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☆ Takeaways from the Vance and Walz vice presidential debate
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-01 | by ( Eric Bradner | Daniel Strauss | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —The vice presidential debate between Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Vance repeatedly hit Vice President Kamala Harris on border security, while Walz lambasted former President Donald Trump on abortion rights. Tim Walz take part in a vice presidential debate at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York on Tuesday, October 1. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Vance addresses Walz during the debate. Alex Kent/Getty Images Cutout images of Vance and Walz are displayed at a debate watch party in New York.

Persons: Ohio Sen, JD Vance, Tim Walz, that’s, Vance, Kamala Harris, Walz, Donald Trump, Harris ’, Trump, Walz —, Vance —, ”, “ Donald Trump, ” Walz, Mike DeWine, “ you’ve, you’ve, Vance didn’t, didn’t, Margaret Brennan, Harris, Joe Biden’s, Sen, Al Drago, Matt Rourke, Ken Betancur, Angela Weiss, Joe Raedle, Chip Somodevilla, Mike Segar, Norah O'Donnell, Brendan McDermid, Reuters Vance, Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Alex Kent, Victor J, Charly Triballeau, Getty Images Walz, Kevin Wexler, Anna Moneymaker, Walz filibustered, “, ” Vance didn’t, Roe, Wade, ” Vance Organizations: CNN, Minnesota Gov, Republican, Trump, Ohio Gov, CBS, Springfield, CBS Broadcast Center, Bloomberg, Getty, People, Center, Reuters, Journalists, United Federation of Teachers, Getty Images, Democratic, USA, New York, Secret Service, Minnesota Public Radio, APM, “, Heritage Foundation’s, for Disease Control, Republican Party Locations: Ohio, Minnesota, CNN Springfield, Springfield , Ohio, Springfield, American, ”, United States, Central, New York, New, AFP, Kendall , Florida, China, Hong Kong

☆ Mastercard to buy Swedish startup that makes it easier to manage and cancel subscription plans
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-01 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 01: A view of the MasterCard company logo on their stand during the Mobile World Congress on March 1, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Joan Cros Garcia/Corbis via Getty Images)Mastercard said Tuesday that it's agreed to acquire Minna Technologies, a software firm that makes it easier for consumers to manage their subscriptions. Minna Technologies, which is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, develops technology that helps consumers manage subscriptions within their banking apps and websites, regardless of which payment method they used for their subscriptions. The company said it works with some of the world's largest financial institutions in the world today. Consumers today often have tons of subscriptions to manage across multiple services such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney Plus.

Persons: Joan Cros Garcia, Corbis, it's, Minna Organizations: MasterCard, Mobile, Congress, Getty Images, Mastercard, Minna Technologies, Visa, Netflix, Disney Plus Locations: BARCELONA, SPAIN, Barcelona, Spain, Gothenburg, Sweden

☆ Breast cancer is on the rise in women under 50. It could be linked to 2 lifestyle factors.
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-01 | by ( Kim Schewitz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

More women under 50 are getting breast cancer, an American Cancer Society report found. AdvertisementMore women under 50 are getting breast cancer in the US, and lifestyle factors such as not breastfeeding and having children later in life may be contributing, a cancer expert told Business Insider. But rates of breast cancer rose by 1% each year between 2012 and 2021, with the rise being steepest for women younger than 50 at 1.4%. The risk of breast cancer decreases by around 4% for every 12 months of breastfeeding, according to Breast Cancer UK. Not having children or having children later in lifeMore and more people are deciding not to have children or to have them later in life, as shown by the rise in DINKs.

Persons: —, Ahmedin Jemal, Jemal, Hannah Moody Organizations: American Cancer Society, Service, Health Equity Science, ACS, Cancer, CDC, National Cancer Institute, National Center for Health Statistics, Breast Cancer UK, Health, Breast Cancer, Census, Pew Research Center Locations: CA, DINKs

CNN —While there are still five weeks until Election Day, voting is already underway across the country and a CNN review suggests pre-election voting this year will drop from the pandemic-era highs of 2020. That’s a tiny fraction of the roughly 158 million votes cast for president in the 2020 election. The downtick in interest in early voting so far shouldn’t be surprising. The 2020 election featured historic levels of pre-election voting during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, at the same point in the 2020 election, Democrats accounted for 66% of all ballot requests, while Republicans accounted for 24%.

