Open Newswire

A bill to track the number of voucher recipients who were previously enrolled in public schools has failed in committee, a 100-year-old oak tree will have to be removed from Cheekwood, and Nashville experienced a record high temperature for February 10th. The post Feb. 11: School Vouchers Demographics; a Loss for Cheekwood appeared first on Nashville Banner.

មានករណីបាញ់រះមួយ​ បានកើតឡើងកាលពីថ្ងៃ​ទី​១០កុម្ភៈ នៅក្នុងសាលារៀនមួយ​ ភាគខាងលិចប្រទេសកាណាដា។ យ៉ាងហោច​ណាស់ មានមនុស្ស​៩​នាក់ស្លាប់ និង​របួសជាង​២០នាក់។ ផ្អែកតាមសមត្ថកិច្ច​កាណាដា ខ្មាន់កាំភ្លើងបានបាញ់សម្លាប់ខ្លួនឯង តែគេមិនទាន់អាចសន្និដ្ឋានបានទេ​ អំពី​មូលហេតុដែល​ធ្វើឲ្យជនដៃដល់ ឈានទៅធ្វើអំពើ​ដ៏កាចសាហាវនេះ​។

The Metro Council launched a review of the response to last month's winter storm, with NES CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin and Metro department leaders providing updates and answering questions about the response, including the estimated cost of $110-140 million for repairs and the need for improved communication. The post Councilmembers Question NES, Metro Department Leaders in Wake of Winter Storm appeared first on Nashville Banner.

The Tennessee Department of Correction is seeking $1.7 million to fund drone detection technology to prevent the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and other contraband into the state's prisons. The post Tennessee Prison Officials Say They Need Drone Detection Tech to Combat Contraband Airdrops appeared first on Nashville Banner.

When thousands of immigration agents flooded Minneapolis late last year, Garrett Guntly had an idea: a network of neighbor-owned security cameras, pointed towards public areas, that they could use to monitor ICE activity in the area.  He affixed a security camera first to his own south Minneapolis home, pointing it at the bus stop across […]

