tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-132605882024-03-19T01:47:02.689-07:00Little Bytes NewsPolitics to parenting and everything in between. Syndicated content from blog partners and other news sources.Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.comBlogger13103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-24452560423924720072024-03-18T09:17:00.005-07:002024-03-18T09:17:07.659-07:00She Survived a 5-Day-Long Late-Term Abortion That Was Supposed to Kill Her<p><span id="more-126813"></span>A survivor of a late-term abortion, Melissa Ohden, shared her story in an interview with <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/author/mary-margaret-olohan/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Daily Signal</a>.</p>
<p>“I survived a failed saline-infusion abortion,” Ohden told senior reporter Mary Margaret Olohan on Thursday, “about four years after [1973’s] <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/07/28/fact-checking-6-claims-about-life-after-roe-v-wade/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Roe v. Wade</a>.”</p>
<p>“The intent of that toxic salt solution was to poison and scald me to death,” she said. “It was the most common procedure back in the ’70s … [it] involved injecting a toxic salt solution into the amniotic fluid surrounding me in the womb.”</p>
<p>Ohden was born in 1977, during which 1.32 million abortions occurred in the United States, in the aftermath of the Roe V. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court that made abortion legal nationwide.</p>
<p>Elaborating upon the saline-infusion <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/03/08/bidens-big-abortion-lie-in-his-state-of-the-union-address/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">abortion process</a>, the survivor said, “It typically lasted about 72 hours. If the child was fortunate enough, their life was ended within about the first 24 hours.”</p>
<p>“I actually soaked in it for five days,” she said.</p>
<p>According to Ohden, her mother was 19 when she conceived her daughter. Ohden’s parents were engaged at the time. “Abortion was forced upon my birth mom,” she said.</p>
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<p>Referring to the <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/03/04/what-we-learn-from-democrats-failure-to-pass-an-extreme-abortion-bill/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">failed abortion</a>, Ohden said, “I now know that during those five days they started to think that my birth mom might lose her life, because the abortion was taking too long.”</p>
<p>“This is one of those stubborn facts,” she said, “that the abortion industry doesn’t like to talk about … . Abortion is intending to take a child’s life, and it puts the women’s life at risk as well.”</p>
<p>“On the fifth day of that abortion procedure, they induced her to labor,” Ohden said, “that’s when I was accidentally born alive.”</p>
<p>Reporter Olohan asked the abortion survivor: “How is it affecting your quality of life?”</p>
<p>“I am not who people think I am, and that’s OK,” Ohden responded. “Most of us, if you passed us on the street, you wouldn’t know the things that we’ve survived.”</p>
<p>“Most of us carry very <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2015/09/30/he-escaped-from-a-north-korean-prison-camp-now-hes-showing-the-world-his-torture-scars/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">internal scars</a> … the emotional, the mental, the spiritual,” she said.</p>
<p>Olohan asked, “As an abortion survivor, how do you feel when you see this kind of rhetoric, ‘This choice matters,’ or ‘It’s up to the woman’?”</p>
<p>“My greatest pain came from knowing what our culture said about abortion,” Ohden said.</p>
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<p><em>LifeNews Note: Mary Margaret Olohan writes for Daily Signal, where this article <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/03/15/i-survived-late-term-abortion-survivor-busts-lefts-abortion-myths/">originally appeared. </a></em></p>
<p><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-126814" src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/melissaohden39.png" alt="" width="609" height="375" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/melissaohden39.png 891w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/melissaohden39-243x150.png 243w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/melissaohden39-190x117.png 190w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/melissaohden39-150x92.png 150w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/melissaohden39-768x473.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 609px) 100vw, 609px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/2024/03/18/she-survived-a-5-day-long-late-term-abortion-that-was-supposed-to-kill-her/">She Survived a 5-Day-Long Late-Term Abortion That Was Supposed to Kill Her</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.lifenews.com">LifeNews.com</a>.</p>
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from LifeNews.com https://bit.ly/48YiBD5<br />
via syndicated with permission from<a href="https://lifenews.com">LifeNews</a>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-31084304504633486092024-03-18T09:17:00.003-07:002024-03-18T09:17:06.663-07:00Over 1,100 Pro-Life People Join Maryland March for Life to Protest Abortion<p><span id="more-126809"></span>Maryland Right to Life was proud to sponsor the <span class="il">Maryland</span> March for Life, held this past Monday, 3/11 in Annapolis. The march began from St. Mary’s Church and continued through the city to Lawyers Mall. A Youth Rally, as well as Catholic and Non-Denominational services were extremely well attended prior to the march. As is the cherished tradition by many who have attended the march for years, free Chick fil-a sandwiches were offered to registered attendees after the march.</p>
<p>Keynote speakers included Ryan Bomberger of the Radiance Foundation and Laura Bogley, Executive Director of <span class="il">Maryland</span> Right to Life, who provided a legislative update to the energized crowd.</p>
<p>For decades pro-life advocates have attended the <span class="il">Maryland</span> March for Life to stand for the sanctity of Life and to voice their opposition to extreme pro-abortion legislation and tax-payer abortion funding in <span class="il">Maryland</span>, where abortion through birth is state law. This year, attendees marched in opposition to the deadly so-called Right to “Reproductive Freedom” amendment. This NARAL endorsed legislation was defeated no less than three times before it was finally pushed through in the 2023 <span class="il">Maryland</span> General Assembly. The amendment will be a ballot question, with vague and misleading language in the November of 2024 election.</p>
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<p><span class="il">Maryland</span> Right to Life is continuing to implement strategies towards educating the public of the dangers of the deadly amendment. Our mission is to mobilize voters across <span class="il">Maryland</span> to reject this extreme attack on life and parental rights.</p>
<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-126810" src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/marylandmarchforlife2.png" alt="" width="601" height="340" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/marylandmarchforlife2.png 873w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/marylandmarchforlife2-265x150.png 265w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/marylandmarchforlife2-190x108.png 190w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/marylandmarchforlife2-150x85.png 150w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/marylandmarchforlife2-768x435.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 601px) 100vw, 601px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/2024/03/18/over-1100-pro-life-people-join-maryland-march-for-life-to-protest-abortion/">Over 1,100 Pro-Life People Join Maryland March for Life to Protest Abortion</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.lifenews.com">LifeNews.com</a>.</p>
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from LifeNews.com https://bit.ly/3vn3VQ4<br />
via syndicated with permission from<a href="https://lifenews.com">LifeNews</a>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-6746110584239441782024-03-18T09:17:00.001-07:002024-03-18T09:17:05.601-07:00Settlement Forces Virginia to Stop Making Churches and Pro-Life Groups Hire Non-Christians<p><span id="more-126808"></span>In settlement of a lawsuit that Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed on behalf of two Virginia churches, three Christian schools, and a pregnancy center network, Virginia officials have acknowledged that commonwealth law protects the religious organizations’ ability to operate consistent with their faith.</p>
<p>As part of the settlement agreement in <em>Calvary Road Baptist Church v. Miyares</em>, Virginia officials conceded that all of the ministries, as religious organizations, are free to only hire “individuals who profess and live according to religious beliefs held by [the ministries], including beliefs on abortion, marriage, sexuality, sex, and gender.” Further, Virginia officials agreed that commonwealth law protects the ministries from having to pay for or facilitate any gender dysphoria treatment that violates their religious teachings. Examples include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, so-called “sex reassignment” surgeries, or any other “gender transition” procedures.</p>
<p>“Religious organizations are free to operate their ministries without fear of government punishment, and Virginia’s law protects that foundational right,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “Our clients are motivated by their faith to offer spiritual guidance, education, pregnancy support, and athletic opportunities to their communities. The commonwealth must respect their right—just like anyone else’s—to continue operating by their own internal policies and codes of conduct about life, marriage, and sexuality.”</p>
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<p>ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit in September 2020 on behalf of Calvary Road Baptist Church, Community Fellowship Church, Community Christian Academy, and Care Net to challenge a Virginia law that forced nonprofit ministries to abandon their core convictions in hiring and other policies or face fines up to $100,000 for each violation.</p>
<p>The Virginia Values Act, enacted in July 2020, compelled churches, religious schools, and Christian ministries to hire employees who do not share their beliefs on marriage, sexuality, and gender identity—and even banned them from publishing their biblical beliefs on these topics. A companion law required the ministries and others like them to include in employee health care plans coverage for “sex reassignment” and “gender affirming” surgeries that run contrary to their beliefs. It also prohibited the ministries from offering sex-specific Bible studies and youth activities.</p>
<p>In light of the settlement, ADF attorneys filed a dismissal of the case with the Loudoun County Circuit Court Friday.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-67694" src="/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/judgepic14.jpg" alt="" width="563" height="375" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/judgepic14.jpg 555w, /wp-content/uploads/2014/09/judgepic14-150x100.jpg 150w, /wp-content/uploads/2014/09/judgepic14-225x150.jpg 225w, /wp-content/uploads/2014/09/judgepic14-190x126.jpg 190w" sizes="(max-width: 563px) 100vw, 563px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/2024/03/18/settlement-forces-virginia-to-stop-making-churches-and-pro-life-groups-hire-non-christians/">Settlement Forces Virginia to Stop Making Churches and Pro-Life Groups Hire Non-Christians</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.lifenews.com">LifeNews.com</a>.</p>
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from LifeNews.com https://bit.ly/4cm4Wsh<br />
via syndicated with permission from<a href="https://lifenews.com">LifeNews</a>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-24180769628003852432024-03-18T08:33:00.001-07:002024-03-18T08:33:06.123-07:00Profits over patients: For-profit nursing home chains are draining resources from care while shifting huge sums to owners’ pockets<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582294/original/file-20240315-20-7m2n83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C6000%2C3907&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" />
<figcaption><span class="caption">The for-profit nursing home sector is growing, and it places a premium on cost cutting and big profits, which has led to low staffing and patient neglect and mistreatment.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/february-2024-baden-w%C3%BCrttemberg-na-a-resident-of-a-nursing-news-photo/1985540302">picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption>
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<p>The care at Landmark of Louisville Rehabilitation and Nursing was abysmal when state inspectors filed their survey report of the Kentucky facility on July 3, 2021.</p>
<p>Residents <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24170104-landmark-nursing-070321#document/p72/a2407365">wandered the halls</a> in a facility that can house up to 250 people, yelling at each other and stealing blankets. One resident beat a roommate <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24170104-landmark-nursing-070321#document/p66/a2407364">with a stick</a>, causing bruising and skin tears. Another was found in bed with a broken finger and a bloody forehead <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24170104-landmark-nursing-070321#document/p55/a2407366">gash</a>. That person was allowed to roam and enter the beds of other residents. In another case, there was <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24170104-landmark-nursing-070321#document/p21/a2407367">sexual touching</a> in the dayroom between residents, according to the report.</p>
<p>Meals were served from filthy meal carts on plastic foam trays, and residents struggled to cut their food with dull plastic cutlery. Broken tiles lined showers, and a mysterious black gunk marred the floors. The director of housekeeping reported that the dining room was unsanitary. Overall, there was a critical lack of training, staff and <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-185122">supervision</a>.</p>
<p>The inspectors tagged Landmark as <a href="https://medicare.gov/care-compare/inspections/pdf/nursing-home/185122/health/standard?date=2021-07-03">deficient in 29 areas</a>, including six that put residents in immediate jeopardy of serious harm and three where actual harm was found. The issues were so severe that the government slapped Landmark with <a href="https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/details/nursing-home/185122?state=KY&measure=nursing-home-penalties">a fine of over US$319,000</a> − <a href="https://data.cms.gov/provider-data/dataset/g6vv-u9sr">more than 29 times the average</a> for a nursing home in 2021 − and suspended payments to the home from federal Medicaid and Medicare funds.</p>
<p>But problems persisted. Five months later, inspectors levied six additional deficiencies of immediate jeopardy − the highest level.</p>
<p>Landmark is just one of the 58 facilities run by parent company Infinity Healthcare Management across five states. The government issued penalties to the company almost 4½ times the national average, according to bimonthly data that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services first started to make available in late 2022. All told, Infinity paid <a href="https://data.cms.gov/quality-of-care/nursing-home-affiliated-entity-performance-measures/data">nearly $10 million in fines</a> since 2021, the highest among nursing home chains with fewer than 100 facilities.</p>
<p>Infinity Healthcare Management and its executives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.</p>
<h2>Race to the bottom</h2>
<p>Such <a href="https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/">sanctions are nothing new</a> for Infinity or other for-profit nursing home chains that have dominated an industry long known for cutting corners in pursuit of profits for private owners. But this race to the bottom to extract profits is accelerating, despite demands by <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-104813.pdf">government officials</a>, health care experts and advocacy groups to protect the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.</p>
<p>To uncover the reasons why, The Conversation delved into the nursing home industry, where for-profit facilities make up more than 72% of the nation’s nearly 14,900 facilities. The probe, which paired an academic expert with an investigative reporter, used the most recent government data on ownership, facility information and penalties, combined with <a href="https://data.cms.gov/quality-of-care/nursing-home-affiliated-entity-performance-measures/data">CMS data on affiliated entities</a> for nursing homes.</p>
<p>The investigation revealed an industry that places a premium on cost cutting and big profits, with low staffing and poor quality, often to the detriment of patient well-being. Operating under <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4541739">weak and poorly enforced regulations</a> with financially insignificant penalties, the for-profit sector fosters an environment where corners are frequently cut, compromising the quality of care and endangering patient health.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, owners make the facilities look less profitable by siphoning money from the homes through byzantine networks of interconnected corporations. Federal regulators have neglected the problem as <a href="https://theconsumervoice.org/news/detail/latest/new-report-nursing-homes-funnel-dollars-through-related-party-companies">each year likely billions of dollars are funneled</a> out of nursing homes through related parties and into owners’ pockets.</p>
<h2>More trouble at midsize</h2>
<p>Analyzing <a href="https://data.cms.gov/search">newly released government data</a>, our investigation found that these problems are most pronounced in nursing homes like Infinity − midsize chains that <a href="https://data.cms.gov/quality-of-care/nursing-home-affiliated-entity-performance-measures/data">operate between 11 and 100 facilities</a>. This subsection of the industry has higher average fines per home, lower overall quality ratings, and are more likely to be tagged with resident abuse compared with both the larger and smaller networks. Indeed, while such chains account for about 39% of all facilities, they operate 11 of the 15 most-fined facilities.</p>
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<p>With few impediments, private investors who own the midsize chains have swooped in to purchase underperforming homes, expanding their holdings even as larger chains divest and close facilities.</p>
<p>“They are really bad, but the names − we don’t know these names,” said Toby Edelman, senior policy attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a nonprofit law organization.</p>
<p>In response to The Conversation’s findings on nursing homes and request for an interview, a CMS spokesperson emailed <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24478510-nursing-home-information-request">a statement</a> that said the CMS is “unwavering in its commitment to improve safety and quality of care for the more than 1.2 million residents receiving care in Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes.”</p>
<p>“We support transparency and accountability,” the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, a trade organization representing the nursing home industry, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24475011-re-nursing-home-chains-and-cms-regulation-the-conversation-deadline-34-at-5pm-est">wrote in response</a> to The Conversation‘s request for comment. “But neither ownership nor line items on a budget sheet prove whether a nursing home is committed to its residents.”</p>
<h2>Ripe for abuse</h2>
<p>It often takes years to improve a poor nursing home − or <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/when-private-equity-takes-over-a-nursing-home">run one into the ground</a>. The analysis of midsize chains shows that most owners have been associated with their current facilities for less than eight years, making it difficult to separate operators who have taken long-term investments in resident care from those who are looking to quickly extract money and resources <a href="https://www.wpr.org/st-louis-nursing-home-closes-suddenly-prompting-wider-concerns-over-care">before closing them down or moving on</a>. These chains control roughly 41% of nursing home beds in the U.S., according to CMS’s provider data, making the lack of transparency especially ripe for abuse.</p>
<p>A churn of nursing home purchases even during the pandemic shows that investors view the sector as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.17288">highly profitable</a>, especially when staffing costs are kept low and fines for poor care can easily be covered by the money extracted from residents, their families and taxpayers.</p>
<p>A March 2024 study from Lehigh University and the University of California, Los Angeles also <a href="https://ucla.app.box.com/v/RelatedParties">shows that costs were inflated</a> when nursing home owners switched to contractors they controlled directly or indirectly. Overall, spending on real estate increased 20.4% and spending on management increased 24.6% when the businesses were affiliated, the research showed.</p>
<p>“This is the model of their care: They come in, they understaff and they make their money,” said Sam Brooks, director of public policy at the Consumer Voice, a national resident advocacy organization. “Then they multiply it over a series of different facilities.”</p>
<p><em>This is a condensed version of an article from The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/announcing-the-conversations-new-investigative-unit-were-looking-for-collaborators-in-academia-207394">investigative unit</a>. To find out more about the rise of for-profit nursing homes, financial trickery and what could make the nation’s most vulnerable citizens safer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-profit-nursing-homes-are-cutting-corners-on-safety-and-draining-resources-with-financial-shenanigans-especially-at-midsize-chains-that-dodge-public-scrutiny-225045">read the complete version</a>.</em></p>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225954/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Campbell is an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University and a contributing writer at the Garrison Project, an independent news organization that focuses on mass incarceration and criminal justice.</span></em></p>
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harrington is an advisory board member of the nonprofit Veteran's Health Policy Institute and a board member of the nonprofit Center for Health Information and Policy. Harrington served as an expert witness on nursing home litigation cases by residents against facilities owned or operated by Brius and Shlomo Rechnitz in the past and in 2022. She also served as an expert witness in a case against The Citadel Salisbury in North Carolina in 2021.</span></em></p>
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Sean Campbell, Investigative journalist, The Conversation from Home – The Conversation https://bit.ly/49UjNZn<br />
via <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/theconversation/analysisopinion">Syndicated with Permission of The Conversation</a>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-3475129322506622052024-03-18T07:38:00.001-07:002024-03-18T07:38:06.861-07:00Middle-aged Americans lonelier than European counterparts<div><img src="https://www.newswise.com/assets/new/img/newswise-logo-square.jpg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p>Newswise — Middle-aged adults in the U.S. tend to report significantly higher levels of loneliness than their European counterparts, possibly due in part to weaker family ties and greater income inequality, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. </p>
<p>“Loneliness is gaining attention globally as a public health issue because elevated loneliness increases one’s risk for depression, compromised immunity, chronic illness and mortality,” said lead author Frank Infurna, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University. “Our research illustrates that people feel lonelier in some countries than in others during middle age. It also sheds light on reasons this may be occurring and how governments can address it with better policies.”</p>
<p>The research was published in the journal <em>American Psychologist</em>.</p>
<p>Considering the increased public health focus in the United States (as evidenced by the surgeon general’s 2023 advisory on the epidemic of loneliness and isolation) and abroad (countries such as the United Kingdom and Japan have appointed ministers to address the problem), the researchers explored how loneliness has historically changed over time and how it differs across countries. </p>
<p>Infurna and his colleagues examined data from ongoing, nationally representative longitudinal surveys from the United States and 13 European countries, with more than 53,000 participants from three different generations (the Silent Generation, baby boomers and Generation X). Data were collected from 2002 to 2020 and only included responses given when participants were between the ages of 45 and 65. </p>
<p>“We focused on middle-aged adults because they form the backbone of society and empirical evidence demonstrates that U.S. midlife health is lagging other industrialized nations,” said Infurna. “Middle-aged adults carry much of society’s load by constituting most of the workforce, while simultaneously supporting the needs of younger and older generations in the family.”</p>
<p>Compared with European counterparts, adults in the U.S. reported significantly higher levels of loneliness. This "loneliness gap" widened with younger generations (late baby boomers and Generation X) reporting greater loneliness than older ones (early baby boomers and the Silent Generation).</p>
<p>While the U.S. showed consistent historical increases in midlife loneliness during the period data were collected, some European nations displayed more varied patterns. For instance, England and Mediterranean Europe demonstrated similar increases in loneliness for later-born participants (late baby boomers and Generation X). Continental and Nordic Europe demonstrated stable or even slightly declining levels across generations.</p>
<p>The study identified differences in cultural norms, socioeconomic influences and social safety nets between the U.S. and other European countries as potential explanations for the loneliness gap between the U.S. and Europe. Cultural norms in the U.S. are often characterized by individualism, increased social media use, declining social connections and increasing political polarization. The pressure faced by U.S. middle-aged adults is also further compounded by a higher residential mobility, weaker family ties, increasing job insecurity and income inequality. Additionally, social safety nets in the U.S. tend to be less comprehensive compared with some European nations regarding family leave, unemployment protection and childcare support.</p>
<p>“The cross-national differences observed in midlife loneliness should alert researchers and policymakers to better understand potential root causes that can foster loneliness and policy levers that can change or reverse such trends,” said Infurna. </p>
<p>The study also found that loneliness is generally on the rise compared with previous generations across both the U.S. and Europe, with Europe’s numbers only slightly behind those of the United States.</p>
<p>The researchers said that loneliness as a public health issue requires policy interventions tailored to national contexts and generational shifts, including promoting family and work benefits, and reducing income inequality. </p>
<p>Loneliness as a global public health issue has called attention to the importance of advancing social connections, according to Infurna. The study defends the promotion of social safety nets, through generous family and work policies, which may lessen midlife loneliness by reducing financial pressures and work-family conflict, in addition to strengthening job security and workplace flexibility. Infurna said such practices would also address health and gender inequities.</p>
<p>“The U.S. surgeon general advisory report coupled with nations appointing ministers of loneliness have shined a bright light on loneliness being a global public health issue,” he said. “As opposed to being considered an epidemic – an outbreak that spreads rapidly and affects many individuals – our findings paint a picture akin to loneliness being endemic, regularly occurring within an area or community.” </p>
<p><strong>Article:</strong> “<a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-amp0001322.pdf">Loneliness in Midlife: Historical Increases and Elevated Levels in the United States Compared With Europe</a>,” by Frank J. Infurna, PhD, Nutifafa E. Y. Dey, PhD, and Kevin J. Grimm, PhD, Arizona State University; Tita Gonzalez Avilés, PhD, Denis Gerstorf, PhD, Humboldt University Berlin; and Margie E. Lachman, PhD, Brandeis University. <em>American Psychologist</em>, published online March 18, 2024.</p>
