Utah was named the nation’s best state for a record fourth straight year in U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best States rankings released Monday. South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Idaho, Florida, Washington, and Vermont rounded out the top 10, while Louisiana finished last for the second consecutive year. The rankings evaluate all 50 states using 71 metrics across eight weighted categories. Education (15.79%) and healthcare (15.51%) carry the most weight, followed by economy (12.88%), infrastructure (12.74%), opportunity (12.2%), fiscal stability (12.19%), natural environment (9.69%), and crime and corrections (9.01%). The Midwest and New England were well represented throughout the rankings, with Midwestern states claiming four of the top five spots and placing near the top of several individual categories. Meanwhile, the bottom of the list remained largely unchanged from last year. According to U.S. News, the five lowest-ranked states were Michigan, New Mexico, Mississippi, Alaska, and Louisiana. Mississippi, Alaska, and Louisiana held the bottom three spots for the second straight year, with Louisiana ranking in the bottom 10 across all eight categories, including last in crime and corrections.  In the 2026 rankings, Utah ranked second in economy and fiscal stability due to strong job growth and high labor force participation. Utah also ranked fourth in infrastructure, sixth in education, and seventh in crime and corrections. “We have a diversified economy … that gives us some kind of resilience,” Phil Dean, chief economist at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, told U.S. News. “We are the youngest state in the nation [which contributes to a] dynamism and a kind of excitement for new ideas.”

Every birthday is a celebration of life. It reminds us that every child is born with inherent dignity, immeasurable worth, and a future full of possibility. On July 27, as Chloe Cole celebrated another birthday, Congress has a chance to ensure no child endures the irreversible harm that changed the course of her life. Before we are ever faced with a decision, before we ever choose a path, we enter this world with a body that is uniquely ours. We are not mistakes to be corrected. We are not problems to be solved. Every child deserves the chance to grow, develop, and discover who they are without being subjected to irreversible medical interventions that can alter the course of their entire life. Chloe’s birthday is more than a personal milestone. It represents an opportunity for Congress to protect America’s children from medicalized harm. Children deserve compassion and careful care, not permanent medical decisions they cannot fully understand and may regret later. Physicians are trained to exercise the greatest caution when evidence is limited, and risks are irreversible. As lawmakers, we have a responsibility to ensure our policies reflect that same restraint. For far too long, vulnerable children struggling with questions about their identity were told that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and irreversible medical interventions were the answer. At just 12 years old, Chloe decided that she wanted to become a boy. Physicians gave her puberty blockers and testosterone at 13, and she underwent a double mastectomy at 15. But by the age of 16, she deeply regretted this decision and wished it had never been presented to her as an option. By speaking candidly about the harm she endured, Chloe has given a voice to countless children who were misled by a medical system that too often places woke ideology, politics, or profit above patient well-being. Her story, along with those of many others, makes clear that Congress can no longer afford to remain silent. Before I was a Congressman, I was a doctor. Every day, I walked into my practice with the same objective: to care for every patient and understand the responsibility that comes with practicing medicine. The foundation of medicine must always be evidence, caution, and the principle of doing no harm, especially when treating children. That is why I introduced the Chloe Cole Act. The Chloe Cole Act places protections around minors by giving children and parents a path to hold medical professionals accountable when they have been harmed. Children deserve time to grow, and parents deserve honesty and transparency. This means medical professionals must be held to the highest standard when making decisions that affect a child’s future. Over the last decade and a half, we have witnessed the rapid expansion of a medical industry built around transgender interventions for minors. Too many families have been told that these irreversible treatments are the only answer, while concerns about long-term impacts, accountability, and informed consent have been ignored. Parents who asked questions were frequently dismissed, and voices urging caution were sidelined. Today, more young people, like Chloe, are courageously speaking out about the lifelong consequences of these barbaric interventions. Congress should not ignore them, either. The fact that we have to ask ourselves whether vulnerable children are being protected, or whether the industry is rushing children into life-altering treatments before they are capable of fully understanding their lifelong consequences, is insanity. President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” called on lawmakers to pursue protections and accountability for children harmed by these practices. The Chloe Cole Act advances that mission by putting children and families first. Chloe Cole is one of the bravest young women I have ever met. Earlier this year, I was honored to welcome her as my guest at the State of the Union address. Standing in the Capitol, Chloe represented thousands of families who believe children deserve protection, caution, and a medical system that puts their well-being above ideology or financial incentives. Chloe took a painful chapter of her life and turned it into a mission to protect others. She has shown extraordinary courage by sharing her story and advocating for children who do not yet have a voice. The best birthday gift Congress can give Chloe is not an empty statement, but real action. With the Chloe Cole Act advancing through the legislative process following the House Judiciary Committee markup, Congress has a historic opportunity to protect America’s children and ensure no family experiences the regret and pain Chloe has described. Every child is born with dignity, value, and purpose. Our responsibility is to protect that promise. In honor of Chloe’s birthday, Congress should honor her courage by passing the Chloe Cole Act and putting the safety of America’s children first. *** Congressman Bob Onder is a physician and represents Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District.

