Book Review: Indigenous author explores charged issue of blood lines in his debut novel `Fire Exit’

Book Review: Indigenous author explores charged issue of blood lines in his debut novel `Fire Exit’

Morgan Talty has followed up on the success of his prize-winning story collection “Night of the Living Rez” with a poignant first novel that explores the charged question of what constitutes identity — family or tribe? “Fire Exit” is narrated by a white man named Charles, who lives across the river from the Penobscot Nation … Read more

Need a pharmacy? These states and neighborhoods have less access

Need a pharmacy? These states and neighborhoods have less access

Opening stores used to mean everything to pharmacy chains. CVS Health once boasted of opening or buying more than 2,900 locations in a five-year period. Now it’s shuttering hundreds, while Walgreens, Rite Aid and independent drugstores also pull back. An industry that saw waves of store growth before the COVID-19 pandemic faces headwinds like falling … Read more

‘Star Trek’ actor George Takei is determined to keep telling his Japanese American story

‘Star Trek’ actor George Takei is determined to keep telling his Japanese American story

TOKYO — The incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans, including children, labeled enemies during World War II is an historical experience that has traumatized, and galvanized, the Japanese American community over the decades. For George Takei, who portrayed Hikaru Sulu aboard the USS Enterprise in the “Star Trek” franchise, it’s a story he is determined to … Read more

Charges reduced against 3 facing prosecution in man’s death during admission to psychiatric hosptial

Charges reduced against 3 facing prosecution in man’s death during admission to psychiatric hosptial

RICHMOND, Va. — Second-degree murder charges against two sheriff’s deputies and a hospital worker have been reduced to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a Virginia man who was pinned to the floor for about 11 minutes while being admitted to a state psychiatric hospital. The downgrading of the charges in the 2023 death of … Read more

Jackie Robinson is rebuilt in bronze in Colorado after theft of statue from Kansas park

Jackie Robinson is rebuilt in bronze in Colorado after theft of statue from Kansas park

LOVELAND, Colo. — As he coats a mold of Jackie Robinson with wax, metalsmith Alex Haines reflected on the extra importance of a project that will soon give the city of Wichita, Kansas, a replacement bronze statue of the baseball icon after thieves brazenly destroyed the original. “Many sculptures come through here,” said Haines at … Read more

Despite surging demand for long-term care, providers struggle to find workers

Despite surging demand for long-term care, providers struggle to find workers

The hardest part of Culix Wibonele’s first job in long-term care was not getting injured. Originally from Kenya, Wibonele worked as a certified nursing assistant in Atlanta in 2014. She went to the homes of mostly older clients, helping them with everything from bathing to cooking. Wibonele worked alone and sometimes had to lift clients … Read more

Black Americans are underrepresented in residential care communities, AP/CNHI News analysis finds

Black Americans are underrepresented in residential care communities, AP/CNHI News analysis finds

Norma Upshaw, 82, was living alone south of Nashville, when her doctor said she needed to start in-home dialysis. Her closest family lived 40 miles away, and they’d already scrambled once when the independent senior living facility she had called home — a community of largely Black residents — had closed with 30 days’ notice. … Read more

A Minnesota city will rewrite an anti-crime law seen as harming mentally ill residents

A Minnesota city will rewrite an anti-crime law seen as harming mentally ill residents

A Minnesota city has agreed not to disclose private medical information about renters with mental health issues and to pay $175,000 to resolve a complaint from the federal government that the city discriminated against mentally ill residents in enforcing an anti-crime law. The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday announced its agreement with the city … Read more

US prisoners are being assigned dangerous jobs. But what happens if they are hurt or killed?

US prisoners are being assigned dangerous jobs. But what happens if they are hurt or killed?

PHOENIX — Blas Sanchez was nearing the end of a 20-year stretch in an Arizona prison when he was leased out to work at Hickman’s Family Farms, which sells eggs that have ended up in the supply chains of huge companies like McDonald’s, Target and Albertsons. While assigned to a machine that churns chicken droppings … Read more

Takeaways from the AP’s investigation into how US prisoners are hurt or killed on the job

Takeaways from the AP’s investigation into how US prisoners are hurt or killed on the job

A sweeping Associated Press investigation into prison labor in the United States found that prisoners who are hurt or killed on the job are often being denied the rights and protections offered to other American workers. These prisoners are being placed in dangerous jobs, sometimes with little or no training. They pick up trash along … Read more