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The Justice Department is poised to drop a landmark lawsuit alleging that cancer-causing pollution from a Louisiana petrochemical plant poses an imminent danger to nearby communities, according to two individuals briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the decision is not yet final. (Joselow and Ajasa, 3/3)

Health care may not feature prominently in President Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday night, but whatever he says about Medicaid will be closely parsed. Trump has said he would "love and cherish" the safety net program, but it still could be in the crosshairs as Congress looks for ways to pay for an extension of the president's 2017 tax cuts. (Reed, 3/4)

Jay Bhattacharya, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the US National Institutes of Health, will tell senators this week that he plans to establish a culture of “scientific dissent” at the agency. “Over the last few years, top NIH officials oversaw a culture of coverup, obfuscation, and a lack of tolerance for ideas that differed from theirs,” Bhattacharya said in prepared remarks seen by Bloomberg ahead of a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee hearing on Wednesday. He pledged to “create an environment where scientists — including early career scientists – can express disagreement respectfully.” (Muller, 3/3)

Marty Makary, President Trump’s pick to be Food and Drug Administration commissioner, promised to step down as an adviser to various health tech, medical device, and telehealth startups if confirmed, and to sell off stock holdings in the companies as well, according to financial disclosures filed ahead of his confirmation hearing. (Lawrence, 3/3)

Organizers of a conference that brings Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs health leadership and military medical professionals together to share ideas excluded "independent media" this year, despite having allowed -- and welcomed -- press coverage for more than a decade. Reporters who tried to sign up to attend the annual meeting of the AMSUS Society of Federal Health Professionals were told that the media was being excluded this year. Those who managed to sign up received emails that their registrations had been canceled. (Kime, 3/3)