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Entertainment over policy? White House arcade games ignite backlash
White House arcade games spark criticism for prioritising entertainment amid rising living costs and war concerns.
Banner flies over Paramount Studios calling CEO David Ellison ‘Trump’s ‘b----’
Amid furor over Paramount’s attempted acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a plane flew a banner over Paramount Studios in Los Angeles referring to CEO David Ellison as ‘Trump’s b----.’
Official White House website launches arcade games where users arrest immigrants and build a border wall
The Trump administration launched a series of arcade-style games on the official White House website Thursday to tout its priorities — the latest turn in its aggressive online effort to troll Democrats that has at times surfaced racist and offensive images.
Elon Musk’s super PAC starts spending to help GOP in midterms, including Texas’ Ken Paxton
Elon Musk's America PAC has disclosed its first spending on Republican candidates — roughly $800,000 across Senate and House races in multiple states. Who do you think this spending will impact most?
Newsom says he plans to endorse in S.F. House race
Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to endorse in the San Francisco congressional race to replace Nancy Pelosi, and that he would likely do so as part of a batch of endorsements in California races.
Missouri candidate allegedly wanted campaign manager to plant cocaine in opponent’s car
The state’s GOP chairman called the allegations “serious and deeply troubling” and said Republican Thomas Christopher Ross should immediately drop out of the race.
Judge temporarily grants request for 5th year eligibility in NCAA case involving OU athletes
Former OU baseball player Dayton Tockey and seven other athletes from various schools were granted a temporary restraining order Thursday afternoon at the Cleveland County Courthouse in a case seeking
Orlando Pride loan goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse to Manchester City
The Orlando Pride goalkeeper is headed from the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) to WSL (Women’s Super League) on loan with Manchester City.
Missouri Supreme Court blocks Trump-backed US House map and orders it be put to a vote
The Missouri Supreme Court has unanimously blocked new congressional districts backed by President Donald Trump from being used in the November election and ordered a statewide vote on whether to uphold or reject the new map.
Trump appointees advance plans for Lafayette Square fencing and White House gates
Pieces of President Donald Trump's wide-ranging Washington makeover made their next step toward approval Thursday, but not without substantial critiques of plans for permanent fencing and gates around Lafayette Square in front of the White House.
A Miami doctor and his business were at the center of a U.S. House...
A Miami doctor and his business were at the center of a U.S. House task force hearing on Tuesday looking into what lawmakers said could be the exploitation of birthright citizenship. The business in...
White House website debuts 5 low-res arcade video games that promote Trump’s agenda
The White House website has unveiled Arcade, a collection of five low-resolution video games that promote different aspects of President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Proposal for White House Visitor Screening Center Advances
A federal panel again paved the way for one of President Trump’s construction projects, even as it heard opposition to another proposal to fence in a park north of the White House.
JD Vance Says He Wouldn’t Call Iran Conflict a War
In the first White House press briefing since Karoline Leavitt left as press secretary, the vice president suggested that when the conflict would end was up to Tehran.
Vance says Iran conflict isn’t a ‘war,’ even as he refuses to say when it will end
Vice President JD Vance could provide neither a timeline for the Iran war to end nor a date when gas prices might sink below pre-war levels during a White House appearance Thursday, suggesting instead it was up to Iran to conclude the conflict that began with joint US-Israeli airstrikes six months ago.
Bill would shift high school transfer eligibility decisions
(The Center Square) – The Illinois High School Association has concerns about new legislation that would allow decisions about transfer students’ athletic eligibility to be made by schools. House Bill 5808 would require the IHSA to allow high school student athletes to transfer with full eligibility if principals from both the sending and receiving schools provide written consent.
New Swan Theatre houses first-ever New Swan Science Faire
The UCI New Swan Shakespeare Center collaborated with AirUCI and UCI Office of Research to host the inaugural New Swan Science Faire on Aug. 27. The event was free and open for everyone to attend. Students, families, scientists and performers gathered at the library gateway plaza outside of the New Swan Theatre to spread AirUCI’s […]
Democrats eye expanded Medicare coverage if they take U.S. House
Reversing Medicaid cuts and restoring ACA subsidies top the list, but Democrats are also talking about lowering the age of eligibility for Medicare benefits.
Democrats eye expanded Medicare coverage if they take U.S. House
Reversing Medicaid cuts and restoring ACA subsidies top the list, but Democrats are also talking about lowering the age of eligibility for Medicare benefits.
Zuckerberg told Trump a national AI regulator is a flawed idea
The previously unreported call marks the involvement of one of the world's top tech executives in a fraught White House policy debate.
Missouri candidate charged with trying to plant cocaine on his political rival
A candidate for the Missouri House has made an initial court appearance on a federal drug charge accusing him of trying to plant cocaine and Adderall on his Republican primary opponent.
Democrats promise a big agenda if they win control of Congress, but their unity is being tested
Beginning on Day One, House Democrats plan to "hold the crooks accountable." That's the promise House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has made, previewing an ambitious agenda if Democrats seize majority control from Republicans in the midterm elections.
Two Republican nominees for Kansas House withdraw from ballot due to health complications
A pair of Kansas House Republicans — Clarke Sanders and Cody Ward — decide not to seek election on the November ballot due to significant health challenges.
Mortgage rates jump to highest level in over a year
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose this week to 6.71%, according to the latest Freddie Mac data released Thursday. That is up from last week's reading of 6.66%.
GOP lawmaker says he expects McConnell will return to Capitol Hill later this month after lengthy absence
House Oversight Chair James Comer of Kentucky said Thursday that Sen. Mitch McConnell’s staff have told him they are hoping the senator – who has had an extended absence from Washington due to health issues – will return when the Senate comes back into session on September 14.
Nvidia wants to turn your house of gaming PCs into an AI supercomputer
Nvidia's free RTX PAIR app spreads local AI workloads across multiple GPUs on your network, dramatically cutting down on processing times.
