hospital

AI is helping doctors write up medical notes to try to get patients out of hospital beds faster.

The tech means they spend less time filling in forms, cutting delays in discharging those fit to go home.

It creates a summary using information such as diagnoses and test results from medical records.

The document can then be reviewed by medical teams and used to send patients home or refer them to other services.

The technology is being piloted at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “This potentially transformational discharge tool is a prime example of how we’re shifting from analogue to digital.

“We’re using cutting-edge technology to build an NHS fit for the future and tackle the hospital backlogs that have left too many people waiting too long.

“Doctors will spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients, getting people home to their families faster and freeing up beds for those who need them most.”

As part of their AI revolution, the Government has also announced tech is being given to all 12,000 probation officers.

A programme called Justice Transcribe will help them take notes in meetings with offenders after they leave prison.

It was found to halve the time officers spent organising notes between meetings and in their personal time.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: “This is exactly the kind of change we need, AI being used to give doctors, probation officers and other key workers more time to focus on delivering better outcomes and speeding up vital services.”

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WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficits caused by President Trump’s tax and spending law could trigger automatic cuts to Medicare if Congress does not act, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Friday.

The CBO estimates that Medicare, the federal health insurance program for Americans over age 65, could potentially see as much as $491 billion in cuts from 2027 to 2034 if Congress does not act to mitigate a 2010 law that forces across-the-board cuts to many federal programs once legislation increases the federal deficit. The latest report from CBO showed how Trump’s signature tax and spending law could put new pressure on federal programs that are bedrocks of the American social safety net.

Trump and Republicans pledged not to cut Medicare as part of the legislation, but the estimated $3.4 trillion that the law adds to the federal deficit over the next decade means that many Medicare programs could see cuts. In the past, Congress has always acted to mitigate cuts to Medicare and other programs, but it would take some bipartisan cooperation to do so.

Democrats, who requested the analysis from CBO, jumped on the potential cuts.

“Republicans knew their tax breaks for billionaires would force over half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts — and they did it anyway,” Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement. “American families simply cannot afford Donald Trump’s attacks on Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare.”

Hospitals in rural parts of the country are already grappling with cuts to Medicaid, which is available to people with low incomes, and cuts to Medicare could exacerbate their shortfalls.

As Republicans muscled the bill through Congress and are now selling it to voters back home, they have been critical of how the CBO has analyzed the bill. They have also argued that the tax cuts will spur economic growth and pointed to $50 billion in funding for rural hospitals that was included in the package.

Groves writes for the Associated Press.

Tristan Rogers, the Australian actor behind the magnetic Robert Scorpio on “General Hospital,” died Friday after a battle with lung cancer, according to his manager. He was 79.

In an email to The Times, Rogers’ manager Meryl Soodak said his client was “a family man” who is survived by his wife, two children and a grandson.

“[He was] loyal, kind and loved his role of Scorpio,” Soodak said.

Rogers’ signature commanding voice and poised bravado made Scorpio a fan favorite on the long-running soap opera, and became his most recognizable role. As the enemy-turned-close-friend of star character Luke Spencer (played by Anthony Geary), Rogers appeared in some of the most memorable moments of the show’s run.

In November 1981, Scorpio stood by as Luke and fellow star character Laura wed in front of 30 million viewers, still the highest-rated hour in American soap opera history.

In true soap opera fashion, Scorpio would allegedly die a dramatic and fiery death in an explosion in South America in 1992, only to return alive for a short stint in 2006.

Through every iteration of his “General Hospital” career, Rogers embraced Scorpio’s status as an ‘80s TV icon.

“I think this character will follow me to my grave,” Rogers told the New York Times in 2006.

Rogers was born June 3, 1946, in Melbourne, Australia. Out of high school, he played in a rock band with friends and began taking up modeling roles, he recalled in an interview. For “extra money,” he acted in small TV and soap opera roles in Australia in the late ‘60s and ‘70s, including stints in the shows “Bellbird,” “Number 96” and “The Box.”

Early in his career, his Australian accent deterred casting directors from booking him for American shows, Rogers recalled in a 2022 interview. However, in 1980, he found himself auditioning for what was supposed to be a small, single-episode role on “General Hospital.”

This caught the eye of Gloria Monty, the show’s visionary producer, who asked Rogers to stay on as a recurring character.

Rogers was key to shaping the character of Scorpio, from his name to his risk-taking bravery, on what would eventually become the longest-running daytime soap opera in American television history, according to Guinness World Records.

“I started in earnest, I had a feeling that I had done something right. I had evolved into the character. [Scorpio] took everyone by surprise, he looked different, he sounded different, he conducted himself in a different way and the public latched onto this right away. And so all of a sudden, away we went,” Rogers said in a radio interview earlier this year.

While the show was set in a New York hospital, the late 80s saw it shift focus into an action adventure storyline that heavily featured Scorpio as an agent of the fictional World Security Bureau, or WSB.

Broadcaster ABC notes that the change kept the attention of viewers and contributed to the continuation of the show’s success, as spies and agents created complex and popular mystery storylines within the “General Hospital” universe.

According to the New York Times, the second week after Rogers’ character was revived in 2006, “General Hospital” was the No. 1 daytime drama among young women, drawing larger-than-average audiences back to the show.

Rogers also acted in the series “The Young and the Restless,” “The Bay,” and “Studio City,” as well as voice-acting in the Disney animated film “The Rescuers Down Under.”

