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OPINON: A vote for progress over politics
As the father of four young children the Talbot County Public School system, I am a strong supporter of public schools. I’d love to see all schools succeed, because at
Gina Hinojosa talks governor race as early voting begins | Inside Texas Politics: Oct. 18, 2026
AOC's $1 million donation to Abdul El-Sayed sparks political speculation
AI-assisted radiation treatment aims to protect healthy breast tissue
Frontier, fuboTV, E.W. Scripps, Sphere Entertainment, and AMC Entertainment Stocks Trade Down, What You Need To Know
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after The LSEG/Ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index fell 5.3 points from September to 45.2 in October 2026, the lowest reading since October 2011. According to LSEG, the survey was taken from Sept. 25 through Oct. 1. The monthly drop was the second-largest on record, behind only April 2020. The index is now below its May 2020 pandemic low of 45.4 and is 7.7 points under its level of a year ago.That kind of break in confidence hits the companies
Triple stabbing survivor calls for more mental health resources in Boston
Joe Manganiello on why he's sharing his 7-year health journey: "The alternative became too difficult"
ChatGPT gave a man unlicensed medical advice, leading to mental health crisis, lawsuit alleges
Joe Manganiello talks about "lifesaving surgery" and 7-year health journey
Frontier, fuboTV, E.W. Scripps, Sphere Entertainment, and AMC Entertainment Stocks Trade Down, What You Need To Know
What Happened? A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after The LSEG/Ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index fell 5.3 points from September to 45.2 ...
AI chatbots could make healthcare more accessible, but some doctors are still wary
AI chatbots are everywhere these days, helping to write emails or draft resumes and answer users’ burning questions about everything from their love life to medical advice.
Josh Bell Opens Up About His Future With the Twins
The Twins designated hitter led the club in RBIs in his first year in Minnesota, and now both sides have a decision to make about 2027.
US Rep proposes bill to give video game buyers "ownership," not "a license"
There are still significant hurdles ahead, both technical and legislative.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe Says Physical AI Will Have Its ‘Science Fiction’ Moment by 2030
Speaking at the Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala, Scaringe said that transformative changes in robotics are set to happen soon.
It’s time to bring back science in campaign policy discussions
Despite the politicization of science, a majority of both liberals and conservatives feel that government investment in scientific research is worthwhile for society.
Kendall A. Schnurpel: The line between nonprofit advocacy and political activity
The executive director has already shared both items on her personal Facebook page, which lists her title.
Scientists find 'gemstones' in atmosphere of bizarre, scorching-hot 'marshmallow' exoplanet
"Planets are temperamental, their atmospheres complex and chaotic."
Building the Business Beat from the Ground Up
With the U.S. economy facing the most complex and fast-changing environment in recent history, the business beat has never been more vital in newsrooms tasked with distilling a constellation of forces for local communities. Costly tariff policies, labor crises tied to immigration enforcement, and breaks in the global supply chain are testing both local businesses...Read More
In sickness and health: Husband and wife share powerful breast cancer survival stories
One local couple is making sure both women and men know the warning signs of breast cancer.
In sickness and health: Husband and wife share powerful breast cancer survival stories
One local couple is making sure both women and men know the warning signs of breast cancer.
‘Magic Mike’ Star Shares Graphic Photos From Secret Health Battle
The actor, whose marriage to Sofía Vergara ended during the 7-year struggle, says he lost 60 pounds in just a few weeks.
Colorado confirms first child flu death this season, health experts encourage vaccines
From Snack Bags to Sports Drink Sachets: How PepsiCo Shares Packaging Science Across Foods and Beverages
Duke Health debuts three autonomous delivery robots to help healthcare providers
Duke Health’s autonomous robots are transporting supplies throughout the university's hospital in Durham.
Hill Country businesses get more time to apply for flood recovery grants as holiday season nears
Your eyes dilate depending on your thoughts
Brain activity and verbalization can both affect our pupils.
iPhone co-creator Fadell on Duo: There are both business and entertainment uses for these devices
iPhone co-creator and former Apple executive Tony Fadell joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss Apple’s opening of pre-orders for the iPhone Duo, use cases for HomeView, and more.
iPhone co-creator Fadell on Duo: There are both business and entertainment uses for these devices
iPhone co-creator and former Apple executive Tony Fadell joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss Apple’s opening of pre-orders for the iPhone Duo, use cases for HomeView, and more.
NBA, sportsbooks reportedly agree to ban certain bets, including parlays involving the under on same player's stats
Robots could boost US manufacturing as America races to keep pace with China, expert says
A Path Robotics executive told FOX Business that automation will be critical to expanding U.S. manufacturing as worker shortages persist and China moves faster to adopt robotics.
