The Short List

Sat Apr 22 2023

John Riley | Audience Editor

⏰Good morning, friends of The Short List weekend edition!✨ I'm John Riley, newsletter editor, and I hope you'll enjoy this carefully-curated batch of stories you might have missed.

🔵 But first, a key Supreme Court ruling: The high court on Friday allowed full access to the abortion pill mifepristone , resolving for now a huge and fast moving conflict over the drug while the underlying lawsuit is decided. The decision means various restrictions will not be imposed and the drug, the most common method to terminate a pregnancy in the U.S., will remain available as it was before a series of court orders limiting access to it.

•	Is mifepristone safe? The major abortion pill is 'safer than Tylenol,' experts say, amid the ongoing court battle.

☄️ Also, Don't miss the meteors. Spring's Lyrid meteor showers will peak this weekend, NASA says. Here's a visual guide on where, when and how to view them.

And now, here are the week's must-read stories.

🔵 Missing kids: Will the police help? Around the country, classification as a runaway often means police put less effort into looking for a missing child, according to a USA TODAY review of more than 50 police procedural manuals. Under federal rules, runaways also are disqualified from Amber Alerts – notifications to the media and on billboards and cellphones that draw urgent and widespread attention to missing children. Read more

•	Age matters: In some cities, any child over 10 is on their own
•	Amber Alerts: Rules for alerts are strict and often confusing
•	Read the series: What happens when a child disappears in America?

🔴Sudden deaths in youth sports: Sudden death in high school sports is not a rare occurrence. In the last 10 years, at least 200 students have died playing high school sports – and that's a conservative estimate. The Louisville Courier-Journal found that most states don't have stringent policies in place to protect young athletes; that schools cite costs in failing to provide life-saving equipment; and that legislation to make athletics safer is routinely defeated or watered down. Read more

•	Cost of safety: While lawmakers haggled, young athletes died
•	Emergency planning: Most Kentucky public schools don't follow law, leaving athletes at risk

There's some good news out there, too.

⚕️ Cutting-edge cancer research: Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease. Still, scientists are making progress in cancer treatment and research. USA TODAY picked three exciting ideas – involving radiation, tumor surgery and new insights into the nervous system – that seem to have the potential to transform cancer treatment and patients' lives. Read more