A study on Philadelphia’s Lead Court investigates whether this legal-public health partnership can speed the process of removing and controlling lead-paint hazards in the city’s older housing stock.
The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee hears about regulatory shortcomings related to the Texas fertilizer plant explosion; 70 clothing retailers agree to a legally binding plan for safety inspections at Bangladesh factories supplying their clothing; and Hyatt and the UNITE HERE union reach a tentative agreement.
The Supreme Court’s decisions on marriage equality and the Voting Rights Act got a lot of media attention last week, but several of the Court’s other decisions also have implications for public health — and they came down on the side of employers, real-estate developers, and drug manufacturers.
Last week, the Senate confirmed Howard Shelanski to lead the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), part of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the source of many lengthy delays of health and safety regulations. On Sunday, the New York Times published a scathing editorial about the backlog of draft rules at OIRA.
The Supreme Court’s “let the states decide” approach to marriage equality is similar to its stance on the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. How many of the states that have marriage equality are also expanding Medicaid?
A federal judge rebukes a coal company that sued a miner for filing a whistleblower discrimination complaint; EPA and OSHA have yet to announce formal enforcement activities for the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion; and LA bus drivers say pesticides used on buses are making them sick.
Yesterday, US Secretary of State John Kerry marked the 10th anniversary of the creation of PEPFAR, the US President’s Plan for Emergency AIDS Relief.
A few recent pieces worth a look
As workers converged on Walmart’s annual shareholder meeting in a quest for higher pay and better working conditions, an in-depth article on Costco highlighted some stark differences between the two big-box stores.
A fire in a Chinese poultry plant with narrow halls and locked exits killed 120 workers; a NIOSH study finds high rates of carpal tunnel syndrome among poultry workers and fuels concerns that USDA’s proposed rule allowing line-speed increases will increase health risks to workers; and Congress takes steps toward addressing military sexual assault.