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Rural midwives fill gap as hospitals cut childbirth services
For the past year or so, Toni Hill, a midwife in the lowlands of northern Mississippi, has received an influx of calls from women across the state who live in areas with no hospitals and only a smattering of health care providers. As COVID-19 rates increased, some pregnant women did not feel safe receiving care […]
Republican men are vaccine-hesitant, but there’s little focus on them
In December, Arizona Republican state Rep. Mark Finchem suffered from flu-like symptoms —headache, fatigue, body aches and chills. But it wasn’t the flu; he tested positive for COVID-19. Nearly three months later, his mother, who had recently contracted the coronavirus, died after battling throat cancer for over 40 years. Those circumstances weren’t enough to persuade […]
Families say athletic bans would exact a toll on rural transgender youth
Katy Binstead’s 13-year-old transgender daughter, Emily Wilson, enjoyed playing basketball recreationally this past summer. When school reopened, she decided to try out for the girls basketball team at her middle school on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The school denied Emily the chance, her mother recalled, telling her to try out for the boys team instead, […]