Billionaire investor Leon Black sues and declines to testify in House committee’s Epstein investigation
Billionaire investor Leon Black is suing the House committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein to try and block the panel from obtaining his non-disclosure agreements and testimony.
Seattle science powerhouses bet big on AI-designed biology
A new $95 million project could yield cancer treatments, genetic switches and plastic-eating enzymes.
Entertainment briefs | ‘4 Cool Bands’ perform at Arcata Playhouse
“SoniX at the Graves,” an immersive sound experience, is slated for Sept. 13 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, 636 F St., Eureka.
YouTube Gold: Appalachian State Shocks The World
The Big Ten has been a football powerhouse for more than a century, and the main driving forces of that dominance have almost always been Ohio State and Michigan. Michigan Stadium, generally known as the Big House, seats 107,601, but they can squeeze in 115,000 on a big day when the fire Marshall’s not looking. […]
Democrats vow aggressive investigations into Trump ‘corruption’ and ‘grift’ if they win the House
Rep. Robert Garcia would most likely chair the Oversight Committee, while Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., is in line to chair the Judiciary Committee. Here’s how they would use that power.
Meet the South's first Black gay congressman
Rep. Everton Blair will serve just four months in Congress. Still, the South's first Black gay man in the House has plans for his short time there.
Brawl of the Business Owners at GOP CD1 Primary Debate on WMUR
Verbal shots were fired in a battle of the business owners at the Republican Primary WMUR debate for the U.S. House of Representatives First Congressional District on Wednesday night.
Seminoles MBB Schedule Highlighted By SEC Showdowns
Coach Leonard Hamilton’s squad navigates a grueling non-conference slate featuring a fierce rivalry renewal with Florida and high-stakes road tests against powerhouse Tennessee and Houston programs.
Letter to the Editor
The University of Alabama continues to invite political interference into the work of UA. After the passage of House Bill 580 in April, University administration has rolled out voluntary compliance to this bill. It is voluntary because UA was explicitly exempt from this bill. The new policies require redundant and more time-intensive post-tenure reviews. New...
Trump promises to campaign for Republicans and says they have a winning midterm message
President Donald Trump is urging Republican lawmakers to run on his White House record despite his sagging popularity.
Sony and Microsoft say they’re not obligated to pass U.S. tariff refunds to consumers, echoing Nintendo
Back in July, Sony executives told investors that the company expected to receive $508 million in refunds from the U.S. government, after tariffs that the PlayStation-maker paid were ruled mostly in 2025 were found to be illegal. “Most” of the refund would by recouped by Sony’s gaming division, its chief financial officer said. This week, Sony’s lawyers are arguing that the company is not legally obligated to pass those proceeds on to consumers who paid for recently price-hiked PlayStation consoles. That’s in the face of a lawsuit from gamers calling on them to do exactly that. “Paying fair market price for voluntarily purchased consumer goods is not a legally cognizable injury in fact,” the lawyers wrote in a legal motion filed on Monday, as they asked a judge in California’s Northern District to dismiss a potential class action lawsuit over the tariff refunds. Microsoft made a similar argument two weeks ahead of Sony’s lawyers, in a similar lawsuit brought by a gamer in federal court in Washington State. As Microsoft’s legal team put it on August 21, in their request for a dismissal of that lawsuit: “There is nothing unjust about Plaintiff purchasing an Xbox at an advertised price and getting exactly what he paid for—regardless of whatever theory he devised months later about Microsoft’s cost structure.” Both legal fights are set to go on for some time. How things got to this point U.S. tariffs impacting a wide range of imported goods, including game consoles, had kicked off in early 2025. In May 2025, Microsoft raised the price of its Xbox consoles, citing “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” They raised them again that September. In August of that year, Sony raised the price of PlayStation 5 consoles, citing “a challenging economic environment.” Sony later told investors that its tariff fees for the fall quarter were nearly $200 million. in February of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 2025 tariffs illegal, prompting impacted companies to begin to request refunds. In turn, consumers began suing the likes of Sony and Microsoft to get what they said was their share. The gamers in the Microsoft and Sony lawsuits argue that the 2025 price hikes of PlayStation and Xbox consoles, which added $50 or more to their sticker price, were due to illegal tariffs and should now be returned to consumers. The Sony suit started in May, when a group of gamers sued in federal court in California, saying Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation) would be unjustly enriching itself if it did not pass tariff refunds to its PS5 buyers. “Sony is poised to be paid twice for the same unlawful tariff burden: once by its customers (through elevated prices) and once by the U.S. government (through tariff refunds),” the gamers’ lawyers wrote at the time. They called for Sony to partially reimburse anyone who bought a PlayStation in the U.S. since August 1, 2025. The Microsoft suit, filed by gamer Trevor Hastings against the Xbox giant in July, made similar claims. The console makers push back In late July, Nintendo’s lawyers, facing a similar suit accusing them of double-dipping on tariffs and refunds, replied with arguments that previewed Microsoft’s and Sony’s: “Nintendo or one of its retailers set a price for each product, and consumers decided whether that price was worth paying,” they wrote. Sony has buttressed that Nintendo-style argument this week by saying that the gamers have failed to prove that tariffs were the reason for its August 2025 PS5 price hike. They call thatclaim “speculative and illogical.” Other factors, including “inflation, currency fluctuations, component costs, logistics, competitive dynamics, or demand,” could have played a role. (No, the Sony lawyers do not break down the costs and factors that officially triggered the price increases). Microsoft has also argued that there’s no proof in these lawsuits that tariffs drove all or some of the price increase, as it seeks to dismiss the tariff refund suit it’s facing: “Plaintiff provides no specific allegations that would establish any pricing differential attributable to tariffs or suggest any possibility that Microsoft applied then or could recreate now any dollar-for-dollar calculation of tariff-related pricing—any more than it could any other market factor that affects pricing.” To further skewer the gamer side’s argument in its case, Sony’s lawyers have pointed to what might be a surprising defense: yet another PlayStation 5 price hike from this past spring, after the tariffs were ruled illegal. “If the original price increase were attributable to tariffs, SIE [Sony Interactive Entertainment, aka PlayStation] would have had no reason to raise prices again after the Supreme Court invalidated the IEEPA tariffs.” … “If tariffs were the cause of the price increases, one would expect SIE to lower prices once the tariffs were eliminated—not raise them again. Instead, the timeline confirms that the pricing of PlayStation consoles includes a diverse and dynamic set of input costs.” Judges have not yet ruled on the arguments made by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. Last week, Panic, the company behind the small, yellow Playdate handheld said it would be passing its tariff refunds on to consumers. It is the only gaming hardware maker to have made such a pledge. