PI's Weekly Media Digest: Senate fails to pass 'skinny repeal' bill; new CDC report finds homicide is 5th leading cause of death for women 18-44, with more than half killed by intimate partners
A new CDC report finds that homicide is the fifth leading cause of death for women ages 18 to 44, with 3,519 women and girls killed in 2015 alone, more than half by an intimate partner. The Washington Post reports on further findings: “Women who are racial and ethnic minorities were disproportionately affected. According to the study, black women had the highest rate of dying by homicide, 4.4 per 100,000, followed by American Indian women at 4.3 per 100,000, Hispanic women at 1.8 per 100,000, white women at 1.5 per 100,000 and Asian women at 1.2 per 100,000. The data also includes important information about what led to the attacks: In 29.7 percent of homicides related to intimate partners, there was some sort of argument before the victim's death and about 12 percent were associated with jealousy. About 10 percent of the women had experienced violence in the month preceding their death. Then there is the question of pregnancy. Among women who were killed by intimate partners and were of reproductive age, about 15 percent were pregnant. The report notes that this might or might not be higher than the general U.S. female population and that it requires “further examination. Previous studies have shown that murder is one of the top causes of death for pregnant women.”
Shareholders of drug distributor McKesson Corporation voted to reject an executive compensation package following a Teamsters campaign to hold executives accountable for helping to fuel the opioid epidemic. According to CNN, earlier this year, McKesson agreed to pay a settlement and stop sales to distribution centers Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, and Florida in connection with Justice Department findings that the company failed to properly review pharmacy orders in cases where the drugs were ordered with unusually high frequency. In a press release quoted in The Street, McKesson said it is partnering with organizations across the supply chain to address the opioid crisis, and stated the Teamsters’ “attack efforts” stem from a labor contract dispute.
The implications of the opioid epidemic for the U.S. workforce has caught the Federal Reserve’s attention, Bloomberg reports. It’s a complex interplay: the lack of economic opportunity and the resulting despair appears to contribute to opioid misuse, and at the same time, opioid misuse is diminishing the eligible workforce.
Hospitals are establishing cadres of “recovery coaches” to work with people who are hospitalized after drug overdoses. The Washington Post reports that the coaches provide counseling, support, and referrals to resources such as drug treatment and mental health counseling.
The New York Times explores the online world of people affected by the opioid epidemic. On Reddit and other public forums, people are making connections for drug sales, finding advice on getting high, and looking for support to stop using. As soon as the hosts shut down one forum, another appears.
Sharing her story in Medium, writer Graciela Lopez illuminates how the threat of deportation and her own experiences in an immigration detention center take a toll on mental health. She recounts agents ousting her roommate for deportation in the middle of the night and other traumas that affected her following her release. “The trauma spilled into aspects of my life that I didn’t anticipate or even recognize right away.” She writes. “My mental health suffered to the point of causing my cognitive skills to deteriorate. My reading and writing skills became delayed. I also began to stutter while I spoke and often had to pause to continue on with conversations.”
The Justice Department announced this week that it will no longer consider LGBT people to be protected from workplace discrimination under federal civil rights law. This announcement came just days after Trump tweeted that transgender people would no longer be allowed to serve openly in the military (an order than the military subsequently refused to implement based on a tweet). Another Justice Department move this week threatens to cut funding to sanctuary cities through the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program, which provides federal funding for local law enforcement.
Governor Brown signed legislation extending California’s cap-and-trade program through 2030.
A study published this week found that 99% of National Football League players (110 out of 111 tested) whose brains were tested after death showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain condition that results from severe injuries to the head.
New Jersey joined California and Hawaii as the latest state to raise the tobacco purchasing age to 21.