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Paramount merger with Warner Bros. Discovery won’t harm competition, DOJ says
The agency said Friday that it closed its probe into the deal
Paramount merger with Warner Bros. Discovery won’t harm competition, DOJ says
The agency said Friday that it closed its probe into the deal
What Genres and Streamers Won 2025? And Who Lost? Plus Six Strategy Thoughts
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) Okay, time for the tenth and final article in my ten-part series recapping 2025. As I wrote two articles ago, my barometer for whether these articles are worth writing/publishing is whether they yield strategic insights, and once again, every subsection in this article has a strategic takeaway (or two). Honestly, these are the most important takeaways, since I step back and look holistically at the streaming wars in 2025. After I declare which streamers won and lost the year and which genres won and lost the year, I have six bonus thoughts. If you’d like to review the whole series... You can find the film flops here and here. You can find the TV shows flops here and here. You can find the top films here. You can find the top TV shows here, here and here. Then I declared my winners and losers in various categories here. You can find my 2024 recaps here. You can find the 2023 recaps here and here. And my 2022, 2021 and 2020 are all stored here. Yeah, it’s halfway through the year, and I’m just finishing this series up now. This year, I tried to space things out to not clog up my writing calendar, plus I had to wait for Fallout to (finally) drop off the charts. Well, that ended up pushing this series wayyyyy too far back on the calendar. Oh well. Next year, the goal will be to finish this series in March, but frankly, I just need more staff to make that happen. So please subscribe. Or, if you’re an advertiser (movie studio, FYC firm, or other), please reach out. Subscribe Streamer of the Year: Netflix Honorable Mention: Paramount (and CBS) So, just last week, I wrote about how Netflix has lost seven of its top twelve scripted shows in the last year. And I shared two very dour looks at Netflix’s potential slowdown this year and last. Guess what? They’re still the number one streamer in America. In 2025, they dominated new streaming shows (even if most of those new hit shows aren’t coming back for future seasons), they had the two biggest films, and they had the top returning TV show by a mile. The world is complicated, nuanced and messy. There may be warning signs of a future Netflix slowdown, but in 2025, Netflix was still the number one streamer. Note what I didn’t say? That Netflix has “won” the streaming wars, because obviously the streaming wars are still ongoing and, more importantly, YouTube is still growing—so now YouTube has “won” the streaming wars?—while Netflix’s share of TV consumption has stalled out. Avoid simplistic talking points, especially if they’re constantly repeated and could fit on a bumper sticker. I had trouble picking the second-place streamer this year, because all of the candidates for second place—Prime Video, HBO Max, and Paramount+—had some hits, but no one stood out. Then I saw this update from Nielsen on the top shows on TV in the 2025-206 season. Sure enough, Netflix had five of the top ten shows! And they had ten of the top 31 shows and fifteen of the top fifty. But CBS/Paramount+ actually had more shows in the top thirty and the top fifty. Paramount+/CBS had twelve of the top thirty shows and nineteen of the top fifty. Let me emphasize that: CBS/Paramount+ had more top shows in the 2025-2026 season than Netflix. And this look was just for TV shows, not live sports, an arena Netflix barely plays in. Meanwhile, Paramount-Skydance’s market cap is a fraction of Netflix’s. That’s weird, right? Streaming Loser of the Year, TV… We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… ...what streamer lost the year in TV... …whether Netflix could win the title for “film” streamer too… …who won the Disney vs Warner Bros. battle for theaters… ...what TV genres won and lost the year... ...what film genres won and lost the year... ...what film genre people think is thriving on streaming but isn’t… …why F-BOSSS TV shows don’t hold the same sway in the 2020s… …what it means to “flop” as a film on streaming… …UK shows underperforming on streaming… And a lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. If you’d like to read more about why you should subscribe, please read this article about the Streaming Ratings Report, why it matters, why you need it, and why we cover streaming ratings best.
Political blame game follows as screwworm parasite threatens cattle in Texas
Screwworms are on their way to becoming a billion-dollar international problem but can be contained if ranchers are vigilant, watch their herds and other wildlife, and quickly treat any infestations, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.
FBI searches office of Ohio group that supports voter registration efforts
Federal agents showed up at the Cleveland office of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative on Thursday and spent hours questioning staff, said Prentiss Haney, a board member of the grassroots organization.
A lot of health AI isn’t where you think it is, and it’s not overseen the way you might expect
The same AI may be regulated by different entities depending on where it is used, the data that it's trained on," said Maya Sandalow.
Frank Ragnow has closed the door on an NFL return
Frank Ragnow said Friday that he didn't want to retire.
Einstein’s Lost Theory Said Gravity Changes Speed of Light and a New Experiment Claims It Was Right
New claims challenge inconsistencies in one of the foundational principles of physics.
