Health

Arkansas election officials have rejected the petitions submitted for an abortion-rights ballot measure. The secretary of state’s office on Wednesday said organizers behind the measure did not submit paperwork required about paid canvassers it used. The groups submitted more than 101,000 signatures on Friday. The measure would have barred laws banning abortion in the first 20 weeks of gestation and allowed abortion later in pregnancy in cases of rape, incest, threats to the woman’s health or life, or if the fetus would be unlikely to survive birth. Arkansas’ abortion ban took effect when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade two years ago.

Colorado health officials have confirmed a human case of the plague. The rare bacterial infection is infamously known for killing tens of millions in 14th century Europe. Today, it’s easily treated with antibiotics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates seven human cases of plague per year in the U.S. The plague spreads naturally among rodents and is transmitted through the bites of infected fleas. It can be cured when treated early with antibiotics, but the key is to get to a doctor fast.

Dozens of salmonella illnesses have been linked to raw milk from a California farm. The outbreak is far wider than previously known. That's according to newly released state records. The disclosure of the outbreak's size comes as health officials have warned the public to avoid unpasteurized milk due to bird flu circulating in U.S. dairy cows. At least 165 people were sickened as of February with salmonella infections tied to products from Raw Farm of Fresno, California. About 40% of those sickened were children younger than 5. California officials said Wednesday that the outbreak ended May 4.

Voters in five states will decide referendums on abortion rights this year, with potentially more to come. Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota will hold referendums on enshrining protection for abortion rights. The U.S. Supreme Court removed the nationwide right to abortion with a 2022 ruling, which sparked a national push to have voters decide. Voters have sided with abortion rights supporters every time the issue has been directly on the ballot since the Supreme Court ruling.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard is pregnant. Blanchard is the woman who recruited her former boyfriend to kill her mother after years of being forced to pretend she was gravely ill. She said in a YouTube video on Tuesday that she wants to give her child everything she lacked growing up. She says the baby is due in January, which will be just a little over a year after she was freed from a women’s prison northeast of Kansas City, Missouri. Blanchard’s case sparked national tabloid interest after reports emerged that her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, had essentially kept her daughter prisoner, forcing her to use a wheelchair and feeding tube. Clauddine Blanchard was slain in 2015.