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my reporting, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: A reporter’s second Second Life Wagner James Au, who from 2003-2006 was paid by San Francisco-based tech company Linden Lab to be a full-time journalist embedded in their virtual world Second Life, is returning to the company. This time, he’ll be an editorial advisor and business development specialist, he tells Game File. The new role will involve trying to share the stories of people inhabiting Second Life’s ongoing online world with reporters and by extension the public. Au plans to continue to also chronicle some of that through his long-running blog New World Notes. I’ve known Au since the mid-2000s and featured him in a 2007 article for the Columbia Journalism Review about reporters like him opening up virtual news outlets within Second Life. As I wrote at the time: On April 22, 2003, writing as Hamlet Linden for the New World Notes blog on Second Life’s Web site, Au introduced himself. “For the next few months, Linden Lab has invited me to set aside my journalist cap, and instead, don the digital beanie of their in-house virtual correspondent.” He wasn’t paid to keep it positive. He wrote about builders and eccentrics, but then in August of that year, he reported on a tax revolt against Linden Lab (a complaint about the fees it charges users who build stuff) led by a resident whose avatar was a big cat. Second Life has always been less of a video game and more of a virtual world where people can live, hang out, make art, sell virtual items and flirt. Back in 2007, Au described touring it as “sort of like underwater lucid dreaming.” For the past two decades, Au has maintained New World Notes as an independent publication. But he said he’s been drawn back to Second Life and Linden Lab as a place to directly work. The virtual world has around 650,000 monthly active users, he said, “which is actually about what it was during the hype wave.” Au says he’s still finding rich stories in Second Life, the kind that keep him interested 20 years into the beat: “Over the last few months for instance, I wrote about an SL creator in Venezuela whose apartment was destroyed by the earthquakes, so the global SL community rallied to get him back on his feet,” he told me. “Then there’s the woman from a Middle Eastern country who explored her lesbian sexuality in SL, then earned enough from her virtual jewelry to escape her abusive family situation and country.” Au wants to beckon more reporters to give Second Life another look. He argues that it is often ahead of internet trends, noting, for example, an early backlash in the community against AI-made art. Now the platform is drawing curiosity from more of the user-generated content community who’ve grown up with the likes of Roblox, according to Au. “Second Life was too early during its hype wave in 2005-2010, but it now feels right for a new wave of interest,” he told me.
As Midterms Loom, Democrats Feud Over Defections
The fight has highlighted party divisions and raised questions about how Democrats will run the House should they win the majority.
Presented with bleak polling, the White House moves to make the midterms about Trump
Despite economic headwinds and an unpopular war, Donald Trump’s allies believe that Republicans will win in November if only they can get the president’s base to turn out.
Trump administration threatens to cut off agencies’ ties to Smithsonian
Echoing White House attacks, an Interior Department letter threatened the institution “under current leadership” with loss of support for sourcing artifacts and more.
House GOP lawmakers explore increased public health reporting for tick-borne diseases
The commonwealth had more than 16,000 reported cases of Lyme disease in 2024, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
USTR's Greer huddles with House Republicans amid Trump trade spats
Trump's plan to lower tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of imported beef caused an uproar among cattle ranchers.
House Democrats block constitutional amendment on Supreme Court size
The Republican-led resolution, which requires two-thirds support in the House and Senate, comes in response to increasing openness among Democrats to expand the court.
Kiggans, Underwood Recognize September 1st-8th as National Clinical Nurse Specialist Week
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02) and Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14) introduced a resolution to recognize the first...
Wednesday, September 2nd: Texas Roadhouse, Humane Society of Eastern Carolina, Entertainment Report, Be Our Guest: Main & Mill Oyster Bar & Tavern
Eastern Lifestyle
Republicans fail to ease one of Trump's greatest fears as Supreme Court measure collapses
House Democrats blocked a constitutional amendment to cap Supreme Court justices at nine after President Donald Trump warned of future court packing.
House committee subpoenas Oracle’s Ellison about costly veterans health records project
Lawmakers in both parties are fed up with the tech firm’s handling of the decadelong effort to update VA medical files.
Why Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) Stock Is Trading Up Today
What Happened? Shares of global online betting powerhouse Flutter Entertainment (NASDAQ:FLUT) jumped 4.1% in the afternoon session after Wolfe Research analy...
How being the nice guy made Ivan Sher a Las Vegas luxury real estate powerhouse
Colleagues describe Ivan Sher, founder of IS Luxury, as approachable, authentic and relentlessly focused on relationships — qualities they say helped his company generate nearly $779 million in sal...
New Business Spotlight – Canterbury House, Direct Primary Care
A unique new healthcare option is now available in Mentor. Canterbury House Direct Primary Care, founded by Dr. Sarah Watson, DO, makes medical care simple, thoughtful, and easy to access. The practice brings back relationship-centered medicine that values people and fits real life. Dr. Watson believes that
8 questions GOP lawmakers face as the House returns
Republicans face a torrent of questions about the words and actions President Donald Trump has unleashed while they’ve been gone.
Museums for fall 2026: Science at the MSI, women all-stars at Art Institute and the annual architecture Open House
Whether you like architecture, history, science or maybe bugs, museums around the Chicago area have your thing this fall.
