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The Washington Health Care Authority has amended its rules to match two federal laws that take effect January 1, 2027. One requires states to check eligibility for certain federally funded medical assistance every six months. The other shortens the retroactive coverage period for that assistance.
How to weigh in: No comment period: this is a final rule.
The Washington Department of Health proposes a new section of the state administrative code, WAC 246-320-148, on hospital price transparency. It would explain how the department will decide whether hospitals meet the requirements of state law (RCW 70.41.560) on reporting prices and cost data for services and items. It would also give hospitals some flexibility to reduce repetitive reporting.
How to weigh in: Comment by October 27, 2026.
Temporary rules in effect since September 15, 2026 place synthetic benzodiazepines in Schedule I, the category under the Controlled Substances Act, in Washington's drug rules. The Washington Department of Health says this follows federal action by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on clonazolam, diclazepam, etizolam, flualprazolam, flubromazolam and bromazolam.
How to weigh in: No comment period: this is a final rule.
Temporary rules in effect from September 16, 2026 govern the Washington Health Care Authority's Apple Health expansion program. The program covers adults age 19 and older who have an immigration status that makes them ineligible for medicaid or federal subsidies through the health benefit exchange, and who are not eligible for another full-scope federally funded medical assistance program. It began in 2024 under 2023 state legislation, and the temporary rules apply while permanent rules are developed.
How to weigh in: No comment period: this is a final rule.
The Washington Health Care Authority proposes amendments to its rules on requests for noncovered health care services and on fee-for-service medical and dental coverage. The changes would bring the rules in line with federal rule CMS-0057-F, titled Advancing Interoperability and Improving Authorization.
How to weigh in: Comment by October 27, 2026.
The commission, under the Washington Department of Health, proposes amendments to its prescription labeling accessibility rules. The rules require dispensing facilities and dispensing practitioners to provide accessible prescription labels on request to patients with visual impairments or print disabilities, and to patients with limited English proficiency (LEP), at no additional cost. The proposal changes which accessibility methods must be used to best meet each patient's needs; the original rules were adopted in 2025 with a 2027 effective date.
How to weigh in: Comment by October 22, 2026.
The Washington Health Care Authority proposes rules to set up a statewide certified community behavioral health clinic (CCBHC) model, as directed by 2025 state legislation. The rules would also set cost-based rates and standards for CCBHC certification. CCBHCs are outpatient community-based clinics that provide a comprehensive range of mental health and substance use disorder services.
How to weigh in: Comment by October 27, 2026.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, reports that human CD4 T cells, a type of immune cell, can control tumors without recognizing the tumor directly, by acting through antigen presenting cells. In humanized mice, transferring the T cells caused regression of HLA-DP-negative tumors, and that control needed HLA-matched human antigen presenting cells. The authors say this could matter for cancers whose tumor cells lack major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II expression.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, reports that artesunate reduced metastatic burden in mice with lung adenocarcinoma while leaving primary tumor growth unaffected. The authors say artesunate induced oxidative stress, and that metastasis-derived cells, which have altered redox balance, were especially sensitive when glutathione synthesis was also inhibited. They describe glutathione-dependent redox homeostasis as a metabolic vulnerability in metastatic cells.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, uses genetic data and Mendelian randomization to test the direction of links between ADHD and the Big Five personality traits. It suggests that higher genetic liability to neuroticism and extraversion, and lower liability to conscientiousness, raise ADHD risk, while ADHD genetic liability is linked to lower agreeableness. The authors say these results support a vulnerability model for some traits and a scar model for agreeableness.
