​New Orleans is moving to overhaul the commission that oversees city parks and playgrounds, seeking $5 million in federal aid after an investigation by Verite News and KFF Health News found high levels of lead contamination in playgrounds across the city. The story also ran on Verite News and is available for republishing at no charge.

Mayor Helena Moreno signed an executive order on April 7 creating a task force to improve the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission. Among the task force’s duties is to “consider and make recommendations regarding the costs and practicalities of implementing a program to assess and remediate safety and environmental concerns at NORDC facilities and playgrounds, including the existence of lead in soil” and other environmental issues, as outlined in the order.

About a week before Moreno signed that order, Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services Jennifer Avegno announced that city officials were working with the state’s congressional delegation to request $5 million in federal funds for the upcoming federal fiscal year starting in October. The money would go toward testing and the possible cleanup of playgrounds with elevated lead levels. Avegno said her office is reviewing past city records, collaborating with the Planning Commission’s Brownfield Program, and examining Verite’s soil test results. “We’re trying to figure out, with whatever pots of money we can get, how can we make a more sustained and meaningful impact than we have been able to in the past?” she said during an April 1 panel discussion about Verite’s lead contamination investigation. Readers can sign up for KFF Health News’ free weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief.

In the February investigation, Verite reporters tested more than 80 playgrounds for lead and documented unsafe levels at just over half of them. Since then, parents across the city have been calling the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission, their elected officials, and other city offices to push for action.

But with the city facing a budget crisis, parents and community groups in one neighborhood are taking matters into their own hands. They are trying to raise $8,000 to hire a contractor to conduct extensive testing at the Mickey Markey Playground in the Bywater neighborhood, where Verite recorded lead samples that exceeded the federal hazard level of 200 parts per million—one sample measured 403 ppm. “I’m aware of the city budget issues right now, and I’m also aware that fixing one playground in one neighborhood might not be a giant priority,” said Devin DeWulf, a father of two who lives in Bywater and founded the Krewe of Red Beans, a community organization assisting with the fundraising.

Lead contamination persists in New Orleans soil, in older buildings, and in drinking water, posing a significant public health threat to children.  

​North America’s largest coke plant hugs the west bank of Pennsylvania’s Monongahela River, belching out emissions from turning superheated coal into a carbon-rich fuel.. This story also ran on CBS News. It can be republished for free.. Researchers say the children at Clairton Elementary School about a mile away pay the price. They discovered the students there and at other elementary schools near major pollution sites in Pennsylvania had higher asthma rates than other children in the state.. Residents and environmental advocates saw reason for hope and relief in the form of a Biden administration rule designed to tamp down on coke oven plant pollution. But even before it took effect, President Donald Trump granted all 11 coke plants in the U.S. — including the one in Clairton — a two-year exemption from the standards.. Trump and Republicans have sought to align themselves with the Make America Healthy Again movement’s populist ideals, such as improving Americans’ food choices and reducing corporate harm to the environment. But the administration is ratcheting up its attacks on the very environmental protections that MAHA followers hold dear.. Taken together, these anti-environmental initiatives will lead to more pollution-related illnesses and higher health care spending, health researchers say. They could also have political ramifications, eroding MAHA’s support for GOP candidates in the November midterm elections if followers believe the party is more beholden to industry than to the movement’s agenda.. Only 1 in 5 American adults, including about a quarter of Republicans, support rolling back environmental regulations, according to a poll by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.. Some MAHA supporters believe voters will support Republicans because the Trump administration is delivering on other goals important to the movement.. “MAHA has a pretty diverse set of policy goals, ranging from medical freedom to food and the environment,” said David Mansdoerfer, who served in Health and Human Services leadership during Trump’s first term. “In totality, the Trump administration has strongly delivered on much of the MAHA agenda.”. While MAHA voters have been upset at some of the administration’s actions that promote industry, it’s hard to know how that may play out in the midterms, said Christopher Bosso, a professor of public policy and politics at Northeastern University. Many were disillusioned by a Trump executive order they viewed as promoting glyphosate, which HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called poison.. “The glyphosate thing really ticks off a lot of them; they’re really upset,” Bosso said. “Kennedy said it was poison. If it is a poison, why aren’t we regulating it? That’s where the tension plays out.”. The situation with the Clairton coke plant and the others granted exemptions from regulations underscores  

​LISTEN: After a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to pare down childhood vaccine recommendations, plenty of questions remain — like how annual vaccines for the flu will get approved. KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner spoke with WAMU about how the decision is rippling through the public health system. This story also ran on WAMU. It can be republished for free. Big swings in federal vaccine policy are creating confusion for some parents and clinicians. A federal judge recently struck down Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new, shortened list of recommended vaccines for all kids. But with the Trump administration likely to appeal, the situation is in flux. Meanwhile, cases of vaccine-preventable illnesses such as measles, mumps, and whooping cough continue to accumulate nationwide and in the Washington, D.C., area. Julie Rovner, KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent and host of the podcast What The Health?, appeared on WAMU’s “Health Hub” on April 1 to break down what’s changed, what hasn’t, and what’s still unclear. Julie Rovner: jrovner@kff.org, @jrovner Related Topics Multimedia Public Health Audio Children’s Health Misinformation Trump Administration Vaccines Contact Us Submit a Story Tip  

​This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted online its first large tranche of advanced genetic data from measles viruses spreading last year. Scientists with knowledge of the operation expect the agency to post heaps more in weeks to come, revealing whether the U.S. has lost its hard-won measles elimination status. This story also ran on Healthbeat. It can be republished for free. The CDC withheld the data for months as a team hit hard by mass layoffs and resignations sorted through the information. But now that scientists at the agency have posted their first batch of whole measles genomes — the genetic blueprint of the viruses — the rest should “start flowing more smoothly at a more rapid cadence,” said Kristian Andersen, an evolutionary virologist at the Scripps Research Institute who isn’t involved with the CDC’s effort but is following it. The CDC did not answer queries from KFF Health News on its timeline for publishing measles data or analyses. However, once all the data is public, researchers can run quick initial analyses that will signal whether outbreaks across the U.S. last year resulted from the continuous spread of the disease between states, rather than separate introductions from abroad. If there was continuous transmission for a year, that means the U.S. has lost its status as a country that has eliminated measles. That status, which the U.S. has held since 2000, reflects a country’s vaccination rates: Two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine prevent most infections and so stop outbreaks from growing. More careful analyses take weeks. “We should see a report in April,” Andersen said, “assuming no political interference.” Email Sign-Up Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free weekly newsletter, “The Week in Brief.” Your Email Address Sign Up This is the first time that the U.S. has applied sophisticated genomic techniques to measles, which largely disappeared from the country a quarter-century ago because of broad vaccine uptake. Declining vaccination rates, misinformation, and the Trump administration’s budget cuts and lagging response to outbreaks have fueled a resurgence of the disease. With at least 2,285 cases in 44 states, 2025 was the worst year for measles in more than three decades. This year is on track to surpass that, with 1,575 cases as of late March. While welcoming the science, researchers say the government’s top priority should be to stop the virus from spreading. “I think it’s incredibly important to do whole genome sequencing for outbreaks,” Andersen said, “but we shouldn’t need to do this for measles in the first place, because we have an extremely effective and safe vaccine.” “That we’re even talking about this is nuts,” he added. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other government officials should sound an alarm about measles’ comeback and launch nationwid