<p>Frank J. Infurna, PhD, may be contacted via email at <a href="https://www.newswise.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6107080f0714130f00210012144f040514"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d8beb1b6beadaab6b998b9abadf6bdbcad">[email protected]</span></a> or through the <a href="https://www.newswise.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#dfbbbeadbbbab1b1ba9fbeacaaf1babbaa">Arizona State University press office</a>.</p>
<p><em>The <strong><a href="http://www.apa.org">American Psychological Association</a></strong>, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA’s membership includes over 157,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives.</em></p>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-28891198514046125922024-03-18T07:31:00.001-07:002024-03-18T07:31:45.455-07:00Wisconsin Attorney General Threatens Lawsuit to Promote Abortions Up to Birth<p><span id="more-126804"></span>Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has stated he will seek a broader state ruling on “women’s right to choose” if the state’s Supreme Court agrees to hear a highly anticipated case.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="e65ee17c-c245-432a-ab42-e36538963258">According to a local <a href="https://www.wpr.org/news/wisconsin-ag-hints-at-broader-abortion-lawsuit-if-state-supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-case" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>, Kaul’s promise to seek a broader state ruling on the “constitutionality” of abortion access came in the form of a petition made to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to hear a controversial abortion case last month.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="d2778732-3f4d-4824-812a-b24eddb59f85">The Attorney General requested in<a href="https://www.doj.state.wi.us/sites/default/files/news-media/2.27.24_Plaintiffs-Respondents_Supplemental_Petition_in_Support_Request_to_Bypass_Court_of_Appeals_0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> his February 27 petition</a> that the Supreme Court bypass the Court of Appeals to take the case. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has also said it would request that justices resolve broader constitutional questions.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="aa1a976c-5cd9-4f2d-8a75-a0cdc5b0f11d">“This is a topic that is going to come up in numerous cases in all likelihood in the years ahead. I believe it makes sense and will provide greater certainty sooner,” said Kaul in an interview, according to the report.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="4a710cc4-d39d-4d1b-b223-358357cb9313">Pro Life advocates from Thomas More Society and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty <a href="https://will-law.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Conditional-Motion-to-Intervene-or-File-Amicus-Brief-FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filed their own petition</a> in response to Kaul, describing his motion to bypass the Court of Appeals and determine constitutional issues as “procedurally improper, unnecessary,” and lacking in merit:</p>
<p><em><strong>SUPPORT LIFENEWS! If you want to help fight abortion, <a href="http://www.lifenews.com/donate/">please donate to LifeNews.com</a>!</strong></em></p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote" data-beyondwords-marker="8f5a6d3f-29a5-4556-a31a-9d12ee05fa40">
<p data-beyondwords-marker="6d1f9c03-906c-464d-908d-01b46bc00a4e">This Court should reject Attorney General Kaul’s and the Intervenors-Respondents’ attempt to add a claim on appeal that they did not raise when they filed this case, and that was never before the Circuit Court when it decided this case.</p>
</blockquote>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="22e00996-6b3d-4d40-bf66-e6aa05aea42d">The petition refers to a <a href="https://www.wpr.org/justice/attorney-general-josh-kaul-sues-block-wisconsins-abortion-ban" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lawsuit</a> filed by Kaul after the <em>Dobbs</em> decision in 2022 which argued that the state’s 19th century laws do not, in fact, prohibit abortion. The case won at the circuit court level after a judge determined the state’s laws pre existing <em>Roe v. Wade</em> did not expressly ban abortions.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="450e0188-6fd4-4907-a27d-6dc245d91555">The ruling was subsequently appealed by Republican District Attorney Joel Urmanski of Sheboygan County and is currently pending.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="450e0188-6fd4-4907-a27d-6dc245d91555"><em>LifeNews Note: Madalaine Elhabbal writes for CatholicVote, where this column <a href="https://catholicvote.org/wi-ag-kaul-abortion-state-constitution-supreme-court/?mkt_tok=NDI3LUxFUS0wNjYAAAGR7_FShQ5pmi4l22aX6Xh6Z0jnSzArh8QpBJ8dr-f4eJnxbcJXbvf10OPneyg2Z9sBKxgsxD0kwZdVwqrfdSgrBOU94fsSkODLNVBlpDSP">originally appeared.</a></em></p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="450e0188-6fd4-4907-a27d-6dc245d91555"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-126805" src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/joshkaul.png" alt="" width="598" height="336" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/joshkaul.png 659w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/joshkaul-267x150.png 267w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/joshkaul-190x107.png 190w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/joshkaul-150x84.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 598px) 100vw, 598px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/2024/03/18/wisconsin-attorney-general-threatens-lawsuit-to-promote-abortions-up-to-birth/">Wisconsin Attorney General Threatens Lawsuit to Promote Abortions Up to Birth</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.lifenews.com">LifeNews.com</a>.</p>
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from LifeNews.com https://bit.ly/3IIFjEC<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-15103795962271790502024-03-18T06:14:00.001-07:002024-03-18T06:14:00.694-07:00Biden and Trump, though old, are both likely to survive to the end of the next president’s term, demographers explain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581396/original/file-20240312-16-ug5e1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C4247%2C2965&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" />
<figcaption><span class="caption">Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are nearly twice the median age of the U.S. population.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2024ChinaUnitedStates/46152c599dd14340abc0595fca447682/photo">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3890">In a recent poll</a>, 67% of Americans surveyed believe that President Joe Biden, 81, is too old to serve another term as president. But only 41% of respondents said they feel that way about former President Donald Trump, who is 77. Both men have stumbled around and have forgotten or mixed up names and events, <a href="https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/memory-loss-and-forgetfulness/memory-problems-forgetfulness-and-aging">which are behaviors that characterize some older people</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jAfhO2YAAAAJ&hl=en">We</a> are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OBIxsGQAAAAJ&hl=en">demographers</a> – not <a href="https://www.salon.com/2024/02/23/dr-john-gartner-on-a-tale-of-two-brains-bidens-brain-is-aging-brain-is-dementing/">scholars of brain function</a> considering people’s cognitive abilities. But there is a question we can answer, one that speaks to concerns about both men’s ages: their life expectancy.</p>
<p>And it turns out that the four-year age difference between Biden and Trump isn’t really much of a difference when it comes to their respective odds of surviving. The statistical odds are good that both would complete a four-year term as president.</p>
<p>We know this because of one of the most versatile <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/population-and-society/5D47EB8139ED72FD59F7379F7D41B4FB">tools of demography</a>, which is called a life table. It’s a table of age groups, usually from 0 to 100 years, showing the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr72/nvsr72-12.pdf#page=14">percentages of the population at any age</a> surviving to a later age. It is based on the age-specific death rates of the population.</p>
<h2>Early record-keeping</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581391/original/file-20240312-28-kj30q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A table of figures representing births and deaths." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581391/original/file-20240312-28-kj30q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581391/original/file-20240312-28-kj30q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581391/original/file-20240312-28-kj30q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581391/original/file-20240312-28-kj30q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581391/original/file-20240312-28-kj30q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581391/original/file-20240312-28-kj30q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581391/original/file-20240312-28-kj30q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" /></a>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A bill of mortality for 1605 and 1606, by John Graunt, an early version of what is now known as a life table.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_of_Mortality_1606.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The life table dates back to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Graunt">John Graunt, a self-educated citizen of London</a> in the 17th century who is known by many as the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/population-and-society/references/35C31BCEC27E2B0448B160414E1893BF">founder of demography</a>. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41138862">In 1662, Graunt produced and distributed the first life table</a>, showing the probabilities of London’s population surviving from one age to the next.</p>
<p>There are two kinds of life tables. The first is a cohort life table, which represents the death rates and ages for a specific group of people. A cohort table could, for example, document the deaths of all males born in the U.S. in 1940. That table would be very precise, but it wouldn’t be complete until every member of the group had died – so it’s not especially useful for examining the prospects of the living.</p>
<p>As a result, demographers more often use life tables for a current time period, such as the year 2021, which is the date of the most <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr72/nvsr72-12.pdf">current period life table for the U.S.</a></p>
<p>It shows the probabilities of surviving from one age to another age based on the death rates in 2021.</p>
<h2>Statistical documentation</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr72/nvsr72-12.pdf">A period life table for 2021</a> indicates that almost 99% of all people born in the U.S. survive from age 0 to age 20; just over 95% of them survive to age 40, and over 85% to age 60. More than 51% of them live to age 80.</p>
<p>But life tables get much more specific. It’s important to examine life tables’ data for each age, race and gender combination. This is because males don’t live as long as females, Black people don’t live as long as white people, and non-Hispanic people don’t live as long as Hispanic people. There are more specialized life tables that focus on education level and income, but they are not as current and complete as the broader tables.</p>
<p>Biden and Trump are both non-Hispanic white men. Biden is 81 and Trump is 77.</p>
<p>Based on the age-specific death rates of non-Hispanic white men in the U.S. in 2021, Biden has a 92.9% probability of surviving at least to age 82. Trump has a 95.1% probability of surviving to at least age 78. These odds are nearly identical, so each man is very likely to be alive on Inauguration Day 2025, regardless of which of them is being sworn in as president.</p>
<p>What about finishing out that four-year term? <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr72/nvsr72-12.pdf#page=47">Our calculations from the life tables</a> reveal that there is a 63.3% probability that Biden will survive another five years – to at least 86. And there is a 73.6% probability for Trump to survive that period – to at least age 82. Of course, it’s possible either or both will die, but their odds of death are much lower than their odds of survival.</p>
<p>In general, the chances are a bit more favorable for Trump, because he is slightly younger.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581097/original/file-20240311-20-hc2ous.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A table of figures showing how many people of one age survive to a future age." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581097/original/file-20240311-20-hc2ous.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581097/original/file-20240311-20-hc2ous.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581097/original/file-20240311-20-hc2ous.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581097/original/file-20240311-20-hc2ous.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581097/original/file-20240311-20-hc2ous.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581097/original/file-20240311-20-hc2ous.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581097/original/file-20240311-20-hc2ous.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" /></a>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The 2021 life table for the U.S. is the most recent available.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr72/nvsr72-12.pdf#page=10">U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Precise calculations</h2>
<p>There are two factors that let us demographers get even more specific.</p>
<p>First, we measure age as exact years. Their age gap is not four years, but 3.5: <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/joseph-r-biden-jr">Biden was born on Nov. 20, 1942</a>, and <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/donald-j-trump">Trump on June 14, 1946</a>. That 10 percentage-point survival advantage for Trump over Biden was based on a four-year age difference. The real difference drops one or two points because they’re not quite so far apart in age.</p>
<p>Second, demographers have shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2648114">people who attend church regularly live longer</a> than those who don’t. This is not because of some divine favor but because churchgoers tend to have more optimistic attitudes, clearer senses of purpose and more regular social interactions and connections. All of these factors extend people’s lives. Biden is a Catholic and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2AC1X6/">attends Mass weekly, in general</a>. Trump was raised as a Presbyterian but now considers himself to be a “<a href="https://www.deseret.com/2023/10/22/23922731/biden-trump-faith-and-presidential-candidates/">nondenominational Christian</a>,” and he attends religious services very irregularly. So, Biden gets the survival advantage associated with churchgoing.</p>
<p>Other factors come into play with longevity as well, such as marital status, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10936-2">body mass index scores</a>, diets and levels of physical fitness and exercise.</p>
<h2>A comparison with the American people</h2>
<p>Biden and Trump are <a href="https://theconversation.com/candidates-aging-brains-are-factors-in-the-presidential-race-4-essential-reads-223419">two of the three oldest people</a> ever to serve as president. The population they are seeking to lead is also older than ever before.</p>
<p>The median age of the nation’s population was <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023/population-estimates-characteristics.html">38.9 in 2022</a> compared with <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1972/dec/pc-s1-10.html">28.1 in 1970</a> and just <a href="https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2000/phc/phc-t-09/tab07.pdf">16.7 in 1820</a>.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/opinion/biden-aging-america-population.html">Relative to the age of the population</a>, President Biden is no older than the country’s first presidents,” including Thomas Jefferson, wrote James Chappel, a scholar of aging and history at Duke University, in The New York Times. More recently, Reagan was older than the median American of his time than Biden and Trump are today.</p>
<p>At their second inaugurations, Jefferson was roughly 45 years older than the median age of the U.S. population then, and Reagan 43 years older. If Biden wins a second term, he will be 42 years older than today’s median. If Trump wins in 2024, he will be 38 years older than the current median.</p>
<p>As demographers, we can say it is likely that both Biden and Trump will be alive when the presidential term that begins in 2025 comes to an end in 2029. But as the U.S. population gets older too, the age factor may become less important to voters. This is not an immediate change, however, but one that will likely occur over the next decade or so.</p>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225153/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
<br />
<br />
Dudley L. Poston Jr., Professor of Sociology, Texas A&M University from Home – The Conversation https://bit.ly/43isqL3<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-18987477815497271732024-03-18T06:11:00.001-07:002024-03-18T06:11:46.232-07:00Donald Trump Pushes Abortion Legislation That Could Stop Abortions Up to Birth<p><span id="more-126803"></span>Former President Donald Trump talked about abortion on Sunday in an interview where he suggested he would push for abortion legislation that could get through Congress with the support of both Republicans and Democrats. While the political reality is that is an impossible task, Trump says he believes he can get both sides to agree on a bill, perhaps a 16-week abortion ban patterned after Europe’s laws.</p>
<p>There is essentially no compromise on abortion between pro-life Republicans who want to protect unborn babies and pro-abortion Democrats who want to kill them in abortions without limits and force taxpayers to fund ending human life. Ultimately, you can’t just kill half a baby.</p>
<p>The Dobbs decision, which finally allowed states to protect mothers and babies for the first time since Roe v. Wade in 1973, has created a patchwork of laws — where many red states protect unborn children starting at conception or a detectable heartbeat and blue states allow killing unborn children up to birth.</p>
<p>Trump has previously floated a 16-week ban that would allow pro-life states to continue protecting babies but at least offer some legal protection for unborn children in blue states — with federal law superseding their unlimited abortion agenda. Although he didn’t talk specifically about the 16-week ban this weekend, Trump referred to some sort of middle ground legislation in his new comments.</p>
<p>“Pretty soon, I’m going to be making a decision. And I would like to see if we could do that at all. I would like to see if we could make both sides happy,” Trump told Mediabuzz.</p>
<p>Trump said he would “sit down with both sides and negotiate a deal that everyone will be happy with.”</p>
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<p>But therein lies the rub. Radical pro-abortion Democrats like those in Congress will never settle for anything other than abortion on demand for 9 months. They have voted against a 20-week ban and won’t even support protecting babies who survive abortions from infanticide — which makes it incredibly unlikely that they would ever support such a bill.</p>
<p>Trump’s additional remarks almost make it clear that his attempt to find a compromise is meant to attract voters with a less stringent abortion position.</p>
<p>“If the Republicans spoke about it correctly, it never hurt me from the standpoint of elections. It hurt a lot of Republicans,” Trump said. “But I tell people, No. 1, you have to go with your heart. You have to go with your heart. But beyond that, you also have to get elected, and if you don’t have the three exceptions, I think it’s very, very hard to get elected.”</p>
<p>After the interview Trump’s campaign released an additional statement on abortion.</p>
<p>“President Trump appointed strong Constitutionalist federal judges and Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the decision back to the states, which others have tried to do for over 50 years,” campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.</p>
<p>During his prior term in office, <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/2020/08/11/president-donald-trump-the-most-pro-life-president-in-history/">Trump crafted the most pro-life record of any president in history</a>. His election would be a marked change from Biden, who is without a doubt the most pro-abortion president ever.</p>
<p><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-102912" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/donaldtrump134.png" alt="" width="612" height="412" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/donaldtrump134.png 758w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/03/donaldtrump134-223x150.png 223w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/03/donaldtrump134-190x128.png 190w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/03/donaldtrump134-150x101.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 612px) 100vw, 612px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/2024/03/18/donald-trump-pushes-abortion-legislation-that-could-stop-abortions-up-to-birth/">Donald Trump Pushes Abortion Legislation That Could Stop Abortions Up to Birth</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.lifenews.com">LifeNews.com</a>.</p>
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<p>Following a pivotal year in the movement to discard the term “excited delirium,” momentum is building in several states to ban the discredited medical diagnosis from death certificates, law enforcement training, police incident reports, and civil court testimony.</p>
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<p>In January, California <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/california-bans-controversial-excited-delirium-diagnosis/">became the first state</a> to prohibit the medical term from many official proceedings. Now, lawmakers in <a href="https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1103">Colorado</a>, <a href="https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=2033&year=2024">Hawaii</a>, <a href="https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?b=House&f=HF4118&ssn=0&y=2023">Minnesota</a>, and <a href="https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?bn=A09414&leg_video=">New York</a> are considering bills that also would rein in how the excited delirium concept is used.</p>
<p>The new spate of state proposals, driven by families who lost relatives after encounters with law enforcement, marks an important step in doing away with a concept that critics say spurs police to overuse lethal force.</p>
<p>“It’s the law following the science, which is what we want to see,” said <a href="https://phr.org/people/joanna-naples-mitchell/">Joanna Naples-Mitchell</a>, an attorney who worked on an influential <a href="https://phr.org/our-work/resources/excited-delirium/">Physicians for Human Rights review</a> of how the term excited delirium evolved into a concept whose legitimacy is largely rejected by the medical community.</p>
<p>But initial momentum in statehouses is being met with fresh resistance from law enforcement agencies and other defenders, including some who agree that excited delirium is a sham diagnosis.</p>
<p>The bills “clearly run afoul of the First Amendment” and violate free speech, said Bill Johnson, executive director of the <a href="https://www.napo.org/">National Association of Police Organizations</a>. He also argued that law enforcement officers do encounter symptoms and behaviors associated with excited delirium.</p>
<p>Excited delirium is a four-decade-old diagnostic theory that has been used to explain how a person experiencing severe agitation can suddenly die while being restrained. Last year, the American College of Emergency Physicians <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/excited-delirium-diagnosis-police-custody-deaths-emergency-doctors-renounce/">withdrew a 2009 report</a> that had been the last remaining official medical pillar of support for the theory <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/police-blame-some-deaths-on-excited-delirium-er-docs-consider-pulling-the-plug-on-the-term/">used increasingly</a> over the prior 15 years to explain away police culpability for many in-custody deaths.</p>
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<p>Excited delirium was cited as a legal defense in the 2020 deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis; Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York; and Angelo Quinto in Antioch, California, among others. The theory proposed that individuals in a mental health crisis, often under the influence of drugs or alcohol, can exhibit superhuman strength as police try to control them, then die suddenly from the condition, not the police response.</p>
<p>The New York City Police Department issued training materials in 2021 and 2022 that tell officers to restrain and stun people they encounter who exhibit signs of excited delirium, such as “elevated body temperatures, increased physical strength and lack of physical fatigue,” according to <a href="https://nysfocus.com/2023/12/12/new-york-police-nypd-excited-delirium">New York Focus</a>, a nonprofit newsroom. The NYPD did not respond to requests for comment on its training or the new state bill.</p>
<p>“They still have this on the books,” said Democratic New York state Assembly member <a href="https://nyassembly.gov/mem/Jessica-Gonzalez-Rojas">Jessica González-Rojas</a>, who introduced the bill that calls for banning the term from death certificates, autopsies, law enforcement training, incident reports, and court proceedings. “And it’s pretty concerning the types of restraints they are recommending, given lack of evidence that this is an actual medical syndrome.”</p>
<p>The Minneapolis Police Department, which according to the <a href="https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-police-still-teaching-excited-delirium-syndrome-despite-claiming-it-stopped/600146112/">Star Tribune</a> used the term in trainings, declined to comment on its training materials and the pending state legislation. That bill would prohibit excited delirium and similar terms from being cited as a cause of death, used as a medical diagnosis, or included in law enforcement training.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" width="2560" height="3840" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg" alt="A family portrait taken on the steps of a beige building decorated with a large clay sun. Sheldon Haleck stands in front, on the lowest step, with his brother, Anthony behind him; next is his mother, Verdell; and father, William, on the tallest step." class="wp-image-1825788" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg 2560w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=100,150 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=333,500 333w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=847,1270 847w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=270,405 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=120,180 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=170,255 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=300,450 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=500,750 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=315,473 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=630,945 630w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Haleck_02.jpg?resize=1200,1800 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sheldon Haleck (front) with his brother, Anthony; mother, Verdell; and father, William. The former Hawaii Air National Guardsman was 38 when he died after an encounter with police in 2015. His parents filed a civil lawsuit against the officers after his death, which the Halecks ultimately lost in large part due to an argument that he had died of “excited delirium.”<span class="photo-credit">(Aaron Reis)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the theory’s presence in training materials may also be starting to change. In Colorado — where the term was used, in part, to justify the 2019 killing of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/who-was-elijah-mcclain.html">Elijah McClain</a> in Aurora — a state board eliminated the term from law enforcement training starting this January. Law enforcement officers restrained the 23-year-old, and paramedics injected him with a lethal dose of ketamine.</p>
<p>This year, Colorado lawmakers are debating a measure that largely mirrors California’s bill but allows the term to remain in civil court proceedings.</p>
<p>At the bill’s hearing before the <a href="https://leg.colorado.gov/committees/judiciary/2024-regular-session-0">Colorado House Judiciary Committee</a> on Feb. 6, Rebecca De Luna described her family’s anguish over the <a href="https://www.9news.com/article/news/investigations/excited-delirium-deaths-colorado-autopsy-reports/73-e7406605-4a97-46b8-ac5a-624501fc74bc">2017 death</a> of her daughter’s father, Alejandro Gutierrez, in Thornton police custody. She said excited delirium was classified as the cause of his death.</p>
<p>“His face was bruised with an imprint of a shoe. His appearance was unrecognizable,” De Luna testified. “The term has been used far too long as an excuse for law enforcement to protect themselves when someone dies in their custody, quite frankly, as a result of excessive force and what I consider police brutality resulting in death.”</p>
