Job: Open-rank position in Environmental Health and Implementation Science in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/196...

Spoke with someone who works with a public hospital system. His assessment of the effects of the GOP spending bill: “I think this is going to be a very apparent catastrophe, very quickly.”

🚨Reminder! 🚨Republicans are behind closed doors right now trying to figure out how to cut 880 billion from medicaid. Medicaid covers 41% of births in the US millions of children, and millions of people with disabilities. Keep up the pressure! Call your electeds!

Committee meeting starts now on H. 3927, the anti-DEI bill. Livestream here: www.scstatehouse.gov/video/stream...

South Carolina House Constitutional Laws Subcommittee is holding a hearing this morning on a total abortion ban (House bill 3457). Details are here: my.lwv.org/south-caroli... Follow @psabortionfund.bsky.social for updates ⬇️

The ASA, American Federation of Teachers @AFT, and AFT-Maryland, facilitated by @DemocracyForward, have filed a complaint today in federal court in Maryland challenging the “Dear Colleague Letter” published by the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

House Republicans just voted to gut Medicaid, which covers 1 in 5 Americans overall, including 41% of births and 63% of nursing home care. They also just voted to gut SNAP, on which 41 million food insecure Americans rely. This won’t just harm people. This will kill people. They own this.

NIH indirects case update: Hearing ongoing now, and I'll try to live tweet some notable exchanges. Prior to more detailed arguments, Judge Kelley starts off with a few point questions to both sides: (I'm paraphrasing here)

NIH indirects case update: - 2 notable amicus petitions in support of plaintiffs: one from MassBio, a consortium of pharma companies, and one from the Public Rights Project and 45 different cities. - Hearing tomorrow (2/21) at 10a EST re a prelim injunction. Notes from amici 👇

I was having a productive day before I decided to come on here and see the latest 😣

For real folks, better to be careful and freeze your credit now, it’s free, doesn’t affect your score, and you can do it online: www.businessinsider.com/personal-fin...

This preoccupies me to no end.

At the direction of RFK Jr., America’s newly confirmed secretary of Health and Human Services, the CDC has suddenly fired nearly 1,300 employees in a single day. 10% of America’s vital team of health experts — considered global leaders in disease control — have been axed. Although HHS…

In case you missed it overnight Judge expanded pause on NIH's funding cuts to all states, after AAMC lawsuit "in any form with respect to institutions nationwide until further order is issued by this Court" www.aamc.org/news/press-r...

BREAKING The Trump administration is maintaining a funding freeze at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in defiance of two federal court orders. The ongoing freeze was confirmed by an NIH official and internal correspondence reviewed by Popular Information.

The 22 state AGs note that in 2017, Trump proposed a similar across-the-board rate cut, but Congress rejected it. In 2018 & every year since, Congress has enacted an appropriations rider forbidding NIH from pursuing an across-the-board rate cut.

22 states have filed suit, arguing that NIH’s abrupt decision to set a 15% cap on payments on overheard costs linked to research would cause major harm to university and medical center budgets, jeopardizing basic operations and scientific research. www.statnews.com/2025/02/10/n...

I was vaguely prepared for the Friday night dump of horrible policy announcements but I did not have a 15% IDC cap on current and future NIH grants on my bingo card.

Very important thread on what the new 15% cap on IDC for federal grants means for research universities and beyond.

⚠️ Effective Monday 2/10/25, NIH indirect rate capped at 15%. Applies to existing & future grants. —> Deep budget cuts & program closures coming to a university near you. Is this the break the glass moment for university administrators who have been silent so far about the attack on science?

A must read.

A panel on the Treasury this Thursday, with the incredible @epopppp.bsky.social and @abenewman.bsky.social. This is not just for academics. Everyone needs to understand what's happening right now. Spread the word!

We can confirm that the communication ban at CDC (and presumably all of HHS) has been extended for at least another week with no specified end date. No external communication with local, state, or territorial health departments, healthcare systems, or the public. In the setting of ongoing outbreaks.

The logic of the coup that is going on now. And how to resist it. snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-...

