Cc: @ericrogers.org

Expert insight: U.S. withdrawal from WHO could affect global health - Western News History professor Mitchell L. Hammond explains how the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization could affect global health and disease threats.

HORRIFYING -
Dismantling USAID & cancelling >80% of aid caused ~750,000 deaths by mid-2025

🧸Most were children
⌛️ Many died within the first year

😰 Preventable deaths were mainly from:
- HIV, TB, malaria
- Maternal & fetal deaths
- Malnutrition

news.westernu.ca/2026/01/u-s-...

David Hudnalll, my new colleague on the @kansascity.com editorial board penned this beauty. It sizzles.

The soaring price of youth sports: $50 to try out, $3,000 to play Parents are struggling to keep up as costs and luxury options rise. Investors see an opportunity.

Lindsey Rector knows her son loves baseball. She’s less certain she can afford it.

“You’re just trying to do everything you can to make these dreams come true for your child,” Rector said. “But it’s just so money-driven.”

Big news for bike share! (+ don't forget to take the survey) New name, new hubs, new app en español, new survey, and hibernation season

BIG NEWS!

KC's nonprofit, community-based bike share program (formally known as RideKC Bike) is now Bike Share KC. New name, new hub locations, new Spanish app, and same great service!

bikesharekc.com/2025/12/05/b...

🧵 KC advocates and supporters, BikeWalkKC needs your support to keep fighting for a community where people aren't required to "drive to thrive".

2025 has been a challenging year for nonprofits, so if you are in position to give, your gift will be very meaningful❤️

Support pours in for Kansas City children’s doctor critically hurt in unsolved hit-and-run Dr. Saswat Das recently moved to Kansas City from Arkansas for his fellowship at Children’s Mercy. He always biked home from the hospital, and last Wednesday was no different.

Police looking for driver of 2016 red Hyundai Sonata who hit Dr. Das at 39/Gillham, 8pm on Wed. Sept. 14th.

He was a fixture of Little Rock's bike community b4 moving to KC & Children's Mercy recently. He was on his way home from work when he was hit & left for dead.

www.kctv5.com/2025/09/24/s...

Data investigation: Childhood vaccination rates are backsliding across the U.S. A monthslong NBC News data investigation finds that much of the U.S. doesn't have the protection needed to stop the spread of deadly diseases. St. Louis is a window into the problem communities face nationwide.

SPECIAL REPORT: A large swath of the U.S. currently does not have the basic, ground-level immunity necessary to stop the spread of viruses that had once receded into the past, a six-month NBC News investigation in collaboration with scientists at Stanford University finds.

Inadequate Aerobic Physical Activity and Healthcare Expenditures in the United States: An Updated Cost Estimate - Jennifer L. Matjasko, Zhuo Chen, Geoffrey P. Whitfield, Laurie P. Whitsel, Ken Rose, K...

A new report shows that not getting enough physical activity is linked to $192 billion in U.S. health care costs. Being physically active can save money and is one of the best things a person can do to improve their health. #ActivePeople doi.org/10.1177/0890...

Next stop should be Living Roots Wine and Co on Keuka Lake.

Opinion | Boy Crisis of 2025, Meet the ‘Boy Problem’ of the 1900s It takes a village to raise a child. But some of the villagers must be men.

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“It takes a village to raise a child. But some of the villagers must be men,” Robert Putnam and Richard Reeves write.

Greg Olsen, a former NFL player, in a black, long-sleeve Panthers shirt and blue beanie looking to his right. Quote attributed to Olsen reads: ""Are we raising 12-year-olds to be professional baseball players? Or are we raising 12-year-olds to be professional people?"

From @theathletic.com: How soon is too soon for children to start specializing in a particular sport?

One former NFL player-turned broadcaster thinks it's one of the biggest issues facing youth sports.
nyti.ms/3HgNzyG

Here, Vought doesn’t dispute slow-walking release of NIH grants from congressionally appropriated funds so that they can be cancelled in a couple of months through pocket rescission, thereby bypassing congress to enact huge cuts to NIH research.

Equitable access to youth physical activity and sport opportunities should be a 'Lasting Legacy' of Kansas City's World Cup. Learn more in the letter below and at www.kcphysicalactivityplan.org

To keep Medicaid, a mom caring for her disabled adult son may soon need to prove she works Republicans have touted Medicaid work requirements both as a way to reduce federal spending on the program and as a moral imperative for Americans.

NEW: Under GOP budget bill, 18.5 million Americans would need to prove they work to keep their Medicaid coverage.

