First Edition: March 16, 2022

KHN: ‘American Diagnosis’: A Fuller Moon Rising — Revised ‘Violence Against Women Act’ Offers Hope
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was reauthorized [by Congress] on March 10, 2022, reaffirming tribes’ authority to prosecute non-Native perpetrators of sexual violence and certain other crimes. This episode looks at the history of VAWA, and how protections for Native women have been tangled in the fine print of the law. (3/16)

KHN: How To Avoid Surprise Bills — And The Pitfalls In The New Law
Patients are no longer required to pay for out-of-network care given without their consent when they receive treatment at hospitals covered by their health insurance since a federal law took effect at the start of this year. But the law’s protections against the infuriating, expensive scourge of surprise medical bills may be only as good as a patient’s knowledge — and ability to make sure those protections are enforced. (Weissmann, 3/16)

KHN: Readers And Tweeters Remain Vigilant On Masking And Billing 
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories. (Byrne, 3/16)

The New York Times: Doug Emhoff, Vice President’s Husband, Tests Positive For The Coronavirus 
Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, according to a statement from the White House. “My symptoms are mild and I’m grateful to be both vaccinated and boosted,” Mr. Emhoff wrote on Twitter, encouraging others to get vaccinated and boosted as well. (Kanno-Youngs, 3/15)

The Washington Post: Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff Tests Positive For The Coronavirus 
Harris was with Emhoff on Tuesday morning and spent much of the day with President Joe Biden. She attended the president’s daily briefing in the Oval Office in the morning and then joined Biden as he signed the budget bill. She also hosted an Equal Pay Day Summit at the White House and participated in a conversation with current and former soccer players on the U.S. Women’s National Team. (Pager, 3/15)

Stat: White House Begs For Covid Funds Amid Concerns Of Omicron Sister Variant
The Biden administration on Tuesday laid out a roadmap of the cutbacks and shortages that could happen if no more funding is provided. Specifically, senior administration officials said they would need to wind down some Covid-19 surveillance investments, and that testing capacity could crater after June. (Cohrs and Joseph, 3/15)

Roll Call: WH Sees Immediate Cuts To COVID-19 Response Without More Funds 
As parts of Europe and Asia experience virus spikes and scientists monitor for a similar surge in the U.S., senior administration officials said Tuesday the Health and Human Services Department and the National Institutes of Health won't be able to research and develop next-generation vaccines that protect against multiple variants without more funds. The officials also said the government needs more money to conduct genomic surveillance of potential new variants and to purchase enough doses for all Americans if a fourth COVID-19 shot is needed. (Cohen, 3/15)

The Washington Post: Republicans Reluctant On $15 Billion In Virus Aid, As White House Warns About Pandemic Readiness
GOP lawmakers demanded that Democrats devise a way to pay for any new coronavirus spending in full, largely through redirecting money from other programs. Barring that, Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the top Republican vote counter, predicted there is “probably not” a way to secure the party’s must-have votes in the narrowly divided chamber, potentially dooming its prospects. The uncertainty only further added to the doubts that Congress could slip in its once-ambitious attempts to approve the spending this week, a looming potential setback that has unnerved lawmakers and public health advocates. (Romm, Roubein and Diamond, 3/15)

The New York Times: A Groggy Senate Approves Making Daylight Saving Time Permanent
After losing an hour of sleep over the weekend, members of the United States Senate returned to the Capitol this week a bit groggy and in a mood to put an end to all this frustrating clock-changing. So on Tuesday, with almost no warning and no debate, the Senate unanimously passed legislation to do away with the biannual springing forward and falling back that most Americans have come to despise, in favor of making daylight saving time permanent. The bill’s fate in the House was not immediately clear, but if the legislation were to pass there and be signed by President Biden, it would take effect in November 2023. (Broadwater and Nierenberg, 3/15)

The Washington Post: Senate Votes Unanimously To Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent 
The legislation, which passed by unanimous consent, must still get through the House and be signed by President Biden to become law. House leaders and White House officials declined to comment on next steps. “The bill just passed this afternoon and we are reviewing it closely," Carlos Paz Jr., a Pelosi spokesperson, said in a statement. Under the measure, the shift to permanent daylight saving time would take effect next year. (Diamond, 3/15)