<p>Several medical service providers and educators testified in opposition. <a href="https://www.du.edu/campussafety/content/ems-leadership">John Seward</a>, the University of Denver’s emergency medical services program manager, told the committee that he did not object to banning “excited delirium” in death certificates and police training, as police are not health professionals. But banning the term’s use from medical personnel training would amount to legislating medicine and impeding academic freedom, he said.</p>
<p>“If we cannot study and learn from the past, even when that past is hurtful, we are now condemning ourselves to repeat it,” Seward told lawmakers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.haddadandsherwin.com/julia-sherwin/">Julia Sherwin</a>, a California civil rights attorney who testified in support of the Colorado bill, was surprised by opponents’ arguments that such bills could limit free speech and discussion about the history of the idea.</p>
<p>“That to me felt a little ridiculous,” said Sherwin, who co-authored the Physicians for Human Rights report. Such bills keep a discredited theory from being falsely used to respond to a crisis and keep “junk science” out of official records, she said.</p>
<p>The Colorado bill passed the state’s House in a 42-19 vote in mid-February and is now before the state Senate. It was amended to clarify that “excited delirium” may be used when teaching about the history of the term and that EMS courses are allowed on “safe and effective medical interaction with individuals exhibiting an altered mental state” who have symptoms that include agitation, aggression, or violence.</p>
<p>Some of the push for such legislation comes from families whose loved ones’ deaths were blamed on excited delirium, rather than on use of force during a police encounter. The Hawaii bill was introduced after William and Verdell Haleck learned about California’s effort and began contacting lawmakers in Hawaii. Their son Sheldon died there in 2015 after he was pepper-sprayed, shocked, and restrained by Honolulu police. In a civil trial that the Halecks lost, officers blamed his death on excited delirium.</p>
<p>The Hawaii bill would ban excited delirium from being used in death certificates, police incident reports, and civil cases. It had not been scheduled for a legislative committee hearing as of mid-March, but the Halecks are hopeful it will eventually pass.</p>
<p>“It would give us some sort of closure and justice,” said William Haleck.</p>
<p>The Honolulu Police Department is monitoring the bill and hasn’t taken a position on it, said Michelle Yu, a spokesperson for the department. And the bill would have little impact on Honolulu’s Department of the Medical Examiner, said its director, Masahiko Kobayashi, because doctors there don’t use excited delirium as a cause of death.</p>
<p>One reason such bills are still important is because they prevent policies from fluctuating with each new leadership change, said <a href="https://www.stopspying.org/david-siffert-bio">David Siffert</a>, legal director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, which helped draft model legislation banning excited delirium and is pushing for the New York bill.</p>
<p>“Even if you are doing everything right, you don’t know if your successor will be,” Siffert said. “Historically we have seen those ups and downs in our agencies.”</p>
<p>Supporters of such state legislation say that banning the term excited delirium is just a first step toward reducing deaths in police custody.</p>
<p>“The underlying context doesn’t change with legislation alone,” Naples-Mitchell said. “It is going to take a very long time to address the root causes.”</p>
<p><em>Mountain States editor Matt Volz contributed to this article.</em></p>
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<p><span class="author-name">Renuka Rayasam:</span> <a href="mailto:rrayasam@kff.org">rrayasam@kff.org</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/renurayasam" target="_blank">@renurayasam</a></p>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-20313388490888868732024-03-17T13:18:00.001-07:002024-03-17T13:18:14.593-07:00Animal hair structure changes from summer to winter to fend off freezing weather<div><img src="https://www.newswise.com/legacy/image.php?image=/images/uploads/2024/03/06/65e898cbaca10_031724-animal-hair-hr.jpg&width=600&height=600" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p>Newswise — NEW ORLEANS, March 17, 2024 — Unique adaptations allow wild animals to survive temperature extremes that would quickly kill an unprotected human. For example, certain animals can withstand bitterly cold weather, thanks to the insulating properties of the hollow hairs that make up their coats. Little has been known about the hairs, but now, researchers have discovered that their inner structure changes with the seasons.</p>
<p>The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2024 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in person March 17-21; it features nearly 12,000 presentations on a range of science topics.</p>
<p>“With some animals, the coat looks different in summer and winter,” says Taylor Millett, who is carrying out the research. A snowshoe hare turns white in winter and brown in summer, for instance. “But in the animals we’re studying, we’ve found that it's not just the outer coloring of the hair that's changing. The inner microscopic details are also changing to allow these animals to continue surviving in their environment.”</p>
<p>Millett, an undergraduate student in the mechanical engineering program at Utah Tech University, is being mentored by Wendy Schatzberg, an associate chemistry professor, and Samuel Tobler, a physics professor. Cristina De La Vieja Medina is another undergraduate working on the project.</p>
<p>Schatzberg and Tobler teach undergraduate students to use a scanning electron microscope (SEM), which bombards a sample with electrons to produce an image that clearly reveals microscopic details. “Once the students learn how to use the SEM to investigate small particles, we give them the freedom to study other samples that interest them,” Schatzberg says. “Taylor decided to pick animal hair. I never was particularly interested in animal hair until she brought it to our attention, but it’s fascinating.”</p>
<p>Millett, who describes herself as outdoorsy, had heard that the hair of pronghorn antelope is hollow, but nobody knew much more about it than that. “So I decided to cut it open and use the SEM to see what was going on,” she recalls. For context, the dimensions of a pronghorn antelope’s hair range from 5 to 15 centimeters (less than six inches) in length, depending on its location on the animal. The average diameter of the antelope hair is 440 micrometers.</p>
<p>She then asked her mentors if she could do additional studies. She chose big game animals, because previous research at other institutions had focused on domesticated animals such as sheep or llamas. “Nobody had branched out to wild animals because it's harder to get their hair,” Millett says.</p>
<p>In addition to pronghorn antelope, she selected mule deer and Rocky Mountain elk — prey animals that can be found close to campus. She obtained winter and summer animal hair samples from a local wildlife taxidermist and from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, which picks up animals that have been hit by cars. Millett and De La Vieja Medina sliced the hairs open, gold plated them to improve the SEM image resolution, and then examined and measured the spongy interior structures. These structures, consisting of a random collection of tiny hollow cavities, or air pockets, resemble messy honeycombs.</p>
<p>The students found that, in both summer and winter hairs, the air pockets near the perimeter of the hairs were much smaller than those in the core. In addition, winter hairs had larger air pockets than summer hairs in all three species. In mule deer, for example, winter air pockets had an average diameter of 26 micrometers, while summer air pockets averaged 13 micrometers in diameter. The core of the summer hair was, therefore, much more densely packed than the winter hair. “This is very intriguing, because those pockets create an insulative barrier that keeps the animals warm in winter,” Millett says.</p>
<p>To determine whether these findings apply to other animals, including predator species such as bears, mountain lions and bobcats, Millett is contacting zoos around the world for hair samples. The researchers also want to assess how geographic location and climate affect the results, Schatzberg notes. “Is it just our area that’s like this? And how much temperature difference between the seasons does it take? Sometimes up here we have a very large temperature difference between summer and winter,” she says. “So there are all these variables to examine.”</p>
<p>Millett is pondering how to apply the results. One potential application is synthetic insulation for houses and camping gear.</p>
<p><em>The research was funded by Utah Tech and the Utah NASA Space Grant Consortium.</em></p>
<p><strong>Visit the</strong> <a href="https://acs.digitellinc.com/live/31/page/1013"><strong>ACS Spring 2024 program</strong></a> <strong>to learn more about this presentation, “Hollow hair and how its structure helps big game animals thermoregulate,” and more scientific presentations.</strong></p>
<p>###</p>
<p>The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical <em>Chemical & Engineering News</em>. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.</p>
<p>To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact <a href="https://www.newswise.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#117f746662637e7e7c517072623f7e6376"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="abc5cedcd8d9c4c4c6ebcac8d885c4d9cc">[email protected]</span></a>.</p>
<p><strong>Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Title</strong><br />
Hollow hair and how its structure helps big game animals thermoregulate</p>
<p><strong>Abstract</strong><br />
This study delves into the intriguing world of hollow hair strands in animals, focusing on their role in thermoregulation, and the ability to maintain a stable body temperature in the face of fluctuating external conditions. While the Pronghorn antelope is widely known for having hollow hair strands among hunters and conservationists, little is known about their internal structure. Employing scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we explored the inner composition of these hollow hair strands and their contribution to thermoregulation.</p>
<p>Our investigation centered on several notable North American big game animals, including Mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk, and Pronghorn antelope, all of which exhibit a unique adaptation: the transition between summer and winter coats. Through SEM analysis, we measured and compared the winter and summer coats of these animals to gain insights into how they effectively regulate their body temperatures during the extremes of hot summers and cold winters. These seasonal changes manifest in alterations in fur and hair thickness and length.</p>
<p>Under the microscope, we unveiled the distinct topography of the inner structure of individual hair strands. Notably, our findings revealed that the inner hair structure contains larger hollow pockets in the winter coats of these animals. Our research thus sheds light on the role of these hollow structures in heat transfer and their pivotal contribution to the thermoregulation abilities of these remarkable creatures, expanding our understanding of their unique adaptations.</p>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-56695780248607069102024-03-16T22:13:00.001-07:002024-03-16T22:13:56.406-07:00Mount Sinai Experts to Present New Research at 71th Annual Meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation<div><img src="https://www.newswise.com/assets/new/img/newswise-logo-square.jpg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p><em>Newswise — Researchers available for interview about their new studies and other women’s health topics</em></p>
<p><strong>(New York, NY – May 5, 2024)</strong> – Reproductive health experts from the Women’s Biomedical Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will present research at the 71th <a href="https://www.sri-online.org/events/2024">Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation</a> (SRI) in Vancouver, Canada from March 12-16. The doctors and researchers are available for interview about their findings; they can also provide commentary on other women’s health and female biology topics, breaking news, and studies.</p>
<p><strong>PRESENTATIONS and POSTER SESSIONS</strong></p>
<p>(*All abstracts are under embargo until the below listed times*)</p>
<p><strong><u>Friday, March 15, 2024<br /></u></strong> 9:00 -11:00 a.m. PT (12:00-2:00 p.m. ET)<br />
<strong>Revealing the complexity of immunobiological shifts from non-pregnant to pregnant state<br /></strong>Poster Session II Location: Exhibit Hall B, Convention Level - East<br />
Presenter: <a href="https://profiles.mountsinai.org/chelsea-debolt">Chelsea A, DeBolt, MD</a>, Assistant Professor in the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Mount Sinai<br />
• Significant immunological shifts, systemically and at the maternal-fetal interface, are required for a successful pregnancy. As immune perturbations are emerging as pivotal drivers of adverse maternal health, explaining how normal pregnancy alters maternal immunity is imperative. This study performed RNA sequencing in individuals prior to pregnancy and again at 16-24 weeks’ gestation, for a comparison analysis of expressed genes. The researchers examined the same individual transitioning from a non-pregnant to pregnant state, to reveal intricate immune modulation including changes in inflammatory mechanisms and immune cell dynamics. There future work will investigate these shifts to discern which ones may result in increased maternal health risks (i.e. infection) or promote increased vulnerability (i.e. obesity) to adverse pregnancy outcomes.</p>
<p><strong><u>Saturday, March 16, 2024<br /></u></strong> 9:30 -11:30 a.m. PT (12:30-2:30 p.m. ET)<br />
<strong>Non-Lactobacillus-Dominated Communities Are Associated with an Increase in Muc5 Production in Pregnant Individuals<br /></strong>Poster Session III<br />
Location: Exhibit Hall B, Convention Level - East<br />
Presenter: Andrea Joseph, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Women’s Biomedical Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai<br />
• Spontaneous preterm birth has been consistently associated with a vaginal microbial community state type marked by absence of a dominant Lactobacillus species and high diversity of bacterial anaerobes. While mucus is part of the vaginal ecosystem, the interplay between microbial community, mucus production, and spontaneous preterm birth is not well understood. This study explores how cervicovaginal mucins respond to vaginal community state types and over gestation. Understanding shifts in mucus production and composition to vaginal microbes will provide further insight into the mechanisms contributing to microbiome-mediated adverse outcomes, they said, and may reveal new therapeutic targets in the female reproductive tract.</p>
<p>9:30 -11:30 a.m. PT (12:30-2:30 p.m. ET)<br />
<strong>Gardnerella vaginalis and Mobiluncus mulieris Induce a Pro-Inflammatory Response in Macrophages<br /></strong> Poster Session III<br />
Location: Exhibit Hall B, Convention Level - East<br />
Presenter: Jake Robinson, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Women’s Biomedical Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai<br />
• A non-lactobacillus cervicovaginal microbiome has been associated with adverse reproductive outcomes including sexually transmitted infections, bacterial vaginosis, infertility, and preterm birth. This study assesses how host interactions with live bacteria, its supernatant and secreted bacterial extracellular vesicles, regulate resident immune cells. The researchers also uncover how vaginal microbes—associated with adverse reproductive outcomes—can directly impact immune responses from macrophages, including gene expression in the macrophages that signal a transcriptomic shift to an activated state.</p>
<p>11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PT (2:45-3:00 p.m. ET)<br />
<strong>O-128: Extracellular Vesicles from Cervicovaginal Microbes Induced Immune Responses in Endometrial Cells<br /></strong> Concurrent Oral Presentations IV, Gynecology III<br />
Location: Meeting Room 2/3, Meeting Level - East<br />
Presenter: Yu Hasegawa, PhD, Research Scientist in the Women’s Biomedical Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai<br />
• Although the uterus is typically sterile, the migration of motile microbes from the cervicovaginal space can induce inflammation and infection, leading to uterine pathologies. Also, cervicovaginal anaerobes produce extracellular vesicles that are likely to traffic to the uterine and trigger immune responses. However, host-microbe interaction in the uterine is limited. In this study, the researchers assessed how vaginal microbes and their by-products could induce immune responses in endometrial cells. The study explains how host-microbe interactions in the female reproductive tract will provide more understanding of microbe-mediated adverse pregnancy outcomes (i.e. infections) and may reveal new therapeutic targets.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>About the Mount Sinai Health System<br /></strong>Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.</p>
<p>Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,400 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by <em>Newsweek’s</em>® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals” and by <em>U.S. News & World Report’s</em>® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the <em>U.S. News & World Report’s</em>® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2023-2024. For more information, visit <a href="https://www.mountsinai.org">https://www.mountsinai.org</a> or find Mount Sinai on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MountSinaiNYC">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/MountSinaiNYC">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/mountsinainy">YouTube</a>.</p>
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<p>Aside from a few discarded hypodermic needles on the ground, the Hunter’s Field Playground in New Orleans looks almost untouched. It’s been open more than nine years, but the brightly painted red and yellow slides and monkey bars are still sleek and shiny, and the padded rubber tiles feel springy underfoot.</p>
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<p>For people who live nearby, it’s no mystery why the equipment is in relatively pristine shape: Children don’t come here to play.</p>
<p>“Because kids are smart,” explained <a href="https://www.amyfstelly.com/">Amy Stelly</a>, an artist and urban designer who lives about a block away on Dumaine Street. “It’s the adults who aren’t. It’s the adults who built the playground under the interstate.”</p>
<p>Hunter’s Field is wedged directly beneath the elevated roadbeds of the Claiborne Expressway section of Interstate 10 in the city’s 7th Ward.</p>
<p>There are no sounds of laughter or children playing. The constant cuh-clunk, cuh-clunk of the traffic passing overhead makes it difficult to hold a conversation with someone standing next to you. An average of 115,000 vehicles a day use the overpass, according to <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/networkneworleans/9-LCC-Study-Final-Report-web.pdf">a 2012 study</a>.</p>
<p>“I have never seen a child play here,” Stelly said.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1200" height="800" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg" alt="Amy Stelly stands beneath the Claiborne Expressway on July 18, 2023. A playground is visible between the two highways in the distance behind her." class="wp-image-1825108" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg 1200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_03.jpg?resize=630,420 630w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Amy Stelly, an artist, urban designer, and community activist, stands beneath the Claiborne Expressway on July 18. Stelly, who lives nearby, is working with Louisiana State University on an Environmental Protection Agency study of the noise and air pollution from the highway, and still supports moving this stretch of Interstate 10 away from the historically Black community.<span class="photo-credit">(Drew Hawkins/Gulf States Newsroom)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Stelly keeps a sharp eye on this area as part of her advocacy work with the <a href="https://www.claiborneavenuealliance.com/">Claiborne Avenue Alliance</a>, a group of residents and business owners dedicated to revitalizing the predominantly African American community on either side of the looming expressway.</p>
<p>For as long as she can remember, Stelly has been fighting to dismantle that section of the highway. She’s lived in the neighborhood her entire life and said the noise is oftentimes unbearable. “You can sustain hearing damage,” she said. Now, she’s helping collect new noise and air pollution data to show it needs to be taken down.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/documenting-history-iconic-new-orleans-street-and-looking-its-future-180977854/">Claiborne Expressway</a> was built in the 1960s, when the construction of interstates and highways was a symbol of progress and economic development in the U.S.</p>
<p>But that supposed progress often came at a great cost for marginalized communities — especially predominantly Black neighborhoods.</p>
<p>When it was built, the “Claiborne Corridor,” as it’s still sometimes known, tore through the <a href="https://nola.curbed.com/2018/5/16/17356630/treme-new-orleans-neighborhood-history-pictures">heart of Tremé</a>, one of the nation’s oldest Black neighborhoods.</p>
<p>For more than a century before the construction of the expressway, bustling Claiborne Avenue constituted the backbone of economic and cultural life for Black New Orleans. Back then, the oak-lined avenue was home to more than 120 businesses. Today, only a few dozen remain.</p>
<p>What happened to Claiborne Avenue isn’t unique. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/07/984784455/a-brief-history-of-how-racism-shaped-interstate-highways">Federal planners often routed highways</a> directly through low-income minority neighborhoods, dividing communities and polluting the air.</p>
<p>In Montgomery, Alabama, I-85 <a href="https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/how-montgomery-highway-sought-disrupt-heart-civil-rights-movement">cut through</a> the city’s only middle-class Black neighborhood and was “designed to displace and punish the organizers of the civil rights movement,” according to <a href="https://cla.auburn.edu/directory/rebecca-retzlaff/">Rebecca Retzlaff</a>, a community planning professor at Auburn University. In Nashville, planners intentionally looped I-40 around a white community, and sent it <a href="https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/us-west-2.files.campus.edublogs.org/blogs.belmont.edu/dist/8/25/files/2020/11/Haynes_1-59_version-2.pdf">plowing through</a> a prominent Black neighborhood, knocking down hundreds of homes and businesses. Examples like this exist in <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/justice-and-interstates#desc">major cities across the country</a>.</p>
<p>The federal government has started working on ways to confront the damage highway construction continues to do to low-income and minority communities. An initiative established in the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684">Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act</a> called the <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/grants/rcnprogram/about-rcp">Reconnecting Communities Pilot</a> seeks to do just that: reconnect neighborhoods and communities that were divided by infrastructure.</p>
<p>But there’s wide disagreement on the best way to do that, and some strategies are likely to do little to limit the health effects of living near these highways. What’s unfolding in New Orleans shows how challenging it is to pick and fund projects that will help.</p>
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<p><strong>Competing Visions for the Claiborne Expressway</strong></p>
<p>Stelly’s group, the Claiborne Avenue Alliance, submitted <a href="https://www.claiborneavenuealliance.com/_files/ugd/443d1e_31f23f887f724d838e828ea83a9809af.pdf">a proposal</a> for Reconnecting Communities Pilot money. It wanted $1.6 million in federal funds primarily for public engagement, data collection, and feasibility planning to work to assess whether it would be possible to remove the expressway altogether, with a plan to raise $400,000 more to cover costs.</p>
<p>And it seemed possible its grant proposal would succeed, since even the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/07/28/fact-sheet-historic-bipartisan-infrastructure-deal/">White House cited the Claiborne Expressway</a> as a textbook example of the biased planning history in a published statement about the Reconnecting Communities Pilot. Ultimately, though, the federal Department of Transportation, the agency charged with allocating the program’s money, denied the Claiborne Avenue Alliance’s grant request.</p>
<p>Instead, the Department of Transportation offered <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/politics/louisiana-touts-95-million-plan-to-spruce-up-claiborne-expressway-remove-ramps-in-trem/article_3ac873a8-4bf6-11ed-a01a-833f97e55c0d.html">a small fraction of the money</a> requested in a competing <a href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A6eda7d63-3b2e-4cb1-a35a-25d62ef4a0c5&viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover#pageNum=1">joint proposal</a> made by the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. That plan called for a $47 million grant from Reconnecting Communities to do overpass improvements, remove some on- and off-ramps, and, most significantly, create the “Claiborne Innovation District” to promote public life and cultural activities under the highway. DOT granted just $500,000 for the project.</p>
<p>Stelly said she likes a few aspects of the city-state proposal, notably the plan to remove on- and off-ramps to improve pedestrian safety beneath the expressway and other public safety projects, like better lighting and dedicated pedestrian and bicycle lanes.</p>
<p>But, notably, Stelly called the idea of creating an entertainment space and market beneath the highway misguided and ridiculous. Would it be a waste of scarce government funds?</p>
<p>“It’s a foolish idea because you’re going to be exposed to the same thing” as the neglected playground, Stelly said. “You’re going to be exposed to the same levels of noise. It’s not a wise decision to build anything under here.”</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1200" height="800" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg" alt="Graduate student researcher Jacquelynn Mornay shows a noise reading taken beneath the Claiborne Expressway on July 18, 2023, in New Orleans." class="wp-image-1825107" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg 1200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_02.jpg?resize=630,420 630w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Graduate student researcher Jacquelynn Mornay, with the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Public Health, shows a noise reading taken beneath the Claiborne Expressway on July 18 in New Orleans. The decibel level is similar to that of a motorcycle engine and could cause permanent hearing damage after prolonged exposure.<span class="photo-credit">(Drew Hawkins/Gulf States Newsroom)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Using Science to Inform Policy</strong></p>
<p>Since her group’s proposal was denied, Stelly and her organization are turning to a new strategy: helping with <a href="https://sph.lsuhsc.edu/lsu-health-foundation-and-lsu-school-of-public-health-receive-epa-grant-for-community-air-monitoring/">a new study</a> funded by the Environmental Protection Agency on the expressway’s health impacts. They hope the data will support them in their efforts to remove the highway from their neighborhood.</p>
<p>In addition to noise impacts, the EPA-funded study is looking at the health impacts of pollution under the Claiborne Expressway — especially harmful pollutants like particulate matter 2.5, or PM 2.5.</p>
<p>These microscopic particles, measuring 2.5 microns or less in diameter, are released from the tailpipes of passing vehicles, said Adrienne Katner, an associate professor at the Louisiana State University School of Public Health, who is the principal investigator on the EPA study. They’re so small that, when inhaled, they lodge deep in the lungs. From there, they can migrate to the circulatory system, and then spread and potentially affect every system in the body.</p>
<p>“So the heart, the brain,” said Katner. “If a woman is pregnant, it can cross the placental barrier. So it has a lot of impacts.”</p>
<p>Katner and her team of researchers are beginning the study by taking preliminary readings with monitors at different points along the expressway. Completing the research and publishing the data will likely take two to three years.</p>
<p>One of Katner’s monitoring sites is Hunter’s Field Playground. Graduate researcher Jacquelynn Mornay said the noise levels registered there could cause permanent hearing damage after an hour or so of exposure. The pollution levels recorded hover around 18 micrograms per cubic meter.</p>