Genie Francis, who played Laura Spencer in “General Hospital,” said of Rogers on X, “My heart is heavy. Goodbye my spectacular friend. My deepest condolences to his wife Teresa and their children. Tristan Rogers was a very bright light, as an actor and a person. I was so lucky to have known him.”

Kin Shriner, also an actor on the show, added in a video posted on X, “I met Tristan 44 years ago at the Luke and Laura wedding. We were stashed in a trailer and I was taken by his Australian charm. Over the years we’ve worked together … we always had fun. I will miss Tristan very much.”

In one of his last interviews, Rogers reflected on the joy of his acting career.

“I’ve had a good time of it,” he said.

Sewage water has flooded the emergency department of Gaza’s Nasser Hospital after an Israeli strike damaged nearby infrastructure. Doctors warn the flooding increases patients’ risk of infections and disease outbreaks.

Are we in for a new age of scripted basic cable television? Given the successes of the old age, which threaded its way between broadcast and premium cable TV, a little bolder than the former, less pricier than the latter, making up what it lacked in resources with invention and charm — producing such shows as “The Detour,” “Halt and Catch Fire,” “Lodge 49” and “The Closer,” to name just a few of my favorites — I’d be all for it.

Premiering Friday on the USA Network, lately devoted to sports, reality shows and reruns, the legal drama “The Rainmaker” is the first fruit of an intentional return to the network’s self-styled “blue sky” era, when its slogan was “Characters Welcome” and “optimism” in storytelling was a stated goal. “Psych,” “In Plain Sight,” “Monk” and “Suits” — whose recent success after being recycled onto Netflix would seem to be a factor in this turnaround — were among the series born in that period.

Based on John Grisham’s 1995 novel, faithfully adapted by Francis Ford Coppola into a 1997 film starring Matt Damon and Claire Danes, the TV “Rainmaker” has been kitted out with some new and altered characters and a novel focus, and in order to keep you on the hook across 10 episodes, it stirs in a case of arson and a serial murderer. (And surely some additional complications — only five episodes out of 10 were available for review, so even though I wouldn’t tell you about what’s coming later, I couldn’t.) Serial killer notwithstanding — nothing drearier than a serial killer — the nuts and bolts and girders and panels of a USA show are here — colorful characters, one part comedy to one part drama, a mystery to solve, and just a tiny bit of sex. (This is basic cable, remember.)

We meet hot-headed good guy Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan) and his cheery girlfriend Sarah Plankmore (Madison Iseman), both not long out of law school, both yet to take the bar exam, at a legal-aid event, providing free advice to the sort of people who could never afford a lawyer, wouldn’t know where to start or maybe just want someone to listen to their stories. They meet Dot Black (Karen Bryson), who is very much not over the death of her son while in a hospital whose name I can’t recall but for my own convenience will just call Bad Hospital. Badspital. That the hospital — the Badspital — has offered her $50,000 while their motion to dismiss is still pending, sets Rudy to wondering what they might be trying to hide. Anyway, Dot, whom we’ll see again, finds the offer insulting and also needs an apology.

Rudy and Sarah have both been hired by the 800-pound gorilla law firm Tinley Britt. On their first day, he arrives late to work — and bloody, having gotten into a fight with his mother’s shiftless, but large, boyfriend. He proceeds to get into another fight, abstractly, with senior partner Leo F. Drummond (John Slattery), who fires him. (In the novel, Rudy is merely laid off in a merger — not so dramatic!) Moaning to friend and bar-owning sometime boss Prince Thomas (Tommie Earl Jenkins) that he’s been turned down by every other respectable firm in town, Thomas suggests “a not so respectable one.”

John Slattery stars as Leo Drummond, a senior partner at Tinley Britt, the law firm where Rudy is hired and subsequently fired.

(Christopher Barr/USA Network)

Here things depart significantly from the text, and the fun begins.

Rudy is delivered to the law offices of glamorous Jocelyn “Bruiser” Stone (Lana Parrilla) and associates, located in a partly converted Mexican restaurant — though past the receptionist the only associate in sight is “paralawyer” Deck Shifflet (P.J. Byrne). A purely comic character, Deck has failed the bar seven times but has many useful skills and qualities, not least a flexible sense of professional ethics. He insists on calling Rudy “Boo Boo.” It takes him a minute to realize it, but Rudy has found his people.

Gender flipped from the novel’s J. Lyman Stone, Bruiser (when not in court) favors animal prints, plunging necklines and short skirts. “I only need three things,” she says. “Kentucky bourbon, a bloody steak and a man who won’t spend the night.” You get the picture.

But there’s more to her than that. When Rudy, who has been with Deck trolling the Badspital for clients, suggests he wasn’t cut out to be an “ambulance chaser,” she also has this to say.

“You know where the term ambulance chaser came from? It was used by white shoe firms in the ’20s to crap on any lawyer that wasn’t a member of their club. When the contingency-fee law was enacted, small firms rose up full of attorneys who were just like their clients, the ones on the Statue of Liberty, the tired, poor, the huddled masses — those same people are our clients now, and if you think you’re better than them, you’re not. You are them.”

It’s good to know someone still takes Emma Lazarus seriously.

Among the figures Rudy and Deck encounter at the hospital, or the Badspit — oh, never mind — is Melvin Pritcher (Dan Fogler), whom we have seen in the series’ opening scene, escaping a house fire that kills his mother. There are several things to say about him that probably constitute spoilers, so I’ll just note that though Melvin is quite unpleasant, Fogler is very good.