The New York Times: Why Is There Daylight Saving Time, Anyway? 
The idea is to move an hour of sunlight from the early morning to the evening, so that people can make more use of daylight. Benjamin Franklin is often credited as the first to suggest it in the 18th century, after he realized he was wasting his Parisian mornings by staying in bed. He proposed that the French fire cannons at sunrise to wake people up and reduce candle consumption at night. Over the next 100 years, the Industrial Revolution laid the groundwork for his idea to enter government policy. (Yuhas, 3/15)

The Washington Post: Lawmakers Push Pandemic Probe Modeled On 9/11 Commission 
A Senate panel voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to establish an independent task force to probe the U.S. response to the pandemic — the closest lawmakers have come to supporting such an investigation, two years into the crisis. The vote on that bipartisan legislation, part of the Prevent Pandemics Act advanced by the Senate’s health committee, is the first step in a fraught political journey, and comes as Democrats and Republicans have pursued their own probes, seeking to shape public perceptions ahead of midterm elections that could alter the balance of power in Washington. (Diamond, 3/15)

Politico: Pfizer Seeks Emergency Authorization For 2nd Covid Booster For 65-Plus
Pfizer and BioNTech have asked FDA to grant emergency use authorization for a fourth Covid-19 vaccine dose for people 65 and older amid fears of waning immunity ahead of a possible late spring wave of infections, the companies announced Tuesday. The request for a second booster shot is based on two real-world data sets from Israel suggesting another vaccine dose boosts protection against the Omicron variant while maintaining its safety profile. It’s unclear whether that’s enough data for FDA to consider to amend the existing EUA, which allows one booster dose. (Gardner, 3/15)

The New York Times: Pfizer Seeks Authorization Of A Second Booster Shot For Older Americans
Pfizer and BioNTech said on Tuesday that they had sought emergency authorization for a second booster shot of their coronavirus vaccine for adults 65 and older. The companies’ request to the Food and Drug Administration was based heavily on data from Israel, where such shots are authorized for a somewhat broader group. Their move could further inflame a tortuous debate among scientists over when and how the vaccines’ protection should be bolstered, and for whom. (LaFraniere, 3/15)

The Atlantic: How to Time Your Second Booster
Imagine if older Americans had been forced to weather the past three months without the option of a booster shot. Having an additional vaccine dose during the Omicron surge cut seniors’ risks of hospitalization and death by more than 70 percent. But the extra shots still didn’t come close to eliminating risk: Boosted adults ages 65 and older were still hospitalized at nearly twice the rate—and dying at 16 times the rate—of unboosted 18-to-49-year-olds, despite the fact that far fewer seniors were testing positive for the coronavirus. (Gutman, 3/15)

The New York Times: Mounting Data Shows J&J Vaccine As Effective As Pfizer And Moderna 
Roughly 17 million Americans received the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine, only to be told later that it was the least protective of the options available in the United States. But new data suggest that the vaccine is now preventing infections, hospitalizations and deaths at least as well as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. The reasons aren’t clear, and not all experts are convinced that the vaccine has vindicated itself. But the accumulating data nonetheless offer considerable reassurance to recipients of the vaccine and, if confirmed, have broad implications for its deployment in parts of the world. (Mandavilli, 3/15)

CBS News: Omicron BA.2 Sub-Variant Now Nearly A Quarter Of New COVID Cases In U.S., CDC Estimates 
The BA.2 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant now makes up nearly a quarter of new COVID-19 infections nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Tuesday, up from around 1 in 10 new cases just a week prior. Since January, Omicron has made up virtually all new infections in the U.S. Like in many countries abroad, most cases in the U.S. had been caused by a sub-lineage of Omicron known as BA.1. But while both BA.1 and BA.2 can be traced back to some of the earliest samples gathered of Omicron, BA.2 has only recently begun to climb in prevalence. (Tin, 3/15)