I Visited My Friend Out of Town. After What I Saw, I Don’t Know If I Can Stay at Her House Again.
This is disrespectful.
Neal, longtime incumbent, beats Whalen, an educator, political newcomer
He held off challenger Jeromie Whalen with less than 10% of the vote.
August Monthly Review: ChatGPT In Epic
Death, taxes, another frontier lab healthcare launch inspiring truly insane LinkedIn takes. As much as I want to stay away, I repeatedly am the crewman unplugging his ears whenever we pass these sirens. So it’s not the first and probably not the last time we dial up the typewriter rather than tie ourselves to the mast. The full blow-by-blow timeline: Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe The End of the Standalone PHR (Jan 8): ChatGPT Health arrives for consumers, at the time powered by b.well. I was bullish on the approach in that the best way for the PHR to finally solve distribution was to meet consumers were they already are (i.e. When Horizontal Meets Healthcare (Jan 9): OpenAI for Healthcare puts out the shingle for enterprises, with SharePoint ingestion standing in for the EHR integration the product actually needed. Another One: Anthropic’s Healthcare Debut (Jan 16): Claude's version, on HealthEx rails instead of b.well, with Agent Skills for FHIR development as the one true vertical-specific investment. ChatGPT for Clinicians: The Trap Sprung (Apr 24): OpenAI filled in the missing GTM middle with a free product for verified clinicians, effectively peeling the enterprise wrapper off ChatGPT for Healthcare and taking the PLG fight directly to OpenEvidence. OpenAI’s Second Attempt at Health (Jul 31): a relaunch of their patient specific app, now branded Health in ChatGPT, where the privacy partition came out, the connectors thinned, and b.well disappeared in favor of first-party FHIR work against a smaller network Beyond a Shingle So what was announced now? Today, we’re introducing a new electronic health record integration that brings authorized patient context from Epic into ChatGPT for Healthcare, along with the Healthcare Public Data plugin for direct, structured access to official healthcare datasets like PubMed, DailyMed, and CMS Coverage. Together, these capabilities bring ChatGPT closer to the systems and sources healthcare teams trust, while supporting the controls and compliance healthcare work requires. The core portfolio is unchanged from prior announcements we delineated and discussed (aside from the relaunch of patient-facing). Since trade publications still seem to be confusing them by using the wrong names: Enterprise sales motion: ChatGPT for Healthcare Protecting their core product / PLG: ChatGPT for Clinicians Consumer/patient-facing product: Health in ChatGPT So really, this is a feature release (specifically for ChatGPT for Healthcare when it comes to EHR integration). What’s cool about it, though, is that we are moving beyond just putting out a shingle. Everything in the January enterprise launch was horizontalizable: Horizontal tech companies thus generally start verticalization with their “putting out a shingle phase”. Telling the world you’re open for business as a horizontal tech company reliably attracts early inbound interest from buyers who are already trying to force-fit horizontal tools into domain-specific workflows and are eager for any signal that the vendor intends to support their use case more directly. Nothing was really vertical specific, which is exactly what you'd expect from the ultimate hypergrowth horizontal company dipping their toes into specific industries. But eventually you have to stop changing the sign on the door and start changing the product. Can you guess where the horizontal product was going to run out of road? This is the core dilemma writ large: verticalization requires differentiation, while scale economics of consumer and horizontal push toward unification. I’ve buried the lede so deep here it will be painful to some readers, but what should be shocking to no one is that my perspective is that EHR integration is the only path that meaningfully resolves this tension for ChatGPT for Healthcare. Integration with Microsoft Sharepoint is fine, but it is categorically insufficient for any product that hopes to influence clinical decision-making. SMART Money Well here we are, eight months later! Real vertical investment has begun, which surprised a few people. One friend in the industry messaged me: “Absolutely no way Epic gave ChatGPT API access.” Looking forensically at the announcements, the integration is notably read-only across appointment notes, laboratory results, medications, and specialist documentation. So while I’m not a betting man, I'd wager the house this is a SMART on FHIR launch: That sounds a lot like USCDI! The recommended path for the workflow they outline would be SMART on FHIR Their Health AI lead’s post is evocative of both standalone and EHR launch SMART, which another termed “ChartGPT” and “EHR Plugin” The implementation burden for SMART on FHIR is the lowest of the available integrative paths This is the team who literally did patient-facing SMART on FHIR with Epic last month Most importantly, if you’re a horizontal company, you generally still haven’t taken the full plunge and thus (overly) value reusability. SMART on FHIR is the logical compromise: healthcare-specific enough to matter, but standardized enough to reuse. Nobody Asked Judy Another friend asked “I thought they had to go to each health system, or did they go direct to Epic and now health systems opt in?” Given the trust paradigms in healthcare, this functionally cannot be Epic hoovering up all the data for OpenAI and shoving ChatGPT in their customers’ faces (or they would revolt). However, I do believe the aforementioned terrible coverage by TechCrunch and other outlets is probably responsible for that question, given the 325 million reference. When using FHIR as a business associate to an Epic customer, there is no EHR gatekeeping to speak of, as that isn’t how fhir.epic.com works: You register an app You pick your APIs You test against the sandbox APIs You list as “Ready for Production” Hospitals pick your app You test and go live with them Bluntly, nobody had to say yes or no in Verona (nor were they given the chance). Vendor Services (their next developer tier up that I doubt OpenAI is using quite yet in this initial release) certainly has contractual paperwork that some resent, but even there, the twin pressures of mounting antitrust and information blocking make outright gatekeeping increasingly fraught. My friend’s sentiment is, to me, representative of a broader industry neurosis, perhaps a sort of scar tissue of prior eras: people assume the gate is still there and never actually try the door. There are certainly other ways Epic (and any EHR) can put its thumb on the scale, but they are not so dumb as to