First Edition: Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: NIH Grant Disruptions Slow Down Breast Cancer Research
Inside a cancer research laboratory on the campus of Harvard Medical School, two dozen small jars with pink plastic lids sat on a metal counter. Inside these humble-looking jars is the core of Joan Brugge’s current multiyear research project. Brugge lifted up one of the jars and gazed at it with reverence. Each jar holds samples of breast tissue donated by patients after they underwent a tissue biopsy or breast surgery — samples that may reveal a new way to prevent breast cancer. Brugge and her research team have analyzed the cell structure of more than 100 samples. (Bebinger, 2/3)

KFF Health News: If You’re Pregnant And Uninsured, Medicaid Might Be Your Answer
When she noticed an unusual craving for hot dogs, Matte’a Brooks suspected her body was telling her something, so she decided to take a pregnancy test. She took two just to be sure. Both were positive. “I was definitely scared,” said Brooks, 23, who was uninsured. “I was like, OK … I’m pregnant, so where do I go from here?” Until then she hadn’t thought much about health care, but that changed when she found out that her daughter was on the way. (Farmer, Anthony and Siner, 2/3)

IMMIGRATION CRISIS

The Washington Post: Measles Cases Identified At ICE’s Largest Detention Facility For Children 
Two detainees at the nation’s main immigrant family detention center, in Dilley, Texas, have tested positive for measles, authorities said, alarming lawmakers and attorneys who fear the virus could spread in the crowded facility. The active cases were confirmed by the Texas Department of State Health Services on Jan. 31. The Department of Homeland Security said officials at the South Texas Family Residential Center moved to quarantine anyone who had made contact with the two people and took steps to limit movement of those inside the facility, which is about 70 miles south of San Antonio. (Paul, Ovalle and Nakamura, 2/3)

The 19th: ICE Is Taking Mothers Away From Their Babies. These Moms Are Donating Breastmilk.
A newborn in Minneapolis hadn’t eaten for a day and a half. Her mother had risked going into work to get just enough money for more diapers when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stopped her car and took her away. At home waiting for her were her 16-year-old daughter and the baby — just barely 3 months old. (Carrazana, 2/2)

Bloomberg: Federal Agents To Use Body Cameras In Minneapolis, Noem Says
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that “every officer” in the field in Minneapolis will wear a body camera after a national outcry over the killings of two US citizens in the city, potentially easing the path to pass a government funding deal. “Effective immediately we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis,” Noem said in a post on X. “As funding is available, the body camera program will be expanded nationwide,” Noem added. (Paulden and Woodhouse, 2/2)

MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The New York Times: H.H.S. To Expand Faith-Based Addiction Programs For Homeless
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Monday that the federal government would expand funding for faith-based addiction treatment as a response to mounting public drug use and homelessness in American cities. Mr. Kennedy, who credits 12-step programs with helping him end a 14-year heroin addiction as a young man, said a fragmented health care system had encouraged people with mental illness and addiction to “cycle endlessly between sidewalks, emergency room visits, jails and mental hospitals and shelters.” (Barry, 2/2)

The Hill: Planned Parenthood Drops Challenge Over Trump Administration Medicaid Cuts
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) has filed to voluntarily dismiss its lawsuit against the Trump administration that sought to challenge the decision to cut off Medicaid funding to abortion providers. The PPFA on Friday filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. The organization filed its lawsuit in July of last year after President Trump signed the GOP’s budget reconciliation bill, which included a section that disallowed federal funding from going to abortion providers. (Choi, 2/2)

The New York Times: N.I.H. Worker Who Criticized Trump Seeks Whistle-Blower Protection
The National Institutes of Health employee behind The Bethesda Declaration, a scathing public critique of the Trump administration’s cuts to biomedical research, sought federal whistle-blower protections on Monday, saying her superiors had retaliated against her by putting her on “nondisciplinary administrative leave.” The employee, Jenna Norton, a program director at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, was put on paid leave after the 43-day government shutdown ended in November. The complaint asks for “appropriate compensatory damages,” and for Dr. Norton to be reinstated. (Gay Stolberg, 2/2)