Houston Chronicle: The Next COVID Variant May Not Be Mild Like Omicron, Study Says
The evolution of the coronavirus is likely to produce dangerous new variants that escape built-up immunity and evade vaccines, according to a new study that may offer clues for the future of the pandemic. In a searing condemnation of “misconceived and premature theories” about the demise of COVID-19, the authors — microbiologists at the European Commission and the University of Oxford — take aim at what they call the “persistent myth” that the virus will evolve to be benign. That omicron caused relatively mild disease “has been enthusiastically interpreted to be a sign of the approaching end of the pandemic,” the authors write in the study, which was published Monday. “Yet the lower severity of omicron is nothing but a lucky coincidence.” (Mishanec, 3/15)

The New York Times: Inside The High-Stakes Race To Test The Covid Tests 
When the pandemic hit two years ago, the United States faced an acute shortage of reliable Covid-19 tests. It was the nation’s first major pandemic failure, blinding health experts and the public to the spread of the coronavirus and allowing the pathogen to spread across the country unchecked. And for much of 2020, getting tested required waiting hours just to be swabbed and a week or longer for results. Now, hundreds of millions of rapid, at-home tests are pouring into the American market every month. The federal government is mailing out free tests, Americans are trading swabbing tips on social media and children are spitting into collection tubes at school. (Anthes, 3/15)

Axios: FEMA Has Provided $2 Billion For COVID Funeral Assistance
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday that it has provided $2 billion in financial assistance to families of COVID-19 victims to help cover funeral expenses. COVID-19 has killed more than 966,000 people in the U.S. over the course of the pandemic, according to data collected by the Johns Hopkins University. FEMA announced that it would reimburse families of coronavirus victims for funeral costs last year. Since then it has provided financial support to more than 300,000 applicants seeking assistance for funeral expenses, per the press release. (Saric, 3/15)

CIDRAP: Study Notes Postpartum Depression In New Moms Early In Pandemic
More than a third of new mothers early in the COVID-19 pandemic had symptoms of postpartum (after-birth) depression—nearly triple pre-pandemic levels—and one in five had major depressive symptoms, with symptoms for both disorders higher in women who fed their babies formula, according to a study yesterday in BMC Research Notes. (3/15)

Roll Call: Senate Votes To Overturn Mask Mandate On Airplanes, Transit 
The Senate on Tuesday voted 57-40 to overturn a federal requirement that passengers on U.S. airplanes and other modes of public transportation wear masks. The Congressional Review Act measure, introduced by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is the latest salvo in a fight between congressional Republicans and the Biden administration over public health requirements related to the pandemic, which has killed more than 963,000 Americans to date, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics. Despite the defection of eight Democrats — Sens. Jon Tester of Montana, Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly of Arizona, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire all voted to oppose the mandate — the resolution’s future is uncertain in the House. (Wehrman, 3/15)

The New York Times: Unvaccinated Yankees And Mets Can’t Play In New York 
Some players on the Mets and Yankees may be unable to play in New York when the 2022 Major League Baseball season begins next month because of a city vaccination mandate. Under a New York City regulation enacted on Dec. 27, people who perform in-person work or interact with the public in the course of business must show proof that “they have received a COVID-19 vaccine.” (Wagner, 3/16)

Bloomberg: Hospitals To Lean On More Expensive Travel Nurses Even After Covid
Hospitals are facing a new budget-buster as dependence grows on highly paid travel nurses who are poised to take on a larger role in staffing even after the pandemic threat fades. Rising rates of hospitalization during the pandemic forced many institutions to increase their use of travel nurses who work on short-term contracts, often for more pay than their full-time counterparts. Now the surge of pent-up demand for non-Covid care along with the departure of many nurses from full-time staff positions is forcing institutions to look far and wide for staffing help. (Adegbesan, 3/15)

Modern Healthcare: Underfunding Linked To Americans' Lower Primary Care Access
Systemic underinvestment has limited access to effective primary care across the U.S, according to a new report. U.S. adults are among the least likely to have a regular doctor compared to individuals in other developed countries, which has compounded chronic conditions and increased healthcare costs, according to the Commonwealth Fund's 2019 and 2020 international health policy surveys. The fund polled practicing primary care doctors in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the U.S. The physician fee schedule should be adjusted to incentivize more doctors to practice primary care, policy experts said. (Kacik, 3/15)