With Sarah working for the Empire and Rudy embedded with the rebels, their relationship has been engineered by the writers to be problematic, possibly to break down — though each does seem to be trying. (They’re good kids.) She’s got a trust fund; he’s doesn’t own a suit of his own, dressing rather in one passed down from a dead brother. They’ll wind up in court opposite one another like Tracy and Hepburn in “Adam’s Rib,” for Tinley Britt is defending the hospital from Dot, who has become a client of Bruiser’s firm. Their future together is also potentially complicated by Kelly Riker (Robyn Cara), a woman who lives in Rudy’s building who is obviously being abused, and Drummond’s smarmy lieutenant Brad Noonan (Wade Briggs) — of course he’d be named Brad — who has been assigned to weaponize Sarah against Rudy.

Callaghan gives off a scintilla of Matt Damon vibes, but is his own Rudy, keeping his naive idealist free from leading-man tics. Parrilla finds the balance between Bruiser’s sauciness and seriousness; Byrne plays the clown adeptly; and Slattery, a boss again after “Mad Men,” softens his villainy with some Roger Sterling insouciance.

Developed by Michael Seitzman and Jason Richman, it’s a very watchable show — serial killer passages notwithstanding. There’s nothing fancy in the execution — it’s the opposite of stylish — but everything’s clearly defined and dialed up a step past normal into that space we call entertainment. Welcome back to the blue sky.

ATLANTA — Detroit safety Morice Norris was attended to for about 20 minutes and taken off the field in an ambulance during the Lions’ preseason game Friday night against Atlanta, with the game ending with 6:31 to go after the players let the clock run.

Norris was hurt with 14:50 to go trying to tackle Nathan Carter.

“We’re just praying for Mo and ask that everybody prays for him,” said Lions coach Dan Campbell, who said he had “positive information” from hospital.

“He’s breathing. He’s talking. He has some movement,” Campbell added.

When play resumed, Falcons quarterback Emory Jones took a snap and then held the ball as players from both teams stood at the line of scrimmage and the clock continued to run. Finally, with 6:31 left, an official announced the game had been suspended “per New York.”

The Lions led 17-10 when played was stopped.

Campbell and Falcons coach Raheem Morris made the decision to not finish the game.

“Raheem Morris is a class act,” Campbell said. “He’s the ultimate class act. We agreed it just didn’t feel right to finish that game.”

Lions quarterback Kyle Allen said the decision to not finish the game was easy to make.

“I don’t think anyone on that sideline wanted to play,” Allen said. “We weren’t part of that decision but you could look in anyone’s eyes and see that.”

EastEnders spoilers confirm horrifying scenes for one Walford legend, while the BBC soap also airs big decisions, worrying actions and two enemies appear to team up

New spoilers for EastEnders have teased worrying twists and turns ahead for multiple characters.

There’s a violent showdown that leads to one favourite being rushed to hospital. One vile character is soon targeting others with his grim behaviour, while another teen finds himself in big trouble.

There’s a big decision to be made for one resident of Walford, while one married character is warned against his flirty behaviour with another man. One character, soon returning to the show, makes contact with their family, and two love rivals look set to unite.

Let’s kick things off with more drama ahead for troubled teen Oscar Branning, and it leaves one Albert Square legend in serious danger. Patrick Trueman fends off Oscar who has broken into his home, unaware he is the culprit.

Oscar is being threatened by thug Mike who he grassed up to the police. As things escalate, Mike returns and demands £5,000 in return for the Branning family’s safety.

READ MORE: Coronation Street wedding day interrupted by horror collapse as death ‘sealed’

Oscar initially tries to lure Ian Beale into a business deal to find the extra cash, but Ian refuses. Lauren Branning soon finds out what her brother has been up to, leaving Oscar seeking other means of getting the funds.

Oscar breaks into Patrick’s home to steal his bet winnings. He’s caught in the act though, leading to Oscar abruptly pushing Patrick to flee. But Patrick ends up falling to the ground, leaving him badly injured.

Patrick is left unconscious as the horror unfolds, with his partner Yolande Trueman unaware of what’s happening amid her row with her fiancé. Having called off the wedding over his betting, will she regret this when she realises Patrick is in a bad way?

With Patrick motionless on the ground, Oscar decides to leave him only for Howie Danes to return home and realise what’s happened. Oscar makes a run for it and Howie sees him, while he doesn’t see his face so is unaware it’s Oscar.

Yolande is inconsolable as she heads home to the horror unfolding, and soon Patrick is rushed to hospital. His family wait for news and the police arrive to take a witness statement from Howie, but will he be okay?

Lauren meanwhile is suspicious of Oscar’s behaviour, and his sudden concern for Patrick. He tries to flee Walford only for her to stop him in his tracks, confronting him with the stolen money.

He begs his sister to let him flee as she riles at him for his actions. But will Oscar be exposed? Elsewhere, Avani Nandra-Hart is still torn over her pregnancy amid her grandmother Suki Panesar’s plan to help raise the baby with her wife Eve Unwin.

Eve is still unconvinced by the plan next week and is desperate to hear from Avani what she wants, without Suki’s involvement. Eve supports the teenager at her 12-week scan, and after she and Avani lie to the family when Priya finds a receipt from the hospital in Avani’s jacket – but will the pregnancy be rumbled?

