ADDICTION

May 20 2026HEALTH

Springfield’s Addiction Help Faces Major Shift Without Detox Beds

Western Massachusetts is losing one of its few detox centers this week, as the Carlson Recovery Center moves away from round-the-clock medical care for severe withdrawal cases. Instead, it will focus on stabilization services—less intense but still supportive treatment for most people seeking recove

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May 19 2026FINANCE

Prediction Bets: Students, Money, and a Health Warning

A business major in Madison has turned his news‑reading hobby into a $110, 000 side hustle by betting on what will happen in elections and speeches. He is one of many who use online sites where people trade on real‑world outcomes, such as sports and politics. These platforms say they are not casinos

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May 17 2026SCIENCE

Mind Tricks Behind Endless Scrolling

When people keep scrolling through feeds, their brains are doing more than just mindlessly looking. Studies from the University of Bristol and the University at Buffalo show that those with better working memory – the part of our brain that helps us focus – actually pay less attention to each post a

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May 15 2026HEALTH

A Fresh Look at a Simple Drug‑Use Tracker in Taiwan

The Brief Addiction Monitor, or BAM, is a quick questionnaire that helps doctors keep tabs on people dealing with substance use disorders. Researchers wondered if this tool would work well outside the United States, so they translated it into Chinese and called it BAM‑Taiwan (BAM‑T). They tested

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May 07 2026POLITICS

Why cutting addiction research could backfire on America

The U. S. spends over $740 billion yearly dealing with alcohol and drug problems. Yet, in early 2025, two major federal programs got hit hard. One lost most of its staff while the other had hundreds of millions in research grants canceled. These programs used to track addiction trends and fund studi

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May 06 2026EDUCATION

Smartphones in Class: Do Language Students Really Need Them This Much?

A recent study looked at how often third-year English students in a Chinese university used their phones. They tracked app usage for two weeks and asked students about their habits. The results showed that students spent over 2, 500 hours combined on apps like WeChat and Douyin. Surprisingly, most s

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May 03 2026CRIME

What happens when everyday choices turn dangerous?

A young girl vanished decades ago, leaving her family searching for answers. Jennifer Sophia Marteliz was just seven when she disappeared from Tampa in 1982. Now, at 50, she’s still missing—her face updated in age-progressed photos, but her fate unknown. Meanwhile, a father in Virginia made a split-

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May 01 2026CRIME

Selina Barfield's Vanishing: A Family's Long Wait for Answers

In 2003, North Charleston saw the sudden disappearance of Selina Barfield, a 32-year-old woman known locally as Nina. She left behind her nine-year-old daughter, Katie, and a trail of unanswered questions. Selina struggled with addiction and lived a life that many in her community deemed risky. Her

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May 01 2026HEALTH

Yoga and meth addiction: a different kind of recovery experiment

Scientists wondered if something as simple as yoga could help people break free from methamphetamine. The drug doesn’t just affect the brain—it weakens the body’s ability to recover, makes users feel on edge all the time, and traps them in cycles of wanting more. Most treatments use medicine or talk

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Apr 30 2026SPORTS

The Gambling Trap in College Sports

Art Schlichter spent decades in the spotlight, but not for his football skills. Instead, his name kept popping up tied to scandals, fraud, and legal trouble. The reason? A gambling habit that started in his teens and ruined his career. He was once a top college quarterback, even leading Ohio State’s

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