内容摘要：Anne D’Innocenzio stands by her family piano at her childhood home in suburban New Jersey, on April 3, 2023, hours before movers came to take it away to its new owner. (Courtesy Anne D’Innocenzio via AP)

Anne D’Innocenzio stands by her family piano at her childhood home in suburban New Jersey, on April 3, 2023, hours before movers came to take it away to its new owner. (Courtesy Anne D’Innocenzio via AP)

Just outside a Charlotte, North Carolina, high school in March, nurse Kim Cristino set out five vaccines as a 17-year-old girl in ripped jeans stepped onto a health department van. The patient barely flinched as Cristino gave her three shots in one arm and two in the other to prevent diseases including measles, diphtheria and polio.Like many other teens that morning, the girl was getting some shots years later than recommended. The clinic’s appearance at Independence High School gave her a convenient way to get up to date.

A student receives a vaccination inside a mobile health unit visiting Independence High School in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)A student receives a vaccination inside a mobile health unit visiting Independence High School in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)“It lessens the barriers for parents who would have to be taking off from work and trying to get their kids to a provider,” Cristino said.

The vaccinations also help the community around her. The teen won’t come down with a life-threatening disease and the whole community is protected from outbreaks — if enough people are vaccinated.The Mecklenburg County department, with “Protecting and Promoting the Public’s Health” emblazoned on its van, is similar to other U.S. health departments. They run programs to reduce suicides and drug overdoses, improve prenatal health and help people stop smoking. They educate people about health and test for and treat diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis. Some, including Mecklenburg, operate medical and dental clinics too.

“You come to work every day and think: What’s going to be my challenge today? Sometimes it’s a new disease,” said Raynard Washington, Mecklenburg’s director. “That’s why having a backbone infrastructure is so important.”

What they do is cost-effective, experts have found. For everyflag printed with the words “please walk on me” and laid on the floor of an art gallery has once again been packed away following public outcry, 30 years after protests forced the removal of the same artwork.

The Suter Art Gallery in the city of Nelson said Thursday it had taken down the work by Māori artist Diane Prince due to escalating tensions and safety fears. The episode mirrored an Auckland gallery’s removal of the work amid public backlash and complaints to law enforcement in 1995.This time, the flag was meant to remain on display for five months. Instead, it lasted just 19 days, reigniting long-running debates in New Zealand over artistic expression, national symbols and the country’s colonial history.

Police told The Associated Press on Friday that officers were investigating “several” complaints about the exhibition.The piece, titled Flagging the Future, is a cloth New Zealand flag displayed on the floor with the words “please walk on me” stenciled across it. The flag features the British Union Jack and red stars on a blue background.