Covering Suicide
It’s been one week since Parrish acting police chief Sonny Sorrell committed suicide near a granite memorial to slain police officers in downtown Birmingham. News coverage was full of accounts of the suicide and that of a woman found hanging under a bridge in northern Alabama. Suicide is a very tricky thing for journalists to cover — and mental health professionals say if it’s not covered well a lot of harm can result. In the latest installment of our Making Sense of Mental Health series, reporter Francesca Rosko talks with Lisa Hermes of the Birmingham Crisis Center.
Jenn Burleson-MacKay knows first hand the difficulty of covering suicide. She teaches reporting classes at the University of Alabama and several years ago, as a reporter in Virginia, she had to cover the suicide of a teenage girl named Galen. The story made national news because a man who sold drugs to Galen was charged with murder.
As opposition to an Alabama medical waste treatment facility boils over, a mysterious Facebook page weighs in
Dozens of residents opposed to Harvest Med Waste Disposal’s site in Remlap packed the Blount County courthouse to voice their concerns. Online, a paid campaign supporting the facility has been active, though its backers have remained anonymous.
In April NPR profiled people who couldn’t get their HIV drugs. How are they faring now?
In Zambia, we met people who are HIV positive, couldn't get drugs to suppress the virus after U.S. aid cuts and were seeing symptoms. We checked in on them — and the man who's been their champion.
Amid debate about U.S. history, Harlem Hellfighters receive Congressional Gold Medal
The Harlem Hellfighters, who became legends for their service during World War I, were honored this week with a Congressional Gold Medal.
Concerned about federal vaccine policies, states are crafting their own
As federal health agencies change their approach to vaccine policy leaving access for COVID shots uncertain, some states are taking things into their own hands.
HHS responds to report about autism and acetaminophen
A report that health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has promised will come out this month will look at the causes of autism. Many worry it will have claims unsupported by science.
Where things stand with Trump’s National Guard threats in Chicago and other cities
Local officials and community members prepare for the possible arrival of National Guard troops under President Trump.
