Trump’s health secretary says AI used to identify potential fraud in Democratic-run states

The Trump administration has paused more than $1bn in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota, citing “suspected fraud and noncompliance” – withholding of funding that follows a $243m pause in Medicaid payments to Minnesota earlier this year.

“If those states want that money, they need to provide documentation that these payments are legitimate,” said Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Taylor Farms does not specify where products were served or sold, as US braces for weeks more of outbreak

Taylor Farms recalled potentially contaminated shredded iceberg lettuce in 27 states on Friday, including lettuce distributed as recently as Thursday, as cases of cyclosporiasis continue rising in the US.

The US is likely to see at least another two weeks of possible cases, since infections may have happened in recent days. And the expanding outbreak investigation could point to other products in coming days.

Scientists worry that current eradication efforts won’t be able to contain parasitic infestation pushing into US

When conservationists set up cameras in remote regions of Central American forests, they wanted to monitor illegal cattle movement, which can lead to deforestation. But in recent months, they discovered another alarming development: wildlife rapidly infected with the new world screwworm.

It’s a warning sign of how the fly could spread in the US – and it signals new difficulties in pushing it back south, a process that will probably take years, experts say.

The loss of protections for Haitian and Syrian workers could worsen shortages of nurses, aides and home care workers

The Trump administration may remove the temporary protected status (TPS) of Haitians and Syrians in the US, the US supreme court ruled in late June – a move that will worsen America’s growing caregiver shortage, experts say.

The US is now experiencing its fastest increase in the ageing population in more than 100 years, and more than 20% of the US population will be 65 or older by 2030. But the population of caregivers has not grown at the same pace, leading to staffing shortages.