Marco's Morning Report — Monday, July 13, 2026

Section A — Top Stories

Iran: U.S. launches another wave of strikes as the ceasefire officially dies

Update: The June ceasefire is now formally dead. Over the weekend the U.S. hit Iran again in a strike package aimed at "degrading" Iran's military, the fourth straight day of tit-for-tat fire, after the IRGC declared the Strait of Hormuz "closed". Trump wrote that the ceasefire is "over" but that talks continue. The UN says ~6,000 seafarers are stranded in the waterway and is pleading for restraint.

Why it matters: Hormuz carries a fifth of the world's oil. A real closure means fuel and shipping shocks that hit gas prices and supply chains here — and it's the story your Al Jazeera feed will lead with all week.

Watch: whether the "talks continue" line produces an actual meeting or is just cover for more strikes. Oil futures Monday morning will tell you how seriously markets take the Hormuz threat.

Mets hit the All-Star break at rock bottom — 40-57, worst since '95

Boston beat the Mets 3-2 in 10 innings Saturday on a Lindor error, running the Sox to nine straight wins. New York limps into the break at 40-57, 17 games under .500 — the franchise's worst break position since 1995, despite baseball's biggest payroll. The club also unveiled its 2026 draft class (a college arm and a college bat up top).

Why it matters: This is now a full teardown. With the Aug. 1 deadline looming, the Mets are clear sellers and Freddy Peralta — 4.81 ERA, one of the market's biggest disappointments — is the marquee chip, alongside Holmes, Weaver, Robert Jr. and Raley.

Talking point: the fun of the next three weeks is watching Cohen decide how much of this roster to flip. Peralta's return will set the ceiling for the whole seller market.

Cuba's grid collapses again — fourth nationwide blackout of the year

Update: Days after restoring power from the July 6 total grid failure, Cuba went dark islandwide again on Friday — the second collapse in a single week and the fourth this year. Fuel reserves are critically low after U.S. restrictions since March cut off Venezuelan, Mexican and Russian oil; officials have canceled tens of thousands of surgeries and halted most public transit. Havana residents banged pots and chanted "turn on the lights"; one resident called it "agony."

Why it matters: The health-system angle is stark — surgeries suspended, hospitals on generators, a public-health emergency building on an island 90 miles away. It's the story your family follows most closely.

Watch: whether the blackouts trigger broader protests than the pot-banging so far, and whether any fuel relief materializes.

Section B — The Debate

Should Florida voters approve Amendment 3, raising the homestead exemption to $250,000?

Why it's live: The amendment is locked onto the Nov. 3 ballot, and a June poll put it at 64% support but with a sharp partisan split (87% of Republicans, 35% of Democrats). DeSantis is out touting it while quietly distancing himself from the final version, and an organized "Vote No on 3" committee just launched — so the argument is heating up right now.

For

Affordability is Floridians' number-one complaint, and this puts real money back in homeowners' pockets by exempting the first $250,000 of homestead value from most local levies. Gov. Ron DeSantis, touting the measure in June, argues the state's "massive surplus" can cushion local governments through the transition — and that a state that taxes no income shouldn't price longtime residents out of homes they already own.

Against

The math doesn't close. Former Leon County Commissioner Bryan Desloge, chairing the "Vote No on 3" campaign, warns of an estimated $11.86 billion annual hit to local revenue — forcing cuts to schools, public safety and health services, and shifting the burden onto renters, commercial property and first-time buyers who get no exemption. The version on the ballot dropped DeSantis's own trust-fund backstop for underfunded counties.

Where it lands: on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot — needs 60% to pass. State economists project counties could lose $8.8B a year by FY2028-29 if it does.

Section C — On My Radar

Clinical (hospitalist / IM / FM): quiet 48 hours — no new guideline releases or major journal drops. SHM is between Converge and its fall cycle; the 2026 sepsis and ACLS updates you've already logged remain the operative changes. Nothing new to fold into order sets this week.

Deprescribing signal: a run of mid-2026 geriatrics work keeps reinforcing pharmacist-led medication review at discharge as the highest-yield lever against polypharmacy readmissions in older adults — latest from European Geriatric Medicine. Not new guidance, but a steady drumbeat worth a nudge to your transitions team.

Puerto Rico: drought now grips ~61% of the island (10% in severe drought) heading deeper into a dry summer, and midyear filings point to a record year for Chapter 13 bankruptcies. Gov. González Colón kept the full $63.1M agricultural incentive intact for FY27.

Golf: no new hardware this week — mid-2026 field (Rapsodo MLM2Pro, Bushnell Launch Pro Circle B, Swing Caddie SC4 Pro, Full Swing KIT) is stable. Nothing worth a demo right now.

Screen: Silo S3 and The Vampire Lestat are still the best-reviewed things streaming; Beef S2 and For All Mankind round out the critics' shortlist if you want something in the queue for a post-shift wind-down.

Section D — Trends to Watch

Hormuz as an economic contagion vector. The Iran conflict has moved from "geopolitics" to "gas pump" — if the strait stays contested, watch fuel costs and supply-chain delays start showing up in hospital operating budgets and patient no-shows within weeks.

Caribbean grid fragility as a public-health story. Cuba's repeat collapses (and Puerto Rico's ongoing grid saga) are converging on the same theme: aging island infrastructure turning routine outages into medical emergencies — canceled surgeries, spoiled meds, hospitals on generators.

Florida's property-tax fight as a services proxy. Amendment 3 is really a referendum on how Florida funds schools, public safety and local health services without an income tax. However it lands, expect the county-funding squeeze to ripple into local health departments.

Section E — Ideas & Opportunities

Queue Silo S3 for a low-stakes post-nights unwind — it's launching to top critic scores and the season format rewards a slow burn.

Mets deadline as a three-week storyline: track Peralta's next start or two — his trade value (and the whole seller market's ceiling) will hinge on it. Low effort, decent payoff for a rebuilding-summer follow.

Transitions nudge: if you've got a quiet handoff this week, the deprescribing-at-discharge evidence is a clean, non-controversial thing to raise with your care-transitions pharmacist — pure upside on readmissions for your elderly admits.

Section H — Background / Already Covered

Older or previously reported items (tap to expand)

Iran: the ceasefire's collapse and the U.S. strike campaign on ~90 coastal targets (incl. Bushehr) were covered July 10 — the weekend strikes above are the fresh development.
Cuba: the July 6 total grid failure, Havana pot-banging protests, and July 8 restoration were covered last week; Friday's re-collapse is the new item.
Mets: Vientos's fractured hand (IL 6-8 wks) and Holmes's rehab were covered July 11; still current.
Medicine: 2026 Surviving Sepsis (MAP 60-65 for 65+), 2025 ACLS implementation, Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, and the CMS CY2027 OPPS 340B/site-neutral proposals all remain logged from earlier this month — no new movement in the last 48h.
Golf: GOLFTEC Game Evaluation rollout and the Titleist GTS driver validation were covered earlier; no updates.