Allina halts policy denying non-emergency care to debtors
Allina Health promised Wednesday to no longer prohibit people with outstanding medical debt from making new appointments. In June, the Minneapolis-based system put the practice on hold temporarily after a New York Times investigation revealed that the nonprofit health system refused to provide certain types of non-emergency care to patients with at least $4,500 in […]
THC gummy money starts to roll into Minnesota tax coffers
Updated 12:31 p.m. Minnesota collected $594,000 during the first month of a tax tied to hemp-derived THC products, according to preliminary data released Wednesday. That means state sales of THC-infused gummies, seltzers and other products totaled nearly $6 million in July. A state Revenue Department official said 571 businesses submitted tax collections for July as […]
New state office for addiction and recovery services gets its leader
Lawmakers left the Capitol this spring with agreements to pump more than $200 million into addiction and recovery support over the next four years. Some of that money will go to preventing overdose deaths, some of it to recovery services. Interwoven into this new network of funding and programming is the state’s Addiction and Recovery […]
Advocates set sights on legalizing psychedelic mushrooms in Minnesota
Longtime supporters of legalizing psychedelic drugs in Minnesota believe the state’s politics may finally be shifting their way. Minnesota lawmakers this year legalized adult-use cannabis and agreed to create a panel to study the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelic medicine. In Minneapolis, the mayor last month ordered the police to back off enforcing laws around […]
Why are more kids nearsighted?
As school starts up in the next few weeks, more young children will head to the classroom with blurry vision. Nearsightedness is increasing in kids at an alarming rate. The medical term is myopia, a condition in which people can see close objects clearly, but faraway objects, like a whiteboard across the classroom, are blurry. […]
Massive mental health toll in Maui wildfires: ‘They’ve lost everything’
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. visits a distribution center at Lahaina Crossing. A deadly wildfire destroyed the city of Lahaina, Maui. Deanne Fitzmaurice for NPR The scale of the physical damage in the historic center of Lahaina is clear in its apocalyptic landscape of rubble, ash and debris. But the scale of the inner […]
Massive mental health toll in Maui wildfires: ‘They’ve lost everything’
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. visits a distribution center at Lahaina Crossing. A deadly wildfire destroyed the city of Lahaina, Maui. Deanne Fitzmaurice for NPR The scale of the physical damage in the historic center of Lahaina is clear in its apocalyptic landscape of rubble, ash and debris. But the scale of the inner […]
Pfizer’s RSV vaccine to protect babies gets greenlight from FDA
An electron micrograph of Respiratory Syncytial Virus, also known as RSV, which is the leading cause of hospitalizations among infants in the U.S. CDC via AP The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first RSV vaccine for expectant mothers aimed at protecting their newborn babies. Given during the third trimester of pregnancy, Pfizer’s new […]
Pfizer’s RSV vaccine to protect babies gets greenlight from FDA
An electron micrograph of Respiratory Syncytial Virus, also known as RSV, which is the leading cause of hospitalizations among infants in the U.S. CDC via AP The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first RSV vaccine for expectant mothers aimed at protecting their newborn babies. Given during the third trimester of pregnancy, Pfizer’s new […]
Planning a long-haul flight? Here’s how to outsmart jet lag
mikkelwilliam/Getty Images If you’re trying to squeeze some travel into the last few weeks of summer, you’ll want to get the most out of your vacation. And nothing ruins a trip to the Louvre or a scuba-diving excursion like your body telling you it’s time for bed NOW. So can you “hack” jet lag, so […]