Contraceptive Access Maps, AgInsights, World Cinema Atlas, more: sunday ResearchBuzz, September 20, 2026. NEW RESOURCES Guttmacher Institute: Power to Decide and the Guttmacher Institute Launch New Interactive Resource Revealing the Gaps in Contraceptive Access Across the United States. "Today, Power to Decide and the Guttmacher Institute launched the Contraceptive Access Maps - a new interactive tool that depicts county-level alignment between women's* self-defined contraceptive needs and clinic-based service availability. Where need and availability are misaligned, the county is considered to have a contraceptive access gap." USDA: USDA NASS Modernizes Data Visualization with Launch of AgInsights. "AgInsights integrates tabular data, charts, and maps into a single web-based interface, providing a comprehensive and interactive way to explore data, which was previously spread across different formats. Users can access comprehensive tabular data views similar to traditional PDF reports, but with added interactivity, making it easier to analyze and compare data." New-to-me, from Maps Mania: World Cinema Atlas. "World Cinema Atlas is an interactive globe featuring 170,000 films and TV series, each placed on the map according to where their stories take place. Zoom in on the globe and the lights turn into movie posters, revealing the films and series set in the locations you are exploring." TWEAKS AND UPDATES Reuters: US judge signals rejection of part of TikTok privacy settlement. "TikTok and ByteDance's proposed $400 million settlement with the US Justice Department hit a hurdle on Friday after a federal judge indicated he would reject part of the agreement. TikTok and its Chinese parent company agreed in August to settle allegations that the short-video app violated US children's online privacy laws. Breaking Belize News: Belize National Library Service and Information System and Amandala sign agreement to preserve and digitize Belize's Documentary Heritage. "The Belize National Library Service and Information System (BNLSIS) and The Amandala Newspaper have signed a Digitization and Public Access Agreement aimed at preserving and expanding access to the newspaper's historic records. The agreement, signed on September 8, 2026, will allow historical issues held at the National Heritage Library to be digitized and made more accessible for research, education and historical reference." The City Reporter: NYC Schools Restrict YouTube Use by Students Amid Screen Time Crackdown. "New York City is ratcheting up restrictions on students' access to YouTube on school-issued devices, education officials told City Council members on Tuesday. The disclosure came just one day after Councilmembers Shekar Krishnan and Eric Dinowitz called on the city's Education Department to restrict the video-sharing platform in schools, among other demands to restrict classroom technology." SECURITY & LEGAL Associated Press: Telehealth companies keep exposing their customers' medical data. What should they do?. "Since the COVID-19 pandemic, scores of online health services have launched with the promise of quick, convenient access to drugs for ADHD, sexual dysfunction, anxiety, weight loss and more. Increasingly, though, government regulators are accusing these companies of deceptive, unethical business practices, including disclosing their customers' health data, signing them up for hard-to-cancel subscriptions and bypassing real-time consultations with doctors." dpa: German intelligence sees rise in Russia-linked disinformation on Merz. "German intelligence has recorded a rise in disinformation spread about Chancellor Friedrich Merz that is believed to be linked to Russia, according to a media report published on Wednesday." Wall Street Journal: Polymarket's Rush to Grow Left a Door Wide Open For Fraudsters. "Polymarket is doing everything in its power to woo new users and investors. In the process, said current and former employees and investors interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the highflying company has struggled with compliance failures, legal challenges and software blunders. Rates of fraud remained elevated for months after the February attack, people familiar with the matter said, though they didn't again reach 80%. In the wake of the incident, executives left and an internal investigation began." RESEARCH & OPINION Euronews: Thousands of suspicious accounts followed Swedish political voices, researchers say. "More than 8,500 X accounts were identified as suspicious in the run-up to Sweden's general election, in which the centre-left opposition secured a narrow preliminary lead." CT Mirror: Opinion: What I learned building a voter guide at 17. "I can't vote on November 3rd. I'm 17, a junior in high school. But the first ballot I ever saw was at North Street School in Greenwich, when my mom took me with her to vote. What I remember is her phone as she stood in the small booth, looking up the candidates one by one. What my mom needed that morning did exist. The voting records, campaign pages, local news stories are all available but scattered. I wanted to help and make it easier for people like her, so this summer I built Match2Vote, a free voter guide, paid for with earnings from my summer job." OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL How-To Geek: I 3D printed a vinyl record and it actually played music (barely). "Now, I want to make it very clear right away that I never had any illusions about a 3D printed record sounding good. I also never thought of it as some sort of way to "pirate" physical media. This project was purely about answering the simple question, 'can it be done?'" Good morning, Internet... This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren't! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you'd buy me an iced tea. Don't have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

