Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Southwest Missourians Have Access To Abortion For The First Time In Over 20 Years
Missouri Independent: Abortion Returns To Southwest Missouri After More Than Two Decades Without Access
It’s been nearly 21 years since Missourians living in Springfield could access abortion without driving at least a couple hours. That ended Monday. (Spoerre, 7/27)
More reproductive health news —
AP: Lindsay Clancy Trial Begins In Test Of Postpartum Psychosis Defense
In the months after the birth of her third child, Lindsay Clancy ‘s mental health collapsed. Unable to sleep and stricken with thoughts of harming herself, she sought care from experts in postpregnancy mood disorders, was put on multiple psychiatric medications, and when nothing worked, checked in to a psychiatric hospital. Nineteen days after she was discharged, she strangled her three children at their Massachusetts home. (Casey and Willingham, 7/28)
Stat: For Black And Latina Women, Renaming PMOS Is Just The Start
Bontle Moka-Moliki starts and ends every day in pain. The 32-year-old Atlanta resident was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2019. A year later came fibroids. Then in 2024 she was diagnosed with a condition now called polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome. “If someone is at a zero, my pain is at a three every day, and then it’s only up from there,” she said. (Durham, 7/28)
On the gun violence epidemic —
AP: Psychologist Says Georgia School Shooter Had A Chaotic Childhood
The teenager who killed two students and two teachers in a 2024 shooting at Georgia’s Apalachee High School had a chaotic, lonely upbringing and immersed himself in an online community of people interested in mass shootings, a psychologist testified Monday. Colt Gray, 16, pleaded guilty Friday to 55 counts, including murder, in the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting that also left several others wounded at the school about 45 miles (73 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta. (Brumback, 7/27)
The Washington Post: Schools Are Adding Pepper-Spraying Drones To Help Combat Active Shooters
Schools in at least three states will be equipped with drones this year that can zoom through halls, smash windows and pepper-spray active shooters if teachers report a threat. At least nine schools — three in Florida, five in Georgia and one in Colorado — will have storage boxes that house the plastic, nonlethal aircraft made by Austin-based Mithril Defense. The drones, which can be activated by teachers, are capable of reaching a shooter within 15 seconds. The aircraft are designed to distract their targets by flashing strobes, blaring sirens, spraying them with pepper gel, or ramming into them at 60 mph. (Reynolds, 7/28)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
AP: New York Medical Institution Agrees To Boost Sexual Abuse Prevention Program
In a deal that ends a criminal investigation, a prestigious New York City medical institution agreed to boost its sexual abuse prevention program after one of its star doctors was convicted of abusing patients during a decade-long span and was sentenced to life behind bars, authorities said Monday. Weill Cornell Medicine, whose faculty treats patients at several New York-area hospitals, reached a voluntary compliance agreement with the federal government that calls for it to spend $30 million to create the Institute for Safe Patient Care and Patient Empowerment. (Neumeister, 7/27)
KFF Health News: Newsom Reverses On Long-Sought Paid Leave Benefit For Teachers In California
California public school teacher Mollie Blustein planned her pregnancy so that her daughter would arrive during summer break. But when the elementary school teacher went into premature labor and delivered her baby two weeks before the end of school, she faced another stressor: a huge pay cut. The majority of California’s roughly 300,000 teachers don’t have access to the state-funded paid leave program that most new parents in the private sector do. Instead, many local school districts deduct the cost of a substitute teacher from educators’ pay during parental leave. (Sciacca, 7/28)
Verite News: Homeless New Orleanians Swelter Amid Scorching Heat Wave
For people experiencing unsheltered homelessness like Victor Tate, shade is sometimes the only available relief from summer heat. Living in a makeshift shelter under the Pontchartrain Expressway, Tate told Verite News that he lost his shelter during 2025 Super Bowl sweeps, had his phone stolen and felt disrespected often by people passing by during the last 10 years that he’s been unsheltered on and off. With the heat index expected to reach as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius) this week, full shelters and worsening climate conditions, Tate is bracing for the additional stress brought on by rising temperatures. (Perdomo, 7/27)
San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Significant Flea Infestation’ Closes Popular Marin Playground
A popular Marin County playground has temporarily closed because of a “significant flea infestation,” leaving Fairfax officials to determine how to eliminate the pests without violating the town’s prohibition on pesticides on public property. The town closed Peri Park playground immediately and expected it to remain off-limits for approximately two weeks, according to a notice posted Friday. Officials had not announced a treatment plan or firm reopening date as of Monday. (Vaziri, 7/27)
