Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Brain-Eating Amoeba Still Detectable In California Hot Spring
San Francisco Chronicle: Popular California Hot Spring Reportedly Has Brain-Eating Amoeba In Water
Recent water testing of a popular California hot springs destination called Hot Ditch in Bishop (Inyo County) reportedly found that the same brain-eating amoeba that killed an 8-year-old boy in 2018 remained present in the water. (Vainshtein, 10/6)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
AP: Philadelphia Apologizes For Experiments On Black Inmates
The city of Philadelphia issued an apology Thursday for the unethical medical experiments performed on mostly Black inmates at its Holmesburg Prison from the 1950s through the 1970s. The move comes after community activists and families of some of those inmates raised the need for a formal apology. It also follows a string of apologies from various U.S. cities over historically racist policies or wrongdoing in the wake of the nationwide racial reckoning after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. (10/7)
Chicago Tribune: City Reports Lowest Number Of New AIDS, HIV Cases In 40 Years
The number of Chicagoans with new HIV and AIDS diagnoses in 2020 sunk to levels not seen since the 1980s, according to a new city report. (Schencker, 10/6)
Houston Chronicle: Judge Rules Employers Can Discriminate Against LGBT Texans
An LGBT Texan can be fired from a job because of the way they dress, their pronouns or the bathroom they use, a federal judge ruled. The ruling stemmed from a suit Texas brought in September of last year, just months after the Biden administration issued guidance showing states how to comply with federal anti-discrimination protections. A federal judge in Tennessee had already stayed the directives in 20 other states as part of a separate court case. (Goldenstein, 10/6)
New Hampshire Bulletin: Republicans On N.H. Executive Council Hold Up Sex Ed Funding
Three Executive Council Republicans have for a second time paused funding for a long-standing after-school sexual health education program for at-risk adolescents in Manchester and Sullivan County, areas with the highest teen pregnancy rates in the state. (Timmins, 10/6)