Anthony Fauci’s diary entries reveal that he worked with Left-leaning officials to push for a delay of the COVID vaccine rollout and stymie President Donald Trump’s re-election bid. In May 2020, Fauci expressed disapproval of Trump’s focus on the 2o20 election, and wrote, “Trump getting out of control in pushing to open up the country and get the economy back before election day. He is desparate [sic]. This is all about re-election.” In his June 20 entry, less than five months before the election, Fauci claimed that Trump’s plan of rolling out a vaccine quickly was rooted in his desire for re-election and he considered blowing “the whistle” on White House Coronavirus Task Force Deb Birx, who was also focused on a quick rollout. “I am getting progressively disillusioned with [coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force] Deb Birx,” Fauci wrote. “Deb has ststed [sic] that we should noit [sic] do clinical trials since ‘I want to see every infected person in a nursing home get plasma early on and steroids later. Forget the trial, we need to do this on EUAs [Emergency Use Authorizations].’ She says the same thing about vaccine trials. Clearly, she is trying to provide Trump with his October surprise. I may need to blow the whistle on her.” In July, Fauci disdainfully wrote about former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows after Meadows publicly announced that vaccines would soon be rolled out, adding that Fauci’s lockdown protocols were not working. “Mark Meadows on This Week with George Stephanopoulos saying [sic] that public health measures are not working and we will have to rely on interventions such as vaccines and therapeutics,” Fauci wrote. “This is his way of backing out of a failure and trying to get an ‘October Surprise.’ Heads up for him trying to push an early approval of vaccine or even influencing the decision about convalescent sera, which actually do not look too good right now.” The diary revelations come thanks to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul’s (R-KY) release of a trove of Fauci’s previously private writings ahead of Fauci’s expected testimony this Wednesday. The diaries appear to show that Fauci, the former top COVID adviser for President Trump and former President Joe Biden, misled Congress about the coronavirus fatality rate in the early days of the pandemic for both scientific and political reasons. On July 27, 2020, the day that the Phase 3 trial of the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine was launched, Fauci met with the president and told him that the vaccine rollout would not take place until after the election.  “It is clear he [Trump] wants therapeutics quickly,” Fauci wrote. “He accepted that the vaccine might not be ready before the election, but he was not happy about it. He kept pushing about when therapy would be ready.” Fauci added that he was surprised that White House staff announced that convalescent plasma data was positive and could help bring about an early vaccine.  “[I] Had no idea what they were talking about since we know that the plasma data are a mess and we are bringing in statisticians (independent) to look at the data,” Fauci wrote. On July 31, Fauci recorded getting a call from Dr. Larry Horowitz, a Democratic health policy advisor who worked with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). “Apparently, There was a meeting in the WH with Steve Mnuchin, Mark Meadows, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schummer [sic],” Fauci wrote. “Steve and Mark told Nancy and Chuck that AstraZeneca will have [a] vaccine in September and that it will be given an EUA. Theyare [sic] talking about the ChADOX vaccine that Adrian Hill is testing in Brazil and South Africa, It is a 10,000 person trial.” “Apparently, Peter Marks does not know anything about this and Larry just informed him,” Fauci continued. “Bottom line is that they are going to pressure Steve Han [sic] (who likely will cave in in the idea of an EUA) to issue one even though Peter has serius [sic] issues with this. An EUA will likely get in the way of completing the RCTs that are going on. Clearly. This is politically driven and will be a ploy for Trump to get reelected.” On August 7, 2020, Fauci recorded another meeting with Horowitz, stating that he, along with other prominent scientists Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Clifford Lane, would support Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, if Hahn blocked FDA approval of a vaccine.  “He [Horowitz] had warned me a few days ago about Meadows trying to pressure Hahn and Marks to grant UA (or even BLA) prematurely to vaccines (likely AZ) in time for the election,” Fauci wrote. “I called Peter Marks a couple of days ago (together with Collins and Lane) and explained that we would back him if he holds the line. He called the AZ package ‘a hot mess’ and definitely not in shape for an EUA drive on Times Square.” In an October 29, 2020, entry, Fauci continued to pressure regulators to take more time to approve a vaccine as the election neared. “The FDA career scientists are hesitant to grant EUAs to Lilly’s and Regeneron’s mAb based on the current data. Alex Azar is really pushing them and furious because he thinks FDA is ‘slowwalking’ the process so as not to have it out before the election in 5 days,” Fauci wrote. “Clearly, Alex wants to please the POTUS so that they can say that they have a breakthrough (similar to Convalescent plasma nonsense) right before the election. Azar then asked NIH (Collins), CDC (Redfield) and ASPR (Kadlec) to weigh in since the legislation that established the EUA process (dating back to the Anthrax situation in 2001) requires the CDC, NIH, and ASPR Directors to weigh in on EUA decisions (even though they have not done so in the past). Cliff and I had long conversation with Francis on his way down to HHS to discuss with Azar. We encouraged Francis to support the career scientists at FDA since they do not want to rush this through. They need more time to gather important information since what they have now is rather weak.” Six days after Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden, Pfizer announced its 95% vaccine efficacy result. Horowitz then told Fauci that Trump “called up Steve Hahn today and told him that Alex Azar said that Steve lost the POTUS the election by holding up the news about the Pfizer vaccine.” Justin Hart, author of “Gone Viral: How Covid Drove the World Insane,” wrote that the diaries show “Fauci personally intervened with the FDA’s top vaccine regulator to encourage him to resist a pre-election authorization, and his intelligence on White House vaccine plans ran repeatedly through the office of the Speaker of the House — on July 31, August 7, August 8, and again in November.”

