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Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration didn’t follow rulemaking procedures and overstepped its authority when it proposed eliminating four required vaccines for school and daycare entry, a rule challenge filed in state administrative court alleges. (Sexton, 10/21)

Arkevious Armstrong, 45, returned to C.A. Dillon Juvenile Detention Center in Butner on Oct. 12. He had last walked out of the facility 30 years ago. Armstrong spent four years of his childhood there, from age 13 to 17. This time, though, he came to celebrate the opening of a new behavioral health unit at the facility. (Crumpler, 10/22)

�Թϲ�����: Trump Dangles Rural Health Dollars To Push States To Change Hospital Laws

The Trump administration has hinged federal funding for states on whether they end or loosen powerful but controversial laws that regulate the construction of new hospitals — with a handful of states poised to comply. A chunk of the $50 billion available to states through the five-year Rural Health Transformation Program is partly contingent on policy commitments. The administration told states it would score their applications higher if they walked back their certificate of need, or CON, laws, which give a state approval authority over the expansion or construction of any healthcare facility. Six states indicated plans to revisit their laws in their applications. (Jones, 10/22)

Pamphlets purporting to come from a transgender rights organization — mailed to families across Texas and igniting a storm of criticism from conservatives — came from a company formed last month in Wyoming. Social media posts began circulating Monday and Tuesday, the opening days of early voting for the Nov. 3 midterm election, that showed a pamphlet marketed as a resource guide for LGBTQ+ students from the Texas Transgender Student Union. (Runnels, 10/21)

Billionaire Gary Michelson has pledged $120 million to help establish a medical research institute in Los Angeles. Now he’s asking California voters to approve a far larger investment of public money, with much likely to go to the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, which he co-founded and chairs. Proposition 38 would authorize $8.4 billion in state borrowing to study the immune system and develop treatments for afflictions including cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Michelson says the investment would help sustain American scientific advancements as the Trump administration cuts federal research funding. (Gittelsohn, 10/21)

Republican Vivek Ramaswamy is closing out one of the nastiest races of the 2026 cycle by suggesting that Democrat Amy Acton, his opponent in the Ohio governor’s race, has lied about the well-documented childhood sexual abuse she experienced for political gain. (Becker, 10/21)

A ruptured chemical tank billowed a white plume into the air for hours Wednesday, forcing hundreds of residents out of their homes due to the potentially toxic leak and the possibility of an explosion. More than 50,000 people in Toledo, Ohio, were advised to stay indoors for much of the day until the city lifted a shelter-in-place order in the evening. (Seewer and McCormack, 10/22)

A fire tore through a Mississippi senior living center Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of its residents and destroying much of the building that was home to more than 100 people. There were no confirmed casualties, but authorities searched the site into the night to account for everyone. There were no immediate reports of injuries at Brookdale Clinton, where many residents have mobility issues, and by Wednesday night the fire was under control, according to officials. (Bates and Golden, 10/22)

An Idaho prosecutor is seeking the death penalty against a woman charged with murder in the 2025 deaths of her twin toddlers. Andrea Shaw, 23, has pleaded not guilty and has said the 18-month-old twins became sick and died after receiving flu shots and routine childhood vaccinations. But Payette County Prosecutor Mike Duke wrote in court documents that an autopsy revealed symptoms consistent with smothering and wrote that suffocation “is the only conceivable explanation” for their deaths. (Boone, 10/21)

The number of deaths stemming from domestic violence in Colorado has held steady over the past five years, with a slight uptick in both fatalities and cases reported in 2025, according to a report released Wednesday by Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office. (Breunlin, 10/21)

This summer, it seemed like climate change took its toll on St. Louis. The city has had nearly 200 days this year when temperatures were in the 90s. And in the heart of the city, it can feel even hotter. In urban areas, all of that brick, concrete and asphalt retains heat — and there aren’t as many trees and green spaces to cool cities down. This causes “the heat island effect,” making many cities hotter than the suburban and rural areas around them. (Varner, 10/22)

They were all held at the St. Louis City Justice Center, waiting for their day in court. One, 32 years old, died of complications from his untreated diabetes, the city medical examiner’s office concluded. Another, a year older, hanged herself in her cell, dying days later from a lack of oxygen to her brain, according to her autopsy report. A third, 31, died from what the city said was an overdose, but his family called it negligence by the jail’s employees. (Scott and Wimbley, 10/21)