A federal judge in Pittsburgh has blocked the DOJ from accessing the identifiable health records of trans patients that sought gender-affirming care at UPMC. In an order quashing the DOJ subpoena, Judge Cathy Bissoon writes the demand for such private info carries “more than a whiff of ill-intent.”

One interesting aspect of the TikTok deal is: There will now be an American version of TikTok overseen by Larry Ellison's Oracle, PE firm Silver Lake and UAE-backed MGX, and then a second version of TikTok controlled by ByteDance for the rest of the world.

The FDA has granted approval to a new gene therapy for a rare immune disorder, the maker of which is notably not a drug company, but an Italian charity. www.statnews.com/2025/12/10/n...

Status update on House Republicans and a health care plan, after this morning’s conference meeting: “The consensus is we need to come up with something,” Rep. Ralph Norman says.

Thrilled to share that I have been selected for the AHCJ International Health Study Fellowship! I will be investigating Japan’s approach to dementia care and exploring what policies Pennsylvania can adopt as its population rapidly ages. healthjournalism.org/blog/2025/12...

“The comments Friday were made to a fellow Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices member and were overheard by others… One liaison member who heard the comments said he understood them to refer to rubber-stamping someone else’s agenda rather than engaging in genuine scientific debate.”

If anyone cares at all, EV battery recycling is now hitting 99% recovery for important metals Please remind me again what the recycle rate for fossil fuels is interestingengineering.com/energy/recyc...

Breaking news: A vaccine advisory panel has voted to end the long-standing recommendation that newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine — the most significant change to the childhood immunization schedule under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Breaking: After contentious debates and three failed attempts at a vote, a federal vaccine committee decided on Friday to end the decades-long recommendation that all newborns be immunized at birth against hepatitis B. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/h...

The FDA never released a comprehensive list of the drugs it allowed into the U.S. even though they were made by banned factories. So we made that list for you 👇

“The model suggested that if the start of hepatitis B vaccination was delayed until 12 years of age, more than 2,700 preventable hepatitis B infections would occur in the first year after the policy went into effect” www.statnews.com/2025/12/02/c...

UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pgh filed a response to a federal subpoena seeking the medical records of the health system’s young transgender patients. In court records, UPMC testified that it has “to date… not disclosed to the government any information or other materials” relevant to the case.

Here's the latest on the video that western PA's Chris Deluzio and other Congressional Dems put up last week urging servicepeople not to follow unlawful orders: The FBI is now seeking interviews, a move Dems say is an attempt to harass and intimidate them. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...

“Two trials testing the Novo Nordisk weight loss drug semaglutide in Alzheimer’s disease failed, the company said Monday, showing the medicine did not slow the progression… Studying semaglutide — the key ingredient in the blockbusters Ozempic & Wegovy — in Alzheimer’s was always seen as a long shot”

The infodemic just got a booster shot. The CDC, one of the world’s most powerful health agencies, is now promulgating disinformation.

The West Virginia University Health System is expanding its reach into western Pennsylvania. Morgantown-based WVU Medicine announced Wednesday that it is acquiring Independence Health System, the Greater Pittsburgh region’s third largest medical provider.

On the ByHeart formula recall: “I have never seen a company so aggressively fight to deny the evidence against them," @cspinet.org's Sarah Sorscher said. Why food safety experts are alarmed by the company's response to the infant botulism outbreak: www.statnews.com/2025/11/14/b...

Research on brain disorders may slow as young neuroscientists struggle to find jobs and research grants. n.pr/4pgmAna

Sharon Camp, a public policy expert and advocate for women’s reproductive health who was known as the mother of Plan B, the emergency contraceptive pill, and who founded what was surely one of the world’s smallest pharmaceutical companies to bring it to market, died on Oct. 25 in Maryland.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania is being treated Thursday at a Pittsburgh hospital after falling earlier in the day outside his home in Braddock, according to a spokesman for his office.

“DHS is working quickly to restart issuing full SNAP benefits,” read an announcement on the state Department of Human Services website. “The process for this may take a few days for all remaining households to receive their payments.” Benefits should be paid by the end of the week, according to DHS

The warning is specific to people who used Terminals A and B between 8:50 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 9, according to a release from the city’s Department of Public Health. Travelers are asked to verify their immunization records and be aware of possible symptoms.

The Third Circuit ruled in favor of @pghguild.com and said the Post-Gazette bargained in bad faith by offering contracts that took away key reasons for being in the union. The union is declaring victory after 3 years on strike, as the court ordered the paper to roll back changes it made in 2020.

The FDA is reversing a 2003 decision that put a stringent warning on hormone therapy products for menopausal women, saying that the treatments offer heart, brain, and bone health benefits. www.statnews.com/2025/11/10/f...