A longitudinal cohort study, a preprint not yet reviewed by other scientists, followed people with Long COVID for a further 12 months. It found that symptoms overlapping with fibromyalgia remained common, with 67.5% to 78.6% meeting the symptom-based criteria at each point of follow-up. The authors say the findings support closer integration of Long COVID and chronic pain rehabilitation services.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, estimates how much non-communicable disease burden in Taiwan can be attributed to polygenic risk scores, linking Taiwan Biobank and National Health Insurance Research Database data. It reports the strongest genetic-risk associations for atrial fibrillation and gout. It also links a top-decile integrated polygenic risk score (iPRS) to 23.9% more hospital days and 19.1% more inpatient visits.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, describes scPRIME-seq, a method that profiles transcriptome, genome and DNA methylome simultaneously in single cells. It was applied to 436,908 cells from 29 prostate cancers and 15 benign tissues. The authors report early focal epigenetic changes present in founder aneuploid clones and benign tissues, which they describe as a pre-neoplastic origin of epigenetic burden.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, reports mouse studies of pancreatic cancer cachexia, which the authors describe as pathological weight loss with anorexia and depressive symptoms. The authors link its behavioral and feeding problems to altered tryptophan metabolism, which depletes serotonin and accumulates kynurenine. Restoring serotonin activity normalized feeding, locomotion and depression-like behavior in the mice, but did not change wasting, tumor burden or survival.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, reports experiments on dams showing that the postpartum period is a state of enhanced antiviral immunity. Dams infected with influenza A virus (IAV) before weaning survived more often and had less disease than nonpregnant females after a lethal challenge. The authors link the protection to the transition into lactation, and say it extended to highly pathogenic avian influenza.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, combines genome-wide gene-environment interaction maps with allele-frequency trajectories over about the last 10,000 years to test whether environment-responsive variants contributed to recent human adaptation. Three of 45 independent loci showed significant signs of directional selection, and the selection-linked loci were enriched for interactions involving meat and cheese consumption. The authors suggest gene-environment interactions are an important, previously underappreciated part of recent human evolution.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, describes Seal, an interpretable artificial intelligence (AI) transfer learning framework that models gene expression and variant effects in the developing human brain across 26 brain regions, 30 cell types and seven developmental stages. Applied to genome-wide association studies, it points to cell types and developmental windows relevant to six neuropsychiatric conditions. In autism whole-genome data, it finds a burden of de novo regulatory variants in transient fetal excitatory neurons.
This NBER working paper, not yet peer-reviewed, studies the range of multiple equilibria in sovereign debt markets. It finds the range can be large when uncertainty is low, shrinks as uncertainty grows, and disappears when uncertainty is large enough, leaving a unique interest rate. The authors note that interpreting the source of an interest-rate increase is difficult, which complicates the use of intervention by central banks.
The California Department of Insurance has a proposed rate filing, LC 26-04, for the Low Cost Automobile Insurance Program, under which the California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan (CAARP) proposes raising the current liability rate by 15.4%. The low-cost policy provides $10,000 for bodily injury or death to one person, a $20,000 cumulative limit for all persons in one accident, and $3,000 for property damage. The Insurance Code requires the Commissioner to hold a public hearing before assigned risk plan rates are amended.
How to weigh in: Comment by December 2, 2026.
The Texas Department of Insurance has adopted amendments to its small and large employer health benefit plan rules to implement Senate Bill 896 (2025). Newborn coverage now runs to the 61st day after birth instead of the 32nd, and the deadline for enrollees to notify the plan and pay any additional premium moves from the 31st to the 60th day after birth. The amendments are in effect from October 11, 2026.
How to weigh in: No comment period: this is a final rule.
The Texas Department of Insurance has adopted amendments and one repeal concerning health maintenance organizations (HMOs), in effect from October 11, 2026. They implement several 2025 laws, including Senate Bill 896 on newborn coverage, House Bill 388 on a uniform coordination of benefits questionnaire, and Senate Bill 493 on certain pharmacy benefit manager contract provisions. Some sections were adopted with changes, including one changed in response to public comment.
How to weigh in: No comment period: this is a final rule.
The State Board of Education (SBOE) of the Texas Education Agency proposes amending its academic achievement record (transcript) rule, so that it documents a student's completion of a new graduation requirement for the direct admissions program run by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). The requirement, set by Senate Bill 2314 from 2025, applies to students enrolled in the 2026-2027 school year, and students can meet it by declining to take part through a formal opt-out process.
How to weigh in: No comment deadline is listed; see the document.
The Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) proposes amendments to its premium rate tables and experience rating rules for workers' compensation insurance for calendar year 2027. It proposes an overall average premium rate change of 4.9 percent, with classification base rates updated to align with expected losses. Washington law says rates should be adjusted each year to reflect the hazards of each industry.
How to weigh in: Comment by October 29, 2026.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, describes a Bayesian Factorization Machine (BFM), a machine learning model trained on ecotoxicity test data to predict how hazardous chemicals are to aquatic species. The model matches the current state of the art in predicting the lethal concentration for 50% of test individuals (LC50), and it also gives an uncertainty estimate for every prediction. The authors say the uncertainty is widest for chemicals with little data, where conventional methods are least reliable.
The Washington Department of Ecology has adopted amendments to improve its cap and invest program, to facilitate linking Washington's carbon market with the California-Québec carbon market, and to make other updates consistent with amendments to the Climate Commitment Act. The rules take effect October 24, 2026.
How to weigh in: No comment period: this is a final rule.