Indiana's biggest home game ever will reveal just how far Curt Cignetti has taken the Hoosiers
Texas Adds 154,300 Jobs, Outpacing National Growth
Governor Greg Abbott touted the strength of the Texas economy as Texas employers added 154,300 nonfarm jobs over the last 12 months for an annual growth rate of 1.1 percent, outpacing the national rate by 0.8 percentage points.
Can AI solve our mental health access problem?
Last week I asked you what worries you most about AI in health. It was close, but your top answer was “AI giving bad health advice.” Last week’s poll results: You’re in good company. This concern was top of mind at a conference I joined at Stanford last week, where researchers, clinicians, and people who build AI systems spent a day debating trust and safety in health AI. Stepping back, I’m also hearing your emerging concerns about AI’s impact on our well-being generally. I see this as a matter of public health, and we’ll take it in pieces as we learn together. Today we’ll focus on AI chatbots used for therapy for mental health. Early this month, Governor Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 903, California’s most ambitious attempt to regulate AI use for mental health. It’s at the center of active debate, and raises the questions patients, family members, citizens, and voters will face as AI moves deeper into health care. Let’s work through it. What is “AI-based therapy”? It’s really two things: purpose-built mental health apps designed to deliver structured support, and general chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini that people increasingly use for emotional support—even if they weren’t built for it. Spoiler alert: I don’t know whether the shift toward AI therapy is good or bad. The evidence isn’t there yet. But I do know it’s already happening, and I have some ideas about how we can roll it out with safety in mind. The therapy dilemma, in a nutshell Mental health challenges are common, and strain health and well-being across populations. Therapy (interactive dialogue with a trained, empathetic practitioner) helps many people heal. The demand for licensed therapists far exceeds the supply in California, and AI-based therapy can narrow that gap. AI-based therapy remains novel, unproven, and not well tested. Right off the bat, we can see we’re dealing with trade-offs here. Since the main driver of demand for therapy from a robot is lack of access to therapy from a human, we’ll start there. It’s too hard to find and afford a human therapist California is short roughly 55,000 licensed, non-prescribing therapists and counselors, about 40% of what we need. Psychiatrists, who rely on talk therapy as a complement to prescribed medications, are even more scarce. Eight counties have none, and density ranges from 1.7 per 100,000 residents in San Benito County, to 68.1 in Marin County. My wife is a psychiatrist in Marin, and even here access is tight. If it’s hard in the best-supplied county, imagine rural Sierra County, or the San Joaquin Valley. In 2024, more than half of Californians who tried to make a mental health appointment struggled to find a provider who took their insurance, compared with 14% for physical health care. When Senate staff posed as “secret shopper” patients and called 120 mental health providers in Medicare Advantage networks, they landed an appointment less than once for every five tries. Insurers pay behavioral health clinicians about 22% less than medical and surgical clinicians for comparable office visits. On top of that, billing denials and prior authorizations hit hardest at the solo and small practices common in mental health. Psychiatrists opt out of Medicare at the highest rate of any specialty. In many places, a cash practice for therapy fills quickly with patients paying $250 or more an hour, with no insurance paperwork at all. Families who can pay cash find providers more easily. Those who rely on insurance, including Medi-Cal enrollees, older adults, rural residents, and non-English speakers, compete for what’s left. So we can’t pretend the human system works, and we can’t blame people for turning to AI for support when they’re in distress. AI is filling the gap It’s estimated that roughly a quarter of AI users use it for mental health support. If you have internet, it’s available 24/7, it’s cheap, and it speaks your language. Uninsured adults are about twice as likely as insured adults to do it (30% vs. 14%). It feels anonymous in ways that may enable people to ask things they’re unsure or embarrassed about. The largely hidden, personal use makes it hard to study whether it’s actually helping people with their mental health issues, but researchers are trying. Does AI therapy work? A 2026 analysis of nearly 40 randomized trials found chatbots showed a real but small reduction in depression symptoms. But most of these trials were compared to an alternative of no therapy, not a human therapist. So the benefit of AI therapy is probably real, but modest, and mostly untested against the alternative of human contact. We need more studies. Serious concerns OpenAI’s own estimate is that more than a million ChatGPT users each week show signs of suicidal planning or intent. These are high stakes encounters, and AI doesn’t always get it right. That’s partly because a chatbot can sound like a therapist, but it has no license, no duty of care, and it’s not clear who to hold accountable when it gets things wrong. AI is also designed to help users in whatever task they’re seeking to accomplish. People may feel like they’re getting therapy, but they’re mainly getting a convincing conversation. It’s easy for an AI companion to wander into gray areas, like playing along with “creative