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Tag: children

  • A skin patch to treat peanut allergies? Study in toddlers shows promise

    A skin patch to treat peanut allergies? Study in toddlers shows promise

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    WASHINGTON — An experimental skin patch is showing promise to treat toddlers who are highly allergic to peanuts — training their bodies to handle an accidental bite.

    Peanut allergy is one of the most common and dangerous food allergies. Parents of allergic tots are constantly on guard against exposures that can turn birthday parties and play dates into emergency room visits.

    There is no cure. The only treatment is for children 4 and older who can consume a special peanut powder to protect against a severe reaction.

    The patch, named Viaskin, aims to deliver that kind of treatment through the skin instead. In a major test with youngsters ages 1 to 3, it helped those who couldn’t tolerate even a small fraction of a peanut to eventually safely eat a few, researchers reported Wednesday.

    If additional testing pans out, “this would fill a huge unmet need,” said Dr. Matthew Greenhawt, an allergist at Children’s Hospital Colorado who helped lead the study.

    About 2% of U.S. children are allergic to peanuts, some so severely than even a tiny amount can cause a life-threatening reaction. Their immune system overreacts to peanut-containing foods, triggering an inflammatory cascade that causes hives, wheezing or worse. Some youngsters outgrow the allergy but most must avoid peanuts for life and carry rescue medicine to stave off a severe reaction if they accidentally ingest some.

    In 2020, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first treatment to induce tolerance to peanuts -– an “oral immunotherapy” named Palforzia that children ages 4 to 17 consume daily to keep up the protection. Aimmune Therapeutics’ Palforzia also is being tested in toddlers.

    France’s DBV Technologies is pursuing skin-based immunotherapy as an alternative way to desensitize the body to allergens.

    The Viaskin patch is coated with a small amount of peanut protein that is absorbed into the skin. A daily patch is worn between the shoulder blades, where toddlers can’t pull it off.

    In the new study, 362 toddlers with peanut allergy first were tested to see how high a dose of peanut protein they could tolerate. Then they were randomly assigned to use the Viaskin patch or a lookalike dummy patch every day.

    After a year of treatment, they were tested again and about two-thirds of the toddlers who used the real patch could safely ingest more peanuts, the equivalent of three to four, researchers concluded.

    That compares to about a third of youngsters given the dummy patches. Greenhawt said they likely include children who are outgrowing the allergy.

    As for safety, four Viaskin recipients experienced an allergic reaction called anaphylaxis that was deemed related to the patch. Three were treated with epinephrine to calm the reaction, and one dropped out of the study.

    Some youngsters also accidentally ate peanut-containing foods during the study, and researchers said allergic reactions were less frequent among the Viaskin users than those wearing the dummy patches. The most common side effect was skin irritation at the patch site.

    The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

    The results “are very good news for toddlers and their families as the next step toward a future with more treatments for food allergies,” Dr. Alkis Togias of the National Institutes of Health, which wasn’t involved with the study, wrote in an accompanying editorial.

    Togias cautioned that it’s too early to compare oral and skin treatments, but pointed to data suggesting each might have different pros and cons — raising the possibility that oral therapy might be stronger but also cause more side effects.

    DBV Technologies has struggled for several years to bring the peanut patch to market. Last month the company announced the FDA wants some additional safety data for toddlers, and a separate study already is tracking longer treatment. A study of 4- to 7-year-olds also is underway.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Rare GOP votes in Texas for gun bill after mass shootings

    Rare GOP votes in Texas for gun bill after mass shootings

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    AUSTIN, Texas — As a Republican in the Texas Capitol, Sam Harless turned heads: He voted in favor of a stricter gun law.

    In doing so, the Houston state representative helped advance a bill in the Texas House that would raise the purchase age for AR-style rifles like the kind used by an 18-year-old gunman in Uvalde last year. The vote came just days after eight people at an outdoor mall in Dallas were killed by a 33-year-old gunman, who President Biden said used an AR-15-style weapon.

    The bill has little chance of becoming law, but that did not stop powerful gun rights groups Tuesday from springing into action to stamp out the rare glimpse of momentum for supporters of tougher restrictions as mass killings continue to spread anguish in Texas.

    It underlined how almost any attempt to tighten gun laws in Texas is off the table in the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature, which in recent years has made gun access easier following other mass shootings and shows no appetite for reversing course. That includes Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who — since Saturday shooting in Allen — has called mental health the root of the problem.

    That made Harless’ vote Monday all the more notable.

    “Every kid has a right to go to school and feel safe, and every parent has a right for the kid to feel safe at school,” Harless said in an interview.

    Another Republican, state Rep. Justin Holland, also joined Democrats on the House Select Committee on Community Safety in voting 8-5 to advance the measure that would raise the purchase age of certain semiautomatic weapons from 18 to 21. The bill has been the priority all year of several Uvalde families whose children were among the 19 students and two teachers killed by a gunman nearly a year ago at Robb Elementary School.

    The vote Monday came unexpectedly. For weeks the bill had stalled in the committee, but as protesters filled the Capitol and shouted “Do Something!” two days after the shooting in Allen, the committee gathered to vote the bill out.

    In a statement defending his vote, Holland said, “I do not believe in gun control,” and he noted that he previously voted in support of Texas removing training and background checks to carry a handgun. He also said he has earned three consecutive “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association — but acknowledged he has “no idea” if they will rate him so highly going forward.

    He said testimony given to the committee convinced him that a law raising the purchase age might serve as a “significant roadblock” to a young person acquiring certain semiautomatic weapons and causing harm.

    Gun rights groups, which are rarely forced to aggressively play defense in the Texas Capitol, responded to the bill advancing by urging its members to call lawmakers. Texas Gun Rights, one of the most outspoken groups, said Tuesday that Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three people during a Wisconsin protest in 2020 and was later acquitted of murder, had joined them in opposition to the bill.

    Harless, who represents a solidly GOP-leaning district in the Houston suburbs, said he has received no pushback from other House Republicans.

    “I just voted my heart and my constituents are likely not the gun groups,” Harless said.

    For a decade, Nicole Golden has been a mainstay in the Texas Capitol in pushing for stricter gun laws, only to see Republicans instead gradually keep removing the ones that are in place. She called Monday’s vote “unprecedented” given the attention that had surrounded the bill.

    Golden, the executive director of the group Texas Gun Sense, said the Legislature has let wither far less contentious bills over guns this year, including one to promote education about gun storage safety. She could not recall a previous time that Republicans took a vote like the one Monday.

    “We’ve gone to their offices to thank them,” she said. “And I think that thanks are due.”