The Boston Globe: Insurers Say They Oppose Mass General Brigham’s Expansion
The Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, which counts 15 of the state’s largest insurers except Blue Cross Blue Shield, has come out against Mass General Brigham’s proposed expansion. The organization is another in a line of critics, including competitors and community organizations, who have opposed the $2.3 billion project. Mass General Brigham has proposed opening or growing ambulatory sites in Westborough, Westwood, and Woburn, and expanding Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain. The expansion, MGB says, will help increase capacity at its downtown hospitals and bring lower-cost outpatient care to its patients in the suburbs. (Bartlett, 3/15)

Stat: Gilead Faces Criticism For Donations To Lawmakers Who Backed 'Don't Say Gay' Bill
There was a curious dichotomy underlying the outcry over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that passed the Florida Senate last week: Nine of the 22 lawmakers who voted in favor of the legislation had received donations from Gilead Sciences (GILD), the big purveyor of medicines to combat HIV. Over the past decade, the drug company contributed a total of $12,000 to those nine senators, most of which was provided in 2020. At the same time, Gilead donated $10,000 to 11 of the 17 state senators who opposed the bill. Nearly all of the donations were made between 2014 and 2018, according to data from OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks campaign financing and lobbying. (Silverman, 3/15)

Stat: Google Strikes Deal To Embed Tools In Major Health Records System
Google has struck a deal to embed its clinical software tools into a patient record-keeping system sold by Meditech, a major electronic health record vendor whose market share could put the tech giant’s technology in hospitals nationwide. The partnership, announced at the HIMSS health technology conference Tuesday, will install Google’s search and summarization tools in Meditech’s Expanse record-keeping system, with the goal of making it faster and easier to find key information on the care of patients. Meditech is the nation’s third-largest seller of electronic health records, with about 15% of the market, putting it behind Epic and Cerner. It has sought to differentiate itself with cloud-based technology and a focus on creating products that more seamlessly share information across disparate systems. (Ross, 3/15)

Stat: Doctors Often Turn To Google Translate. They Want A Better Option
The patient had just undergone a cesarean section, and now was struggling to put words to her pain in her native Taiwanese. The physician making rounds, Natasha Mehandru, was used to communicating with patients who didn’t speak English as a first language at her county hospital in Phoenix. But this time, calling in an interpreter by phone wasn’t working. “The service was not really good,” she said — and soon, she realized the patient and the interpreter weren’t even speaking the same dialect. “It was difficult to communicate, even with the interpreter.” So Mehandru turned to a familiar tool: Google Translate. Typing translations back and forth — Taiwanese to English, English to Taiwanese — she and the patient slowly came to an understanding with the help of the interpreter still on the line. (Palmer, 3/16)

AP: Idaho Hospital Locks Down Amid Far-Right Call For Protest
A major Boise hospital went on lockdown for about an hour Tuesday after far-right activist Ammon Bundy urged supporters to go the facility in protest of a child protection case involving one of his family friends. St. Luke’s Health System put the Boise Medical Center on lockdown and began diverting incoming patients about 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. (Boone, 3/15)

AP: Psychiatric Hospital Gets More Time To Correct Deficiencies 
Montana’s state psychiatric hospital has more time to correct deficiencies that have resulted in patient deaths, the Montana State News Bureau reports. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services initially gave the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs until March 13 to meet certain conditions to remain eligible to receive federal reimbursement. (3/15)

AP: Tennessee Lawmakers Introduce Texas-Styled Abortion Bill
Despite already enacting one of the strictest abortion bans in the U.S., Tennessee Republicans on Tuesday began advancing yet another anti-abortion measure strategically written to sidestep federal court challenges. The proposal is almost a direct copycat of legislation currently enacted in Texas, which not only prohibits doctors from performing abortion before most people know they’re pregnant but also allows private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone who helps someone else get the procedure after six weeks into pregnancy. (Kruesi, 3/15)

