Matter...

Two police officers shot while responding to a disturbance on Cape Cod.

رغبتي

ماذا أقول لرغبتي فيك حين تسألني عنك؟

وهي دائمة السؤال

كيف أشبع فضولها

وأطفئ حاجتها إلى معرفة أخبارك،

على الأقلّ معرفة أخبارك

(أيّ حجّة)؟

   ماري القصيفي

Super Bug...

New research from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, suggests that doctors may be overprescribing antibiotics, both in urgent care and retail clinic settings.

Dr. Katherine Fleming-Dutra and her research team showed that for respiratory or airway tract related illnesses, antibiotic medications were inappropriately prescribed in 45.7% of urgent care visits, 24.6% of emergency room visits, 17.0% of medical office visits and 14.4% of retail clinic visits. 

They fight what are often called “germs:” bacteria. But people can become infected with viruses, fungi, or parasites as well, and antibiotics don’t work against those. A superbug is a bacteria that has high levels of resistance to many different antibiotics.

One example: The CDC reports 246,000 cases of drug-resistant gonorrhea infections per year. 

Middlemen...

The Trump administration is working on a rule to upend the current drug-price negotiation system by targeting the middlemen in the process, pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs  which currently demand large and secret rebates from pharmaceutical companies in exchange for favoring their drugs in competitive areas. 

Ending rebates would help the company to narrow the gap between the list, or sticker price, and the real price of its drugs. That would reduce costs for consumers and potentially boost demand.

Without rebate-driven exclusive contracts, sales volume might go down for certain products. Incentives to favor more expensive products would erode. And it’s not as if Lilly hasn’t benefited from the current system at times this year, for instance, it managed to secure favorable coverage for its copy of Sanofi’s blockbuster insulin Lantus.

This is not an open market condition. Leech on the back of the patient.

Toss

Roswell city spokeswoman Julie Brechbill tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Courtney Brown and Kristee Wilson were fired, weeks after video of the April stop surfaced. The officers had been on administrative leave.

The footage showed them using a cellphone app mimicking a coin toss to decide whether to arrest Sarah Webb, who'd been pulled over for speeding. The decision to flip the virtual coin was made after Brown discovered her radar gun wasn't working. Although the result of the toss indicated Webb should be released, she was arrested anyway.  Charges against Webb were later dropped.  [NBC News]

Bond...

An orca has been spotted off the coast of Victoria, British Columbia, propping the body of her dead newborn calf up in the water with her head for two days, researchers say.

Deborah Giles, a biologist with the Center for Conservation Biology, told KCPQ the photos are "heartbreaking."

"It reflects the very strong bonds these animals have, and as a parent, you can only imagine what kinds of emotional stress these animals must be under, having these events happen," Baird said, according to the Times.

Boyle

Former Taliban hostage Caitlan Coleman returned to the United States with her three children, almost six years after she was abducted while backpacking across Afghanistan with her husband.

She decided to leave both Canada and Boyle behind, with her three children.  Caitlan is pregnant with her fourth child.

Officials often expressed doubts about Boyle's motives in traveling to Afghanistan with his then-pregnant wife in 2012. 

Boyle still faces 19 criminal charges and is restricted to his parents' home in Smiths Falls, Ontario, while he continues psychiatric treatment and awaits trial.

GDP...

• United States gross domestic product rose at an annual rate of 4.1 percent in the second quarter, up from 2.2 percent in the first three months of the year. It was the strongest quarter of growth since 2014.

• Consumer spending rose 4 percent, but private investment fell slightly as the housing market cooled.

• Exports rose 9.3 percent, driven in part by a surge in soybean shipments tied to President Trump’s trade policies.  

Farmers...

That is the idea. Farmers have been getting subsidiaries for the past 50 years.

One Shot...

The shooting took place at the Circle A Food Store in Clearwater. McGlockton's girlfriend parked in a handicapped spot while McGlockton and their 5-year-old son went inside. Drejka approached the vehicle and began a heated argument with Jacobs over parking in the spot without a permit.

McGlockton left the store, walking up to Drejka and shoving him to the ground. Just seconds later, Drejka, who has a conceal-carry permit, pulled out a gun and fired one shot at McGlockton, killing him.