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The death toll in New Jersey from a days-long heat wave that gripped much of the East Coast during the Fourth of July weekend may be as high as 29, the state’s Department of Health said on Monday. Those who died ranged in age from their mid-30s to their 80s, and most of the deaths occurred in New Jersey’s densely populated central and northern regions, where temperatures exceeded 100 degrees for days and remained exceptionally warm even after the sun set, state officials said. (Tully and Goldstein, 7/6)

At least three South Side residents died of causes related to last week’s heat wave, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. (Anastasakos and Kenny, 7/6)

A little-noticed provision in the state budget that was approved last week aims to shut down a tax strategy used by at least one hospital system to exceed the state’s sales tax refund cap. The change would require nonprofit and public hospital systems to file a single sales tax refund claim for all their related entities. (Crouch, 7/7)

Alaska’s food assistance program had the highest payment error rate in the country for a fourth straight year last year, according to rankings put out by the Agriculture Department late last month. During the last federal fiscal year, which ended in September 2025, 23% of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients in Alaska ended up with significantly more or significantly less in benefits than they should have, according to the federal report. The national average was 11%. (Stone, 7/7)

Dozens of hospice nurses at Allina Health are on strike Monday, as they push for a contract and pay raises. The group of 65 hospice nurses work in homes and nursing facilities around the Twin Cities metro area. They unionized in the spring of 2025 with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, and have been negotiating toward their first contract for nearly a year. (Timar-Wilcox, 7/6)

A prescription refill program that quietly launched in Utah earlier this year has kicked off a big medical debate: Is artificial intelligence ready to take over tasks that, until now, could only be performed by doctors? The program allows Utah residents to skip the doctor’s office and get their prescriptions refilled online by an AI chatbot called Doctronic. It’s a seemingly simple step toward making healthcare more convenient for patients and prescribers. (Perrone, 7/6)

An Idaho woman who said her toddler twins died last year after being vaccinated faces murder charges connected to their deaths, authorities said. A grand jury indicted Andrea Shaw, who is accused of suffocating her 18-month-old twins in May 2025, on two counts of first-degree murder on June 29, according to court records and a statement from the Payette Police Department. While appearing last year on an internet show produced by Children’s Health Defense — an anti-vaccine group founded by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Shaw said her twins died after getting vaccinated. (Kelety, 7/7)

A toddler discovered in a backyard pool in a Phoenix suburb in February was declared dead before being found breathing hours later in a room that serves as the hospital morgue, according to recently released police records. Two Gilbert police officers saw possible signs of life multiple times, but the child was still taken to the hospital’s “cold room” after being treated by staff, according to the documents. “Please do your thing and let me do my thing,” Dr. Aryan Toosi told an officer at one point, according to the report. “I went to medical school for a reason.” (Billeaud, 7/7)