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  • Robert De Niro, at 79, becomes a father for the 7th time

    Robert De Niro, at 79, becomes a father for the 7th time

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    Robert De Niro has welcomed another child

    Robert De Niro has welcomed another child. The 79-year-old is now the father of seven.

    A representative for De Niro confirmed the birth to The Associated Press on Tuesday but said no other details were expected.

    At a film premiere Tuesday night, De Niro told The Associated Press about becoming a father again: “It’s always good and mysterious and you don’t know what the hell is going to happen.”

    The Oscar winner is also a parent to Drena, 51, and Raphael, 46, from his first marriage; and twins, Julian and Aaron, 27; Elliot, 24; and Helen Grace, 11, from his second marriage.

    De Niro is currently promoting the new comedy “About My Father,” which opens on May 26.

    De Niro is a two-time Oscar winner for his supporting role in “The Godfather: Part II” and best actor in “Raging Bull.” In 2011, he was also honored with the Golden Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille Award for his impact on the world of entertainment and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom five years later.

    ___ Associated Press Writer John Carucci contributed to this report.

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  • Robert De Niro, at 79, becomes a father for the 7th time

    Robert De Niro, at 79, becomes a father for the 7th time

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    Robert De Niro has welcomed another child

    Robert De Niro has welcomed another child. The 79-year-old is now the father of seven.

    A representative for De Niro confirmed the birth to The Associated Press on Tuesday but said no other details were expected.

    At a film premiere Tuesday night, De Niro told The Associated Press about becoming a father again: “It’s always good and mysterious and you don’t know what the hell is going to happen.”

    The Oscar winner is also a parent to Drena, 51, and Raphael, 46, from his first marriage; and twins, Julian and Aaron, 27; Elliot, 24; and Helen Grace, 11, from his second marriage.

    De Niro is currently promoting the new comedy “About My Father,” which opens on May 26.

    De Niro is a two-time Oscar winner for his supporting role in “The Godfather: Part II” and best actor in “Raging Bull.” In 2011, he was also honored with the Golden Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille Award for his impact on the world of entertainment and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom five years later.

    ___ Associated Press Writer John Carucci contributed to this report.

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  • Comment on transgender issue roils Kentucky governor’s race

    Comment on transgender issue roils Kentucky governor’s race

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    FRANKFORT, Ky. — A prominent GOP candidate roiled the hotly contested primary race for Kentucky governor with a comment that if elected, “we will not have transgenders in our school system,” angering LGBTQ advocates in a state that has enacted laws limiting the rights of transgender youth.

    Former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft made the comment in response to a question during a telephone town hall Monday night. She did not specify what policy actions she envisioned involving transgender students, but her campaign weighed in Tuesday when asked to respond.

    “Of course Kelly was referring to the woke ideologies being pushed in our schools,” her campaign said in a statement. “She has been advocating for the best for all children this entire campaign.”

    Craft’s comments were swiftly denounced as “desperate and disgusting” by Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky-based LGBTQ advocacy group.

    Craft is waging a combative contest against state Attorney General Daniel Cameron as part of a 12-candidate field vying for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in the May 16 primary. Craft’s running mate, state Sen. Max Wise, sponsored a sweeping law aimed at transgender youth this year.

    “Her claim that she and Wise will somehow purge transgender kids from Kentucky schools is nothing more than an unhinged political promise she can’t keep,” Hartman said.

    “None of the other candidates are railing this hard against LGBTQ youth because it won’t work, except to harm trans kids,” he added.

    The nominee is expected to challenge Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who is seeking reelection to a second term in the GOP-trending state and faces nominal opposition in his party’s primary. Other Republican contenders include state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, state Auditor Mike Harmon, retired attorney Eric Deters and Somerset Mayor Alan Keck.

    Craft spent an hour fielding questions reportedly submitted by callers across Kentucky, with topics including her stand on gun rights, abortion and fighting illegal drugs.

    One question asked Craft how she’d “combat the transgender agenda” in classrooms. Craft noted that Wise sponsored the measure dealing with, among other things, school bathroom policies, curriculum and which pronouns are used to refer to transgender students.

    Craft added: “Under a Craft-Wise administration, we will not have transgenders in our school system.”

    She later doubled down in answering the same question, saying: “Under a Craft-Wise administration, we will not have transgender.”

    Throughout the campaign, Craft has railed against what she claims are “woke” ideologies infiltrating Kentucky public schools, pledging to lead efforts to overhaul the state education department if elected. With her remarks about transgender children, Craft upped the ante in her culture-war messaging.

    The question is whether the strategy will pay off against a field of staunchly conservative candidates. Craft has put millions of her family’s fortune into a barrage of TV advertising.

    “There’s no doubt that that issue polls very, very well with core Republican primary voters,” GOP political consultant T.J. Litafik said by phone Tuesday. “The danger that any candidate faces is going so extreme to win a very small primary vote that you can’t get back to the middle for a general election.”

    The Kentucky legislation is part of a widespread movement, along with Republican state lawmakers in other states who have approved extensive measures that restrict the rights of LGBTQ people.

    The debate about transgender issues is likely to continue into Kentucky’s fall campaign for governor.

    Beshear vetoed the sweeping measure that banned gender-affirming medical care for trans youth — one of many provisions affecting young transgender people. Beshear said the legislation amounted to government overreach into parental rights in making medical decisions for their children.

    “My faith teaches me that all children are children of God,” the governor said in his veto message.

    The GOP-dominated legislature overrode the veto.

    Other parts of the measure require school districts to devise bathroom policies that, “at a minimum,” would not allow transgender children to use the bathroom aligned with their gender identities. It allows teachers to refuse to refer to transgender students by the pronouns they use and requires schools to notify parents when lessons related to human sexuality are going to be taught.

    Several Kentucky families with transgender children recently filed a federal lawsuit challenging the sections banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender youths. The suit didn’t take aim at other sections dealing with school policies.

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  • Virginia Tech researchers join together on cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment

    Virginia Tech researchers join together on cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment

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    May is a month to recognize the importance of cancer research, with both Brain Tumor Awareness Month and National Cancer Research Month taking center stage. Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC is dedicated to advancing our understanding of cancer and developing new ways to treat and prevent it.

    Teams of investigators are working to uncover the molecular mechanisms that drive cancer growth, migration, and metastasis. They are tackling a range of cancers, from childhood cancers to breast cancer to glioblastoma, one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer. Scientists are not just looking for new treatments, but working to make existing treatments more effective by making cancer cells more vulnerable and developing entirely new treatments that can halt cancer in its tracks and prevent its return.