Public health, explained: Sign up to receive Dr. Jay K. Varma’s reports in your inbox a day early. Hello and welcome to Healthbeat’s new weekly report that aims to provide context about important topics in public health from around the United States. My name is Dr. Jay K. Varma, and I am a physician, epidemiologist, and public health expert currently serving as chief medical officer at Fedcap, a national nonprofit focused on economic mobility and well-being for vulnerable communities. (The views expressed here are my own and do not represent Fedcap.) The goal of this report is to highlight and explain key stories that are shaping public health in the United States, from policy to research to outbreaks. The topics I choose are inherently subjective, informed by my background as a public health practitioner who has worked domestically and globally in government, academia, and the private sector. As this report evolves, please send ideas to me about topics you think need greater attention or perspectives that differ from my own. Public health in the United States is undergoing dramatic changes, and, while I lament many of them, I am also an optimist. I believe that this period of change is also an opportunity to advance health protection, opportunity, and social justice at all levels of our society. As former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Bill Foege (more on him later) said, “Bet on the optimists. You need the optimist to say, ‘We’re going to try to do it.’” CDC not updating data on vaccine-preventable diseases Last year was marked by the Department of Health and Human Services making major changes in policy, staffing, and funding at the CDC with a particular focus on immunizations and vaccine-preventable disease programs. While the consequence of that is primarily being measured in outbreaks — such as the rising outbreak of measles in South Carolina — it can also now be measured in one of CDC’s most critical functions: disease surveillance. Academic researchers found that, of 82 regularly updated and publicly available CDC databases, 38 (46%) are no longer being updated regularly. Which databases have been most impacted? “Of the 38 paused databases, 33 (87%) were vaccination-related topics compared with none of the 44 current databases,” the authors write. The epidemiologist in me can’t help but conclude this pattern is not due to random or topic-neutral decision-making. The data show a near-perfect association between vaccines and data collection: Vaccination-related databases were paused, and others largely were not. We can only speculate about why this might be happening. It could be that there simply are not enough staff to do these updates, because of staffing cuts. It could be that staff are available but otherwise occupied, including possibly making databases compliant with new requirements related to gender and other Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion-related topics. It could be that they have been instructed to focus on other health conditions. Or it could be a combination of all of these. What we do know is that surveillance — counting who gets sick or dies — is the foundation of all public health, and that, when public health agencies do not measure a disease, the public and policy-makers begin to think that the disease is not a problem. For example, if a policy maker sees that the CDC is reporting fewer flu-related deaths in children, then they might erroneously conclude that flu is not a problem and seasonal flu vaccination is not so necessary. The invisibility of public health activities like surveillance to the general public is also what makes these activities so susceptible to distortion and to funding cuts. I applaud these researchers for conducting surveillance of CDC’s surveillance databases, because diseases only count when they are actually counted. Early detection of cancer through blood tests? Buyer beware One health condition that always gets high-profile attention is cancer. Rather than one specific disease, cancer is hundreds of different diseases, all of which are characterized by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells in the body. While five-year death rates for people diagnosed with cancer are declining in the United States, companies are increasingly advertising to the public ways they can detect and treat cancer earlier, specifically blood tests otherwise known as “liquid biopsies” or “multi-cancer early detection” tests. Sure enough, during the Super Bowl on Sunday night, the direct-to-consumer medical platform Hims & Hers promoted its latest offering: pay $750 on top of your usual annual subscription price and receive the Galleri test (manufactured by Grail Diagnostics) for cancer detection. My inherent bias is to be skeptical of companies selling these tests to consumers until there is