The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery has adopted a temporary rule amending the covered battery-embedded waste recycling fee. The fee, imposed at retail purchase, stays at 1.5 percent of the retail sales price, but its maximum falls from $15 to $1 as of January 1, 2027.
How to weigh in: No comment period: this is a final rule.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, reports a long-term experiment in oil palm plantations in Riau, Indonesia, comparing ways to restore riparian margins after replanting. Active restoration, which enriched the margins with six native tree species, produced more structural complexity, a more closed canopy, and cooler, more stable temperatures than passive restoration or the control. The authors say the restored margins also held more cool surface microhabitats, which reduced thermal extremes under both current and future climate scenarios.
The California Fish and Game Commission has issued an emergency action, effective September 25, 2026, that authorizes incidental take of the Western Spadefoot toad during its endangered species candidacy period. The authorization covers eligible utility-scale solar photovoltaic projects and utility-scale solar combined with battery energy storage (BESS) projects. It is subject to avoidance and minimization, mitigation, ongoing research and monitoring, reporting and other conditions.
How to weigh in: No comment period: this is a final rule.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) proposes amending its alcoholic beverage advertising rule, section 45.121, to replace references to specific media and specific persons with all-inclusive terms. The agency says the current list risks unintended loopholes as new communication methods emerge. The change follows recommendations from the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office (TREO) to remove unnecessary or ineffective rules.
How to weigh in: Comment by November 9, 2026.
A peer-reviewed study in PNAS examines how thin threads of liquid break apart inside rectangular microchannels, a process that matters for lab-on-a-chip diagnostics and oil recovery. The authors show that breakup happens when a family of equilibrium neck shapes ends, and that a channel aspect ratio (W / H) of about 2.0 changes how the thread collapses. They also report a curved junction design intended to make densely packed emulsions on a chip.
Pew Research Center says that health and wellness influencers who describe themselves as healthcare professionals tend to post much more often about medical topics, such as medical conditions, mental health or treatments requiring the supervision of a doctor.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, combines a tabular foundation model, Kumo Tabular, which reads coded police crash records, with a System One model, Jev, which reads officers' narratives, to estimate crash factors the coded fields miss. For hydroplaning, medical episodes, fatigue, animals and phone use, the narratives document more injury crashes than the coded fields; for phone use, that is 15,074 against 7,340. The study covers 5,601,890 Texas crashes from 2017 to 2025.
Pew Research Center says the costs of many household essentials are a top economic concern for most Americans, much as they were four years ago before the last midterm election. The announcement's title notes that public economic ratings have turned more negative.
A preprint, not yet reviewed by other scientists, introduces the CASCADE (Cardiovascular Analysis and Simulation of Circulatory Advection, Diffusion, and Exchange) toolkit, which simulates vessel-resolved oxygen transport at the organ scale. The authors say it runs a full biventricular human heart model in about two minutes on laptop-class hardware, and that it was checked against experiments in perfused engineered tissues. In the heart model, it shows how coronary occlusion, anemia, polycythemia and hypoxemia change oxygenation patterns in heart muscle.
The Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) proposes permanent rules for transition to kindergarten (TK). The rules would let school districts, charter schools and state-tribal education compact schools charge sliding scale fees for enrollment, and would set how state funding for TK programs is allocated. They would implement 2026 state legislation for the 2027-28 school year.
How to weigh in: Comment by November 5, 2026.
Temporary rules on Running Start eligibility and enrollment, issued by the Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction, have been in effect since September 12, 2026. They align funding and enrollment with several 2023, 2024 and 2026 state laws, let students aged 21 who receive special education services be claimed for state funding, and change the first count day for a college term to the fourth school day of the first full month.
How to weigh in: No comment period: this is a final rule.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports on geothermal energy leasing and permitting on federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Nominations of land for geothermal development rose from about 25,800 acres in 2020 to more than a million acres in 2025, and approved drilling permits grew from seven in 2019 to 68 in 2024. The report says BLM should improve permitting, citing inconsistent experiences for developers, draft handbooks not publicly available, and limited visibility into permit status.
The California State Allocation Board (SAB) proposes to adopt and amend regulations for the School Facility Program (SFP), which gives per-pupil grants to school districts for building and modernizing school facilities. The changes implement Proposition 2, the school bond approved by voters in 2024, and add a Small School District Program for districts with 2,501 or fewer pupils. Proposition 2 provides $8.5 billion in bond authority for public transitional kindergarten through grade 12 school facilities.
How to weigh in: No comment deadline is listed; see the document.