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A salmonella outbreak linked to a large egg recall has made dozens of people sick in seven states in the West and Midwest, federal health officials said Saturday. The August Egg Company recalled about 1.7 million brown organic and brown cage-free egg varieties distributed to grocery stores between February and May because of the potential for salmonella, according to a posted announcement Friday on the Food and Drug Administration’s website. At least 79 people in seven states have gotten a strain of salmonella that was linked to the eggs, and 21 people have been hospitalized. the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. (6/7)

The Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services struggles to provide adequate services to many teens, leaving them to languish in a violent detention center. (Dungca, Harden and Alexander, 6/9)

Opioid overdose deaths in Michigan are projected to drop in 2024, marking the third consecutive year of decline, according to the Department of Attorney General. Data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shows a 34% reduction in overdose deaths between 2023 and 2024, which is around 1,000 fewer deaths, state officials said. The death rate from 2022 to 2023 decreased by 5.7% from 2,998 to 2,826. The state credits the three-year decline to investments in prevention, treatment, recovery and harm-reduction efforts, funded in part by national opioid settlements. (Lentz, 6/8)

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health says that a string of botulism cases from Botox injections has been linked to a spa in Milton. Ten people are suspected to have contracted iatrogenic botulism, a rare but serious illness, after receiving a procedure at Rodrigo Beauty on Granite Avenue. Health officials advise that anyone who received Botox injections between May 1 and June 4 at the Milton Spa should contact their nearby health department or DPH. (Rourke, 6/8)

A convicted killer in Utah who developed dementia while on death row for 37 years is competent enough to be executed, a state judge ruled late Friday. Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, was sentenced to die in 1988 for killing Utah mother of three Maurine Hunsaker. Despite his recent cognitive decline, Menzies “consistently and rationally understands” what is happening and why he is facing execution, Judge Matthew Bates wrote in a court order. (6/7)

The sun was out in full force on May 16 when DeMarco K. Davidson walked into Centennial Christian Church in St. Louis’ Fountain Park neighborhood. The executive director of Metropolitan Congregations United had a 1:30 p.m. meeting with longtime Centennial church member Sherrill Jackson. Davidson and Jackson were in the church’s north chapel. His phone was on silent. They were talking about the church’s future. Its pastor had resigned recently. (Lewis-Thompson, 6/9)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: $20K Bonuses Among Latest Moves To Improve California’s Prison Mental Health System

After decades of unsuccessful efforts to improve California prison conditions ruled unconstitutional and blamed for record-high suicides, advocates and a federal judge are betting that bonuses and better work accommodations will finally be enough to attract and keep the mental health providers needed to treat prisoners. The funds come from nearly $200 million in federal fines imposed because of California’s lack of progress in hiring sufficient mental health staff. (Thompson, 6/9)

Air quality regulators in Southern California voted 7 to 5 to reject rules that would have curbed harmful emissions from gas-powered furnaces and water heaters, but the majority voted to send the rules back to committee to be changed and reconsidered. The rules aimed to reduce emissions of smog-contributing nitrogen oxides, also called NOx, a group of pollutants linked to respiratory issues, asthma attacks, worse allergies, decreased lung function in children, premature death and more. Burning natural gas is also one of the primary drivers of climate change. (Pineda, 6/6)

As Louisiana Rep. Kimberly Landry Coates stood before her colleagues in the state’s Legislature she warned that the bill she was presenting might “seem strange” or even crazy. Some lawmakers laughed with disbelief and others listened intently, as Coates described situations that are often noted in discussions of “chemtrails” — a decades-old conspiracy theory that posits the white lines left behind by aircraft in the sky are releasing chemicals for any number of reasons, some of them nefarious. ... Louisiana is the latest state taking inspiration from a wide-ranging conspiratorial narrative, mixing it with facts, to create legislation. (Cline and Goldin, 6/9)

A few miles from where American crocodiles swim by the hundreds in the cooling canals of the Turkey Point nuclear power plant, engineers are fighting an invisible threat to Miami’s drinking water. The hulking plant, which provides power to run air conditioners and appliances for 1 million homes and businesses, sits about 25 miles south of Miami, in the middle of paradise. A few feet to its east are the azure waters of Biscayne Bay. The lush islands of the Florida Keys beckon to the south. To the west are the vast and vital Florida Everglades. (Smith, 6/6)