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President Trump is signing off on a decision from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this year to cut down on the number of required vaccinations for children. The president endorsed these adjusted immunization requirements in an executive order on Friday. Trump cited his administration’s commitment to “protecting religious liberty and parental authority” in the order. (Davis, 5/30)

Marianna Mitchem grew up in the Denver suburbs, where she played high school soccer. One day in April 1999, her team faced off against a nearby rival, Columbine High. The next day, two teenagers went on a shooting rampage at Columbine, killing more than a dozen people. The massacre left an imprint on Mitchem. After graduating from Providence College, she joined the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “Fearing for my friends and watching what was happening — you don’t forget things like that,” she told me. “I wanted to make a difference.” (MacGillis, 6/1)

The Trump administration is counting on Medicaid work requirements to save the government billions of dollars. But well before the rules formally go into effect Jan. 1, they’re costing already-strapped states millions or tens of millions to implement. State health departments are having to funnel resources into hiring more staff, paying for overtime, and upgrading their aging technology systems so they can determine which low-income residents are working, volunteering, caregiving, or studying enough hours to keep their Medicaid coverage. They are also building new systems to determine who is sick enough to qualify for an exemption. (King and Ollstein, 5/31)

Millions of seniors may get $50-a-month Wegovy and Zepbound under Medicare’s new GLP-1 Bridge program. CMS has yet to reveal projected cost to taxpayers. (Herman, 6/1)

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) finds himself in a unique position: scorned by President Trump and out of the running for reelection, but still in charge of the highly influential Senate health committee, which can block nominees to head three health agencies currently without permanent leaders. The next few months could determine whether his legacy is restraining the Trump administration’s more extreme elements or ultimately ushering them in, as his detractors have accused him of when he voted to confirm Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. despite his public reservations. (Choi, 5/31)

Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana is asking for an inspector general’s review of a renowned federal research lab in his state after a monkey infected with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever bit a worker there. The employee, whose name was never made public, was treated after the November 2025 incident, did not contract the lethal tick-borne illness and soon returned to work. But a conservative animal welfare group, White Coat Waste, and MAGA influencer Laura Loomer have since urged federal intervention. (Paun and Messerly, 5/29)