The baby’s father Joel Marshall, who has no idea about the baby, is back to his vile ways next week. Ross Marshall takes son Joel and his pal Tommy Moon to work at the timber yard but soon grows concerned for the boys when he overhears some of the language from other workers on the site.

That’s the least of his issues though, as Ross pales to receive a call from Joel’s mum. She informs him that she is getting remarried, and Ross faces having to tell Joel.

As Joel slips out to process the news, he’s soon stealing drink from the pub with Tommy only to be caught. As Joel’s stepmother Vicki Fowler and Tommy’s parents Kat and Alfie rage at the boys for their behaviour, everyone is shocked by what Joel does next.

Joel lashes out with derogatory language towards Kat leaving them all horrified, and soon he’s being lectured by Ross and Vicki. A moment later on that sees Ross trying to bond with his troubled son leaves him sickened though, as he makes a worrying discovery on Joel’s laptop and destroys the device.

He’s cold towards his son in the fallout, and Vicki is later shocked to discover the real reason why Ross broke his laptop. She tells Ross to take action against Joel before his behaviour gets out of hand.

It leads to Ross sharing a heart-to-heart with Harvey in the café and the former is given food for thought. When Joel apologises to Kat, she allows him to hang out with Tommy. But it’s not long before Joel is showing his true colours again when Vicki and Stacey Slater bond over parenting and men.

Finally next week, Elaine Peacock is struggling without the pub and after a heart-to-heart with Yolande, she and love rival Cindy Beale join forces at The Albert. Cindy later offers Elaine the job of co-manager, so could there be a thawing between them?

Callum Highway’s flirting with Johnny Carter leads to him being warned by Jay brown, amid a call from his imprisoned husband Ben Mitchell. With Ben set to return to the show, will it all end in tears?

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

When Children’s Hospital Los Angeles first told thousands of patients it was shuttering its pediatric gender clinic last month, Jesse Thorn was distraught but confident he could quickly find a new local care team for his kids.

But by the time the Center for Transyouth Health and Development officially closed its doors on Tuesday, the father of three was making plans to flee the country.

“They’re targeting whoever they can,” Thorn said. “[I’m afraid] the police will show up at my door because I took my child to see their doctor.”

Until this week, Children’s was among the largest and oldest pediatric gender clinics in the United States — and one of few providing puberty blockers, hormones and surgical procedures for trans youth on public insurance.

The closure of the renowned program signals a wider unraveling in the availability of care across the country, experts said. That includes in former safe havens such as California, New York and Illinois, where state laws protecting trans-specific healthcare are crumbling under mounting legal pressure and bureaucratic arm-twisting by the Trump administration.

In the last week, University of Chicago Medicine and Children’s National in D.C. announced they will end or dramatically scale back services for trans youth, following similar moves by Stanford Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

“There’s a rapid collapse of the provision of this care in blue states,” said Alejandra Caraballo, a civil rights attorney and legal instructor at Harvard. “By end of 2025, most care will effectively be banned.”

Some parents in L.A. say they fear the Department of Justice will use private medical data subpoenaed from California’s largest pediatric safety-net hospital to take their children away from them.

“It’s absolutely terrifying,” said Maxine, the mother of a Children’s Hospital patient, who declined to give her last name for fear of attacks on her son.

“I’m very afraid that the DOJ and this acting Attorney General are going to come after parents and use the female genital mutilation law … to prosecute parents and separate me from my child,” she said.

On July 9, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi announced the Department of Justice was subpoenaing patient medical records from more than 20 doctors and clinics, the latest in a cavalcade of legal and technical maneuvers against providers who care for trans youth.

“Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice,” Bondi said in a news release announcing the move.

Children’s would not say whether it had been subpoenaed or if it had turned over records responsive to the government’s demand.

The Justice Department was already investigating pediatric specialists for a litany of alleged crimes, from deceptive trade practices to billing fraud. Federal health agencies have vowed to withhold funding from institutions that continue to provide affirming care.

“These threats are no longer theoretical,” Children’s Hospital executives wrote to staff in an internal email announcing the closure June 12. “[They are] threatening our ability to serve the hundreds of thousands of patients who depend on CHLA for lifesaving care.”

Advocates say gender-affirming care is also lifesaving. They point to statistics — contested by the federal government and some experts — showing high rates of suicide among trans youth.

In June, the decision to shutter the clinic was widely condemned. Advocates said Children’s Hospital L.A. had “thrown trans kids under the bus” in disregard of state law.

Few are saying that now.

“You could see kids with leukemia being cut off their chemo therapy unless these hospitals stop provide care to trans people,” Caraballo said. “If one of the biggest children’s hospitals in the country couldn’t shoulder that burden, I don’t see many others being able to do so.”

Others agreed.

“No matter what California or any other state has done to say, ‘We want to protect these kids,’ unless they can write checks that equal the amount of money that’s being lost, [programs close],” said Dara E. Purvis, a law professor at Temple University.

So far, the Trump administration has painted parents as victims of “radical gender ideology.”

Some experts warned that as the government tightens the screws on doctors and hospitals, trans teens and their families are likely to seek hormones outside the medical system, including through gray market channels.

“We’ve seen this with abortion,” Caraballo said. “People are going to go about getting it whichever way they can.”

There are fears that families could face prosecution for continuing to seek medications, similar to charges being filed against mothers who have secured abortion pills for their teenagers.

“We’re working with Congress on existing criminal laws related to female genital mutilation to more robustly protect children,” Justice Department Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle said during a Federal Trade Commission workshop entitled “The Dangers of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Minors.”

