BIAS IN CANCER DIAGNOSIS
A new study published yesterday in Jama found that a test used to diagnose patients with lung cancer had a built-in racial bias. The algorithm in the software used to diagnose patients assumed that Black people had naturally weaker lung capacity, raising the threshold for recommending care and making it less likely that they would be prescribed medication. According to the study, up to 40 percent more Black men would have been diagnosed with breathing problems if the bias had been corrected. The study also pointed out that this specific test isn't the only place where racial bias affects medicine. Prejudices and assumptions about racial differences affect patients looking for heart and kidney care as well.
WARNING ABOUT PAYMENT APPS
There's a new warning for people who store money in payment apps like Paypal, Venmo, and Cash App. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPC) said that the funds may not be secure in the case of a crisis, because while traditional bank accounts are secured up to $250,000, money held in a payment app doesn't have the same protections. So if one of these companies ever had a funding issue or was forced to close, customers could lose their money.
In the Red Sea this morning, a U.S. warship, the USS Carney responded to a distress call by a commercial vessel after it came under attack.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection in southern California announced it confiscated thousands of pounds of illegal drugs hidden in a jalapeno paste shipment.
Former family YouTuber Ruby Franke is set to enter a plea agreement on child abuse charges in a Utah courtroom, according to her lawyers. Frank and her business partner, Jody Hildebrand were arrested in August after two of Franke's children were found with injuries and evidence of malnutrition in Hildebrandt's home.
Backers are far from gathering enough signatures, but if the measure makes the June 2024 ballot and voters pass it, North Dakota would have to replace ballot scanners with hundreds of workers.
It's part of the push to remove symbols that commemorate the Confederacy from military facilities.
The company is asking customers to throw out certain types of granola bars and granola cereals to avoid infection.
It could be a cold, grim New Year for thousands of migrant families living in New York City’s emergency shelter system. With winter setting in, they are being told they need to clear out, with no guarantee they’ll be given a bed elsewhere.
Vermont is often ranked as one of the nation's safest states. But since October, it has had 10 homicides and one suspicious death, including a double homicide in Burlington.
Officials in Mexico are trying to determine what's responsible for the death of a man and injuries to a woman at a Pacific coast resort.
The Virginia mother whose six-year-old son brought a gun to school and shot his teacher is expected to be sentenced.