stand in front of a federally mandated API and play bouncer at this exact moment in time. So I think they can and probably should go deeper, as this release is at best parity and at worst behind vertical-specific competition. OpenEvidence did a basic SMART launch with Sutter Health in February, allowing for more convenient evidence search by providers. They then add patient-context (the equivalent SMART on FHIR flow to what we see here) when Cedars-Sinai went enterprise-wide in May. UpToDate has four distinct applications across deeper workflows like patient engagement listed in Epic Showroom and announced a partnership with Epic to power Art at UGM Abridge and other ambient scribes have invested deeply into the deepest bidirectional clinical copilot workflow with integrations well beyond SMART on FHIR. In that light, the “Who is OpenAI primarily targeting here?” is clear. This release brings them into striking distance of OpenEvidence, but not the others quite yet. They are the only one of the three you can reach without building something truly Epic-specific. When will they go further? Competition is a great motivator to overcome the horizontal demons and start building things that can’t be reused: not across industries, not across EHRs, maybe not past the customer you built them for. That’s the price of actually verticalizing. The question is if and when OpenAI will be willing to pay it. Month in Review Here is the monthly review. As a reminder, this is a regular round-up of the month’s posts and other content to surface things you may have missed across regulation, litigation, interoperability, and beyond. AI assistance is used in these bullet summaries so I can focus on articles. Articles Published: None this month Video Content: The Information Exchange: Standards-based Thruple Edition (Aug 14): Back to school for us too, with Brad reporting in from the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem’s one year anniversary in DC. We get into the January CMS-0057 deadline, the fall rulemaking reading list, and why enrollment still keeps most apps off FHIR. The Information Exchange: Epic Dúnadan Edition (Aug 25): A UGM roundup with Ryan Brickner joining for the first time to check our takes against what the building actually thinks. Rangers, Ergo sitting on top of EHI, and a down-market lineup that needs some cuts. Regulatory: Stacked Deck, Bad Hand (Aug 05): ONC’s website refresh took the entire HIT Policy Committee record with it, so I rebuilt the archive and went looking for the regulatory capture story everyone assumes is buried in there. Stacking the deck and winning the hand turn out to be very different things. The Sixth Generation of Patient Access (Aug 19): A quick catalog of the five generations of patient access we’ve layered on since HIPAA, and the two candidates now competing to be the sixth. One is planned. The other is the market routing around the plan entirely. Court cases: Three Cases Walk Into a Docket (Aug 06): Two surprise settlements cleared the board in a single week, and then Judge Maddox dropped ninety-four pages on Vyne v. Henry Schein. The sleeper is a DMCA holding that makes direct-to-database a considerably riskier business model. Epic v. Health Gorilla: Into the MDL (Aug 10): Nine class actions are headed to Miami, and the Panel signaled it wants to bring the case that spawned them along too. That would leave Epic arguing the requests were obviously fraudulent in one courtroom and unknowable in the other. Amazon v. Perplexity: Agents Are Legalized! (Aug 11): The Ninth Circuit vacated the injunction against Comet, holding that the user is the one accessing the servers rather than the company that built the agent. A real win for agentic access, and a much narrower one than the headline suggests. Veeva v. Epic: Come At Me, Bro (Aug 26): Epic’s response brief wants the dismissal affirmed and, unusually, wants the opinion published as precedent. Buried in it is Epic’s own description of what its non-competes actually prohibit, which current and former employees should read closely. EHRs: The Contract Epic Would Never Sign Today (Aug 04): A 1999 SEC exhibit catches Epic licensing nearly its entire product line, Tapestry included, to the company that became TriZetto. The marketing services menu attached to it is the part that will make you blink. Forecast from Verona (Aug 07): The Epic Almanac makes one argument six different ways: the AI is only as good as the networks behind it. Emmie headlines, Art’s context stack is the most ambitious part, and Penny finally gets an autonomous coding date on the calendar. Works With Epic MyChart (Aug 17): Epic’s first new Showroom category since the death of Workshop certifies hardware instead of software, badge on the box and all. Made for iPhone, but for blood pressure cuffs, and rough news for anyone selling the RPM stack sitting in between. UGM Hot Takes 2026 (Aug 20): Everyone else covered the AI announcements, so I went after Savvy deleting the payment gateway, Rangers as Boost with the timer removed, and a down-market lineup with too many entries. Plus the Health Grid tidbits I cannot help myself on. MyChart Central Grows Up (Aug 24): Device data and Emmie turn Epic’s identity hub into a full consumer platform, which is both a logical answer to ChatGPT and a bit of a mistake. It also happens to be the best scraping target Epic has ever shipped. Industry Analysis: The Wrong Yardstick (Aug 12): Vertical software keeps getting judged against Superhuman and Notion, which is the wrong bar entirely. Your user is comparing your product to a whiteboard and forty phone calls before lunch. Primitives vs. Abstractions (Aug 27): Developers want building blocks, systems of record prefer to hand out business logic, and both sides have a real case. There’s no test from the outside that separates the engineering reason from the competitive one, which is why this keeps ending up in court. Cross-industry Comparisons: The Two Kinds of Platform Power (Aug 18): Attention power and record power are different problems that keep getting handed the same regulatory toolkit. Congress’s latest swing at Big Tech shows both what’s possible and where it falls apart. The Dogs of (Platform) War (Aug 21): A CourtListener alert turned up a property management fight with healthcare’s exact shape and none of the Cures Act. Shell prospects, ghost accounts, a notetaker bot that came back to haunt someone, and a lawyer arguing both sides of the same theory in two states. Fractals All the Way Down (Aug 31): Yardi dominates property management right up until you zoom into one segment, where AppFolio owns it outright and Yardi doesn’t appear at all. Where you draw the line around a B2B software market is about to decide an awful lot of cases. Other News: If Judy Had the Courage (Aug 13): A short eulogy for the era when software was allowed