“We are using all of the tools at the Department of Justice to address this issue,” Mizelle said.

For now, dozens of hospitals across California still provide gender-affirming care, including hormone therapy and surgical procedures.

But the list changes almost day to day.

“Even programs that may have been operating a month ago are not operating now,” said Terra Russell-Slavin, chief impact officer at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. “There’s a lot of concern about even being public about offering care because those agencies become targets.”

With the medical care their children rely on under threat and few promised protections from the state, some families are unsure what the coming months will bring.

For one Orange County father, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation against his trans son, plans for future travel are suddenly in jeopardy.

He said only about half of his son’s identity documents match his gender, and they’ve been warned not to try to change others.

“He won’t be able to leave the country because he can’t get a matching passport,” the father said.

For Maxine, the L.A. mom, balancing the banal with the existential is a daily strain.

“My kid is just living their life. They want to go to concerts, they want to go shopping for back to school — they don’t know any of this is happening,” the mother said. “You have to experience this intense fear while maintaining a normal household for everybody else.”

Spain had dominated possession, but they had struggled to break through a resilient defence in Zurich as Christian Wuck’s side dug deep to force extra time.

But with the game looking destined for a penalty shootout, Bonmati stepped up when it mattered – sending Spain to their first Women’s Euro final.

“It was not easy for [Bonmati] at the beginning of the tournament but she has a special personality to be at the maximum level,” said Spain boss Montse Tome.

Bonmati had cleverly darted into space between Germany defenders Rebecca Knaak and Franziska Kett, before receiving Del Castillo’s pass on the half-turn.

Despite the tight angle, she buried the ball in at the near post.

“Top-class players turn up in the moments and that’s what Spain needed. That’s why Bonmati is a Ballon d’Or winner,” ex-Scotland defender Jen Beattie said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Former England defender Steph Houghton added: “I honestly thought from Spain’s point of view she was definitely their best player and she’s got them through to their first-ever European Championship final.”

The goal sent the Spanish fans at Stadion Letzigrund into pandemonium, while the scorer was immediately embraced by members of La Roja’s bench.

“When the ball was in, I started running and I saw the bench standing so I celebrated with them,” said Bonmati.

“Scoring in a game like this one is super-special. If I can help the team write history, it’s very special.”

She added: “I was confident in my mentality and my physical situation. I wanted to get to this game at my best level. Thanks to all people who were next to me to help me reach this level.”

Los Angeles County’s health system, which is responsible for the care of the region’s poorest, is careening toward a financial crisis because of cuts from a presidential administration and Republican-led Congress looking to drastically slash the size of government.

President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which passed earlier this month, is expected to soon claw $750 million per year from the county Department of Health Services, which oversees four public hospitals and roughly two dozen clinics. In an all-staff email Friday, the agency called the bill a “big, devastating blow to our health system” and said a hiring freeze had gone into effect, immediately.

And the Trump administration’s budget for the next fiscal year will likely result in a $200-million cut to the county Department of Public Health, whose responsibilities include monitoring disease outbreaks, inspecting food and providing substance use treatment.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. I’m not going to say we survive this,” said Barbara Ferrer, head of the public health department, in an interview. “We can’t survive this big a cut.”

Both Ferrer and Department of Health Services head Christina Ghaly warned that the federal cuts will devastate their agencies — and the patients they serve — for years to come. Employee layoffs are likely.

In April, the White House announced it was ending infectious disease grants worth billions of dollars, including $45 million that L.A. County was supposed to use to combat the spread of measles and bird flu. California has joined other states in a lawsuit fighting the cuts, and the court has issued a preliminary injunction suspending the cuts.

A protest earlier this month in Anaheim, co-led by the California Nurses Assn., called on Rep. Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) to vote against President Trump’s spending bill.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

This month, the county public health department lost another $16 million after Trump’s bill cut funding for a program educating food stamp recipients about how to buy healthy meals.

And there’s more to come. The Trump administration’s proposed budget for 2026 will be the biggest blow yet, Ferrer warned, yanking $200 million from her department — a 12% cut.

“I’m old. I’ve been around for a long time,” said Ferrer, whose work in public health dates back to the Reagan administration. “I’ve never actually seen this much disdain for public health.”

Ferrer said the cuts mean she no longer has enough money for the county’s bioterrorism watch program, which monitors for outbreaks that might signal a biological attack. Soon, she said, county officials may have to stop testing ocean water for toxins year round, cutting back to just half the year.

“Like, you want to swim? You want to know that the water is safe where you swim, then oppose these kinds of cuts,” she said. “That affects everybody who goes to the beach.”

L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said she is bracing for $200 million in cuts to her budget.

(Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

Layoffs are likely, said Ferrer. About 1,500 public health staffers are supported through federal grants. More than half the federal money the department receives is funneled to outside organizations, which would likely need to make cuts to stay afloat.

A similarly grim cost analysis is underway at the county Department of Health Services, where executives said they expect to lose $280 million this fiscal year because of the bill.

“I can’t make a promise that we will be able to avoid layoffs because of the magnitude of the challenges,” said Ghaly.

Ghaly said the bill slashed the extra Medicaid money the county typically gets to cover care for low-income patients. They expect many patients might be kicked off Medicaid because of new eligibility and work requirements. The federal government is pulling back on payments for emergency services for undocumented people, meaning the county will have to foot more of the bill.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Department of Health Services officials said they expect to lose $750 million per year by 2028. By then, the agency’s budget deficit is projected to have ballooned to $1.85 billion.

