Like in many low-income communities, violence is a major concern for residents of Merced County. Just last year, the county recorded its highest number of homicides at 32. For this project, I will explore the short and long-term effects that the increasing violence has on residents’ mental health.
Penalty programs created under the Affordable Care Act are intended to improve quality of care at hospitals. But will they succeed?
Most people wouldn’t think of the San Joaquin Valley - California’s agricultural heartland - as a hotbed for sexually transmitted infections. But the agriculturally rich yet impoverished region has a significant and growing HIV/AIDS problem that’s troubling local health officials.
A leading researcher on the ways in which doctors talk to parents about vaccines has a new suggestion for how we might boost immunization rates. Drawing on the theory of nudges, Dr. Douglas Opel suggests parents should have to "opt-out" of vaccinating their kids rather than "opt-in."
When I started reporting on Montana's "aging tsunami," I wanted to know what solutions held the most promise. But as I delved into the issues, I was forced to reexamine my assumptions. Sometimes the best stories take a fresh look at what we think we know.
Valentine's Day is over, but questions over lead and other heavy metals in chocolate and candy are still around. And while "cocoa puff stories" are the norm around this time of year, some excellent reporting is keeping the spotlight on this bittersweet issue.
We know that kids who grow up with a lot of adversity are far more likely to suffer poor health and early death as adults. But how well do we understand the means by which early trauma is translated into health problems decades later? Researchers are still teasing apart the mechanisms at work.
Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is hitting older communities such as Southwest Florida hard, overwhelming retirement savings and loading more costs onto the region's already strained medical system, a five-month News-Press investigation found.
Experts estimate that as many as 55,000 Southwest Floridians have diagnosed or undiagnosed Alzheimer's disease. To better understand the disease's impact on the region, The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida, interviewed experts on the disease and families now coping with it.
One of the silver linings of the ongoing measles outbreak has been the attention it's placed on the controversial practice of vaccine exemptions. Smart, surprising coverage of Mississippi's tough policy on these exemptions shows why they matter, and how states differ.
