APM Reports

Paris Hilton leads a march to the Provo Canyon School, a residential treatment center in Utah she attended as a teen, in October 2020.Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune. A year ago Utah legislators enacted more regulations of Utah’s massive teen treatment industry, the first increase in oversight for more than a decade.

Sequel Youth & Family Services, once one of the nation’s largest operators of treatment centers for children with behavioral problems, plans to close three more facilities, including its flagship academy, continuing the company’s contraction in the past two years amid wide-spread reports of abuse.

Sequel Youth & Family Services, once one of the nation’s largest operators of treatment centers for children with behavioral problems, plans to close three more facilities, including its flagship academy, continuing the company’s contraction in the past two years amid wide-spread reports of abuse.

In some ways, they couldn’t be more different. Gerica Cammack is a Black woman from Alabama; Floyd Kimball is a white man from rural Idaho. Yet they’re facing a similar ordeal. They’re both single parents, forced by difficult circumstances to live in government subsidized housing surrounded by pollution that is, or could be, poisoning their children. Like tens of thousands of people across the country, they live near, or on, some of the most toxic places in the nation. And the government has failed to protect them.

In some ways, they couldn’t be more different. Gerica Cammack is a Black woman from Alabama; Floyd Kimball is a white man from rural Idaho. Yet they’re facing a similar ordeal. They’re both single parents, forced by difficult circumstances to live in government subsidized housing surrounded by pollution that is, or could be, poisoning their children. Like tens of thousands of people across the country, they live near, or on, some of the most toxic places in the nation. And the government has failed to protect them.

Clarksdale, Mississippi, is known for the blues. The Delta city of 15,000 lies at the intersection of state highways 61 and 49, and where they meet is a monument called the blues "Crossroads," where legend has it that guitarist Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. Muddy Waters grew up in the area. And the city has numerous juke joints, the Delta Blues Museum and two celebrations of music — the Sunflower River Gospel and Blues Festival and the Juke Joint Festival — held every year. Well, except this year.

An APM Reports analysis found that labs in at least 10 states have been forced to deal with challenges that include budget reductions, staffing cuts, high turnover, lab closures and funding delays for equipment. APM Reports combed through available budget documents, annual reports, inspector general reports and federal grants to get a handle on how public health laboratories are funded. The picture isn't complete because of the different levels of detail that states provide about lab budgets.But the available information shows that there have been worries about lab capacity in many states. They include:

An APM Reports analysis found that labs in at least 10 states have been forced to deal with challenges that include budget reductions, staffing cuts, high turnover, lab closures and funding delays for equipment. APM Reports combed through available budget documents, annual reports, inspector general reports and federal grants to get a handle on how public health laboratories are funded. The picture isn't complete because of the different levels of detail that states provide about lab budgets.

When a doctor phoned Michael Webber on Monday with the results of his antibody test for the coronavirus, her first word was filled with irony: "Congratulations." He had tested positive, meaning that the 49-year-old who divides his time between Texas and France had been infected with the virus and recovered.

When a doctor phoned Michael Webber on Monday with the results of his antibody test for the coronavirus, her first word was filled with irony: "Congratulations." He had tested positive, meaning that the 49-year-old who divides his time between Texas and France had been infected with the virus and recovered.

The worst-case scenario for COVID-19 is that hospitals become overwhelmed with patients. If too many people become seriously ill too fast, there won't be enough ICU beds and ventilators for everyone who needs them, public health officials nationwide are warning, which could cause many more deaths from the virus.