In an attempt to pump more cash into the system, L.A. County supervisors voted on Tuesday to increase a parcel tax first approved by voters in 2002, which is expected to raise an additional $87 million for the county’s trauma care network.

After a long debate Tuesday, Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Lindsey Horvath worked to direct $9 million of the parcel tax money to Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, a private hospital that serves as a critical safety net for South Los Angeles residents who would otherwise find themselves in a medical desert.

Without that cash infusion from the county, the cuts in Trump’s bill would have put the hospital at risk of closing, since the majority of patients in its emergency room are on Medicaid, said Elaine Batchlor, Martin Luther King’s chief executive officer.

“If they’ve lost their Medicaid coverage, we simply won’t get paid for those patients,” she said.

Dr. Elaine Batchlor, chief executive of MLK Community Healthcare, said her hospital was hanging by a thread financially. Then came more cuts.

(Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)

Martin Luther King replaced a county hospital that closed after losing national accreditation in 2005 because of serious medical malpractice, landing it the nickname “Killer King.”

“The fact that that hospital closed in the first place I think is criminal, and I intend to do all I can to protect the integrity of the services,” said Mitchell, whose district includes the hospital and who pushed for it to get a cut of money from the parcel tax increase.

Local health providers said that changes at the state level have created additional uncertainty. The state budget for this fiscal year freezes enrollment in Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, for undocumented immigrants ages 19 and older starting in January. Medi-Cal recipients ages 19 to 59 will have to pay a $30 monthly premium beginning July 1, 2027.

“Most families [we serve] are making about $2,400 to $2,600 a month. They’re going to have to choose between paying their Medi-Cal fees for a family of four — that’s $120 a month — or paying rent or paying for food,” said Jim Mangia, head of St. John’s Community Health, who said the cuts will disrupt care for tens of thousands of low-income residents.

The St. John’s clinic, which gets most of its revenue from Medi-Cal reimbursements, serves more than 120,000 patients a year, most of whom live below the federal poverty line.

If the clinic doesn’t find a way to replace the lost revenue, Mangia warned, services will have to be reduced. The clinic recently started treating immigrant patients in their homes after realizing they had been skipping appointments because they feared being arrested by federal immigration agents.

“Then what we’re looking at is closing several health centers,” said Mangia. “We’re looking at laying off hundreds of staff.”

At Venice Family Clinic, a community health center that serves nearly 45,000 patients annually, 80% of patients rely on Medi-Cal. Roughly half the clinic’s revenue comes from Medi-Cal reimbursements.

Dr. Mitesh Popat, a family physician and head of the clinic, said that federal policy changes — especially more frequent paperwork and added work requirements — will likely push eligible patients off of Medi-Cal. He said the clinic is exploring ways to expand support for patients to navigate the paperwork and keep their coverage.

“This puts a bunch of barriers in the way of people who already have enough challenges in life,” Popat said. “They’re trying to make it, trying to survive, trying to put food on the table.”

A Palestinian baby has died of starvation in Gaza as Israel maintains its blockade on aid supplies and fires on people forced to seek food at controversial United States-backed aid sites described as “death traps”.

The 35-day-old infant died of malnutrition at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, director Muhammad Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera. The unnamed infant was one of two people who succumbed to starvation in the facility on Saturday.

The deaths occurred as Gaza’s Ministry of Health warned that hospital emergency wards were overwhelmed by unprecedented numbers of starving people, with officials saying that 17,000 children in Gaza are suffering from severe malnutrition.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military continued to pound the Strip, with medical sources reporting that at least 116 people were killed across the enclave since dawn, including 38 who were shot dead while seeking food from aid sites run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the deaths happened near a site southwest of Khan Yunis and another centre northwest of Rafah, both in southern Gaza, attributing the fatalities to “Israeli gunfire”.

The Health Ministry says almost 900 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and private military contractors near dangerous GHF sites since the foundation began distributing aid in late May, opening four points that replaced about 400 centres run by United Nations agencies and charities.

Witness Mohammed al-Khalidi told Al Jazeera the shots fired at aid seekers on Saturday were “meant to kill”.

“Suddenly, we saw the jeeps coming from one side and the tanks from the other, and they started shooting at us,” he said.

Another witness, Mohammed al-Barbary, whose cousin died in the shootings, said the GHF sites are “death traps”.

“Anyone can get killed. My cousin was innocent. He went to get food. He wanted to live. We want to live like everyone else,” said al-Barbary.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said families hoping for something to eat are instead burying their loved ones.

The GHF denied that Saturday’s killings happened at its site, claiming they occurred “several kilometres away” and “hours before our sites opened”.

The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident.

‘Open the gates’

Jagan Chapagain, the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, warned that Palestinians in Gaza face “an acute risk of famine”.

“No one should have to risk their life to get basic humanitarian assistance,” he said.

Basic supplies are not available in markets or distribution points, while the cost of essentials such as flour skyrocketed, making it impossible for the population of 2.3 million to meet their daily nutritional needs.

No one should have to risk their life to get basic humanitarian assistance.

Recent weeks have seen desperate people risking their lives just to receive basic aid in Gaza.

The population is facing an acute risk of famine, with continuously worsening conditions. Basic food…

— Jagan Chapagain (@jagan_chapagain) July 19, 2025

Jan Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), rejected assertions made earlier in the week by European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who noted “some good signs” regarding aid distribution in Gaza.