Austin Public Health releases consultant’s ‘Community Violence Intervention Strategy’ report
Austin Public Health released a consulting firm’s “Community Violence Intervention Strategy” report in a Monday memo, which it said was a first step in making a “comprehensi…
Jeffco Schools says 61 boys the Trump administration found on girls’ sports rosters were mascots, managers
Jeffco Public Schools said some girls’ teams “had male managers, trainers, or mascots — not athletes.”
Catching up with former Las Vegas Raiders UDFA’s
2020-2025 Las Vegas Raiders UDFA Tracker. Drake Thomas shines.
'The Only Way to Keep Bungie Alive Is to Support Marathon,' Ex-Destiny Community Manager Says
As Destiny 2 fans mourn the game's final update, Bungie's former community manager has blasted players fixated on comparing its player count with fledgling extraction shooter Marathon — and said that the company's current issues began long before its arrival, as well as Sony's acquisition.
Judge says she doesn’t believe ‘anti-weaponization’ fund is dead; extends order blocking it
A federal judge on Friday said she doesn’t believe President Donald Trump’s plan for a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” is fully dead, and issued an order indefinitely blocking the proposal.
Utah finalizes college sports’ first single-school private equity deal, sets up new commercial entity
AD Mark Harlan said he was “very comfortable” with the governance structure and steps the Utes have taken to protect themselves financially.
Media Recap: Coverage Highlights Medicaid, Behavioral Health Transportation
MHA CEO Brian Peters recently appeared in an AARP-sponsored segment that aired in the Grand Rapids and Lansing markets to discuss the importance of Medicaid for Michigan residents.
Public Health at an Inflection Point: Aligning State Systems to Strengthen Population Health
The US public health system is facing an inflection point characterized by chronic underinvestment, workforce and service delivery challenges, outdated data infrastructure, growing health inequities, and increasing instability within the broader health care safety net including projected Medicaid coverage changes and continued rural hospital closures.
'Toxic gases, carcinogens': Tracy medical warehouse fire raises air quality concerns as smoke billows
San Joaquin County officials are warning residents about potential health risks as thick black smoke from the Tracy medical warehouse fire continues to billow on Friday. County public health officials said respiratory irritants, toxic gases, carcinogens, and "at least one neurotoxin" are present in the smoke and could impact nearby communities downwind.
Stranger Than Heaven will explore Tupac's "potential future" if "he was still alive now", according to RGG studio head
Stranger Than Heaven's Tupac Shakur cameo will "try to envision who Tupac might be now", RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama has said.
The Obama Presidential Center was meant to lift up local contractors. Some are now fighting for survival.
Some subcontractors on the $850 million project say they are being pushed to the financial brink as they quietly fight to collect millions of dollars in unpaid bills.
Climate researchers navigate ‘coordinated assault’ on attribution science
Scientists at a climate law conference said they will continue to study how corporate pollution leads to stronger heat waves, hurricanes and other
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis developers used gen AI to get "the right answers faster", Crystal Dynamics explains
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis developers Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog used gen AI to create placeholder assets to assist with visualisation.
Trump wants you to know this RFK Jr. aide’s name
Chris Klomp is working to boost morale and deliver results at the Health Department after a year of upheaval.
Flutter Entertainment to Delist From London, Trade Solely in New York
The FanDuel owner said trading volumes and regulatory costs meant delisting from the U.K. exchange was in the best interests of the company and shareholders.
Flutter Entertainment to Delist From London, Trade Solely in New York
The FanDuel owner said trading volumes and regulatory costs meant delisting from the U.K. exchange was in the best interests of the company and shareholders.
A blind Ukrainian veteran turns pottery into a business and mentors others
One is a veteran who lost his sight in combat and now teaches other blind veterans. The instructor, Ivan Shostak, 37, said he has made more than 1,000 such pieces but has never seen a single one. Th...
Ex-UK political aide Steve Hilton pledges 'common sense' overhaul if elected California governor
The Trump-backed candidate is running as a Republican in the deeply liberal state on a platform that he says isn't beholden to party ideology.
Alf opens science residency
Researchers and specialists with expertise in identifying fossilized plants can apply for a paid, short-term science residency at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology in Claremont.
Chuck Schumer is ready for redemption
The embattled Senate minority leader isn’t popular with the base of his own party. But he says he has laid the groundwork for a Democratic resurgence.
Nintendo and The Pokemon Company update Palworld lawsuit, limited to older versions only
There’s been another development involving Nintendo and The Pokemon Company’s lawsuit against Palworld. When all is said and done, the legal battle will only involve the current version of the game. It’s now been discovered that Nintendo and The Pokemon Company amended the scope of their claims. Originally, they were going after all versions of Palworld. However, things have changed...
