(NEW YORK) — A coroner’s office in Pennsylvania reported a measles-related death of a 40-year-old unvaccinated woman on Sunday, which comes amid a growing outbreak in the state.

“A 40-year-old female resident of Jefferson County died on Saturday, September 12, 2026, from complications associated with measles. Out of respect for the privacy of the deceased and her family, no additional identifying information will be released,” the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office said in a post on Facebook.

“This is a heartbreaking loss for the family and an unfortunate reminder that measles can be a serious and potentially life-threatening disease,” Coroner Greg Furlong said.

The person was unvaccinated against measles, Furlong confirmed to ABC News. 

The Pennsylvania Department of Health said they are investigating this death reported by the Jefferson County coroner in a statement provided to ABC News. 

As of Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has reported 676 measles cases in the state, with over 100 new cases reported over the last week. Of the cases, 124 have been hospitalized, and nearly all cases are among those unvaccinated against the virus, according to data from the health department. 

The number of measles-associated deaths reported by Pennsylvania officials has been disputed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in recent weeks. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not reported any measles deaths in 2026 on its website, last updated on Friday, while the PA Department of Health has previously reported two measles-associated deaths linked to this outbreak.

CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz said in a statement that the agency has not yet been notified of this most recent death reported in Jefferson County. 

“CDC was not notified by Pennsylvania officials of this death,” Schwartz said. “Despite repeated offers of assistance, Pennsylvania has not requested a CDC Epi-Aid, which would deploy epidemiologists and provide on-the-ground measles outbreak support.”

In late August, Pennsylvania’s top health official, Dr Debra Bogen, had said her staff was having “regular meetings with professional staff at the CDC” in a post on X responding to health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saying her department had “refused to share information” with the CDC after the first two measles-associated deaths in the state were announced.

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(WASHINGTON) — Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding could face a major shake-up at the end of September unless Congress passes a resolution to delay major changes included in H.R. 1, commonly known as the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

Starting Oct. 1, states will have to pick up 75% of the administrative costs of running the program, with the funding burden of providing benefits to participants set to shift from the federal to state level over the next few years.

State and national food assistance groups are calling on Congress to pass a resolution delaying the implementation of this cost shift, to give states more time to prepare for the bigger bill.

The federal food assistance program faced a funding lapse last fall, and experts are now warning of an uncertain future.

Nationwide, roughly 5 million Americans have lost access to SNAP since the Republican-backed budget bill became law, including more than 1.5 million children, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Much of the decline can be attributed to changes in work requirements and administrative hurdles in applying, coupled with a major cost shift that states will have to bear if they want SNAP to remain fully funded, Dottie Rosenbaum, director of federal SNAP policy at the CBPP, told ABC News.

Under the law, the upper age limit for able-bodied adults without dependents who must meet work requirements was raised from 54 to 64.

Additionally, exemptions were changed for parents and other family members responsible for a dependent, lowering the qualifying age from 18 to 14.

“The declines we’re seeing in SNAP participation so far are far deeper and far faster than the Congressional Budget Office predicted at the time the law was enacted, and it’s especially alarming that more than one and a half million children have been cut,” Rosenbaum said.

“We’re hearing increasing reports … of people struggling to put food on the table, of people facing untenable choices between, you know, paying their rent and buying groceries and other essentials, putting gas in their cars,” Rosenbaum added.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the impact of the new work requirements. The administration has publicly supported the idea in the past.

“The American dream is not being on [a] food stamp program. … The American dream is not being on all these programs. That should be a hand up, not a handout,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in an interview on Fox Business in January.

Alongside the new work requirements, the budget outlined a major shift in costs from the federal government to the states.

Beyond each state’s responsibility to pay 75% of SNAP’s administrative costs starting in October, states are set to pay a percentage of the benefit costs tied to its error rate in the coming years.

The error rate measures underpayments and overpayments, resulting in mandatory additional payments ranging from 5% to 15% for most states.

Impacts already seen

In Arizona, the state “took immediate action on error reduction efforts after H.R. 1 became law,” the Arizona Dept. of Economic Security said. This included expanding documentation requirements, establishing a preauthorization review process and continuous income monitoring. More than 400,000 SNAP recipients lost access to the program thereafter, according to the CBPP.

“Which meant that the number of people visiting food banks increased by about the same amount,” Terri Shoemaker, executive vice president of the Arizona Food Bank Network, said, crediting the state’s changes in SNAP for the substantial drop in participation.

“We know that [the Arizona Department of Economic Security] is trying to get its arms around accuracy and reporting, but at the same time, we also know that there are people who were impacted by those changes who shouldn’t have been,” Shoemaker said.

When the changes began in Arizona, Shoemaker said, communities rallied to donate food to people who had lost access to SNAP. Still, she added, the response is not sustainable.

