I hear Excalibur is a good one
I am the health and human services reporter for the Press Herald in Maine.
537 followers 486 following 213 posts
view profile on Bluesky
I hear Excalibur is a good one
Kennedy “is trying to fully dismantle the nation’s vaccination apparatus, regardless of what science says or what most people want. And less than a year into his tenure as health secretary, he is succeeding brilliantly.” We are all at deep risk unless we push Congress to actually act. NOW.
One of several top CDC officials to leave their post this week—after Kennedy fired the agency’s director for refusing to “rubberstamp unscientific, reckless directives"—is telling all. Including that Kennedy has never been briefed by any of the center’s scientists on major diseases. trib.al/j3PrEDR
"I see no basis for her firing," Collins said of the removal of CDC director Susan Monarez @pressherald.com reporter @rachelohm.bsky.social on scene at Collins event in Old Orchard Beach #mepolitics www.pressherald.com/2025/08/28/s...
Agreed, but I got over it :)
I know this is not your point, but this flashed me back 35 years to students in college Lit classes debating the prof on obscure points, always beginning w/ a sigh & launching into a 10-minute soliloquy parsing James Joyce. I would think "my tuition is paying for this?" @claricesnarling.bsky.social
Abbe Lowell and I represent CDC Director #SusanMonarez. Contrary to govt statements, Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor yet been fired. She will not resign. We have issued the following statement:
www.pressherald.com/2025/08/22/m...
A+ content!
We, the workers of the statewide Maine Trust for Local News are excited to kick off our new campaign to bring the entire company under One Big Union. As our work grows increasingly unified, so should our representation. It's time to bring the whole company together. Sign out petition here!
www.pressherald.com/2025/08/19/i...
Last week, Boston received a letter from AG Bondi threatening to prosecute officials and withhold funds unless we cooperate with carrying out mass deportations. The US Attorney General asked for a response by today, so here it is: stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures.
BREAKING NEWS: www.pressherald.com/2025/08/15/d...
A question we've all been pondering. @pressherald.com columnist Leslie Bridgers has the answers! www.pressherald.com/2025/08/11/i...
Vaccine safety and effectiveness testing - debunking anti-vax myths: this is an updated version of a post that addresses recurring myths, like the myth that vaccines are not tested together or not compared to proper controls. www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalrap... via @skepticalraptor.bsky.social
“If you see a dorsal fin swimming around, I’d get out of the water for a few minutes,” said Marine Resource Officer Daryen Granata. Good advice. Also, Mayor Vaughan says "The beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time" #jaws www.pressherald.com/2025/08/12/p...
Cat probably had the most fun in her life hunting a snake. Although I like snakes so I'm also a little sad. Prefer cats murdering mice
Most headlines nowadays could double as @theonion.com headlines
Some 20th century witness to history and 70s and 80s tennis in this column. @servedpodcast.bsky.social @thetennisletter.bsky.social
Thank you! Bob is a fantastic person, fun to be around and I learned a few things. Good combination
It was nice to write about something different. Greene is an eighth-generation Mainer and was great to talk to www.pressherald.com/2025/07/22/m...
Pure antivaxx propaganda at this point.
Another fantastic column by Leslie Bridgers of the @pressherald.com www.pressherald.com/2025/07/14/o...
Paine is a tough dude, so he can overcome Chipotle management. He's not a "summer soldier or sunshine patriot" after all
It is not in numbers, but in guacamole, that our great strength lies; yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world
This could be an opening chapter in a @stephenking.bsky.social novel
Living Colour releases “Cult of Personality” as a single today in 1988. “It’s not a condemnation,” said singer Corey Glover. “It’s more of a commentary on how we, as a culture, are drawn to strong personalities. Sometimes we follow without question. That’s what makes it dangerous.”
The Illuminati
The antivaccine movement threatens health in the US and worldwide www.bmj.com/content/390/...
Hi Mainer thanks for subscribing and reading! We are of course aware of the process arguments, political dynamics and all I can say right now is expect another story soon (within the next few days) My colleagues are working on a longer story. Thanks again
UPDATED version of this story #mepolitics www.pressherald.com/2025/07/02/s...
New from @pressherald.com Early version of story is posted, more details, other sources to be added today www.pressherald.com/2025/07/02/s...
You win the Internet today
From @randybillings.bsky.social www.pressherald.com/2025/06/30/s...
