eliminate

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida will work to phase out all childhood vaccine mandates in the state, building on the effort by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to curb vaccine requirements and other health mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

DeSantis also announced on Wednesday the creation of a state-level “Make America Healthy Again” commission modeled after similar initiatives pushed at the federal level by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

On the vaccines, state Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo cast current requirements in schools and elsewhere as an “immoral” intrusion on people’s rights bordering on “slavery,” and hampers parents’ ability to make health decisions for their children.

“People have a right to make their own decisions, informed decisions,” said Ladapo, who has frequently clashed with the medical establishment, at a news conference in Valrico, Florida, in the Tampa area. “They don’t have the right to tell you what to put in your body. Take it away from them.”

The state Health Department, Ladapo said, can scrap its own rules for some vaccine mandates, but others would require action by the Florida Legislature. He did not specify any particular vaccines but repeated several times the effort would end “all of them. Every last one of them.”

Florida would be the first state to eliminate so many vaccine mandates, Ladapo added.

In Florida, vaccine mandates for child day care facilities and public schools include shots for measles, chickenpox, hepatitis B, Diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP), polio and other diseases, according to the state Health Department’s website.

Under DeSantis, Florida resisted imposing COVID vaccines on schoolchildren, requiring “passports” for places that draw crowds, school closures and mandates that workers get the shots to keep their jobs.

“I don’t think there’s another state that’s done as much as Florida. We want to stay ahead of the curve,” the governor said.

The state “MAHA” commission would look into such things as allowing informed consent in medical matters, promoting safe and nutritious food, boosting parental rights regarding medical decisions about their children, and eliminating “medical orthodoxy that is not supported by the data,” DeSantis said. The commission will be chaired by Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and Florida first lady Casey DeSantis.

“We’re getting government out of the way, getting government out of your lives,” Collins said.

The commission’s work will help inform a large “medical freedom package” to be introduced in the Legislature next session, which would address the vaccine mandates required by state law and make permanent the recent state COVID decisions relaxing restrictions, DeSantis said.

“There will be a broad package,” the governor said.

Anderson writes for the Associated Press.

Northern Superchargers thrashed London Spirit by eight wickets, moving above their opponents into second in The Hundred table.

Spirit put in a dismal performance with the bat, struggling to 90-8 at Lord’s.

The Australian pair of Phoebe Litchfield, who hit an unbeaten 55, and Annabel Sutherland, who made 29 not out, put on an unbroken partnership of 76 to seal victory for the Superchargers with 34 balls to spare.

The home side floundered after choosing to bat, slipping to 9-2 in the powerplay with top-order batters Kira Chathli and Cordelia Griffith dismissed for a duck and one respectively.

Spirit can usually rely on the big-hitting Grace Harris to drag them out of trouble, but Nicola Carey had her caught at long-on for just seven, then saw Dani Gibson taken at point from her following delivery.

They continued to steadily lose wickets until Issy Wong and captain Charlie Dean offered a degree of stability, putting on a partnership of 31 for the seventh wicket, but it came from 33 deliveries, with the pair unable to significantly up the tempo.

Sutherland dismissed Dean caught behind in the final set of five deliveries, and had Glenn caught in the covers from the next ball, as Spirit limped to a sub-par total.

Superchargers’ top-order also wobbled, with Alice Davidson-Richards and Davina Perrin both dismissed by Bex Tyson for a golden duck and four respectively.

However, those early wickets brought star batters Phoebe Litchfield and Sutherland to the crease, and the Australian pair made light work of reaching their target.

Litchfield took more of the strike, hitting her second half-century in three matches, and it was the 22-year-old who hit Eva Gray for four to bring the match to an early conclusion.

The result sees Spirit slip to fourth in the standings, behind Superchargers and Manchester Originals on net run-rate.

July 15 (UPI) — Dozens of U.S. ice cream manufacturers are pledging to eliminate the use of artificial food colors from their ice cream products made with real milk by the end of 2027, the U.S. dairy manufacturing and marketing trade association said.