“For every one meal that Arizona food banks provide for families, SNAP usually provides about five,” Shoemaker said. “Nationally, that statistic is more like one [meal from food banks] for every nine [meals from SNAP]. But if you think about that and food banks trying to fill that gap, it’s just a scale and scope that is so vast that food banks are going to have a hard time keeping up.”

In neighboring New Mexico, the impact can also be seen.

“Find out where your food bank distributes food and check out the length of a line,” said Jill Dixon, the executive director of the Food Depot — a collection of food banks covering northern New Mexico. “We have one in front of our building on the first and third Thursday of every month. That line usually extends over a mile and a half by the time it opens at 7 a.m.”

The Food Depot distributed more than 8 million meals across much of New Mexico in 2025.

“These are people. They’re not lines. It’s not boxes of food. It’s not anonymous. It’s deeply personal, and it’s right at the center of our community,” Dixon said.

“We’re going to see some hard times ahead,” she added. “Long term, we really have a reckoning of how we’re going to go about making sure that people are fed in a moment when it is incredibly hard to make ends meet.”

Predominantly Republican states hit

In predominantly Republican states, the impact is similar. Louisiana has seen the second largest per-capita decline, with 21% of the state’s SNAP recipients no longer having access to SNAP according to the CBPP.

Food Bank of North Central Arkansas CEO Jeff Quick said his state is facing a burden too large to bear without major changes. “We will never be able to food bank our way out of food insecurity,” Quick said.

“At best, I think we may be unprepared or unable to cover the cost to continue SNAP in Arkansas, and again, if that worst-case scenario were to happen, it could have an estimated $1.2 billion negative economic impact on our state,” he added.

Quick also said work requirements have hit harder in Arkansas, adding that a worker earning the state’s $11-an-hour minimum wage may still be ineligible for SNAP benefits.

“We don’t want to see anyone go hungry, and regardless of who you are or how you vote or how you legislate, we’re all on the same path,” Quick said. “We got to put great minds together around common causes to find solutions to hunger.”

The White House did not comment on whether the administration supports delaying the cost shift.

What’s next?

Food bank organizations at the state and national levels are asking Congress to pass a resolution delaying the cost shift and allowing states more time to lower their error rates before taking on the additional costs.

“States need more time,” Rosenbaum said. “They need more time to work to lower their error rate and improve their payment accuracy in a way that doesn’t limit access to benefits.”

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman released a version of the farm bill that would delay the cost shift of SNAP, though it has not advanced through the opposite chamber.

Lawmakers return to Washington from August recess on Sept. 14.

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(NEW YORK) — A 15-year-old boy survived atop a fishing vessel after it capsized in frigid waters off the coast of Alaska, while his two crew members died, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard pilot who spotted the lone survivor sitting atop the overturned boat in the Bering Sea called the rescue an “emotional roller coaster” in an interview with ABC News on Thursday.

“We are beyond excited and beyond grateful that we found him, and at the same time, we are overwhelmingly remorseful that we didn’t find the other two in time,” Lt. Cmdr. Jonathon Resch told ABC News correspondent Trevor Ault.

The 18-foot fishing vessel had departed Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island on Friday and was due back early Sunday, according to the Coast Guard. It was reported overdue Sunday night, prompting the search and rescue effort.

Due to weather conditions, the Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircrew wasn’t able to begin the search until Monday, according to the Coast Guard.

Resch spotted the teen sitting on top of the skiff Monday morning approximately 4 miles from St. Lawrence Island, calling it “nothing short of miraculous.”

“People don’t survive those scenarios,” he said. “People don’t flip boats and survive nights. They don’t do it in warm water, let alone in water that’s, you know, 40 degrees.”

The Coast Guard coordinated the rescue with a nearby good Samaritan vessel, Northwest Explorer.

The aircrew dropped flares and life rafts in the water to increase the visibility of the teen’s overturned boat while waiting for the Northwest Explorer to arrive, Resch said.

“That’s another miracle in itself,” Resch said of the boat rescue.

Video of the rescue showed the teen kneeling on the overturned skiff as he’s reeled in with a heaving line and then brought aboard the Northwest Explorer fishing vessel.

The 15-year-old survivor had symptoms of hypothermia, the Coast Guard said. The two deceased boaters were recovered from the water and transported along with the survivor to Nome.

The Coast Guard has not released the names of the deceased boaters or the survivor.

“Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and communities affected by the tragic loss of these two mariners,” Rear Adm. Bob Little, the commander of the Arctic District, said in a statement. “We are grateful for the incredible efforts of the motor vessel Northwest Explorer, Federal, State, Village first responders and mission partners who assisted in the effort that resulted in a life saved.”

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