Suzanne King
Health Reporter, Kansas City BeaconSuzanne King Raney is The Kansas City Beacon's health reporter. During her newspaper career, she has covered education, local government and business. At The Kansas City Star and the Kansas City Business Journal she wrote about the telecommunications industry. Suzanne is also the proud mom of three daughters.
Email her at suzanne@thebeacon.media.
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With vaccine skepticism on the rise, immunization rates in decline and public funds disappearing, the country faces its largest measles outbreak since 2019. -
The 2022 Missouri law prevented pharmacists from contacting patients about the efficacy of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine — drugs promoted as COVID medications by right-wing media, despite warnings from health agencies. A judge ruled that gag order was unconstitutional. -
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services without warning canceled more than $12 billion in grant funding to states. Those funds, including millions for Missouri and Kansas, paid for public health basics like vaccines for children, infectious disease tracking, and funding for mental health and addiction treatment. -
Harvesters, the food bank that serves the Kansas City area and helps supply food to local pantries and shelters, says that thousands of cases of canned food, eggs, milk and more were called off by President Trump's U.S. Department of Agriculture. -
Two months after President Trump abruptly stopped funding refugee resettlement work, Kansas City-area agencies are fighting to pay refugees’ rent and provide new arrivals with other promised help. -
Kansas City’s transgender community is sandwiched between two states where Republican-controlled legislatures have made limiting transgender health care and other rights a top priority. Families say the restrictions put their safety at risk. -
The federal government is by far Kansas City’s largest employer and a major economic engine, with agencies like the IRS, EPA, Social Security and more in town. Experts warn the region’s economy will feel the pain when jobs disappear. -
Mail-order pharmacies licensed in Missouri now have to tell you when they ship your medications and let you know what to do if they’re damaged. But some want regulators to do more to protect consumers. -
Years of federal prohibition and the resulting limits on research mean the science about marijuana is skimpy at best. Missouri has budgeted $2.5 million for a public information campaign about the health risks of marijuana use. -
Trees cool cities, soak up greenhouse gases and make people healthier, and Kansas City is planting thousands of them. It's more than halfway to its goal of adding 10,000 trees by 2026, and won a grant from the U.S. Forest Service.