“For NRC and many others no relief has entered for 142 days. Not one truck. Not one delivery,” Egeland wrote on X. He noted that 85 percent of aid trucks never reach their destination because of looting or other issues fuelled by the Gaza starvation crisis.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which Israel has banned from operating in the Palestinian territory, including in occupied East Jerusalem, said it had “enough food for the entire population of Gaza” waiting at the border crossing in Egypt.

“Open the gates, lift the siege and allow UNRWA to do its work,” the organisation said on X.

Wave of attacks

At least 116 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Saturday as Israel continued its ruthless onslaught, bombing tents for the displaced and homes across the enclave.

Four bodies were recovered from the site of Israeli strikes on Bani Suheila near southern Khan Younis, sources at Nasser Hospital told Al Jazeera.

At least one person was killed by an Israeli drone attack on a tent housing displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis.

Further north, Israel struck a residential home in the town of az-Zawayda in central Gaza, killing the director of the Nuseirat police, Colonel Omar Saeed Aql, along with 11 of his family members, according to the Interior Ministry.

In Gaza City, three people were killed in two Israeli air attacks on the Zeitoun neighbourhood, according to a source at al-Ahli Hospital.

Also in the city, five people were killed in an Israeli air attack on the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Medical sources said two people were killed in Israeli shelling in the Jabalia an-Nazla neighbourhood, in northern Gaza.

Israeli forces also opened fire on and arrested three Palestinian fishermen off the Gaza coast, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office.

The Israeli military has maintained a naval blockade on Gaza since 2007, when Hamas took over the enclave, which has been tightened since the start of the war in October 2023.

The Nasser hospital in southern Gaza has said 24 people have been killed near an aid distribution site.

Palestinians who were present at the site said Israeli troops opened fire as people were trying to access food on Saturday.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said there were “no known injured individuals” from IDF fire near the site.

Separately, an Israeli military official said warning shots were fired to disperse people who the IDF believed were a threat.

The claims by both sides have not been independently verified. Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza.

Footage seen by the BBC later on Saturday showed what appeared to be a number of body bags at Nasser hospital’s courtyard surrounded by nurses and people in blood-stained clothes.

In another video, a man said people were waiting to get aid when they came under targeted fire for five minutes. A paramedic accused Israeli troops of killing in cold blood.

The videos have not been verified by the BBC.

Reuters said it had spoken to witnesses who described people being shot in the head and torso. The news agency also reported seeing bodies wrapped in white shrouds at Nasser hospital.

There have been almost daily reports of people being killed by Israeli fire while seeking food in Gaza.

Israel imposed a total blockade of aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip in March, and later resumed its military offensive against Hamas, collapsing a two-month ceasefire. It said it wanted to put pressure on the Palestinian armed group to release Israeli hostages.

Although the blockade was partially eased in late May, amid warnings of a looming famine from global experts, there are still severe shortages of food, as well as medicine and fuel.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, says there are thousands of malnourished children across the territory, with more cases detected every day.

In addition to allowing in some UN aid lorries, Israel and the US set up a new aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), saying they wanted to prevent Hamas from stealing aid.

On Friday, the UN human rights office said that it had so far recorded 798 aid-related killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the GHF’s sites, which are operated by US private security contractors and located inside military zones in southern and central Gaza.

The other 183 killings were recorded near UN and other aid convoys.

The Israeli military said it recognised there had been incidents in which civilians had been harmed and that it was working to minimise “possible friction between the population and the [Israeli] forces as much as possible”.

The GHF accused the UN of using “false and misleading” statistics from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Earlier this month, a former security contractor for the GHF told the BBC he witnessed colleagues opening fire several times on hungry Palestinians who had posed no threat. The GHF said the allegations were categorically false.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’ cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 57,823 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Singer Ray Stevens has shared his first update since being admitted to the hospital on July 4 for surgery.

According to his Instagram, the 86-year-old has been moved out of intensive care and is continuing to recover.

“Ray is out of ICU and beginning to walk the halls as therapy with a nurse’s assistance as he is working towards recovering from this surgery,” the post from Wednesday reads. “Ray is very grateful for all of the cards and get-well messages. Everything is Still Beautiful!!!!”

The last line is a reference to one of Stevens’ best-known songs, the Grammy Award-winning “Everything Is Beautiful.”

In a previous statement provided to People magazine, representatives of Stevens said he was recovering after a “minimally invasive heart surgery” on Monday. On July 4, he went to a Nashville hospital after experiencing chest pain.

Following a heart catheterization, Stevens was informed that he had suffered a minor heart attack. A subsequent surgery was carried out successfully.

Though the two-time Grammy winner’s upcoming performances at his CabaRay Showroom in Nashville have been canceled, fans are just happy to hear he is OK.

“This is the good news I was waiting for,” one Instagram user commented under the update. Another rejoiced, saying it was “great news in a world of such sadness and loss recently.”

Stevens has had a successful music career, cutting his first top 10 pop hit, “Ahab the Arab,” in 1962. The singer has recorded 45 albums, according to his website, won two Grammy Awards, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019.

Following the induction, Stevens was asked whether he would be retiring anytime soon.

“I feel fine; I’ll probably keel over after I hang up the phone,” he joked.

In 2024, he announced he would be hanging up his boots — only to change his mind a year later with the release of a new album, “Say Whut?”