    • Preventing the spread of cell death after injury – Robert Gourdie’s lab tests new compounds targeting connexin channels for therapeutic use in wound healing, reducing scarring following breast reconstruction surgery, as well as applications to treat glioblastomas and drug-resistant cancers.
    • Developing new cancer therapies – Samy Lamouille’s lab studies how cancer cells communicate; he is developing novel therapeutic strategies to target these communication mechanisms to prevent metastases in human cancer progression.
    • Connecting scientific disciplines to cure cancer – Carla Finkielstein studies the molecular clocks that instruct cells when to grow, divide, and die, and how they’re impaired in cancer cells. Her research offers a foundation for the emerging field of chronotherapeutics.
    • Understanding health impacts of cancer diagnosis – Warren Bickel studies how a cancer diagnosis and an individual’s ability to think about and plan for the future affects their health.
    • Tracking fluid flow to understand cancer, aging and women’s health – Jenny Munson studies how cancer increases fluid flow between cells, altering how tumors respond to drug therapies. She is working to commercialize some of her findings in Cairina Inc., a startup biotech company whose technologies will allow clinicians to better fight cancer and deliver personalized medicine by mapping individual tumors.
    • Finding new therapies to fight pediatric brain cancer – At the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC labs at Children’s National Research Institute in Washington, D.C., Jia-Ray Yu is seeking better understanding and therapies surrounding pediatric midline glioma, and Kathleen Mulvaney is exploring cellular communication to find better cancer treatments.

    But we don’t work alone. At the Virginia Tech Cancer Research Alliance, we are collaborating with cancer scientists from across multiple universities and health centers to introduce innovative preventions, diagnostics, and therapeutics for a variety of cancers. On May 25, the second annual Virginia Tech Cancer Research Alliance Retreat will be held at the Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus in Washington, D.C., where alliance members will share their research, forge new collaborations, and learn from keynote speakers spanning veterinary and human oncology and biomedical cancer research.

    About the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

    The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC is one of the nation’s fastest-growing academic biomedical research enterprises and a destination for world-class researchers. The institute’s Virginia Tech scientists focus on diseases that are the leading causes of death and suffering in the United States, including brain disorders, heart disease, and cancer. Since its founding in 2010, the research institute has experienced unprecedented growth: doubling its enterprise and lab facilities in Roanoke, while also investing in brand-new laboratories on the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus in Washington, D.C.

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  • Utah author of book on grieving death charged with murder

    Utah author of book on grieving death charged with murder

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    A Utah woman who wrote a children’s book about dealing with grief after her husband died last year was charged with his murder by prosecutors who say the man died from a fentanyl overdose

    BySAM METZ Asociated Press

    SALT LAKE CITY — After her husband died last year, she wrote a children’s book on grief. Now she’s charged with his murder.

    Kouri Richins was arrested on Monday in Utah and is accused in charging documents of poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in Kamas, a small mountain town near Park City.

    Prosecutors allege that Richins called authorities in the middle of the night in March 2022 to report that her husband, Eric Richins, was “cold to the touch.” The mother of three told officers that she had made her husband a mixed vodka drink to celebrate him selling a home and then went to soothe one of their children to sleep in their bedroom. She later returned and upon finding her husband unresponsive, called 911.

    A medical examiner later found five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system.

    In addition to the murder charge, Richins also faces charges involving the alleged possession of GHB — a narcolepsy drug frequently used in recreational settings, including at dance clubs.

    The charges — which are based on officers’ interactions with Richins that night and the account of an “unnamed acquaintance” who claims to have sold her the fentanyl — come two months after Richins appeared on local television to promote “Are you with me?” a picture book she wrote to help children cope after the death of a loved one.

    For a segment entitled “Good Things Utah,” Richins called her husband’s death unexpected and described how it sent her and her three boys reeling. For children, she said, grieving was about “making sure that their spirit is always alive in your home.”

    “It’s — you know — explaining to my kid just because he’s not present here with us physically, doesn’t mean his presence isn’t here with us,” she told the anchors, who commended her for being an amazing mother.

    Richins’ attorney, Skye Lazaro, declined to comment on the charges.

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  • Screen Time and Mental Health: How to Protect Your Children | Entrepreneur

    Screen Time and Mental Health: How to Protect Your Children | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As a business owner and parent, I understand the struggle of balancing the benefits of technology with its potential negative impact on mental health. In this digital age, finding the right balance between screen time and other activities is crucial for the well-being of both children and adults. Join me on this journey as we explore how to prioritize mental health while navigating the digital landscape.

    The balancing act

    When it comes to digital devices, finding the sweet spot between too much and too little is vital for a healthy relationship with technology. Screen time can be beneficial for children’s mental development, allowing them to learn new skills, connect with others and discover new interests. However, too much screen time can have negative consequences, such as sleep disruption, decreased physical activity, and a higher risk of depression and anxiety.

    Striking the right balance between screen time and other activities can help children reap the benefits of technology without harming their mental well-being. Encourage your children to partake in outdoor play, creative endeavors and social interactions as a counterbalance to their digital diets. You may be pleasantly surprised to discover that their new off-screen hobbies bring about laughter, a surge of creativity and unbridled joy.

    Related: Are Digital Gadgets Good For Your Children?

    Sleep vs. screen time: The eternal struggle

    A good night’s sleep is essential for children’s mental health, but bedtime tantrums are real, especially when a digital device is lying around. The blue light from screens can deceive their brains into thinking it’s daytime, making it harder for them to drift off to dreamland. To avoid tossing and turning and the dreaded cranky mornings, establish a screen-free bedtime routine with calming activities such as reading, puzzles or meditation. And who knows? You might just score some much-needed peace and quiet…maybe.

    According to the National Sleep Foundation, children between the ages of 6 and 13 need between 9 and 11 hours of sleep per night. Lack of sleep can affect children’s cognitive abilities, behavior, and emotional well-being. Therefore, it’s important to establish healthy sleep habits that include a screen-free bedtime routine.

    The social scene: Fostering connections in the digital age

    Technology is a double-edged sword – while it allows our kids to connect with friends and family near and far, it can also inadvertently lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation. A study published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology found that people who spend more time on social media experience higher levels of anxiety and depression.

    To combat the negative effects of social media, encourage your children to maintain in-person connections and engage in group activities to boost their mental well-being. By finding a balance between online and offline social interactions, you’ll help them forge strong relationships and cultivate a sense of belonging. You can also set boundaries around screen time, such as limiting the use of devices during meal times or family outings.