<p>“It should be at most — at most — 12,” said Beatrice Duah, another graduate student researcher. “So it is way over the limits.”</p>
<p>Residents and workers occupying the homes and businesses lining the area under the expressway are exposed daily to these levels of noise and pollution. When complete, this EPA study will join a decades-long body of research about how traffic pollution affects the human body.</p>
<p>“We’re not inventing the science here,” Katner said. “All I’m doing is showing them what we already know and then documenting it, giving them the data to then inform and influence policy. That’s all I can do.”</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1200" height="800" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1825106" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg 1200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/Claiborne-Expressway_01.jpg?resize=630,420 630w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Hunter’s Field Playground sits beneath the Claiborne Expressway in New Orleans, pictured here on July 18. Opened over nine years ago, the playground is one of the monitoring sites of a new study by the Environmental Protection Agency on the health impacts of the highway. (Drew Hawkins/Gulf States Newsroom)</figcaption>
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<p><strong>‘Removal Is the Only Cure’</strong></p>
<p>Eventually, the study’s findings could help other communities divided by infrastructure across the country, Katner said.</p>
<p>“A lot of cities are going through this right now and they’re looking back at their highway systems,” she said. “They’re looking back at the impacts that it’s had on a community and they’re trying to figure out what to do next. I’m hoping that this project will inform them.”</p>
<p>Amy Stelly said she’s always known the air she and her neighbors breathe isn’t safe, but she’s hopeful that having concrete data to support her efforts will do more to persuade policymakers to address the problem. That could mean taking down the dangerous on- and off-ramps — or scrapping what she considers to be the wasteful plan of putting a market and event space under the highway overpass.</p>
<p>Stelly sees only one true solution to the problems posed by the Claiborne Expressway, only one way to really right the wrongs done to her community.</p>
<p>“Removal is the only cure,” Stelly said. “I’m insisting on it because I’m a resident of the neighborhood and I live with this every day.” And, she said, “the science tells us there’s no other way.”</p>
<p><em>This article is from a partnership that includes</em> <a href="https://www.wwno.org/?utm_source=npr.org&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=click%2Bstation&utm_term=local-story"><em>WWNO</em></a><em>,</em> <a href="http://npr.org/shots"><em>NPR</em></a><em>, and <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/">KFF Health News</a>.</em></p>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-89623663487253449632024-03-15T06:18:00.001-07:002024-03-15T06:18:35.208-07:00How meth became an epidemic in America, and what’s happening now that it’s faded from the headlines<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582056/original/file-20240314-20-ipf1yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=163%2C92%2C4570%2C3009&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" />
<figcaption><span class="caption">Police detectives sort through evidence after raiding a suspected meth lab.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/UrbanMeth/62442edc986247c08ccfff109e7b07e0/photo?Query=meth%20AND%20rural&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=7&currentItemNo=6">AP Photo/Jeff Roberson</a></span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Rural America has long suffered from an <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-hes-not-on-drugs-hes-a-good-person-one-communitys-story-of-meth-use-and-domestic-violence-176069">epidemic of methamphetamine use</a>, which accounts for <a href="https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/548454463">thousands of drug overdoses and deaths every year</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>William Garriott, an anthropologist at Drake University, explored meth’s impact on communities and everyday life in the U.S. in his 2011 book “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814732403/policing-methamphetamine/">Policing Methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in Rural America</a>.” Since then, the problem has only gotten worse.</em></p>
<p><em>The rural news site <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">the Daily Yonder</a> spoke with Garriott about what has been driving the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/trends-us-methamphetamine-use-associated-deaths">surge in meth use in recent decades</a> and what prompted him to focus on meth in his work. The Conversation has collaborated with The Daily Yonder to share the interview with you.</em></p>
<p><strong>How’d you get interested in methamphetamine as an academic subject?</strong></p>
<p>When I started my Ph.D in anthropology in 2003, I knew I wanted to focus on the Appalachian region of the United States. At the time, I was curious about religious life in the region and its contribution to the growth of Pentecostalism and evangelicalism around the world.</p>
<p>But I had also just taken a course with medical anthropologist Arthur Kleinman. He says that we should seek to understand “<a href="https://tannerlectures.utah.edu/_resources/documents/a-to-z/k/Kleinman99.pdf">what’s at stake</a>” or “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/what-really-matters-9780195331325?cc=us&lang=en&">what really matters</a>” for people in their everyday lives.</p>
<p>And what really mattered to people in places like eastern Kentucky at the time was drugs. We now know we were at the beginning of the opioid epidemic. OxyContin was already taking a toll on local communities, and there was little national concern because it was seen as an isolated regional problem (the derogatory term “hillbilly heroin” was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/25/usa.julianborger">getting thrown around a lot</a> at the time).</p>
<p>When I started my dissertation research, methamphetamine had become the primary concern, both regionally and nationally. When the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/highlights.htm#%22%22">Patriot Act</a> was reauthorized in 2005, the only significant addition was anti-meth legislation called the <a href="https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/meth/cma2005.html">Combat Meth Epidemic Act</a>.</p>
<p><strong>In what sense was the meth surge of the ’90s and early 2000s a rural phenomenon?</strong></p>
<p>Lots of ways. The internet gave people access to meth recipes, and meth cooks tended to be located in rural areas. It was easier to hide and access key ingredients like <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs13/13853/product.htm">anhydrous ammonia</a>. In fact, the number of meth labs grew so quickly that huge swaths of the rural U.S. were labeled <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5816/anthropologynow.5.1.0027">High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas</a> – something that had only been applied to cities like New York and Los Angeles before.</p>
<p>The rural economy was also changing. Jobs weren’t paying as well or were going away altogether. Meth found a niche as a kind of performance enhancement drug for people working long hours at physically demanding jobs – something <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814732403/policing-methamphetamine/">I saw</a> in the poultry industry in West Virginia, journalist <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/methland-9781608192076/">Nick Reding</a> found in the pork industry in Iowa, and anthropologist <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-alchemy-of-meth">Jason Pine</a> found in general in Missouri. Eventually some folks just left these jobs to work in the meth economy full time.</p>
<p>I think it’s also important to mention how meth was being portrayed in national media as the drug of choice for <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29733233/">poor white people</a>. From there, it doesn’t take much to connect it to rural communities, given how those communities are often thought of as predominantly white and poor in the public imagination.</p>
<p>Anti-meth programs like the <a href="https://montanameth.org/">Montana Meth Project</a> and <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2004/12/the_faces_of_meth.html">Faces of Meth</a> played a big part in this. They were very visual campaigns that focused on the damage meth does to the body. All of the people they pictured appeared to be white. They had sores, scars and sunken eyes. They also were often missing teeth. All of that invokes a lot of stereotypes. Sociologists Travis Linnemann and Tyler Wall have a great <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1362480612468934">journal article on this</a>.</p>
<p>With all of that said, it is important to keep in mind that meth is just as much an urban and suburban problem as a rural one, particularly now. Sociologist <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/women-on-ice/9780813554594/">Miriam Boeri</a> has made this point really clearly. Also, something to keep in mind about Faces of Meth: It was created by a jail deputy in Oregon who used mugshots of people booked into the county jail. The jail is in Portland, so the folks featured probably weren’t living in rural communities at the time.</p>
<p><strong>Your book was called “Policing Methamphetamine.” I’m curious – what made you zero in on that element of meth culture, its policing?</strong></p>
<p>When I began my research, I thought my focus would be on the treatment experiences of people who use methamphetamine. But what I quickly found was that those experiences couldn’t be understood outside of the criminal justice system. Many people only got treatment after an arrest, and often as a condition of probation. One officer told me that people came up to him on the street and asked to be taken to jail so they could stop using drugs. Community members also often channeled their concerns into calls for increased enforcement.</p>
<p>In retrospect, none of this should have been surprising. U.S. drug policy has long focused on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/war-on-drugs">enforcement</a>. This puts police and the criminal justice system on the front lines whenever and wherever a new drug problem emerges. There is no exception to this dynamic for rural communities. What’s more, the justice system is likely to be the most visible and well-resourced state institution in the community (which is not to say it is sufficiently resourced).</p>
<p><strong>What are the questions you still have about meth in American life?</strong></p>
<p>Today, the most pressing question from my perspective is how meth and opioids are converging. One of the more unfortunate developments is that people have started <a href="https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/opioids/basics/intravenous.html">injecting meth</a>. There is also the broad contamination of the drug supply with fentanyl.</p>
<p>All of this creates additional public health challenges, particularly in rural communities.</p>
<p>Something else I’m thinking about a lot is what happens when drugs like meth stop making headlines and get replaced by the next drug scourge. Today, people are much more likely to <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/19/texas-fentanyl-drugs/">talk about fentanyl than meth</a>. This is understandable given the overdose risks, as well as the way news media works. But what are the consequences of this for the communities where meth is still a major concern?</p>
<p>Bigger picture, I’m thinking about meth in the broader context of U.S. drug policy. My next book is about marijuana legalization and justice reform. It’s been interesting because the conversation around cannabis is so different from the conversation around meth. One of the big questions I have is if the kinds of reforms that are following cannabis legalization will do anything to change the conversation around the broader punitive approach to drugs. <a href="https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/04/oregon-drug-misdemeanor-new-convictions-arrests/">The debate happening right now in Oregon over Measure 110</a> is something I’m watching very closely. It’s a major test case for whether or not a different, less punitive approach to drugs is possible.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a> provides news, commentary and analysis about and for rural America. The interview accompanies a five-part series on its <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/41tCRxV4af8cl7CuJi6NsN?si=868e20efc47142e4">Rural Remix podcast</a>.</em></p>
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Bryan Keogh, Managing Editor from Home – The Conversation https://bit.ly/49VOZYk<br />
via <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/theconversation/analysisopinion">Syndicated with Permission of The Conversation</a>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-3102467592588227172024-03-15T06:07:00.001-07:002024-03-15T06:07:48.568-07:00Pro-Life Pregnancy Center Invites Kamala Harris After She Becomes First VP to Visit Planned Parenthood<p><span id="more-126800"></span>In response to Kamala Harris visiting Planned Parenthood, Stanton Healthcare’s CEO and Founder, Brandi Swindell, has extended a personal invitation to the vice president to tour their life-affirming women’s medical clinic in Idaho.</p>
<p>Stanton Healthcare is a AAAHC-accredited and fully licensed women’s medical clinic. We specialize in serving women with unexpected pregnancies by providing professional medical care, practical and emotional support, women’s wellness care, and a special outreach to refugee and marginalized communities. Stanton is based in Idaho with affiliates in the U.S. and internationally.</p>
<p>Stanton Healthcare has included a copy of the invitation sent to Vice President Harris.</p>
<p>Some of the excerpts of Ms. Swindell’s invitation include:</p>
<p>“As the nation discusses the issue of abortion, it is critical we involve all Americans in this conversation. That would include women who support abortion and those who embrace a life-affirming position. As Vice President of the United States, you have a sacred responsibility to ensure all voices are being heard and all communities are being listened to.”</p>
<p>“Madame Vice President, if you truly believe in the concept of “choice” you would make the same commitment to visit a life-affirming women’s medical clinic. One could never be considered “pro-choice” without offering real choices.”</p>
<p><em><strong>SUPPORT LIFENEWS! To help us fight Joe Biden’s abortion agenda, <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/donate/">please help LifeNews.com with a donation</a>!</strong></em></p>
<p>“Madame Vice President, Stanton Healthcare would be honored to give you a tour of our flagship life-affirming women’s medical clinic in Meridian, Idaho as well as visiting our women’s wellness center in Boise, Idaho. We would love to have you meet our professional staff and some of the clients we serve.”</p>
<p>For more information or interviews contact:<br />
Rev. Patrick Mahoney at 540.538.4741</p>
<p>Below is the full invitation to Vice President Harris:</p>
<p>Dear Madame Vice President,</p>
<p>As the nation discusses the issue of abortion, it is critical we involve all Americans in this conversation. That would include women who support abortion and those who embrace a life-affirming position. As Vice President of the United States, you have a sacred responsibility to ensure all voices are being heard and all communities are being listened to.</p>
<p>It is essential our political leaders respect diversity, especially when it involves millions of women.</p>
<p>Madame Vice President, Stanton Healthcare is an AAAHC-accredited and fully licensed women’s medical clinic. We specialize in serving women with unexpected pregnancies by providing professional medical care, practical and emotional support, women’s wellness care, and a special outreach to refugee and marginalized communities. Stanton is based in Idaho with affiliates in the U.S. and internationally.</p>
<p>Every woman who walks through the doors of Stanton Healthcare is treated with dignity and equality regardless of their race, political views, religion, educational background or economic situation.</p>
<p>It is my understanding you are visiting a Planned Parenthood this Thursday in Minnesota, which would make you the first sitting president or vice president to visit an abortion clinic. Madame Vice President, if you truly believe in the concept of “choice” you would make the same commitment to visit a life-affirming women’s medical clinic.</p>
<p>One could never be considered “pro-choice” without offering real choices.</p>
<p>Madame Vice President, Stanton Healthcare would be honored to give you a tour of our flagship life-affirming women’s medical clinic in Meridian, Idaho as well as visiting our women’s wellness center in Boise, Idaho. We would love to have you meet our professional staff and some of the clients we serve.</p>
<p>I am sure you would agree one of greatest ways to empower women is to give them true choices. While there is serious disagreement on the issue of abortion in America, there should be no disagreement with coming alongside women and giving them options and information on how to make the best possible decisions for their future.</p>
<p>Madame Vice President, thank you for your time and we look forward to hearing back from you.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Brandi Swindell<br />
Founder/CEO of Stanton Healthcare</p>
<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-85894" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/stantonhealthcare2.png" alt="" width="600" height="393" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/stantonhealthcare2.png 699w, /wp-content/uploads/2017/03/stantonhealthcare2-150x98.png 150w, /wp-content/uploads/2017/03/stantonhealthcare2-229x150.png 229w, /wp-content/uploads/2017/03/stantonhealthcare2-190x124.png 190w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/2024/03/15/pro-life-pregnancy-center-invites-kamala-harris-after-she-becomes-first-vp-to-visit-planned-parenthood/">Pro-Life Pregnancy Center Invites Kamala Harris After She Becomes First VP to Visit Planned Parenthood</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.lifenews.com">LifeNews.com</a>.</p>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-1945772093952566422024-03-15T05:23:00.005-07:002024-03-15T05:23:47.401-07:00New study reveals breakthrough in understanding brain stimulation therapies<div><img src="https://www.newswise.com/legacy/image.php?image=/images/uploads/2024/03/14/65f2fd972cf30_Opitz600x400.jpg&width=600&height=600" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p dir="ltr">Newswise — MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (03/15/2024) — For the first time, researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities showed that non-invasive brain stimulation can change a specific brain mechanism that is directly related to human behavior. This is a major step forward for discovering new therapies to treat brain disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The study was recently published in <em>Nature Communications</em>, a peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Researchers used what is called “transcranial alternating current stimulation” to modulate brain activity. This technique is also known as neuromodulation. By applying a small electrical current to the brain, the timing of when brain cells are active is shifted. This modulation of neural timing is related to neuroplasticity, which is a change in the connections between brain cells that is needed for human behavior, learning, and cognition. </p>
<p dir="ltr">“Previous research showed that brain activity was time-locked to stimulation. What we found in this new study is that this relationship slowly changed and the brain adapted over time as we added in external stimulation,” said Alexander Opitz, University of Minnesota biomedical engineering associate professor. “This showed brain activity shifting in a way we didn’t expect.” </p>
<p dir="ltr">This result is called “neural phase precession.” This is when the brain activity gradually changes over time in relation to a repeating pattern, like an external event or in this case non-invasive stimulation. In this research, all three investigated methods (computational models, humans, and animals) showed that the external stimulation could shift brain activity over time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“The timing of this repeating pattern has a direct impact on brain processes, for example, how we navigate space, learn, and remember,” Opitz said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The discovery of this new technique shows how the brain adapts to external stimulation. This technique can increase or decrease brain activity, but is most powerful when it targets specific brain functions that affect behaviors. This way, long-term memory as well as learning can be improved. The long-term goal is to use this technique in the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Opitz hopes that this discovery will help bring improved knowledge and technology to clinical applications, which could lead to more personalized therapies for schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In addition to Opitz, the research team included co-first authors Miles Wischnewski and Harry Tran. Other team members from the University of Minnesota Biomedical Engineering Department include Zhihe Zhao, Zachary Haigh, Nipun Perera, Ivan Alekseichuk, Sina Shirinpour and Jonna Rotteveel. This study was in collaboration with Dr. Jan Zimmermann, associate professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This work was supported primarily by the National Institute of Health (NIH) along with the Behavior and Brain Research Foundation and the University of Minnesota’s Minnesota’s Discovery, Research, and InnoVation Economy (MnDRIVE) Initiative. Computational resources were provided by the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI).</p>
<p dir="ltr">To read the entire research paper titled, “Induced neural phase precession through exogenous electric fields”, visit the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45898-5.epdf?sharing_token=kjAQ14HNAkQaG4n0g-8-stRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0Nh8T21kruTX4OUozNH3Rb_kL1HCziiCTQ3lH3FVjmhTx3MWba2WDuFFv1GvpNbctKwjVjWn_G9CZyzavE3K9hapC1rJTBunDanewmmbLUsMP2zieU7vXXhPy6FrdtlCxA%3D">Nature Communications website</a>.</p>
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<p>Newswise — Rockville, Md. (March 15, 2024)—Nobel Laureate Brian Kobilka, MD, and NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir, PhD, are among the highlighted speakers who will attend the <a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit?SSO=Y"><strong>American Physiology Summit, the American Physiological Society’s (APS) flagship annual meeting</strong></a>. The Summit will be held April 4–7, 2024, in Long Beach, California. </p>
<p>Nobel Laureate Brian Kobilka, MD, is a professor and chair of molecular and cellular physiology at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California. Together with his colleague Robert Lefkowitz, MD, Kobilka won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Kobilka will give the Summit’s opening keynote talk, “Challenges and new approaches to drug discovery for G protein coupled receptors,” on Thursday, April 4, at 4:15 p.m. PDT. <a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit/keynote-speaker-brian-kobilka-md?SSO=Y"><strong>Read more about Kobilka</strong></a>.</p>
<p>NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir, PhD, assistant to the chief astronaut for Commercial Crew (SpaceX) and deputy for the Flight Integration Division, trained as a comparative physiologist before becoming an astronaut. From 2019 to 2020, she spent 205 days living and conducting scientific experiments on the International Space Station. Meir will give the closing keynote talk, “The Physiology of Space Flight,” on Sunday, April 7, at 11:30 a.m. PDT. <a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit/keynote-speaker-jessica-meir-phd?SSO=Y"><strong>Read more about Meir</strong></a>.</p>
<p>The meeting’s lineup will also feature eight game-changer sessions highlighting some of the biggest topics affecting life and health today. Top scientists from around the world will discuss these vital issues.</p>
<p>The game-changer sessions are:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit/game-changers/molecular-circadian-clock-understanding-its-role-in-homeostasis?SSO=Y"><strong>The Molecular Circadian Clock: Understanding Its Role in Homeostasis</strong></a></p>
<p>Cutting-edge advances in understanding molecular circadian clocks and how circadian rhythm function is integrated across physiological systems to maintain homeostasis</p>
<p><a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit/game-changers/ai-unbound-challenging-scientific-boundaries-in-physiology-research-and-data-science?SSO=Y"><strong>AI Unbound: Challenging Scientific Boundaries in Physiology Research and Data Science</strong></a></p>
<p>How advances in technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning are pushing boundaries in science and health care</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit/game-changers/g-protein-coupled-receptors-as-drug-targets-novel-insights-and-new-approaches?SSO=Y">G Protein-coupled Receptors as Drug Targets: Novel Insights and New Approaches</a></strong></p>
<p>G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) application as drug targets and approaches in identifying GPCR-regulating proteins in the cardiovascular system</p>
<p><a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit/game-changers/harnessing-the-power-of-spatial-omics-innovative-approaches-and-insights-into-cell-function?SSO=Y"><strong>Harnessing the Power of Spatial Omics: Innovative Approaches and Insights into Cell Function</strong></a></p>
<p>Novel insights into cell function in systems biology and how cells organize and interact across the tissue landscape to drive disease progression</p>
<p><a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit/game-changers/interorgan-crosstalk-exploring-communication-axes-and-their-relevance-in-health-and-disease?SSO=Y"><strong>Interorgan Crosstalk: Exploring Communication Axes and Their Relevance in Health and Disease</strong></a></p>
<p>New epidemiological and pre-clinical evidence that highlights the relevance of interorgan crosstalk in homeostasis and disease</p>
<p><a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit/game-changers/cognitive-decline-collateral-damage-of-cardiometabolic-syndrome?SSO=Y"><strong>Cognitive Decline: Collateral Damage of Cardiometabolic Syndrome</strong></a></p>
<p>New findings that could prompt preventive and counteractive remedies for the loss of cognitive function in people with obesity and metabolic syndrome</p>
<p><a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit/game-changers/immunometabolism-at-the-crossroads-of-novel-gut-neural-cardiorenal-pathophysiological-mechanisms-of-disease?SSO=Y"><strong>Immunometabolism: At the Crossroads of Novel Gut-Neural-Cardiorenal Pathophysiological Mechanisms of Disease</strong></a></p>
<p>An exploration of basic applied and clinical science in diverse animal and human models, including underrepresented populations, and an introduction to immunology from an integrative physiological perspective</p>
<p><a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit/game-changers/physiology-in-nontraditional-model-systems-exploring-species-diversity-to-reveal-adaptations-with-translational-potential?SSO=Y"><strong>Physiology in Nontraditional Model Systems: Exploring Species Diversity to Reveal Adaptations with Translational Potential</strong></a></p>
<p>The study of nontraditional models for mechanisms of unique adaptations that can enhance understanding of how other species respond to internal and external physiological challenges</p>
<p>Explore the Summit’s <a href="https://www.physiology.org/images/default-source/meetings-and-conferences/physiology-2023/2024/2024-summit-schedule-at-a-glance.jpg?Status=Temp&sfvrsn=f36bf135_0"><strong>schedule at a glance</strong></a> and <a href="https://www.physiology.org/professional-development/meetings-events/american-physiology-summit/program?SSO=Y"><strong>program by day</strong></a>.</p>
<p><strong>NOTE TO JOURNALISTS:</strong> For more information, please contact <a href="https://www.newswise.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#61020e0c0c140f08020015080e0f122111091812080e0d0e06184f0e1306"><strong>APS Media Relations</strong></a> or call 301.634.7314. Find research highlights in the <a href="https://www.physiology.org/publications/news"><strong>APS Newsroom</strong></a>. </p>
<p><em>Physiology is a broad area of scientific inquiry that focuses on how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function in health and disease. The American Physiological Society connects a global, multidisciplinary community of more than 10,000 biomedical scientists and educators as part of its mission to advance scientific discovery, understand life and improve health. The Society drives collaboration and spotlights scientific discoveries through its 16 scholarly journals and programming that support researchers and educators in their work.</em> </p>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-65971236953344692112024-03-15T05:23:00.001-07:002024-03-15T05:23:45.531-07:00Arctic nightlife: seabird colony bursts with sound at night<div><img src="https://www.newswise.com/legacy/image.php?image=/images/uploads/2024/03/13/65f140140d11c_P2348Fig1LAflyphoto.jpeg&width=600&height=600" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p><strong>Newswise — Acoustic recordings of a colony of little auks reveal their nocturnal activities and offer valuable monitoring means for avian biology in the Arctic.</strong></p>
