Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
NYU Langone Ends Transgender Youth Health Program, To Dismay Of Many
CBS News: NYU Langone Ending Transgender Youth Health Program, Drawing Ire Of Advocacy Groups
NYU Langone announced Tuesday it is discontinuing its Transgender Youth Health Program, leaving families frustrated and advocates fighting back. There's outrage in New York City's LGBTQ+community over the decision to end that treatment at NYU Langone. The move comes in the wake of President Trump's Jan. 2025 executive order banning gender-affirming health care, and a December Trump administration proposal to withdraw federal funds from hospitals providing gender transition treatments to young people. (Zanger and DeAngelis, 2/18)
The New York Times: Kansas, Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma In New Push To Restrict Transgender Rights
After a year in which the Trump administration has pressed to limit the ways Americans can identify as transgender in public life, Republicans are pushing the issue at the state level with new zeal. With legislative sessions underway in most states, hundreds of bills restricting transgender rights are under consideration as social conservatives seek to capitalize on Trump administration tailwinds and a shift in public opinion to codify an understanding of sex and gender as binary and fixed. (Harmon, 2/18)
More health news from across the U.S. —
CBS News: Georgia Bill Would Allow Pharmacists To Prescribe PrEP In Effort To Expand HIV Prevention Access
A bill moving through the Georgia General Assembly could change how people in the state start HIV prevention medication. Senate Bill 195 would allow trained pharmacists to prescribe PrEP, a daily medication that can prevent HIV. Right now, patients must see a doctor to start taking the medication. Lawmakers backing the bill say allowing pharmacists to prescribe it could remove a barrier to care. (Wilkerson, 2/18)
The CT Mirror: Advocates Revive Fight To Open Overdose Prevention Center In CT
Dozens of advocates gathered at the state Capitol on Wednesday to testify in support of a bill that would make Connecticut one of a few states in the country to establish an overdose prevention center. (Golvala, 2/18)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: J&J Is Building Cell Therapy Plant In Montgomery County
Johnson & Johnson plans to spend more than $1 billion to build a cell therapy manufacturing facility in Montgomery County near Spring House, the New Jersey pharmaceutical and medical supplies giant said Wednesday. ... The facility at 1201 Sumneytown Pike will add to J&J’s capacity to make cell therapy treatments for cancer, with a focus on multiple myeloma. That’s a type of cancer that attacks white blood cells in the bone marrow. Cell therapy is the use of engineered immune cells to treat disease. (Brubaker, 2/18)
CBS News: DTE Energy Ordered To Pay $100 Million For Clean Air Act Violation At Detroit-Area Facility
DTE Energy and three subsidiaries are ordered to pay $100 million for failing to comply with the Clean Air Act at a Zug Island facility between River Rouge and Detroit. According to the Department of Justice, a court ruled in an August 2025 order that the EES Coke facility violated the Clean Air Act after a June 2022 lawsuit filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency alleged that the facility made changes without complying with the Clean Air Act's New Source Review (NSR) program. (Booth-Singleton, 2/19)
The Washington Post: D.C. Mayor Declares Potomac Sewage Spill An Emergency
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) declared the Potomac River sewage spill a public emergency Wednesday and requested federal assistance with cleanup as the Trump administration continued to criticize local leaders for allegedly mishandling the environmental disaster. (Gathright and Hedgpeth, 2/18)
CBS News: Philadelphia Launches Real-Time Air Quality Monitoring System: 'This Is Public Health In Action'
A new air quality monitoring system will allow Philadelphia residents to track air pollution in their neighborhoods in real time. Mayor Cherelle Parker and other officials announced Wednesday the launch of Breathe Philly, a series of 76 ground-level air quality monitors that provide hourly air quality measurements across each of the city's districts. "You can access up-to-date information about the air that you and your family are breathing right where you live," Parker said. (Simon and Sanders, 2/18)
Inside Climate News: Texas Sues Dow Alleging Pollution Problems At Chemical Plant
The Texas Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit Friday against Dow Chemical Co., North America’s largest chemical manufacturer, describing hundreds of water pollution violations from its industrial complex on the rural Gulf Coast in Seadrift. (Baddour, 2/18)
