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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

This Feb. 2, 2017 file photo, shows used needles littering the ground along train tracks in Philadelphia's largest open air drug market in the Kensington section of the city. (Michael Bryant/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP) **FILE**

Government survey finds progress in opioids fight

The number of people taking up heroin for the first time dropped by more than half in 2017 compared to the prior year, in a sign that prevention efforts may be taking hold, according to a government survey released Friday.

September 14, 2018
In this Aug. 17, 2018, file photo, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, gestures as he speaks during a campaign stop for Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Gillum in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

Bernie Sanders, allies push to expand Social Security benefits

Sen. Bernard Sanders and progressive allies banded together Thursday to try and expand Social Security insurance, saying too many retirees can't get by on what it pays now and they must stave off any cuts Republicans demand in the wake of their deficit-ballooning tax bill.

September 13, 2018
A screenshot for HealthCare.gov during 2018 open enrollment is shown here. (Associated Press/File) **FILE**

Uninsured rate held steady in 2017, 28.5M without coverage: Census

The share of the U.S. populace that didn't have health insurance remained static from 2016 to 2017, the Census Bureau said Wednesday in a report that found Obamacare's gains continued to stall and that 28.5 million Americans lacked health care coverage in President Trump's first year.

September 12, 2018
Use of electronic cigarettes has reached epidemic levels among minors and is an unacceptable trade-off for helping adults wean off regular cigarettes, the Food and Drug Administration says. (Associated Press/File)

FDA announces ‘historic’ crackdown on e-cigarettes sales to kids

The Food and Drug Administration threatened Wednesday to yank flavored e-cigarettes from shelves unless companies find ways to prevent sales to children, saying their use has reached epidemic levels among minors and is an unacceptable trade-off for helping adults wean off regular cigarettes.

September 12, 2018
"This will be something my colleagues will be happy to vote on because fentanyl is in every state now," said Sen. Rob Portman, Ohio Republican. "And it is the No. 1 killer, if you look at statistics," he said. Mr. Portman's STOP Act is aimed at curbing the opioid crisis. (Associated Press photographs)

Rob Portman aims to curb U.S. opioid crisis with STOP bill

Sen. Rob Portman learned from a sheriff in Ohio in 2016 that fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid that has cut a path of death and destruction through American communities, was being shipped through the mail, from shady overseas manufacturers right into the hands of drug dealers and addicts.

September 11, 2018
In this May 9, 2018, photo, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is shown during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Joe Manchin shoots anti-Obamacare lawsuit in new ad

Eight years ago, Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia promised to "repeal the bad parts of Obamacare" in a special-election ad that features him touting his folksy bona fides and literally shooting a "cap and trade" bill designed to combat climate change.

September 10, 2018
A passenger gets her temperature taken as she leaves an Emirates airplane at New York's Kennedy Airport amid reports of ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (Larry Coben via AP)

CDC: Airline reports should prod everyone to get flu shot

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that reports of airline passengers arriving in the U.S. with influenza should prod people to get vaccinated and avoid travel if they become sick this coming flu season.

September 7, 2018
The HealthCare.gov website is photographed in Washington on Dec. 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick) ** FILE **

Modest rate increases under Obamacare in 2019: Analysis

Obamacare premiums appear to be stabilizing after years of eye-popping rate increases, according to a new analysis that says customers should expect an average rise of just 3.3 percent in 2019 and some will see decreases.

September 7, 2018
This Friday, June 1, 2018, file photo, shows syringes of the opioid painkiller fentanyl in an inpatient pharmacy. A new report from the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy says 1,565 people died in the state from drug overdoses in 2017. That's an 11.5 percent increase from 2016. More than half of the overdose deaths in 2017 were caused by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

DEA: China banned 175 fentanyl ingredients

China has taken real steps to crack down on synthetic opioid exports to the U.S., administration officials told Congress on Thursday, though they said more could be done to secure the mail system and crack down on web traffickers who partner with Mexican cartels.

September 6, 2018
Robert Henneke, General Counsel, Director, Center for the American Future talks to the media the Affordable Care Act at Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act is scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. hearing before U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor. (Max Faulkner/Star-Telegram via AP)

Judge skeptical Obamacare can stand without mandate tax

A federal judge in Texas was skeptical Wednesday about whether Obamacare should stand without an actual penalty for shirking insurance under its "individual mandate," according to reports from the courtroom.

September 5, 2018
In this photo taken on Sunday, May 13, 2018, health care workers wear virus protective gear at a treatment center in Bikoro Democratic Republic of Congo. Congo's latest Ebola outbreak has spread to a city of more than 1 million people, a worrying shift as the deadly virus risks traveling more easily in densely populated areas. Two suspected cases of hemorrhagic fever were reported in the Wangata health zones that include Mbandaka, the capital of northwestern Equateur province. The city is about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Bikoro, the rural area where the outbreak was announced last week, said Congo's Health Minister Oly Ilunga. (AP Photo/John Bompengo)

WHO: DRC Ebola outbreak is at ‘key juncture’

Disease-trackers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are doing a better job tracking people at risk of Ebola infection, vaccinating those contacts and giving people therapeutic drugs if they catch the virus, though the outbreak remains at a "key juncture" and "must be interpreted with caution," the World Health Organization said Friday.

August 31, 2018
Cindy McCain, wife of, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, talks with Vice President Mike Pence, left, after he speaks at a ceremony for John McCain as he lies in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)

Mike Pence: John McCain fought for what he believed in

Vice President Mike Pence told mourners at a ceremony for Sen. John McCain that President Trump, who frequently sparred with the Arizonan, genuinely respects the late senator's service to the country.

August 31, 2018