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4 days ago | 
wkms.org | Catherine Sweeney
Tennessee is scheduled to resume executions this month, and some victims’ rights advocates are arguing there are better ways to spend state money than administering capital punishment. Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is the latest group to ask Gov. Bill Lee for a reprieve. Several attorneys for death row inmates have done the same. And he would need to make a decision soon.
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6 days ago | 
wpln.org | Catherine Sweeney
Tennessee is scheduled to resume executions this month, and some victims’ rights advocates are arguing there are better ways to spend state money than administering capital punishment. Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is the latest group to ask Gov. Bill Lee for a reprieve. Several attorneys for death row inmates have done the same. And he would need to make a decision soon.
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1 week ago | 
wpln.org | Catherine Sweeney
Cutbacks at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have started. “In response to reductions in federal funding, VUMC is strategically reducing operating costs,” reads a statement. “Hiring for most research and administrative positions has been paused and some positions have been eliminated.”This isn’t coming as a surprise, as warnings started in late March.
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1 week ago | 
custombuilderonline.com | Catherine Sweeney
When designing in small spaces, every inch counts. That was the thought process for New Castle Lawn & Landscape when beginning a small lot project in Westlawn, Pa. Faced with a compact footprint and homeowners with specific goals for the space, the Birdsboro, Pa.-based firm, which offers both maintenance and design-build services, took the small space and transformed it into an outdoor oasis.
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1 week ago | 
wpln.org | Catherine Sweeney
Tennessee has suddenly lost hundreds of millions of dollars as the federal government cancels promised funding, and recent reactions from two prominent elected officials differ sharply. It’s unclear how much money the state is losing, but the number is in the hundreds of millions — if not billions. The Department of Health lost $180 million in infectious disease grants.
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2 weeks ago | 
wpln.org | Catherine Sweeney
Tennessee’s Title X funding has been on a rollercoaster for years, and the drama is continuing into President Donald Trump’s second term. That money helps health clinics offer reproductive care to low-income patients. That includes STI screenings, contraception and counseling on family planning. Over the past decade, it has been used as a weapon in the political battle over abortion. The Trump administration recently canceled all Title X grants going to Planned Parenthood.
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2 weeks ago | 
wpln.org | Catherine Sweeney
Metro Nashville and a handful of other local governments are suing the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. The agency cut $11 billion in local public health funding — without warning — earlier this year. The lawsuit argues that the cuts are illegal, and it asks the court to reinstate the funding. The immediate cancellation caused sudden layoffs and program cuts across the country.
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3 weeks ago | 
wpln.org | Catherine Sweeney
Until now, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy hasn’t been particularly clear about his position on harm reduction services for opioid addiction, like medication-assisted treatment and fentanyl test strips. He speaks publicly about his own journey out of heroin and alcohol addiction using a 12-step program. Critics — including some in the recovery community — argue that abstinence-based approaches like 12 step programs are the only way to go.
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3 weeks ago | 
wkms.org | Catherine Sweeney
Rural Tennesseans already have limited access to labor and delivery services, and a recent study shows the problem could get worse. Fewer than half of Tennessee’s rural hospitals — 24 facilities — offer obstetrics care. Of those, five are considering dropping the service. That’s according to a new report from the Center for Health Care Quality and Payment Reform, a national health policy think tank. Labor and delivery is one of the first services to get cut at struggling rural hospitals.
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3 weeks ago | 
wpln.org | Catherine Sweeney
Rural Tennesseans already have limited access to labor and delivery services, and a recent study shows the problem could get worse. Fewer than half of Tennessee’s rural hospitals — 24 facilities — offer obstetrics care. Of those, five are considering dropping the service. That’s according to a new report from the Center for Health Care Quality and Payment Reform, a national health policy think tank. Labor and delivery is one of the first services to get cut at struggling rural hospitals.
