A coalition of nonprofit groups and labor unions filed an emergency petition on Friday aimed at blocking the Federal Communications Commission's recent repeal of a decades-old rule that limited consolidation among television broadcasters, a move that would allow media conglomerates to seize even more control over local news stations. The…
Page H14From§Eachthe evening edition — 12 October 2026
A disease the United States certified gone in 2000 just confirmed a sixth death in Pennsylvania this year.
As it ran on the front
The certification died sometime between a coroner's desk in Franklin County and the federal register, though no agency has filed the date. It was called American measles elimination, issued in 2000 by the Centers for Disease Control on the finding that the virus no longer circulated here on its own. It was 26 years old. It is survived by the twenty-six years of public health budgets built on the assumption that it would hold. It was preceded in death by nothing anyone has yet called a death — nobody files paperwork on a status. They just stop telling the truth about it.
The first notice came September 15, when Pennsylvania reported two deaths in one statement, bringing the year's total to four, in a year already running the worst national measles death toll since 1992, the same week the governor began naming the federal health secretary out loud. A fifth death followed September 30, in Lancaster County, a resident who had not been vaccinated. By October 3 the state count stood at 977 cases across 39 counties, closing in on a thousand, 34 of them confirmed in the week before. Nothing in that span required a vote. The certification simply stopped being true somewhere between the fourth death and the fifth, on a date nobody recorded.…
…(cont) Saturday the 10th, a different vote happened in a different building: the Federal Communications Commission, 2 to 1, repealed the decades-old media ownership limit a coalition had just invoked to try to block a consolidation. Two votes beat one. That is not this obituary's subject, but it shares a week with it.
The court set no date to rule. Monday, two days after the commission's vote, the state's health department gave the court something to weigh against that doubt anyway: a sixth death, a 39-year-old Franklin County woman with several underlying conditions, measles treated, not survived. The coroner did not characterize anyone's doubts. The coroner released an advisory.
Call it penny-ante bookkeeping: a certification earned in 2000, spent down to zero without a single line item. The number is not the obituary. The status was.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks whoever still holds the authority to say the word "eliminated" to use it honestly, one way or the other, before a seventh name is added to a count somebody keeps insisting isn't real.
“Two boards met this month and both decided the rule that was working had to go — the ownership cap that was stopping a merger, and apparently the whole idea that measles stays dead. Nobody voted to bring the disease back; they just stopped funding the thing that kept it gone, and six people paid for that arithmetic. The stations get bigger, the case count gets bigger, and the guy who's supposed to track both keeps telling you the numbers aren't real.”
“Look, the secretary isn't saying people aren't dying, they're raising legitimate questions about how the case data gets counted — that's just rigorous oversight, that's — did I say the deaths "aren't real"? That doesn't sound like me, strike that. What I mean is, the rollback is currently before an appeals court, which is exactly how the system is supposed to work, so really this is a win for process. Moving on.”
Earlier in this story
The receipts
The US declared measles eliminated in 2000. The last two years carry more cases than the rest of the century combined - the worst count since 1991. The Hill / CDC measles data, July 2026
Pennsylvania reports sixth measles deathPennsylvania authorities on Monday confirmed the state's sixth death connected to a measles case as the state deals with the highest number of cases nationally. The Franklin County Coroner released an advisory on Monday stating a 39-year-old woman with "several underlying conditions" died following a recent measles diagnosis that had…
‘ABC deleted this article in less than 24 hours because it’s false’
ABC News issued an editor's note admitting errors in its report on Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump's investments tied to Pentagon contracts.
· Pennsylvania reports two new measles deaths as Gov. Josh Shapiro blames RFK Jr. from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Pennsylvania reports teen as fourth measles death amid feud with RFK Jr. from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Pennsylvania nears 1,000 measles cases, state health department reports from the morgue, 3 Oct 2026
· Pennsylvania records fifth measles-related death this year from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· GOP senator calls for subpoenaing Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden over their business dealings from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· Republican senator calls for Don Jr. and Hunter Biden to be subpoenaed over business dealings from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· GOP Sen. John Curtis calls for Trump Jr., Hunter Biden investigations from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· Is Trump’s son-in-law and top negotiator a midterm liability for Republicans? from the morgue, 7 Oct 2026
· Companies Backed by Trump Sons Have Scored Over $6 Billion in Pentagon Contracts: Analysis from the morgue, 7 Oct 2026
· White House Claims in Court Filing That Press Coverage of Trump Is a 'Privilege,' Not a Right from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026
· 'Dangerous for Democracy': Paramount Merger Opponents File Emergency Motion to Fight Settlement Deal from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026
· Trump-Appointed Judge Orders President to Restore White House Access to CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026
· With Elon Musk’s Return to Washington, Possible Conflicts of Interest Resurface from the morgue, 3 Oct 2026
· Hegseth puts the future of warfare in the hands of major Maga donors from the morgue, 1 Oct 2026
· Pete Hegseth appoints Elon Musk to US taskforce on future of warfare from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
· Elon Musk boosts GOP spending advantage with return as 2026 juggernaut from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· An Elon Musk insider shares what he found in Washington — and it should terrify you from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· Trump Accord Enshrines Light-Touch Regulation of AI from the morgue, 3 Oct 2026
· Trump says tech CEOs signed ‘morally binding’ document to self-regulate artificial intelligence from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026
· READ IN FULL: Trump and tech leaders’ White House Accord on Super Intelligence from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026
· Soaring diesel prices take their toll on US farmers in midwest corn belt from the morgue, 3 Oct 2026
· Inflation Could Soon ‘Get a Lot More Painful’ as Trump’s Iran War Drives Diesel Over $6 a Gallon from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· 'Can't Message That Away': GOP Frets as Trump Administration Desperately Spins Record-High Diesel Prices from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
· 'Trump Did It!': At $5.85 a Gallon, Diesel Price Hits All-Time High in US Thanks to War on Iran from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· States take matters into their own hands to curb record-high diesel prices from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026
