By Gretchen McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH — Cocktails are a wonderful thing because they offer such a wide array of flavors. Everyone has their favorite, with choices often predicated by the season.

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Cooler months tend to lean on beverages crafted with warm spirits like bourbon or scotch, while in summer we crave bright and refreshing drinks to chase away the heat. Often that means building them around citrus.

My oldest son, Dan, loves a sweet and cold tiki drink like a mai tai when it’s hot outside while his wife, Carolann, wants to be transported to Italy with a sunset-colored Aperol spritz.

My daughters associate summer with margaritas or cocktails topped with egg white foam “because they’re fresh and light. and I can drink a million of them,” says Catherine.

Post-Gazette wine expert Dave DeSimone has named his favorite — an icy cold gin and tonic crafted with a London dry gin.

I root for the gimlet, a sweet and tart mix of gin, lime juice and simple syrup that is believed by some to have gotten its start as a preventative medicine.

To prevent scurvy on British warships in the 1880s, sailors drank a daily ration of citrus juice. But the fruit often went bad during long voyages, so Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Gimlette suggested adding gin to make it more palatable, or so the story goes.

Eventually, the drink made its way to bars, where it was embraced by the drinking public. In 1922, the gimlet cocktail made with Rose’s lime juice turned up in Harry MacElhone’s “ABC’s of Mixing Cocktails,” and the rest is cocktail history.

Whether it was named after the admiral or the drilling tool that had a similar “penetrating” effect on sailors is anyone’s guess. What’s not debatable is that Fig & Ash in the North Side’s Deutschtown neighborhood makes one of the best gimlets in the city.

It’s popularity in summer, says bar manager Rachel Sinagra, “is just one of those things, maybe because it’s citrusy and light.”

Rachel Sinegra from Fig & Ash on the North Side makes the perfect gimlet on June 26, 2025. (Lucy Schaly/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

With just three ingredients, it’s also incredibly simple. To make a gimlet that shines, however, you have to be very picky about the ingredients.

To keep the drink refreshing, Sinagra says gin with a lemony undertone is essential. At Fig, they use Philadelphia-made Bluecoat, an American gin with a botanical, citrus-forward flavor.

“You can also use Hendrick’s,” which is known for its notes of cucumber.

But you probably want to steer clear of juniper-heavy gins, such as Bombay or Tanqueray, which will overwhelm the other ingredients.

Also essential is freshly squeezed lime juice instead of a lime cordial like Rose’s lime juice, which is concentrated and heavily sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. The taste will be brighter and more complex.

To avoid diluting the drink, Sinagra builds it “dry,” meaning she adds the ice after the alcohol, juice and simple syrup have been measured into the shaker. Then, she vigorously shakes it just enough to mix and chill it. She knows when to stop by the sound indicating the ice has cracked up into little chips.

The final step is pouring the finished cocktail into the proper glassware — a coupe or a maybe a Nick & Nora.

A glass with a wide bowl is important, she says, because “you want it to be open at the top and easy to enjoy.” The stem on each of the glasses also keeps the drinker’s hand from warming the sides.

“You want it to be chilled,” she says.

To make the simple syrup that balances the cocktail with a touch of sweetness, Sinagra always does a “spoon test” to determine the right consistency. The syrup should be a little thin, but also have some viscosity.

One great thing about a gimlet, Sinagra adds, is that the cocktail can be tweaked to personal preference. Replacing the gin with vodka is just one example.

“It’s really easy to make at home.”

Classic Gimlet

PG tested

Citrusy and light, a gin gimlet is undeniably perfect in its simplicity. At Fig & Ash, it’s made with Bluecoat American Dry Gin, a dry gin with a lemony undertone that is suited to citrus-forward cocktails.

The simple syrup is also house-made from one part water to one part sugar.; one lime yields about 1 ounce of juice.

The best glass for a gimlet has a shallow, broad bowl such as a coupe, but you also can use a tulip-shaped Nick & Nora.

2 ounces gin
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
3/4 ounce simple syrup

Combine gin, lime juice and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice.

Shake until well-chilled.

Strain into a cocktail glass.

Garnish with a lime wheel.

Makes 1 cocktail.

— Rachel Sinagra, Fig & Ash

©2025 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By JOSH BOAK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday called for the Federal Reserve’s board of governors to usurp the power of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, criticizing the head of the U.S. central bank for not cutting short-term interest rates.

Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Powell “stubborn.” The Fed chair has been subjected to vicious verbal attacks by the Republican president over several months.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, speaks during a news conference following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Wednesday, July 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The Fed has the responsibility of stabilizing prices and maximizing employment. Powell has held its benchmark rate for overnight loans constant this year, saying that Fed officials needed to see what impact Trump’s massive tariffs had on inflation.

If Powell doesn’t “substantially” lower rates, Trump said, “THE BOARD SHOULD ASSUME CONTROL, AND DO WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS HAS TO BE DONE!”

