Good news on vaccines, renewable energy, medical bills
Among the items in the subscriber section of this Fix the News:
— “Fifty years of childhood vaccination has been one of the best investments in human history,” Fix the News says. From 1974 to 2024, the World Health Organization’s Expanded Program on Immunization averted 154 million deaths globally from 14 diseases. The total program cost was $937 billion, which was offset by $15 trillion in averted productivity losses, researchers report in The Lancet Global Health.
— Solar power is on track to overtake coal as the leading generator of global electricity by 2032, says BloombergNEF.
“Solar is the cheapest source of power in many countries, and is proving the easiest and fastest to deploy,” says Jenny Chase, BNEF’s clean power specialist. “Its role in the global energy mix will be substantial, ushering in a new age where power is cheap whenever the sun shines.”
— The nonprofit Undue Medical Debt (formerly RIP Medical Debt), which buys medical debts for pennies on the dollar and cancels them, now has erased more than $40 billion in medical debt nationwide, including $6.5 billion in North Carolina, reports Carolina Public Press.
Also in the news
Takeaways from AP report on child soldiers trained by Colombian mercenaries in Sudan
Saudi Arabia invites 50 countries to join military coalition to protect shipping in Red Sea
Reuters: As Trump says deal reached for Hamas to disarm in Gaza, Hamas official calls it a ‘draft’ and Israel support is uncertain
U.S. government map of Africa mislabels every country during State Department presentation at AIDS 2026 conference in Rio
New round of tariff carve-outs raises familiar questions about who should receive the exceptions — and why
Long-dormant court holds its first public hearing as U.S. seeks to deport Afghan woman
Thousands of immigrant children are on the verge of losing legal representation, could be forced to face a judge alone
Witness to fatal ICE shooting in Houston is released from immigration detention after court order
Trump floats pulling Todd Blanche nomination for attorney general to avoid conceding to GOP demands
Trump-branded commemorative passports to become available across the U.S. in August
After claiming ‘bias’ at Smithsonian, Trump administration stages its own exhibition at the nearby Art Museum of the Americas
WSJ analysis: Trump fundraising operation has raised more than $800 million for his projects in second term
Senate panel approves bipartisan bill to block Trump effort to gut Education Department
Senate Finance Committee approves bipartisan tax modernization bill on 26-1 vote
Senate health panel approves CDC nominee Erica Schwartz and controversial HHS pick Sean Kaufman
Anthropic AI models broke free and independently hacked 3 organizations during testing
Amid calls in D.C. to boycott DoorDash, it says supporting home rule and backing congressional oversight bill are ‘not mutually exclusive’
Democrat Mandela Barnes drops out of primary race for Wisconsin governor
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina last year became the 575th tribe to get federal recognition as a sovereign nation; now it seeks better health care
Heather Cox Richardson on the 60th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid — and the current funding cuts
KFF: Some of the former public health officials who are running for top state offices across the country
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