strong evidence that they work, such as large studies in diverse populations in which people are followed for several years. The Super Bowl ad for the Galleri tests shows a man breathing a sign of relief when he looks at his phone and sees a result that says, “No cancer signal detected.” In fact, in the largest study done on Galleri, the test had an overall sensitivity of 51.5%, suggesting that a result that reads “no cancer signal detected” could be inaccurate up to 50% of the time. I was not surprised to hear the news recently about another up-and-coming company in this field, Cancer Check Labs, that is being investigated for fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission complaint says investors in Cancer Check Labs were told their money would fund research, clinical trials, and Food and Drug Administration or European approval for a blood-based cancer screening device. What happened instead, according to the SEC, is that more than $10 million was diverted for personal spending and unrelated ventures. While the complaint focuses on securities fraud, not medical fraud, it describes a familiar pattern in the consumer blood testing space: bold scientific claims, vague regulatory promises, and little evidence that the underlying technology works as advertised. The most high-profile example of this was Theranos, in which a company moved rapidly from medical device development to direct-to-consumer testing without demonstrating analytical validity (does the test measure what it says it’s measuring?), clinical validity (does the test provide information useful to a person’s health?), or real world benefit (does the test help detect and cure cancer earlier?). Unfortunately, the existence of a blood test on the market does not mean it has actually been proven accurate, useful, or safe. As more companies promote early cancer detection through blood screening, this case underscores the need for strong regulatory oversight and for all of us to be skeptical of claims unless there is high-quality independent evidence that the tests work. The UK National Health Service is currently running one such trial on the Galleri test: a randomized control trial of more than 140,000 people to evaluate whether this test actually reduces the incidence of late-stage cancer and cancer death, with results expected this year. The legacy of two men on public health in the 20th century At the beginning of this report, I mentioned Bill Foege, former CDC director, who died on Jan. 24. A week earlier, another scientist with an important impact on public health died: Peter Duesberg. The legacies of these two men could not be more different. Foege focused his career on reducing human suffering. He helped lead the eradication of smallpox and mentored generations of public health leaders. He believed that evidence, humility, and collective action could change history. He never stopped reminding students that certainty is dangerous and kindness is essential. Duesberg followed a different path. Once a respected virologist who did pioneering work showing that viruses can cause cancer, he rejected overwhelming evidence that HIV causes AIDS and used his scientific credentials to amplify falsehoods across the world. His words encouraged people to refuse lifesaving treatment and shaped policies that contributed to hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths. Foege taught that progress comes from questioning tradition while staying anchored to data, ethics, and social justice. Duesberg modeled what happens when certainty hardens into ideology, healthy skepticism becomes dangerous denial, and arrogance drives activism. Foege used language to build trust, share credit, and widen the circle of care. Duesberg used language to inflame and to malign people and institutions that save lives. If you want to be inspired, take 25 minutes to watch Foege’s 2016 graduation speech at Emory University. Here’s one of my favorite excerpts: “I keep wondering why I was not born in a village in New Guinea. I am no self-made person. I was born in this country, urged on by family, traveled roads paid for by government, went to schools that required thousands of people to put together … I avoided dying of tuberculosis, food poisoning, toxic water because of a government, rarely appreciated. Not because I deserved it but because of a coalition of government, religious institutions, and public and private groups, all conspiring to help me.” Until next week, Jay Dr. Jay K. Varma, who is recognized globally for his leadership in the prevention and control of infectious disease, writes about public health for Healthbeat. He has guided epidemic responses, developed policies, and implemented programs that have saved lives across Asia, Africa, and the United States. He is based in New York. Contact Jay at jvarma@healthbeat.org.