to look insane: WinAMP, bold colors, and everything the grey chatbot era has taken from us. External Media: Portland Monthly Health Tech Meetup: Erin O’Brien channeled my own feelings - maybe it’s just because it’s August and beautiful, but the monthly edition of the PDX Health community meetup was a ripper. Make sure to reach out if interested to join for the next one. STAT’s Coverage of Epic This Month: Brittany Trang of STAT did a fantastic job of breaking the FTC investigation that’s been lurking, as well as UGM related coverage, so I had to give her her wish of a meme. Fall Conferences: I’m pumped to be kicking off my fall conference season in NYC at Nabla Accelerate next month, which Chrissy provided the link to apply for. Here’s the rest of my schedule in case you want to meet up: Commonwell (Redwood Shores, CA): Oct 13-14 Open@Epic (Madison, WI): Oct 21-22 eHealthExchange (Austin, TX): Oct 27 Sequoia Project (Austin, TX): Oct 28-29 HLTH (Vegas): Nov 15-18 RSNA (Chicago): Nov 29-Dec 3 Posts I Liked: HTI-6 Should Unbundle API Certification: Josh Mandel makes the case that HTI-6 should split (g)(10) into separate authorization and data certifications, so a PACS or a genomics platform can certify only the role it actually performs. Imaging is the urgent example, but the structure solves a much bigger problem. On implementing ePrior Auth with Epic: Scott Rossignol’s field notes from a live ePrior Auth build on Epic, including the two app registrations nobody warns you about and the CPT mapping problem waiting at the end. CMS-0057 implementations are going to be such a beast. Healthcare point solutions are starting to look a lot like streaming services: Spencer Dorn runs the cable-to-streaming arc against health IT and lands squarely on the bundling half of the cycle. Bundling can be good! It can also be bad! Life is nuanced. Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Healthcare tops the Democrats’ to-do list if they win control of the House in 2026
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said his party would unify around undoing Trump’s Medicaid cuts and reviving ACA funds that the GOP ended. Some Democrats want to go bigger.
Should California Backfill Science Funding After Trump Cuts? Voters Could Decide in 2028
Last year the White House suspended or cancelled more than 1,000 California science grants. This bond measure would restore some of that funding.
FDNY Pushing Feds to Add Cardiac, Cognitive Decline to List of 9/11 Illnesses
These diseases have increased over and above what you would expect in aging," said Dr. David Prezant, FDNY WTC Health Program director.
U.S. House votes to censure Chuck Edwards
The vote came after the bipartisan House Ethics Committee released a report in August recommending his censure.
House adopts Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank’s resolution condemning socialism, mostly along party lines
The House on Tuesday approved a resolution sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank to condemn socialism in a largely party-line vote that the Colorado Republican characterized as a chance for lawmakers to “stand firm” against an ideology making inroads among Democrats. The nonbinding resolution, HR 1490, also included a call for the “enactment” of GOP-led […]
MNPD: Mental health team not on scene before North Nashville officer-involved shooting
Fox 17 provides local news, weather, sports, traffic and entertainment for Nashville and nearby towns and communities in Middle Tennessee, including Forest Hills, Brentwood, Franklin, Fairview, Dickson, Clarksville, White House, Greenbrier, Springfield, Gallatin, Hartsville, Lebanon, Mt Juliet, Smyrna, College Grove, Thompson’s Station, Centerville, Murfreesboro, Columbia, Lewisburg, Shelbyville, Manchester, McMinnville, Smithville, Sparta, Cookeville, Hohenwald, Waverly, Camden, Paris, Lafayette, Portland, and in Kentucky, Russelville, Bowling Green, Franklin, Alvaton, Scottsville, Hopkinsville, Glasgow.
House censures GOP congressman over creepy behavior toward staff
An ethics panel said the Republican lawmaker showered staffers with lavish trips, expensive gifts, romantic poems and an ice cream deluge.
House Censures Republican Accused of Sexually Harassing Two Aides
Representative Chuck Edwards received a formal rebuke on the floor after a speech in which he apologized for his conduct but said it did not constitute harassment.
North Carolina Rep. Chuck Edwards is formally censured over harassment allegations
The censure vote drew bipartisan support, and followed an investigation by the House Ethics Committee into allegations of sexual harassment against two young female staff members.
What Box Office Bomb Crushed Obsession on Streaming?
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get into this week’s issue, let me ask you for some suggestions. At the risk of coining too many names for too many things (hence my dictionary of terms...), I need a name for straight-to-streaming films that are too expensive to justify a straight-to-streaming release, but not big enough to justify a theatrical release. Like some of the films I highlighted in last week’s tally of the biggest film flops of 2026 so far: Hulu’s Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, Pizza Movie or Never Change! They don’t feel like “made for TV movies” (think Hallmark and Lifetime movies, cheap Netflix romcoms, or Disney Channel Original movies, for example) but they don’t feel big enough for the big screen. They’re not “cinematic” enough, so to speak. As I wrote... “I still need a name for this middle zone of film that’s too expensive to go straight-to-streaming but too small to justify a theatrical release (with all the PR, distribution, marketing and whatnot costs that go along with it), the Goldilocks zone of streaming film death.” Friend of the newsletter Brandon Katz has suggested the “Bermuda Budget Triangle”, “The Platform Gap” and “The Distribution Deadzone”. I love that first one. I’d offer up the much wordier “The Streaming Budget Dead Zone” or “the Goldilocks Zone of streaming film death” but that last one isn’t accurate since, unlike Goldilocks’ porridge, these films are the opposite of “just right”. That’s the problem! Anyway, if you have any suggestions, let me know! On to today’s Streaming Ratings Report. As you can tell by today’s headline, things are going to be spicy! I’m looking at a box office bomb that did really, really well on streaming, somewhat challenging a few different narratives. And another Netflix series declined in its second season. All that, plus Wicked: For Good switching streamers, The Hawk continuing its strong run, _The Bear’_s finale season finally dropping off the charts, the WNBA posting a big viewership number, “shallow libraries”, a sitcom spinoff failing to launch, more big budget IP flopping on