Supreme Court building
Coronavirus, Health Policy, Politics, Vaccines

Justices Block Broad Worker Vaccine Requirement, Allow Health Worker Mandate to Proceed

The OSHA rules are opposed by many business groups, led by the small business advocacy organization the National Federation of Independent Business. It argued that allowing the rules to take effect would leave businesses “irreparably harmed,” both by the costs of compliance and the possibility that workers would quit rather than accept the vaccine.

Picture of a U.S. penny next to milligrams of fentanyl, which is a fatal dose for most drug users. DEA
Addiction, Opioids

How the pandemic helped spread fentanyl across the US and drive opioid overdose deaths to a grim new high

The soaring death toll has been fueled by a much more dangerous black market opioid supply. Illicitly synthesized fentanyl – a potent and inexpensive opioid that has driven the rise in overdoses since it emerged in 2014 – is increasingly replacing heroin. Fentanyl and fentanyl analogs were responsible for almost two-thirds of the overdose deaths recorded in the 12 months period ending in April 2021.