writing” that may be about the user’s own suicidal intent. Courts are driving safety conversations A wave of lawsuits have been filed on behalf of families claiming that chatbots pushed people they loved toward self-harm, including teens who died by suicide. The first settlements came this year. OpenAI is headquartered in San Francisco, and dozens of cases alleging that ChatGPT drove users to suicide or self-harm are now before a San Francisco judge. Character.ai has filed for bankruptcy after several states brought lawsuits accusing the chatbot of pushing dangerous content to kids. But the technology seems to be improving. Last month, an independent evaluation found that newer AI models “almost never endorse suicide.” That’s progress, but our societal appetite for even one preventable death is very low. So how do we move forward? Finding a middle ground Earlier this month the governor vetoed Senate Bill 903, a bill designed to place guardrails on the use of AI for therapy. The bill would have prohibited any AI-based platform from being advertised as psychotherapy, and would have required a licensed professional to review and approve each encounter where AI was used to support therapeutic decisions. Newsom called it overly broad, since even routine screening questions would have needed clinician sign-off. Knowing we’re already short on mental health providers, requiring human review of AI encounters may not relieve our access problems. Still, the answer isn’t no oversight. Here’s one feasible short term solution. Rather than reviewing each encounter, a licensed clinician can design the guardrails: what counts as a crisis, what triggers an immediate handoff to a human, and what gets sampled for audit each month. The AI runs inside that structure. Conversations get checked, failures get reported, and a real clinician owns the framework. Medicine already has models to learn from. The FDA process for rolling out newly approved medications is an example. After a product reaches patients, we keep watching for adverse events. Patient-facing AI needs the same “digital pharmacovigilance”: systematic tracking of harms, near misses, and the types of groups that get hurt and why. It’s also critical that users know that they can reach a human if they’re in crisis. Most chatbots now include messages like these: Bottom line The rush to use unproven AI tools for mental health support is mostly a workaround, a sign of a health system people can’t get into. We need better access to proven care from licensed clinicians. That takes reimbursement that makes accepting insurance viable, and a bigger workforce. But, built and tested well, AI could be part of the answer. It could be the 2 a.m. check-in when no one else is awake, or a way for patients to practice skills their therapist taught them. It could be the first step to get someone the right level of care, and take paperwork off clinicians’ plates so they spend more time with patients. None of this is simple. The SB 903 veto doesn’t end the debate, and the legislature will be back. In the meantime, those of us using these tools need to stay informed, ask hard questions, and hold the companies building them accountable. I’ll try to do my part, and we’ll keep learning together. Love,Matt P.S. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988- you’ll reach a real person— or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7. Dr. Matt Willis is the author of Your Local Epidemiologist in California. A California native, he’s served as a primary care physician, CDC epidemiologist, and public health officer for Marin County, where he guided the pandemic response. He lives in Marin with his family and their dogs, Teddy and Ramona. Thank you Cynthia He, MD, PhD, and Parnika Saxena, MD, for their guidance in preparing this article. Cynthia works in an outpatient mental health clinic, treating patients who have Medi-Cal or, sometimes, no insurance. Parnika works in an inpatient psychiatric unit, treating patients with public or private insurance or self-pay ability. All opinions are their own and do not represent their employers.
Sony Has Caused 'Friction' Between It and PlayStation Fans Over Disc Mess, Says PS1, PS2, PS3 Creator
Kutaragi understands both sides of the argument
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment urges flu vaccine after child death
Beauty-from-within surges with new science, finished products
Beauty-from-within makes a comeback while ingredient research shows benefits for bone and gastrointestinal health.
Artemis II results show how much science people can do at the moon
We’ve studied the moon with robotic spacecraft for decades. What do human observers add? Artemis II’s first science results offer some answers.
Health experts push for more cancer screenings amid Pope Leo's lung cancer prognosis
A Chicago billionaire is now a chief foe to both Mayor Johnson and CTU. Just who is Michael Sacks?
For years, Sacks has been a behind-the-scenes fixture in Chicago politics. Now he’s putting his money behind frontrunner mayoral candidate Alexi Giannoulias, as well as anti-Chicago Teachers Union school board candidates in the Nov. 3 election.
Control Resonant becomes the fastest-selling game in Remedy's history, outpacing Alan Wake 2 and the original Control
Control Resonant might not have reviewed as strongly as the original Control or Alan Wake 2, but it sold faster than both of them.
COSI spotlights fall leaf color science experiment, plus new attractions for all ages
IAMA Theatre Company's 'Bobby Robotowitz' tackles AI in your home
Amy Rosoff and James Luster star in IAMA Theatre Company's play with InHouse Theatre, 'Bobby Robotowitz,' directed by Casey Stangl and written by Matt Schatz.