Two of the seven Fed governors, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, issued statements Friday saying they see the tariffs as having a one-time impact on prices and the job market as likely softening. As a result, the two dissented at the Fed meeting on Wednesday and pushed for slight rate cuts relative to what Trump was seeking.

Even though Trump, who nominated Waller and Bowman, has claimed the U.S. economy is booming, he welcomed their arguments.

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“STRONG DISSENTS ON FED BOARD,” he said in a separate Truth Social post. “IT WILL ONLY GET STRONGER!”

Friday’s jobs report showed a rapidly decelerating economy, as just 73,000 jobs were added in July and downward revisions brought down the June and May totals to 19,000 and 14,000, respectively.

Trump sees the rate cuts as leading to stronger growth and lower debt servicing costs for the federal government and homebuyers. The president argues there is virtually no inflation, even though the Fed’s preferred measure is running at an annual rate of 2.6%, slightly higher than the Fed’s 2% target.

Trump has called for slashing the Fed’s benchmark rate by 3 percentage points, bringing it down dramatically from its current average of 4.33%. The risk is that a rate cut that large could cause more money to come into the economy than can be absorbed, possibly causing inflation to accelerate.

The Supreme Court suggested in a May ruling that Trump could not remove Powell for policy disagreements. This led the White House to investigate whether the Fed chair could be fired for cause because of the cost overruns in its $2.5 billion renovation projects.

Powell’s term as chair ends in May 2026, at which point Trump can put his Senate-confirmed pick in the seat.

By Arielle Zionts, KFF Health News

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Cassandra Palmier had been meaning to get her son the second and final dose of the measles vaccine. But car problems made it difficult to get to the doctor.

So she pounced on the opportunity to get him vaccinated after learning that a mobile clinic would be visiting her neighborhood.

“I was definitely concerned about the epidemic and the measles,” Palmier, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said at the June event. “I wanted to do my part.”

So did her son, Makaito Cuny.

“I’m not going to be scared,” the 5-year-old announced as he walked onto the bus containing the clinic and hopped into an exam chair.

Makaito sat still as a nurse gave him the shot in his arm. “I did it!” he said while smiling at his mother.

The Oyate Health Center serves Native Americans in Rapid City, South Dakota, and surrounding areas. (Arielle Zionts/KFF Health News/TNS)

The vaccine clinic was hosted by the Great Plains Tribal Leaders’ Health Board, which serves tribes across Iowa, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. It’s one way Native American tribes and organizations are responding to concerns about low measles vaccination rates and patients’ difficulty accessing health care as the disease spreads across the country.

Meghan O’Connell, the board’s chief public health officer, said it is also working with tribes that want to host vaccine clinics.

Elsewhere, tribal health organizations have launched social media campaigns, are making sure health providers are vaccinated, and are reaching out to the parents of unvaccinated children.

This spring, Project ECHO at the University of New Mexico hosted an online video series about measles aimed at health care professionals and organizations that serve Native American communities. The presenters outlined the basics of measles diagnosis and treatment, discussed culturally relevant communication strategies, and shared how tribes are responding to the outbreak.

Participants also strategized about ways to improve vaccination rates, said Harry Brown, a physician and an epidemiologist for the United South and Eastern Tribes, a nonprofit that works with 33 tribes in the Atlantic Coast and Southeast regions.

“It’s a pretty hot topic right now in Indian Country and I think a lot of people are being proactive,” he said.

Makaito Cuny smiles at his mother after getting his second measles shot in a mobile clinic. (Arielle Zionts/KFF Health News/TNS)

Measles can survive for up to two hours in the air in a space where an infected person has been, sickening up to 90% of people who aren’t vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. has had 1,319 confirmed cases of measles this year as of July 23, according to the CDC. It’s the largest outbreak in the U.S. since 1992. Ninety-two percent of the 2025 cases involve unvaccinated patients or people with an unknown vaccination status. Three people had died in the U.S. and 165 had been hospitalized as of July 23.

O’Connell said data on Native Americans’ vaccination rates is imperfect but that it suggests a lower percentage of them have received measles shots than the overall U.S. population.

The limited national data on measles vaccination rates for Native Americans is based on small surveys of people who self-identify as Native American. Some show that Native Americans have slightly lower measles vaccination rates, while others show significant gaps.

Data from some states, including South Dakota and Montana, shows that Native Americans are less likely than white children to be vaccinated on schedule.

The national measles vaccination rate is significantly lower for Native Americans who use the mostly rural Indian Health Service. About 76% of children 16 to 27 months old had gotten the first shot, according to data collected by the agency during recent patient visits at 156 clinics. That’s a 10-percentage-point drop from 10 years ago.

But the IHS data shows that its patients are at least as likely as other children to have received both recommended measles shots by the time they’re 17. O’Connell said it’s unclear if currently unvaccinated patients will continue the trend of eventually getting up to date on their shots or if they will remain unvaccinated.

