By Kenneth J. Cooper
A new report for the first time determines how many African Americans and Latinos depend on Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor, to treat serious diseases or conditions.

By The Editors
The U.S. is facing “a silent mental health epidemic” as joblessness lengthens and deepens for millions of once-gainfully employed Americans, a new study is warning.

By The Editors
The Census Bureau’s annual report on the status of Americans’ income, the number of Americans living in poverty, and the number of Americans without health insurance that was released last week did double duty.

By Kenneth J. Cooper
“Place matters for health.” That opening declaration in one of two new reports distills established wisdom that residential segregation is a big contributor to minority health disparities – because segregated neighborhoods tend to have less access to health care and fresh produce, fewer recreational facilities and more environmental hazards.

By Tarice L.S. Gray
“Misdiagnosed and undiagnosed [autistic] black children end up in jail,” Proctor said. “If I haven’t got him any sort of vocational skills, language skills, behavioral skills, instead of my son being Ari, his name is going to be inmate 402197. And I just couldn’t be on this earth and let him or another child of color be that.”

By George E. Curry
Although African-Americans represent only 12.6 percent of the U.S. population, they represent almost half of all new HIV infections and nearly 50 percent of AIDS-related deaths.

By Tarice L.S. Gray
Obesity was common in Marlia Fambrough’s family. At gatherings in their native Cleveland, sizable portions of greens mixed with pork, and beef entrees helped some members of the close-knit group maintain their girth. But in 2005, Fambrough’s 49 year old mother suffered a massive stroke.

By Kenneth J. Cooper
The rap on corner stores in low-income, minority neighborhoods is they’re high on prices at the cash register and low on variety on the shelves, except for candies, snacks and just about everything else that’s bad to eat.

By The Editors
An advisory panel of the federal Food and Drug Administration Friday declared that removing menthol cigarettes from sale in the United States would benefit public health.

By The Editors
In a groundbreaking judgment, a Massachusetts jury this week found the Lorillard tobacco company responsible for inducing a Boston woman to smoke as a child and ordered it to pay her family a total of $152 million.