Happening Today: Opioids, Health Care, Heart Attacks, HBO, Sam Shepard

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Trump Drug Commission Calls for Emergency Declaration

President Trump's drug commission has called on the president to declare a national emergency to deal with the country's opioid drug epidemic. The commission sent an initial report to the Republican president saying the approximately 142 deaths each day from drug overdoses mean the death toll is "equal to September 11th every three weeks." The report is "meant to give the president some immediate steps that he can take to try to make sure that we stop the death that is happening across the country," said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was appointed by Trump to lead the group. The White House said it will "immediately begin reviewing its recommendations."

Republicans Say Time for Senate to Move on From Health Care

Leading Senate Republicans said it was time to move from health care to other issues, saying they saw no fresh pathway to the votes needed to reverse the collapse of their effort to repeal and rewrite the Obama health care law. The lawmakers spoke after last week's stunning crash of the GOP's drive to tear down President Obama's 2010 health care law and replace it with their vision of more limited federal programs. While the leaders stopped short of saying they were surrendering on an issue that's guided the party for seven years, their remarks underscored that Republicans have hit a wall when it comes to resolving internal battles over what their stance should be.

LA Reaches Tentative Deal to Host 2028 Olympics

Los Angeles has struck a tentative deal with the International Olympic Committee to host the 2028 summer Games, the leaders of the city's Olympic bid announced. Los Angeles originally bid to host the 2024 summer Olympics, competing with Paris. But the IOC recently approved a plan to name a host of both the 2024 and 2028 Games simultaneously, assuring that each city would be awarded an Olympics. The only remaining question was which Games Los Angeles would receive. Although the city's bid committee — LA 2024 — has reached the agreement with the IOC for the 2028 Games, the Los Angeles City Council and U.S. Olympic Committee Board of Directors also must approve it. If that approval is given, the IOC, Los Angeles and Paris will work on a formal three- way agreement in advance of the IOC's meeting in Lima, Peru, on Sept. 13, when the Games will officially be awarded.

U.S. Hospitals Treating Heart Attacks at Record Speed

There's never been a better time to be treated for a heart attack. U.S. hospitals have set a record for how quickly they open blocked arteries, averaging under one hour for the first time since these results have been tracked. More than 93 percent of patients now have their arteries opened within the recommended 90 minutes of arrival. It's based on records from about 85 percent of U.S. hospitals that do the artery procedure, angioplasty. Through a blood vessel in the groin or an arm, doctors guide a tube to the blockage causing the heart attack. They inflate a tiny balloon to flatten the clog, and leave behind a mesh tube called a stent to prop the artery open. The sooner blood flow is restored, the less chance of permanent damage. The risk of dying goes up 42 percent if care is delayed even half an hour beyond the 90 minutes that U.S. guidelines say patients should be treated after arrival.

“Game of Thrones” Leaks Threatened as Hackers Hit HBO With Cyber Attack

Apparently, winter isn't coming fast enough for some. HBO, home to "Game of Thrones," is the latest entertainment company to find itself the target of major cyber-attack, with upcoming episodes and scripts from a handful of their shows showing up online courtesy of hackers who've found a way to breach the company's systems, EW reports. Hackers claim to have stolen 1.5 terabytes of proprietary data from HBO. An upcoming episode of both "Ballers" and "Room 104" have already surfaced, as well as a script that is purportedly from next week's episode of "Game of Thrones," with the threat that more is "coming soon." Per the report, HBO chairman and CEO Richard Pleper sent an email to his employees, alerting them of the security breach. Since its inception, HBO has struggled to keep "Game of Thrones" content from being illegally distributed—especially before it airs.

Actor, Playwright Sam Shepard Dies at 73

Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Oscar-nominated actor and celebrated author whose plays chronicled the explosive fault lines of family and masculinity in the American West, has died. He was 73. Family spokesman Chris Boneau said Shepard died at his home in Kentucky from complications related to Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The taciturn Shepard, who grew up on a California ranch, was a man of few words who nevertheless produced 44 plays and numerous books, memoirs and short stories. He was one of the most influential playwrights of his generation: a plain-spoken poet of the modern frontier, both lyrical and rugged. In his 1971 one-act "Cowboy Mouth, which he wrote with his then girlfriend, musician and poet Patti Smith, one character says, "People want a street angel. They want a saint but with a cowboy mouth" — a role the tall and handsome Shepard fulfilled for many.