WATCH: Trump signs proclamation opening more protected ocean areas to commercial fishing
President Donald Trump opened three marine protected areas in the Pacific Ocean to commercial fishing with a proclamation on Thursday that he said will boost the U.S. seafood industry.
Apple's Craig Federighi: Siri Won't Be Your AI Girlfriend
Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi and marketing chief Greg Joswiak sat down for an interview with Mostly Human after during WWDC, discussing the iOS 27 Siri changes, Apple's take on AI, new child safety protections, and more. Apple set out to deliver an AI utility, not an AI companion. When asked whether users could create an AI boyfriend or girlfriend with the new Siri, Federighi said absolutely not.
College sports bill authors making pitch to Black caucus
The authors of a Senate bill that would overhaul college athletics warned this week that a lack of congressional action this year could financially wreck historically Black colleges and universities and could reduce chances for college educations for minority students. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said they […]
A Nebraska immigration raid shut businesses down a year ago. The fallout is ongoing, officials say.
Local businesses have taken a hit as families and workers grapple with the effects of the raid last June on the Glenn Valley Foods meatpacking plant, community members said.
What's New in the iOS 27 Photos App
The Photos app is one of a handful of apps that Apple paid extra attention to in iOS 27. It has multiple improvements to performance, and several quality-of-life upgrades. There are also new AI photo editing tools that use Apple Intelligence. AI Tools There is a set of AI photo editing tools in the Photos app, accessible by tapping on the icon featuring three sliders, and then selecting the Apple Intelligence icon labeled "Tools".
Sutter Health launches California’s first full-scale mobile simulation lab
Officials said the initiative is designed to strengthen teamwork, communication, critical thinking and evidence-based practice among interdisciplinary care teams.
Middle TN hemp business to close and relocate out-of-state due to new state regulations taking effect in summer 2026
“Sadly, these laws feel like they were designed to stamp out small, family-owned businesses like ours,” the business said.
CMS approves budget for GO-NORTH, the state’s federally funded rural health program
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved New Hampshire’s spending plan for a large tranche of federal money that will go toward rural health initiatives, state officials announced Thursday.
Somalia health centers close due to aid cuts as famine looms
Health centre closures across Somalia are cutting off life-saving care for millions, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis.
Republicans who pushed Epstein files release see political careers upended by Trump
Only one of the four House Republicans behind the Epstein files law will return to Congress next year. “Everybody’s paying a price for it,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said.
Berkeley health officials say 1 dead, 1 hospitalized after contracting leptospirosis from rats
Health officials in Berkeley said one person died and another person was hospitalized after contracting leptospirosis from rats that had infested their RV.
Stranger Than Heaven Devs Say Adding Tupac To The Game Was A 'Good Idea'
'This was something we thought would add value to our game,' said Masayoshi Yokoyama
One of fall's coolest games has been delayed to October to avoid a September crush
Last Sunday, a trailer that aired during an online Xbox event showed Valor Mortis, an upcoming action game that re-imagines the age of Napoleonic wars as a conflict with the plague-ridden undead. It’s a first-person game that mixes Dark Souls-style combat with parkour—it’s from the developers of the acclaimed, fast-paced cyberpunk wall-running Ghostrunner games—and a setting like nothing else that’s out there. Valor Mortis’ trailer concluded with a release date: September 24. But by the time it aired, the teams behind the game knew that was no longer Valor Mortis’ release date. Days ago, they’d learned the hard way that September 24 would be untenable and that they’d have to change it. Today, they’ve announced a new one, October 13, after speaking to Game File about getting out of the bind they recently found themselves in. “When we picked September 24th, it looked like a very, very clear date,” Blake Rochkind, head of publisher Lyrical Games, told me during an impromptu interview on Monday in Los Angeles. “Very quickly it became not such a clear date.” Lyrical and development studio One More Level had a feeling the deate might need to change, Rochkind recalled. But they had to lock in September 24 “many, many weeks” ago. Really, though, who could know if that was the right call when they made it? “There were so many unknowns,” Rochkind said. “This was before Sony State of Play, before Xbox Showcase, before Nintendo Direct, before Summer Games Fest.” Then on Tuesday, June 2, during a PlayStation showcase held just five days before their planned release date reveal, things changed. “As soon as Control announced September 24th, we knew we were moving the date.” It wasn’t just the PlayStation showcase reveal of the release date for Remedy’s upcoming third-person thriller. There were others. And changing their own trailer this close to its airing, Rochkind would later tell me, wasn’t possible.
Health plans say AI is pushing healthcare costs higher
Nearly 70% of surveyed health plans said providers’ use of AI documentation and coding tools was a top three trend inflating commercial healthcare costs next year, according to a new report from PwC.