· U.N. experts say U.S. may have committed war crimes with 2 Iran strikes from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· Trump Says 'Big Decision' Coming on Whether to 'Annihilate' Iran from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026
· Pentagon No. 3 frustrates senators in closed-door briefing on Iran war, Trump defense strategy from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Senate Democrats, minus Fetterman, urge Hegseth to provide receipt for Iran war costs from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Hegseth on "devastation" to Iran's capabilities from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump admits Iran war will not end before midterms from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· Iran War Trump Said Would Be Quick Has Now Lasted 6 Months With 'No End In Sight' from the morgue, 28 Aug 2026
· CBO Finds Trump's Iran War Has Already Cost Nearly $40 Billion—And That's a 'Conservative' Estimate from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Tillis supports Hegseth impeachment resolution: 'He needs to go' from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026
· Massie Files Impeachment Articles Against Hegseth for Illegal Iran War, Boat Murders from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Massie launches effort to impeach Hegseth from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Tillis urges Trump to fire Hegseth over 'inept management' of military from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Tillis renews calls for Hegseth’s firing after Driscoll’s departure: ‘I have never witnessed more inept management’ from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Farmer who voted for Trump says farmers are "all just in survival mode" from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026
· Farmer who voted for Trump says "I can't stay in business" amid rising costs from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026
· Massie says he’s convinced enough Republicans to pass Epstein Files II discharge petition from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026
· Massie names Epstein 'coconspirators,' discusses new Epstein files legislation from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Read Thomas Massie’s eight impeachment charges against Pete Hegseth from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Fake Republican midterm convention site still redirects to Epstein files from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· Trump says he has a ‘big decision’ coming up on Iran: ‘Do I want to go in and annihilate them’ from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Fox News Poll: 71% think Trump administration lacks plan to end Iran war from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Iran recently downed at least 2 American drones, officials say from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Big Oil Stocks Surged Due to Iran War—and New Filings Show How President Trump Cashed In from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Live updates: Energy secretary downplays rising gas prices as US, Iran trade strikes from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· U.S. Strike on Iranian School May Have Been War Crime, U.N. Report Says from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· UN Inquiry Finds US Strike on Minab, Iran That Killed 123 Children Was War Crime from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· UN investigators conclude ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe certain US strikes in Iran were war crimes from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· UN Suspects US War Crimes in Iran from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· US Condemned for 'War Crimes' After Bombing of Wedding Party in Iran from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· US investigating if missile hit Iranian wedding ceremony, killing 4 from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Trump says he has a ‘big decision coming up’ on Iran from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· White House issues explosive response to UN-backed report claiming US committed war crimes against world’s No.1 sponsor of terror, Iran from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Human rights experts: 'Reasonable grounds' to believe US committed war crimes with Iran strikes from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· US Energy Consumers Have Spent $121 Billion Extra Since Trump Launched Iran War: Moody's from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Iran downed at least 2 American drones in recent days, U.S. officials say from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Iran: Account of US Air Force colonel's rescue 'fictional' from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Consumer Burden of Trump Iran War Exceeds $100 Billion as Oil Prices Pass $100 a Barrel from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· 'A Serious and Alarming Threat': US Bombing, Blockade Deepen Iran Medical Crisis from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· Consumer Confidence Hits Lowest Level in Months as US Faces 'Trump's Reckless Tariffs and War With Iran' from the morgue, 25 Aug 2026
· U.S. Air Force officer rescued from Iran speaks for the first time to 60 Minutes from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Rep. Thomas Massie forcing vote on Pete Hegseth's impeachment from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
· Did Johnson Just Adjourn Congress for 7 Weeks to Avoid Massie's Impeachment Articles Against Hegseth? from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
· The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Massie saying Johnson is sending the House home early to prevent Hegseth impeachment from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
· ‘You’re Elected to Fight and Kill the Other Side’: How Congress Lost Its Way from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
· Army combat veteran challenging Mike Lawler calls Hegseth national security 'hazard,' backs impeachment from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· Former Air Force secretary says he 'couldn't serve' in Trump administration from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· Former Air Force secretary: Hegseth's Pentagon 'dysfunctional' from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· House Republicans split over leaving Washington early for campaign trail from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Since 2025, Trump Made More Stock Trades Than All 535 Congress Members Combined from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
· Fossil Fuel Advertising Contracts Hit Record High as Big Oil Pockets Billions From Iran War from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
· 'How are we gonna get through this?' Many Americans are struggling as prices rise from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
· Trump's Top Oil Stocks Have Made Him Up to $4.4 Million Richer During Iran War: Analysis from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· Gas prices reach Labor Day high amid Iran war from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Trump Hammered Over Iran War That Drove Gas Prices Above $4 Per Gallon Every Day in August for First Time Ever from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· Warsh under pressure as Fed weighs rate hike from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Inflation held at 3.4% in August in consumer price index, creating tough choice for Warsh Fed from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.