Any other sociologists catch that the "urgent message" sent from the current ASA president yesterday about federal data sources going offline was about a day late?

Excellent thread ⬇️

Another Dr. Jen Gunter banger: "This may take some time, but then again given the shit show, who knows? Team Project 2025 have stated they have contraception in their crosshairs, and one lesson from these past two weeks that felt like two years is that we should take them at their word." #medsky

Thread ⬇️

The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey has monitored the wellbeing of America’s high school students since 1991. Since 2015, it’s been a vital source of data on LGBQ youth. In 2023, it provided the first ever nationally representative sample of transgender teens. As of this morning, it’s gone.

I am going to put together a thread covering RFK Jr's confirmation hearing for the HHS secretary job. Follow along for clips and commentary.

Yall… www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

NEW: 30 major anti-abortion leaders on Wednesday wrote to the DOJ formally asking them to enforce the Comstock Act banning the mailing of abortion pills This appears to be the first step towards a threat legal scholars have been warning about: a de facto federal abortion ban aul.org/wp-content/u...

If you would like to see how much economic activity and grants and how many people are employed through NIH in your state, just use this handy website. And then contact your Congressional Rep and tell them to prioritize NIH. www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-...

hi! @teenvogue.bsky.social has been a reliable outlet for strong political journalism since at min 2016 — which was *9* years ago! you don't need to be surprised each time you're impressed by our work! (maybe other outlets would respect us more if you didn't!) signed, 1/2 of Teen Vogue Politics

The price of eggs in the US is spiking, mostly due to #H5N1 bird flu. Solving the problem requires urgent, important communications from the CDC & FDA* and rapid development of research by the NIH** * Currently paused by Executive Order ** Grant reviews now all canceled www.kcur.org/news/2025-01...

Devastating for scientists and their research, and everyone who benefits from that research. I’m not sure if everyone outside academia is aware that a delay or “pause” in grant funding often means the researchers themselves are lost from the field, along with their expertise.

New: Trump officials have paused all external communications at health agencies like CDC, FDA, NIH. No health alerts and the famed MMWRs; no updates to key websites or social media posts. And no indication how long the pause will last. With @rachelroubein.bsky.social + Lena Sun.

I suspect this is coming for South Carolina as well, but the one (temporary) saving grace may be that WGST (and AFAM) became departments 2 years ago (after being programs for ~50 years). www.thegazette.com/higher-educa...

If you would like to read more about aging concerns among sexual and gender minorities, I highly recommend sociologist Nik Lampe's work.

I am watching "Baby Boom" with Diane Keaton (1987) while writing letters of recommendation for some of my students and while this is not a novel take, I am impressed with how wildly sexist this movie is. It's giving classic 1980s anti-feminist backlash.

If you missed it, I explained at Law Dork what's happening with the possible banning of TikTok on Jan. 19 now that the Supreme Court took up the case and scheduled oral arguments for Jan. 10.

My primary department at the University of South Carolina - Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, in the Arnold School of Public Health - is hiring for a new Chair. Please share this opportunity with your networks! #higheredjobs #publichealth uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/180...

See also diagnostic mammograms ordered by my doctor 👀

Thread on the today's SCOTUS hearing on Skrmetti ⬇️

Nice summary by @walkerbragman.bsky.social of the MANY reasons Jay Bhattacharya is a horrendous pick as NIH head... His record is such that I had forgotten about a few of the items described here, as he has quickly amassed a record that's like a roll of toilet paper... 🛟medsky health policy 🧭😷idsky

UMass/Amherst (left) and Wesleyan University are both warning their international students to be on American soil before noon on Jan 20 -- Inauguration Day.

The GOP Playbook: 1. Convince people government won't help them. 2. Block any government programs that might help people. 3. Tell people--see, we told you government wouldn't help you! 4. Sell people snake oil to help them instead. apnews.com/article/79cd...

I am teaching a #LGBTQ health course for what may be the last time and I am ending the semester by centering resistance and queer joy with readings by Robinson & Schmitz and Wright & Falek. Any suggestions (e.g., activities, media) for the lecture content that could enhance this focus?