<p>A collaborative study conducted by researchers from the Arctic Research Center at Hokkaido University and the Department of Ecoscience at Aarhus University, Denmark, delves into the captivating activities of the most abundant seabird in the North Atlantic (little auk, <em>Alle alle</em>). The study sheds light on birds’ daily rhythmic behavior under the endless daylight of the Arctic summer. Led by Associate Professor Evgeny A. Podolskiy, Hokkaido University, the findings were published in the journal <em>Communications Biology</em>.</p>
<p>In the remote wilderness of Northwest Greenland, the research team employed passive acoustic and imaging technologies to uncover the hidden rhythms of little auk colonies. Every summer, approximately 60 million birds come to this region to breed and forage, and while their vocalization is a familiar summer soundscape for the local inhabitants, little is known to science about their daily routines and calling habits. The study revealed a “nocturnal” surge in vocalization activity, contrary to expectations of mid-latitude inhabitants familiar with a dawn chorus. Due to a lower number of birds in the afternoon, the calling and wing-flapping rates decreased. The study improves our understanding of avian behavior in continuous daylight environments. </p>
<p>"These findings provide a fascinating glimpse into the intricate rhythms of Arctic life, and remind us that bird counts depend on the time of day,” says Podolskiy. "Under the perpetual daylight, little auks exhibit an acoustic pattern that mirrors their behavioral cycles—such as attendance, feeding, and fledging—offering valuable insights into their ecological dynamics." </p>
<p>“The little auk, also known as the dovekie, emerges as a sentinel species in monitoring Arctic environmental shifts,” says Dr. Anders Mosbech, co-author from Aarhus University. “Understanding their behavioral dynamics is paramount for effective conservation and ecosystem management in the face of rapid environmental transformations.”</p>
<p>“The significance of this study extends beyond mere curiosity, emphasizing the crucial role of passive acoustic monitoring in studying wildlife behavior in remote and difficult-to-access regions,” adds Podolskiy.</p>
<p>The study advocates for the continued use of acoustic monitoring as a non-invasive and efficient method for studying bird colonies in the Arctic. Traditional methods of field observation could be less practical due to their laborious nature and the remoteness of seabird breeding colonies. “By combining audio data with other monitoring techniques, such as time-lapse cameras or radar systems, and engaging local communities, we can enhance conservation efforts for important seabird populations while also promoting sustainability,” explains Monica Ogawa, co-author of the study and a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University.</p>
<p>The research team plans to continue their investigations into the acoustic ecology of Arctic seabirds, leveraging interdisciplinary collaborations to delve deeper into the avian biology and environmental changes affecting it. Through their efforts, the researchers hope to expand our understanding of the complex web of interactions that sustain life in one of the most extreme environments on Earth.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://blockads.fivefilters.org">Adblock test</a></strong> <a href="https://blockads.fivefilters.org/acceptable.html">(Why?)</a></p>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-90508955840132349852024-03-15T04:31:00.001-07:002024-03-15T04:31:46.063-07:00Kamala Harris Celebrates Abortion at Planned Parenthood Facility<p><span id="more-126793"></span>Critics slammed Vice President Kamala Harris after she visited a Minneapolis Planned Parenthood facility on Thursday, becoming the first sitting administration official to do so in national history.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="54318a4b-e103-41c4-871c-ebd093104fdc">During her visit to the abortion facility, Harris called it a “health care clinic” and said she was there “to uplift the work that is happening in Minnesota as an example of what true leadership looks like.”</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="49797a71-e839-48b6-84c1-729cd3739041">“[I]t is only right and fair that people have access to the health care they need, and they have access to healthcare in an environment where they are treated with dignity and respect,” Harris said.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="bbe42394-6e36-43d0-8724-843778beb24f">“And please do understand that when we talk about a clinic such as this it is absolutely about healthcare and reproductive healthcare,” she added.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="a6ff8be5-2f03-4ef9-9573-baa823a37599">Referring to the many states that have passed pro-life laws, Harris <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/03/14/kamala-harris-health-crisis-abortion-clinic-minnesota/72968622007/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">claimed</a> that “right now in our country we are facing a very serious health crisis” that is “affecting many, many people in our country, most of whom are frankly silently suffering.”</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="b8024522-fbb4-4ace-b1e2-3e92ed672897">Peter Pinedo of the Catholic News Agency (CNA) <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257096/kamala-harris-becomes-first-vice-president-to-visit-abortion-clinic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">noted</a> that in touring the Planned Parenthood outlet, Harris “became the first sitting vice president to visit an abortion clinic.”</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="d8213354-ecf6-478d-bd70-9ca2f85520d5">While speaking with reporters, Harris “praised abortion providers and lashed out at lawmakers advancing pro-life legislation,” Pinedo reported.</p>
<p><em><strong>SUPPORT LIFENEWS! To help us fight Joe Biden’s abortion agenda, <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/donate/">please help LifeNews.com with a donation</a>!</strong></em></p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="dbe8f468-6db2-431d-aacd-fe2ccdfa7219">CatholicVote’s Tom Pogasic took to X (formerly Twitter) Thursday to note where the vice president’s priorities appear to lie.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="d06ffa00-bda1-457c-a25b-424bb56cef7e">“As of today, Border Czar Kamala Harris has spent more time touring an abortion clinic than she has touring the southern border,” he wrote.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="2f091d06-8cbc-4b85-a4d7-86df446d4c28">A February Gallup <a href="https://x.com/TPogasic/status/1768291941211394396?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">poll</a> found that 28% of Americans consider immigration to be the most important issue facing the country – the highest percentage on any issue. Abortion did not appear among voters’ top concerns</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="9dfaf2ca-3f2e-4cbe-875f-dc0406417590">Two months into his presidency, President Joe Biden tasked Harris to <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-3400f56255e000547d1ca3ce1aa6b8e9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lead the administration’s response</a> to the border issue, though the administration at the time <a href="https://catholicvote.org/internal-emails-chicago-dems-acknowledged-crisis-at-border-before-biden-did/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">refused to call it a crisis</a>.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="5224d546-a3b7-4c35-a1af-6d8de7e28ea0">Over two months later, Harris responded to NBC anchor Lester Holt who confronted her over not yet visiting the border.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="bf39149e-1aca-4b2b-b147-844cc78b362a">“And I haven’t been to Europe,” she <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/557282-vp-harris-not-discounting-concerns-about-events-at-us-border-during/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> Holt at the time.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="bceba91d-23be-4627-b6fe-1e1fed4f89b6">Many other critics panned the vice president’s Planned Parenthood tour on X.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="00a378ae-42dc-4a59-9ebe-f37d6d845acd">Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) professor Andrew T. Walker had harsh words for fellow Christians who continue to support Harris and other Democrats.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="44efcd02-e817-4098-b717-12972660a6ea">“Don’t let your day go by without dwelling on the fact that the Vice President of the United States toured an abortion mill in solidarity with it,” he wrote. “Imagine thinking this party is a plausible option for Christians to support.”</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="ba1c4e45-82fd-4613-af9a-958e9cb44651">Christian commentator Josh Daws agreed.</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="a457741f-3b00-43d4-9052-cd9348a0ecab">“Imagine a leader touring Auschwitz when it was in operation because they wanted to celebrate the wonderful work being done there,” he wrote. “That’s the Democratic Party. Vote accordingly.”</p>
<p>LiveAction foundress Lila Rose, a Catholic, wrote: “Even Hitler tried to hide his death camps. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are proud to publicly support mass murder.”</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="0595e214-d838-46ed-99e8-0114d5c05b8f">Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins, also a Catholic, wrote: “Kamala Harris claims a ‘historic first’ in visiting an abortion vendor operation [and] stops to explain ‘uterus’ care.”</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="9d4b21cc-56ed-4ef8-af41-b6c9da703ae7">“It’s not that complicated,” Hawkins added. “Things not to put in a uterus: Sharp instruments [and] deadly drugs. Things to protect in a uterus: Human life.”</p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="9d4b21cc-56ed-4ef8-af41-b6c9da703ae7"><em>ifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column o<a href="https://catholicvote.org/prcs-did-lot-of-good-roe-fell/">riginally appeared.</a></em></p>
<p data-beyondwords-marker="9d4b21cc-56ed-4ef8-af41-b6c9da703ae7"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-126794" src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/kamalavisitspp.png" alt="" width="600" height="367" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/kamalavisitspp.png 957w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/kamalavisitspp-245x150.png 245w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/kamalavisitspp-190x116.png 190w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/kamalavisitspp-150x92.png 150w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/kamalavisitspp-768x469.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/2024/03/15/kamala-harris-celebrates-abortion-at-planned-parenthood-facility/">Kamala Harris Celebrates Abortion at Planned Parenthood Facility</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.lifenews.com">LifeNews.com</a>.</p>
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from LifeNews.com https://bit.ly/4agq95o<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-25718698566578511182024-03-14T16:13:00.001-07:002024-03-14T16:13:55.876-07:00Thursday, March 14, 2024<div class="row">
<div class="newsletter-body col-md-8 col-lg-9">
<h2>From KFF Health News - Latest Stories:</h2>
<section class="article-list-details originals">
<p class="header">KFF Health News Original Stories</p>
<article>
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/super-bowl-parade-shooting-gun-violence-kansas-city-survivors/" name="original-1" id="original-1">They Were Injured at the Super Bowl Parade. A Month Later, They Feel Forgotten.</a></p>
<p>In the first of our series “The Injured,” a Kansas family remembers Valentine’s Day as the beginning of panic attacks, life-altering trauma, and waking to nightmares of gunfire. Thrown into the spotlight by the shootings, they wonder how they will recover. (Bram Sable-Smith and Peggy Lowe, KCUR, <time class="posted-on" datetime="2024-03-14T08:27:41-04:00">3/14</time> )</p>
</article>
<article>
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/montana-abortion-supreme-court-elections-ballot-initiative-fight/" name="original-2" id="original-2">Montana, an Island of Abortion Access, Preps for Consequential Elections and Court Decisions</a></p>
<p>A 25-year-old state Supreme Court ruling protects abortion rights in conservative Montana. That hasn’t stopped Republicans and anti-abortion advocates from trying to institute a ban. (Arielle Zionts, <time class="posted-on" datetime="2024-03-14T08:27:41-04:00">3/14</time> )</p>
</article>
<article>
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/exclusive-social-security-chief-omalley-fix-overpayment-clawbacks/" name="original-3" id="original-3">Exclusive: Social Security Chief Vows to Fix ‘Cruel-Hearted’ Overpayment Clawbacks</a></p>
<p>New Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley is promising to change how the agency reclaims billions of dollars it wrongly pays to beneficiaries, saying the existing process is “cruel-hearted and mindless.” (Fred Clasen-Kelly, <time class="posted-on" datetime="2024-03-14T08:27:41-04:00">3/14</time> )</p>
</article>
<article class="wrapper-features">
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/multimedia/an-arm-and-a-leg/" name="original-3" id="original-3">Political Cartoon: 'An Arm and A Leg?'</a></p>
<p>KFF Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/multimedia/an-arm-and-a-leg/">"Political Cartoon: 'An Arm and A Leg?'" by Jeff Hobbs</a>.</p>
<p>Here's today's health policy haiku:</p>
<div class="feature-haiku">
<h5>MENTAL HEALTH CARE IN CALIFORNIA PRISONS</h5>
<p>Twenty-nine years of<br />
prison oversight. Can we<br />
<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/secret-contract-california-prison-mental-health-care-lawsuit/">open the records?</a></p>
<p class="byline">- Christian Heiss</p>
</div>
<p>If you have a health policy haiku to share, please <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/contact-haiku/">Contact Us</a> and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.</p>
<p>Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of KFF Health News or KFF.</p>
</article>
</section>
<h2>Summaries Of The News:</h2>
<section class="article-list-details">
<p class="header">Administration News</p>
<article class="article-breakout">
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/hhs-looking-into-cybersecurity-at-unitedhealth-following-change-hack/" id="breakout-1827306" name="breakout-1827306">HHS Looking Into Cybersecurity At UnitedHealth Following Change Hack</a></p>
<p>The HHS Office for Civil Rights is investigating the ransomware attack at UnitedHealth's subsidiary Change Healthcare to evaluate the extent of the hack's breach and the insurance company's HIPAA compliance. Meanwhile, fallout from the attack continues to be felt across the health industry.</p>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/03/13/patient-data-breach-hhs-probe-unitedhealth-change-healthcare/" target="_blank">The Washington Post: HHS Opens Probe Into UnitedHealth’s Cybersecurity As Hack Fallout Continues </a><br />
The Biden administration is opening an investigation into UnitedHealth Group following a cyberattack on a subsidiary that has crippled health-care payments and probably exposed millions of patients’ data. The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday said its probe would focus on identifying the extent of the breach and compliance by UnitedHealth and its subsidiary, Change Healthcare, with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act — widely known as HIPAA — which is intended to protect patients’ private data. (Diamond, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-13/change-healthcare-cyber-attack-leaves-cancer-clinics-reeling" target="_blank">Bloomberg: Change Healthcare Cyber Attack Leaves Cancer Clinics Reeling </a><br />
Doctors across the US are stretching to keep their practices afloat as a debilitating cyberattack on a once little-known company at the center of the health-care system continues to cause havoc. “I can’t believe we’re in this mess,” said Kathy Oubre, chief executive officer of Pontchartrain Cancer Center in southeast Louisiana. “It’s going to take us months to dig out.” (Tozzi, Swetlitz, and Griffin, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p>In other news from the federal government —</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/exclusive-social-security-chief-omalley-fix-overpayment-clawbacks/" target="_blank">KFF Health News: Exclusive: Social Security Chief Vows To Fix ‘Cruel-Hearted’ Overpayment Clawbacks</a><br />
The Social Security Administration’s new chief is promising to overhaul the agency’s system of clawing back billions of dollars it claims was wrongly sent to beneficiaries, saying it “just doesn’t seem right or fair.” In an interview with KFF Health News, SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley said that in the coming days he would propose changes to help people avoid crushing debts that have driven some into homelessness and caused financial hardships for the nation’s most vulnerable — the poorest of the poor and people with disabilities or persistent medical conditions or who are at least age 65. (Clasen-Kelly, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/03/13/nation/tiktok-ban-social-media-house/" target="_blank">The Boston Globe: Potential TikTok Ban Passes House, But Some Say Worry It's Too Narrow</a><br />
As TikTok users flooded Congress with calls opposing a bill that could ban the popular video app in the United States, Representative Jake Auchincloss said his office received one so disturbing that it convinced him the legislation was needed. “We got a voicemail from a young individual threatening suicide if we banned TikTok. That is a case in point . . . of the deleterious impact that these apps are having on our youth,” the Newton Democrat said. ... “I mean, Congress needs to get a grip on this.” (Puzzanghera, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://rollcall.com/2024/03/13/in-the-spotlight-michelle-fischbach/" target="_blank">Roll Call: In The Spotlight: Michelle Fischbach</a><br />
Minnesota Republican Michelle Fischbach last week saw the Ways and Means Committee endorse her bill that would block the Biden administration from finalizing a rule to require minimum staffing in nursing homes. The rule, proposed last year, requires patients to receive at least three hours of direct care every day and mandates that facilities have a registered nurse on staff at all times. Fischbach’s bill advanced 26-17, with all Republicans and one Democrat voting in favor, echoing the nursing home industry’s arguments that the rule would force facilities to close because they can’t find workers. (Eskow, 3/13)</p>
</article>
</article>
</section>
<section class="article-list-details">
<p class="header">After Roe V. Wade</p>
<article class="article-breakout">
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/harris-will-be-first-vice-president-to-visit-an-abortion-clinic/" id="breakout-1827304" name="breakout-1827304">Harris Will Be First Vice President To Visit An Abortion Clinic</a></p>
<p>Vice President Kamala Harris is set to visit and meet with abortion providers and staff members at a health center in Minneapolis, spotlighting an issue that Democrats will lean into during the 2024 election.</p>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/us/politics/kamala-harris-abortion-clinic.html" target="_blank">The New York Times: Kamala Harris Will Visit Abortion Clinic, In Historic First </a><br />
Vice President Kamala Harris plans to meet with abortion providers and staff members on Thursday in the Twin Cities, a visit that is believed to be the first stop by a president or vice president to an abortion clinic. Ms. Harris plans on Thursday to tour the center with an abortion provider and highlight what the administration has done to try to preserve access to the procedure as conservative states enact growing restrictions. Minnesota has become a haven for abortion seekers since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ushering in restrictive laws and bans in neighboring states. (Lerer and Nehamas, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.stlpr.org/government-politics-issues/2024-03-13/missourians-back-initiative-to-restore-abortion-rights-by-small-margin-new-poll-finds" target="_blank">Missouri Independent: Missourians Back Effort To Restore Abortion Rights, Poll Finds</a><br />
A new poll shows plurality of Missourians support restoring abortion rights as they existed under Roe v. Wade, but a large undecided group holds the key to victory. (Keller, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://19thnews.org/2024/03/olivia-rodrigo-morning-after-pills/" target="_blank">The 19th: Morning-After Pills Handed Out At Olivia Rodrigo Concert In Missouri</a><br />
The Missouri Abortion Fund distributed the morning-after pill and condoms to concertgoers during Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS tour Tuesday night in St. Louis. It was part of the pop star’s Fund 4 Good initiative focused on “building an equitable and just future for all women, girls, and people seeking reproductive health freedom.” (Gerson, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/nebraska-is-down-to-two-clinics-providing-abortion-appointments-in-the-state/" target="_blank">Nebraska Public Media: Nebraska Is Down To Two Clinics Providing Abortion Appointments In The State</a><br />
The Planned Parenthood clinic in Omaha has been under construction since January. The center remains open to family planning patients, but all abortion appointments have been temporarily moved to the Lincoln location. That leaves just two clinics currently providing abortion services in Nebraska. (Rembert, 3/14)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/12/abortion-rights-idaho-stories" target="_blank">The Guardian: ‘Idaho’s Seen As A War Zone’: The Lone Abortion Activist Defying Militias And The Far Right </a><br />
Last January, Jen Jackson Quintano stepped into a theater in Sandpoint, a tiny city in northern Idaho, to debut a production that could best be described as The Vagina Monologues meets The Moth – a night of Idahoans sharing stories about their own reproductive agency. Quintano was nervous. Idaho, where Republicans outnumber Democrats five to one, has one of the most punitive abortion bans in the country. Further, Quintano lives in a region of the state that keeps making national headlines for bold displays of armed intimidation by militia, white supremacists, and Christian nationalists. This was not necessarily a safe place to talk about abortion. (Randall, 3/12)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/montana-abortion-supreme-court-elections-ballot-initiative-fight/" target="_blank">KFF Health News: Montana, An Island Of Abortion Access, Preps For Consequential Elections And Court Decisions</a><br />
A years-long battle over abortion access in a sprawling and sparsely populated region of the U.S. may come to a head this year in the courts and at the ballot box. Challenges to several state laws designed to chip away at abortion access are pending in Montana courts. Meanwhile, abortion rights advocates are pushing a ballot initiative that would add extra protections to the state constitution. (Zionts, 3/14)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p>In updates on IVF —</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4530562-new-york-republican-becomes-first-gop-member-to-support-bill-protecting-ivf/" target="_blank">The Hill: New York Republican Becomes First GOP Member To Support Bill Protecting IVF </a><br />
Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) announced Wednesday that he was cosponsoring a bill to protect access for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, becoming the first Republican to back the care. In a statement, Molinaro said he would be cosponsoring the Access to Family Building Act, with Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.). It had companion legislation introduced in the Senate by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). (Irwin, 3/13)</p>
</article>
</article>
</section>
<section class="article-list-details">
<p class="header">Outbreaks and Health Threats</p>
<article class="article-breakout">
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/2-chicago-public-school-students-have-measles-cdc-updates-travel-guidance/" id="breakout-1827329" name="breakout-1827329">2 Chicago Public School Students Have Measles; CDC Updates Travel Guidance</a></p>
<p>There are now 10 confirmed measles cases in Chicago, and the city is said to be "moving quickly" to vaccinate public school students. The CDC is also warning that if you're traveling abroad, you should check whether you're up to date on measles shots.</p>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/measles-cases-chicago-migrant-shelter-outbreak/" target="_blank">CBS News: 2 More Measles Cases Confirmed In Chicago For Total Of 10; One New Case Is At Migrant Shelter </a><br />
The Chicago Department of Public Health on Wednesday announced two new confirmed cases of measles – one of which was in the migrant shelter in Pilsen where most of the cases have originated. This makes a total of 10 cases of measles citywide, and eight associated with the migrant shelter. It is not known where the other new measles patient was exposed. Two of the 10 measles patients from the shelter have also now been confirmed to be Chicago Public Schools students. (Franza, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/mayor-johnson-chicago-public-schools-measles-vaccination/" target="_blank">CBS News: Mayor Johnson: City Is "Moving Quickly" To Vaccinate CPS Students Against Measles </a><br />
One of the measles patients attended Philip D. Armour Elementary in Bridgeport, and is staying in the migrant shelter. Another student is at Cooper Dual Language Elementary Academy and was also a shelter resident. Specifically at Armour Elementary, data showed as of the start of the school year, the vaccination protection level at the school was 89 percent. This is technically beneath the 95% vaccination set by the CDC to achieve herd immunity. (Molina, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2024/03/13/migrant-crisis-chicago-shelters-measles-cases-60-day-limit-evictions-mayor-brandon-johnson" target="_blank">Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Confirms Migrant Evictions Coming, Despite Measles Outbreak And Protests</a><br />
Amid a burgeoning measles outbreak and one day after 18 Chicago City Council members signed a letter urging him to call off his 60-day eviction policy for city migrant shelters, Mayor Brandon Johnson vowed to forge ahead with an untold number of evictions on Saturday. (Spielman and Loria, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/13/health/chicago-migrant-shelter-measles-vaccinated-in-unprecedented-operation/index.html" target="_blank">CNN: All Eligible People At Chicago Migrant Shelter Have Been Vaccinated For Measles In ‘Unprecedented Operation’ </a><br />
The Chicago Department of Public Health said Wednesday that everyone who is eligible for vaccination at the temporary shelter housing migrants at the center of a measles outbreak has now been vaccinated. (Christensen and Musa, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p>Also —</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/measles-vaccine-guidance-travelers-cdc/" target="_blank">CBS News: Going Abroad? Time To Check If You're Up To Date On Measles Immunity, CDC Says</a><br />
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance Wednesday for travelers in the wake of a global rise in measles outbreaks, as cases have mounted across 17 states. Americans planning to travel abroad should consult their doctors at least six weeks before traveling if they are unsure about whether they are up to date on their vaccines, the agency now says, in order to avoid catching the highly contagious virus during their trip. The CDC previously said in November that travelers only needed to schedule an appointment at least one month before their trip, in order to have enough time to get vaccinated. (Tin, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/24099783/measles-mmr-united-states-cdc-vaccine" target="_blank">Vox: Measles In The US: Vaccines, Treatment, And What To Do To Protect Your Family</a><br />
Unvaccinated children and immunocompromised people — especially those receiving certain cancer treatments — face the highest risk when measles is in circulation. “Even an uncomplicated case of measles is really awful,” said Sarah Lim, an infectious disease doctor and medical specialist at the Minnesota Department of Health, during a press conference on March 12. (Landman, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/caileygleeson/2024/03/13/us-measles-outbreak-the-17-states-reporting-cases/" target="_blank">Forbes: Here Are The 17 States Reporting Measles Cases</a><br />
Data shows that cases are close to the number of total cases reported in 2023. (Gleeson, 3/13)</p>
</article>
</article>
</section>
<section class="article-list-details">
<p class="header">Cancer Research</p>
<article class="article-breakout">
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/study-new-blood-test-good-at-detecting-colorectal-cancer-early/" id="breakout-1827305" name="breakout-1827305">Study: New Blood Test Good At Detecting Colorectal Cancer Early</a></p>
