Latest Morning Briefing Stories

Watch: ‘Breaking the Silence Is a Step’ — Beyond the Lens of ‘Silence in Sikeston’

KFF Health News Original

KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony discusses her reporting for the “Silence in Sikeston” multimedia project, which explores the impact of a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police killing on a rural Missouri community — and what it led her to learn about her own family’s past.

Asian Health Center Tries Unconventional Approach to Counseling

KFF Health News Original

Facing a dire shortage of bilingual and culturally attuned therapists, an Oakland, California, community clinic serving Asian immigrants has trained staffers in a victim support unit to provide lay counseling.

Silence in Sikeston: Is There a Cure for Racism?

Podcast

In the finale of “Silence in Sikeston,” Black residents organize a Juneteenth barbecue. The Department of Public Safety chief encourages officers to attend to build trust. But improving relations between Sikeston’s Black community and the police won’t be easy. Host Cara Anthony discusses the possibility of institutional change in Sikeston.

Silence in Sikeston: Trauma Lives in the Body

Podcast

Denzel Taylor, a young Black father, moved from Chicago to Sikeston, Missouri, for a fresh start in life. There, he proposed to his girlfriend, started a family, and then, in April 2020, was fatally shot by police officers. Taylor had two young daughters and another on the way when he was killed. Pediatrician Rhea Boyd talks about how children process such loss.

California Voters Consider Tough Love for Repeat Drug Offenders

KFF Health News Original

A California ballot measure would roll back some decade-old criminal justice reforms that have become fodder for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Stiffer penalties for shoplifting have gotten much of the attention, but the measure also allows controversial treatment requirements for repeat drug offenders.

Nursing Aides Plagued by PTSD After ‘Nightmare’ Covid Conditions, With Little Help

KFF Health News Original

A KFF Health News investigation reveals that employers and the government have offered nursing aides little assistance for PTSD and other ongoing maladies triggered by hazardous work during the pandemic.

Fighting Staff Shortages With Scholarships, California Bill Aims To Boost Mental Health Courts

KFF Health News Original

A new bill would create a scholarship program for students who agree to work with specialized courts in California to get patients into treatment, but some people argue the state shouldn’t restrict scholarship aid to a new, untested program given broader behavioral health workforce shortages.

Watch: New Documentary Film Explores a Lynching and a Police Killing 78 Years Apart

KFF Health News Original

The “Silence in Sikeston” documentary film explores how the nation’s first federally investigated lynching and a police killing 78 years apart haunt the same rural Missouri community. The film from KFF Health News and Retro Report explores the lasting impact of such trauma — and what it means to speak out about it.

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 […]

Decades of National Suicide Prevention Policies Haven’t Slowed the Deaths

KFF Health News Original

Despite years of national strategies to address the suicide crisis in the U.S., rates continue to rise. A chorus of researchers and experts say the interventions will work — but that they’re simply not being adopted by state and local governments.

Tossed Medicine, Delayed Housing: How Homeless Sweeps Are Thwarting Medicaid’s Goals

KFF Health News Original

As California cities crack down on homeless encampments in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling authorizing fines and arrests, front-line workers say such sweeps are undercutting billions in state and federal Medicaid spending meant to stabilize people’s health and get them off the streets.

No One Wants To Talk About Racial Trauma. Why My Family Broke Our Silence.

KFF Health News Original

Every family has secrets. I spent the past few years reporting about racial violence in Sikeston, Missouri. Interviewing Black families there helped me uncover my family’s traumatic past, too.

‘What Happens Three Months From Now?’ Mental Health After Georgia High School Shooting

KFF Health News Original

The recent shooting at Apalachee High School outside of Atlanta caused more than physical wounds. Medical experts worry a lack of mental health resources in the community — and in Georgia as a whole — means few options for those trying to cope with trauma from the shooting.

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.

Kids Who Survived Super Bowl Shooting Are Scared, Suffering Panic Attacks and Sleep Problems

KFF Health News Original

Six months after the Feb. 14 parade, parents of survivors under 18 years old say their children are deeply changed. In this installment of “The Injured,” we meet kids who survived the mass shooting only to live with long-term emotional scars.