Community & Public Health

Like many streets in Houston’s Greater Fifth Ward, Worms Street offers the perfect environment for the spread of tropical diseases. Many of these infections aren’t new, but rising temperatures and poverty create a perfect storm for their spread.

Sexually exploited minors are often arrested on prostitution charges and put behind bars. But in one LAPD unit, officers are trained to recognize exploited teens and put them in touch with social services, instead of juvenile court.

It's tempting to assume that another article on smoking's harms would be a non-story. But while smoking rates among African Americans are lower than national levels, this ethnic group continues to suffer disproportionately from chronic, preventable diseases caused by smoking.

For her three-part series on the health effects of rising violent crime in Merced County, reporter Ana Ibarra interviewed victims and family members struggling with pain and raw emotion. Here she shares a few of the reporting lessons she learned along the way.

In roughly two-thirds of Arkansas counties last year, children went to youth lockups for skipping school, disobeying their parents or running away from home. In the other 27 counties, children who did the same things remained free.

Every year, thousands of kids appear before Arkansas judges, having broke laws that apply only to children. The courts are expected to treat them differently from children who commit adult crimes. Yet hundreds of these kids end up in the same lockups as those who've raped, robbed and murdered.

Victims of childhood sexual abuse are far more likely to become obese adults. New research shows that early trauma is so damaging that it can disrupt a person’s entire psychology and metabolism.

“Every day is stressful out here," says 49-year-old Kim Stanley, who is homeless and suffers from mental illness. "You’re tired; you’re exhausted ... and when people treat you badly for no reason, you’re crushed; you’re overwhelmed and crushed.”

Washington state Medicaid officials are changing the rule for coverage of vitamins that contain folic acid — a change that may reduce the risk of birth defects like those seen in an ongoing cluster in Central Washington.

The media tends to focus on national chains such as Target and Walmart that have taken steps to offer healthier products. But the work being done to improve small stores provides a great opportunity for reporters to tell local stories in underserved areas.