Insights

<p>Health reporters got an unusual amount of mileage out of a study that said that its chief finding was “of unknown clinical significance.” And when these same reporters put on their blogging hats, they went off-road entirely.</p>

<p>President Obama’s support for a bill <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/us/politics/01health.html?scp=4&amp;s… would let states opt out of national health reform mandates</a> early to come up with their own plans has been described variously as <a href="http://blogs.ajc.com/jamie-dupree-washington-insider/2011/03/01/health-…;“a bomb,”</a> a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR20110…;“major concession”</a> to reform’s critics, or <a href="http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/02/obama-calls-republican-health…;“calling the Republicans’ bluff.” </a>&nbsp;</p><p>But is it any single one of these things? Not so much. Here’s some context and a look at some analysis of Obama’s highly-publicized support for the <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/11/have_scott_brown_an… state waiver bill</a>, which he announced to the nation’s state governors on Monday.</p>

<p>Why do two Central California cities top a new "most toxic" cities list? Plus more from our Daily Briefing.</p>

<p>Taking root in Wisconsin, the union battles that are sweeping across the Midwest are about more than pay, benefits and collective bargaining. Attacks on the rights of workers are also an attack on America’s health.</p>

<p>My fellowship project entitled "Combating Diabetes"was published on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011, in The Record, the daily that serves San Joaquin County. The following Saturday, 330 people showed up for the county's first ever Community Diabetes Summit. The full project was cut out of the newspaper, put on a poster board and posted at the front door of the hotel ballroom where the summit was held. Speakers throughout the daylong summit referred to the project numerous times, even quoting directly from it.</p>

<p>Our final full day in Haiti is&nbsp;today.&nbsp;We went to the mountains with two board members of FHADIMAC, and from a high perch, the city of Port-au-Prince below looked like paradise.&nbsp; But as we descended the mountain, winding out of our way and close to the edge to avoid debris, reality came back to us.</p>

<p>There was a 20-year-old man. He was like a skeleton and breathing like a chimney. He looked chronically ill. He was seen two weeks ago and given insulin. However the nuns in the orphanage where he lives didn't give it to him because they feel he has TB not diabetes.</p>

<p>Why does journalism matter? The National Press Foundation will award an iPad to the person who can best answer that weighty question in a 140-character tweet. &nbsp;</p>

<p>The most powerful moment for me while reporting on a recent project on prescription drug abuse deaths was seeing the Rev. Donnie Coots standing among the ruins of his once thriving drug rehabilitation center.</p>

<p>Medical pot purveyors can't escape the tax man, plus more from our Daily Briefing.</p>