Scientists warn of record heat, threats to climate monitoring
Planetary heating is intensifying and key climate indicators are deteriorating, top scientists said Thursday, warning
CDC chief: ‘No evidence’ USAID cuts hampered Ebola response
The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) denied Wednesday that the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid negatively impacted the global response to the ongoi…
CMS announces Office of Health Technology and Products
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services June 10 announced the establishment of a new Office of Health Technology and Products.
The Rock talks politics, says Trump should 'sit down' with Springsteen
In a new Esquire interview, Dwayne Johnson touched on politics and said President Donald Trump and Bruce Springsteen \
Preview: Tomb Raider: Legacy Of Atlantis Sees An "Unfettered" Lara Put The Survivor Era Behind Her
"It’s a blue sky horizon ahead of her"
Marketing genius or own goal? Science World soccer ball free advertising for Adidas, FIFA
The giant soccer ball installed over the Science World dome in Vancouver has prominent Adidas and FIFA branding on it, even though neither organization paid into the project.
New Jersey Citizen Action’s Political Action Committee Endorses Candidates for 2026 General Elections
New Jersey Citizen Action’s Political Action Committee (NJCA-PAC) has endorsed US Senator Cory Booker, and Democratic Congressional candidates Zack Mullock (CD2), Rebecca Bennett (CD7), and Dr. Adam Hamawy (CD12) for the General Elections in November. In a press statement today, New Jersey Citizen Action Executive Director Dena Mottola Jaborska said: “At a time when Washington is prioritizing tax breaks for billionaires while working families struggle to afford healthcare, housing, and everyday necessities, we need lawmakers who will fight for[...]
DAZN, DirecTV Latin America strike sports channel deal ahead of World Cup
Sports streaming platform DAZN, backed by British-American billionaire Len Blavatnik, said it had struck a deal to bring DirecTV Latin America's DSPORTS channels to its platform in five countries, expanding its soccer offering as the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off.
Dana to Combine With Eaton’s Mobility Business in $5.1 Billion Deal
Dana said it has agreed to combine with Eaton’s Mobility business in a $5.1 billion deal that would create a more comprehensive supplier serving commercial- and light-vehicle markets.
Social Security is Facing a Political Crisis
On Tuesday the Social Security Trustees released their latest report on the system’s finances. The numbers didn’t change much: Unless something is done, the Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, Social Security’s official name, will be unable to pay full benefits starting in either 2032 or 2034, depending on some technical issues. That’s not far away: If the Trustees are right, the prospect of a Social Security crisis will loom over the next presidential administration. It’s important to understand, however, the nature of the looming crisis. It won’t be an economic crisis. It won’t even be a serious fiscal crisis. Whatever you may have heard, Social Security isn’t in danger of going bankrupt. What we’re facing, instead, is potential political crisis. Congress and the White House could easily take action to sustain America’s retirement system. But given the current state of our politics, there’s no guarantee that they will. There is a widespread misunderstanding of how Social Security works. While Social Security was designed to look like a pension fund, it isn’t. A pension fund pays benefits out of a stock of assets it has accumulated over time. In contrast, Social Security operates as a government transfer program, like food stamps or Medicaid. Now, unlike food stamps — but like the highway trust fund — Social Security is on paper supported by a dedicated tax, the payroll tax, that is assigned to that program. But I say “on paper” because from an economic point of view assigning the payroll tax to Social Security is just an accounting convention. What matters for the U.S. economy is the overall balance between government spending and government revenue, not the difference between one type of spending and one source of revenue. So there’s no inherent economic significance to the fact that by 2034 payroll tax receipts will be insufficient to cover promised benefits. There is, however, a legislative issue. As long as the Social Security Administration can pay benefits out of payroll taxes and its cash reserve, there’s no need for Congress to vote each year to authorize benefits — they just keep going out until further notice. However, once those resources become insufficient, benefits will fall —by 17 percent according to the Trustees — unless Congress passes new legislation that “tops up” Social Security’s finances. Yet the current administration and Republican party are such extremists that there is a real risk that Social Security will be held hostage on behalf of their goals. If this should come to pass, the hostage-takers will claim that shoring up Social Security is unaffordable. Right on cue, Mike Johnson, the Trump-sycophant Speaker of the House, declared on Monday that “entitlement programs” like Social Security “have to be adjusted and fixed,” and that Republicans will introduce a plan to that effect next year. But this is a ploy, because while the cost of maintaining Social Security benefits at their promised level isn’t trivial, it is in fact affordable. According to the Trustees’ report, the actuarial balance of OASDI up through 2050 — the amount of additional funds it would need to keep paying full benefits for the next 25 years — is 1.06 percent of GDP. To put that number in perspective, the Trump administration proposes increasing military spending next year by $420 billion, equivalent to about 1.4 percent of GDP – without any discussion of whether that’s affordable Yet how did we get to the point where Social Security will need to be topped up? The main answer is that we have an aging population, with a growing ratio of retirees collecting benefits to workers paying into the system: Trump’s anti-immigration policies are making this problem worse. According to the Trustees’ report, lower immigration will deepen Social Security’s financial hole because many immigrants are working-age adults who will pay into the system for decades before they collect benefits. In fact, this problem may be much bigger than the report acknowledges: The report’s baseline assumption is that we’ll have net immigration of almost 1.2 million people a year, and even the pessimistic case assumes 750,000 a year. Meanwhile actual net immigration has already been cut far below that — and may now be negative. Moreover, Social Security is being financially damaged by growing income inequality in America. Payroll taxes are levied only on wages up to $184,500, and they don’t touch capital income. With the distribution of income increasingly shifting from labor to capital, as well as becoming more unequal among wage-earners, revenue from the Social Security payroll tax has been falling as a share of national income. From 1990 to 2024, it fell from 5.02 percent of gross domestic income to 4.46 percent. Which brings me to the question that, these days, we ask about everything: How might Social Security be affected by the advent of AI? A short answer: If, as many of us fear, AI accelerates rising income inequality, it will further reduce the payroll tax receipts that currently pay for Social Security and further endanger its finances. On the other hand, if AI, as its advocates promise, leads to faster economic growth, it will increase the potential tax base that could and should be used to support Social Security and other social insurance programs. But to take advantage of that larger base, we’ll have to get serious about taxing wealth and capital income. Is Social Security in trouble? Yes, but only because of the way its financing is currently structured — a structure that no longer works well because our society and economy have become so unequal. Moreover, Trump’s immigration policies are further endangering its already deteriorating financial condition. So don’t believe Republicans’ gaslighting that it will be necessary to cut Social Security benefits. All that is necessary to preserve Social Security is political will to raise taxes on the wealthy and a sensible immigration policy. MUSICAL CODA Actually 67 under current law.
Democrats keep Proposition 50 promise alive through primary
California Democrats are bullish about winning in all five Congressional districts they targeted to flip after Proposition 50. Experts said the results of last week's primary election show signs of danger for Republicans.
$60 million in NYS business aid is up for grabs, but applicants are scarce
Only a dozen eligible applications were received last year, state records show.
Federal curveball upends NC’s plans for Medicaid work rule
New exemption guidance from CMS on who qualifies as "medically frail" has forced the state back to the drawing board.
Anthropic says 'we made the wrong tradeoff' in new model guardrails
"We're changing Fable 5's safeguards for frontier LLM development to make them visible," an Anthropic spokesperson said.
Brandon Aiyuk said something interesting in latest rant against 49ers
Brandon Aiyuk recently spoke out against the 49ers again. He said something interesting, which could impact his upcoming season.
'Resilient' Knicks on brink of NBA title after record rally
OG Anunoby's game-clinching tip-in to put New York on the brink of an NBA title will go down as one of the greatest plays in Knicks history, coach Mike Brown said."The tip, how he had to control it and tip it in -- that has to be the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball."
What the Ebola crisis tells us about Trump's 'America First' approach to global health
"I've watched USAID help hold the line against epidemics," writes Monik Bhatta. "Gutting it was premature — and DRC's Ebola crisis is the proof."
Satya Nadella has a message for Microsoft's tokenmaxxers
Microsoft's CEO said workers should use the right AI model for the job as companies look for ways to control rising AI costs.
Person dies, another hospitalized for leptospirosis, public health officials say
The two people, who officials said were breeding rats in an RV, represent Berkeley's first known human cases of leptospirosis in a decade.