One of them is likely a Kansas City woman who already had to make an excruciating choice due to Medicaid rules: give up guardianship of her disabled son to work as his caregiver.

Saving money vs. saving lives YouTube video by CBS Sunday Morning

Ted Koppel interviews my Hopkins colleague Prof. Liz Jaffee, world expert in pancreatic cancer, about the devastating cuts and slow roll out of cancer research funding by the NIH.

See this CBS Sunday morning show video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLwc...

About that "gold standard science" we've been promised ...

ADVOCACY ALERT: Funding under threat for Bike Share and Vision Zero In the next few days City Council could make devastating cuts to bike share and Vision Zero safety projects without fixing the bus and IRIS funding crisis.

ADVOCACY ALERT: #KCMO City Hall is threatening to cut funding for bike share and #VisionZero!

Learn more, take action, and please share:

bikewalkkc.org/blog/2025/05...

NIH insiders: Trump is ‘dismantling and destroying everything' After just 100 days, agency scientists say U.S. health institutes are demoralized and have lost essential staff and funding

After Trump’s first 100 days, agency scientists say U.S. health institutes are demoralized and have lost essential staff and funding.

Try this joyful 7-minute workout you can do with kids Crawl like a bear, dodge lava and duck branches in this playful routine.

Looking for an easy way to add fun and fitness to your family life?

Try this science-based 7-minute workout parents and kids can do together.

Funding cut for landmark study of women's health The Women's Health Initiative, begun in the 1990s, has made many important discoveries. Now funding to collect more research data will end in September.

"'It's a huge blow," says Wactawski-Wade.'It's been one of the most productive studies in history.And to really understand older women's health-dementia, heart failure, frailty-we are the study to do that.And it's been eviscerated right now because of these budget cuts.'"
www.npr.org/2025/04/23/n...

Top researcher quits NIH, citing censorship under RFK Jr. | CNN Dr. Kevin Hall joins The Lead

Thanks to @jaketapper.bsky.social for inviting me on his show yesterday! www.cnn.com/2025/04/17/h...

Leading Nutrition Scientist Departs N.I.H., Citing Censorship (Gift Article) Kevin Hall said his work on ultraprocessed foods has been “hobbled” under the Trump administration. Scientists have been raising such concerns for months.

My story about @kevinh-phd.bsky.social, nutrition and metabolism scientist at N.I.H., who felt compelled to take early retirement after experiencing censorship of his work under the new administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/w...

Meet Evan Anzoo, a five-year-old boy in South Sudan who died when Elon Musk shut down USAID and the boy lost access to his HIV meds. Musk says no one has died because of the aid shutdown, but that's because he didn't look. RIP, Evan, you deserved better. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Opinion | Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True. (Gift Article) A journey through the front lines of global poverty shows that when the world’s richest men slash aid for the world’s poorest children, the result is sickness, starvation and death.

Elon Musk says that no one has died because he slashed humanitarian aid. I went to South Sudan to check if that's true. It's not. Meet Peter, Achol and Evan, ages 10, 8 and 5. The reckless actions of the world's richest men are killing the world's poorest kids www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Hearing that the entire $82mil in funding for the Diabetes Prevention Program has been cancelled as part of the #ColumbiaUniversity #NIH grant terminations. This study has been ongoing since 1996. It’s hard to describe the disruption and impact of cancelling this study. @altnih4science.bsky.social

Opinion | The free-living bureaucrat Michael Lewis on Heather Stone of the Food and Drug Administration.

"An amoeba that on very rare occasions enters and eats the human brain isn’t a problem the free market is likely to solve. There are never enough people dying of Balamuthia and willing to pay for a cure for a big pharmaceutical company to spend the money to find one."

Column | This women’s college hoops coach lost his job in government’s mass firings Adam Strom intends to finish the season at Haskell Indian Nations University, but he won’t be getting paid for it after recent federal cuts.

“I paid very little attention to politics,” Adam Strom said. “... They were talking about layoffs, cuts, executive orders. I was like, ‘Nobody’s worried about an NAIA coach in Lawrence, Kansas.’”

Until they were.

Column by @kevinbblackistone.bsky.social

Revealed: NIH research grants still frozen despite lawsuits challenging Trump order The Trump administration is exploiting a loophole to keep a funding freeze in place, leaving researchers in limbo.

In case you were wondering how the Trump admin was still freezing NIH funds, despite court orders, this is how.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

JUST IN:

Federal judges orders HHS, CDC, and FDA to restore “by no later than 11:59 pm” today their websites and datasets to pre-January 30th status.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...