    Screen time 2.0: Mindfulness in the digital world

    Not all screen time is equal. While aimlessly scrolling social media or binge-watching YouTube videos might not be a mental health booster, engaging in educational, creative or interactive content can yield positive results. Prod your kids to use their screen time wisely by exploring educational apps, acquiring new skills or joining virtual clubs and organizations. Mindfulness is the secret sauce that makes a world of difference.

    Mindfulness is the practice of being present and aware of one’s thoughts and feelings. It can help children and adults develop emotional regulation, reduce stress and anxiety and improve focus and attention. Encouraging children to practice mindfulness while using digital devices can help them develop a positive relationship with technology.

    Related: How Leaders Can Create a Company Culture that Prioritizes Mental Health

    The holy grail: Quality time with your kiddos

    In this digital era, the importance of quality time with your children cannot be overstated. By setting aside regular screen-free family time, you’ll strengthen your bond and support their mental health. Whether it’s a family game night, a shared meal or a weekend escapade, these moments of connection are invaluable in creating a nurturing and supportive environment for your offspring.

    Research has shown that quality family time can lead to better mental health outcomes for children, including improved social skills, self-esteem, and resilience. It can also help reduce the negative effects of screen time and strengthen the parent-child relationship.

    Related: How to Raise Entrepreneurial Minded Kids

    The role of parents

    As parents, it’s our responsibility to model healthy screen habits and establish guidelines for our children’s digital use. This includes setting limits on screen time, monitoring their online activities, and promoting the use of technology for educational and creative purposes.

    It’s also important to have open and honest conversations with our children about the potential negative effects of screen time on mental health and the importance of finding balance in all aspects of life. By working together as a family, we can create a positive relationship with technology while prioritizing mental health and well-being.

    Navigating the digital landscape while prioritizing mental health for children and adults can be thrilling and challenging. By embracing the quirks and complexities of life in a tech-saturated world while remaining vigilant about promoting healthy screen habits for all ages, we can raise resilient beings who can thrive both online and offline. As parents and individuals in this new tech epoch, we’re doing our best. So let’s cut ourselves some slack and continue on this journey with a focus on creating a positive relationship with technology. By prioritizing mental health and well-being, we can ensure a bright and healthy future for ourselves and our children (and more sleep?…maybe, maybe not).

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  • Prognostic Utility of a Novel Risk Prediction Model for 1-Year Mortality Following Surgery for Congenital or Acquired Heart Disease

    Prognostic Utility of a Novel Risk Prediction Model for 1-Year Mortality Following Surgery for Congenital or Acquired Heart Disease

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    Newswise — Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of birth defect and the leading cause of mortality from birth defects, affecting about 1% of all live births per year in the United States. With advances in medical therapies and surgical techniques, the survival outcomes of patients with CHD have improved dramatically over the years.

    The past two decades have also seen the advent of several case-mix adjustment tools for analyzing operative mortality following pediatric and congenital heart surgery (CHS), including expert opinion-based tools and empirically derived tools (e.g., Society of Thoracic Surgeons-European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Congenital Heart Surgery [STAT] mortality categories and STS Congenital Heart Surgery Database episode-of-care mortality risk model). 

    Despite the use of increasingly comprehensive models for assessing operative mortality, there is a dearth of clinical prediction rules for mortality at one year following discharge from CHS. To aid prognostication, counseling of patients and families, and designing interval treatment regimens following surgery for congenital or acquired heart disease, Aditya Sengupta, MD, Meena Nathan, MD, MPH, and colleagues at Boston Children’s Hospital studied data from 2011 to 2021 to develop a novel risk prediction model for one-year mortality that holistically accounts for clinical, anatomic, echocardiographic, and socioeconomic factors. These risk factors included age, prematurity, major non-cardiac anomalies, syndromes, or genetic abnormalities, the Childhood Opportunity Index (as a proxy for neighborhood socioeconomic status), STAT mortality category, major adverse postoperative complications, and pre-discharge residual lesion severity. Of 10,412 consecutive operations for congenital or acquired heart disease over the study period at the authors’ institution, 8,808 cases met entry criteria, including survival to discharge.

    The group formulated a weighted risk score based on all the variables of interest to create the final risk prediction model. This prediction tool allows patients to be easily stratified into low, medium, high, and very high-risk groups at discharge and may assist clinicians in determining frequency of follow-up, tailoring post-surgical treatment strategies, and counseling families about future expectations upon discharge.

    Dr. Sengupta will present this study and its implications for prognostication and follow-up for these children Sunday, May 7, at the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) 103rd Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

     

    ###

    Attribution to the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) 103rd Annual Meeting is requested in all coverage.

     

    ABOUT AATS

    The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) is an international organization that encourages, promotes, and stimulates the scientific investigation of cardiothoracic surgery. Founded in 1917 by a respected group of the earliest pioneers in the field, its original mission was to “foster the evolution of an interest in surgery of the Thorax.” Today, the AATS is the premier association for cardiothoracic surgeons in the world and works to continually enhance the ability of cardiothoracic surgeons to provide the highest quality of patient care. Its more than 1,500 members have a proven record of distinction within the specialty and have made significant contributions to the care and treatment of cardiothoracic disease. Visit aats.org to learn more.

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  • ‘We started running’: 8 killed in Texas outlet mall shooting

    ‘We started running’: 8 killed in Texas outlet mall shooting

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    ALLEN, Texas — Hundreds of terrified shoppers fled in panic after a gunman stepped out of a silver sedan and opened fire at a Dallas-area outlet mall, killing eight and wounding seven before being killed by a police officer who happened to be nearby, authorities said.

    The shooting in Allen, Texas, on Saturday was the latest eruption of what has been an unprecedented pace of mass killings in the U.S. Barely a week before, authorities say, a man fatally shot five people in Cleveland, Texas, after a neighbor asked him to stop firing his weapon while a baby slept.

    Police did not immediately provide details about the victims at Allen Premium Outlets, a sprawling outdoor shopping center, but witnesses reported seeing children among them. Some said they also saw what appeared to be a police officer and a mall security guard unconscious on the ground.

    A 16-year-old pretzel stand employee, Maxwell Gum, described a virtual stampede of shoppers. He and others sheltered in a storage room.

    “We started running. Kids were getting trampled,” Gum said. “My co-worker picked up a 4-year-old girl and gave her to her parents.”

    Dashcam video circulating online showed the gunman getting out of a car and shooting at people on the sidewalk. More than three dozen shots could be heard as the vehicle that was recording the video drove off.

    Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said seven people including the shooter died at the scene. Nine victims were taken to area hospitals, but two of them died.

    Three of the wounded were in critical condition in the evening, Boyd said, and four were stable.

