�������ýҕ�l

Biden officials are working on a smaller effort to help schools buy select food products as the universal free school meals program it launched during the Covid-19 pandemic approaches its expiration date, according to two people familiar with the plans. Administration officials are exploring using about $1 billion from an Agriculture Department fund to help schools purchase U.S. commodities for their meal programs. USDA did something similar last December, as districts struggled to find consistent sources of food amid ongoing supply chain disruptions from the pandemic. (Lee, 6/8)

One of the most popular and groundbreaking experiments in U.S. school lunch history is coming to a close, but advocates for federal program are racing to save it ahead of the 2022-23 school year. Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday added her voice to a growing chorus of officials, agencies and education organizations calling on the U.S. Congress to permanently extend the free school lunch waiver, which expires June 30. (Garcia, 6/8)

With federal waivers set to expire on June 30, 2022 and Congress deciding not to extend them, families will once again be footing the bill for their kids' school lunches. In some Western North Carolina school districts, they'll be paying more than ever before. On Monday, June 6, Transylvania County's Board of Education voted to increase lunch prices by a dollar this fall, compared to pre-pandemic pricing. Transylvania County Schools (TCS) will charge $3.25 for elementary school lunches and $3.50 for middle and high school lunches starting this August. (Patel, 6/7)

President Joe Biden is closing in on a new top scientist for his administration. Arati Prabhakar, the head of the Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency from 2012 to 2017, is a frontrunner to lead the White House science office, according to three White House officials. ... The president has designated the science office to run point on the “cancer moonshot” initiative which remains a personal priority after the death of his son, Beau, from brain cancer in 2015. (Thompson, 6/8)

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra travel to Los Angeles today to participate in the Summit of the Americas, where they are expected to outline a plan to increase public health communication and surveillance in the Americas. The plan is part of an administration bid to step up global partnerships in order to stem further COVID-19 outbreaks and prevent future pandemics before they start, and will help other countries in the Americas prevent and prepare for public health emergencies. The administration anticipates the plan will be fully implemented by 2030. The primary goal is to train an additional 500,000 health care workers across Latin America within the next decade in conjunction with the newly-formed Americas Health Corps. (Cohen, 6/8)

Abbott Laboratories was alerted to allegations concerning problems at an infant-formula plant months earlier than previously publicly known, according to a government official, a person familiar with the matter and documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal. A complaint filed under the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s whistleblower-protection program by a former Abbott employee in February 2021 alleged a host of problems at the company’s Sturgis plant. They included failing equipment in need of repair and formula released without adequate evidence that it was safe for consumption, the person familiar with the matter said. (Newman and Loftus, 6/8)

As production of infant formula ramps up once again to ease the nationwide shortage, Nevada agencies caution that grocery store shelves may still be understocked for weeks or months longer. Abbott Laboratories announced on Saturday that it will be continuing its production of popular formulas like Similac after voluntarily recalling them because of the discovery of a deadly germ in the powder. However, parents will have to wait for shelves to start filling up again. According to a May 15 report from Bloomberg, Las Vegas had been hit the hardest in terms of the shortage, with more than 50% of formula out of stock across the Las Vegas Valley as of the time. (Ross and Drewes, 6/8)