Bloomberg: Senior FDA Official Samuel Doran Under Investigation Over Divorce, Assets
The US health department’s inspector general is investigating whether a top US Food and Drug Administration official misled the federal government by using a sham divorce to avoid running afoul of conflict-of-interest rules, people familiar with the investigation said. At issue is the relationship between Samuel Doran, the FDA’s deputy chief of staff, and his former wife, a general partner at a venture capital firm that invests in some health-related startups. The couple divorced last year, legal filings show. (Gorrivan, Griffin and Langreth, 2/3)

Roll Call: ‘Mexico City’ Policy Expansion To Affect Estimated $40B In Aid 
The Trump administration’s expansion of the so-called Mexico City policy restricting reproductive care around the world, to now cover gender ideology and diversity efforts, will impact billions of dollars in foreign aid not previously covered, according to health experts. (Cohen, 2/2)

Stat: As U.S. Moves To Cut Animal Testing, Focus May Turn To Import Restrictions
Over the past year, the Trump administration has moved to reduce reliance on animal testing in scientific research at federal agencies and among researchers who rely on federal funding. But some animal welfare activists have pushed the administration to go further, suspending primate imports for research purposes entirely. (Silverman, 2/3)

AP: MAHA Has Reshaped Health Policy. Now It's Working On Environmental Rules
On New Year’s Eve, Lee Zeldin did something out of character for an Environmental Protection Agency leader who has been hacking away at regulations intended to protect Americans’ air and water. He announced new restrictions on five chemicals commonly used in building materials, plastic products and adhesives, and he cheered it as a “MAHA win.” (Govindarao, Swenson and Phillis, 2/3)

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Stat: New Data Shows How HHS Is Implementing Trump AI Mandates 
The Department of Health and Human Services is rapidly acquiring and integrating artificial intelligence tools, according to recently released data from the agency’s technology office. (Trang, 2/3)

Stat: AI Could Soon Renew Prescriptions Without Clinicians. Should FDA Ensure It's Safe?
Utah’s recent announcement that it was partnering with a health tech startup that will use artificial intelligence to renew drug prescriptions may offer a glimpse of the futuristic version of AI medicine that’s long been foretold by technologists and venture capitalists. (Aguilar, 2/3)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Modern Healthcare: Carbon Health Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Carbon Health, a virtual primary care provider, has filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Carbon Health announced Monday that it has entered a restructuring agreement with its existing lenders. The move is an effort to recapitalize and potentially create a pathway to new ownership, the company said in a release. (Famakinwa, 2/2)

Modern Healthcare: CommonSpirit Sells Stake In Tenet's Conifer Health Solutions
CommonSpirit Health will stop using Tenet Healthcare Corp.’s revenue cycle management subsidiary’s services and has sold its stake in the company back to Tenet. CommonSpirit, which owned 23.8% of Conifer Health Solutions, plans to move RCM operations in-house over the next 11 months, according to a Feb. 2 news release. Conifer Health Solutions will continue to provide RCM services through 2026. (DeSilva, 2/2)

WUSF: Baptist Health Breaks Ground On Hospital In West Broward County
Baptist Health broke ground last week on a new hospital in Sunrise, marking the start of construction on a seven-story facility expected to open in summer 2029 and expand health care access in western Broward County. (Mayer, 2/2)

CIDRAP: CDC Data Show Decline In Hospital-Related Infections In 2024 
A new report released last week by federal health officials shows the rate of patients getting infections in US hospitals fell in 2024, marking a continued decline from COVID pandemic–era highs. The data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) show that most health care–associated infections (HAIs) declined at US acute care hospitals from 2023 to 2024. Among the HAIs that saw significant declines were some of the most serious hospital-related infections, including central line–associated bloodstream infections, which fell by 9%. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) fell by 10%. (Dall, 2/2)

Stat: Antitrust Case Challenging Academic Publishers Dismissed By Judge 
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by researchers alleging that major publishers of academic research conspired to create a set of illegal and anticompetitive business practices that exploit the scientific workforce. (Wosen, 2/2)

PHARMA AND TECH

Stat: FDA Officials Call For Expanded Follow-Up In Autoimmune CAR-T Therapy
Food and Drug Administration officials are advising drug developers to study the long-term effects of using CAR-T to treat patients with autoimmune conditions, out of concern the therapies could cause cancer or fertility issues. (DeAngelis, 2/2)

MedPage Today: Time Of Day Matters For Immunochemotherapy In Lung Cancer
Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who received immunochemotherapy in the morning or early afternoon had better survival outcomes compared with patients who received treatment later in the day, a phase III randomized trial showed. (Bassett, 2/2)

