Axios

• President Trump kicked off his infrastructure speech in Cincinnati, Ohio Wednesday with a reminder that the state helped him win big in the November election. The crowd erupted in applause, and Trump fed off the energy like he would at a campaign rally, taking the opportunity to boast about his accomplishments since taking office.

Split screen: This speech was a welcome break from Washington for Trump. In Ohio, Trump was able to reconnect with his key supporters on an issue that he hopes to make a hallmark of his presidency. Meanwhile, back in D.C., James Comey was about to drop another bombshell.

Scientists around the world are exploring new ways to spread vaccines in rural, remote areas that need them most. One way to do so? Letting nature do the work via contagious vaccines and treatments for viral diseases, per Popular Science.

How it works: Vaccines use dead and weakened viruses to train the body's immune system to attack a pathogen, so it might be possible to engineer those viral vaccines to be transmissible between humans.

One big drawback: Viruses can mutate significantly with each new generation, perhaps allowing a dead or weakened virus to become active once again.

"Drug Deaths in America Are Rising Faster Than Ever," by N.Y. Times Upshot's Josh Katz in Akron, Ohio:

• "Drug overdose deaths in 2016 most likely exceeded 59,000, the largest annual jump ever recorded in the United States."
• "Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50... and all evidence suggests the problem has continued to worsen in 2017.
• Over two million Americans are estimated to be dependent on opioids, and an additional 95 million used prescription painkillers in the past year — more than used tobacco.

The drug to watch: "[In some counties] deaths from heroin have virtually disappeared. Instead, the culprit is fentanyl or one of its many analogs... In Montgomery County, home to Dayton [Ohio], of the 100 drug overdose deaths recorded in January and February, only three people tested positive for heroin; 99 tested positive for fentanyl or an analog."