<p>A clinical trial of the new test found it detected 83% of people with colorectal cancer. It's not yet FDA approved. Also in the news, a blood cancer treatment is found promising for treating the deadliest type of brain cancer, glioblastoma.</p>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/03/14/1238390033/a-simple-blood-test-can-detect-colorectal-cancer-early-study-finds" target="_blank">NPR: Blood Test Can Detect Colorectal Cancer Early, New Study Finds </a><br />
The results of a clinical trial, published Wednesday, in The New England Journal of Medicine, show that the blood-based screening test detects 83% of people with colorectal cancer. If the FDA approves it, the blood test would be another screening tool to detect the cancer at an early stage. ... Dr. Barbara Jung, president of the American Gastroenterological Association says the test could help improve early detection of colorectal cancer. "I do think having a blood draw versus undergoing an invasive test will reach more people, " she says. (Aubrey, 3/14)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/two-early-trials-blood-cancer-treatment-appears-promising-deadly-brain-rcna143216" target="_blank">NBC News: In Two Early Trials, Blood Cancer Treatment Appears Promising For Deadly Brain Tumor</a><br />
Two early trials published Wednesday showed promise in treating one of the deadliest types of cancer, glioblastoma. The aggressive brain cancer, which took the lives of John McCain and Beau Biden, is only diagnosed at stage 4, and the five-year survival rate is around 10%. ... The two clinical trials published Wednesday were extremely small, conducted on just nine patients in total, and much more research is needed, with larger trials, to determine how effective the therapy might be in the long run. (Sullivan, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00673-w" target="_blank">Nature: First Cell Therapy For Solid Tumours Heads To The Clinic: What It Means For Cancer Treatment</a><br />
More than 35 years after it was invented, a therapy that uses immune cells extracted from a person’s own tumour is finally hitting the clinic. At least 20 people with advanced melanoma have embarked on treatment with what are called tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), which target and kill cancer cells. The regimen, called lifileucel, is the first TIL therapy to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). And it is the first immune-cell therapy to win FDA approval for treating solid tumours such as melanoma. Doctors already deploy immune cells called CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T cells to treat cancer, but CAR-T therapy is used against only blood cancers such as leukaemia. (Reardon, 3/11)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/metabolic-syndrome-increases-the-risk-of-all-types-of-cancer-study-finds" target="_blank">Medical News Today: How Metabolic Syndrome Can Increase The Risk Of Developing Cancer</a><br />
New research shows that worsening metabolic syndrome – which is present in more than a third of adults in the United States – carries with it an increased risk of developing cancer. Metabolic syndrome is not a single condition, but rather the term applied when a person has three or more of the following markers: central or abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, and low serum high-density lipoprotein. (Gray, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/13/health/breast-cancer-risk-assessment-tool/index.html" target="_blank">CNN: This Risk Assessment Tool Helped Olivia Munn Discover Her Breast Cancer </a><br />
A tool that’s available as an online calculator played a key role in actress Olivia Munn’s discovery that she had breast cancer – even after she had “a normal mammogram,” according to a social media post. (Howard, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p>Try the NIH's breast cancer calculator —</p>
<p><a href="https://bcrisktool.cancer.gov/">Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool</a></p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00720-6" target="_blank">Nature: Why Are So Many Young People Getting Cancer? What The Data Say</a><br />
Of the many young people whom Cathy Eng has treated for cancer, the person who stood out the most was a young woman with a 65-year-old’s disease. The 16-year-old had flown from China to Texas to receive treatment for a gastrointestinal cancer that typically occurs in older adults. Her parents had sold their house to fund her care, but it was already too late. “She had such advanced disease, there was not much that I could do,” says Eng, now an oncologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. ... Thousands of miles away, in Mumbai, India, surgeon George Barreto had been noticing the same thing. (Ledford, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://apnews.com/article/cancer-air-force-troops-study-nuclear-weapons-eccbab5b09187c9a5a6ed276c9427a31" target="_blank">AP: Early Results Show Lower Cancer Rates Than Expected Among Air Force Nuclear Missile Personnel </a><br />
The Air Force is reporting the first data on cancer diagnoses among troops who worked with nuclear missiles and, while the data is only about 25% complete, the service says the numbers are lower than what they expected. The Air Force said so far it has identified 23 cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer, in the first stage of its review of cancers among service members who operated, maintained or supported silo-based Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles. (Copp, 3/13)</p>
</article>
</article>
</section>
<section class="article-list-details">
<p class="header">Marijuana and Cannabis</p>
<article class="article-breakout">
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/cannabis-policy-could-take-a-hit-after-report-showing-more-teens-use-thc/" id="breakout-1827307" name="breakout-1827307">Cannabis Policy Could Take A Hit After Report Showing More Teens Use THC</a></p>
<p>Some health experts want more regulation of the cannabis market, citing health concerns and easy access for youths. In other news, Vice President Kamala Harris will hold a marijuana reform roundtable Friday.</p>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://rollcall.com/2024/03/14/growing-teen-thc-use-could-further-complicate-cannabis-policy/" target="_blank">Roll Call: Growing Teen THC Use Could Further Complicate Cannabis Policy</a><br />
Adolescents are using an often unregulated, psychoactive derivative of cannabis, according to national data released Wednesday, as the Biden administration deliberates expanding access to marijuana at the federal level. The data could complicate hemp regulation at the state level, as some states move to rein in THC use. It could also have ripple effects around efforts to legalize marijuana, which already operates under an extremely gray patchwork of regulations at the state level, where it’s often legal, and the federal level, where it’s not. (Raman and Clason, 3/14)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas-medical-cannabis-distributor-calls-for-regulations-of-cbd-market/" target="_blank">KXAN Austin: Texas Medical Cannabis Distributor Calls For Regulations Of CBD Market </a><br />
The CEO of Texas’ largest medical cannabis distributor is urging leaders to regulate the state’s CBD market, citing concerns over health issues related to hemp-derived products such as delta-8 and delta-9 THC. Delta-8 and delta-9 THC are compounds closely related to the psychoactive compound in marijuana that gets users “high.” It’s legal in most states after Congress passed the 2018 farm bill, which had an unintended loophole due to how lawmakers defined “hemp” while legalizing it. (Madden, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4530036-harris-marijuana-reform-roundtable-fat-joe-andy-beshear/" target="_blank">The Hill: Harris To Host Marijuana Reform Roundtable With Kentucky Governor, Rapper Fat Joe </a><br />
Vice President Harris will convene a roundtable on marijuana reform Friday with rapper Fat Joe, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and individuals who received pardons for marijuana convictions. A White House official said Harris will highlight actions the Biden administration has taken to pursue criminal justice reforms, including by pardoning tens of thousands of Americans with federal marijuana possession charges. (Samuels, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/13/massachusetts-governor-marijuana-00146780" target="_blank">Politico: Massachusetts Governor Proposes Sweeping Marijuana Pardons </a><br />
Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday proposed a blanket pardon of misdemeanor marijuana possession convictions in Massachusetts in what she described as the broadest action taken by a governor to forgive past marijuana crimes since President Joe Biden handed down federal pot pardons. Healey’s move to wipe out all past adult state court misdemeanor convictions for possession of marijuana comes seven years after the state legalized cannabis. The pardons will be mostly automatic, she said, and could potentially clear the charge from hundreds of thousands of people’s records. (Kashinsky and Garity, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.propublica.org/article/chinese-organized-crime-us-marijuana-market" target="_blank">ProPublica: Chinese Organized Crime Dominates America’s Illicit Marijuana Market </a><br />
A quadruple murder in Oklahoma shows how the Chinese underworld has come to dominate the booming illicit trade, fortifying its rise as a global powerhouse with alleged ties to China’s authoritarian regime. Rotella, Berg, Yalch and Adcock, 3/14)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p>Also —</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/13/becerra-drug-testing-welfare-00146871" target="_blank">Politico: Becerra Leaves The Door Open To Drug Testing Welfare Recipients </a><br />
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Wednesday didn’t shut the door to drug testing welfare recipients, a policy San Francisco voters approved earlier this month. Becerra, former California attorney general, said that he didn’t want to tell cities, counties or states what actions they should take but that all options should be on the table when considering how to address the drug crisis facing the nation. (Messerly, 3/13)</p>
</article>
</article>
</section>
<section class="article-list-details">
<p class="header">Health Industry</p>
<article class="article-breakout">
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/nurse-who-accidentally-killed-patient-highlights-hospitals-errors/" id="breakout-1827308" name="breakout-1827308">Nurse Who Accidentally Killed Patient Highlights Hospital's Errors</a></p>
<p>Former nurse RaDonda Vaught told CommonSpirit Health staff members that her accidental administering of the wrong medication was influenced by hospital issues like a faulty medication dispenser. Also in the news: Mass General Brigham, Mayo Clinic, and more.</p>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.statnews.com/2024/03/13/vanderbilt-nurse-radonda-vaught-killed-patient-hospital-issues/" target="_blank">Stat: RaDonda Vaught Links Vanderbilt Hospital Issues To Patient Death</a><br />
Speaking before a virtual audience of CommonSpirit Health employees, RaDonda Vaught, the former nurse who accidentally killed a patient by administering the wrong medication, listed the outside factors she claims contributed to her fatal error. Among them: a missing drug order, a faulty medication dispenser, and a hurricane that hampered the drug supply. (Bannow, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/03/13/union-workers-push-for-health-care-and-insurance-bills-following-coordinated-strikes" target="_blank">Minnesota Public Radio: Union Workers Push For Health Care And Insurance Bills Following Coordinated Strikes </a><br />
After thousands of Twin Cities union workers went on strike last week, workers are pushing for changes at the Capitol — including public health insurance open to all Minnesotans and insurance for striking workers. (Spencer, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/03/13/business/hospital-merger-massachusetts-brigham-mgh-clinical/" target="_blank">The Boston Globe: Mass General Brigham Hospital System To Integrate Clinical Services</a><br />
Thirty years after joining forces, Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals are taking their most ambitious step yet toward creating a more unified hospital system. The two flagship hospitals, which anchor Mass General Brigham, the state’s largest health care system, announced Wednesday that it will be combining clinical services across its vast network that serves more than 2.6 million patients a year. The effort will include the creation of new, disease-focused institutes that executives say will dismantle silos and lead to more coordinated, streamlined care. (Serres, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.modernhealthcare.com/technology/mayo-clinic-studio-solutions" target="_blank">Modern Healthcare: Mayo Clinic Launches Solutions Studio To Develop Programs Faster</a><br />
Mayo Clinic Platform said it has developed a program designed to speed the introduction of new digital healthcare solutions. Solutions Studio, announced at HIMSS, seeks to help digital health companies deploy solutions faster by giving them access to curated, de-identified data along with analytic and training tools in one centralized platform, Mayo Clinic said in a news release. (DeSilva, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.modernhealthcare.com/digital-health/himss24-philips-innovaccer-compete-provider-contracts" target="_blank">Modern Healthcare: HIMSS24: Philips, Innovaccer Compete For Provider Contracts </a><br />
A growing number of established health tech companies are outlining a strategy to connect startups to health systems. The trend was highlighted at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s annual conference in Orlando, Florida, with health tech vendors such as Innovaccer, Royal Philips, GE HealthCare and Epic outlining their strategies to court startups for a platform solution they can sell to health systems. (Turner, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/03/13/childrens-minnesota-debuts-new-modest-hospital-gown-for-kids" target="_blank">Minnesota Public Radio: Children’s Minnesota Debuts New Modest Hospital Gown For Kids </a><br />
Children’s Minnesota on Tuesday debuted one of the country’s first modest hospital gowns for kids. The hospital system partnered with local design business Henna and Hijabs to create a medical grade modesty gown with a detachable hijab, three-quarter length sleeves and closures that can be worn in the front or back that allow medical providers access for IV lines or breathing tubes. (Miles, 3/13)</p>
</article>
</article>
</section>
<section class="article-list-details">
<p class="header">State Watch</p>
<article class="article-breakout">
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/645-people-died-from-heat-in-arizonas-most-populous-county-last-year/" id="breakout-1827311" name="breakout-1827311">645 People Died From Heat In Arizona's Most Populous County Last Year</a></p>
<p>The figure is up over 50% on 2022's number for the arid metro Phoenix area. Also in the news: loss of health care for immigrants in Illinois; a failed override of Nebraska's governor's veto of a "safe needles" bill; and more.</p>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://apnews.com/article/arizona-heat-deaths-953578b55defcf6445e7ebf0ef8b8281" target="_blank">AP: Arizona's Most Populous County Has Confirmed 645 Heat-Associated Deaths In Metro Phoenix Last Year </a><br />
Public health officials in Arizona’s most populous county on Wednesday reported they confirmed a staggering 645 heat-associated deaths last year — more than 50% higher than 2022 and another consecutive annual record in arid metro Phoenix. The numbers in the preliminary report by the Maricopa County Department of Public Health alarmed officials in America’s hottest big metro, raising concerns about how to better protect vulnerable groups such as homeless people and older adults from the blistering summer heat. (Snow, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.stlpr.org/government-politics-issues/2024-03-13/thousands-of-immigrants-in-illinois-to-lose-health-care-coverage-next-month" target="_blank">WBEZ: Many Of Illinois' Immigrants Will Lose Health Care In April </a><br />
Changes to a pair of Illinois programs that offer health care coverage to undocumented — and some documented — residents will mean thousands of people stand to lose their health insurance. (Degman, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/13/nebraska-lawmakers-fail-override-safe-needles-bill/72932169007/" target="_blank">USA Today: Nebraska Lawmakers Fail To Override Veto Of 'Safe Needles' Bill</a><br />
The Nebraska Legislature could not override Gov. Jim Pillen’s veto of a “safe needles” bill on Tuesday, losing by just three votes. Thirty supporters were needed to override the veto, but only 27 voted to do so despite previous broad bipartisan support for the bill that would’ve established a syringe service program (SSP) to reduce HIV and other blood-borne infections by distributing clean syringes and creating touchpoints to access addiction treatment. (Marchel Hoff, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-13/some-people-with-mental-illnesses-remain-in-l-a-county-jails-after-charges-are-dropped-report-says" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times: Some Mentally Ill People Are Stuck In L.A. Jails, Report Says</a><br />
People with mental illnesses who are in conservatorships are being held in Los Angeles County jails even after their criminal charges are dropped, according to a report released Tuesday by Disability Rights California. Similarly, they are staying months in county psychiatric hospitals after doctors have agreed that it’s safe for them to leave, the report said. The issue is partly one of capacity. (Cosgrove, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://health.wusf.usf.edu/health-news-florida/2024-03-13/sarasota-nonprofit-helps-veterans-with-ptsd-heal-with-alternative-therapies" target="_blank">Community News Collaborative: Sarasota Nonprofit Helps Veterans With PTSD Heal With Alternative Therapies</a><br />
Operation Warrior Resolution is seeing success treating post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues with a holistic method called brain-based healing. (Owens, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2024/03/happiness-california-legislature/" target="_blank">CalMatters: California Legislature Wants To Promote Happiness</a><br />
A new select committee on happiness holds its first hearing to figure out how to make Californians happier. (La, 3/12)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2024-03-13/nh-house-committee-backs-bill-that-would-add-mental-health-records-to-federal-gun-database" target="_blank">New Hampshire Public Radio: NH House Committee Backs Bill That Would Add Mental Health Records To Federal Gun Database </a><br />
A New Hampshire House committee is recommending passage of a bill that would add people who are involuntarily committed to psychiatric facilities or found incompetent to stand trial to the FBI’s gun background check database. New Hampshire is currently one of just a handful of states that does not share similar data with the FBI. (Bookman and Cuno-Booth, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/super-bowl-parade-shooting-gun-violence-kansas-city-survivors/" target="_blank">KFF Health News: They Were Injured At The Super Bowl Parade. A Month Later, They Feel Forgotten</a><br />
Jason Barton didn’t want to attend the Super Bowl parade this year. He told a co-worker the night before that he worried about a mass shooting. But it was Valentine’s Day, his wife is a Kansas City Chiefs superfan, and he couldn’t afford to take her to games. ... So Barton drove 50 miles from Osawatomie, Kansas, to downtown Kansas City, Missouri, with his wife, Bridget, her 13-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and Gabriella’s school friend. When they finally arrived home that night, they cleaned blood from Gabriella’s sneakers and found a bullet in Bridget’s backpack. (Sable-Smith and Lowe, 3/14)</p>
</article>
</article>
</section>
<section class="article-list-details">
<p class="header">Lifestyle and Health</p>
<article class="article-breakout">
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/researchers-warn-of-new-amoeba-risk-from-nasal-rinsing/" id="breakout-1827310" name="breakout-1827310">Researchers Warn Of New Amoeba Risk From Nasal Rinsing</a></p>
<p>Using the right kind of water in your neti pot now seems extra important since the CDC has linked rare but deadly Acanthamoeba infections to nasal rinsing systems. Also in the news: A man living in an iron lung has died at age 78.</p>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://apnews.com/article/neti-pots-tap-water-amoeba-aed6e6f9129d85146d396d71b8778812" target="_blank">AP: What To Know About Dangerous Amoeba Linked To Neti Pots, Nasal Rinsing</a><br />
For years, scientists have known people who use neti pots can become infected with a brain-eating amoeba if they use the wrong kind of water. On Wednesday, researchers linked a second kind of deadly amoeba to nasal rinsing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report that for the first time connects Acanthamoeba infections to neti pots and other nasal rinsing devices. Officials also renewed their warning that extremely rare, but potentially deadly, consequences can come from flushing nasal passages with common tap water. (Stobbe, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/13/1238251518/iron-lung-polio-paul-alexander" target="_blank">NPR: Man In An Iron Lung Since Age 6 Dies At 78</a><br />
Polio struck Paul Alexander in 1952, when he was just 6 years old. Within days, the disease robbed him of the use of his body. But he fought through the illness, using an iron lung for more than 70 years — and inspiring people with his determination to live a full life. He painted, wrote a book and worked for years as an attorney. ... Alexander died on Monday at age 78. ... "I'm crippled in most people's minds, except mine," he said, adding later, "I'm Paul Alexander, human being." (Chappell, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/12/donald-trump-joe-biden-stutter-00146467" target="_blank">Politico: Stuttering Advocates Have Words For Donald Trump</a><br />
Trump’s ridiculing of Biden comes as advocates have built broader acceptance of speech impediments. (Gardiner, 3/12)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/dogs-help-people-concentrate-relax-brain-study-rcna142973" target="_blank">NBC News: Playing With Dogs Helps People Concentrate And Relax, Brain Recordings Show</a><br />
Plenty of research has investigated the bond between humans and dogs, demonstrating that canine companions can improve people’s moods, reduce blood pressure and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. ... But few past studies have pinpointed what happens in people’s brains when they interact with a furry friend. A study published Wednesday did exactly that. ... The results indicated that walking the dog made the participants feel more relaxed, brushing her improved concentration, and playing with her yielded both of these effects. (Bendix, 3/13) </p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/03/13/why-do-women-go-through-menopause-study-of-whales-clues/72945068007/" target="_blank">USA Today: Why Do Women Go Through Menopause? Study Of Whales Offers Clues</a><br />
The existence of menopause in humans has long been a biological conundrum, but scientists are getting a better understanding from a surprising source: whales. Findings of a new study suggest menopause gives an evolutionary advantage to grandmother whales’ grandchildren. ... A paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature looked at a total of 32 whale species, five of which undergo menopause. The findings could offer clues about why humans, the only land-based animals that also goes through menopause, evolved the trait. (Weise, 3/13)</p>
</article>
</article>
</section>
<section class="article-list-details">
<p class="header">Health Policy Research</p>
<article class="article-breakout">
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/research-roundup-tb-air-pollution-maternal-obesity-medical-resource-allocation/" id="breakout-1827339" name="breakout-1827339">Research Roundup: TB; Air Pollution; Maternal Obesity; Medical Resource Allocation</a></p>
<p>Each week, KFF Health News compiles a selection of health policy studies and briefs.</p>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/tuberculosis/more-80-tb-patients-lack-persistent-cough-study-finds" target="_blank">CIDRAP: More Than 80% Of TB Patients Lack Persistent Cough, Study Finds</a><br />
More than 80% of people in Asia and Africa who have culture-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) don't have one of the symptoms most commonly associated with the disease, according to a study published yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. (Dall, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240312133805.htm" target="_blank">ScienceDaily: Climate Policies To Reduce Motor Vehicle Emissions Can Improve Children's Health, Save Money </a><br />
A new study finds that policies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from motor vehicles combined with investments in electric vehicles and public transportation would reduce air pollution and bring large benefits to children's health. They would also save money. (Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, 3/12)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240312133409.htm" target="_blank">ScienceDaily: Maternal Obesity May Promote Liver Cancer </a><br />
Scientists have studied the impact of maternal obesity on the risk of developing liver disease and liver cancer. Using an animal model, the team discovered that this risk was indeed much higher in the offspring of mothers suffering from obesity. (Universite de Geneve, 3/12)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/health-workers-laypeople-differ-how-allocate-limited-medical-resources-amid-crisis" target="_blank">CIDRAP: Health Workers, Laypeople Differ On How To Allocate Limited Medical Resources Amid A Crisis</a><br />
Healthcare providers (HCPs) and laypeople both say scarce resource allocation (SRA) policies should aim to save the most lives possible but diverge somewhat on how to achieve that goal, according to a survey launched early in the COVID-19 pandemic. University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers published the results yesterday in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 3/13)</p>
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</section>
<section class="article-list-details">
<p class="header">Editorials And Opinions</p>
<article class="article-breakout">
<p class="headline"><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/viewpoints-prior-authorization-can-be-deadly-ableism-is-behind-anti-vaccination-trend/" id="breakout-1827343" name="breakout-1827343">Viewpoints: Prior Authorization Can Be Deadly; Ableism Is Behind Anti-Vaccination Trend</a></p>
<p>Editorial writers discuss dangerous prior authorizations, vaccine fears, tuition-free medical schools, and more.</p>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/14/opinion/health-insurance-prior-authorization.html" target="_blank">The New York Times: Denying Your Medical Care Is Big Business In America </a><br />
Should your insurance company be allowed to stop you from getting a treatment — even if your doctor says it’s necessary? (Alexander Stockton, 3/14)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.newsweek.com/measles-outbreaks-reveal-extent-danger-disability-stigma-opinion-1878470" target="_blank">Newsweek: Measles Outbreaks Reveal Extent—And Danger—Of Disability Stigma </a><br />
Newly reported measles cases in Chicago are the latest in a potentially deadly—and highly preventable—string of outbreaks, which have been recorded in at least 17 states since the start of 2024. These outbreaks are a direct result of anti-vaccination misinformation that is rooted in ableism and harms all communities—able-bodied and disabled alike. (Sam Streuli, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-03-13/albert-einstein-medical-school-s-free-tuition-is-no-panacea" target="_blank">Bloomberg: Free Tuition Is No Panacea For Medical Schools</a><br />
Medical students who anticipate hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt will likely make career decisions based on whether they can afford their monthly payments. Graduating debt-free opens every possible option — including working in less lucrative specialties or in underserved communities. (Erin Lowry, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/03/13/virginia-apology-black-bodies-bruce-tucker/" target="_blank">The Washington Post: A Late, But Not Too Late, Apology For The Shameful Use Of Black Bodies</a><br />
Decades after a Black man’s heart was used in a transplant without his family’s consent, Virginia lawmakers express “profound regret.” That matters. (Theresa Vargas, 3/13)</p>
</article>
<article class="breakout-story">
<p><a class="headline" href="https://www.statnews.com/2024/03/14/change-cyberattack-response-regulation-needed/" target="_blank">Stat: Change Healthcare Outage Fallout Shows Need For New Oversight</a><br />
In the early days after it was hit by a cyberattack on Feb. 21, Change Healthcare, one of the country’s largest claims and prescription processors, said it would be back online soon. Three weeks later, customers were still waiting — and Biden administration officials were calling its owner, the giant company UnitedHealth Group, to task, even as Medicare offered emergency funds to providers who hadn’t been paid. However the crisis plays out in the coming days, one thing is clear: The critical technology infrastructure of the U.S. health care system needs to be better protected from any future attack. (Jonathan Slotkin and David Vawdrey, 3/14)</p>