AP: Idaho Senate Kills Bill On Gender Reassignment For Minors 
Leaders in the Idaho Senate on Tuesday killed a House-approved bill prohibiting gender reassignment surgeries and gender-affirming health care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors. The Republican Senate Majority Caucus in a statement said it strongly opposes gender reassignment for minors, but the legislation undermines parental rights and allows the government to interfere. (Ridler, 3/16)

AP: Gov. Baker: Bill Would Expand Mental Health Care Services 
Gov. Charlie Baker unveiled a bill Tuesday that he said would help expand access to primary care and mental health services and help control rising health care and prescription drug costs. The Republican detailed the legislation during a stop at a health care center in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. (LeBlanc, 3/15)

AP: Immigrant Families Allege Discriminatory Treatment At Clinic
Immigrant women and families are calling on Massachusetts officials to investigate complaints of discriminatory and substandard care at the state’s largest community health center. Lawyers for Civil Rights, a Boston-based group, on Tuesday filed a formal request for state Attorney General Maura Healey’s office and the state Department of Public Health to jointly open a review into the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center’s compliance with civil rights and public health laws. (Marcelo, 3/15)

AP: Arizona To Resume Disenrolling People From Medicaid Program 
Arizona will soon resume disenrolling state residents no longer eligible for coverage through Medicaid and a related program for children and that many people currently enrolled will need to go through a process to see if they remain eligible, officials said Tuesday. The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System generally hasn’t disenrolled beneficiaries since the pandemic began in March 2020 unless they moved out of state, voluntarily disenrolled, aged out of the children’s program or died, an agency statement said. (3/15)

AP: House Speaker Not Budging On Medicaid Extension For New Moms 
Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn says he opposes efforts to revive a proposal that would let mothers keep Medicaid coverage for a year after giving birth. “My position on the postpartum thing has not changed,” Gunn, a Republican, told reporters Tuesday at the Capitol. Mississippi allows two months of Medicaid coverage for women after they give birth. Advocates for low-income women say expanding the government insurance coverage up to a year could improve health outcomes in a state with a high rate of maternal mortality. (Pettus, 3/15)

AP: Ex-Ohio Gov. Kasich Urges Compassion In Medicaid Pitch To NC 
Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich and other speakers on Tuesday shared the experiences of states expanding Medicaid to more working adults, as North Carolina legislators carefully weigh whether they should now accept the coverage. Kasich, a former Republican presidential candidate, and presenters on programs in Montana, Indiana and Michigan told a General Assembly study committee about successes and challenges after the states accepted expansion through the 2010 federal health care law. (Robertson, 3/16)

AP: Grant Aimed At Reducing Racial Disparity In Lung Cancer 
A $1 million grant has been awarded to Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center to study ways to reduce the disparity in lung cancer that affects Black residents. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the grant is part of a total $3 million donation to establish the Southeastern Consortium for Lung Cancer Health Equity. Investigators at Massey will collaborate with the cancer centers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of South Carolina. Dr. Robert Winn, head of Massey, will lead the initiative. (3/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: Here’s When The Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Barrier May Finally Be Completed, As People Keep Jumping Every Month
Beneath the stately towers and suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge, engineers are building a steel net along the span’s northwest corner — the product of a tireless, decades-long campaign that hit significant delays as it inched toward completion. By the end of next year bridge staff expect to finish the $206.7 million barrier, intended to catch any disconsolate person who leaps from the rail. Comprising enough marine-grade stainless steel to cover seven football fields, the net will flank the 1.7 mile suspension bridge on both sides, its webbing gray to match the fog and the choppy water, its supports painted the same ripe-orange hue as the bridge. (Swan, 3/15)

Axios: Study: Children's Health Issues Getting Worse
Critical measures of children's health are moving in the wrong direction in the U.S., according to a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics. The pandemic took a large toll on children's mental health and overall household stability, but several of these trends had been building for years. Levels of anxiety and depression among children increased between 2016 and 2020, while daily physical activity decreased. More parents and caregivers reported struggling to cope with parenting demands and dealing with mental health issues of their own. (Owens, 3/15)