Announced Monday by the International Dairy Foods Association, the companies have agreed to remove certified artificial colors Red No. 3, Red No. 40, Green No. 3, Blue No. 1, Blue No. 2, Yellow No. 5 and Yellow No. 6 from their frozen dairy products by 2028.

According to the dairy trade association, the commitment is from companies that together make more than 90% of the ice cream sold in the United States.

“Americans are passionate about their ice cream, and the IDFA Ice Cream Commitment will ensure wholesome, indulgent ice cream products made with real milk from American dairy farmers remain a special part of our lives as state and federal policies evolve,” Michael Dykes, president and CEO of IDFA, said in a statement.

The announcement comes as the Food and Drug Administration has been seeking to remove artificial food colorings from the U.S. market.

During the final days of the previous Biden administration, the FDA announced it had revoked authorization for the use of synthetic food dye Red No. 3 after a linkage to cancer was found in animal studies, with its use to be phased out by 2028.

Under the Trump administration, the FDA announced in April plans to phase out petroleum-based dyes, including those U.S. ice cream makers pledged Monday to eliminate from their products.

“These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development,” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement making the announcement. “That era is coming to an end.”

While phasing out artificial color dyes, the FDA has been approving natural color additives, announcing the authorization of galdieria extract blue, butterfly pea flower extract and calcium phosphate, in May.

The FDA also approved the use of a new blue color additive from the gardenia fruit on Monday.

The IDFA said the Monday commitment from U.S. ice cream makers only applies to products made with real milk sold at food retail and does not apply to products made with non-dairy ingredients or those made in-house by small ice cream shops or restaurants.

On Friday, the Consumer Brands Association announced a voluntary commitment to encourage U.S. food and beverage makers to remove certified Food, Drug and Cosmetic colors from products served in schools nationwide by the start of the 2026-27 school year.

Katz says Israel has ‘green light’ from US to attack Iran again if Tehran makes ‘progress’ with its nuclear programme.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said that his country wanted to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the recent 12-day war between the two sides that ended this week with a ceasefire.

Katz said on Thursday that Israel would not have needed permission from the United States to kill Khamenei, appearing to refute previous media reports that Washington vetoed the assassination.

“We wanted to eliminate Khamenei, but there was no operational opportunity,” said Katz in an interview with Israel’s Channel 13.

Katz claimed that Khamenei knew an attempt on his life was on the cards, and went “underground to very great depths”, breaking off contact with commanders who replaced Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leaders assassinated in the first wave of Israeli strikes.

Khamenei released video messages during the war, and there is no evidence to confirm that he was cut off from his generals.

Killing Khamenei would have been a major escalation in the conflict. Besides being the de facto head of state in Iran, the supreme leader is a top spiritual authority for millions of Shia Muslims across the world.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump had both suggested at various times that the war could spark regime change, the latter posting on social media last Sunday that the conflict could “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN”.

Katz’s comments came amid conflicting reports on the extent of destruction wrought on Iran’s nuclear capability, primarily as a result of the US bombing of sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Khamenei said on Thursday that the US had “exaggerated” the impact of strikes.

The Israeli defence minister said that his country has a “green light” from Trump to launch another attack on Iran if it were deemed to be making “progress” with its nuclear programme.

“I do not see a situation where Iran will restore the nuclear facilities after the attack,” he said.

For his part, Netanyahu said on Thursday that the outcome of the war presented a “window of opportunity” for further formal diplomatic agreements with Arab states.

The conflict ended with a US-brokered ceasefire after Iran responded to the US strikes with a missile attack on Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base, which houses US troops.

“We have fought with determination against Iran and achieved a great victory. This victory opens the path to dramatically enlarge the peace accords,” Netanyahu said in a video address, in an apparent reference to the Abraham Accords, which established official ties between Israel and several Arab countries in 2020.

Iran also declared victory after the war, saying that it thwarted the Israeli objectives – namely ending Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes – and managed to force Netanyahu to end the assault with the missile strikes that left widespread destruction in Israel.

Julius Randle scored 29 points on 13-for-18 shooting, and the Minnesota Timberwolves held on for a 121-110 win over the Golden State Warriors to clinch their Western Conference second-round playoff series in Minneapolis.