The immunization rate is probably higher for older children since schools require students to get vaccinated unless they have an exemption, Brown said. He said it’s important that parents get their children vaccinated on time, when they’re young and more at risk of being hospitalized or dying from the disease.

Native Americans may have lower vaccination rates due to the challenges they face in accessing shots and other health care, O’Connell said. Those on rural reservations may be an hour or more from a clinic. Or, like Palmier, they may not have reliable transportation.

Another reason, O’Connell said, is that some Native Americans distrust the Indian Health Service, which is chronically underfunded and understaffed. If the only nearby health care facility is run by the agency, patients may delay or skip care.

O’Connell and Brown said vaccine skepticism and mistrust of the entire health care system are growing in Native American communities, as has occurred elsewhere nationwide.

“Prior to social media, I think our population was pretty trustful of childhood vaccination. And American Indians have a long history of being severely impacted by infectious disease,” he said.

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European colonizers’ arrival in the late 1400s brought new diseases, including measles, that killed tens of millions of Indigenous people in North and South America by the early 1600s. Native Americans have also had high mortality rates in modern pandemics, including the 1918-20 Spanish flu and covid-19.

The Great Plains Tribal Leaders’ Health Board reacted quickly when measles cases began showing up near its headquarters in South Dakota this year. Nebraska health officials announced in late May that a child had measles in a rural part of the state, close to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Then, four people from the Rapid City area got sick later that month and into the middle of June.

“Our phones really rang off the hook” once that news came out, said Darren Crowe, a vice president at the board’s Oyate Health Center in Rapid City. He said parents wanted to know if their children were up to date on their measles vaccines.

Crowe said the health board ordered extra masks, created a measles command team that meets daily, and called parents when its online database showed their children needed a shot.

Brown praised that approach.

“It takes a concerted outreach effort that goes individual to individual,” he said, adding that his organization helped the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas with similar efforts.

Brown said reaching specific families can be a challenge in some low-income Native American communities, where many people’s phone numbers frequently change since they use temporary prepaid plans.

Once a health worker reaches a parent, Brown said, they should listen and ask questions before sharing the importance of the vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella.

“Rather than trying to preach to somebody and beat them over the head with data or whatever to convince them that this is what they need to do, you start out by finding out where they are,” he said. “So, ‘Tell me about your experience with vaccination. Tell me what you know about vaccination.’”

Most people agree to immunize their children when presented with helpful information in a nonjudgmental way, Brown said.

©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Cancer survivors infected with COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic had a higher risk of dying from dormant cells reawakening, Colorado researchers found, though they don’t know whether people who get the virus now face the same risk.

Experiments in mice found that genetically modified animals were more likely to have signs of metastatic cancer in their lungs if infected with flu or COVID-19 than engineered mice that researchers didn’t give a virus, said James DeGregori, deputy director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center in Aurora.

That finding launched an international partnership to determine whether the same thing happened in people, he said.

DeGregori was one of the lead investigators, alongside scientists from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, Imperial College London, University College London, University of Connecticut, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the COVID-19 International Research Team, based in Massachusetts.

Two datasets, from the United States and the United Kingdom, both showed a higher risk that cancer survivors with confirmed COVID-19 infections would die from metastatic cancer, compared to survivors who didn’t test positive for the virus.

The British data showed people who tested positive had about twice the risk of those who tested negative, and the American data showed about a 44% increased risk, DeGregori said. A significant number of the U.S. patients never got tested for COVID-19, however, so the risk was likely higher because of cancer deaths in people with missed infections, he said.

The American data only included breast cancer survivors, while the British data included people who were in remission from any type of cancer. The risk of death was highest in the months immediately after an infection.

COVID-19 didn’t directly cause the cancer to spread, but created an environment where dormant cells elsewhere in patients’ bodies can wake up, DeGregori said. The body responds to an infection with inflammation to kill the virus, which helps the cancer cells, he said.

“It’s kind of like collateral damage,” he said.

Drugs exist that could block one specific molecule that ramps up inflammation, but they also suppress the immune system, which is a problem when the patient has a serious infection, DeGregori said.

“You have to balance the good it does with the bad it does,” he said.

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The researchers didn’t have enough data to know whether people with more-severe cases of COVID-19 were more likely to die from their cancer, DeGregori said. They also couldn’t tell if flu infections had a similar effect, because most people who have the flu don’t seek medical care, he said.

Other questions for future studies include whether the risk is the same for infections with more recent COVID-19 variants and in vaccinated people, and whether other types of infections also can help cancer spread, DeGregori said.

Not all cancer survivors have dormant cells in their bodies, and of those who do, not everyone sees those cells wake up after an infection, DeGregori said. Still, survivors who are worried about their cancer spreading might want to get vaccinated against respiratory diseases and take steps like avoiding sick people, he said.

“We don’t want to scare people, but knowledge is power,” he said. “Anything that could limit the odds of infection should limit the odds of (cancer) awakening.”