Hurricanes Katrina and Rita focused the international spotlight on the vulnerability of the U.S. coastline. Fears that a “super-hurricane” could make a direct hit on a major city and cause even more staggering losses of life, land and economy triggered an outpouring of studies directed at every facet of this ferocious weather phenomenon. Now, an LSU professor takes us one step closer to predicting the future by drilling holes into the past. [click link for full article]

The House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee on Wednesday plans to consider whether Medicare overpays private Medicare Advantage plans, the AP/Arizona Republic reports. Earlier this month, the [click link for full article]

Children’s dental insurance and caregivers’ preventive dental care visits play a significant role as determinants of underserved African-American children seeing a dentist, according to a study in this month’s Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA).The objective of the study, according to University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) researchers, was to investigate determinants of dental care visits among young, low-income African-American children. [click link for full article]

As state lawmakers consider ways to reach California’s 6.5 million uninsured residents, new research from UC Irvine suggests that insurance brokers and other for-profit groups are key to helping eligible children enroll in government-funded health care programs. [click link for full article]

A small molecule derived from the spacer domain of the tumor-suppressor gene Rb2/p130 has demonstrated the ability to inhibit tumor growth in vivo and could be developed into an anti-cancer therapeutic, according to researchers at Temple University’s Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine. [click link for full article]

U.S. hospitals have made improvements in the care provided to heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia patients, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Joint Commission, AP/Long Island Newsday reports. [click link for full article]

CMS on Tuesday announced that infants born to undocumented immigrants whose deliveries are covered by Medicaid could automatically receive coverage under the program for one year, a reversal of current policy, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 3/21). [click link for full article]

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, recently introduced legislation (S 880) that would provide female Senate employees eight weeks of paid maternity leave and male employees one week of leave, Roll Call reports. [click link for full article]

Sens. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) on Monday announced the nomination of lawyer Richard Honaker for a U.S. District Court judgeship, the AP/Billings Gazette reports. [click link for full article]

Leading humanitarian health care agency, International Aid, has announced a major safe water initiative that will help address the growing health crisis caused by lack of access to clean water in developing countries worldwide. As the centerpiece of its safe water program, the agency introduced a new, lightweight water filter that combines proven filtration technology, known as BioSand, with an innovative plastic design. [click link for full article]