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California's legislature is debating a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide Friday. If it passes, and Gov. Jerry Brown signs it, California will be the fifth state to legalize the practice.

Bram Sable-Smith of member station KBIA reports Missouri doesn't have a database. David Greene talks to Danna Droz of the National Assoc. of Boards of Pharmacy about differences in state databases.

About half of African-American women in the U.S. are obese, compared to 30 percent of white women. Black women not only carry more weight, but they start piling on extra pounds years before their white counterparts. Around age 8 or 9, girls become less active, and the decline is steepest for black girls.

Until recently, electronic medical records hadn't really caught on. But the 2009 federal stimulus package provided tens of billions to speed up the process. Now in one state, Oregon, two-thirds of doctors have electronic medical records, and researchers are mining the data to help doctors improve the care they give patients.

The nation's biggest retailer is planning to offer a wide range of medical care in U.S. stores. A Wal-Mart document seeking partners for the effort says the company aims to become a major provider of primary care. Later, an executive with the retailer said the company document was "overwritten and incorrect."

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Don Hankins, a fire expert at California State University, Chico, about how Native Americans' "cultural burning" could be folded into the state's fire management plans.

Per capita deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19 and other causes are 85% higher than in countries like Germany and Israel. "The United States really has done remarkably badly," a study author says.

The so-called public option may have died when Congress passed its health overhaul law in 2009, but it is alive and healthy in California. There, many counties have government-run health plans that people can buy. Now the debate is over what will happen to these plans when the federal overhaul law kicks in in 2014.

For over 20 years, Indigenous groups have celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day in San Antonio. But this year, they have something to be especially proud of — the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue and renaming of the namesake park this summer.

The NBA reported zero positive test results after play resumed in July. The Los Angeles Lakers' championship victory over the Miami Heat marked the end of the socially distanced season.