KASTURI PANANJADY

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a press conference about Utah's new fluoride ban, food additives and SNAP funds legislation, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)
Why water fluoridation, long considered a public health success story, is under scrutiny
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he wants communities to stop fluoridating water, and he is setting the gears of government in motion to help make that happen.
 
Matt Caldwell, left, a Lubbock Fire Department official, administers a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to Clair May, 61, at the Lubbock Health Department, Feb. 26, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon, File)
Texas measles outbreak expected to last for months, though vaccinations are up from last year
Measles cases in West Texas are still rising two months after the outbreak began. Local public health officials say they expect the outbreak to last for at least several more months and the case number is likely an undercount.
 
Lab workers at Johns Hopkins University work in Richard Huganir's lab in Baltimore, Md., on Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Shelby Lum)
Jobs lost in every state and lifesaving cures not discovered: Possible impacts of research cuts
Ripple effects of the Trump administration’s crackdown on U.S. medical research promise to reach every corner of America.
 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is shown Sunday, March 15, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)
Federal health agencies restore webpages and datasets following judge’s order
Federal health agencies have restored several webpages and datasets, following a judge’s order to bring back public access to information that had been removed to comply with a presidential executive order.
 
Carmen Lopez works at Bert's Pharmacy in Elizabeth, N.J., on May 21, 2024. The business is located in an ZIP code where nearly 70% of the residents are Hispanic. (AP Photo/Shelby Lum)
As pharmacies shutter, some Western states, Black and Latino communities are left behind
Urban and rural communities have come to depend on pharmacies as a trusted care option and a place for advice. But CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid and independent pharmacies all are pulling back after waves of growth before the pandemic.