Latest Morning Briefing Stories

Silence in Sikeston: Hush, Fix Your Face

Podcast

In Episode 2 of the “Silence in Sikeston” podcast, host Cara Anthony speaks with Sikeston, Missouri, resident Larry McClellon, who grew up being told not to talk about the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright. He is determined to break the cycle of silence in his community. Anthony also unearths a secret in her own family and grapples with the possible effects of intergenerational trauma.

A Possible Downside to Limits on Teens’ Access to Social Media

KFF Health News Original

In 1982, then-Surgeon General C. Everett Koop warned that video games might be hazardous to young people’s health, a statement he later walked back, acknowledging it had no basis in science. These days, state and federal policymakers are sounding alarms about the need to protect children from the harmful effects of social media platforms such […]

Silence in Sikeston: Racism Can Make You Sick

Podcast

The “Silence in Sikeston” podcast explores what it means to live with racism and violence, then charts the toll on health — from hives and high blood pressure to struggles with mental health. The deaths of two Black men killed nearly 80 years apart in the same Missouri community anchor a conversation about the public health consequences of systemic bias.

‘Scared to Death’: Nurses and Residents Confront Rampant Violence in Dementia Care Facilities

KFF Health News Original

Clashes between residents — verbal, physical, and sexual — can be spontaneous and too unpredictable to prevent. But the chance of an altercation increases when memory care homes admit and retain residents they can’t manage, according to a KFF Health News examination of inspection and court records and interviews with researchers.