Clínicas maternas e serviços pré-natais têm operado sob extrema pressão; Unfpa está fornecendo suprimentos médicos essenciais e reativando serviços de planejamento familiar, suspensos desde o início do conflito.

Secretário-geral reafirma que a igualdade na ciência é essencial para o progresso da humanidade; mensagem destaca que a exclusão das mulheres das áreas científicas enfraquece capacidade coletiva de enfrentar desafios globais urgentes.

Oklahoma has become an ICE arrest hub after Gov. Kevin Stitt deputized state agencies and 28 local law enforcement agencies signed federal agreements. A Chinese man with a legal work permit and pending asylum case was arrested by Highway Patrol after calling 911 for help in a rollover accident. The post Oklahoma Becomes ICE Arrest Hub as Federal Policy Drives Enforcement Explosion appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

Sign up forChalkbeat Philadelphia’s free newsletterto keep up with the city’s public school system. On a regular day in the “reflection room” at North Philadelphia’s W.D. Kelley School, trauma specialist Meah Carruth might facilitate a mediation between students in conflict, a naptime for a group of tired teachers, or a lunch break round of musical chairs. The dimly lit space contains sofas, interactive playmats, and other items intended to help calm students and staff. It’s part of the Philadelphia Healthy and Safe Schools program, a “trauma-informed schools” initiative facilitated and partially funded by Temple University on five School District of Philadelphia campuses. The idea behind the program, known by the shorthand “PHASeS,” is to create places where all students and teachers can take a “brain break” when they feel overly stressed. Most classrooms in PHASeS schools have a “calming corner,” and each building has a PHASeS room where students can visit with an adult’s permission. Most of those rooms are staffed by a trauma specialist like Carruth, who is trained to help people understand and regulate their emotions. “Maybe you need to pick up a beanbag and throw it at a target and let out some steam, maybe you do need to scream,” Carruth said, rolling a blue rubber fidget toy in one hand. “Let’s assess what you need, and if we can offer it and provide it, and you’re safe, let’s do it.” The PHASeS team from Temple University’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine also provides regular staff training. It helps teachers better understand the chronic trauma students see at home and in the neighborhood, often related to housing insecurity, gun violence, and domestic abuse. “When you think about some of the things that they have experienced, you kind of handle them better,” said Sherese Knights, an English language arts educator at W.D. Kelley who has received the training. “We are more inclined now to focus on their most basic needs before providing learning.” A soon-to-be-released evaluation by Temple’s College of Education and Human Development surveyed educators in PHASeS schools. More than three-quarters said the program improved classroom learning, and 85% said the training improved their own well-being. The data also showed that PHASeS has reduced fights, harassment, and disorderly conduct on two of the three campuses where it was studied. Kelley Principal Crystal Edwards said teaching kids to take a breath makes it less likely that they’ll act out. She also credits the program with the fact that 98% of the student body has never been suspended, a substantial improvement from a decade ago. “Learning how to regulate and learning how to calm has a natural effect, to shut down anything that comes behind it,” she said. “So that’s why we don’t have those fights. That’s why we don’t have that verbal assault, and that’s why the hallways are quiet.” The "reflection room" at W.D. Kelley School on Wednesday, February 4, 2026. It's a space where students or staff can come to take a break and speak with a trauma specialist. ‘The conversations weren’t happening’ A growing body of research supports programs like this as a way to improve academic achievement in neighborhoods with high levels of poverty and violence. More than one-fifth of Philadelphia residents live below the federal poverty line, according to the latest Census data. While gun violence is down from a record-high number of shootings in 2022, the problem persists. There were 979 shootings citywide, 206 of them fatal, in 2025. Tyrique Glasgow, director of an after-school mentorship program called the Young Chances Foundation in Philadelphia’s Grays Ferry neighborhood, said the environment has a profound effect on how children behave at school. “If at night you look out your window and there’s still the blur of police lights and sirens, are you having a good night’s sleep?” he said. “When they get into the school and someone says, ‘Sit down,’ or ‘Why you not paying attention?’, do you think the child could articulate, ‘Hey, you know, it was a shooting on my block last night?’ He noted a lot of kids he serves also get to school late and often skip breakfast because of stressors at home. The elementary schools in Glasgow’s neighborhood do not have the PHASeS program. As a result of the PHASeS curriculum, Kelley staff extended breakfast service by about two hours, so students arriving late wouldn’t be hungry and irritable during their morning classes. Knights, the English teacher, said after the training she started having lunch with students she suspected were struggling. It was during those breaks that heavy topics started to come up. “The conversations weren’t happening,” she said. “It literally just changed everything. You went from not being able to connect to developing deep connections.” Making trauma approaches sustainable Exposure to trauma, and particularly violence, “has an impact on everything from memory to the ability of children to concentrate,” said Pedro Noguera, dean of the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. “When it’s not addressed, it manifests itself as disruptive behavior.” Noguera has been watching the movement for trauma-informed schools slowly gain momentum across the country in recent years. He’s also seen opposition from people who want more discipline and fewer wellness resources. And he’s noticed school districts spending funds on lockdown drills rather than counselors. “We have schools that are preparing for school shootings, which can itself traumatize children,” he said. “We’re preparing ourselves for violence, rather than finding ways to reduce the likelihood of violence, which is kind of crazy.” PHASeS is funded by Temple, the school district, the state, and the federal Department of Justice. Currently all five PHASeS schools have a trauma specialist or another PHASeS staffer on site regularly. There is also a mindfulness coach in two of the schools. The level of staffing, and how often schools can order new furniture and fidget toys, fluctuates based on availability of district and state funds, program staff said. “Funding is challenging right now,” said Mary Beth Hays, an assistant professor in Temple’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine and director of the program. “In some ways, what we’re doing is really getting to a place of health and strength within each of these buildings. But it really takes time. We’re in the middle of a conversation that shouldn’t be interrupted by resources or lack of funds.” The School District of Philadelphia started providing trauma training to teachers in 2017. That same year they launched the STEP program in 21 schools, which connects students to therapists, case managers, and family peer specialists. And some public schools have built “calming rooms” over the years. But a comprehensive program like PHASeS can change the culture of an entire building, said Hays. “We’re hoping to create a relational safety that then begets classroom safety, hallway safety, playground safety, cafeteria safety,” she said. “And so when I think about the ways that we are interfacing with gun violence, it is in both prevention and in response” Edwards, the principal, says it comes down to a simple idea — students having someone to talk to. “There’s an expectation that someone is listening to how they feel,” she said. “There’s an expectation that they are cared for and concerned for in this building. And that we, all together, have learned and continuously learn about how to work through trauma.” This story is part of a collaboration between Chalkbeat Philadelphia and The New York Times’s Headway Initiative, supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) via the Local Media Foundation. Sammy Caiola covers solutions to gun violence in and around Philadelphia schools. Have ideas for her? Get in touch at scaiola@chalkbeat.org.