</article>
</article>
</section>
</div>
</div>
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from Morning Briefings Archive - KFF Health News https://bit.ly/43ftyyZ<br />
via <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/fivefilters/KHNMorningBriefs">Kaiser Health Morning Briefs</a>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-76140388232379748012024-03-14T07:02:00.001-07:002024-03-14T07:02:24.713-07:00New Study Shows Perinatal Hospital a Great Alternative to Killing Disabled Babies in Abortions<p><span id="more-126789"></span>Today, Family Research Council (FRC), together with Dr. Michael New, Assistant Professor of Social Research at the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America, released the <a href="http://frc.org/perinatalhospice">first phase results</a> of a study of 11 perinatal hospice programs surveying 82 mothers who participated in these programs.</p>
<p>The study found that perinatal hospices offered a range of valuable resources to women. These included counseling, sonograms, prayer, support groups, and a birth plan. High percentages of women found each of these services “very helpful.” Overall, women expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the care they received from perinatal hospices with 83 percent of women reporting the level of emotional support from the perinatal hospice as “very supportive” and 79 percent of women unable to note anything from the program that was not helpful in the grieving process.</p>
<p>Importantly, 55 percent of mothers in the study reported that when doctors informed them about their child’s diagnosis, the physician’s recommendation was to end the baby’s life. Sadly, only 19 percent received information about perinatal hospice when they were given this recommendation.</p>
<p>Yet, after receiving perinatal hospice services, 86 percent of women reported they were “very much” confident in their decision to carry to birth, and zero women reported they were “not at all confident.”</p>
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<p>Family Research Council’s Director of the Center for Family Studies, Dr. Jennifer Bauwens, stated: “Our study addressed a large gap in the scientific literature by asking about the experiences of women who decided to carry their child to term in the face of an adverse perinatal diagnosis and advice to abort. Both receiving an adverse perinatal diagnosis and losing a child can cause tremendous grief that is not always acknowledged by the general public. Our findings suggest perinatal hospices are a source of support for women facing this challenging road.”</p>
<p>Dr. Michael New noted, “Increasing the awareness of perinatal hospice among policymakers, healthcare professionals, and the general public is an important and worthwhile goal for the pro-life movement. It will give women who obtain adverse prenatal diagnosis more options and will hopefully result in a higher percentage of these women making the life-affirming choice of perinatal hospice for both themselves and their preborn child.”</p>
<p>FRC’s Director of the Center for Human Dignity, Mary Szoch, concluded, “The lives of people with disabilities, no matter how long or how short, are just as valuable as every other person’s. Americans must recognize this. Supporting perinatal hospice programs is a great place to start.”</p>
<p>To access the report, please visit: <a href="http://frc.org/perinatalhospice">frc.org/perinatalhospice</a></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-97950" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/babyriver2.png" alt="" width="613" height="413" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/babyriver2.png 911w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/babyriver2-150x101.png 150w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/babyriver2-223x150.png 223w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/babyriver2-768x518.png 768w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/babyriver2-190x128.png 190w" sizes="(max-width: 613px) 100vw, 613px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/2024/03/14/new-study-shows-perinatal-hospital-a-great-alternative-to-killing-disabled-babies-in-abortions/">New Study Shows Perinatal Hospital a Great Alternative to Killing Disabled Babies in Abortions</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.lifenews.com">LifeNews.com</a>.</p>
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from LifeNews.com https://bit.ly/490j5IJ<br />
via syndicated with permission from<a href="https://lifenews.com">LifeNews</a>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-11754770834552709152024-03-14T06:15:00.005-07:002024-03-14T06:15:10.992-07:00They Were Injured at the Super Bowl Parade. A Month Later, They Feel Forgotten.<div class="article-body">
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<p>KFF Health News and KCUR are following the stories of people injured during the Feb. 14 mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration. Listen to how one Kansas family is coping with the trauma.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls="" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/031424_BSS_TheInjured_WEBMIX.mp3"></audio></figure>
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<p>Jason Barton didn’t want to attend the Super Bowl parade this year. He told a co-worker the night before that he worried about a mass shooting. But it was Valentine’s Day, his wife is a Kansas City Chiefs superfan, and he couldn’t afford to take her to games since ticket prices soared after the team won the championship in 2020.</p>
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<p>So Barton drove 50 miles from Osawatomie, Kansas, to downtown Kansas City, Missouri, with his wife, Bridget, her 13-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and Gabriella’s school friend. When they finally arrived home that night, they cleaned blood from Gabriella’s sneakers and found a bullet in Bridget’s backpack.</p>
<p>Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks from a ricocheted bullet, Bridget was trampled while shielding Gabriella in the chaos, and Jason gave chest compressions to a man injured by gunfire. He believes it was Lyndell Mays, <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-02-20/chiefs-shooting-charges-suspects-kansas-city-jackson-county-prosecutor-lyndell-mays-dominic-miller-second-degree-murder">one of two men charged</a> with second-degree felony murder.</p>
<p>“There’s never going to be a Valentine’s Day where I look back and I don’t think about it,” Gabriella said, “because that’s a day where we’re supposed to have fun and appreciate the people that we have.”</p>
<p>One month after the parade in which the <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/gun-violence-data-public-health-experts-research-funds/">U.S. public health crisis</a> that is gun violence played out on live television, the Bartons are reeling from their role at its epicenter. They were just feet from 43-year-old Lisa Lopez-Galvan, who was killed. Twenty-four other people were injured. Although the Bartons aren’t included in that official victim number, they were traumatized, physically and emotionally, and pain permeates their lives: Bridget and Jason keep canceling plans to go out, opting instead to stay home together; Gabriella plans to join a boxing club instead of the dance team.</p>
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<p>During this first month, Kansas City community leaders have weighed how to care for people caught in the bloody crossfire and how to divide more than $2 million donated to public funds for victims in the initial outpouring of grief.</p>
<p>The questions are far-reaching: How does a city compensate people for medical bills, recovery treatments, counseling, and lost wages? And what about those who have PTSD-like symptoms that could last years? How does a community identify and care for victims often overlooked in the first flush of reporting on a mass shooting: the injured?</p>
<p>The injured list could grow. Prosecutors and Kansas City police are mounting a legal case against four of the shooting suspects, and are encouraging additional victims to come forward.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><img decoding="async" width="3840" height="2560" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1826562" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg 3840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=1270,847 1270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=630,420 630w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2054030765_Kansas-City-Shooting-crowd.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 3840px) 100vw, 3840px" />
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">After gunfire broke out at the Super Bowl parade on Feb. 14 in Kansas City, fans took cover and others fled.<span class="photo-credit">(Tammy Ljungblad/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)</span></figcaption>
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<p>“Specifically, we’re looking for individuals who suffered wounds from their trying to escape. A stampede occurred while people were trying to flee,” said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. Anyone who “in the fleeing of this event that maybe fell down, you were trampled, you sprained an ankle, you broke a bone.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, people who took charge of raising money and providing services to care for the injured are wrestling with who gets the money — and who doesn’t. Due to large donations from celebrities like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, some victims or their families will have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical expenses. Other victims may simply have their counseling covered.</p>
<p>The overall economic cost of U.S. firearm injuries is estimated by a recent <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2796678?guestAccessKey=55a622d7-8d12-4a34-886c-1f25eb5ced0a&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=092722">Harvard Medical School study</a> at $557 billion annually. Most of that — 88% — represented quality-of-life losses among those injured by firearms and their families. The JAMA-published study found that each nonfatal firearm injury leads to roughly $30,000 in direct health care spending per survivor in the first year alone.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><img decoding="async" width="3840" height="2560" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1826563" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg 3840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=1270,847 1270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=630,420 630w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/GettyImages-2011199367_Kansas-City-Shooting-ambulance.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 3840px) 100vw, 3840px" />
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A person is loaded onto an ambulance following the shooting. <span class="photo-credit">(David Eulitt/Getty Images)</span></figcaption>
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<p>In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, as well-intentioned GoFundMe pages popped up to help victims, executives at United Way of Greater Kansas City gathered to devise a collective donation response. They came up with “three concentric circles of victims,” said Jessica Blubaugh, the United Way’s chief philanthropy officer, and launched the <a href="https://give.unitedwaygkc.org/p/kcstrong">#KCStrong campaign</a>.</p>
<p>“There were folks that were obviously directly impacted by gunfire. Then the next circle out is folks that were impacted, not necessarily by gunshots, but by physical impact. So maybe they were trampled and maybe they tore a ligament or something because they were running away,” Blubaugh said. “Then third is folks that were just adjacent and/or bystanders that have a lot of trauma from all of this.”</p>
<p><strong>PTSD, Panic, and the Echo of Gunfire</strong></p>
<p>Bridget Barton returned to Kansas City the day after the shooting to turn in the bullet she found in her backpack and to give a statement at police headquarters. Unbeknownst to her, Mayor Quinton Lucas and the police and fire chiefs had just finished a press conference outside the building. She was mobbed by the media assembled there — interviews that are now a blur.</p>
<p>“I don’t know how you guys do this every day,” she remembered telling a detective once she finally got inside.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3840" height="2560" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1826542" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg 3840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=1270,847 1270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=630,420 630w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-09.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 3840px) 100vw, 3840px" />
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Bridget Barton drove back to Kansas City the day after the parade to turn in the bullet she found in her backpack to police and to give a statement. She was mobbed by media who had assembled for a news conference at the same location — interviews she says are now a blur. <span class="photo-credit">(Christopher Smith for KFF Health News)</span></figcaption>
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<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3840" height="2560" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1826543" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg 3840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=1270,847 1270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=630,420 630w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-012.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 3840px) 100vw, 3840px" />
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Barton shows the bullet she found in her backpack after it was struck.<span class="photo-credit">(Christopher Smith for KFF Health News)</span></figcaption>
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<p>The Bartons have been overwhelmed by well wishes from close friends and family as they navigate the trauma, almost to the point of exhaustion. Bridget took to social media to explain she wasn’t ignoring the messages, she’s just responding as she feels able — some days she can hardly look at her phone, she said.</p>
<p>A family friend bought new Barbie blankets for Gabriella and her friend after the ones they brought to the parade were lost or ruined. Bridget tried replacing the blankets herself at her local Walmart, but when she was bumped accidentally, it triggered a panic attack. She abandoned her cart and drove home.</p>
<p>“I’m trying to get my anxiety under control,” Bridget said.</p>
<p>That means therapy. Before the parade, she was already seeing a therapist and planning to begin eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, a form of therapy associated with treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Now the shooting is the first thing she wants to talk about in therapy.</p>
<p>Since Gabriella, an eighth grader, has returned to middle school, she has dealt with the compounding immaturity of adolescence: peers telling her to get over it, pointing finger guns at her, or even saying it should have been her who was shot. But her friends are checking on her and asking how she’s doing. She wishes more people would do the same for her friend, who took off running when the shooting started and avoided injury. Gabriella feels guilty about bringing her to what turned into a horrifying experience.</p>
<p>“We can tell her all day long, ‘It wasn’t your fault. She’s not your responsibility.’ Just like I can tell myself, ‘It wasn’t my fault or my responsibility,’” Bridget said. “But I still bawled on her mom’s shoulder telling her how sorry I was that I grabbed my kid first.”</p>
<p>The two girls have spent a lot of time talking since the shooting, which Gabriella said helps with her own stress. So does spending time with her dog and her lizard, putting on makeup, and listening to music — Tech N9ne’s performance was a highlight of the Super Bowl celebration for her.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image alignfull size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3840" height="2560" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1826550" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg 3840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=1270,847 1270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=630,420 630w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-020.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 3840px) 100vw, 3840px" />
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Bridget Barton’s daughter, Gabriella, had a previous burn on her stomach from a styling iron that reopened when she fell to the concrete at the parade. Seeing it now prompts memories of her mom protecting her at the chaotic scene. In the weeks since, she has decided to join a boxing club instead of a dance team. <span class="photo-credit">(Christopher Smith for KFF Health News)</span></figcaption>
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<p>In addition to the spark burns on Gabriella’s legs, when she fell to the concrete in the pandemonium she split open a burn wound on her stomach previously caused by a styling iron.</p>
<p>“When I see that, I just picture my mom trying to protect me and seeing everyone run,” Gabriella said of the wound.</p>
<p>It’s hard not to feel forgotten by the public, Bridget said. The shooting, especially its survivors, have largely faded from the headlines aside from court dates. <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article286094976.html">Two additional</a> <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article286245420.html">high-profile</a> shootings have occurred in the area since the parade. Doesn’t the community care, she wonders, that her family is still living with the fallout every day?</p>
<p>“I’m going to put this as plainly as possible. I’m f—ing pissed because my family went through something traumatic,” Bridget vented in a recent social media post. “I don’t really want anything other [than], ‘Your story matters, too, and we want to know how you’re doing.’ Have we gotten that? Abso-f—lutely not.”</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image side-by-side__block-image side-by-side__block-image--left"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="770" height="513" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?w=770&h=513&crop=1" class="wp-image-1826546 size-khn-article-large attachment-khn-article-large" alt="" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg 3840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=1270,847 1270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=630,420 630w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-015.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px" />
<figcaption>Bridget Barton works on a corsage for a family member’s wedding at home in Osawatomie, Kansas. <span class="photo-credit">(Christopher Smith for KFF Health News)</span></figcaption>
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<figure class="wp-block-image side-by-side__block-image side-by-side__block-image--right"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="770" height="513" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?w=770&h=513&crop=1" class="wp-image-1826547 size-khn-article-large attachment-khn-article-large" alt="" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg 3840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=1270,847 1270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=630,420 630w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-017.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px" />
<figcaption>Barton now uses arts and crafts projects as a therapeutic way to deal with the trauma she experienced during the shootings. <span class="photo-credit">(Christopher Smith for KFF Health News)</span></figcaption>
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<p><strong>‘What Is the Landscape of Need?’</strong></p>
<p>Helped in part by celebrities like Swift and Kelce, donations for the family of Lopez-Galvan, the lone fatality, and other victims poured in immediately after the shootings. Swift and Kelce donated $100,000 each. With the help of an initial $200,000 donation from the Kansas City Chiefs, the United Way’s <a href="https://give.unitedwaygkc.org/p/kcstrong">#KCStrong campaign</a> took off, reaching $1 million in the first two weeks and sitting at $1.2 million now.</p>
<p>Six <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/kansas-city-parade-help">verified GoFundMe funds</a> were established. One solely for the Lopez-Galvan family has collected over $406,000. Smaller ones were started by a local college student and Swift fans. Churches have also stepped up, and one local coalition had raised $183,000, money set aside for Lopez-Galvan’s funeral, counseling services for five victims, and other medical bills from Children’s Mercy Kansas City hospital, said Ray Jarrett, executive director of <a href="https://unitekc.org/">Unite KC</a>.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, those leading the efforts found models in other cities. The United Way’s Blubaugh called counterparts who’d responded to their own mass shootings in Orlando, Florida; Buffalo, New York; and Newtown, Connecticut.</p>
<p>“The unfortunate reality is we have a cadre of communities across the country who have already faced tragedies like this,” Blubaugh said. “So there is an unfortunate protocol that is, sort of, already in place.”</p>
<p>#KCStrong monies could start being paid out by the end of March, Blubaugh said. Hundreds of people called the nonprofit’s 211 line, and the United Way is consulting with hospitals and law enforcement to verify victims and then offer services they may need, she said.</p>
<p>The range of needs is staggering — several people are still recovering at home, some are seeking counseling, and many weren’t even counted in the beginning. For instance, a plainclothes police officer was injured in the melee but is doing fine now, said Police Chief Stacey Graves.</p>
<p>Determining who is eligible for assistance was one of the first conversations United Way officials had when creating the fund. They prioritized three areas of focus: first were the wounded victims and their families, second was collaborating with organizations already helping victims in violence intervention and prevention and mental health services, and third were the first responders.</p>
<p>Specifically, the funds will be steered to cover medical bills, or lost wages for those who haven’t been able to work since the shootings, Blubaugh said. The goal is to work quickly to help people, she said, but also to spend the money in a judicious, strategic way.</p>
<p>“We don’t have a clear sightline of the entire landscape that we’re dealing with,” Blubaugh said. “Not only of how much money do we have to work with, but also, what is the landscape of need? And we need both of those things to be able to make those decisions.”</p>
<p><strong>Firsthand Experience of Daily Kansas City Violence</strong></p>
<p>Jason used his lone remaining sick day to stay home with Bridget and Gabriella. An overnight automation technician, he is the family’s primary breadwinner.</p>
<p>“I can’t take off work, you know?” he said. “It happened. It sucked. But it’s time to move on.”</p>
<p>“He’s a guy’s guy,” Bridget interjected.</p>
<p>On Jason’s first night back at work, the sudden sound of falling dishes startled Bridget and Gabriella, sending them into each other’s arms crying.</p>
<p>“It’s just those moments of flashbacks that are kicking our butts,” Bridget said.</p>
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<p>In a way, the shooting has brought the family closer. They’ve been through a lot recently. Jason survived a heart attack and cancer last year. Raising a teenager is never easy.</p>
<p>Bridget can appreciate that the bullet lodged in her backpack, narrowly missing her, and that Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks but she wasn’t shot.</p>
<p>Jason is grateful for another reason: It wasn’t a terrorist attack, as he initially feared. Instead, it fits into the type of gun violence he’d become accustomed to growing up in Kansas City, which recorded <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-12-28/kansas-city-matches-its-deadliest-year-they-dont-know-the-damage-it-does-to-the-families">its deadliest year</a> last year, although he’d never been this close to it before.</p>
<p>“This crap happens every single day,” he said. “The only difference is we were here for it.”</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image alignfull size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3840" height="2560" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1826548" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg 3840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=1270,847 1270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=630,420 630w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/KansasCity-Bartons-019.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 3840px) 100vw, 3840px" />
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Alone together in their home after the parade, the sounds of falling dishes sent Gabriella and her mom, Bridget, into each other’s arms crying. “It’s just those moments of flashbacks that are kicking our butts,” Bridget says. <span class="photo-credit">(Christopher Smith for KFF Health News)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<aside class="meta-authors meta">
<p><span class="author-name">Bram Sable-Smith:</span> <a href="mailto:brams@kff.org">brams@kff.org</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/besables" target="_blank">@besables</a></p>
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from Bram Sable-Smith and Peggy Lowe, KCUR<br />
via <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/fivefilters/KHNfeatured">Kaiser Health Featured</a>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-79898340158121145672024-03-14T06:15:00.003-07:002024-03-14T06:15:10.166-07:00Montana, an Island of Abortion Access, Preps for Consequential Elections and Court Decisions<div><img src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/AP-Photo-Montana-Abortion-23123775665354.jpg" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
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<p>A years-long battle over abortion access in a sprawling and sparsely populated region of the U.S. may come to a head this year in the courts and at the ballot box.</p>
<aside class="block--sidebar alignright"></aside>
<p>Challenges to several state laws designed to chip away at abortion access are pending in Montana courts. Meanwhile, abortion rights advocates are pushing a ballot initiative that would add extra protections to the state constitution. And two open state Supreme Court seats could shape whether the high court upholds past decisions that protected abortion rights in the state.</p>
<p>Abortion remains legal in the conservative stronghold because of a 25-year-old <a href="https://casetext.com/case/armstrong-v-state-250">state Supreme Court ruling</a> that protected it under the right to privacy included in the state’s constitution.</p>
<p>So far, most efforts by Montana’s Republican governor and GOP-led legislature to overcome that obstacle have gone nowhere. Montana courts have blocked multiple laws that would have restricted abortion.</p>
<p>It’s “a very daunting hurdle for those who would seek to undermine abortion access,” said Kal Munis, an assistant professor of political science at Utah Valley University and expert on politics in Montana, his home state.</p>
<p>Munis said to outlaw abortion, voters would need to amend the state constitution or elect Supreme Court justices willing to reverse precedent.</p>
<p>But it is abortion rights advocates who have jumped on the chance to amend the state constitution. A legal fight is brewing over <a href="https://sosmt.gov/elections/ballot_issues/proposed-2024-ballot-issues/">a ballot initiative</a> proposed for the November election that would add abortion protections to the constitution.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, two open state Supreme Court seats are up for election, and some of the candidates are signaling that abortion access will be a campaign issue.</p>
<p>Voters have to be thinking about the future of abortion from “multiple fronts,” said Martha Fuller, CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana, which is suing to block several anti-abortion laws, backing the proposed constitutional amendment, and monitoring the Supreme Court races.</p>
<p>Montana anti-abortion advocates celebrated when Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte was elected in 2020 after 16 years of Democratic governors and, since 2011, vetoes of anti-abortion laws passed by the Republican-controlled legislature.</p>
<p>From their opponents’ perspective, that change left the courts as the last line of defense of abortion rights, one they are focused on protecting.</p>
<p>Munis and Jessi Bennion, who teaches political science at Montana State University, said abortion rights groups in Montana have momentum after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of <em>Roe v. Wade</em>.</p>
