LOS ANGELES — L.A. County voters will be asked this June to hike the sales tax rate by a half-cent to soften the blow of federal funding cuts on the region's public health system.

The county Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 1 Tuesday to put the sales tax on the ballot. County officials estimate it would generate $1 billion per year to ...Read more

​WASHINGTON — The EPA said Tuesday it would rescind the agency’s 2009 endangerment finding and all regulations based on its determination that greenhouse gas emissions are a threat to public health requiring regulation under the Clean Air Act.

The final rule is still under interagency review and hasn’t been made public or signed by ...Read more

California reported its first confirmed measles outbreak since 2020 on Tuesday.

The highly contagious disease infected 2,276 people nationwide in 2025, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far in 2026, the U.S. has confirmed 733 cases, and 93% of those infected were unvaccinated.

The heightened spread of the disease ...Read more

U.S. regulators have refused to review Moderna Inc.’s novel mRNA flu vaccine, dealing a major blow to the company as it seeks more products beyond its COVID shot.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected the company’s application, which was submitted in December, saying the studies conducted in support of the application didn’t ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Public health experts warned Tuesday that $600 million in cuts to federal public health funding announced by the Trump administration would endanger one of California’s main early-warning systems for HIV outbreaks, leaving communities vulnerable to undetected disease spread.

The grant terminations affect funding for a number ...Read more

​WASHINGTON — The EPA said Tuesday it would rescind the agency’s 2009 endangerment finding and all regulations based on its determination that greenhouse gas emissions are a threat to public health requiring regulation under the Clean Air Act.

The final rule is still under interagency review and hasn’t been made public or signed by ...Read more

NEW ORLEANS — Sarah Hess started taking her toddler, Josie, to Mickey Markey Playground in 2010 because she thought it would offer a refuge from lead.

After a routine doctor visit revealed Josie had lead poisoning, Hess quickly traced the source to the crumbling paint in her family’s century-old home in the Bayou St. John neighborhood. ...Read more

Barbara Tuszynski was concerned about her vision but confident in her insurance coverage when she went to an eye clinic last May.

The retiree, 70, was diagnosed with glaucoma in her right eye in 2019. She had a laser procedure to treat it in 2022, and she uses medicated drops in both eyes to prevent more damage. She is supposed to be checked ...Read more

Roughly 1-in-5 Pennsylvania Obamacare plan enrollees dropped health coverage for 2026 due to "unprecedented cost increases," the state's online health insurance marketplace reported Monday.

Enrollment in the Affordable Care Act health insurance plans, also called Obamacare, totaled about 486,000 for 2026, with about 92,000 dropping their health...Read more

Do you remember the first time you looked at a classmate and your heart pounded just a little bit harder? For most people, that moment comes during the teen years, but for some children, feelings or romantic interest can begin well before puberty. While this may catch parents by surprise, it is a normal part of social and emotional development. ...Read more

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is eyeing a presidential bid, has incensed both Democrats and Republicans over immigrant health care in his home state, underscoring the delicate political path ahead.

For a second year, the Democrat has asked state lawmakers to roll back coverage for some immigrants in the face of federal Medicaid spending ...Read more

David Yturralde arrived at the mushroom talk in Newport Beach recently armed with a pen and paper and a host of questions. The goal, he said, was to demystify those fascinating fungi that popped up on his grass after heavy winter rain.

He's long been interested in the mushrooms that sprout on the front lawn of his San Clemente home, but he's ...Read more

In a series of YouTube ads viewed more than 195 million times, a red-lipped Taylor Swift tells viewers about a “new thing” in Florida: Just visit a website, answer two questions and the state will send you a $6,400 stimulus check.

Sound too good to be true? It was — and the narrator wasn’t Swift but an AI deepfake. The ads, since taken...Read more

Health officials in San Bernardino County, California, have confirmed the first case of measles in the county since 2023.

The county's Department of Public Health said the case involves an unvaccinated child who was visiting from another state, and is unrelated to the recent case of an international traveler who visited a Disney park.

The ...Read more

DENVER — The Colorado Senate this week approved a bill that would expand the list of who can authorize and prescribe vaccines and, in the words of the sponsor, sidestep “the dysfunction coming out of Washington, D.C.”

Senate Bill 32 would allow pharmacists to prescribe vaccines independently. It would also authorize the state Board of ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina is reporting nearly four dozen new cases of the measles virus, public health officials said Friday.

This brings the state’s total reported cases close to topping 1,000.

There have been 44 new cases of the measles, the South Carolina Department of Public Health announced Friday. That brings the total number ...Read more

The measles outbreak in South Carolina reached 876 cases on Feb. 3, 2026. That number surpasses the 2025 outbreak in Texas and hits the unfortunate milestone of being the largest outbreak in the U.S. since 2000, when the disease was declared eliminated here.

The outbreak is exposing the breadth of dangers the disease can pose. South ...Read more

What do collecting old editions of Dungeons & Dragons monster manuals, securing the same tailgate spot for over 20 years and mastering yoga postures have in common? They are all forms of “serious leisure.”

These pursuits are different from casual hobbies in several ways. They require participation over longer periods, which ...Read more

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a promising gene-editing therapy that directly corrects a genetic mutation responsible for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), the most common inherited kidney disorder.

A single treatment of the gene therapy slowed kidney cyst growth, improved heart and liver health,...Read more