Paramount+, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of July 20th to July 26th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Film - The Latest Theatrical Success Story on Streaming In the latest edition of “Flops, Bombs and Misses of the First Half of 2026”, I made a crucial change: I started including theatrical films with the streaming misses. The streamers have collectively—including Netflix, but not to as big of an extent—stopped making a lot of straight-to-streaming films, and the ones they do make aren’t as expensive as in the heyday of the streaming bubble. After the following two films bombed in theaters, you’d guess that they’ll be included in my next collection of flops, bombs and misses six months from now: Masters of the Universe on Prime Video (only $64 million domestic box office) Mortal Kombat II on HBO Max ($79 million domestic) But you’d be wrong! Masters of the Universe, a reboot of the He-Man franchise, a toy from the 1980s, came to streaming on 22-July and did great! This long-gestating project—it’s been at every studio for years, and came close to getting a greenlight at Netflix—then finally came to theaters in June, and showed up on streaming less than two months later. (I don’t love this short theatrical window.) It surprisingly grabbed nearly 20 million hours on its debut: That means, wait for it, Masters of the Universe is currently the eighth biggest film on streaming through two weeks. My rough bar for “hit” is shows or films in the top 15%. Ergo…Masters of the Universe is a legit, streaming hit! (One quick caveat: if it falls out of the top ten next week, it will move to 13th overall, just on the edge of the top 15.) Of course, that’s the data for just 2026. Here’s how it stacks up to Prime Video’s theatrical films: That drop into its second week is typical for Amazon films, but also a worrying sign. I have a feeling interest in this film is front-loaded and we’ll see it drop off after this. As for Mortal Kombat II, in this case, the viewership numbers roughly match the theatrical outing, with only 4.1 million hours in its first week. Here’s how it stacks up to other HBO Max films: The best defense of this number is that, as a relatively violent rated-R film, Mortal Kombat II never had a good chance at breaking out. So now it’s time for a little big of “Entertainment Nuance Guy”: First, yeah, my headline is obviously facetious, since Masters of the Universe besting Obsession says more about horror as a genre than it does that film. Second, I read and listened to quite a few “nobody wanted this IP” takes about Masters of the Universe, and that’s not really true. At least enough people wanted it to power a 20 million+ hour debut! Third, both this film and Mortal Kombat II were considered “average” by viewers, but not great films, with a 6.4 and 6.3 respectively on IMDb. That’s just shy of the level needed to be a word-of-mouth hit. Fourth, in the olden days, strong word of mouth could transform a box office miss into a cable/DVD hit, like Austin Powers or The Shawshank Redemption. We haven’t seen a lot of examples of that on streaming, though. And there are far fewer ways to monetize the post-theatrical life of a film these days. Fifth, Prime Video has shown an ability to push their own titles well, likely because they control the Amazon Fire TV ecosystem. Add it all up, and here’s my nuanced take on Masters of the Universe: it was a box office bomb, but, shockingly, a streaming hit. Unfortunately, while being a theatrical hit saves your film financially, being a streaming hit does not. Both Masters of the Universe and Mortal Kombat II had big budgets and needed to make more money in theaters to justify them. So…Straight-to-Streaming or Theaters? We’ve hit a really fun point in the streaming calendar, since the films that came out in theaters in April, May, and June are now arriving on streaming. So the “Do theatrical releases help streaming performances?” question is gonna get a fresh round of updates nearly every week. No single week will answer the question, but we may get some insights. For example, so far in 2026, it looks like theatrical films are lasting longer on the weekly Nielsen film charts. Here’s a list of films that have made the charts in their fourth or fifth week of release, separated by “for kids” and “general entertainment”: It certainly seems like theatrical films are lasting just a pinch longer on the charts, with Project Hail Mary being the current five-week champion. One Battle After Another did well for HBO Max too, and even The Sheep Detectives made it four weeks. The only exception to this trend? Obsession, which only lasted two weeks on the charts. You might tempted to overreact to this news. Don’t. Obsession is a huge horror hit, but horror just doesn’t do as well on streaming. By the way, here’s the Google Trends for various theatrical and stremaing films: Plus, when it comes to Netflix in four months, Obsession may have another big boost. Quick Notes on Film Note that when I write, “the streamers have pulled back on straight-to-streaming films” that doesn’t mean “abandoned” because Netflix is gonna Netflix. On 24-July, they released 72 Hours, a Kevin Hart comedy. Along with Eddie Murphy, Mark Wahlberg, John Cena and Adam Sandler, Kevin Hart is a streaming film star now. Did this latest one work? Not really. It only garnered two weeks of 13.2 and 12.2 million hours on its debut, well below the 20-million-hour hit threshold. It also was poorly received critically—a 44 on Metacritic—and by customers—a 5.4 on IMDb on 21K IMDb reviews. We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… The latest Netflix true crime doc to pop on the charts… How The Bear finished its run… Netflix’s latest Western to return to streaming… What Paramount+ animated film flopped… And what sitcom also missed… All the flops, bombs and misses… And a whole lot more… ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! I’m behind by a week, so we’ve got two issues coming your way this week, including one in a couple of days or so, then we’ll be all caught up**.** Next issue, inspired by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie coming to Peacock, I’m going to take a look at the workhouse of streaming TV: kids films. Plus The Devil Wears Prada 2 continues theatrical films’ big run on streaming. All that, plus another surprise hit on Hulu, Lioness on CBS, and a whole lot more. Long term, LeBron James is filming his own “Last Dance”-style docu-series, surprising no one. But as I’ve been writing about a lot this summer, this genre is really overrated, so whoever ends up buying it (reportedly ESPN) really shouldn’t pay too much for it.
Republicans weigh whether to vote for Rep. Max Miller amid abuse allegations he denies
The allegations have given Republican leaders an unexpected headache as they try to hold back Democrats from retaking the House.