Persons: Michael Frias, Donald Trump’s, there’s, Catalist’s Frias, It’s, ” Frias, Harris, ” Organizations: CNN, Edison Research, District of Columbia, of Disease Control, Republicans, Democrats, Black, Trump Locations: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia , Michigan

State laws targeting transgender people made trans and nonbinary young people more likely to attempt suicide in the past year, according to a first-of-its-kind study. The study compared suicide-related outcomes for trans and nonbinary young people in those 19 states to the outcomes for trans and nonbinary youth in states that did not enact any such laws. It found that these laws caused an increase in suicide attempts among trans and nonbinary youth by an estimated 7% to 72%. After time periods two and three, which were between December 2019 and December 2020, past-year suicide attempts increased by 72% and 52% for that same age range. She added that the researchers expected that type of misclassification to underestimate the percent increase in suicide attempts.

Persons: Trevor, ”, Ronita Nath, Jack Turban, “, Nath, Turban Organizations: Trevor Project, University of California San, Supreme Locations: “, University of California San Francisco, Wyoming, California

California has become the first state in the nation to prohibit school cafeterias from serving foods that contain six artificial dyes tied to health and behavioral problems. Known as the California School Food Safety Act, it outlaws Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3 from the meals, drinks and snacks served at public schools statewide. “We’re feeling really proud of the fact that we are changing the national conversation around food safety,” he said in a phone interview. The International Food Additives Council, a trade organization, said in a statement that state-specific legislation such as the California School Food Safety Act undermines the FDA. Gabriel said he hoped the new California law will prompt more change on the federal level.

Persons: Gavin Newsom, Bill, Jesse Gabriel, haven’t, ” Gabriel, ”, Newsom, “, Gabriel, FDA hasn’t, ” Brian Ronholm, Gabriel . Organizations: Gov, California School Food Safety, Democratic, Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Health, European Union, Centers for Disease Control, FDA, Consumer, Food, California School Food, California Food Safety Locations: California, United Kingdom, United States

A shelter-in-place advisory has been extended for an entire Georgia county Monday after chlorine was detected in the air, emitting from a chemical lab where there was a fire the day before. A chemical fire ignited on the roof of the BioLab plant in Conyers, Rockdale County at 5 a.m. Sunday after a sprinkler head malfunctioned “causing a mixture with a water-reactive chemical,” Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said. Rockdale County extended the shelter-in-place recommendation for residents in an early Monday morning update. Officials did not confirm the chemical involved in the release Sunday, but the county said air quality surveys conducted by the Environmental Protection Division and the Environmental Protection Agency detected chlorine in the air coming from the lab. The county also announced that all government facilities will be closed Monday, and advised businesses to close operations until the shelter-in-place is lifted.

Persons: Marian McDaniel, It's, McDaniel, “, ” McDaniel, Hurricane Helene Organizations: Fire, Environmental, Environmental Protection, KIK Consumer Products, U.S . Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, Products Locations: Georgia, Conyers, Rockdale County, Rockdale

LAS VEGAS — Vice President Kamala Harris said Sunday that she would "double" Justice Department resources to crack down on cartels and cut the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., just hours after former President Donald Trump repeated his false claim that she wants to legalize the drug. At a rally Saturday, Trump also discussed fentanyl, baselessly claiming Harris wants to legalize it. "She's so radical she even wants to legalize fentanyl right away," he told a crowd Saturday in Wisconsin, a claim he repeated Sunday before a crowd in Pennsylvania. More than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses last year, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sunday's rally was Harris' second in Nevada since she launched her presidential bid.

Persons: Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Harris, Trump, ” Harris, Nnamdi Egwuonwu, Megan Lebowitz Organizations: VEGAS, Department, Department of Justice, Centers for Disease Control, Trump, Nevada Democratic Party Locations: U.S, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Erie , Pennsylvania, Nevada, Las Vegas, Washington

☆ Georgia chemical lab fire prompts evacuations, shelter-in-place orders for entire county
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-30 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Mirna-Alsharif-Byline-Jm.Jpg | Mirna Alsharif | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The shelter-in-place recommendation for residents of Rockdale County, population 93,570, was valid through midnight, the county said in a statement. A sprinkler head malfunctioned after 5 a.m. at the BioLab plant, “causing a mixture with a water-reactive chemical,” Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said. Deputies say multiple roads in Rockdale County, Ga., were closed Sunday because of a fire at the BioLab facility on Old Covington Highway. "We’ve been firefighting with water," McDaniel said at during the update, "but the water is also aggravating the chemical." Rockdale County officials told residents living between Sigman Road and Interstate 20 to evacuate Sunday morning.