    An Allen Police Department officer was in the area on an unrelated call when he heard shots at 3:36 p.m., the department wrote on Facebook.

    “The officer engaged the suspect and neutralized the threat. He then called for emergency personnel,” the post said.

    Mass killings are happening with staggering frequency in the United States this year: an average of about one per week, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

    President Biden was briefed on the shooting in Allen and the administration offered support to local officials, the White House said. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has signed laws easing firearms restrictions following past mass shootings, called the mall shooting an “unspeakable tragedy.”

    A live aerial broadcast from a news station showed armored trucks and other law enforcement vehicles outside the mall. More than 30 police cruisers with lights flashing blocked an entrance, with multiple ambulances on the scene in the city of roughly 105,000 residents about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of downtown Dallas.

    Video shared on social media showed people running through a parking lot amid the sound of gunshots.

    Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunshots through his headphones.

    “It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside,” Payton said.

    People in the store scattered before employees ushered the group into the fitting rooms and then a lockable back room, he said. When they were given the all-clear to leave, Payton saw the store had broken windows and a trail of blood to the door. Discarded sandals and bloodied clothes lay nearby.

    Once outside, Payton saw bodies.

    “I pray it wasn’t kids, but it looked like kids,” he said. The bodies were covered in white towels, slumped over bags on the ground. “It broke me when I walked out to see that.”

    Further away, he saw the body of a heavyset man wearing all black. He assumed it was the shooter, Payton said, because unlike the other bodies it had not been covered.

    Tarakram Nunna, 25, and Ramakrishna Mullapudi, 26, said they saw what appeared to be three people motionless on the ground, including one who appeared to be a police officer and another who seemed to be a mall security guard.

    Another shopper, Sharkie Mouli, 24, said he hid in a Banana Republic during the shooting. As he left, he saw what appeared to be an unconscious police officer lying next to another unconscious person outside the outlet store.

    “I have seen his gun lying right next to him and a guy who is like passing out right next to him,” Mouli said.

    Stan and Mary Ann Greene were browsing in a Columbia sportswear store when the shooting started.

    “We had just gotten in, just a couple minutes earlier, and we just heard a lot of loud popping,” Mary Ann Greene told The Associated Press.

    Employees rolled down the security gate and brought everyone to the rear of the store until police arrived and escorted them out, the Greenes said.

    Eber Romero was at an Under Armour store when a cashier mentioned there was a shooting.

    As he left, Romero said, the mall appeared empty and all the shops had their security gates down. That is when he started seeing broken glass and victims of the shooting on the floor of the shopping center.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Gene Johnson in Seattle and Adam Kealoha Causey in Dallas contributed to this report.

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  • Texas panel says lawmaker should be expelled for misconduct

    Texas panel says lawmaker should be expelled for misconduct

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    AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas legislative committee recommended Saturday that GOP Rep. Bryan Slaton be expelled for inappropriate sexual conduct with a 19-year-old intern. Slaton, from Royse City, could face an expulsion vote by the full House as early as Tuesday.

    Slaton, 45, has declined to comment on the allegations, and did not immediately respond to a phone message left by The Associated Press Saturday afternoon, but his attorney last month called the claims “outrageous” and “false.” The House General Investigative Committee’s recommendation was first reported by The Texas Tribune.

    In the written investigation report, the committee said Slaton gave the 19-year-old intern and another young staffer alcohol at his home, that he had sex with the intern after she was intoxicated, and that he later showed the intern a threatening email but said everything would be fine if the incident was kept quiet. Slaton also asked a fellow lawmaker to keep his behavior secret, the committee said.

    “Slaton’s misconduct is grave and serious,” the committee members wrote in a report, and that he furnished alcohol to a minor, violated employment laws, abused his position of power and engaged in harassment.

    “The fact that Slaton has not expressed regret or remorse for his conduct is also egregious and unwarranted,” the committee wrote. “It is the Committee’s unanimous recommendation that, considering the factors stated above, the only appropriate discipline in this matter is expulsion.”

    Slaton’s legislative biography describes him as, “a proud East Texan with values and principles that represent the great people of East Texas” that were formed by his participation in church and family gatherings. It also sites his degrees from a Baptist seminary school and his work serving as a youth minister.

    Slaton has repeatedly pushed to ban drag shows for kids and has tweeted his support for laws prohibiting gender-affirming healthcare.

    “Children don’t need to be focused on sex and sexualization, and we need to let them just grow up to be children and let them do that as they’re getting closer to being an adult,” Slaton said in an interview last year.

    The misconduct investigation began after two 19-year-old legislative aides and a 21-year-old legislative intern filed complaints in April. The committee hired a former state judge to conduct the investigation, which confirmed the complaints, Committee Chairman Andrew Murr, a Republican, told the 150-member House on Saturday.

    Murr said he expects a resolution calling for Slaton’s expulsion on Tuesday. Expelling Slaton would require a two-thirds vote from House members.

    In the complaints, two of the women said they tried to dissuade the intern from spending time with Slaton and suggested that his behavior was inappropriate. But the intern, who one complainant described as “naive,” was not convinced and so agreed to Slaton’s request to visit his apartment on the night of March 31. The other women went with her, according to the report, and the lawmaker served them rum and cokes.

    One of the young women drank enough to vomit; the intern was was “really dizzy” and had “split vision” according to the report. The other women eventually left the home but the intern reportedly stayed. She told her friends that Slaton drove her home the next morning, stopping at a drugstore so she could obtain emergency contraception on the way, according to the report.

    The Associated Press found that between 2017 and 2021, at least 120 state lawmakers in 41 states have faced public allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment. Among those cases was an Idaho lawmaker who was eventually convicted in 2022 of raping a legislative intern.

    Often, lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct run again for office and are re-elected. Efforts to remove them are rarer.

    But this year, a handful of lawmakers nationwide have been expelled or barred from Statehouses for simply taking part in protests or violating “decorum” rules. Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who is transgender, was barred by Republicans from the House floor after she rebuked colleagues supporting a ban on gender-affirming care for children and opposed their efforts to silence her. Two Democratic lawmakers from Tennessee were expelled by Republicans in April for their role in a protest calling for more gun control after a deadly school shooting in Nashville.

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  • Democratic US Sen. Martin Heinrich seeks 3rd term in NM seat

    Democratic US Sen. Martin Heinrich seeks 3rd term in NM seat

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    U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico will seek a third term next year as he champions causes from gun safety to abortion access to a transition toward cleaner sources of energy

    ByMORGAN LEE Associated Press

    SANTA FE, N.M. — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich announced Thursday that he will run for a third term next year as he champions causes from gun safety to abortion access to a transition toward cleaner energy in New Mexico, a major oil-producing state.

