Sen. Rand Paul said he doesn’t understand why people are demanding Sen. Mitch McConnell to release more details about his health condition as he continues his recovery.

McConnell, 84, was discharged from a rehabilitation center Aug. 6 after being hospitalized June 14. McConnell said in an Aug. 6 statement he will continue physical therapy ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — A Mercer County, Pennsylvania, woman is suing Taco Bell and Taylor Farms, accusing the companies of negligence after the Avocado Ranch Chicken Stacker she bought at the fast food chain last month left her hospitalized with a cyclosporiasis infection.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court on behalf of Heather Kebert, also ...Read more

Brooke Green thought she needed a mammogram.

Green, a Democratic state representative in Idaho, knew that breast cancer ran in her family and she “just had an inkling” that she should be tested.

She was two weeks shy of the day her last remaining embryo would be implanted through in vitro fertilization. It was the one shot she had left to ...Read more

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. — While rescue crews spent nearly two days searching for a 5-year-old girl swept out in a rip current off Treasure Island, Laguna Beach Fire Capt. Pat Cary spent dozens of hours with the grieving family, acting as their liaison, caring for them, and keeping them updated.

A safety officer with 15 years at the department, ...Read more

MACY, Neb. — Erica Carter is passionate about her job, and she has seven acres of flowers and vegetables to show for it.

Carter’s specialty is reeling in grants to support students in the Omaha Nation school district, where she is a finance manager. One paid for the garden that sits next to the district’s campus. Another allowed the ...Read more

The number of U.S. kindergartners starting school without being fully immunized continues to rise, as more families forgo the protective shots despite outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday that the number of children who were fully up-to-date on their immunizations when ...Read more

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

How is deli meat made? – Arabelle, 17, Brooklyn, New York

If you’ve ever eaten a ham or turkey sandwich for lunch, then you’ve probably eaten deli meat. Sometimes ...Read more

You notice someone close to you has lost a lot of weight. You also notice that they’re skipping meals and talking more pessimistically about food and their body. You feel concerned but worry that commenting on their body might do more harm than good.

So what should you do? Where is the line between showing concern and being harmful?...Read more

Smoking and vaping continued to decline among middle school and high school students in 2025, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2025 National Youth Tobacco Survey, released in July 2026. This annual, school-based survey has been tracking smoking and other nicotine product use in American youth ages 11 to 18 since 1999....Read more

A child left in a hot car — or who gets into an unlocked vehicle unnoticed — can die of heat stroke very quickly. Tragically, dozens of U.S. children lose their lives this way each year. These deaths are preventable with some simple actions by parents and caregivers.

Here's what the American Academy of Pediatrics says about the danger of ...Read more

HOT SPRINGS, S.D. — Two of the nation’s most powerful health officials predict artificial intelligence will play a key role in solving rural America’s health challenges.

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a panel of U.S. senators that AI nurses can provide “concierge care” to rural patients. Mehmet Oz, who leads the Centers ...Read more

Last year, Baltimore had three mass overdose incidents in the span of three months in its Penn North neighborhood.

In one incident, more than two dozen people were hospitalized after many were found unresponsive, lying in the streets or on sidewalks. No one died, but some came close.

Follow-up testing found that the street drugs contained high...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Health officials in California are defending the traditional childhood vaccination schedule against efforts by the Trump administration to weaken it.

The long-standing childhood vaccine schedule is safe, California's top health official said, and continues to be recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics — the nation's ...Read more

Parents are all too familiar with the ongoing battle to get their kids to eat a vegetable or two.

This summer, they’ve been fighting it themselves.

Just weeks ago, every bite of greens came with the fear of exposure to cyclosporiasis, a parasite many of us were blissfully unaware of until it began triggering stomach problems that leave no ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Six years after the COVID-19 pandemic upended the world, experts in California say the disease appears to be becoming more of a summer rather than a winter phenomenon.

The shift was noted over the past couple of years and has become even clearer in 2026, prompting health officials to refocus their prevention efforts. The U.S. ...Read more

“It’s all in your head.”

By the time many people with functional neurological disorder arrive in our clinic, they have heard these five words more times than they can count. They are told their brain scan was normal. Their electroencephalogram, a test that measures the brain’s electrical activity, is reassuring. “The good ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has begun searching for new members for a vaccine advisory committee it is quietly reshaping to look at alternatives to vaccinations, a move that has drawn worries from outside groups.

The National Vaccine Advisory Committee, created in 1987, has worked across agencies to advise the Health and Human ...Read more

NEW YORK — Two more people have died of Legionnaires’ disease, raising the death toll from this summer’s Upper East Side outbreak to nine, officials announced Friday.

“I’m saddened to share that 2 more people have died in connection with the UES Legionnaires’ disease cluster,” city Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin said in a ...Read more