Mayors, Health Experts, and Artists to Discuss Trends Impacting Cities at First Ever “CityLab Baltimore” (The Atlantic)

The Atlantic, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Aspen Institute will host CityLab Baltimore, a half-day “pop-up” summit exploring the key challenges and opportunities faced by American cities today, from public health to cultural investment. The event, which is part of an ongoing partnership, will take place on Wednesday, August 2, from 2-5pm ET at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Parkway Theater in Baltimore (5 West North Avenue). Baltimore itself provides the central backdrop for CityLab, which will include a series of conversations about the future of the city— while offering lessons for other urban leaders facing similar issues in their own communities. Topic areas across the afternoon will include strategies urban leaders can use for reducing blight; public health and heroin addiction in cities; and the role of culture as an engine for urban regeneration.

Former New York City mayor and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies Michael R. Bloomberg and Johns Hopkins University president Ron Daniels will give opening remarks at the event. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh will join the program for a conversation on Baltimore’s changing urban landscape and how the city can promote equitable growth. Additional speakers include:

Read the entire story.

Related Stories

Lead poisoning cases fell 19 percent in Baltimore last year, even as more children tested for exposure (Baltimore Sun)

The number of Baltimore children with lead poisoning fell 19 percent in 2017, even as more children were tested for exposure to the powerful neurotoxin.

Statewide, the number of Maryland children found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood held steady even as the number of children tested increased by 10 percent, according to a Maryland Department of the Environment report released Tuesday.

Read the entire story.

Azar Unveils Plan to Help Pregnant Patients Quit Opioids (MedPage Today)

States will get help from the federal government integrating services for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid patients with opioid use disorder under a pilot program announced Tuesday by Health and Hu

Trump declared an emergency over opioids. A new report finds it led to very little. (Vox)

To much fanfare last year, President Donald Trump ordered his administration to declare a public health emergency over the opioid epidemic. “As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue,” Trump said at the time. “It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction.”

When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

Read the entire story.