NPR: Sleep Is Hard To Come By For 1 In 3 Americans, A Survey Finds
Americans are having a hard time sleeping, and stress seems to be a major factor according to a recent poll. The web-based survey conducted jointly by Gallup and mattress retailer Casper found that only one-third of Americans report getting high-quality sleep. A third of adults said their sleep the previous night was either fair or poor. That suggests nearly 84 million people in this country are tossing and turning. The survey of more than 3,000 adults highlighted that a person's emotional and mental state are major contributing factors, with stress increasing restlessness by 96%. Stress also more heavily impacted younger adults in the poll, with nearly seven in 10 between the ages of 18 to 29 saying that difficulty sleeping has a direct impact on their moods. (Dean, 3/15)

AP: The Big Sneeze: Climate Change To Make Pollen Season Nastier
Climate change has already made allergy season longer and pollen counts higher, but you ain’t sneezed nothing yet. Climate scientists at the University of Michigan looked at 15 different plant pollens in the United States and used computer simulations to calculate how much worse allergy season will likely get by the year 2100. It’s enough to make allergy sufferers even more red-eyed. (Borenstein, 3/15)

Stat: A Compromise Is Reached On An Intellectual Property Waiver For Covid-19 Vaccines, But Does It Go Far Enough? 
After 18 months of talks, a compromise was reached on a proposal to waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 medical products, according to a document shared with STAT and confirmed by a trade official familiar with the negotiations. For the moment, the agreement reached between the European Union, South Africa, India and the United States, only covers vaccines, but in six months could be extended to therapies and diagnostics. Developing countries that have exported less than 10% of the world’s Covid-19 vaccine doses in 2021 would be able to authorize use of a patented vaccine without the consent of the patent owner. (Silverman, 3/15)

Reuters: Japan Set To Remove All COVID Restrictions As New Infections Ebb 
Japan is set to announce on Wednesday the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions imposed on Tokyo and 17 other prefectures as a wave of infections caused by the Omicron variant continues to ebb. (3/16)

Politico: 5 Reasons War In Ukraine Is A Gut Punch To The Global Food System
Guess from where the U.N. World Food Programme sourced more than half of its supplies for the hungry across the globe in 2021? Yes, Ukraine. When this "breadbasket of Europe" is knocked out of supply chains and aid networks, the world is going to feel it. The war between Russia and Ukraine, both food-producing powerhouses, has already sent prices for cereals like wheat soaring and European governments scrambling to stabilize markets. (Wax and Galindo, 3/15)

Bloomberg: Lilly Halts New Studies in Russia, Exports of Some Medicines to Country
Eli Lilly & Co. said it has suspended investment, promotional activity and new clinical trials in Russia, and has stopped exporting nonessential medicines to the country, in response to the war in Ukraine. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker, which is one of the world’s biggest producers of insulin, said in an emailed statement that it will continue to deliver cancer and diabetes medicines to patients in Russia. (Griffin, 3/15)

The Washington Post: Boston Doctors Wanted To Help Ukrainians. They Made YouTube Tutorials On How To Control Bleeding Wounds.
As heavy metal music plays in the background, a doctor grabs a piece of cloth and places it atop an open wound on a medical dummy. Pressing on the cloth with both hands, he applies pressure. Later, he secures a tourniquet to the dummy’s leg. The video is less than 40 seconds long — but its creators say it could help save lives in Ukraine. (Mark, 3/15)

AP: Haiti's Health Professionals Go On Strike Over Kidnappings 
Thousands of doctors, nurses and other health professionals across Haiti have gone on strike to protest a spike in gang-related kidnappings as supporters burned tires and blocked roads on Tuesday. The three-day strike that began on Monday shut down public and private health institutions in the capital of Port-au-Prince and beyond, with only emergency rooms accepting patients. (Sanon, 3/15)

AP: Red-Orange Sahara Dust Coats Spain, Makes It Hard To Breathe 
Hot air from the Sahara Desert has swirled over the Mediterranean Sea and coated Spain with red-orange dust, prompting authorities to issue extremely bad air quality warnings Tuesday for Madrid and a large swath of the country. The national air quality index listed the capital and large parts of the southeast coast as “extremely unfavorable” — its worst rating. (Wilson, 3/15)