    A win by the state’s senior senator would extend Democratic domination of New Mexico’s Congressional delegation. Heinrich won a second term in 2018 in a three-way race against a Republican political newcomer and former Gov. Gary Johnson, who ran as a Libertarian.

    Heinrich announced his candidacy in an online video that also highlighted federal spending on roads, bridges and wildfire relief.

    Heinrich’s initial campaign pitch to voters touches on his advocacy for expanding early childhood education, as well as 2022 federal legislation toughening background checks for younger gun buyers and keeping firearms from more domestic violence offenders.

    “We have to continue the transition to clean energy, and we have to build upon our historic investment in early childhood education,” Heinrich said.

    Heinrich is chairman of the Senate’s joint economic committee and sits on others overseeing intelligence services and policy on energy and natural resources.

    Immediate endorsements came from influential state Democrats including newly elected Attorney General Raúl Torrez and House Speaker Javier Martínez of Albuquerque.

    No candidates have emerged yet to challenge Heinrich.

    He may have influenced the course of abortion rights in New Mexico with his endorsements in 2020 of Democratic state Senate challengers who ousted incumbents who had voted against overturning a ban on most abortion procedures.

    The following year New Mexico’s Democratic-controlled Legislature repealed the dormant 1969 statute, ensuring access to abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

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  • Kids and social media: Here are tips for concerned parents

    Kids and social media: Here are tips for concerned parents

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    When it comes to social media, families are seeking help.

    With ever-changing algorithms pushing content at children, parents are seeing their kids’ mental health suffer, even as platforms like TikTok and Instagram provide connections with friends. Some are questioning whether kids should be on social media at all, and if so, starting at what age.

    Lawmakers have taken notice. A bipartisan group of senators recently introduced legislation aiming to prohibit all children under the age of 13 from using social media. It would also require permission from a guardian for users under 18 to create an account. It is one of several proposals in Congress seeking to make the internet safer for children and teens.

    Meanwhile, on Wednesday the Federal Trade Commission said Facebook misled parents and failed to protect the privacy of children using its Messenger Kids app, including misrepresenting the access it provided to app developers to private user data. Now, the FTC is proposing sweeping changes to a privacy order it has with Facebook’s parent company Meta that would include prohibiting it from making money from data it collects on children.

    But making laws and regulating companies takes time. What are parents — and teens — supposed to do in the meantime? Here are some tips on staying safe, communicating and setting limits on social media — for kids as well as their parents.

    IS 17 THE NEW 13?

    There’s already, technically, a rule that prohibits kids under 13 from using platforms that advertise to them without parental consent: The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act that went into effect in 2000 — before today’s teenagers were even born.

    The goal was to protect kids’ online privacy by requiring websites and online services to disclose clear privacy policies and get parents’ consent before gathering personal information on their kids, among other things. To comply, social media companies have generally banned kids under 13 from signing up for their services, although it’s been widely documented that kids sign up anyway, either with or without their parents’ permission.

    But times have changed, and online privacy is no longer the only concern when it comes to kids being online. There’s bullying, harassment, the risk of developing eating disorders, suicidal thoughts or worse.

    For years, there has been a push among parents, educators and tech experts to wait to give children phones — and access to social media — until they are older, such as the “Wait Until 8th” pledge that has parents sign a pledge not to give their kids a smartphone until the 8th grade, or about age 13 or 14. But neither social media companies nor the government have done anything concrete to increase the age limit.

    IF THE LAW WON’T BAN KIDS, SHOULD PARENTS?

    “There is not necessarily a magical age,” said Christine Elgersma, a social media expert at the nonprofit Common Sense Media. But, she added, “13 is probably not the best age for kids to get on social media.”

    The laws currently being proposed include blanket bans on the under-13 set when it comes to social media. The problem? There’s no easy way to verify a person’s age when they sign up for apps and online services. And the apps popular with teens today were created for adults first. Companies have added some safeguards over the years, Elgersma noted, but these are piecemeal changes, not fundamental rethinks of the services.

    “Developers need to start building apps with kids in mind,” she said.

    Some tech executives, celebrities such as Jennifer Garner and parents from all walks of life have resorted to banning their kids from social media altogether. While the decision is a personal one that depends on each child and parent, some experts say this could lead to isolating kids, who could be left out of activities and discussions with friends that take place on social media or chat services.

    Another hurdle — kids who have never been on social media may find themselves ill-equipped to navigate the platforms when they are suddenly allowed free rein the day they turn 18.

    TALK, TALK, TALK

    Start early, earlier than you think. Elgersma suggests that parents go through their own social media feeds with their children before they are old enough to be online and have open discussions on what they see. How would your child handle a situation where a friend of a friend asks them to send a photo? Or if they see an article that makes them so angry they just want to share it right away?

    For older kids, approach them with curiosity and interest.

    “If teens are giving you the grunts or the single word answers, sometimes asking about what their friends are doing or just not asking direct questions like, ‘What are you doing on Instagram?’ but rather, ‘Hey, I heard this influencer is really popular,’” she suggested. “And even if your kid rolled their eyes it could be a window.”

    Don’t say things like “Turn that thing off!” when your kid has been scrolling for a long time, says Jean Rogers, the director of the nonprofit Fairplay’s Screen Time Action Network.

    “That’s not respectful,” Rogers said. “It doesn’t respect that they have a whole life and a whole world in that device.”

    Instead, Rogers suggests asking them questions about what they do on their phone, and see what your child is willing to share.

    Kids are also likely to respond to parents and educators “pulling back the curtains” on social media and the sometimes insidious tools companies use to keep people online and engaged, Elgersma said. Watch a documentary like “The Social Dilemma” that explores algorithms, dark patterns and dopamine feedback cycles of social media. Or read up with them how Facebook and TikTok make money.

    “Kids love to be in the know about these things, and it will give them a sense of power,” she said.

    SETTING LIMITS

    Rogers says most parents have success with taking their kids’ phones overnight to limit their scrolling. Occasionally kids might try to sneak the phone back, but it’s a strategy that tends to work because kids need a break from the screen.

    “They need to an excuse with their peers to not be on their phone at night,” Rogers said. “They can blame their parents.”

    Parents may need their own limits on phone use. Rogers said it’s helpful to explain what you are doing when you do have a phone in hand around your child so they understand you are not aimlessly scrolling through sites like Instagram. Tell your child that you’re checking work email, looking up a recipe for dinner or paying a bill so they understand you’re not on there just for fun. Then tell them when you plan to put the phone down.