STATE WATCH

AP: Gas Explosion Hits New Hampshire Mental Health Facility
Three firefighters were injured when a natural gas leak caused an explosion and fire Monday at a New Hampshire mental health center, but the building’s occupants all evacuated safely. About 40 people were in the Greater Nashua Mental Health facility when someone called 911 to report an odor of gas, State Fire Marshall Sean Toomey said. Firefighters were still investigating when the explosion happened and part of the building began to collapse, said Nashua Fire Chief Steve Buxton. He said the three injured firefighters were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. (2/3)

The Texas Tribune: First Lawsuit Filed Under Texas’ New Abortion Pill Law
A Galveston County man has filed a lawsuit against a California doctor he accuses of providing abortion-inducing pills to his partner, leveraging for the first time a new Texas law that allows private citizens to sue abortion providers for up to $100,000. (Carter, 2/2)

WSHU: CT Launches Legal Abortion Hotline Billboards
Connecticut is launching an online and billboard campaign to promote its free abortion legal hotline. Connecticut and Massachusetts set up the Abortion Legal Hotline in response to President Donald Trump’s election in 2024. (Udoma, 2/2)

AP: Court Overturns Former UCLA Gynecologist's Sex Abuse Conviction
A California appeals court on Monday overturned a sex abuse conviction against a former University of California, Los Angeles, gynecologist and ordered the case to be retried. A three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled Dr. James Heaps was denied a fair trial because the judge did not share with his defense counsel a note by the court’s foreman pointing out concerns that one juror lacked sufficient English to carry out their duties. (2/3)

Los Angeles Times: Person Infected With Measles Visited Disney California Adventure Park
As measles outbreaks grow nationally and internationally, cases are increasing in the Southland — including one confirmed Monday in an international traveler who arrived at Los Angeles International Airport and then later visited a Disney park. In the last week, Orange County has confirmed two cases and L.A. County has confirmed three cases, with the most recent Los Angeles case announced Monday evening in a resident who visited a Sherman Oaks restaurant while infectious. (Lin and Harter, 2/2)

Politico: DeSantis’ Canadian Drug Import Plan In Florida Goes From Campaign Trail To Tough Realities
When Gov. Ron DeSantis ran for president in 2024, he touted his plan for Florida to become the first state in the country to import less expensive prescription drugs from Canada into the U.S. Yet as his time in office dwindles, that plan has been all but scuttled — leaving one contractor with more than $82 million in taxpayer money and no results to show for it. Florida remains the only state in the country the FDA has authorized to import prescription drugs. But the state’s effort has stalled in part because it failed to win over the Canadian drug industry, which has consistently warned the Canadian government that the U.S. program jeopardized the country’s drug supply. (Sarkissian, 2/2)

AP: Recreational Marijuana Will Not Appear On Florida's 2026 Ballot
A proposed amendment to Florida’s constitution that would allow recreational marijuana use for adults is one of 22 citizen initiatives that failed to qualify for the 2026 ballot, state officials said. The Florida Department of State announced Sunday that none of the active proposed constitutional amendments by initiative petition met the legal requirements for placement on the November general election ballot. (2/2)

North Carolina Health News and Charlotte Ledger: More Young People Ending Up In North Carolina ERs With Cannabis Toxicity 
Medical providers in Charlotte and across the state say more patients are landing in emergency rooms with problems stemming from cannabis use. A lot of them are young patients complaining of nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Those are symptoms of Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS), a serious disorder brought on by long-term, habitual cannabis use. (Larlham Jr., 2/2)

PUBLIC HEALTH

The Baltimore Sun: Chronic Inflammation Has An Off-Switch, Researchers Find
Inflammation can feel like a localized fever, with redness, pain, heat and swelling. It’s how the body works to protect you after an injury, removing damaged tissue or invading bacteria and beginning the healing process. Usually, that fever dies down as healing progresses, but for millions of people with inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and lupus, the inflammation lingers, damaging healthy tissue. (Hille, 2/2)

CNN: Men Develop Higher Heart Disease Risk Earlier Than Women Starting At 35 Years Old 
Men develop a greater risk of cardiovascular disease years earlier than women — starting at around age 35, according to a new long-term study. The report, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, followed more than 5,000 adults from young adulthood and found that men reached clinically significant levels of cardiovascular disease about seven years earlier than women. (Koda, 2/2)