Stanley Cup final one for the ages
High-scoring, history-making, lead-blowing hockey is on full display in the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes. But is it among the greatest finals ever played? “Everyone that texts me is saying it’s the best hockey they’ve ever watched,” Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “It’s been fun to play. There’s a […]
WHO urges targeted action to strengthen emergency workforce capacities for shared health risks across the Asia-Pacific region
At a time when the world is more interconnected than ever, the World Health Organization (WHO) is disseminating a comprehensive regional analysis of shared health risks across Asia and the Pacific, urging Member States to invest in enhancing workforce capacities regionwide to mitigate these risks and ensure health systems are better prepared to anticipate, tackle and withstand a range of crises and shocks. Over 100 delegates from 49 countries and areas in the Asia-Pacific region reviewed results from the regional risk analysis during the WHO-led Asia Pacific Health Security Action Framework (APHSAF) Stakeholders Meeting in Malaysia. Synthesizing insights from 21 strategic risk assessments and more than 800 multisectoral experts, the regional analysis highlighted an urgent imperative: countries must proactively invest in emergency workforce preparedness to navigate a landscape where climate hazards, disease outbreaks and geophysical events increasingly overlap. These complex converging crises create devastating, compounding impacts on health systems and communities – reiterating the need for investing in a fit-for-purpose regional health workforce and multisectoral action.Key findings: an evolving risk landscape More than half of the participating countries ranked flooding, cyclones, dengue and pandemic-potential respiratory pathogens as being of high or very high risk, while antimicrobial resistance, landslides and gastroenteritis remain widespread concerns as well. “Given that 51% – over half – of these assessed hazards are deeply interconnected, isolated health interventions are no longer sufficient,” said Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “Extreme weather events like cyclones and floods directly trigger subsequent disease outbreaks, while environmental degradation – driven by sea-level rise, coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion – fuels health risks across the Pacific. Mitigating these cascading risks requires unified, cross-sectoral action linking environmental, agricultural and public health policies to build true regional resilience.” Priority recommendations for action To address critical vulnerabilities, WHO calls on Member States in the Asia-Pacific region to urgently prioritize the following strategic actions: Bridge workforce capacity gaps. Embed and standardize emergency preparedness within academia to promote regional workforce interoperability. Foster multisectoral coordination. Address ad-hoc taskforce responses and fragmented surge support through formalized contingency plans and standard operating procedures that are frequently updated and tested. Secure sustainable financing for emergencies. Overcome systemic barriers to access dedicated funding for both immediate anticipatory actions and long-term emergency preparedness initiatives. Enable emergency-ready primary health care. Embed emergency management into public health workforce readiness planning. Ensure that emergency planning is inclusive. Establish clear pathways for inclusive emergency planning that actively involves communities most at risk and other vulnerable groups. Optimize communication. Update risk communication and community engagement strategies, aligning them with seasonal risk calendars. Elevating workforce readiness to meet regional health risks While the gaps identified are significant, the Asia-Pacific region possesses solid foundational pillars, including dedicated clinicians, laboratory staff, rapid response teams, emergency medical teams and extensive community networks. However, to adequately address the compounding nature of modern crises, the various components of the emergency workforce must collaborate cohesively. True resilience depends entirely on transforming this currently fragmented workforce into a highly trained, interconnected and rapidly deployable asset. To achieve this, WHO is actively advancing regional workforce capacities through the Global Health Emergency Corps initiative. This initiative – supported by the Gates Foundation and the Institute of Philanthropy – seeks to build a seamless network of emergency workforce across borders and sectors, ensuring that when a crisis strikes, a standardized, well-coordinated and trained workforce is immediately ready to respond. “Scaling up emergency workforce readiness is no longer optional,” said Dr Gina Samaan, Regional Emergency Director for WHO in the Western Pacific. “It is the definitive factor that will determine how effectively the Asia-Pacific region safeguards health and protects lives in an increasingly unpredictable future.” ____________________For more information, or to arrange media interviews, contact: Ara Johannes, WHO Western Pacific Health Emergencies Division: johannesa@who.int WHO Western Pacific Communications: wprocom@who.int
Patrick Mahomes becomes the highest-paid player in the NFL
Patrick Mahomes becomes the first NFL player to make half a billion in his playing career.
Big box office demand prompts AMC to postpone its interactive concerts
AMC is rescheduling its interactive concert experience for later this year. After a very lucrative start to the summer box office, the movie theater chain said it needed to refocus its June programming.
Record Lobby Cash Shapes EU Pro-business Agenda, Campaigners Say
The corporate titans of the tech, energy and chemicals industries are spending more than ever to influence EU decision-makers, determined to see more business-friendly policies -- and it's paying off, campaigners said Thursday.
‘It can affect your attention, your cognition’: D.C. expert describes extreme heat’s mental health harms
Plenty of people report having the wintertime blues, but a George Washington University School of Medicine professor said extreme summer heat can also have negative impacts on mental health.
2 arrested after Edgewood Avenue shooting; business owners push for safer neighborhood
One resident said shootings in the area have become all too common.
Work requirements and Medicaid cuts, health experts worry changes will impact medically frail people
Seriously ill Hoosiers could have to prove they are unable to work under a new federal definition of work requirements put forward by the Trump Administration.
