Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Tara Strome @tlantz.bsky.social · 15h

White rice covered with ranch dressing and romaine lettuce crunchy bits.

Tara Strome @tlantz.bsky.social · 20h

Super excited for this discussion on the structural determinants of health, moderated by Paula Braveman. A powerhouse panel - @tyson-brown.bsky.social @povertyscholar.bsky.social and Jonathan Heller

Milbank Memorial Fund & The Milbank Quarterly @milbankfund.bsky.social · 6d

Join us for a Milbank Quarterly webinar on defining the structural determinants of health on Thursday, October 23 from 12-1pm ET

us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Milbank Quarterly Webinar: Understanding the Structural Determinants of Health. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the w...

Structural determinants of health are hierarchical patterns of advantage among socially constructed groups that affect health. Unlike social determinants of health, the structural determinants of heal...

us02web.zoom.us

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Tara Strome @tlantz.bsky.social · 27d

Good news for puffin fans. Here are a few on Skellig Michael from 2019. They are goofy and beautiful little birds.

Three black and white puffins with bright orange beaks - two touching beaks and one standing behind

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Tara Strome @tlantz.bsky.social · 27d

Spending a lot of time recently finding shapes in the clouds with my 3-year old.

Child pointing up to white fluffy clouds in a blue sky with trees in view

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Tara Strome @tlantz.bsky.social · 27d

And the CDC shooting from just a few weeks ago…

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Reposted by Tara Strome

David Noll @david.noll.org · Aug 14

thanks to the New Yorker

A Guy Richards Smit cartoon showing federal agents descending on D.C. A couple looks on. The caption has been changed to, "If only we had been nicer to Robert Bork."

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · Aug 7

“Medium income” 🤡

@megancnbc.bsky.social

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Nicole Chung @nicolechung.bsky.social · Aug 5

segregationists basically acknowledging that structural racism exists while also claiming there is NO racism except antisemitism

Tyler Kingkade @tktk.bsky.social · Aug 4

Here's the letter that NSF sent UCLA last week about cutting its research funding

NSF says UCLA is doing affirmative action by asking applicants' their zip codes, family income and what HS they went to, and that they can discuss race in personal statements

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · Jul 17

Turns out that NPR and PBS' pandering to the right still didn't save their funding. Maybe there's a lesson here for media that think that tilting to the right will spare them from accusations of "liberal bias."

Brian Stelter @brianstelter.bsky.social · Jul 17

The rescission bill has passed the Senate. Once it passes the House, as expected, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's budget will be zeroed out for the first time since 1967, back when TV stations still broadcast in black and white.

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · Jul 16

After mismanaging the MTA for 10+ years as Governor, Andrew Cuomo would now like to mismanage it as Mayor.

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Tara Strome @tlantz.bsky.social · Jul 9

We use the Frankies Spuntino meatball recipe that has raisins. I don’t like them in most things but they are delicious

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James Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · Jul 1

What voters think nativism will mean: stop giving benefits to others, so you can focus resources on citizens

What it actually means in practice: stop giving citizens benefits, so you can focus resources on punishing others

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Aut. Stuart Miller 📖✍️🤓 @authorstuartmiller.bsky.social · Jun 29

Instagram channel @Art_DailyDose

Jo Hobbs, is a UK needle-felting artist known for crafting realistic miniature animal figures from wool

Artist: @jurlyjocreation

#art #needlefelting #dog #sculpture #animals #UnitedKingdom #UK #artist

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Jun 24

War on universities, war on science, war on knowledge

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Tara Strome @tlantz.bsky.social · Jun 24

We’re collecting stories from population health researchers about the impact of the Trump administration’s funding cuts and other actions on their work and the potential impact to health. Read these stories and share your own www.milbank.org/stories-from...

Stories from the Field: The Impact of Federal Funding Cuts on Population Health Researchers | Milbank Memorial Fund

In collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science, The Milbank Quarterly invited population health researchers to

www.milbank.org

Tara Strome @tlantz.bsky.social · Jun 10

Sounds miserable. Hope you get some relief soon!

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Milbank Memorial Fund & The Milbank Quarterly @milbankfund.bsky.social · May 1

In a new Opinion, Sara Rosenbaum of the George Washington University & coauthors found 15% of “able-bodied” working-age Medicaid enrollees are not working, and that many of these enrollees are very poor older women, with limited education, who left the workforce to provide care to family members

Who's Affected by Medicaid Work Requirements? It's Not Who You Think | Milbank Memorial Fund

Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion passed in 2010, Medicaid work requirement proponents have sought to convince policymakers that the

www.milbank.org

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Reposted by Tara Strome

Milbank Memorial Fund & The Milbank Quarterly @milbankfund.bsky.social · Apr 22

Given the number of federal actions threatening public health and science in the first three months of the Trump administration, @rebekahnagler.bsky.social of the University of Minnesota and colleagues conducted a survey in March 2025 on public awareness of these actions and their consequences.

