Frustration grows over wait on OxyContin maker’s settlement
More than a year after OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma reached a tentative settlement over the toll of opioids that was accepted nearly universally by the groups suing the company — including thousands of people injured by the drug — money is still not rolling out. Parties waiting to finalize the deal are waiting for a […]
Good signs about COVID as Public Health Emergency ends
The approaching May 11 ending of the Federal Government’s official COVID-19 Public Health Emergency is accompanied by several good signs about the virus, including decreasing case counts, hospitalizations and mortality, as well as decreased detection of the virus in wastewater monitoring efforts. This week, an article in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Morbidity […]
More canine influenza cases reported in the Twin Cities
The Twin Cities area is seeing an outbreak of canine influenza for the first time since 2018, according to the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. The Board first reported the outbreak earlier this month when four cases were identified at an Animal Humane Society shelter. Now, the board has identified four more cases which do […]
Wet weather may mean more mosquitoes, ticks across Minnesota this summer
Temperatures are gradually beginning their push toward summer. For many Minnesotans, it’s the payoff after enduring the long, in some cases record-snow winter. But summer does come with some nuisances: mosquitos and ticks. And the above-normal snow and rainfall across much of Minnesota over the past few months may mean those nuisances are worse this […]
Walz bills protect abortion, gender-affirming care
Surrounded by advocates and supporters of LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights, Gov. Tim Walz signed three bills into law Thursday. They are meant to make Minnesota a refuge for those seeking gender-affirming care and abortions, and to ban what’s called conversion therapy for youth and vulnerable adults in the state. “It’s done,” Walz said as he […]
Minnesota Senate to vote on legal marijuana bill Friday
Days after the Minnesota House passed a bill to legalize marijuana, the state Senate is set to debate its version of the legislation Friday. Legislative leaders tend to avoid bringing bills to the floor that might fail, so passage is deemed likely. The Senate bill has already been discussed in more than a dozen committees. […]
Eli Lilly releases more data for new obesity drug, moving toward fast-track approval
Eli Lilly is seeking FDA approval for tirzepatide for chronic weight management. The drug could be approved by the end of the year. Eli Lilly & co. In the summer of 2022, just as the hoopla surrounding the diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy was rising, doctors were surprised to see clinical trial […]
Minnesota sees sharp increase in syphilis cases
Syphilis cases in Minnesota rose 25 percent in 2022, reaching their highest level in years according to new data from the Minnesota Department of Health. Syphilis is a sexually-transmitted infection spread through direct contact with a sore. Cases in the state rose to 1,832 last year, an increase of 375 compared to 2021. New cases […]
Minnesota sees sharp increase in syphilis cases
Syphilis cases in Minnesota rose 25 percent in 2022, reaching their highest level in years according to new data from the Minnesota Department of Health. Syphilis is a sexually-transmitted infection spread through direct contact with a sore. Cases in the state rose to 1,832 last year, an increase of 375 compared to 2021. New cases […]
Poll: Americans want abortion restrictions, but not as far as red states are going
Supporters cheer up as Vice President Kamala Harris gives remarks at the Women’s March in Los Angeles Saturday, April 15, 2023. Damian Dovarganes/AP Americans increasingly see themselves as supportive of the right to have an abortion and disagree with the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision last year overturning the guaranteed right to an abortion in this […]