Persons: Marian McDaniel, ” McDaniel, McDaniel, Hurricane Helene, Sharon Webb, KIK Organizations: Fire, KIK, Products, U.S . Centers for Disease Control, CDC, Management Agency, Sunday Locations: Georgia, Atlanta, Rockdale County, Conyer , Georgia, Rockdale, Old Covington Highway

☆ America's absurd war on 'organized retail crime'
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-30 | by ( Amy Martyn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +26 min

Organized retail crime "is not shoplifting," the agency says on its website, "and these crimes are not victimless." AdvertisementOne homeless woman in jail who pleaded guilty to felony organized retail theft tells me she steals out of desperation. Gavin Newsom sent $267 million to cities across California to increase arrests of organized retail crime — and the crackdown has escalated dramatically. Even the guy who says he coined the term "organized retail crime" can't say how much is lost to it. Gavin Newsom has provided California cities with $267 million and signed 10 new bills into law to bolster the prosecution of organized retail crime.

Persons: Veronica Lumbreras, Deysi Ramirez, Brooke Jenkins, Lumbreras, Villanueva, Ramirez, Louis Vuitton, Sen, Chuck Grassley, Gavin Newsom, Chanel, ANGELA WEISS, David Johnston, shoplifters, Shalia Brown, she's, Brown, Thomas Riddle, Riddle, Elizabeth Camacho, That's, Jeff Loftin, they're, Eric Risberg, Aziza Graves, Miss Graves, Graves, Jenkins, Maury Povich's, Jeffrey Ross, Ross, there's, Read Hayes, Jeffrey Epstein, San Francisco Bloomingdale's, Alto, Bloomingdale's, Cuauhtemoc Ramirez, Amy Martyn Organizations: San Francisco's Mission, San Francisco Police Department, CVS, Target, National Retail Federation, of Homeland Security, San Francisco Chronicle, Hearst Newspapers, Getty, San Francisco, Walgreens, Retailers, Gov, Patrol, Saks, Retail Federation, Kroger, San, Nvidia, Employees, Hall of Justice, ABC News, Prevention, Body, Alto, Mental Health, Anadolu, Walmart, Safeway Locations: San Francisco's, Arriba Juntos, Villanueva, Bay, Walnut, San Francisco, Hayward, California, Mission, Napa County, America, Los Angeles, San Francisco's County, Oakland, Bath

☆ Trump leads, and his party follows, on vaccine skepticism
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-30 | by ( Darius Tahir | Kff Health News | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Campaign spokespeople have previously said that pledge would apply only to schools with covid mandates. And skepticism about covid vaccines is blossoming into suspicion of vaccines generally among that group, he said. “It follows from this rebellion against the covid vaccine mandates.”Vaccine opposition has divided the GOP. “You suffered the consequences.”Onder “has never done covid vaccine research” and opposes covid vaccine mandates, his campaign manager, Charley Lovett, told KFF Health News. It also calls for enshrining a patient’s ability to opt out of vaccine mandates in the state’s Bill of Rights.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, what’s, Republicans don’t, ” Trump, Trump, Matt Motta, —, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Tucker Carlson, Kennedy, “, Judith Winston, Obama, ” Winston, Tom Frieden, ”, Robert Blendon, Ron DeSantis, Bob Onder, ” Onder “, Charley Lovett, Lovett, Onder “, Onder, Wise, Bill Gates, ” Wise, Roger Severino, Severino, Lawrence Gostin, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, Kevin Roberts, JD Vance —, Roberts Organizations: Health, Republican, Trump, Republicans, KFF Health, Politico, Boston University, Texas GOP, Fox News, NIH, CDC, Department of Education, Centers for Disease Control, ”, World Health Organization, Republican Party, GOP, Florida Gov, Congress, AstraZeneca, Facebook, Texans, Vaccine, Rights, Department of Health, Human Services ’, Civil Rights, Heritage Foundation, Georgetown University, Get CNN, CNN Health, Heritage, KFF Locations: statehouses, Texas, New Jersey, Oregon, U.S, Wyoming, Missouri