Public Awareness of Threats to Public Health and Science in March 2025 | Milbank Memorial Fund

Our survey found that a high proportion of the American public (almost 80%) had heard about the firing of federal scientists and health workers, and a substantial number had heard of federal cuts to h...

www.milbank.org

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Apr 9

From @paulalantz.bsky.social:
Trump’s "scorched-earth strategies for decreasing federal spending, gutting our nation’s public health infrastructure, and halting all efforts aimed at addressing undeniable social inequality are not going to make America healthier." www.milbank.org/quarterly/op...

Trends and patterns in life expectancy in the United States are very well researched, including that a major driver of our relatively lower life expectancy is that we have higher deaths rates from all of the leading causes with the excess mortality primarily among people with lower education and income levels and among several racial/ethnic minority groups. Life expectancy will never improve to the levels enjoyed by most other high-income countries without addressing the fact that death rates are higher for specific sociodemographic groups across the life course starting with infant mortality.
The root causes of the chronic disease epidemic are also very well researched and have more to do with social factors than biology or genetics. If the MAHA Commission truly wants to address root causes, members will have to embrace the socioecological model of health which places the health of individuals within contexts that matter for health: within interpersonal relationships and family settings, within the organizations/institutions that affect everyday life like schools, workplaces, and churches, within community and environmental settings, and within macro environments that include culture, the economy, and public policy influences. For example, the food and nutrition that people put into their individual bodies matter for health. However, food options, behaviors, and consumption patterns occur within families, schools, neighborhoods, cultures, and in socioeconomic and policy/regulatory contexts. Addressing the root causes of all population health phenomena requires the basic understanding that individual health is nested within and must be addressed at multiple levels of influence.

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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · Apr 9

"Death by a thousand federal cuts" is exactly where we're headed three months into the Trump Administration. @paulalantz.bsky.social lays out how it's happening www.milbank.org/quarterly/op...

Death by a Thousand Federal Cuts: Trump Administration Actions Will Not Make America Healthy Again

Paula Lantz for Milbank Quarterly.

Since the day Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, his administration has “flooded the zone” with a deluge of executive orders and administrative actions that have significantly downsized and restricted federal funding for research and data systems and also deeply cut the financial and human resources of myriad domestic and foreign initiatives. In addition to the slashing that has already occurred, many more government programs and even entire agencies are clearly now on the chopping block. This includes a potentially huge cut to Medicaid in the next budget cycle.

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Tara Strome @tlantz.bsky.social · Mar 26

Millions spent on projects that will not be finshed now. Throwing money down the drain in the name of efficiency.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/h...

Trump Administration Abruptly Cuts Billions From State Health Services

States have been told that they can no longer use grants that were funding infectious disease management and addiction services.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Tara Strome

Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics @bermaninstitute.bsky.social · Mar 26

The Long Arc of Substance Use Policy Innovation in Medicaid: Looking Back, Looking Forward - By Brendan Saloner - The Milbank Quarterly onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The Long Arc of Substance Use Policy Innovation in Medicaid: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Policy Points The role of Medicaid in financing, organizing, and delivering substance use disorder (SUD) treatment has grown tremendously over time owing to expansions of eligibility and a push t...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Tara Strome @tlantz.bsky.social · Mar 26

$11 billion in state health funding (broader than Covid) pulled with zero notice. This is having a huge and immediate impact on states as they scramble to make cuts and layoff staff/contractors. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

CDC is pulling back $11B in Covid funding sent to health departments across the U.S.

“Now that the pandemic is over, the grants and cooperative agreements are no longer necessary," federal health authorities wrote to funding recipients this week.

www.nbcnews.com

Reposted by Tara Strome

Milbank Memorial Fund & The Milbank Quarterly @milbankfund.bsky.social · Mar 26

In a new Milbank Quarterly guest Opinion, Michael D. Stein of Boston University School of Public Health discusses federal budget cuts to biomedical research & identifies potential threats to population health research like the politicization of research areas + data accessibility: buff.ly/D6lMKYu

Ungoverning and the Future of Health Services Research | Milbank Memorial Fund

The first months of the second Trump administration have, as predicted, been a matter of ungoverning. In the name of efficiency and budget reduction, but

www.milbank.org

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Tara Strome @tlantz.bsky.social · Mar 23

Not used for cooking much yet but my 3 year old loves measuring cups and spoons, mini spatulas, and scoops. He mostly uses them to play with water, beans, beads, marbles and pom-poms but it’s been good practice for cooking.

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