Category: states

The Making of Reluctant Activists: A Police Shooting in a Hospital Forces One Family to Rethink American Justice

In 2015, Houston police officers stepped into Alan Pean’s hospital room, closed the door and shot him through the chest. Nearly six years later, his survival has brought the Pean family a wrenching legacy and conflicted sense of purpose.

5 Things to Know About Health Care Changes in Montana

The covid pandemic drove major changes to Montana health policies, including the permanent expansion of telehealth regulations, a pullback on local public health officials’ authority and the easing of vaccination requirements for workers and students.

‘I Just Feel Like Myself’: A Nonbinary Child In Their Own Words

When they were 6, Hallel told their parents they are a boy-girl. At 9, they are helping their parents, grandparents and friends understand what it means to be nonbinary.

Salesforce, Google, Facebook. How Big Tech Undermines California’s Public Health System.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has outsourced his way through the covid-19 pandemic, tasking his private-sector allies in Silicon Valley and the health care industry with fundamental public health duties such as testing, tracing and vaccination. Among the losers: the state’s weakened public health system.

For Kurdish Americans in Nashville, a Beloved Leader’s Death Prompts Vaccine Push

Some immigrant groups are closing the ethnic gap on COVID-19 shots. For many Kurdish Americans, their fears about vaccination are entangled with their experiences in refugee camps after fleeing Iraq.

Covid ‘Doesn’t Discriminate by Age’: Serious Cases on the Rise in Younger Adults

With older adults vaccinated, doctors say a growing share of their covid patients are in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, as more contagious variants circulate among people who remain unvaccinated.

In Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, Millions Face Long Drives to Stroke Care

Across Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, where death rates from stroke are above the national average, routing patients from rural areas to the right level of care can be an intricate jigsaw puzzle. The closest hospital might not offer the full scope of stroke treatments, but hospitals with more advanced care could be hours away.

As Schools Spend Millions on Air Purifiers, Experts Warn of Overblown Claims and Harm to Children

A KHN investigation found that more than 2,000 schools have spent millions of dollars for systems, lured by air purifier companies’ claims that experts say mislead or obscure the potential for harm from toxic ozone.

As Vaccine Demand Slows, Political Differences Go on Display in California Counties

California officials are optimistic they can vaccinate millions more before hitting a hard wall of vaccine resistance.

CVS and Walgreens Have Wasted More Vaccine Doses Than Most States Combined

More than 200,000 doses of covid vaccine have gone to waste since December, KHN has learned. Two national pharmacy chains account for most of it.