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    Dev Shah is the champion of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The 14-year-old from Largo, Florida, had his spelling career interrupted by the pandemic, then didn't make it out of his regional bee last year. He was brimming with confidence in his final opportunity, asking precise questions about obscure Greek roots. His winning word was “psammophile,” and his root knowledge made it a layup. Dev takes home the winner's trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. Charlotte Walsh, a 14-year-old from Arlington, Virginia, was the runner-up.

      Critics accuse the British administration of running “government by WhatsApp” due to the popularity of the messaging app with politicians and officials. So it feels inevitable that a tussle over WhatsApp messages is at the heart of Britain’s official inquiry into how the country handled the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands of messages exchanged between then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and government ministers, aides and officials form key evidence for the investigation  chaired by retired judge Heather Hallett. The Conservative government is now led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. It wants to be able to edit the messages before handing them over. The government says some are personal and irrelevant to the inquiry.

        Germany's national labor agency says the country has labor shortages in one-sixth of professions and the number is growing. Its assessment came Friday as ministers prepare to travel to Brazil to encourage the recruitment of caregivers. Germany has Europe’s biggest economy. The Federal Labor Agency said that its annual analysis showed that 200 out of about 1,200 professions it surveyed had labor shortages last year. That figure is up from 148 the previous year. The agency said that bus drivers, service jobs in hotels and restaurants, and jobs in metalwork were among those that joined the list.

          FRIDAY, June 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A new liver dialysis device might soon be able to save patients on the edge of death from liver failure, early clinical trial results show.

          Dozens of transgender people in Florida who can't afford to move are turning to crowdfunding to help them leave after the passage of new legislation that targets the LGBTQ community. That includes a law that curtails access to gender-affirming care for adults and bans it for minors. People have given $200,000 since January to fundraisers on GoFundMe started by trans people seeking to leave Florida, according to data from the platform. Jalen Drummond is GoFundMe’s director of public affairs. Drummond said GoFundMe has also seen an increase of 39% from April to May in the number of fundraisers created to help trans people leave the state.

          A college student who authorities say admitted setting fire to a building slated to become Wyoming’s only full-service abortion clinic is scheduled to appear in federal court. Lorna Roxanne Green is set to enter a plea to an arson charge on Friday. Court documents say Green told investigators she opposes abortion, experiences anxiety and has had nightmares over the clinic set to open in Casper last year, so she decided to burn it down. Abortion remains legal in conservative Wyoming. Lawmakers passed a ban this year but a state judge has put it on hold while an opposing lawsuit proceeds.

          Nebraska lawmakers have wrapped up a particularly contentious session that saw nearly every bill before the body filibustered. The filibuster effort led by Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh and a handful of allies was a protest over a bill that began as a measure to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors, but it morphed to also included a 12-week abortion ban. The effort greatly slowed the work of the Legislature. It led to long days that saw debate routinely stretch into the evening hours and forced leaders to attach bills as amendments in order to get legislation passed.

          Two Idaho hospitals and their clinics are working to resume full operations after a cyberattack on their computer systems. Officials with Idaho Falls Community Hospital say the attack happened Monday, causing the closure of some clinics and some ambulances to be diverted to other nearby hospitals. Mountain View Hospital was also affected. Officials say their IT team identified the attack quickly and acted to limit the impacts and keep all patient information safe and secure. Officials said Wednesday afternoon that work to fully recover from the attack was ongoing, Both hospitals remain open and the vast majority of clinics are seeing patients as usual.

          THURSDAY, June 1, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- For women with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer, adding pembrolizumab to chemotherapy, with or without bevacizumab, is associated with improved overall and progression-free survival, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from June 2 to 6 in Chicago.

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          THURSDAY, June 1, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults have a second vaccine option for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of a Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday.

          The families of two transgender teenagers are suing Idaho officials to block enforcement of a ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors. Idaho is one of at least 20 states in recent years to enact such a ban. Most of them have been challenged in court. But the laws and cases are so new that there's not a clear trend yet on outcomes. The Idaho ban is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2024. The families who challenged it with a court filing on Thursday contend it violates constitutional rights to equal protection under the law for the teens and due process for their parents.

          Arizona State University will establish its own medical school amid an ongoing shortage of health care workers across the state. University President Michael Crow and the Arizona Board of Regents announced the plans for school, to be called ASU Health, at a meeting Thursday morning in Tempe. The school will be in Maricopa County. The planned school is part of a wider initiative, AZ Healthy Tomorrow, that involves the state’s other major public universities, the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. The initiative’s goals include getting Arizona to reach the national average of doctors and nurses per capita and improving health care access for all residents.

          Have you noticed you're looking up at some of your younger friends who used to be your height? Or maybe you’ve felt taller around your parents? Aging means you shrink with the passing of time. Veuer’s Maria Mercedes Galuppo has the story.

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