San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge Safety Nets Are Working
The Washington Post reports on a new study indicating that the nets have reduced suicides by 73%. Other health news comes from Texas, North Carolina, California, and Colorado.
The Washington Post:
New Golden Gate Safety Nets Are Reducing Suicide Deaths, Study Finds
Newly installed safety nets along San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge reduced suicides there by 73 percent, a new analysis suggests. The study looks at recent suicide deaths along the iconic bridge. Officials say there have been an average of 30 confirmed suicide deaths per year for the past 20 years. In 2024, officials finished erecting a continuous stainless-steel barrier on both sides of the bridge after years of pushback from those who opposed modifying the bridge’s art deco style. (Blakemore, 3/22)
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More health news from across the U.S. —
KUT News:
Texas Prison Staff Falsified Temperatures Records, Investigation Finds
Employees from at least one Texas prison falsified temperature logs that help the agency decide when the conditions inside are dangerous to inmates and staff, according to an internal investigation triggered by a federal lawsuit. (McGaughy, 3/21)
CNN:
LA Firefighters Put Out Massive Blazes. Now They Worry That Cancer Might Be Smoldering Inside Them
Pacific Palisades was burning to ash. “As far as the eye could see, homes were on fire, everywhere,” said firefighter Joseph Field, 50, who’s been with the Los Angeles Fire Department for more than 25 years. “Nothing I’ve ever seen was like it was that night.” Field, manning a 10-inch hose line, dropped a curtain of water on a house that hadn’t caught fire – yet. (Bonifield, 3/23)
The Washington Post:
North Carolina Lawsuit Over Unwanted Vaccination Can Proceed, Court Rules
A mother can proceed with her lawsuit against a public school board and medical provider after her son was given a covid-19 vaccination without consent, North Carolina’s Supreme Court has ruled. The court’s opinion, issued Friday, came after Emily Happel sued Guilford County Board of Education and Old North State Medical Society in August 2022, alleging battery and violation of state and federal constitutional rights after her son, Tanner Smith, received a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine against his wishes and without her consent. (Craw, 3/22)
NPR:
Could Legal Weed Make You Sick? Here's How California Regulates Its Supply
At Vibe Cultivators, an indoor cannabis farm in Sacramento, the first thing to hit you is the smell. Earthy, skunky, whatever you want to call it, that is some pungent weed. There are aisles of plants, growing on two levels under artificial lights. They have names like Gelato 33 and Alien Runtz. (Lupkin, 3/24)
KFF Health News:
The Colorado Psychedelic Mushroom Experiment Has Arrived
Colorado regulators are issuing licenses for providing psychedelic mushrooms and are planning to authorize the state’s first “healing centers,” where the mushrooms can be ingested under supervision, in late spring or early summer. The dawn of state-regulated psychedelic mushrooms has arrived in Colorado, nearly two years since Oregon began offering them. The mushrooms are a Schedule I drug and illegal under federal law except for clinical research. (Ruder, 3/24)
