Author: Reporter

Questions about sexual orientation, gender identity, and changes to queries about race and ethnicity are on track to be asked in the most comprehensive survey of American life by 2027, U.S. Census Bureau officials said in November. The new or revised questions on the American Community Survey will show up on questionnaires and be asked by survey takers in as early as three years, with the data from those questions available the following year, officials told an advisory committee. The American Community Survey is the most comprehensive survey of American life, covering commuting times, internet access, family life, income,...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and environmentalist, for years gained a loyal and fierce following with his biting condemnations of how the nation’s public health agencies do business. And that has put him on a direct collision course with some of the 80,000 scientists, researchers, doctors, and other officials who work for the Department of Health and Human Services, especially with President-elect Donald Trump tapping him to head the agency. If confirmed, Kennedy will control the world’s largest public health agency, and its $1.7 trillion budget. The agency’s reach is massive. It provides health insurance for nearly...

Suicides in the U.S. military increased in 2023, continuing a long-term trend that the Pentagon has struggled to abate, senior defense officials said. The increase is a bit of a setback after the deaths dipped slightly the previous year. Officials said both the number of suicides and the rate per 100,000 active-duty service members went up, but that the rise was not statistically significant. The number also went up among members of the Reserves, while it decreased a bit for the National Guard. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has declared the issue a priority, and top leaders in the Defense...

The decline in U.S. drug overdose deaths appears to have continued this year, giving experts hope the nation is seeing sustained improvement in the persistent epidemic. There were about 97,000 overdose deaths in the 12-month period that ended June 30, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released in November. That is down 14% from the estimated 113,000 for the previous 12-month period. “This is a pretty stunning and rapid reversal of drug overdose mortality numbers,” said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University researcher who studies overdose trends. Overdose death rates began steadily climbing in the 1990s...