The city of Waco is pursuing a state groundwater designation to expedite a long-sought city park at the former Hillcrest hospital site. The post Waco seeks pollution measure to clear way for a park at old Hillcrest hospital appeared first on The Waco Bridge.

Tërmeti i mbrëmshëm prej 4.9 shkallësh që goditi Tetovën dhe rrethinën, ngriti shqetësimet për qëndrueshmërinë e objekteve. Para dy viteve, Komuna e Tetovës formoi një Komision për vlerësimin e qëndrueshmërisë së objekteve publike, por nga komuna nuk i tregojnë gjetjet e këtij raporti dhe masat e ndërmarra. Arkitekti Hamdi Sulemani alarmoi për cilësinë e ndërtimeve, […]

Missouri has just eight outpatient beds for people charged with crimes who have been ordered to undergo mental health treatment so their cases can move forward. Those beds are full. So are the state’s 440 psychiatric hospital beds that serve Missourians ruled incompetent to stand trial because of a mental illness or cognitive disability. There […]

Dvogodišnja koalicija američkih zakonodavaca nastoji pojačati pravni i finansijski pritisak na globalnu mrežu ruskih plaćeničkih grupa, uvodeći 10. februara zakon kojim bi se Kremljove preimenovane posredničke snage označile kao strane terorističke organizacije (FTO).

Thủ tướng Israel đến Washington vào hôm nay, 11/02/2026, gặp tổng thống Donald Trump để gây áp lực đối với các cuộc đối thoại Mỹ - Iran trong hồ sơ hạt nhân và tên lửa của nước Hồi giáo. Chuyến công du diễn ra trong bối cảnh Iran kỷ niệm 47 năm cuộc Cách mạng Hồi giáo và phải đối mặt với áp lực cả trong lẫn ngoài.

في دراسة نادرة تجمع بين أفريقيا وجنوب آسيا يقدّم كتاب "Playing with Fire" للمؤلفة أديتي مالك دراسة مميّزة تربط بين تجربتي أفريقيا وجنوب آسيا للإجابة عن سؤال شديد الأهمية: لماذا تتكرر صلة بعض الأحزاب

"Tərtər işi"ndə oğlu öldü, 60 min manat təzminat alacaqlar.

ساکنان تهران سه‌شنبه‌شب ۲۱ بهمن، همزمان با مراسم چهل‌وهفتمین سالگرد پیروزی انقلاب اسلامی، علیه رژیم و رهبر جمهوری اسلامی شعار دادند؛ شعارهایی که نشانۀ «نارضایتی عمیق» مردم ایران خوانده می‌شود. در همین حال، نیروهای امنیتی رژیم برای خنثی کردن آن، با شعار «الله‌اکبر» به مصاف پایتخت‌نشینان رفتند.

El Parlamento Europeo aprobó este miércoles 11 de febrero un préstamo de 90.000 millones de euros a Ucrania, mientras que los estadounidenses se conforman ahora con lo estrictamente necesario en su apoyo a Kiev. Se trata de un monto destinado a financiar el esfuerzo bélico ucraniano durante los dos próximos años.

Many parents and educators are concerned about standardized test scores released recently by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and rightly so. Less than half of students in Missouri are proficient in math or English language arts. The numbers are even lower for subgroups; only 1 in 4 students who are black, Hispanic, […]