BREAKING: The Supreme Court rejects a call to overturn its decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched an unprecedented review of routine shots given to kids, alarming public health experts. n.pr/47FYT0b

Scoop: The University of Pittsburgh will maintain its current federal funding for indirect research costs after cuts announced earlier this year threatened to push one of the region’s major research institutions off a financial cliff. www.wesa.fm/health-scien...

A case that could redefine abortion access in Pennsylvania was argued before the state’s Commonwealth Court Wednesday. Abortion clinics are challenging the state’s restrictions on Medicaid coverage for abortion, and argue such limits are unconstitutional and discriminatory.

BREAKING: The government shutdown entered its 36th day, breaking a record set during President Trump’s first term as impact spreads nationwide.

A federal government shutdown has now slumped into its third week — and unless something changes, Pittsburgh-area Democrats warn, roughly hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians are days away from learning their health insurance premiums will jump by 75%.

The Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh’s annual two-day clinic returns to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center this weekend. The event offers free dental, vision and hearing services on Oct. 24 and 25 on a first-come, first-served basis.

The spike in costs is being driven, in part, by the fact that Congress hasn’t extended enhanced tax credits that currently help people afford their monthly premiums, Pennsylvania leaders and insurance companies said.

Pennsylvania cut funding for HIV service orgs by 25% this month + lowered income qualifications for help covering expensive HIV meds. @wesa.fm: a story of one HIV survivor who counts himself lucky to have made it to 68. Now he faces being cut off from his state support. www.wesa.fm/health-scien...

#Breaking: Medicare payments to doctors paused as government shutdown drags on www.statnews.com/2025/10/15/c...

More than 1,000 staff members at the CDC were laid off Friday, affecting units that respond to infectious-disease outbreaks, analyze science and health data to develop policy, and monitor the safety of employees.

Per CDC source: At internal leadership meeting this afternoon, it was shared that 1,257 people were RIF'd at CDC. Number may not be final. Apparently, chief of staff was unaware that RIFs were going to occur so not clear who is making decisions. (Short 🧵)

In July, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency put a two-year pause on implementing hazardous air pollution standards for plants that make coke, a key component in steelmaking. But environmental groups sued, and the EPA decided on October 3 that the new rules should go into effect, after all.

As Pennsylvania’s budget impasse nears 100 days, rape crisis centers are at a breaking point. Several organizations across the state are turning to layoffs, program downsizing and some may close amid the stoppage in government aid, advocates told WESA.

The Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience, or GUIDE, Model is designed to benefit people with traditional Medicare health insurance who want to age in place at home while living with dementia. All services offered through the program are fully covered by Medicare.

93.7% of Pennsylvania kindergarteners got both recommended doses of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine before the 2024-2025 school year. That’s lower than the recommended 95% vaccination rate for herd immunity, the threshold to provide community resistance to infectious diseases.

More court action this week pertaining to gender-affirming care for Pittsburgh's transgender youth. Federal court filings seek to quash a DOJ subpoena that orders UPMC to hand over the health records of teenage trans patients:

A group of transgender patients and their families have filed a discrimination complaint with the state Human Relations Commission against UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, asserting that UPMC’s refusal to provide gender-affirming care for trans patients under 19 is sex-based discrimination.

Pennsylvania officials have confirmed the health department is part of a public health collaboration with other state health agencies in the Northeast. Though agencies have shared best practices in the past, this more formal coordination comes amid sweeping changes at the federal level under RFK Jr.

Dr. @ashishkjha.bsky.social, who led Biden’s coronavirus response, on what the Trump administration’s MAHA report leaves out. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/12/o...

As Trump administration health officials seek to reshape vaccine policy — which could impact insurance coverage of certain immunizations for millions of Americans — Pennsylvania lawmakers have proposed new requirements aimed at “protecting access” to those vaccines.

The health department began deploying mobile air units Thursday provided by Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection and Carnegie Mellon University. The units will travel around Clairton to test for dozens of hazardous air pollutants.

NEW: In June, ProPublica reported that the FDA has given more than 20 foreign factories a special pass to send drugs to the U.S. even though they were made at plants the agency had banned. Today, we’re publishing a list of those exempted drugs.

Tentative 2026 health insurance rates for individual plans show a 19% average increase and small business group plans show a 13% jump, according to Pennsylvania regulators.

About 1,000 nurses at Pittsburgh's Magee-Womens Hospital are set to decide whether they’d like to be represented by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania later this month. The organizing effort is the latest in a growing labor movement among health care professionals in Pennsylvania.

Health groups are mobilizing behind the scenes to preserve access for vaccines as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. works to upend the nation’s decades-old vaccine system, according to public health experts.