‘Don’t use us as pawns’: Federal workers bear brunt of government shutdown

by Isaiah Steinberg | Oct 10, 2025 | Featured, Politics

WASHINGTON — Nine days into the first government shutdown since 2019, about 750,000 federal employees have been furloughed, and the Trump administration announced Friday that it has begun laying off workers. Medill News Service spoke with four federal employees at...

An update on bird flu in the U.S.

by Caroline Killilea | Oct 10, 2024 | Featured, Health & Science

WASHINGTON – A third case of bird flu was confirmed in California on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, following two other cases confirmed in the state last week. Two additional presumed cases are awaiting verification.  Wild birds, which...

Tribal leaders push senators to fight fentanyl

by Kunjal Bastola and Shravya Pant | Nov 9, 2023 | Featured, Health & Science

WASHINGTON – Tribal leaders called on lawmakers to enhance tribal law enforcement authority and implement further behavioral health interventions to address the fentanyl crisis at a Senate oversight hearing on Wednesday.  The hearing held by the Senate Indian Affairs...

Tribal leaders, fearing ‘losing a generation’ to the fentanyl crisis, press for federal help

by Kristen Axtman | Nov 9, 2023 | Featured, Health & Science

WASHINGTON — Tribal leaders on Wednesday urged the federal government for more money and law enforcement support to help them tackle the spread of fentanyl – a synthetic opioid that is up to 100 times as potent as morphine –  in Native communities. At a Senate Indian...

House committee discusses recommended regulation on biosecurity and biosafety

by Luis Castaneda | Oct 19, 2023 | Featured, Health & Science

WASHINGTON – Dr. Gerald W. Parker, chair of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB), told House lawmakers on Wednesday that research laboratories worldwide handling dangerous pathogens continue to pose a credible threat in producing future...