    YOU CAN’T DO IT ALONE

    Parents should also realize that it’s not a fair fight. Social media apps like Instagram are designed to be addictive, says Roxana Marachi, a professor of education at San Jose State University who studies data harms. Without new laws that regulate how tech companies use our data and algorithms to push users toward harmful content, there is only so much parents can do, Marachi said.

    “The companies are not interested in children’s well-being, they’re interested in eyes on the screen and maximizing the number of clicks,” Marachi said. “Period.”

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  • Utah law requiring porn sites verify user ages takes effect

    Utah law requiring porn sites verify user ages takes effect

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    SALT LAKE CITY — You may soon be required to prove you’re older than 18 to watch porn in Utah, if adult websites comply with a law that took effect Wednesday.

    A new state law requiring adult websites verify the ages of their users took effect on Wednesday, making the state at least the second to enact an age verification law to shield kids from sexually explicit materials that have become increasingly accessible online.

    “It’s part of our job as society — and maybe a subset of my job as a lawmaker — to try to protect children,” state Sen. Todd Weiler, the measure’s Republican sponsor, said. “I’m not gonna blame all of society’s ills on pornography, but I don’t think it’s helpful when a kid is forming their impressions of sex and gender to have all of this filth and lewd depictions on their mind.”

    It’s currently illegal to show children pornography under federal law, however it’s rarely enforced. The law is Utah’s latest move to crack down on access to pornography and dovetails with lawmakers’ other efforts to restrict how kids use the internet, including social media sites. It comes less than a year after Louisiana enacted a similar law and as additional states consider such policies as filters or age verification for adult websites.

    Dr. Eleanor Gaetan of the anti-porn National Center on Sexual Exploitation said filters and age verification were “complementary efforts” to limit kids’ access to pornography. She noted anti-porn sentiment had grown substantially in recent years due to a “groundswell of parents,” including ones who have testified in statehouses throughout the country and in front of the U.S. Congress.

    “The wave will continue because the harms are real,” she said. “These kids can’t unsee what they see.”

    Though heralded by social conservatives, age verification laws have been condemned by adult websites who argue they’re part of a larger anti-sex political movement. They’ve also garnered opposition from groups that advocate for digital privacy and free speech, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The group argued earlier this year that it’s impossible to ensure websites don’t retain user data, regardless of if age verification laws require they delete it.

    Earlier this week, Pornhub, among the most widely viewed adult websites, blocked access to its content to protest the law. Those in Utah attempting to access the site since Monday have been greeted with a “Dear User” letter and accompanying video from adult film actor Cherie DeVille.

    “Giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users,” DeVille says, reading from the letter. “The best and most effective solution for protecting children and adults alike is to identify users by their device.”

    The letter says Pornhub will “completely disable access” in Utah due to the law, unless a “real solution” is offered.

    It’s unclear if other websites will comply.

    Critics, including Pornhub, argue age-verification laws can be easily circumvented with well-known tools such as VPNs that reroute requests to visit websites across public networks. They also have raised questions about enforcement, with Pornhub saying enforcement efforts drive traffic to less-known sites that don’t comply with the law and have fewer safety protocols.

    A year after passing an age-verification requirement, Louisiana lawmakers have renewed their efforts to get adult websites to comply with its law. A follow-up measure that would subject the sites to fines for not requiring users prove their age advanced through the state House of Representatives in April.

    Measures have also been introduced in Arizona and South Carolina. Arkansas passed a similar age-verification law for adult websites that takes effect later this summer

    The Utah law attempts to address privacy and internet data harvesting concerns by requiring websites not retain the ID information. It opens adult websites up to lawsuits if they don’t verify the age of their users. It offers several age verification methods, including third-party age verification services and digital licenses that states are increasingly offering on mobile devices.

    It builds off years of anti-porn efforts in Utah’s Republican-controlled Legislature, where a majority of lawmakers are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It comes seven years after Weiler — who describes himself as the statehouse’s unofficial “porn czar” — led the charge to make Utah the first state to declare pornography a “public health crisis” and two years after lawmakers passed a measure paving the way to require internet-capable devices be equipped with porn filters for children. Provisions of the law delay it from taking effect unless at least five other states pass similar measures.

    Weiler likened the measure to Utah’s first-in-the-nation law prohibiting kids under 18 from using social media between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. and requiring age verification for social media users. He said he understands that, realistically some kids may bypass age-verification controls. But he said he wonders why opponents’ arguing enforcement concerns make internet age verification laws useless haven’t raised similar concerns about drivers speeding or online gambling.

    “The internet was born, but it wasn’t born yesterday,” he said.

    __

    AP reporters Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, La. and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark. contributed reporting.

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  • Michelle Obama launches company to improve child nutrition

    Michelle Obama launches company to improve child nutrition

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    Michelle Obama says she has co-founded a new company that will make and sell food and drinks for kids

    ByDARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama announced Wednesday that she has co-founded a new company to make and sell healthier food and drinks for kids, products that she says will be less detrimental to their long-term health because of their lower sugar and higher nutrient content.

    The former first lady’s work with PLEZi Nutrition is an extension of her efforts to improve child nutrition when she was in the White House.

    “I’ve learned that on this issue, if you want to change the game, you can’t just work from the outside,” she said during a keynote address in New York at a conference on the future sponsored by The Wall Street Journal. “You’ve got to get inside. You’ve got to find ways to change the food and beverage industry itself.”

    “So today, I’m proud to announce the national launch of a company designed not just to provide better products, but to jumpstart what I hope will be a race to the top that will transform the entire food industry,” she said.

    Mrs. Obama said she is a co-founder and strategic partner of PLEZi Nutrition. She will work behind the scenes on its educational and philanthropic efforts, according to aides, who stressed that she will not be a spokesperson or public face of the company. It was unclear whether she put any money down to help launch PLEZi Nutrition or whether she will draw a salary.

    As first lady, Mrs. Obama sought through a White House initiative called “Let’s Move” to improve the health of U.S. children by encouraging them to engage in physical activity and eat healthier food. She worked to improve federal nutrition standards for school lunches and extracted commitments from food companies and restaurant chains to cut calories, salt, sugar and trans fats in their meals.

    But she said Wednesday that kids still are not getting the recommended levels of nutrients and are eating and drinking too much added sugar, an average of 53 pounds per year. Sugary drinks are youngsters’ main source of added sugar, she said, adding that nearly two-thirds of them have such a drink every day.