☆ Marburg virus: Rwanda is dealing with first outbreak of deadly disease
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-30 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —For the first time in Rwanda’s history, its health ministry is dealing with an outbreak of Marburg virus disease, a rare but deadly hemorrhagic disease similar to Ebola – but unlike Ebola, there is no treatment or vaccines for Marburg, and it has a fatality rate of 88%. In addition to sending medical supplies, the World Health Organization said over the weekend that it is deploying a team of seven global experts in hemorrhagic disease to Rwanda who can provide guidance for public health experts on the ground. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that it is also sending experts to Rwanda to help support testing and contact-tracing efforts. There are no cases of Marburg in the United States, and the risk to Americans with this outbreak is low. Unlike in some other sub-Saharan African countries that have dealt with Marburg virus disease, Rwanda has a strong public health system, according to WHO.

Persons: ”, Matshidiso Moeti, Brian Chirombo, Dr, Sanjay Gupta Organizations: CNN, World Health Organization, US Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, CDC, WHO, “, Rwanda’s Ministry of Health, CNN Health Locations: Marburg, Rwanda, United States, Africa

☆ Kind Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky used to stay up until 4 a.m. checking his work email: ‘I was enslaved by my inbox’
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-30 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Daniel Lubetzky says his days of choosing work over sleep are long gone, and he's more productive because of it. Lubetzky, the billionaire Kind Snacks founder and newest permanent investor judge on ABC's "Shark Tank," was once a major night owl — perhaps involuntarily, he says. "I have a little bit of an obsessive personality," Lubetzky, 56, tells CNBC Make It. "That's helped me get better quality sleep," Lubetzky says. "And the brain pain level is bad if I get less than six hours [of sleep per night]."

Persons: Daniel Lubetzky, Lubetzky, That's, It's, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, I've, Musk, Gates, nighters, Get Organizations: CNBC, Centers for Disease Control, National Institutes of Health Locations: United States

☆ Put these 5 'wellness days' on your calendar every month: 'We have to have time to relax,' psychologist says
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-30 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Here are five wellness days that Tallent suggests including on your calendar each month, or when you can, for positive mental health. Balancing responsibilities like work and caring for your family, oftentimes means your own health and wellness is put on the back burner. "I feel like oftentimes we schedule our month or our week or our lives, and we forget about sleep." It may seem as if prioritizing work over sleep can help you be more productive, but the opposite is true. A day devoted to yourselfHaving time to yourself is extremely important, Tallent says.

Persons: Tallent, It's, Casey Tallent Organizations: Harvard, Centers for Disease Control, CNBC

☆ Track the CDC’s Covid-19 wastewater testing in your state
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-29 | by ( Matt Stiles | Way Mullery | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Instead, US officials now focus on testing the contents of Americans’ wastewater to keep tabs on the virus. To identify virus levels and larger trends, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relies on a large network of sampling sites at wastewater treatment facilities across the country. Viral levels vary over time and by location. Samples are taken from sampling sites around the United States that meet criteria to sufficiently anonymize the data. Wastewater data also helps local public health agencies to track new Covid variants and other infectious diseases, such as RSV and mpox.

Organizations: CNN, US Centers for Disease Control, CDC Locations: United States

No ballot will have a gun-related initiative led by voters this fall. Among the four proposed reforms, voters in Washington state wanted to ban assault weapon sales, while voters in California proposed requiring trigger locks on firearms and annual gun license renewals. Heyne said it is a sign that state and federal legislators are enacting gun laws, meaning voters no longer have to take matters into their own hands. In a landslide, voters in California greenlit proposals that strengthened gun laws. In May, the state passed a law preventing local governments from enforcing red-flag laws.

Persons: Victoria Rose, Rose, Christian Heyne, Brady, Heyne, ” Heyne, Joe Biden, ”, “, Randy Kozuch, Kozuch, ” —, Jonathan Skrmetti, Skrmetti Organizations: Safer Communities, NRA Institute for Legislative, NRA, ILA, Colorado, Tennessee Locations: Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, New York, Memphis

Chin-Hong said the variant is a so-called recombinant of two other strains — KS.1.1 and KP.3.3 — meaning that genetic information was exchanged between them to form a third strain, XEC, Chin-Hong said. Is the XEC variant more contagious? Chan School of Public Health, said there’s no evidence yet that the XEC variant is much more transmissible than what’s currently circulating. The variant is closely related to KP.2, the strain targeted by the updated vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Bright, however, cautioned that clinical data is ultimately needed to determine how well the updated vaccines work against the XEC variant.