<p>That decision resulted in <a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/press-release/1-in-8-voters-say-abortion-is-most-important-to-their-vote-they-lean-democratic-support-biden-and-want-abortion-to-be-legal/">voters becoming motivated</a> by the issue and a <a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/addressing-abortion-access-through-state-ballot-initiatives/">wave of ballot questions</a>. Montanans, for example, <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/montana-abortion-referendum-voters-overruled/">rejected a measure</a> that would have required doctors to provide medical care after premature births and failed abortions, which opponents said was already the law.</p>
<p>For now, Montanans may have abortions any time before fetal viability, which under Montana code is “presumed” to be about 24 weeks into a pregnancy. Patients can go to one of six providers in the state or make a telehealth appointment and receive pills in the mail.</p>
<p>That makes Montana the most abortion-friendly state in the largely <a href="https://states.guttmacher.org/policies/wyoming/abortion-policies">conservative and rural region</a> between Minnesota and the Pacific Northwest.</p>
<p>Montana is sandwiched between Idaho and the Dakotas, which severely restrict abortion. To the south is Wyoming, where abortion pills are available through telehealth, but lawmakers there have passed a bill that <a href="https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/politics-government/2024-02-19/a-bill-moving-through-the-house-could-temporarily-close-wyomings-only-remaining-abortion-clinic">could temporarily shutter</a> the only clinic in the state that provides in-person abortions, depending on what action Republican Gov. Mark Gordon takes. Abortion is legal in Canada, Montana’s northern neighbor, but Americans need a passport to travel there.</p>
<p>An attempt to further cement abortion rights in Montana is facing an obstacle. Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen <a href="https://montanafreepress.org/2024/01/17/montana-attorney-general-blocks-constitutional-abortion-proposal/">has rejected</a> the proposed abortion rights constitutional amendment as being legally insufficient, which prompted the campaign behind the initiative <a href="https://montanafreepress.org/2024/01/26/constitutional-abortion-backers-in-montana-sue-to-get-on-novembers-ballot/">to file a lawsuit</a>. The State Supreme Court will now decide if initiative organizers may proceed with gathering signatures.</p>
<p>Analysts and Montana leaders — including some Republicans — think there’s a good chance voters will approve the constitutional amendment if it appears on the ballot.</p>
<p>“We’re a Republican state, but there’s always historically been a kind of a libertarian streak in it,” said Steve Fitzpatrick, an attorney and the majority leader in the Montana Senate. “It’s not unusual to see Republicans winning up and down the ballot and then seeing something like marijuana be legalized at the same time.”</p>
<p>Abortion will also be an undercurrent in two state Supreme Court races. Chief Justice Mike McGrath and Justice Dirk Sandefur, who both ruled against efforts to unravel the state’s abortion protections, decided not to seek reelection.</p>
<p>Judges don’t run as Democrats or Republicans, but Supreme Court elections have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/12/montana-supreme-court-abortion/">taken a distinct partisan tone</a> in recent years.</p>
<p>Given the recent election wins by abortion rights advocates after <em>Roe v. Wade</em> was overturned, conservatives may choose not to make abortion a campaign issue for these judicial races, according to Munis.</p>
<p>Focusing on abortion “would be a strategic blunder given that they have so many other things that they could talk about instead,” he said.</p>
<p>But the candidates who are viewed as more liberal have strongly signaled their desire to protect abortion rights.</p>
<p>State judges Katherine Bidegaray and Dan Wilson are running for Sandefur’s seat on the high court.</p>
<p>During a campaign event, Bidegaray said she would defend Montanans’ constitutional right to privacy and stand up to “unprecedented attacks” on women’s rights, <a href="https://flatheadbeacon.com/2024/03/04/montana-supreme-court-election-bidegaray-wilson/">the Flathead Beacon reported</a>.</p>
<p>Wilson and his campaign did not respond to phone and email messages from KFF Health News.</p>
<aside class="block--sidebar alignright"></aside>
<p>In the race for chief justice, former federal magistrate judge Jerry Lynch, who is running against Cory Swanson, a county prosecutor backed by Republicans, has been more direct than Bidegaray.</p>
<p>Montanans must be “free from government interference, especially when it comes to reproductive rights,” Lynch <a href="https://montanafreepress.org/2023/12/14/the-politics-and-philosophy-behind-the-race-for-chief-justice-of-the-montana-supreme-court/">said at a campaign event</a>, according to the Montana Free Press.</p>
<p>Lynch’s candidacy has triggered some early opposition spending. Montanans for Fair Judiciary, a conservative group, sent mailers calling Lynch a “liberal trial lawyer,” the outlet reported.</p>
<p>Swanson told KFF Health News that judges shouldn’t decide how they would rule on abortion or any other topic until a case is before the court.</p>
<p>Fuller said Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana has not yet decided how it will get involved in the Supreme Court races but that it likely will.</p>
<p>“If people are not paying attention to who is making these decisions and who is winning these judicial races, we could lose that ability to have that backstop,” she said.</p>
<p>Regardless of whom voters choose to seat on the court, any change in this election is unlikely to immediately swing a majority of the seven-member court to overturn the 1999 ruling protecting abortion access, according to Bennion.</p>
<p>In Iowa, conservatives were <a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2022/06/17/iowa-supreme-court-erases-state-constitutional-right-to-abortion/">able to reverse</a> a state Supreme Court precedent similar to Montana’s after more Republican-appointed justices joined the bench.</p>
<p>In Montana, the abortion issue is playing out more quickly in the state’s lower courts.</p>
<p>In February, a state court <a href="https://montanafreepress.org/2024/02/29/montana-abortion-restrictions-struck-down-by-state-court/">overturned three laws</a> that would have restricted abortion, including a ban on the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Last year, another state judge <a href="https://dailymontanan.com/2023/05/23/district-court-judge-temporarily-blocks-montana-bills-that-restrict-abortion/">temporarily blocked</a> several anti-abortion measures including a ban on the most common abortion procedure used in the second trimester of pregnancy.</p>
<p>Frustrated by the courts, Republican officials have also used the executive branch to try to restrict abortions. The Gianforte administration implemented a rule to <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/as-states-seek-to-limit-abortions-montana-wants-to-redefine-what-is-medically-necessary/">reduce Medicaid-funded abortions</a> by defining when an abortion is medically necessary, limiting who can perform them, and requiring preauthorization for most cases.</p>
<p>But that rule and a new state law that mirrors it have also been temporarily blocked by a judge. Knudsen has appealed those injunctions, as well as the judge’s ruling from February, to the Montana Supreme Court.</p>
<p>And this month, the high court <a href="https://montanafreepress.org/2024/03/06/parental-consent-case-for-minors-seeking-abortion-goes-before-montana-supreme-court/">heard oral arguments</a> as the state attempts to overturn a judicial block of a 2013 law requiring parental consent before a minor may have an abortion.</p>
<aside class="meta-authors meta">
<p><span class="author-name">Arielle Zionts:</span> <a href="mailto:azionts@kff.org">azionts@kff.org</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/Ajzionts" target="_blank">@Ajzionts</a></p>
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from Arielle Zionts<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-78078686303132779082024-03-14T06:15:00.001-07:002024-03-14T06:15:09.008-07:00Exclusive: Social Security Chief Vows to Fix ‘Cruel-Hearted’ Overpayment Clawbacks<div class="article-body">
<p>The Social Security Administration’s new chief is promising to overhaul the agency’s system of clawing back billions of dollars it claims was wrongly sent to beneficiaries, saying it “just doesn’t seem right or fair.”</p>
<aside class="block--sidebar alignright"></aside>
<p>In an interview with KFF Health News, SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley said that in the coming days he would propose changes to help people avoid crushing debts that have driven some into homelessness and caused financial hardships for the nation’s most vulnerable — the poorest of the poor and people with disabilities or persistent medical conditions or who are at least age 65.</p>
<p>O’Malley, <a href="https://blog.ssa.gov/martin-j-omalley-sworn-in-as-commissioner-of-social-security-administration/">who took office in December</a>, said that “addressing the injustice we do to too many Americans because of overpayments, the rather cruel-hearted and mindless way that we recover those overpayments,” is among his top priorities.</p>
<p>He said he has concrete steps in mind, such as establishing a statute of limitations, shifting the burden of proof to the agency, and imposing a 10% cap on clawbacks for some beneficiaries.</p>
<p>“We do have the ability and we do have the authority to address many of these injustices,” he said, suggesting that the SSA won’t have to wait for congressional action.</p>
<p>The pledge comes after an <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/overpayment-outrage/">investigation by KFF Health News and Cox Media Group</a> television stations revealed that SSA routinely reduces or halts monthly benefit checks to reclaim billions of dollars in payments it sent to beneficiaries then later said they should not have received.</p>
<p>In some cases, years passed before the government discovered its mistake and then imposed debts that sometimes have reached tens of thousands of dollars on people who cannot afford to pay. KFF Health News and Cox Media Group discovered that more than 2 million people a year <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/social-security-overpayments-underestimate-kijakazi/">have been hit</a> with overpayment demands.</p>
<p>Most overpayments are linked to the <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-over-ussi.htm#:~:text=WHAT%20IS%20SSI%3F,or%20have%20a%20qualifying%20disability.">Supplemental Security Income program</a>, which provides money to people with little or no income, who are disabled, blind, or at least age 65. Others are connected to the <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/disabilityfacts/facts.html#:~:text=Social%20Security%20Disability%20Insurance%20(SSDI,workers%20and%20to%20their%20dependents.">Social Security Disability Insurance program</a>, which aids disabled workers and their dependents.</p>
<p>O’Malley said the agency plans to cease efforts to claw back years-old overpayments and halt the practice of terminating benefits for disabled workers who don’t respond to overpayment notices because they did not receive them or couldn’t make sense of them.</p>
<p>“We’re not fulfilling congressional intent by putting seniors out of their homes and having them live under a bridge when they didn’t understand our notice,” O’Malley said.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="2036" height="1357" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg" alt="A photo of Denise Woods by her car outside." class="wp-image-1788758" srcset="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg 2036w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=500,333 500w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=1270,846 1270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=770,513 770w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=840,560 840w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=370,247 370w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=170,113 170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=100,67 100w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=120,80 120w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=1170,780 1170w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=200,134 200w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=315,210 315w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=630,420 630w, https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Denise-Woods01_3x2.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 2036px) 100vw, 2036px" />
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Denise Woods is one of millions who have been targeted in the Social Security Administration’s attempt to claw back billions of dollars it says was wrongly sent to beneficiaries. <span class="photo-credit">(Cox Media Group)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Denise Woods lives in her Chevy, seeking a safe place to sleep each night at strip malls or truck stops around Savannah, Georgia. <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/social-security-clawbacks-homelessness/">Woods said she became homeless</a> in 2022 after the SSA — without explanation — determined it had overpaid her and demanded she send back roughly $58,000. Woods didn’t have that amount on hand, so the agency cut off her monthly disability benefits to recoup the debt.</p>
<p>The agency later restored some of her benefit allowance: She gets $616 a month. That’s not enough to cover rent in Savannah, where even modest studio apartments can run $1,000 a month.</p>
<p>In January, she fell ill and landed in intensive care with pneumonia. “I signed a [Do Not Resuscitate form] and a nurse asked, ‘Do you know what this means?'” Woods said. “I told her there was no reason to revive me if my heart stops. They have already ruined my life. I’m beyond exhausted.”</p>
<p>After KFF Health News and Cox Media Group published <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/overpayment-outrage/">the series “Overpayment Outrage,”</a> hundreds of disability beneficiaries came forward with troubling accounts, including how the government sent them overpayment notices without explanation and threatened to cut off their main source of income with little warning.</p>
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<p>Members of Congress publicly demanded that SSA fix the problems. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said he would meet monthly with agency officials “<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/senator-ron-wyden-social-security-administration-monthly-meetings/">until it is fixed</a>.”</p>
<p>Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, both Michigan Democrats, sent a <a href="https://www.peters.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_ssa_re_overpayments.pdf?utm_source=sooleader.com&utm_campaign=sooleader.com%3A%20outbound&utm_medium=referral">letter dated Feb. 29</a> to the SSA, saying many overpayments were caused by the agency. They asked officials to explain what is causing the problems.</p>
<p>“It’s absolutely critical that the agency is accurately administering these benefits,” Peters said in written response to an interview request. “I’ve heard from too many people across Michigan who have faced financial hardship after the agency sent them incorrect payments.”</p>
<p>The agency recovered $4.9 billion of overpayments during the 2023 fiscal year, with an additional $23 billion in overpayments still uncollected, according to its latest <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/finance/2023/Full%20FY%202023%20AFR.pdf">annual financial report</a>.</p>
<p>O’Malley said he wants to address overpayment clawbacks as part of a larger effort to address SSA’s “customer service crisis.” He did not provide specifics but said he anticipated plans would be implemented this year.</p>
<p>Officials have long acknowledged that the federal disability system is dogged by lengthy delays and dysfunction. Some people become homeless or grow sicker while waiting for an initial decision on an application, which took an average of over seven months in 2023, according to a letter signed by <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ALgdwITQcDKbihfftk1cMLqwGEMP989l/view">dozens of members of Congress</a>.</p>
<p>O’Malley said the agency terminates disability benefits for some people who don’t contact the SSA after receiving a clawback letter.</p>
<p>“To be honest, a lot of problems [are caused by] our notices being hard to read,” O’Malley said. “In fact, one might argue that the only thing that’s really clear about the notice is to call the 800 number.”</p>
<p>The agency’s toll-free number, O’Malley said, is on his fix-it list, too.</p>
<p>Callers complain of <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/news/dcl/2022/#9-2022-1">lengthy hold times</a> and often are unable to reach an agent for help, according to <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ALgdwITQcDKbihfftk1cMLqwGEMP989l/view">congressional members</a>, disability attorneys, and others.</p>
<p>O’Malley pointed to a 27-year low in staffing. “We’ve been unpacking many of these customer service challenges,” he said. “There’s not one of them that hasn’t been made worse by the short staff.”</p>
<p>Still, he said, the overpayment process is unfair. Beneficiaries often must produce evidence to show they did not receive extra money, O’Malley noted.</p>
<p>“One would assume that in a country where people are innocent until proven guilty,” he said, “that the burden should fall more on the agency than on the unwitting beneficiary.”</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/ssa-commissioner-planning-reforms-fix-overpayments-poor-customer-service/PSBAMSG7S5HYZCKMNU76J2AV2Y/">WSB-TV, Atlanta</a>)</p>
<p>Advocates for the poor and disabled said they are hopeful O’Malley will stick to his commitments.</p>
<p>“Overpayments have long plagued our clients and caused severe hardship,” said Jen Burdick, an attorney with <a href="https://clsphila.org/cls-staff/jennifer-burdick/">Community Legal Services of Philadelphia,</a> which represents clients who have received overpayment notices. “We are heartened to see that SSA’s new commissioner is taking a hard look at overpayment policy reforms and optimistic and hopeful his administration will provide these folks some long-needed relief.”</p>
<p>Mike Pistorio is worried that change won’t come fast enough for him.</p>
<p>A letter dated Sept. 21, 2023, that he received from the Social Security Administration says he was overpaid $9,344. The letter alleges Pistorio — a disabled 63-year-old who said he has four stents in his heart — received too much money on behalf of his children, who are now adults.</p>
<p>Pistorio said that he doesn’t understand why he owes the government money and that the SSA has not answered his questions. He said he and his wife live in fear of being evicted from their home because they depend on his $1,266 monthly disability benefits to pay rent.</p>
<p>“What makes me mad is none of this is my fault,” said Pistorio, who lives in Middletown, Pennsylvania, and worked as a plumber until his health faltered. “The stress of this has made my diabetes go up.”</p>
<p>Pistorio said the agency has offered to deduct $269 a month from his benefits to pay off his debt — an amount he says he cannot afford.</p>
<p>“I have told them ‘I will lose my housing,’” Pistorio said.</p>
<p><em>David Hilzenrath of KFF Health News and Jodie Fleischer of Cox Media Group contributed to this report.</em></p>
<aside class="meta-authors meta">
<p><span class="author-name">Fred Clasen-Kelly:</span> <a href="mailto:fredck@kff.org">fredck@kff.org</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/fred_ckelly" target="_blank">@fred_ckelly</a></p>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-44748901849781732412024-03-14T05:59:00.001-07:002024-03-14T05:59:20.874-07:00Political theorist Achille Mbembe named 2024 Holberg Prize Laureate<div><img src="https://www.newswise.com/legacy/image.php?image=/images/uploads/2024/03/14/65f2d22c7ff24_ProfessorAchilleMbembe-26.jpg&width=600&height=600" class="ff-og-image-inserted" /></div>
<p><strong>BYLINE:</strong> Wits University</p>
<p>Newswise — The Cameroonian scholar Achille Mbembe is Research Professor of History and Politics at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER), at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He will receive the award of NOK 6,000,000 (approx. EUR 525,000) during a 6 June ceremony at the University of Bergen, Norway.</p>
<p>Mbembe is one of the most read and cited scholars from the African continent and receives the prize for his pioneering research in African history, postcolonial studies, humanities, and social science over four decades. Both as an academic and as a public intellectual, he is known for his ability to bridge existing thinking on colonialism and decolonisation with pressing questions on topics such as contemporary migration regimes, global citizenship, restitution and reparation, technology, climate change and planetary futures.</p>
<p>As a historian and a political philosopher, Mbembe has been most concerned about the entanglement of Europe and its former colonies. Using Africa as a point of departure for a mode of thinking that is continuous with multiple and interlocking lineages, he has revealed the extent to which the continent is a living laboratory of thought forms and ideas, a vast world of invention, imagination and creativity.</p>
<p>As a critical theorist, his deliberations on the global order have left an enduring mark far beyond debates on postcolonialism. Drawing on African experiences, Mbembe has played a major role in advancing thinking beyond identity and difference, particularly through concepts such as ‘necropolitics’, ‘the universal right to breathe’, or ‘the earthly community’, which speak to the ongoing struggles for recognition and repair as well as care and dignity in a racialized world.</p>
<p>Originally written in French, Mbembe’s books and numerous articles have been translated into seventeen languages. His key books include On the Postcolony (2000/2001), Out of the Dark Night (2010/2021), Necropolitics (2016/2019), Brutalism (2020/2024) and The Earthly Community: Reflections on the Last Utopia (2022), as well as the groundbreaking Critique of Black Reason (2013/2017)—a philosophical study of the meaning of Blackness as it historically emerged. In Necropolitics, Mbembe examines how power structures wield control over life and mortality, shaping the very fabric of existence for oppressed communities.</p>
<p>Describing the key purpose of his work, the Laureate asks: “What are the conditions for rethinking the world in a way that opens up alternative ways of inhabiting it, of being-in-common and of nurturing a planetary consciousness?” “How to think an open future that moves beyond the history of race, colonialism and segregation with which the present is so deeply entangled,” Mbembe continues. “These questions have been at the heart of my research over the span of my career. Behind them lurks an even bigger issue, that of life futures—how can life be repaired, reproduced, sustained and cared for, made durable and universally shared?”</p>
<p>“Mbembe’s oeuvre goes beyond a particularized notion of decolonization to a universalist recentring of the human”, says Holberg Committee Chair Heike Krieger. “For him, this involves a dedication to facing historical truth, while learning and remembering across South-North divides.”</p>
<p>“Congratulations to Professor Achille Mbembe, an outstanding scholar, historian, political philosopher, critical thinker and one of the world’s foremost intellectuals. This award serves as a testament to the distinguished contribution that Professor Mbembe has made to contemporary scholarship, which will undoubtedly inspire generations of scholars in years to come” said Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits University.</p>
<p><strong>About the Laureate</strong></p>
<p>Achille Mbembe is Research Professor of History and Politics at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also the Director of the Innovation Foundation for Democracy. He was educated in Cameroon and in France where he obtained his PhD in History at the Universit預aris 1 Panth鯮-Sorbonne and a a Dipl��d'鴵des approfondies (DEA) at the Institut d'鴵des politiques de Paris. </p>
<p>Mbembe has taught at various universities in the United States, including Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California at Berkeley and at Irvine, Yale University, Duke University and Harvard University. A winner of the Ernst Bloch Award and the Gerda Henkel Prize, he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the British Academy.</p>
<p>Mbembe holds Honorary Doctorates from the Paris 8 University (France), the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and the University of Bergen (Norway). His work has been translated in 17 languages (English, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Arabic, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Turkish, Romanian, Polish, Slovenian, Catalan, Finnish, and Mandarin). His latest book is La communaute terrestre (Editions La D飯uverte, Paris, 2023).</p>
<p><strong>About the Holberg Prize</strong></p>
<p>Established by the Norwegian Parliament in 2003, the Holberg Prize is one of the largest annual international research prizes awarded for outstanding contributions to research in the humanities, social science, law or theology. The Prize is funded by the Norwegian Government through a direct allocation from the Ministry of Education and Research to the University of Bergen. Previous Laureates include Julia Kristeva, Jrgen Habermas, Manuel Castells, Onora O’Neill, Cass Sunstein, Paul Gilroy, and Sheila Jasanoff. To learn more about the Holberg Prize, visit: <a href="https://holbergprize.org/en" data-ogsc="" data-outlook-id="5a2bdea9-3300-4ffb-86bd-e0ffec2b9c21">https://holbergprize.org/en</a>. For press photos, biography, Committee citation, expert contact information, and more, see: <a href="http://holbergprize.org/en/press-room" data-ogsc="" data-outlook-id="ff880121-b0e7-481b-9970-419ca5230c7a">http://holbergprize.org/en/press-room</a>.</p>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div class="shareaholic-canvas" data-app="share_buttons" data-app-id="28967433" expr:data-title="data:post.title" expr:data-link="data:post.url.canonical"></div></div>Patty @littlebytesnewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17035766656475670578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13260588.post-61749425904330866732024-03-14T05:46:00.001-07:002024-03-14T05:46:48.186-07:00After Making Abortion a Right, Now Emmanuel Macron Wants to Kill People in Euthanasia<p><span id="more-126785"></span>French president Emmanuel Macron has announced that he will back legislation to legalise “aid in dying” for terminally-ill adults. A report last year claimed that most French citizens would support this.</p>
<p>In an interview with French newspapers <em>La Croix</em> and <em>Liberation</em>, Macron said assisted dying would be restricted to adults suffering from an incurable illness, who are expected to die in the “short or middle-term”, and who are suffering “intractable” physical or psychological pain.</p>
<p>People with severe psychiatric conditions and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease will not be eligible.</p>
<p>People will be able to take the medication at home, at a nursing home, or at a healthcare facility, Macron said. If they are unable to take a lethal medication by themselves, they could be helped by a layman or a healthcare worker.</p>
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<p>According to <em>Le Monde</em>, <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2023/12/18/macron-s-hesitations-on-assisted-dying_6353414_5.html">Macron abhors</a> the word “euthanasia”, so the process will be called “aid in dying”, rather than euthanasia or medically assisted suicide. “It does not, strictly speaking, create a new right nor a freedom, but it traces a path which did not exist until now and which opens the possibility of requesting assistance in dying under certain strict conditions,” he said in the interview.</p>
<p>Debate on the proposal will begin in May.</p>
<p>The decision to push ahead with the end-of-life legislation comes immediately after <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/france-s-macron-backs-end-of-life-bill-debate-expected-by-may/7521765.html">the right to abortion</a> was enshrined in the French constitution earlier this month.</p>
<p><em>LifeNews Note: Michael Cook is editor of BioEdge <a href="http://www.mercatornet.com/uk_scientists_can_t_wait_to_get_their_hands_on_thousands_of_frozen_human_embryos">where this story appeared</a>.</em></p>
<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-95302" src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/emmanuelmacron.png" alt="" width="596" height="406" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/emmanuelmacron.png 600w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/emmanuelmacron-150x102.png 150w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/emmanuelmacron-220x150.png 220w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/emmanuelmacron-190x130.png 190w" sizes="(max-width: 596px) 100vw, 596px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.lifenews.com/2024/03/14/after-making-abortion-a-right-now-emmanuel-macron-wants-to-kill-people-in-euthanasia/">After Making Abortion a Right, Now Emmanuel Macron Wants to Kill People in Euthanasia</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.lifenews.com">LifeNews.com</a>.</p>
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