Listen To This Story

Florida Plans to Become First State To Eliminate All Childhood Vaccine Mandates (Maria)

The author writes, “Florida plans to become the first state to eliminate vaccine mandates, a longtime cornerstone of public health policy for keeping schoolchildren and adults safe from infectious diseases. State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who announced the decision Wednesday, cast current requirements in schools and elsewhere as ‘immoral’ intrusions on people’s rights that hamper parents’ ability to make health decisions for their children.”

Epstein Victims Are Making Their Own List (Reader Jim)

From Newser: “Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse urged the government to release all its files on the sex trafficker Wednesday — and they said they were compiling their own list of his associates. ‘Together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names who were regularly in the Epstein world,’ Lisa Phillips said at an emotional press conference on Capitol Hill, per Rolling Stone. She said it might be too dangerous to release the list, but Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene volunteered to ‘name names’ in Congress, the BBC reports. ‘I am not afraid to name names. If they want to give me a list, I will walk in that Capitol, on the House floor and say every damn name,’ she said.”

ICE Obtains Access to Israeli-Made Spyware That Can Hack Phones and Encrypted Apps (Sean)

The author writes, “US immigration agents will have access to one of the world’s most sophisticated hacking tools after a decision by the Trump administration to move ahead with a contract with Paragon Solutions, a company founded in Israel which makes spyware that can be used to hack into any mobile phone — including encrypted applications. The Department of Homeland Security first entered into a contract with Paragon, now owned by a US firm, in late 2024, under the Biden administration. But the $2m contract was put on hold pending a compliance review to make sure it adhered to an executive order that restricts the US government’s use of spyware, Wired reported at the time. That pause has now been lifted, according to public procurement documents, which list US Immigration and Customs Enforcement as the contracting agency.”

Lutnick Family Angling To Make Astronomical Sums Off Court Nixing Tariffs (DonkeyHotey)

The author writes: “This is not new. But I at least hadn’t heard any of these dots connected. I wasn’t even aware of the dots. A friend mentioned to me over the weekend that he’d heard about Wall Streeters buying up the rights to tariff refunds from big corporate importers. So the idea is that a Wall Street firm goes to an importer and says, you’ve now paid $10 million in tariffs. I’ll pay you $2 million right now for the right to collect the refund if courts ever end up deciding the tariffs were illegal. My friend had also heard that one of the most aggressive buyers was Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm until recently headed by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and now run by Lutnick’s sons.”

1 in 4 People Lack Access to Safe Drinking Water (Laura)

The author writes, “More than two billion people worldwide still lack access to safely managed drinking water, the United Nations said [last week], warning that progress toward universal coverage was moving nowhere near quickly enough. The UN’s health and children’s agencies said a full one in four people globally were without access to safely managed drinking water last year, with over 100 million people remaining reliant on drinking surface water — for example from rivers, ponds, and canals. The World Health Organization and UNICEF said lagging water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services were leaving billions at greater risk of disease.”

‘Why Are We Funding This?’ (Dana)

From American Scientist: “For the first time since the modern federal research system was established after World War II, scientific funding in the United States is facing harsh cuts. These cuts undermine the core of American public health, safety, and environmental protection, but so far they have provoked only limited backlash beyond the scientific community. One likely reason much of the public seems to be shrugging off this act of self-sabotage is that the cuts have been misrepresented as a fix for waste and fraud, playing off a false but remarkably durable criticism: ‘A lot of the research we’re funding sounds silly! Why are we funding it? Who cares about this stuff?’ Scientists hate this line of attack, for many reasons.”

The Defunded Corporation for Public Broadcasting Will Get One of TV’s Biggest Prizes (Reader Steve)

From the AP: “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting will be honored with one of the television’s top prizes even as it winds down its nearly 60-year work after the U.S. government withdrew funding. The organization, which has helped pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and TV stations as well as programs like ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘Finding Your Roots,’ will be awarded the Television Academy’s Governors Award, which honors those who have ‘made a profound, transformational and long-lasting contribution to the arts and/or science of television.’ It will be handed to Patricia de Stacy Harrison, the longest-serving president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony on Sept. 7.”