Persons: “, ”, Peter Chin, ” XEC, we’re, Rick Bright, Hong, Bill Hanage, ” Hanage, It’s, XEC, Hanage, “ It’s, Marc Johnson, Johnson, There’s, ” Chin, ” Johnson, ” Bright Organizations: Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, University of California, Biomedical, Research, Development Authority, Department of Health, Human Services, CDC, Harvard, of Public Health, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Pfizer, Moderna Locations: United States, San Francisco, Europe, Chin, U.S, Chan, Germany, Netherlands, France

☆ Pope vows to root out ‘scourge’ of sexual abuse after facing unusually frank call from Belgian PM
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-27 | by ( Christopher Lamb | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Palace of Laeken, Belgium CNN —Pope Francis has pledged to root out the “scourge” of clerical sexual abuse after Belgium’s prime minster urged him in unusually frank terms to take concrete action. Francis was addressing political leaders on Friday at the official residence of the King of Belgium, a country where devastating clerical abuse scandals have erupted in recent years. Before he spoke, both the Belgian king and Prime Minister Alexander de Croo raised the issue in their speeches, the latter speaking directly to the pope, in remarks that underline how the abuse crisis has come to dominate Belgian national attention. “This is the shame, the shame that we must all take in hand today and ask for forgiveness and solve the problem, the shame of abuse, of child abuse,” the pope said. The scandal has loomed large over the pope’s trip, during which Francis was also expected to meet 15 abuse survivors.

Persons: Belgium CNN — Pope Francis, Francis, King, Alexander de Croo, “, ”, King Herod Organizations: Belgium CNN, Belgian Locations: Laeken, Belgium, Luxembourg, Belgian, Flemish

The good news is that recent data suggests a decline in overdose deaths, the first significant drop in decades. Skyrocketing overdose deaths are nearly unavoidable, regardless of whether a state enforces tough penalties for drug possession or decriminalizes it. Since 2021, at least two-thirds of America’s 100,000 annual overdose deaths involved a synthetic opioid like fentanyl. Overdose deaths in the Northeast Deaths per 100,000 people Looking at regional overdose deaths shows this pattern clearly. It’s not coincidental that the exponential rise in overdose deaths has occurred in tandem with a profound increase in income inequality.

Persons: bartenders, skyrockets, didn’t Organizations: for Disease Control, National Forensic Laboratory Locations: East Coast, United States, America, East, Mississippi, Texas, Idaho, Oregon, New York City, Chicago, Rural West Virginia, Florida, West, U.S, Mexico

☆ Health dangers of flooding: Disease, injuries and mental health concerns
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-27 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Mental health concernsStill, other than rushing water, the biggest health concern from a flood may be mental, studies show. Storms can exacerbate existing mental health problems or lead to new ones. The federal government offers a Disaster Distress Helpline to help those struggling with mental health problems resulting from a storm. That toll-free number, staffed by mental health professionals, is 1-800-985-5990. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline provides free emotional support to people in mental health crises and connects them to local resources.

Persons: Wilma Subra, floodwater, don’t, Katrina, Dr, Sanjay Gupta Organizations: CNN, World Health Organization, US Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, CDC, WHO, Environmental Protection Agency, US Food and Drug Administration, Hurricanes, CNN Health, Lifeline Locations: floodwater, United States, Sudan, Florida, Georgia, West, West Nile

☆ The 10 happiest states in the US, ranked
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-27 | by ( Mykenna Maniece | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

WalletHub released its ranking of the happiest states in the US. Hawaii was ranked the happiest state to live in. The personal finance company compared the 50 states using three categories: emotional and physical well-being, work environment, and community and environment. AdvertisementFrom WalletHub's final list, Business Insider pulled the 10 highest-ranked states to identify the 10 happiest. From Idaho to Hawaii, here are the happiest states in the country.