These are two of the finest people I've ever met, and so happy they both got to be on Jeopardy! Go Jason and Susan!!!! www.pressherald.com/2025/06/27/m...
A CDC “background briefing” on thimerosal — noting evidence doesn't support a link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism — was posted to the agency's website Tuesday. Today, it was taken down. HHS explanation below. www.statnews.com/2025/06/25/c...
Robert F Kennedy Jr is not a vaccine skeptic. Reporters and editors who’ve decided it’s somehow more fair to call him one instead of the anti-vaccine activist and lawyer he is should stop mischaracterizing him so… in the pursuit of accuracy.
Yes, CDC shows, children die and are severely ill from covid-19 and influenza - including in the past year. Most are unvaccinated. The youngest, who depend on maternal immunity, are most affected.
ICYMI: "Many hospitals are looking into the abyss," said Steven Michaud, Maine Hospital Association president #mepolitics www.pressherald.com/2025/06/23/m...
Lyn Redwood's history is as an anti-vaccine activist. She has no scientific or public health expertise. Using her to present before ACIP means Mr. Kennedy is no longer pretending that he is not anti-vaccine, or to care about science. www.cnn.com/2025/06/23/h...
Work requirements, eligibility changes make up bulk of proposed Medicaid cuts. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has not indicated how she would vote on bill, but is open to work requirements. #mepolitics www.pressherald.com/2025/06/23/m...
Another great column by @tlazarczyk.bsky.social www.pressherald.com/2025/06/21/s...
There is no one more fun to root against than Pete Carroll.
www.pressherald.com/2025/06/14/s...
The Utah Senator was captured running from NBC journalists asking about his claim that Vance Boelter was a ‘Marxist.’
RFK Jr’s ACIP pick, Martin Kulldorff, said one of the most disturbing images from the pandemic was a toddler crying about having to wear a mask. I see toddlers cry about everything all the time, and I found it far more disturbing to see refrigerator trucks full of body bags outside of the hospitals…
NEW: After firing expert scientists on the CDC's vaccine advisory committee, RFK Jr. has named their replacements. The new committee contains many figures known for spreading disinformation about vaccines and COVID including Robert Malone and Martin Kulldorff. This is bad.
Excellent column by @tlazarczyk.bsky.social www.pressherald.com/2025/06/10/o...
Exactly as I predicted months ago, RFK Jr. has purged ACIP, almost certainly as a prelude to stacking it with his preferred antivax quacks. www.wsj.com/opinion/rfk-...
Is his name Gob Bluth? #arresteddevelopment @claricesnarling.bsky.social
This took a while to get done, but I've chronicled my day among the protesters in Los Angeles, and the idea that this is anything but a celebration of cultural heritage and a firm, nonviolent demand to protect family, friends and neighbors is totally ridiculous. prospect.org/justice/crie...
What will the U.S. immunization system look like after this?
“This is what they paid for. This is what they want” #frenchopen
A HAL 9000 model wouldn’t need to apologize. “We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error,” HAL 9000
sorry if this is a partisan take but i dont think joe biden was executed 5 years ago and replaced with a robot
“Don’t fence me in” bro. LOL
Recession Forecasts Jump After Herds Of Panicked Economists Start Running Off Cliffs theonion.com/recessi...
An attack on science, similar to other stances/action taken by anti-vaccine activist and HHS Secretary RFK Jr.
This could be the ultimate Antiques Roadshow episode @pbs.org
The Arizona Republic must have this headline on a Save/Get....The ultimate evergreen LOL www.yahoo.com/sports/artic...
This is an unscientific decision that will cause harms. While topical fluoride is useful, when adult teeth are growing (in children) ingested fluoride makes more impact than any topical fluoride later can. Everything we ingest “changes our microbiome.” Microbiome composition is not a health outcome!
Attending town board of zoning appeals hearings and then having to write a story about Jimmy's BBQ wanting more parking spaces. Sure to be a hit TV show! @colinwoodard.bsky.social
www.pressherald.com/2025/05/12/m...
www.pressherald.com/2025/05/11/h...
“It is time to reduce air pollution & eliminate toxic scrubber wash discharge & time to create communication protocols for when ships have norovirus outbreaks” Cruise ships in Portland, Maine. It no longer serves us as a community to bury our heads in the sand www.pressherald.com/2025/05/05/h...
www.pressherald.com/2025/05/05/m...
Great column by @tlazarczyk.bsky.social www.pressherald.com/2025/05/05/m...