The Health and Wellbeing of Formerly Incarcerated People in Connecticut: Insights from the DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey
By Carter Shannon, Nat Markey, Nora Hodgson, Samantha Lydell, Andrew Carr, and Mark Abraham, DataHaven About this Report Approximately 1 in 5 men aged 18–64 in Connecticut have experienced incarceration at some point in their lives. This population includes people who have been held in a local jail for a single night and those who have served lengthy prison sentences, and it cuts across race, age, geography, and socioeconomic background in ways that reflect broader structural inequities in the criminal legal system. Yet across nearly every indicator of wellbeing, formerly incarcerated people in Connecticut face significant disparities compared to those without an incarceration history. This report explores data on the experiences of formerly incarcerated men in Connecticut from the DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey (DCWS). The DCWS illuminates significant gaps in economic wellbeing, physical health, mental health, and social support between men with and without incarceration histories in Connecticut. The survey also reveals worse self-reported outcomes for formerly incarcerated people across a range of quality-of-life indicators, with disparities that are often most severe among those who have been incarcerated more than once. These disparities do not arise by chance. They are shaped by a policy landscape that erects lasting barriers to housing, employment, and healthcare for people leaving incarceration, as well as by the physical and psychological toll of incarceration itself. This report is being written in the political context of federal funding cuts to social programs and proposed rollbacks to Medicaid eligibility, changes that will disproportionately impact people with incarceration histories, who are more likely to rely on public health coverage and other safety net supports.
OpenAI suspects China-linked campaign tried to sway data center debate
OpenAI said the effort "sought to exploit and amplify existing public concerns about energy prices and local impacts of data center development."
Cruz sets aggressive timeline on college sports bill - Live Updates
The Senate Commerce chair laid out a plan to get his legislation through the Senate this summer, but House opposition remains.
The number of uninsured Californians could nearly double by 2030, says new report
Historic cuts to Medicaid and low-cost California health insurance could leave 4.6 million residents with no coverage. A new report from the UC Berkeley Labor Center says the working poor, older workers and undocumented workers could bear the brunt.
Maryland District Shops Elementary Science Curriculum; Texas System to Buy K-12 Instructional Materials
A Maryland district is looking for elementary science materials, while a Texas school system seeks instructional materials and teacher aides across grades and subjects.
Trump weighs in on Maine's U.S. Senate race
While Trump attacked Platner, he said that Sen. Susan Collins is "a respected person."
Ranked choice count set for next week
When it comes to the ranked choice count, Deputy Secretary of State Kate O’Brien said it could take a few days to count all the ballots and then just a short time to run the totals through the ranked choice tabulation.
Dozens of Employees Laid Off at Ubisoft San Francisco Offices
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The drug that saved your mother. The treatment your doctor recommended. The clinical trial that bought someone you love more time. None of it was inevitable. It required a system built to operate outside politics and sustained over decades, because science doesn’t operate on the timeline of a politician. That system is now under direct threat. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed a new rule to regulate all federal grants, not just science, but housing, education, defense, NASA and everything in between, that would fundamentally change how research is conducted in the United States. There have been a lot of fires in the past 16 months, and if everything is an emergency, nothing is an emergency. But this is a very big deal. These rules would strip away the independence that has kept science from becoming a political tool. The good news is there’s still something we can all do. How the grant system was designed to work When I was a new faculty member, I was full of millions of ideas, so I sat down and wrote an NIH proposal. I worked on it for months and thought it was so good. Then I sent it to my mentor. It came back covered in comments. Places where my reasoning wasn’t as airtight as I’d thought, methods that could be stronger, gaps in my thinking that I had been too close to the work to see. It stung, as honest feedback always does, but peer review almost always makes the work better. In fact, it’s the backbone of how American science has functioned for generations. At NIH, submitted proposals go to a panel of scientists who have experience in the field. These are the people who can read research methods and spot their weaknesses, who understand when an experiment is designed well and when it isn’t. Applications are scored rigorously, and often only the top 3-20% of proposals receive funding. The people making funding decisions are required to justify them based on these reviews. To be clear: this is not a perfect system, and good science still goes unfunded more often than any of us would like due to limited resources. There is also criticism that peer review may undervalue bold ideas that are risky but could have high payoffs. But the peer review system is nonetheless a meaningful part of the grant selection process. While thoughtful and careful changes could improve the system, the changes being proposed by OMB will not make things better. The rule that could change everything Through this OMB proposal, the system that helps decide what gets funded is being dismantled. There are many troubling elements buried in this proposal, but three provisions stand out in particular. Each would be damaging alone. Together, they would change what kind of science gets done in America, and who it serves. 1. Political appointees would decide which science gets funded, and peer review would be explicitly sidelined or ignored. The guidelines your doctor follows, the standards that determine what’s in your air and water, the drugs that get approved for your family: all of it starts with a funding decision. Right now, that decision is made by scientists who can evaluate whether the work is actually sound and whether it could move the needle forward. Under this proposal, funding decisions could be made by political appointees. The careful, expertise-driven review process that shapes grant funding would be effectively sidelined. That means that a poorly designed study could get funded simply because someone in a political office liked the sound of it, while rigorous, important work doesn’t get funded because it no longer aligns with the administration’s priorities. In other words, critical work that benefits all of us could now be missed just because it has become politically inconvenient. 