On July 13th, St. Louis mayor Cara Spencer signed a bill into law that contains a plan for $255 million in Rams Settlement money. The bill designates $120 million to North St. Louis City including $89 million for tornado recovery, with much of the money going toward housing repairs and preservation. In addition, $55 million is allocated for Downtown revitalization and $80 million for city-wide infrastructure. Of the $80 million going to citywide infrastructure, $2.5 million will immediately pay for hazardous tree and stump removal and the water division will immediately receive $40 million to start critical repairs. An online tracker will be available on the city website for the public to track where the Rams money is being spent.

On July 17th Taylor Farms announced a recall of shredded iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico. Iceberg lettuce was identified as a possible source of contamination after 90% of sickened people interviewed by the Michigan Department of Health reported eating iceberg lettuce. The lettuce was traced back to a single supplier, Taylor Farms. The lettuce was served in several states at Taco Bells and sold at Walmart stores under the Marketside-brand. People should not eat Iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms or Marketside. There could be additional sources of cyclospora contamination. An investigation is still ongoing.

There have been 2,318 U.S. measles cases and 35 new outbreaks confirmed by the CDC so far in 2026. The number of U.S. measles cases as of July 24th already exceeds the number of cases for all of 2025, in which 2,289 cases were recorded. Measles cases in the U.S. have reached their highest level since 1991, and nearly all (93%) cases are among unvaccinated people or people with unknown vaccination status. Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2001. Since 2020, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccination rates have dropped, and the number of non-medical vaccine exemptions has increased.

Smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Minnesota and Canada has drifted over the U.S. causing unhealthy levels of air pollution. Wildfire smoke can contain high levels of small particles that irritate eyes and lungs and can worsen chronic heart and lung conditions like asthma or heart disease. People should check local air quality on a weather app or air.gov and avoid going outside when levels are unhealthy. If you must be outside during unhealthy air quality, wearing a N-95 mask outside can greatly reduce the number of particles that enter your lungs.