Anthony Edwards finished with 22 points and 12 assists for Minnesota, which won the best-of-seven series in five games. The Timberwolves advanced to the conference finals, where they will await the winner of the series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets.

“It’s great,” Randle said on Wednesday night. “We’ve had a season full of adversity. Coach (Chris Finch) said at the end of the regular season that we didn’t do anything as far as trades or firing coaches. We just stuck together, and we got through it together.

“I’m super proud of our team, everybody that stepped up in some type of way this year. We got win No. 8 (in the playoffs). We’ve got to keep going.”

Brandin Podziemski scored 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting to lead Golden State. Jonathan Kuminga added 26 points off the bench, and Jimmy Butler III chipped in 17 points and six assists.

“It was a fight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I’m really proud of our guys. They hung in there and they battled the whole way through.

“(It was) quite a turnaround in our season from where we were a few months ago to giving ourselves a chance and having a swing at the plate for some real chances to go deep. We were right there. Obviously, it didn’t go our way. The Wolves were great, they deserved it. But I’m very proud of our team.”

The Warriors dropped their fourth straight game without Stephen Curry, who watched in street clothes from the bench. Curry injured his left hamstring in the series opener after leading Golden State to a first-round playoff series win over the Houston Rockets.

Kerr said of the challenge of playing without Curry, “Injuries are part of the playoffs. I learned a long time ago that the playoffs are really about health and then just guys stepping up and making some big shots, big plays in key games. That’s what decides every series.

“We’ve been on both ends of that. It’s just part of it. There’s no sense in dwelling on it, and I don’t want to take anything away from what Minnesota just accomplished.”

The Timberwolves led by as many as 25 points late in the third quarter. Randle dribbled the ball from one end of the court to the other and finished with a running layup to give the Timberwolves a 93-68 edge with 1:01 remaining in the third.

The Warriors made a determined push in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to nine. Moses Moody drained a 3-pointer to bring Golden State within 99-90 with 7:11 to play.

Edwards helped Minnesota regain a double-digit advantage moments later. He knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Timberwolves on top 102-90, and Jaden McDaniels increased the lead to 14 points with a steal and a layup with 6:36 remaining.

“The team has come together at the right time and is playing its best basketball,” Finch said.

The Timberwolves led 62-47 at the half.

Golden State trailed 45-42 after Podziemski made a jump shot with 4:11 left in the half.

Minnesota closed the second quarter on a 17-5 run to grab a 15-point lead. Randle finished the first-half scoring with a three-point play after making a layup and drawing a foul.

The Timberwolves shot 62.8 percent (49 of 78) overall and 41.9 percent (13 of 31) from beyond the arc. The Warriors shot 43.3 percent (39 of 90) from the field and 28.2 percent (11 of 39) from 3-point range.

Celtics rebound to win Game 5 without Tatum

In an earlier playoff fixture on Wednesday, Derrick White scored a game-high 34 points and the Boston Celtics extended their season by beating the visiting New York Knicks 127-102 in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference second-round series.

The Knicks lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Friday’s Game 6 in New York.

White shot 7-for-13 from 3-point territory and made nine of his 11 free-throw attempts. Boston sank 22 of its 49 shots from behind the 3-point arc (44.9 percent) and outscored New York 68-43 in the second half.

The Celtics received 26 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds from Jaylen Brown. Luke Kornet added 10 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots and Payton Pritchard came off the bench to make five 3-pointers and score 17 points.

“We made winning plays on both ends of the floor,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They made enough plays to win. Gave us another chance to play.”

It was Boston’s second playoff game without All-Star forward Jayson Tatum, who had surgery on Tuesday to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon.

Josh Hart scored a team-high 24 points for New York, which shot 29-of-81 from the field (35.8 percent). Jalen Brunson collected 22 points and six assists, but he fouled out with 7:19 to play. Brunson was called for his fifth foul with 2:45 remaining in the third quarter.

“That we didn’t play for 48 minutes,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau when asked what stood out on Wednesday. “We didn’t play tough with the lead. Can’t afford to do that.”