WATCH: Massie names 14 Epstein associates to 'shame' DOJ
Speaking from the House floor Monday, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., pointed to how much time had passed since President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Two Democrats bail out Speaker Mike Johnson after he faces internal revolt
Speaker Mike Johnson nearly lost control of the House floor — again — because of a group of disgruntled conservatives.
House passes stop-gap bill that pauses changes to federal science grant-making process
The proposed change, which would have given control of science funding to appointed bureaucrats, was criticized widely by the scientific community
Allies of disgraced ex-House Dem poised for criminal charges for refusing Congress' probe
Allies of a former House Democrat face DOJ criminal charges after the House unanimously held them in contempt of Congress over defied subpoenas.
The 21 seats Mike Johnson says will decide the House majority
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, is eyeing 21 seats that will determine the House majority in the November midterm elections, including Colorado’s Congressional District 8. Johnson pointed to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report’s 21 toss-up seats, before rattling off a list of the races he is watching particularly closely. “Those 21 or so seats that are […]
House passes funding bill to avoid shutdown before midterms
Continuing resolution to approve government spending until 11 December passes 370-48 and will now go to Trump
WATCH LIVE: House passes short-term spending bill, staving off another fund fight during midterms
House passes short-term funding bill to avoid a shutdown before the election
The Senate had already overwhelmingly approved the measure
House sends government funding bill to Trump to avert shutdown ahead of midterms
The House passed a bill on Tuesday to extend government funding to December 11, clearing a path to avert a shutdown ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
Congress averts a government shutdown ahead of the midterms
With just a few weeks to spare, the House approved legislation extending funding through mid-December.
House Votes to Avert Government Shutdown Before Midterm Elections
Lawmakers sent the legislation to President Trump in an overwhelming vote, reflecting bipartisan enthusiasm around punting a messy spending fight until after the midterms.
Massachusetts House Primary Election 2026 Live Results
See live results from the 2026 Massachusetts House primary election as Republican and Democrat votes are counted by candidate and county.
Johnson quells House GOP rebellion to advance anti-socialism resolution
A group of House Republicans threatened to upend Speaker Mike Johnson's plans this week in protest of his handling of federal spending.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down after 18 months on the job, White House says
No reason was given for the departure of Driscoll, who is a friend of Vice President JD Vance, but tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been widely reported.
Scientists discover why snake embryos twist into spirals
Snake embryos begin life curled into a distinctive right-handed spiral, and scientists may finally know why. Their bodies grow faster than their guts, creating a tether that forces the lengthening embryo to buckle and twist inside the egg. Researchers reached the conclusion after studying more than 900 embryos and using CT scans to reveal the hidden anatomy behind the coils.
Dozens of Nashville businesses appeal property value as state leaders prioritize tax cap
Fox 17 provides local news, weather, sports, traffic and entertainment for Nashville and nearby towns and communities in Middle Tennessee, including Forest Hills, Brentwood, Franklin, Fairview, Dickson, Clarksville, White House, Greenbrier, Springfield, Gallatin, Hartsville, Lebanon, Mt Juliet, Smyrna, College Grove, Thompson’s Station, Centerville, Murfreesboro, Columbia, Lewisburg, Shelbyville, Manchester, McMinnville, Smithville, Sparta, Cookeville, Hohenwald, Waverly, Camden, Paris, Lafayette, Portland, and in Kentucky, Russelville, Bowling Green, Franklin, Alvaton, Scottsville, Hopkinsville, Glasgow.
House to vote on stopgap funding bill as lawmakers scramble to avoid government shutdown
Speaker Mike Johnson to launch a floor vote designed to prevent any federal shutdown before the November midterms
Tennessee Titans claim former Georgia Bulldogs DL
The Tennessee Titans added former Green Bay Packers and Georgia Bulldogs defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse via waivers
Lamont and CT business leaders warn Trump’s tariffs will drive up prices
Gov. Ned Lamont strove Monday to ensure that the White House gets all due credit for the dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs coming next month from Connecticut’s largest trade partner, Canada.
The Trump administration is burying science and health care in paperwork
This White House has become the paperwork administration, write Brandon Marshall and Abdullah Shihipar.
The Trump administration is burying science and health care in paperwork
This White House has become the paperwork administration, write Brandon Marshall and Abdullah Shihipar.
John Roberts often defers to Trump but not for the White House ballroom project
“That construction is likely unlawful,” Roberts wrote in dissent with the court’s liberals as Trump’s ballroom moves ahead
Entertainment, logistics user buys 136,000 sq. ft. Staten Island warehouse, BRC says
The developer of more than 136,000 square feet of new warehouse space in Staten Island has sold the property, brokers with Bussel Realty Corp. announced Monday.
NM delegation urges House Oversight Committee to avoid partisan politics in DEA fentanyl probe
The House Oversight Committee has opened a new investigation into DEA fentanyl policies after whistleblowers said agents let hundreds of thousands of pills stay on the streets.
Live updates on the Massachusetts 2026 primary election
Follow along for our coverage of Massachusetts’ Markey-Moulton Senate matchup, the challengers to longtime House representatives and the Suffolk district attorney showdown.
810 Entertainment to bring bowling, dining and entertainment to former Punch Bowl Social home
A new food-focused entertainment venue is coming to Sacramento's Downtown Commons, bringing bowling, interactive games and a full-service restaurant to the space that previously housed Punch Bowl Social near the Golden 1 Center.
Tensions erupt in House hearing as GOP advances anti-socialism resolution while Dems rage: 'Silly season'
House Republicans force Democrats to vote on condemning socialism and capping the Supreme Court at nine justices amid the left's inter-party civil war.
House expected to vote on funding bill, including delay of hemp restrictions
The measure includes legislation that would delay for one month a looming federal ban on many intoxicating hemp products
The House returns with a short to-do list: From the Politics Desk
Plus, Republican anxiety in Ohio’s Senate race.
Supreme Court lets White House continue construction on Trump's $400M ballroom
The lawsuit will return to lower courts, but documents say that key portions of the project could be complete within months