Short Takes – 4-7-25

Kennedy Attends Funeral of Texas Girl Who Died of Measles. NYTimes.com article (free). 2^nd death of a child in the Texas outbreak. Pull quote: “Experts also fear that the Trump administration’s recent decisions to dismantle international public health safeguards and to pull funding from local health departments have made large, multistate outbreaks more likely.”

California town reports third fatality related to rare virus linked to death of Gene Hackman’s wife. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “One person had been vacuuming “in one or more areas where investigators later found mouse droppings,” the department noted, adding that vacuuming “can aerosolize the virus through the air and lead to infection.” I knew vacuuming was bad for you…. (SIGH).

Space has a communications problem. SpaceNews.com commentary. Pull quote: “Space operators are doing hugely valuable and genuinely captivating things — increasing food security, reducing harm caused by wildfires and floods, bringing education and healthcare to remote, impoverished communities and allowing us to sleep soundly in our beds by protecting us from our enemies all the way from orbit. It seems a crying shame that this isn’t more widely known or understood.”

CISA to make comprehensive staff cuts in coming days, people familiar say. NextGov.com article. Pull quote: “The same source added that there are no plans on the administration’s part to provide funding to the private sector to help fill gaps left behind by the reduction of government workers within the agency. CISA is tasked with defending over a dozen critical infrastructure sectors defined by the U.S. government, which include transportation networks, nuclear reactors, election systems and government facilities.”