Health & Safety

Governor Roy Cooper signs Medicaid expansion law.

Health & Safety

Medicaid expansion starts December 1, but what about those left behind?

10:36am November 20, 2023

On December 1, roughly 600,000 North Carolinians will become eligible for health care coverage, many for the very first time. But there are NC residents will remain ineligible for these benefits and other subsidies in the health insurance marketplace due to their immigration status.

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Ashley Close, staff attorney at Children's Law Center, right, checks in with Dr. Ankita Khandai, center, and Dr. Candice Dawes, left, at Children's National's Anacostia clinic in Washington, D.C. Close works with doctors to help them fight for healthy living conditions for patients. Medical-legal partnerships like this are spreading nationwide.

Health & Safety

When landlords won't fix asthma triggers like mold, doctors call in the lawyers

6:41am November 20, 2023

by Maria Godoy

Mold, pests and rodents in the home can lead to life-threatening asthma attacks in kids. Increasingly, doctors see this as a medical issue that requires legal intervention.

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The USFS is proposing changing a rule that would allow the storage of carbon dioxide pollution under national forests and grasslands. It's controversial.

The U.S. has a controversial plan to store carbon dioxide under the nation's forests

6:02am November 20, 2023

by Julia Simon

A proposed rule change from the US Forest Service would allow storage of carbon dioxide pollution under national forests. The plan comes as communities resist such projects in their areas

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Former first lady Rosalynn Carter looks at a birthday cake with her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, during his 90th birthday celebration held at Georgia Southwestern University, Oct. 4, 2014, in Americus, Ga.

Rosalynn Carter, transformative former first lady and mental health advocate, dies

9:14pm November 19, 2023

by Chloee Weiner

The wife of former President Jimmy Carter was 96 years old. She spent decades as a prominent advocate for mental health and professionalized the role of first lady.

Health & Safety

Wildfire in Stokes County leads to evacuations

4:58pm November 19, 2023

by Eddie Garcia

In Stokes County, a wildfire has led to evacuation plans for some residents. As of Sunday afternoon, no injuries have been reported.

Children wade through floodwater on Nyangai Island, Sierra Leone. Most of the island has already been lost to the sea, and what remains is routinely flooded at high tide.

A disappearing island: 'The water is destroying us, one house at a time'

11:00am November 19, 2023

by Tommy Trenchard

The island of Nyangai off the coast of Sierra Leone is on the frontline of climate change. More frequent and intense weather has eroded Nyangai to a nubbin. Residents who remain fear for its future.

Louise Vincent has used street drugs since she was 13. She has emerged as a leading voice trying to humanize and help people who use drugs as they face the most devastating overdose crisis in U.S. history.

One woman's controversial fight to make America accept drug users for who they are

7:53am November 19, 2023

by Brian Mann

Louise Vincent has used drugs since she was 13. Research shows millions of Americans like her aren't ready or able to stop. Vincent believes it's time people accept that.

Health & Safety

Some doctors have stopped recommending weight loss. Here's why

7:53am November 19, 2023

by Eilis O'Neill/KUOW

In an attempt to curb misdiagnosis or health care avoidance, some providers are encouraging overweight patients to exercise and eat healthily without addressing weight at all. Other medical professionals think it's important to talk about.

The first page of an eight-page comic about hypothyroidism. A cartoon version of the reporter, Andy Miller, is introduced. He is the narrator for this series and looks concerned. The phrase "Thyroid Problem" appears above his head. He has a doctor one side and a bottle of pills on the other.

Health & Safety

COMIC: What it's like living with an underactive thyroid

12:11pm November 18, 2023

by Andy Miller

When a writer started suffering from near-constant fatigue, his doctors were stumped at first. Here's his journey to understand and live with hypothyroidism, a disease that affects millions.

There are 80 different autoimmune diseases, affecting up to 50 million Americans.

Autoimmune disease patients hit hurdles in diagnosis, costs and care

12:07pm November 18, 2023

by Andy Miller

Despite the prevalence of autoimmune conditions, like the thyroid disease Hashimoto's, finding help can prove frustrating and expensive. Patients may rack up big bills as they search for a diagnosis.