What happened
Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) will remain on the ballot in November after yesterday’s state deadline to replace him passed. Allegations that Miller physically and emotionally abused his ex-wife and 2-year-old daughter helped turn what had been a safe Republican district into a competitive race against Democrat Brian Poindexter, a union ironworker. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report yesterday shifted Miller’s 7th Congressional District from “likely Republican” to “toss-up.”

Who said what
Republican officials had “led an intense push” to get Miller out of the race, CNN said. But as it became clear he wouldn’t drop out, Politico said, members of President Donald Trump’s political team urged Ohio Republicans “not to wage a public pressure campaign” against him, arguing that such “moot” efforts “would complicate messaging” when “those same leaders would likely later have to defend Miller’s candidacy.”

What next?
Local Republican leaders in North Carolina’s 11th District yesterday selected state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom to replace Rep. Chuck Edwards, who dropped his reelection bid last week after the House Ethics Committee urged his censure over troubling conduct toward two female aides. Balkcom “will now have roughly 80 days to crisscross” the mountainous district and raise a “crush of cash” to compete against well-funded Democrat Jamie Ager, said The New York Times. 

What happened
President Donald Trump left a NATO summit in Turkey last month aboard an alternate military aircraft after publicly boarding Air Force One then secretly exiting on the other side of the plane in an “airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight,” The Washington Post reported yesterday, citing U.S. officials and “corroborating material.” The “elaborate deception to spirit” Trump out of the region was prompted by a “credible” threat “against him and Air Force One from Iran,” The New York Times said. 

Who said what
The “furtive operation” was apparently “developed in a matter of hours,” the Times said. Reporters flying with Trump were not told of the deception, “making them unwitting participants in the ruse and leaving them, along with some White House staff members, to serve as unknowing decoys.” The journalists and staffers were also not “made aware of the extent of the threat on Air Force One.” 

When reporters asked Trump later why they had been advised to keep their window shades closed on the flight to Britain, he said they were “probably on a dangerous flight.” He added that he’s No. 1 on Iran’s hit list, “but if I go, you go, right?”

What next?
Asked about the reports, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said “many enemies of America” have “their sights on” Trump and “we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.”

A retinal implant that can restore vision degraded by age has been approved for use in Europe and could soon be available in the U.S. Researchers are also evaluating the applicability of the implant for other eye conditions.

The PRIMA retinal implant, created by the Science Corporation, can “restore functional central vision” in people with geographic atrophy, an advanced form of macular degeneration, said Stanford Medicine. The implant has shown measurable vision improvement, allowing “those who were considered legally blind to read letters and words.”

The implant is “about the size of a pinhead and is inserted beneath the retina” and “used alongside glasses with a frame-mounted camera,” said New Scientist. It operates with a brain-computer interface, in which the camera “captures and processes images, then projects the result onto the implant’s chips using near-infrared light.” This method “offers users black-and-white vision and the ability to zoom in on objects,” said Stat News.

PRIMA has been approved for use and sale in Europe and is set to launch in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The implant also “received a Humanitarian Use Device designation from the FDA in March,” said Stat News. The designation “puts the device on track to debut in the United States early next year if it receives agency approval.” 

Cost could be a barrier, though Science Corporation and “its medical partners in Europe are currently in discussion with healthcare providers over reimbursement,” said TechCrunch. Researchers are also evaluating PRIMA for other retinal conditions like Stargardt disease and retinitis pigmentosa.