2. Grants could be canceled at any point, without warning, in the middle of ongoing work. Say your tax dollars have been paying for a cancer study for two years. The grant was awarded for five years, so the team is mid-experiment. There are three additional years’ worth of answers that could change how the disease is treated for hundreds of thousands of people. With this new rule, the federal government could cancel the remaining funding tomorrow, walk away from the commitment it made with your money, and have no legal obligation to finish what it started. This is a huge waste of money. There are rarely other sources of funding for this work, which means the team, the graduate students, postdocs, and research staff who have dedicated years of their careers to this project could lose their jobs. Patients who have contributed their time to studies may not see it turn into useful learnings for others. Every hour of work already completed could result in nothing useful. Science can take decades to get to tangible outcomes. It needs a stable funding system to flourish. 3. Researchers would have a harder time communicating their findings without pre-approval from the federal government. There is a saying from Sir Mark Walport: “Science isn’t finished until it’s communicated.” Science is no use to anyone if it is kept locked away in the labs that produced the data. The proposed rule could make communicating research findings harder in a number of ways: Make it harder for scientists to widely share their findings in scientific journals. Publication costs, including journal fees that allow for broad public access, could not be paid for by federal funds which is often how scientists pay these costs. Restrict researchers from engaging publicly about how their findings should inform policy or public health guidelines. This would restrict scientists from doing the work that transforms years of lab work into decisions that actually affect people’s lives. Make it harder for scientists to attend conferences. Conferences would now need to be approved by the federal agency at the time of grant award. This disadvantages conferences or publications that are not politically aligned. Conferences are a key way in which scientists learn about work happening in their field so they can collaborate and build on each other’s findings. What good is science with a muzzle? The long-term impact These changes could (and hopefully would) be reversed under the next administration. But by then, damage has been done. Once projects are halted or denied funding by political appointees, people leave their science careers for other paths or even leave the country to do their amazing science elsewhere. You cannot pause a scientific study the way you pause a subscription you decided isn’t useful anymore. You cannot freeze a research team that depends on salaries to feed their families, causing a scramble for replacement funding that, in most cases, simply does not exist. When the money stops, everything stops, and all the work in progress and its potential are lost. Despite all of the language about reducing waste, fraud, and abuse, this new proposed rule increases the administrative burden tremendously. Every researcher watching this unfold will make a rational decision: don’t start anything that will take a decade to finish. This includes not building a team around funding that could vanish, or asking the big questions that need patience and stability to answer. The most consequential science, the kind that produces the treatments and the breakthroughs that reach your doctor’s office twenty years from now, is exactly the science that would be abandoned first. This is still a proposal, so we can all do something Some worry this rule is already a done deal. But by law, OMB is required to open a public comment period. Those comments matter because they inform members of Congress, they can be used in litigation, and they create a public record. So here’s what you can do: Submit a public comment. The public comment period on this proposed change is open until July 13. Anyone can submit a comment, and OMB is required to respond to substantial ones. Each comment must be different to count as distinct; identical comments will be counted only once. Comment as an individual, not on behalf of your organization. Here’s a full resource to help you, with useful examples, but in general: Share a story about how science or federal funding has benefitted you or is involved in your work. Are you or someone you loved a cancer survivor? Do you know someone with Alzheimer’s? Have you received NIH/NSF or other federal funding? All of these can be stories you use to highlight why you care. Explain why you’re worried about these proposed changes. You can use the wording found here or in other resources to help you. Ask them to withdraw this proposed rule. Contact your elected representatives. Congress allocates money to federal agencies to spend, and it has oversight of how that process works. You can let your representatives know this proposed change concerns you and ask them to intervene. There are levers they can push that can help at this moment. Let others know why federal funding matters. This isn’t just about science, but ALL federal grants, including for education systems, defense projects, and more. The process, including the importance of federal funding, is invisible to many. We can all make it more visible by sharing how science benefits us and why we value it. You can also share this article, or any of the resources linked here, to help spread awareness! Bottom line We are quickly losing ground in scientific research in the U.S. More changes, like the proposed rule by OMB, would decimate our ability to conduct research here, leaving us all worse off: fewer treatments for pancreatic cancer, less research on pollution impacts, fewer answers for patients with rare disease, and more unaddressed health needs. The impact will be very real for all of us, regardless of where we stand politically. Using our voices for science is more important than ever. Love, LM Big thanks to Dr. Megan Ranney for reading this over and providing brilliant insights, as always. Dr. Liz Marnik, PhD, is Executive Director of The Evidence Collective at YLE and a science communicator and immunologist working at the intersection of public trust, science, and public health. You can find her on Substack, LinkedIn, Instagram and Threads. Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “Translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. The YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe
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