This is a widely inaccurate & dangerous mischaracterization. The vaccine was developed in fetal cells obtained from two elective abortions in the early 1960s. There is not abortion debris floating around in the vaccine. And the Vatican has okayed its use. RFK Jr. is again spreading disinformation.
FYI anti vaccine activist RFK Jr expected to testify at an Appropriations meeting in May (I did have that at the end of the story)
#mepolitics www.pressherald.com/2025/04/30/c...
Nice story by @rayrouthier.bsky.social www.pressherald.com/2025/04/29/r...
I have three guesses on where CEO's go on vacay. 1. Bronner's Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan 2. Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine 3. Waldameer and Water World in Erie, Pa. Did any of these make the list? @claricesnarling.bsky.social @judgejohnhodgman.bsky.social
Idk who needs to hear this but there is literally zero evidence to support a lab leak as the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and there is a lot of evidence opposing a lab leak origin
Press Herald sports reporter @dbonifant.bsky.social with the latest on Maine superstar Cooper Flagg www.pressherald.com/2025/04/12/c...
Some people you meet are truly awe-inspiring. Ralph Carmona is one of them, and with health research cutbacks, he sends a timely and important message. @kffhealthnews.org @doraannemills.bsky.social @tlazarczyk.bsky.social @hcrichardson.bsky.social www.pressherald.com/2025/04/12/r...
@pressherald.bsky.social
3 days ago RFK Jr. told the CDC to stop recommending water fluoridation, claiming it was a neurotoxin (this is a lie). Turns out he also just eliminated the CDC’s entire Lead Program, and now lead poisoned children in Milwaukee are just on their own. Lead IS a neurotoxin and harms brain development
I would watch a 10-part Netflix series that was entirely political cartoons and interviewing the living cartoonists, experts talking about Thomas Nast, etc. Before the AI Bots take over.
While much of the country is focused on the spiraling measles outbreak concentrated in the small, dusty towns of West Texas, cases of pertussis have skyrocketed by more than 1,500% nationwide since hitting a recent low in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CDC is a historically reliable source filled with scientists who have devoted their life to public health. RFK Jr. is not a scientist and is an anti-vaccine activist who continually makes false claims.
Scientists say the explanation is that clinicians are much better at recognizing and diagnosing people with autism. In the past, we used to just label people with this genetic condition in all kinds of disparaging ways.
RFK Jr. falsely sowing doubt on safety and efficacy of vaccines
1/ Fluoride in drinking water has been a public health success story for decades, reducing cavities by 25% in kids & adults. But recent debates, led by @HHS @SecKennedy & others, are raising questions about its safety. www.cbsnews.com/video/rfk-jr... on @CBSNews with @LindseyReiser
Vaccines save lives by the millions, this is not a point of debate.
He prefers chocolate chip over oatmeal raisin.....
A senior House Democrat is calling on acting Social Security Administrator Lee Dudek to resign following revelations that the official called Maine Gov. Janet Mills a “petulant child” in an email to staff demanding retribution for her White House dust-up with President Donald Trump.
Measles
SCOOP: The CDC Buried a Measles Forecast That Stressed the Need for Vaccinations @sheinvestigates.bsky.social
Latest on Trump admin. going after Maine. @pressherald.bsky.social Eric Russell with the latest www.pressherald.com/2025/03/28/t...
If you accept that non-citizens have no right to due process, you are accepting that citizens have no right to due process. All the government has to do is claim that you are not a citizen; without due process you have no chance to prove the contrary.
Wow
March 27, 2025
"Creating a ruckus" is his euphemism for wrote an op-ed in a newspaper. The Constitution protects all people under U.S. jurisdiction (not just citizens) from government actions penalizing them for speech, use of the free press, or peaceful assembly.
I'm so bad at golf, when I make a bogey, I feel like partying. (not with poppers, though) @nytpitchbot.bsky.social
Kudos to the student journalists at The Tufts Daily, who crashed a last-minute issue of the paper to cover the outrageous arrest and detention of Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk: issuu.com/tuftsdaily/d...
They would be pushing back after already voting for a package that includes $880 billion in (likely) Medicaid cuts
From @rachelohm.bsky.social Maine not complying with Trump admin. proposal, says it needs to follow existing Maine laws www.pressherald.com/2025/03/27/m...
Still trying to figure out what the federal public health cutbacks will mean in Maine www.pressherald.com/2025/03/27/m...