Here’s who controls the $50 billion opioid settlement funds in each state
Local representatives gather in Beckley, W.Va., to select a regional representative for the nonprofit council that will be responsible for distributing funds from the state’s opioid settlement. Around the country, state councils like this will decide how to spend $50 billion in opioid settlement funds. Leah Willingham/AP As more than $50 billion makes its way […]
Here’s how 10 minutes of mindfulness can help make or break a family vacation
Research shows ten minutes of daily meditation can help people manage stress and cultivate happy memories. A-Digit/Getty Images When we dream about summer vacation, we imagine the good stuff: Warm days, cool breezes, with lots of laughter and good vibes. And time off is definitely good for our health, yet it’s not always smooth sailing. […]
COVID-19, firearm deaths and abortion: Minnesota health data roundup
According to the University of Minnesota’s ongoing wastewater surveillance study, COVID-19 levels are low across the state. The most recent reportable data, from June 18, shows a weekly increase only in the study’s Southwest region, and that increase is very minor in terms of the actual COVID-19 material. The Metropolitan Council’s joint project with the […]
The CDC is helping states address gun injuries after years of political roadblocks
A worker clears a handgun for a customer at Davidson Defense in Orem, Utah. George Frey | AFP via Getty Images 2021 Each year, Utah sees its share of accidental injuries caused by firearms. When state health officials looked carefully at the hundreds of injuries that required emergency treatment in hospitals, they found most resulted […]
Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi gets full FDA approval. Medicare coverage will likely follow
The Food and Drug Administration has fully approved Leqembi, the first drug shown to slow down Alzheimer’s disease. Andrew Harnik/AP The Food and Drug Administration has fully approved the first drug shown to slow down Alzheimer’s disease. The action means that Leqembi, whose generic name is lecanemab, should be widely covered by the federal Medicare […]
Minnesota Health Commissioner Dr. Brooke Cunningham is on a mission to tackle racial health disparities
Minnesota is known as a healthy state. But we’re also a state with a vast gulf between the health of the majority of white residents and residents of color, especially Black, Latino and Indigenous Minnesotans. Minnesota Health Commissioner Dr. Brooke Cunningham is on a mission to change that. She was appointed to lead the Minnesota […]
Hennepin Healthcare makes its case for more equity, inclusion training
Between taking care of patients, filling out medical charts and teaching students, doctors and nurses at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis are taking the time to do their own education. For about three hours each month, staff from across the system sit together in small groups to discuss racism in the broader world and inside the […]
Having an out-of-body experience? Blame this sausage-shaped piece of your brain
Scientists say they’ve found a special part of the brain that, when stimulated, can cause out-of-body experiences. Heath Korvola/Getty Images Dr. Josef Parvizi remembers meeting a man with epilepsy whose seizures were causing some very unusual symptoms. “He came to my clinic and said, ‘My sense of self is changing,’” says Parvizi, a professor of […]
In post-Roe Texas, 2 mothers with traumatic pregnancies walk very different paths
Samantha Casiano, 29, cries at the gravesite of her daughter, Halo Hope Villasana, alongside daughter Camila, 2, and Louie, who celebrated his first birthday earlier that day. Danielle Villasana for NPR The funeral did not go as Samantha Casiano had hoped — she did not get an open casket for the baby she named Halo. […]
Coal miners would be protected from black lung disease under proposed silica rule
Retired coal miner John Robinson, who suffers from black lung disease, displays his mining helmet at his home in Coeburn, Va., in 2019. Dylan Lovan/AP The Labor Department is proposing a new rule limiting miners’ exposure to silica — a toxic dust created by cutting into rock that has been linked to a recent epidemic […]