The Guardian: Ultra-Processed Foods Should Be Treated More Like Cigarettes Than Food – Study
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have more in common with cigarettes than with fruit or vegetables, and require far tighter regulation, according to a new report. UPFs and cigarettes are engineered to encourage addiction and consumption, researchers from three US universities said, pointing to the parallels in widespread health harms that link both. (Lay, 2/3)

GLOBAL WATCH

CIDRAP: Emerging Bat Virus Found In Stored Throat Swabs From 5 Patients With Suspected Nipah Virus Infection
Bangladeshi researchers have uncovered an emerging bat-borne virus in archived throat swabs and viral cultures from five patients initially thought to be infected with Nipah virus (NiV). The discovery of Pteropine orthoreovirus (PRV), which raises the concern that dangerous bat viruses may be silently co-circulating with NiV, prompted the authors to recommend the consideration of PRV in the diagnosis of patients with NiV-like illness. (Van Beusekom, 2/2)

CIDRAP: Guinea Worm Disease Nears Worldwide Elimination, With Only 10 Cases In 2025
Only 10 human cases of Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis) were reported worldwide in 2025, the fewest ever recorded, bringing the parasitic disease closer than ever to eradication, according to a new statement from the Carter Center. Two of the 10 provisional human Guinea worm cases in 2025 were detected in South Sudan and four each in Chad and Ethiopia. “President Carter always said he wanted to outlast the last Guinea worm. While he didn’t quite get his wish, he and Mrs. Carter would be proud to know there were only 10 human cases reported in 2025. And they would remind us that the work continues until we reach zero,” said Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander. (Soucheray, 2/2)

Bloomberg: More Formula Recalls Likely After EU Sets Toxin Limit
The European Union’s food safety regulator said almost no amount of the toxin cereulide is considered safe in infant formula, guidance that could prompt further product recalls. The little-known toxin has become the focus of a global infant formula safety scare that has engulfed food giants like Nestlé SA, Danone SA and Groupe Lactalis. The reference dose for cereulide in infant formula should be set at 0.014 micrograms per kilogram of body weight, the European Food Safety Authority said Monday in what it called “a cautious approach.” (Deutsch, 2/2)

AP: British Soccer Union Wants Fewer Headers For Pros, And None For Kids, To Protect Players' Brains
The union representing British soccer players will announce on Tuesday the first comprehensive protocol for preventing the brain disease CTE, expanding the heightened concern over concussions to include the damage that can be caused by the less forceful blows from heading the ball. The guidelines from the Professional Footballers’ Association ... recommend no more than 10 headers per week – including practice – for professionals. Children under 12 shouldn’t head the ball at all, the PFA said, part of a chronic traumatic encephalopathy prevention protocol designed to reduce head impacts across a player’s lifetime. (Golen, 2/3)

Bloomberg: WHO Is Being Forced To Cut Jobs After US, Argentina Pull Funding
The World Health Organization has been forced to slash its staff after the US and Argentina decided to pull funding, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday, characterizing 2025 as “one of our most difficult years.” The Geneva-based organization lost its top donor with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual funding when the US completed its withdrawal last month. Argentina has also announced its intention to withdraw from the WHO, with the exit expected to take effect in February. (Kinzelmann, 2/2)

The Washington Post: Global Aid Cuts Could Lead To 9.4 Million Deaths By 2030, Lancet Study Says
Over the past year, sharp aid cuts have forced the closure of soup kitchens in war-riven Sudan, led to medicine shortages across sub-Saharan Africa, and resulted in reductions in food rations in places such as Somalia and Haiti. A new study published Monday in the Lancet puts a number on the potential human toll as the global humanitarian system cracks apart, projecting an extra 9.4 million deaths by 2030 if the current trends persist. (Harlan, 2/2)

AP: Gates Foundation Stays Course Despite Foreign Aid Cuts, Focuses On Health
The Gates Foundation will not change course in the face of massive foreign aid cuts, holding out hope that the U.S. specifically will return to funding the global health projects the foundation has long championed, its CEO said Tuesday. Instead, the foundation — one of the largest in the world — will concentrate at least 70% of its funding over the next 20 years on ending preventable maternal and child deaths and controlling key infectious diseases. A third goal focused on poverty will divide its work between U.S. education and agriculture in poorer countries. (Beaty, 2/3)