Health
‘Moving full steam ahead:’ On Labor Day, official hopes for a safer future for miners
This Labor Day, as a new federal rule is being rolled out to prevent deadly black lung disease in miners, Christopher Williamson is remembering the coal miners who fought for the creation of his agency and who weren’t afforded the protections that current and future workers hopefully will. Williamson, assistant secretary for the Mine Safety […]
After conservative criticism, Trump says he is a ‘no’ on Florida’s abortion rights ballot measure
After criticizing Florida’s six-week abortion ban on Thursday, former President Donald Trump, a resident of the Sunshine State, told Fox News that he will be voting against a ballot measure to protect and expand abortion rights. “I disagreed with that right from the early primaries when I heard about it,” Trump said Friday of the […]
Public voices often ignored in states’ opioid settlement money decisions
The conversation wasn’t sounding good for Kensington residents on June 20. The Philadelphia neighborhood is a critical center of the nation’s opioid crisis, and the city had decided to spend $7.5 million in opioid settlement money to improve the quality of life there. But on that day, a Pennsylvania oversight board was about to vote […]
The 10 states where voters could decide on abortion directly
After legal fights, counter-campaigns and bureaucratic wrangling all year long, as things stand today, abortion questions in 10 states are heading to ballots in November. After abortion rights were upended federally in June 2022, Kansas voters got a chance to weigh in on a ballot measure that was something of a test balloon just a […]
Services for people with disabilities could be eliminated under Landry budget plan
Programs for medically vulnerable children, seniors and people with disabilities could be eliminated next year as a result of Louisiana’s looming budget deficit, officials with Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration said Friday.
Donald Trump says Florida’s 6-week abortion law is ‘too short’
Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that Florida’s law banning most abortions after six weeks is “too short,” but was cagy about whether that means he will vote for Amendment 4 this fall, which would enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in the state’s Constitution. “I think the six weeks is too short; it […]
States force drugmakers to keep selling cheaper meds under federal program
In their ongoing quest to lower prescription drug prices, some states are forcing drugmakers to continue to sell cheaper medications to thousands of pharmacies through a federal drug-discount program. Under the 32-year-old 340B program, pharmaceutical companies that participate in Medicaid must sell outpatient drugs at discounted prices to clinics, community health centers and hospitals that […]
What’s IUI? What’s IVF? A look at the fertility treatments the Walz family is talking about
The broader scope of fertility treatments entered the spotlight after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen shared that they had children through a less commonly known procedure. Since Vice President Kamala Harris selected Gov. Walz as her running mate, he has discussed his family’s fertility journey during speeches in Pennsylvania, Nebraska and mostly […]
Helping a minor travel for an abortion? Some states have made it a crime.
Helping a pregnant minor travel to get a legal abortion without parental consent is now a crime in at least two Republican-led states, prompting legal action by abortion-rights advocates and copycat legislation from conservative lawmakers in a handful of other states. Last year, Idaho became the first state to outlaw “abortion trafficking,” which it defined […]
Arizona ballot measure leader says abortion ‘is not a dirty word’
Three months before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion, Arizona’s former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation banning abortion after 15 weeks. When the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision came down in June 2022, GOP Attorney General Mark Brnovich asked the judiciary to lift a block on a […]
She underwent one surgery but was billed for two. Even after being sued, she refused to pay.
Jamie Holmes says a surgery center tried to make her pay for two operations after she underwent only one. She refused to buckle, even after a collection agency sued her last winter. Holmes, who lives in northwestern Washington state, had surgery in 2019 to have her fallopian tubes tied, a permanent birth-control procedure that her […]
FDA greenlights new COVID vaccine after a summer of rising numbers of cases
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved an updated COVID-19 vaccine intended to address severe symptoms of the virus ahead of the cold and flu season. The new booster shots from Moderna and Pfizer follow a summer of increasing COVID-19 cases and are designed to better address the variants that are […]