SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has positioned himself as a national public health leader by staking out science-backed policies in contrast with the Trump administration.

After Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez for refusing what ...Read more

It was a snowy afternoon in Bozeman, a city of nearly 60,000 nestled among the mountains of southern Montana. Temperatures hovered in the mid-30s.

The city’s mobile crisis team had just gotten a call about a man walking around outside without shoes. The man’s family told the team he was having a mental health crisis and wouldn’t come ...Read more

OTTUMWA, Iowa — Leisa and Kent Walker recently received a disturbing notice: The private company managing their son’s Medicaid coverage intends to cut nearly 40% of what it spends for caregivers who help him live at home instead of in a nursing home.

Sam Walker, 35, has severe autism and other disabilities. He is deaf and cannot speak. ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota could soon legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin mushrooms on a small scale, as lawmakers point to emerging research that suggests the psychedelic drug could help treat intractable mental illnesses.

A bipartisan group of state lawmakers is pushing to create a pilot program allowing for therapeutic use of the drug ...Read more

Most people know only two things about the appendix: You don’t need it – and if it bursts, you need surgery fast.

That basic story traces back at least to Charles Darwin, the English naturalist who developed the theory of natural selection. In “The Descent of Man,” he described the appendix as a vestige: a leftover from plant-...Read more

Traveling with children can be both a delight and a challenge. Whether traveling by car, plane or even internationally, unforeseen circumstances can throw a wrench into plans. Planning ahead can help you ensure the trip goes as smoothly as possible.

Here are some tips families can consider when planning for travel during spring break or any ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I have a hand issue that's affecting my work. I’ve heard some hand surgeries can be done in the clinic without anesthesia or an operating room. Can you tell me more about them?

ANSWER: Hand and wrist problems can make everyday tasks — typing, gripping tools, lifting, even opening a door — painful and ...Read more

In the final days of 2025, governors around the country trumpeted the hundreds of millions of federal dollars they won from a new, $50 billion rural health fund.

But plans to spend those nine-digit awards aren’t all warmly received.

At least one group of Republican state lawmakers appears to have scuttled an initiative preapproved by federal...Read more

Over the course of 2025, Jayant Mishra of Mission Viejo, California, progressively developed scaly, itchy red patches on his skin. Then came the pain and swelling in the joints of his hands, making it difficult to do his work at a bank.

His primary care doctor referred him to a rheumatologist, who diagnosed psoriatic arthritis. She advised ...Read more

Samantha Smith of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, went into the operating room for emergency removal of an ectopic pregnancy. “I’m grateful I didn’t die,” she said, but she was shocked to see that the outpatient surgery was billed to her insurer for about $100,000.

Jamie Estrada of Albuquerque, New Mexico, twice received injections of ...Read more

Star Quinn moved to Kingsport, Tennessee, in 2023, the same year the state began covering dental costs for about 600,000 low-income adults enrolled in Medicaid.

But when Quinn chipped a tooth and it became infected, she could not find a dentist near her home who would accept her government health coverage and was taking new patients.

She went ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s division of vaccines and gene therapies is leaving the agency after a tumultuous tenure, sending biotech shares higher in late trading on Friday.

Vinay Prasad will depart the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research next month to return to his previous career in academia. ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation are pressing for “immediate remediation” as Legionella bacteria remains in the water at Baltimore’s federal building, which houses ICE and other agencies. Meanwhile, federal officials say safety measures are already in place and there is no threat.

In a letter sent Friday to ...Read more

Since early 2025, several large federal health grants to states have been suspended and then restored after legal challenges. On Feb. 13, 2026, for example, the federal government moved to suspend about US$600 million in public health grants to four states before a federal court temporarily blocked the action. Hundreds of millions of dollars ...Read more

A Los Angeles courtroom is hosting what may become the most consequential legal challenge Big Tech has ever faced.

This is an inflection point in the global debate over Big Tech liability: For the first time, an American jury is being asked to decide whether platform design itself can give rise to product liability – not because of ...Read more

Marian Houk was rehabbing from a major spinal surgery in 2022 when her physical therapist at UCHealth in Aurora, Colorado, recommended she try electrical stimulation to manage the pain.

Like many providers around the country, UCHealth sent Houk to Zynex Inc., an Englewood, Colorado-based medical device company that manufactures and sells ...Read more

Cancers of the reproductive and urinary organs, known as genitourinary cancers, affect millions of people worldwide each year. At Mayo Clinic, Yousef Zakharia, M.D., a medical oncologist and chair of the Genitourinary Disease Group at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, leads clinical research aimed at improving outcomes for patients ...Read more

Nearly three times as many Pennsylvania adults gamble online today than just a few years ago.

And as online platforms make gambling easier and more convenient, some Pennsylvanians are gambling more often and may be more prone to developing problems.

We are researchers at Penn State’s Criminal Justice Research Center and the ...Read more