welfare worker visited my grandmother’s home just once. My grandmother, or Big Mama as we called her, was a proud woman who worked at a backbreaking job as a nursing assistant in a hospital earning a low wage. She found herself being interviewed because she had volunteered to take in my four siblings and me. Had my grandmother not stepped in, we would have been placed in foster care. Our parents had abandoned us and were not providing any financial support. (Michelle Singletary, 7/25)

USA Today: Carrie Fisher Was A Real Inspiration To People With Bipolar Disorder
Early in 2004, entrepreneur Joanne Doan had just gotten funding for a serious niche magazine. Called bpHope, it would be tailored to the more than 6 million Americans with bipolar disorder, which, until 1980, was called manic depression. In a fit of hubris, Doan contacted Carrie Fisher — famous of course as an actor, writer and charismatic personality. Since Fisher had gone public with her diagnosis of bipolar I (the more serious form) four years earlier, Doan asked her the long-shot question: Would she pose for the cover and give a lengthy interview to a magazine that didn’t exist yet? “`Yes!’’ Carrie said, and “without hesitation,’’ Doan told me. She was happily stunned: “Carrie Fisher on the cover got us advertising we never would have gotten otherwise. I don’t know what we would have done without her.’’ (Sheila Weller, 7/26)

Austin American-Statesman: Don't Bypass The Bidding Rules For Anti-Abortion Program
We see no reason, with tens of millions of dollars at stake, for the Texas Pregnancy Care Network to get a break from the rules that apply to everyone else. As the Texas Tribune reported this week, 80 Republican lawmakers recently sent a letter urging the Health and Human Services Commission to bypass its usual competitive bidding process and pump more funding directly into the Texas Pregnancy Care Network, a nonprofit that subcontracts with pro-life pregnancy counseling centers across the state. (7/24)

Bloomberg: A Democrat’s Brave But Dumb Idea To Save Social Security
Give John Larson some credit. The Democratic representative from Connecticut has gone further than anyone in decades to make Social Security solvent. The program’s actuaries estimate that legislation he’s introduced, the Social Security 2100 Act, would extend solvency into the next century. The bill already has 210 Democratic co-sponsors in the House, more than any other recent proposal. Larson wants the House to pass the bill before Congress leaves town for its summer break. He hasn’t shrunk from tough choices. Congress hasn’t enacted any increases in income taxes or payroll taxes for middle-class Americans since 1990. (Ramesh Ponnuru, 7/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Should Instagram Get Rid Of ‘Likes’?
An Instagram spokesperson said that, in its tests, the goal of removing likes is to help “followers focus on the photos and videos [they] share, not how many likes they get.” The company believes that by allowing only users to see their own likes, the pressure to perform will ultimately abate. Then users can more freely “tell their story” rather than trying to compete among others with lifestyle highlight reels shot from flattering angles and anxiously watching their likes publicly tick up (or not). Instagram’s supposedly compassionate plan will “allow users to be blind to these superficial metrics,” said Ms. Beecroft. A more callous view, from Ronn Torossian, a crisis communications expert, suggests that the strategy is meant to weaken the influencer market that has gotten a “free ride” by profitably exploiting Instagram as a marketing tool. (Rae Witte, 7/25)

Stat: The Real Public Health Emergency Of International Concern: The DRC
The decision to declare the yearlong Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) will almost certainly help focus the world’s attention on this deepening crisis. But while it is already bringing much-needed donor funds and international assistance, the danger is that this decision could have unintended repercussions that further hinder the emergency response on the ground. (Seth Berkley, 7/25)