Provision of health services to nursing home residents: Policy options for Europe - European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies

In a recent ruling, the U. S. Supreme Court cleared the way for states to have boys’ sports for boys and girls’ sports for girls. That is not how Minnesota does it. Minnesota State High School League rules say boys who claim to be girls can play on girls’ teams. Now some of our legislators want to make that permanent by writing it into the Minnesota Constitution. Your lead story names Zach Stephenson and Mary Kunesh (“Local legislators speak in favor of Equal Rights Amendment,” March 20, 2026). But this is not your mother’s or your grandmother’s Equal Rights Amendment. This amendment (HF 501/SF 473) adds something called “gender identity” to the constitution. This harms the interests of women, children, gays and lesbians. Under “gender identity” in Minnesota, women must allow some men into their private spaces, like locker rooms or domestic violence shelters. Children are told they can choose to be either a boy or a girl, and children who don’t fit into regressive stereotypes of what a boy or girl “should be” get channeled into harmful chemical or surgical modifications to their bodies.

York and Scarborough hospitals are facing a shortfall of dozens of beds this winter, according to senior leaders. York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust forecasts a shortfall of 52 beds at York Hospital and 32 at Scarborough Hospital, based on expected winter demand. The prediction comes after the proportion of patients waiting for more than 12 hours in emergency departments at the trust's hospitals more than doubled, from 5.9% in April to 14.6% in August. Despite the predicted shortfall, the trust said plans were in place to reduce pressure on services and provide extra capacity if needed. Health bosses said that improvements in same-day emergency care, shorter hospital stays and faster discharges could free up the equivalent of around 30 beds at York and 13 at Scarborough Hospital. Even with those improvements, a residual shortfall of 22 beds at York and 19 at Scarborough is still expected. A trust spokesperson said they were preparing for additional pressures by working closely with health and social care partners.

Scientists have discovered an unexpected reason why Alzheimer's disease disrupts sleep, and their findings suggest that the problem may be reversible. In experiments involving mice with Alzheimer's-like brain changes, researchers restored more than two hours of sleep per day without removing the amyloid plaques associated with the disease. The surprising discovery points to an overlooked culprit: the brain's own immune cells. Rather than simply protecting the brain from damage, these cells can trigger inflammation that interferes with healthy sleep.