“Although I said earlier that last year was going to be my final year at the CabaRay … I’m kind of going back on that because I want to promote this album,” he told NewsChannel 5 Nashville.

Mexican actor Manuel Masalva is on the road to recovery after contracting an aggressive bacterial infection in March that left him in a medically induced coma for weeks.

In his first social media post since the onset of his illness, the “Narcos: Mexico” actor updated his followers on his current health status via Instagram on Monday evening.

“I am healing. I want to profoundly thank you all for the support you have given me and continue to give me, in every sense, every one of you,” Masalva wrote. “This [process] has barely begun, there is much more left to go, but I feel blessed, strong, reborn and well-accompanied. … God has given me a new life.”

Masalva first felt the onset of an ailment when he arrived in Dubai in March, following a trip to the Philippines, revealing that he ended up spending 105 days in the Dubai hospital that first treated him for his prolonged illness.

The actor first arrived in the Middle East city on March 18, his manager Jaime Jaramillo Espinosa told The Times in April.

“[After] about two days in Dubai, Masalva began to feel internal discomfort and pain which increased by the day,” Jaramillo Espinosa said.

On March 26, Masalva underwent emergency surgery after doctors discovered the bacterial infection, which prevented him from traveling back to his home in Mexico. The following day, the infection reached his lungs and he had to be put into a medically induced coma.

Masalva thanked the Dubai hospital staff for their work and for the distinct culture that “overflowed with love and spirituality.”

“I don’t know if I really understand all of what’s going on or just a part of it, it’s been an eternity and there are still some parts missing, I just want to the strongest thanks that I can give to God, my family, my doctors and all those people that have supported me since the start of this process. I owe you all my life,” he wrote.

Masalva played the role of Ramón Arellano Félix in the Netflix drama series “Narcos: Mexico,” alongside Diego Luna, Bad Bunny and Scoot McNairy. He has also been featured on the telenovela “La Rosa de Guadalupe” and recently in the series “La Guzmán.”

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman, who was shot nine times by a gunman posing as a police officer who authorities say went on to kill another lawmaker, is out of the hospital and is now recovering in a transitional care unit, his family said.

“John has been moved to a rehab facility, but still has a long road to recovery ahead,” the family said in a statement Monday night.

The family released a photo showing a smiling Hoffman giving a thumbs-up while standing with a suitcase on rollers, ready to leave the hospital.

Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were awakened around 2 a.m. on June 14 by a man pounding on the door of their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin who said he was a police officer. According to an FBI agent’s affidavit, security video showed the suspect, Vance Boelter, at the door wearing a black tactical vest and holding a flashlight. He was wearing a flesh-colored mask that covered his entire head.

Yvette Hoffman told investigators they opened the door, and when they spotted the mask, they realized that the man was not a police officer. He then said something like “this is a robbery.” The senator then lunged at the gunman and was shot nine times. Yvette Hoffman was hit eight times before she could shut the door. Their adult daughter, Hope, was there but was not injured and called 911.

Boelter is accused of going to the homes of two other lawmakers in a vehicle altered to resemble a squad car, without making contact with them, before going to the home of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in nearby Brooklyn Park. He allegedly killed both of them and wounded their dog so seriously that he had to be euthanized.

The chief federal prosecutor for Minnesota has called the lawmaker’s killing an assassination.

Yvette Hoffman was released from the hospital a few days after the attacks. Former President Biden visited the senator in the hospital when he was in town for the Hortmans’ funeral.

Boelter, who remains jailed without bail, is charged in federal and state court with murder and attempted murder. At a hearing Thursday, Boelter said he was “looking forward to the facts about the 14th coming out.”

Prosecutors have declined to speculate on a motive. Friends have described him as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views.

It will be up to Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi to decide whether to seek the federal death penalty. Minnesota abolished its state death penalty in 1911.

Karnowski writes for the Associated Press.

Recording star Connie Francis says she is on the mend after a recent trip to the hospital to address some “extreme pain.”

The “Stupid Cupid” and “Lipstick on Your Collar” singer, who rose to fame in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, informed fans on Facebook that she is receiving care after undergoing tests and exams. “Thank you all for your kind thoughts, words and prayers,” she wrote Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday, the 87-year-old “Pretty Little Baby” singer wrote on Facebook that she went to the hospital to learn more about the cause of her pain, which she said prompted her to call off an upcoming Fourth of July performance, her latest cancellation in recent weeks. Francis’ posts this week did not disclose much information about her condition, but a previous Facebook update provided some insight.

A week prior to her hospitalization, Francis announced on Facebook that she had been dealing with “pelvic pain on the right side” and underwent tests to determine “that this is due to a fracture.”

“It looks like I may have to rely on my wheelchair a little longer than anticipated,” she wrote, adding that she had to pull out of a then-upcoming performance.

Francis gave followers more information about her health in March, telling them in another Facebook post that she uses a wheelchair to avoid putting “undue pressure on a troublesome painful hip” and that she was awaiting stem cell therapy at the time.

Francis has spoken openly about her personal afflictions over the course of her career. She told the Village Voice in 2011 that she had been committed to several mental institutions in the ‘80s. She said she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after she was misdiagnosed with other mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, ADD and ADHD.

The singer, also known for “Where the Boys Are” and “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” recently had her music go viral on TikTok as users use her “Pretty Little Baby” for videos.

“I’m still astounded by the popularity of ‘Pretty Little Baby,’” she said last week, thanking the A-listers who have used her hit in their social media videos.