A mother-of-two broke up with her daughter after her ex died when she was 13 and her son was 17 .

Her son thinks his daughter is mentally ill and needs professional help.

" Torn Mother " is tired of putting her daughter's life on hold, but she needs to grow up and act civil.

My daughter, “ Sonia ,” won a scholarship to an elite private school, but is struggling to carve out the peace she needs to study.

One of her cousins went in and hid her school laptop and didn't confess for three days .

Sonia was beside herself with worry since we would have to pay to replace it.

Sonia refuses to have anything to do with her cousins now.

Divorce is painful and the blame you are receiving is unfair, but your relationship and home situation had become untenable.

Don’t let your desire for him to have a relationship with your children put them in harm’s way.

If you’re concerned that your husband will mistreat your kids when they’ve been in his care, you should push for his visits with them to be supervised.

Kevin Drum died this week at the age of 66 , succumbing to multiple myeloma cancer.

He was a pioneer of blogging, the medium that led me to my career today .

He inaugurated Friday Catblogging, where he would post pictures of his cats as a stress reliever to enter the weekend .

We've asked members of the Prospect team for pictures of their cats.

Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to expand the involuntary-commitment standard and give providers’ more clarity, which is the bare minimum to start getting dangerously unwell people off the street and into treatment.

The Senate even wants to make the problem worse, by tightening the rules.

The Democrats who run the Legislature think we need more such folks running free — guaranteeing more maimings, killings and avoidable tragedies to come.

The early days : Panic, lockdowns, and initial reactions.

The unseen costs: Lockdowns , economy, and mental health.

The science debate: Experts, models, and misleading predictions.

Federalism & freedom: Why some states resisted COVID rules.

Preparing for the next health crisis.

Dr. Dave Weldon is the first Trump nominee who failed to make it through the Senate confirmation process.

As I reported back in December , Weldon , 71 , has a staunch anti-vaccine record.

He introduced legislation that would have stripped CDC of its authority to conduct vaccine safety research.

He has also promoted the unfounded theory that vaccines lead to childhood autism.

Weldon alleged RFK Jr. was “very upset” when he told him his nomination was dead, adding, “[ Kennedy ] said I was the perfect person for the job.” But Weldon ’s withdrawal doesn’t mean he is suddenly in favor of evidence-based research about vaccines.

Earlier this month he wrote an op-ed for Fox calling for making measles vaccines “readily accessible”.

The Oklahoma House passed a bill requiring registered child sex offenders to be “chemically castrated” in order to be released on parole.

The bill now goes to the Oklahoma Senate for a vote.

If a mental health evaluation determines that the sex offender would commit a sex crime again, the offender is offered the possibility of hormonal treatment.

Julia Mason , MD , is a practicing pediatrician and children’s health advocate.

She says the idea that the MMR vaccine may be even more dangerous than measles is being discussed by Health and Human Services secretary.

Mason: Measles is the most contagious virus in humans; it can float in the air and survive on surfaces after a child with measles is in a room.

NHS England was established in 2013 as part of Andrew Lansley’s health service reforms.

The body was tasked with overseeing the day-to-day running of the health service.

But Lansley 's changes have been widely seen as a failure.

Wes Streeting will now take charge, as it becomes subsumed by the Department of Health and Social Care .

Utah will become the first state in the nation to ban the addition of fluoride to public drinking water.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , the figurehead of the MAHA movement, has routinely spoken out against the practice of fluoridation.

RFK Jr. has highlighted other studies and a ruling from an Obama -appointed federal judge back in October that said fluoride in drinking water presents an “unreasonable risk”.

Bob is kind, cuddly, stubborn and wilful, even people who don’t like rats are moved by him.

Bob adores two things: his wheel, and me, and I think he’s my kid and he thinks I’m his too.

The animals who live in our home are little scraps of a universe and natural world so much larger, and more complicated, than us.

- Joseph Earp is a critic, painter and novelist. His book Painting Portraits of Everyone I’ve Ever Dated will be published by Pantera Press in 2025 .