内容摘要：This image shows an exterior view of the Manoa Heritage Center in Honolulu, founded in 1996 by Sam and Mary Cooke in 1996. (Kristina Linnea Garcia via AP)

This image shows an exterior view of the Manoa Heritage Center in Honolulu, founded in 1996 by Sam and Mary Cooke in 1996. (Kristina Linnea Garcia via AP)

Denise Jones, who enrolled in Healthy Start in February, has struggled with anxiety, depression and drug addiction, but has been sober since April.In mid-July, baby items filled her room — a crib, a bassinet, tiny clothes hanging neatly in a closet — in anticipation of her child’s arrival. Jones, 32, flipped through a baby book, pointing to a sonogram of her son Levi, who would be born within a couple of weeks.

She said she feels healthy and blessed by the help she’s gotten from Healthy Start and Madonna House, a transitional living program run by Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma.“I have professionals that are working with me and give me support. I didn’t have that with my other pregnancies,” she said. “I’m at one with my baby and I’m able to focus.”Associated Press data journalist Nicky Forster in New York contributed to this report.

This is the second story in a two-part series examining how the United States could curb deaths from pregnancy and childbirth.The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Across the U.S., programs at all levels of government — federal, state and local — are striving to reduce maternal mortality and erase the racial gap.

Many are making headway in their communities and paving the way for other places.Her ex-husband and brother were abducted from

in southern Israel and killed. She thought her beloved pet had suffered the same fate. So when a soldier called the family on Tuesday night, telling them that Billie had been found alive in Gaza, it was hard to believe.Billie, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, rests in Binyamina, Israel, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Israeli soldiers found Billie in the Gaza Strip 18 months after she disappeared during Hamas’ attack on Nir Oz in Binyamina, Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Billie, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, rests in Binyamina, Israel, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Israeli soldiers found Billie in the Gaza Strip 18 months after she disappeared during Hamas’ attack on Nir Oz in Binyamina, Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)“It’s a miracle,” Dancyg told The Associated Press on Wednesday, hours after being reunited with her now 3 1/2-year old Cavalier King Charles spaniel. “It doesn’t make sense ... People didn’t survive. How did she?”