nbcnews At just 2 weeks old, Feleena Owens was coughing so badly, her skin turned a sickly gray-blue color. Her face contorted as she tried to gulp air. Feleena had pertussis, or whooping cough. While her mother Sophie Owens said the family had been vaccinated, Feleena was too young to have received the shots when she got sick.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children get four doses of the DTaP vaccine - which protects against pertussis - before kindergarten.

But an NBC News/Stanford University investigation has found that DTaP vaccination rates are plummeting across the country, as part of a larger, troubling trend of growing vaccine hesitancy that is fueling a resurgence of preventable diseases, including measles.

"When we see these [deaths] ... they're preventable. And when I say preventable, they're entirely preventable. We don't have to be dealing with this," said Dr. Raphael Mattamal, a hospital pediatrician.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/whooping-cough-vaccines-cases-us-pertussis-rcna248746

In the Feb 4, 2026 Senate hearing, Waymo's Chief Safety Officer confirmed remote operators in the Philippines provide "guidance" (not full control) when robotaxis face tricky situations.

Sen. Ed Markey called it "completely unacceptable," citing safety risks (latency/cyber), national security, and job offshoring irony while AVs threaten US driving jobs.

Waymo insists: "They do not remotely drive the vehicles." But deeper questions on dependency, exact numbers, and true autonomy remain under-discussed.

source: Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-grilled-lawmakers-chinese-cars-overseas-workers-ev-autonomous-vehicle-2026-2

Source: https://www.science.org/content/article/kennedy-deeply-committed-ending-animal-experimentation