Reports of dogs dying after swimming in blue green algae-infested waters in California this summer have raised concerns about the health risks to humans who come into contact with harmful algal blooms. Just how safe are California's waters?
Environmental Health
As wells ran dry in the drought-stricken Central Valley this summer, a public health crisis went less noticed. The Fresno Bee's Andrea Castillo decided to focus her reporting on East Porterville, where nearly half the town's 7,500 people have dry wells.
We're happy to announce today that we have a new name and a new look. Our program is now known as the Center for Health Journalism, which better reflects our expanded range of programs and goals.
The federal Food and Drug Administration has agreed to review a long-delayed petition to fortify corn masa flour with folic acid, a move advocates say is crucial to preventing devastating birth defects like those seen in an ongoing cluster of cases in Washington state.
Before joining NAM, Viji Sundaram worked variously at India-West, a national weekly newspaper for the South Asian community in the U.S., the Cape Cod Times, the Providence Journal and the New Bedford Standard Times, covering topics ranging from health to immigration to crime to social issues.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Brie Zeltner and Rachel Dissel are putting the issue of lead poisoning in children back on the map, publishing a deeply reported series of stories on the issue this week. The ambitious project is worth a closer look.
Nearly 60 hospitals have closed in the U.S. since 2010. In reporting on how hospital closures affect poor patients in Rust Belt towns, reporter Sean Hamill found first-person accounts to be crucial. But backing up those stories with data and geographical comparisons also provided essential context.
In a town whose problems already include air pollution, water contamination and poverty, the California drought has spurred a growing health crisis, worsening respiratory conditions and burdening those with other illnesses, such as 49-year-old Manuel León.
Kids in poorer families eat more fast food more than their peers, right? Not necessarily, as new data from the CDC show. The idea that poverty status isn't directly correlated with fast food intake may be heartening, but it doesn't mean low-income kids are consuming equally nutritious food.
Michael LaForgia wrote this story for the Tampa Bay Times as part of a 2015 National Health Journalism Fellowship....