Fran Smith

The Health Divide: The outlook for families who rely on SNAP is quickly getting worse The massive changes to SNAP will hit low-income people hard for years to come.

Let them eat… nothing?? centerforhealthjournalism.org/our-work/ins... @chjreportinghealth.bsky.social @centeronbudget.bsky.social

Underbabied? 🤔

@chjreportinghealth.bsky.social

Why doesn’t she name names??

Hundreds of U.S. students quarantined amid measles outbreaks At least 270 unvaccinated kids are staying home from school as measles continues to spread nationwide. "Expect more," one expert said.

The Trump administration has promoted the anti-vax, anti-science movement which has now produced an epidemic www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

The Health Divide: If MAHA wants kids to eat healthier, why cut the school food programs that support that? As SNAP budget cuts and expanded work requirements kick in, millions of children may lose access to free school meals.

When nutrition for kids becomes a target in the war on inclusion. centerforhealthjournalism.org/our-work/ins... @chjreportinghealth.bsky.social

The Health Divide: The devastating toll of wildfires on health is far greater than we think More frequent, intense and destructive fires fueled by climate change cause far more death and illness than official tallies capture.

While we retreat on climate policy… @astokespop.bsky.social @chjreportinghealth.bsky.social centerforhealthjournalism.org/our-work/ins...

Not gonna happen. And Trump doesn’t care about right-wing radicalism, so is Kirk’s murder now a big 🤷‍♀️?

The Health Divide: Q&A: Why does rehab keep failing those who need it most? In her new book, journalist Shoshana Walter revelas how many programs exploit patients, bar mothers, underuse buprenorphine, and worsen racial and gender disparities.

Had a great conversation with @sho-walter.bsky.social about her eye-opening new book, Rehab: An American Scandal. Highly recommend for anyone who cares about addiction. centerforhealthjournalism.org/our-work/ins...

The Health Divide: These states are expanding Medicaid coverage for doulas, as major federal cuts loom The embrace of doula support even in Republican-led states is colliding with sweeping federal cuts to health care, public health and research on health disparities.

States take a step forward on maternal and child health while the country takes dangerous steps backward. My latest for @chjreportinghealth.bsky.social centerforhealthjournalism.org/our-work/ins...

Prepping the ground for repeal of seat belt laws?

Good for you! High anxiety time for me.

Poison

U.S. measles cases reach 33-year record high as outbreaks spread Johns Hopkins University data reflects the public health reversal in defeating the vaccine-preventable disease since measles was officially eliminated from the U.S. in 2000.

The United States has recorded its highest annual measles cases in 33 years. The milestone marks a public health reversal in defeating a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable disease as the anti-vaccine movement gains strength.

The harm is the point.

‘I Feel Like I’ve Been Lied To’: When a Measles Outbreak Hits Home

i almost can’t read this it makes me so angry. delusional grifters with purity fetishes and eugenic worldviews have brought pain, suffering and death to children www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/u...

Let them eat cake?

The Health Divide: What state gun laws can tell us about the shooting deaths of children “The academic in me is never going to say causality,” said Harvard's Jeremy Faust. “But the person with a functioning brain is going to say I’m worried about a causal relationship.”

We often speak of gun violence as an epidemic. Yet the problem fits the definition of chronic: continuing or occurring again and again. If only the current obsession with chronic illness aimed at the leading killer of kids. centerforhealthjournalism.org/our-work/ins...

If you’re a white man…

The Health Divide: Nobody expected this would happen after the Dobbs decision "This is the story post-Dobbs, that people are doing everything within their power and expertise to make sure that people can still get care," said David Cohen, a law professor at Temple University.

Excited to be writing for the USC Center for Health Journalism on the sweeping changes in health care policy, massive budget cuts, and how it’s all playing out in communities. Here’s my first. centerforhealthjournalism.org/our-work/rep...

The Budget Bill’s Hidden Health Crisis : The Hastings Center for Bioethics The budget bill adopted by the House of Representatives on May 22 is not so much a fiscal blueprint as a manifesto in policy retrenchment. Behind its

“Repeal and Replace” ACA failed in 2017. The same bulldozing of health coverage and health care access “is now being sold as an exercise in fiscal restraint.” : bit.ly/43a5Jdu

So hard. My condolences.

The president of the U.S. appears to be improving his own health through access to great medical care and great medical science. That's what he gets. Simultaneously, his administration is doing so much to hurt regular Americans' opportunity to achieve those same good health outcomes the same way.

Was Qatar planning to “gift” said wheelchair?

And the, what, 35% (?) who didn’t bother to vote.

And they won’t get help from FEMA when their homes are destroyed by storms they didn’t see coming. FAFO

In a year of many bad headlines and framing by the NYT, this made me angriest. Whoever wrote, edited and approved it surely went to a good school of higher Ed with fed grants for great research, and knows better.

Right. Cowards.

Exactly. Trump ran on mass deportation.

Of course there is. A serious effort to stop antisemitism would not ignore anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence on the right or aimed at Dems, trample due process, or use (select) antisemitism as a pretext to grab power over higher ed and stifle all dissent. None of which is ever good for Jews.