Power to Decide, in partnership with the Guttmacher Institute, launches its new Contraceptive Access Maps! September 14, 2026 Power to Decide is launching the new Contraceptive Access Maps in partnership with the Guttmacher Institute. For nearly a decade, Power to Decide's Contraceptive Desert Map has helped advocates, policymakers, and researchers understand gaps in contraceptive access across the United States. But access to care has changed, the data available to measure it has improved, and its understanding of what meaningful access looks like has evolved. Its new Contraceptive Access Maps are a more rigorous, person-centered approach to measuring access to publicly funded contraceptive care. What the maps show. These maps showcase contraceptive access gaps, referring to a county where there are more women* in need of low- or no-cost contraceptive care than the clinics in the county can serve. New data from Power to Decide and Guttmacher shows that 21.4 million women of reproductive age in the U.S. in need of low- or no-cost contraception live in a county with a contraceptive access gap. Out of these 21.4 million women in need: * Almost 75% (15.7 million) live in a county with an extreme access gap - where service availability meets only 25% or less of the need. * Over 1 million live in a county without a single publicly funded health center offering any contraceptive care. * 1.9 million live in a county without access to a health center that offers the full range of birth control methods. What exactly has changed? Power to Decide has made changes to better showcase gaps in contraceptive access and to respond to concerns about terminology. Power to Decide heard from many of its partners that calling a county a contraceptive "desert" was both inaccurate and potentially stigmatizing. The term can imply that limited access to contraceptive care is naturally occurring rather than the result of policy decisions, funding limitations, and other structural factors. And - as Indigenous scholars have long said - deserts are thriving ecosystems, not wastelands. In response, we are bringing new language to our mapping work and retiring the term "contraceptive deserts." In addition to updating its language, Power to Decide has updated its data sources and methodology. The previous approach relied on a fixed clinic-to-population threshold (less than one clinic per 1,000 women in need) and an outdated definition of contraceptive need (at risk of unintended pregnancy). The new methodology instead estimates gaps, or alignment, in clinic service availability and the number of women in a county with a self-defined need for contraception who likely need public funding for this care. Power to Decide estimate service availability by calculating the average annual patient caseload that a publicly funded health center can serve, which varies by county and clinic type (Planned Parenthood, health department clinic, etc.). Power to Decide compare this to the number of women in a county with a self-defined need for contraception to get the level of access gap. Power to Decide has also opted to now include two views of access: * Alignment between availability of publicly funded health centers providing any contraceptive care and women's* need for this care. * Alignment between availability of publicly funded health centers that offer the full range of birth control methods and women's need for contraception. You can read more about each of the data source updates here. The change reflects a fundamental shift in how Power to Decide understand and measure contraceptive access. Power to Decide believe this new approach and the partnership with Guttmacher will bring more rigor to its maps and a compelling, accurate depiction of access to publicly funded contraception across the country. The Contraceptive Access Maps look quite different than its previous iterations. Importantly, because both the underlying data and methodology have changed, the Contraceptive Access Maps should not be interpreted as a continuation of the previous Contraceptive Desert Map. Differences between the two tools reflect methodological changes as much as - or more than - actual changes in access. While Power to Decide is proud of the improvements to this map, Power to Decide know it is only one way to look at access. It is important to be clear that this is a gap in access to publicly funded brick-and-mortar clinics. As with the previous maps, Power to Decide do not account for over-the-counter (OTC) methods, pharmacy provision, or telehealth. As with the previous maps, Power to Decide acknowledge that the presence of a clinic alone does not mean people have access to contraception, and other factors, such as lack of transportation, are still major barriers to access for many people. Finally, like most county-level measures, the maps cannot fully account for people traveling across county lines for care. Using data as the foundation for its work. The Contraceptive Access Maps are more than a new research tool. Power to Decide grounds its efforts in this data, and as reproductive health care programs face ongoing challenges, reliable data is more important than ever. Power to Decide hope these maps will help advocates, providers, researchers, and policymakers identify opportunities to strengthen access in communities across the country. The network of publicly funded health centers plays a critical role in helping people access contraception that aligns with their needs, preferences, and circumstances. Understanding where that network is strong - and where it falls short - is an essential first step toward ensuring everyone can get the care they need. Power to Decide remains committed to a future where every person has access to high-quality contraceptive care, no matter where they live, thanks to your support. The Contraceptive Access Maps help illuminate the path forward, giving Power to Decide the information Power to Decide need to focus resources, support communities, and close access gaps nationwide. *While Power to Decide use the term "women" to align with its data sources, which do not always collect information about sex or gender consistently, Power to Decide recognize that contraception is used by people with diverse gender identities. Every person, regardless of their sex or gender identity, deserves access to the contraceptive care that meets their needs and preferences. Where possible, Power to Decide use gender-inclusive language to represent cisgender women, transgender men, nonbinary people, and other gender diverse people who need and use contraception. September 16, 2026 New Contraceptive Access Map shows 21.4 million women in need of low- or no-cost care are living in a county with a contraceptive access gap. September 14, 2026 What do the new Contraceptive Access Maps mean for you or for access in your county? July 31, 2026 YouR HeAltH Survey shows these are some of the most common misconceptions around birth control.