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary says the newly released diaries of Dr. Anthony Fauci echo doubts he formed about Fauci’s motives years before the COVID-19 pandemic. Makary said in a resurfaced 2024 interview he “first became suspicious of Dr. Fauci and his motives” during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, when Fauci insisted on transferring a recovering nurse from Dallas to the National Institutes of Health, arguing the move was motivated by publicity rather than medical necessity. Makary said the transfer needlessly exposed others. According to Makary, the patient was already receiving appropriate care under standard respiratory precautions, leaving no medical reason for the transfer, which he attributed to a publicity opportunity. “There’s a room for respiratory precautions at every major medical center,” he explained. “It’s not like the respiratory precaution room at the NIH hospital is better than the respiratory precautions room at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.” “And there’s nothing really to do, just supportive care,” Makary said. “They’re just watching her, so they’re doing basically nothing. They’re just letting her recover. And Fauci insists that they fly her up to the Clinical Center in Washington, D.C., from Dallas.” As seen in the resurfaced clip from 2014, Fauci proudly announced the move of the Ebola patient during a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., adding, “I’m sure you’ll hear about it soon in the press.” “She will be coming to the National Institutes of Health, where we’ll be supplying her with state-of-the-art care in our high-level containment facilities, exposing countless people in the transport to Ebola,” Makary said, mocking Fauci’s actions. “Then Fauci puts on an astronaut suit along with a photographer and goes into this room where she’s recovering and they get a photo-op.” Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Makary said that one of the photos went viral and the NIH subsequently held a press conference with Dr. Fauci. Makary said Fauci boasted about how all this care would be totally free of charge and that they never bill patients. Makary said one reporter memorably noted that the NIH is funded by taxpayers. “One person, a reporter in the audience, astutely says, ‘Wait a minute, when you say it’s free, isn’t it funded by billions of taxpayer dollars?'” Makary recalled. “And you know, that kind of threw a monkey wrench into their argument.” “All I can say is there is no clinical indication, there is no medical justification for transport here,” Makary added. WATCH: Really fascinating commentary on Anthony Fauci here from former FDA head Marty Makary. Well worth watching in light of today’s revelations. pic.twitter.com/A44nPoInM4 — Megan Basham (@megbasham) July 27, 2026 As highlighted by The Daily Wire, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) released a trove of previously private Fauci diaries this week ahead of Fauci’s expected testimony this Wednesday. The diaries appear to show that Fauci privately discussed COVID-19 fatality estimates that differed from his public statements to Congress, while also documenting what critics have described as a man obsessed with media attention and his growing celebrity. Related: New Fauci Diaries Reveal Celebrity Obsession At Height Of COVID Crisis

A massive earthquake struck the island of Kyushu on Tuesday, registering a magnitude of 7.1 and causing the second floor of the Aeon Mall in Kumamoto to collapse. “Quite a few” are feared dead, and more than two dozen remain missing from the mall alone. Local outlet Kyodo News Agency reported that there may have been an explosion, possibly caused by a gas leak, just prior to the collapse, and an unknown number of people remained trapped inside. Search and rescue operations began almost immediately, as reported by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Several people were reportedly pulled from the wreckage and as many as 30 employees remain missing after the mall’s collapse, police told the Kyodo News Agency. A Fuji TV reporter said that a number of deaths have already been reported at the shopping center — and that “quite a few” are still feared to be among the dead. The epicenter of the quake was near Uto, just south of Kumamoto on Kyushu’s western coast, roughly 540 miles from Tokyo. The quake prompted a series of tsunami advisories in the Ariake and Yatsushiro Seas, all of which were lifted after several hours. Landslides were also a concern in the immediate aftermath of the quake, which was followed by a series of smaller tremors. The Kumamoto earthquake triggered a landslide on Mount Mayu in Shimabara, Nagasaki, Japan. pic.twitter.com/wXvNMDpJ84 — Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 28, 2026 Bridges and roads were also damaged in the quake, causing problems for those who are attempting to evacuate the affected areas. The quake was reportedly measured at just over six miles below the earth’s surface — relatively shallow — which means that the seismic waves have less distance to travel before reaching the surface and are often stronger near the epicenter than a quake of the same magnitude that began deeper beneath the earth’s surface. The end result is much greater damage focused near the epicenter of the quake, The Washington Post reported. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told the press that cabinet officials had been dispatched to the area to review the damages, and the Japan Meteorological Agency has warned locals to be prepared for additional aftershocks in the coming days. Additionally, nearly 50,000 households were left without power after the quake — and more than 300,000 people were told to leave their homes and head to evacuation centers for the time being. Local trains and airports have temporarily suspended operations and are undergoing safety checks. Almost 100 people have already been taken to local hospitals — at least 40 in Yatsushiro and another 50 in Kumamoto. “We are aware of the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Kumamoto, and USFJ leaders have been in touch with our partners in the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Initial reports indicate no damage to any U.S. facilities in the region. Our thoughts and prayers are with our Japanese hosts,” U.S. Forces Japan said.