Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Proposed Trump Administration Rule Would Prevent Trans People From Taking Refuge At Homeless Shelters
The Trump administration’s push to exclude transgender Americans is moving to the nation’s homeless shelters. On Tuesday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) introduced a proposed rule that requires federally funded shelters to house prospective tenants based on their birth sex alone. (Sosin, 5/1)
State lawmakers declined to back a Trump-inspired plan to move 1,300 homeless people to a campus on the edge of Salt Lake City, but supporters are trying to keep the plan’s spirit alive. (DeParle, 5/4)
More health news from across the U.S. —
A bill awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis' signature creates a state board of Naturopathic Medicine to assist the Department of Health in overseeing naturopathic doctors in the state. Opponents say naturopathy is not supported by science. (Maguire, 5/3)
The Bay Area could be in for an earlier and longer mosquito season this spring and summer — even as officials race to contain the potential explosion of a new invasive mosquito species that is already spreading in parts of the East and South Bay. A mild winter, warm stretches of weather in February and March, and a rainy spring this year have created an ideal habitat for mosquito breeding, which means more mosquito production and more chances for the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile, the main disease of concern in California. (Ho, 5/3)
ϳԹ News: She Survived 2 Shootings. Research Helps Explain Why Her Pain Persists Years Later
In 2019, Mia Tretta, then a high school freshman at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, was struck in the stomach by a round from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun fired by a schoolmate. Two students were killed during the attack, including her best friend, and two others were injured. When she graduated from high school, she enrolled at Brown University, the scene of another shooting in December 2025, while she was studying for finals in her dorm room. (Beauvais, 5/4)
After a potluck supper, a short guided meditation and a quick lesson in resistance singing, a couple dozen people made their way to a quiet room at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta. As a choir warmed up downstairs, they gathered – some strangers, some friends - to discuss a topic that’s normally off-limits: death. (Christensen, 5/1)
“The students actually do learn from me,” said Karl Arps, who has been an EMT instructor at Fox Valley Technical College for 19 years. (Page, 5/4)
On social media and mental health —
New Mexico state prosecutors are seeking fundamental changes to Meta’s social media apps and algorithms to safeguard children in the second phase of a landmark trial on allegations that platforms such as Instagram have created a public safety hazard. Opening statements are scheduled Monday in the three-week bench trial to decide whether the platforms of Meta, which also owns Facebook and WhatsApp, pose a public nuisance under state law. (Lee, 5/4)
Cellphone bans got devices out of students’ hands, according to the first large study. But behavior and academics have not improved, at least so far. (Goldstein, 5/4)
