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The toll of wildfires is usually counted in acres burnt, property destroyed and lives lost to smoke and flames. But three studies published Wednesday suggest the cost to human health from the Maui and Los Angeles wildfires was substantially higher. Two of the papers explore what happened after the Hawaii fire in August 2023 — one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires in a century. A third looks at the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year. The Maui fire was directly blamed for more than 100 deaths. (Stobbe, 8/6)

Employees at North Aurora Care Center were worried about admitting V.R. The 28-year-old man had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, hypersexual tendencies and cognitive delay. So, when a local hospital was looking for a place to send him, staff at the northern Illinois nursing home resisted. “We did not want to take this guy,” the director of psychosocial rehab there told government inspectors. “We could not meet his needs.” (Gawthrop, 8/7)

Texas hasn’t reported a new outbreak-related measles case in nearly a month — a hopeful sign that one of the largest outbreaks the United States has seen in decades is starting to slow. But the measles threat hasn’t faded as new outbreaks and growing case counts in other states add to the national tally. (McPhillips, 8/6)

Transgender Iowans on Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income individuals, are having to find other ways to pay for some gender-affirming care after state lawmakers passed restrictions in the 2025 legislative session. (McKinney, 8/6)

He remembers walking towards the worst experience of his life. The dorm hall was a concrete tunnel, with chipped white paint on the walls and a stench of sweat trapped inside. The stairs, he recalls, squeaked underfoot. They led to a wooden door, which Andrew Pledger pried open. (Picheta, 8/6)