Audrey Dutton

Idaho Seeks to Improve Its Troubled Coroner System and Lagging Child Autopsy Rates An advisory panel is developing a bill to mandate autopsies in some circumstances, including unexplained child deaths. The state would help fund autopsies for coroners who get national certification, ...

Glad to see change is coming after @audreydutton.bsky.social's great work on failures of Idaho's coroner system.

Mine, too.

Yeah. Really feeling for parents of infants and kids who can't be immunized.

Here's my story on that:
www.propublica.org/article/idah...

Idaho changed the law last year, making it illegal for school nurses or child care businesses to send home unvaccinated kids in the event of an outbreak, unless they show symptoms. Measles is uniquely good at getting around though; a person can spread it for up to 4 days before they show symptoms.

@pfannyyy.bsky.social

The regional public health department that covers this area hasn't issued a news release or announcement about the cases, as far as I can tell.

Measles has arrived in the Boise area. Five cases just reported in Canyon County, according to the state's weekly data. public.tableau.com/app/profile/...

If you live in a community that has wastewater testing, you can also check here to see if measles might be circulating. (Wastewater isn't infallible, but neither is case report data. More data points = more information.) data.wastewaterscan.org/tracker/?cha...

Chart of weekly reported measles cases in the U.S. Large spike in recent weeks.

Wow. #measles

A thing I never imagined my child saying: "Alexa, play Skrillex."

Got this in my email this morning. If y'all see these videos on social media, please DM or tag me. I'm curious to see what people say.

YouTube video by ProPublica The Gap Between Trump’s Justification for Troops in Portland and Reality

WATCH: While federal judges decide whether Portland protesters’ behavior constitutes a rebellion, ProPublica set out to examine the degree to which they were inciting unrest and the role that federal officers played.

What Really Happened in Portland Before Trump Deployed the National Guard In the two months before Trump’s decision, criminal charges were announced against only three people. On nights when physical conflict did erupt, it often came from police firing on, shoving, pepper-s...

NEW: We reviewed 700+ videos, hours of footage from ICE protesters and counterprotesters in Portland.

In 2 months before Trump said he was sending the National Guard, federal officers fire on, grab, pepper-spray or tear gas people 20 times -- without charging anyone. "Gratuitous," one expert said.

Qiyam leads a local environmental group in PA. He has an air purifier in every room of his house.

Kiki, pictured here, has asthma and does not appreciate her feline inhaler.

Tighter air pollution rules were finalized last year. Trump's EPA is rolling them back.

📸 @annie-flanagan.bsky.social

Journalism tip: If someone says drop the story, that’s a sign to keep reporting.

Back reporters who won’t flinch. Support our independent journalism ➜ propub.li/43MugoG

Ah, I see what you were saying. No, that's right, it doesn't. The change to law re. what the school nurse can do is a separate thing. Children who have exemptions on file can no longer be excluded (kept home) during an outbreak unless (until) they are sick.

Idaho Banned Vaccine Mandates. Activists Want to Make It a Model for the Country. The Idaho Medical Freedom Act makes it illegal to require anyone to take a vaccine or receive “medical intervention.” Leslie Manookian, the activist behind the law, hopes to make it a “societal norm” ...

In Idaho, schools haven't been allowed to require vaccinations without exemptions since at least the 1990s. Schools must accept medical, religious or personal belief exemptions. The main story goes into that, and some of the additional changes that seem to have made exemptions more common.

Toxic Wastewater From Oil Fields Keeps Pouring Out of the Ground. Oklahoma Regulators Failed to Stop It. Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, is spewing from old wells. Experts warn of a pollution crisis spreading underground and threatening Oklahoma’s drinking water.

NEW: Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, keeps shooting out of the ground in Oklahoma.

Experts say it means even more wastewater is spreading underground, poisoning the state’s water supply.

“this law isn’t just about policy. It is about flipping the script on what we’ve considered the norm for generations now: that if you’re going to be part of a community, you must help protect the other people in your community.”

“The law “not only rejects that norm […] it makes it illegal.”

Thank you so much for sharing and the kind words.

My State Banned Vaccine Mandates. Here’s How I Covered It as an Idaho Journalist. The Idaho Medical Freedom Act, which makes it illegal to require almost anyone to take a vaccine, test or other “medical intervention,” comes amid a national measles outbreak larger than the U.S. has ...

I’m a journalist. I’m also an Idahoan. A couple weeks ago, I stood outside my child’s school, chatting with the school nurse. As we talked, my phone buzzed. It was a call from the person behind Idaho's new law — one that limits how a school nurse can respond if measles arrives.

My State Banned Vaccine Mandates. Here’s How I Covered It as an Idaho Journalist. The Idaho Medical Freedom Act, which makes it illegal to require almost anyone to take a vaccine, test or other “medical intervention,” comes amid a national measles outbreak larger than the U.S. has ...

NEW: The Idaho Medical Freedom Act, which makes it illegal to require almost anyone to take a vaccine, test or other “medical intervention,” comes amid a national measles outbreak larger than the U.S. has seen in decades.

By @audreydutton.bsky.social

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Like ghosts, we’re all about transparency. 👻

Got a tip for us? Contact our team safely on Signal at 917-512-0201.

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It's the most wonderful time of the year 🎃

Exclamation marks! Why do women use them three times as much as men? It’s the punctuation that can make you seem warmer and more agreeable – but also much more compliant and lacking in analytical thinking

I'm going to stop using exclamation points for the next month and see what happens! It'll be a fun experiment (prank?) and may result in some misinterpretations of tone, but that's OK! Thanks!!! or maybe Sorry!!!

Senators Propose Sweeping Changes to Generic Drug Oversight Citing a ProPublica investigation, lawmakers are calling on the FDA to conduct more drug testing and to alert hospitals and other purchasers when foreign manufacturers with safety failures are given a...

NEW: Citing a ProPublica investigation, lawmakers are calling on the FDA to conduct more drug testing and to alert hospitals and other purchasers when foreign manufacturers with safety failures are given a special pass to send their products to the U.S.

Idaho Banned Vaccine Mandates. Activists Want to Make It a Model for the Country. The Idaho Medical Freedom Act makes it illegal to require anyone to take a vaccine or receive “medical intervention.” Leslie Manookian, the activist behind the law, hopes to make it a “societal norm” ...

This isn't to downplay the real evidence that Idaho is more vaccine-averse than other places. We have a track record of low vaccine uptake for adults, flu shots, COVID immunizations, etc. But it's important to know the nuances of the data, and what it does -- and doesn't -- tell us.

When Idaho was mulling (back in 2017) whether to let parents simply write a note to get an exemption, the school nurse association warned this could happen: that parents whose kids were immunized may opt for an exemption "just because it is more convenient." legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/u...