Persons: WalletHub, — Organizations: Service, Census Bureau, of Labor Statistics, Centers for Disease Control, AmeriCorps, Business Locations: Hawaii, Idaho

☆ Trump campaign says it backs ‘universal’ IVF access, potentially opening the door for gay couples
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-26 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Matt-Lavietes-Byline-Jm.Jpg | Matt Lavietes | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign told NBC News on Wednesday that if the former president were re-elected, his administration would support “universal access” to in-vitro fertilization, potentially opening up the door for same-sex couples to receive coverage for the expensive fertility treatment. President Trump also supports universal access to contraception and IVF,” campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Many of Trump’s campaign promises regarding LGBTQ issues center on transgender people. Only seven states — including Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey and New York — require IVF benefits to include same-sex couples, according to a report from nonprofit news website Stateline. In May, a gay couple filed a first-of-its-kind class action lawsuit against New York City alleging that the city’s health insurance plan is discriminatory because it doesn’t cover IVF for male couples.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Trump, Karoline Leavitt, ” Trump, We’re, ”, Leavitt, “ Contrarily, Kamala Harris, there’s, ” Kevin Munoz, Harris, Walz, “ Donald Trump’s, —, ” Munoz, “ Trump, Sen, JD Vance, Vance, Biden, he’s, “ Organizations: NBC News, House, Republican, NBC, Republicans, Trump, Centers for Disease Control, Democratic, Department of Health, Human Services, New Locations: Alabama, White, Ohio, Colorado , Delaware , Illinois, Maine , Maryland , New Jersey, New York, New York City

Prices for prescription pharmaceutical drugs have skyrocketed, disproportionately making them harder for people of color to afford, a new report finds. Black people in the U.S. are more likely to be diagnosed with the condition and die from it, the report highlights. Several health care advocacy organizations, including Patients for Affordable Drugs and Health Care for America Now, are pushing for policies that will help lower the financial burden of patients. Both organizations supported the Inflation Reduction Act, a law signed by President Joe Biden that aims to reduce prescription drug prices. In the meantime, Basey, of Patients for Affordable Drugs, said her organization continues to push for bills like S.142, which prevents pharmaceutical companies from paying generic brands to delay the release of their drugs on the market.

Persons: Merith, “, ” Basey, ”, Basey, haven’t, Carrol Olinger, Olinger, ” Olinger, Joe Biden, Margarida Jorge, Jorge, hasn’t, “ It’s, ” Jorge, she’s Organizations: Drugs, New England, of Medicine, AstraZeneca, NBC News, Bristol Myers Squibb, ” Pharmaceutical, U.S, Health Care, America, Centers for Disease Control, Biden Locations: U.S, Daiichi, Hope Mills , North Carolina, Basey

☆ Suicide attempts increased among transgender teens when states passed anti-trans laws, study says
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-26 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The study found that self-reported suicide attempts among these young people did not seem to increase while these bills were under debate in their state. But once the bills became law, the researchers saw a statistically significant increase in suicide attempts among young trans and nonbinary people who lived in those states. “Enacted anti-transgender laws may really be a source of increased minority stress that leads to increased suicide risk or other mental health issues,” Nath said. When legislation is affirming of a member of the community, research shows, suicide attempts decrease. “So it’s not surprising that these laws we now see are demonstrated to have an association with risk of suicide attempts.”

Persons: they’ve, “, ”, Dr, Ronita Nath, ” Nath, Sanjay Gupta, Alex Keuroghlian, Keuroghlian, it’s Organizations: Lifeline, CNN — People, CNN, CNN Health, Harvard Medical School, Education, Fenway Institute Locations: United States, Washington

☆ Free Covid-19 tests are available again. Here’s how to get them
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-26 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —People in the United States can now order more free Covid-19 tests from the federal government as the country heads into respiratory virus season with high levels of the coronavirus already circulating. “Reopening this popular program is the latest step by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure that over-the-counter COVID-19 tests are available to all who want them this fall and winter,” HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell said in a statement. More information about ordering these tests is available at ACL.gov/AccessibleTests. The CDC also recommends that everyone age 6 months or older receive an updated Covid-19 vaccine this season to stay up to date. The updated Covid-19 vaccines are available now at pharmacies across the US and can be received at the same time as the annual flu vaccine.

Persons: Harris, Dawn O’Connell, “, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, Mandy Cohen, CNN’s Brenda Goodman Organizations: CNN, People, US Postal Service, US Department of Health, Human Services, Biden, Harris Administration, Preparedness, Administration, Strategic Preparedness, US Centers for Disease Control, US Food and Drug Administration, CNN Health, CDC, Moderna, Pfizer Locations: United States, COVIDTests.gov, COVID, Covid

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