September 30, 2016

Weekend sendoff, including good news, evil clowns and bees

Here's a potpourri to finish up the work week.

First, did you know that creepy clown threats are a thing now? I was not aware of that. It turns out that even Kanawha County schools in WV have beefed up security because of it.

(I attribute a lot of this to the evil clown in Stephen King's It book and movie. It was, groan, disarming.)

On the bright side, Medicaid expansion is working well in Louisiana, where over 305,000 people have gained coverage in the last few months. Families USA also reports that:

*Nearly 12,000 of these newly enrolled adults have already started receiving screening and treatment for chronic conditions and illnesses including breast cancer, colon cancer, and diabetes.
*More than 1,000 women have received mammograms or other diagnostic breast imaging and 24 of these women are currently being treated for breast cancer. 
*Nearly 700 adults have received colonoscopies and more than 100 had polyps, an early sign of colon cancer, removed during the procedure. 
*160 adults have been newly diagnosed with diabetes and have started receiving necessary care to help them manage their condition. 
You can find more from them on the benefits of Medicaid expansion here.

Finally, here's an interesting look at what might be the emotional life of bees. Who knew?

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