Jenny Hamel

1 week ago | ideastream.org | Jenny Hamel

Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's federal vaccine board, saying it was necessary to deal with a panel that had become a "rubber stamp" for vaccines. He asserts that the move will "re-establish public confidence in vaccine science."But the dismissed members disagree.

2 weeks ago | ideastream.org | Jenny Hamel

Ohio public schools are waiting to see how the state will fund K-12 schools over the next two years, as the legislature in Columbus mulls over different versions of the next biennial budget, which needs to be finalized, passed and signed by the end of June. The Senate version of the fiscal budget would allocate $634 million to public schools, increasing the amount of money going to public schools compared to the House's proposal by $100 million.

1 month ago | ideastream.org | Aya Cathey |Jenny Hamel

In Northeast Ohio, issues like lead exposure, aging infrastructure and air pollution are more than just nuisances — they're public health concerns, hitting some communities harder than others. And here's the connection that doctors say people miss: these environmental risks are tied to heart disease, the leading cause of death in Ohio. From water pollution to heavy metals, the very factors harming our environment are also damaging our cardiovascular health.

1 month ago | ideastream.org | Jenny Hamel |Aya Cathey

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a pause was put on nearly all federal student loan payments in order to offer relief for borrowers. Payments resumed in fall of 2023, though borrowers didn't face consequences from missed payments until the following fall. But this month, the Trump administration resumed collection efforts on defaulted student loans -- which occurs after 270 days or more of nonpayment. It marks the end of the pandemic-relief for student borrowers.

2 months ago | ideastream.org | Jenny Hamel

Every year, hundreds of millions of tons of food goes into landfills. This includes food that never makes it to the dining table from the kitchen, or the restaurant or the grocery storeroom. Instead, those food scraps, that leftover pasta and sauce, those spoiled strawberries sit in landfills emitting methane as the food breaks down over time. Methane is a greenhouse gas nearly 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.