    PLEZi Nutrition, based in the District of Columbia, is a public benefit corporation, meaning that the for-profit company was created specifically for the public’s benefit and will balance its profit needs with its mission to help improve child nutrition.

    Mrs. Obama also announced that the company is donating $1 million to an initiative by FoodCorps, a nonprofit organization that is working to help all 50 million students in the U.S. receive education about nutrition and free school meals by 2030. PLEZi Nutrition will also contribute 10 percent of its profits to the broader movement to improve child nutrition.

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  • FTC: Facebook misled parents, failed to guard kids’ privacy

    FTC: Facebook misled parents, failed to guard kids’ privacy

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    U.S. regulators say Facebook misled parents and failed to protect the privacy of children using its Messenger Kids app, including misrepresenting the access it provided to app developers to private user data.

    As a result, The Federal Trade Commision on Wednesday proposed sweeping changes to a 2020 privacy order with Facebook — now called Meta — that would prohibit it from profiting from data it collects on users under 18. This would include data collected through its virtual-reality products. The FTC said the company has failed to fully comply with the 2020 order.

    Meta would also be subject to other limitations, including with its use of face-recognition technology and be required to provide additional privacy protections for its users.

    “Facebook has repeatedly violated its privacy promises,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The company’s recklessness has put young users at risk, and Facebook needs to answer for its failures.”

    Meta called the announcement a “political stunt.”

    “Despite three years of continual engagement with the FTC around our agreement, they provided no opportunity to discuss this new, totally unprecedented theory. Let’s be clear about what the FTC is trying to do: usurp the authority of Congress to set industry-wide standards and instead single out one American company while allowing Chinese companies, like TikTok, to operate without constraint on American soil,” Meta said in a prepared statement.

    The Menlo Park, California company added that it will “vigorously fight” the FTC’s action and expects to prevail.

    Facebook launched Messenger Kids in 2017, pitching it as a way for children to chat with family members and friends approved by their parents. The app doesn’t give kids separate Facebook or Messenger accounts. Rather, it works as an extension of a parent’s account, and parents get controls, such as the ability to decide with whom their kids can chat.

    At the time, Facebook said Messenger Kids wouldn’t show ads or collect data for marketing, though it would collect some data it said was necessary to run the service.

    But child-development experts raised immediate concerns.

    In early 2018, a group of 100 experts, advocates and parenting organizations contested Facebook’s claims that the app was filling a need kids had for a messaging service. The group included nonprofits, psychiatrists, pediatricians, educators and the children’s music singer Raffi Cavoukian.

    “Messenger Kids is not responding to a need — it is creating one,” the letter said. “It appeals primarily to children who otherwise would not have their own social media accounts.” Another passage criticized Facebook for “targeting younger children with a new product.”

    Facebook, in response to the letter, said at the time that the app “helps parents and children to chat in a safer way,” and emphasized that parents are “always in control” of their kids’ activity.

    The FTC now says this has not been the case. The 2020 privacy order, which required Facebook to pay a $5 billion fine, required an independent assessor to evaluate the company’s privacy practices. The FTC said the assessor “identified several gaps and weaknesses in Facebook’s privacy program.”

    The FTC also said Facebook, from late 2017 until 2019, “misrepresented that parents could control whom their children communicated with through its Messenger Kids product.”

    “Despite the company’s promises that children using Messenger Kids would only be able to communicate with contacts approved by their parents, children in certain circumstances were able to communicate with unapproved contacts in group text chats and group video calls,” the FTC said.

    Meta critics applauded the FTC’s action. Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Digital Democracy, called it a “a long-overdue intervention into what has become a huge national crisis for young people.”

    Meta, and with its platforms like Instagram and Facebook, Chester added, “are at the center of a powerful commercialized social media system that has spiraled out of control, threatening the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”

    The company, he added, has not done enough to address existing problems — and is now unleashing “even more powerful data gathering and targeting tactics fueled by immersive content, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, while pushing youth further into the metaverse with no meaningful safeguards.”

    As part of the proposed changes to the FTC’s 2020 order (which was announced in 2019 and finalized later), Meta would also be required to pause launching new products and services without “written confirmation from the assessor that its privacy program is in full compliance” with the order.

    Meta has 30 days to respond to the FTC’s latest action.

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  • Firm that hired kids to clean meat plants keeps losing work

    Firm that hired kids to clean meat plants keeps losing work

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    OMAHA, Neb. — The slaughterhouse cleaning company that was found to be employing more than 100 children to help sanitize dangerous razor-sharp cutting equipment like bone saws has continued to lose contracts with the major meat producers since the investigation became public last fall.

    For its part, Packers Sanitation Services Inc., or PSSI as it is known, said it has taken a number of steps to tighten up its hiring practices but it says the rising number of child labor cases nationwide is likely related to the increase in the number of minors crossing the U.S. border alone in recent years.

    The scandal that followed the February announcement that PSSI would pay a $1.5 million fine and reform its hiring practices as part of an agreement with investigators also prompted the Biden administration to urge the entire meat processing industry to take steps to ensure no kids are working in these plants either for the meat companies or at contractors like PSSI.

    Federal investigators confirmed that children as young as 13 were working for PSSI at 13 plants in Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Texas. It wasn’t immediately clear if any additional children have been found working for the company because PSSI declined to answer that and government officials haven’t offered an update on the investigation since February.

    The Labor Department has said there has been a 69% increase since 2018 in the number of children being employed illegally nationwide, and it has more than 600 child labor investigations underway. Officials have said they are particularly concerned about the potential exploitation of migrants who may not even have a parent in the United States.

    PSSI maintains that it prohibits hiring kids and the only way children could have been hired is “through deliberate identity theft or fraud at a local plant. Regardless of the reason they occurred, it is our responsibility to address the problem.”

    “As has been widely reported, the recent record rise in unaccompanied minors from abroad and rising prevalence of identity theft has clearly revealed new vulnerabilities in the area of underage labor across hundreds of different businesses including ours,” PSSI spokesman Ray Hernandez said.

    Cargill, Tyson Foods and JBS have all terminated contracts with PSSI at at least some of their plants — particularly any plants where Labor Department investigators confirmed children were working — although Cargill went furthest and cut ties with the Kieler, Wisconsin-based company entirely. One of other meat processing giants, Smithfield Foods, said only that it is taking a close look at its contracts with PSSI, which currently cleans about one-third of the company’s 45 plants, to ensure that all labor laws are being followed.

    Those four companies, along with National Beef, control over 80% of the beef market and more than 60% of the pork market nationwide. National Beef didn’t respond to questions about its actions.

    Cargill spokeswoman April Nelson said the company notified PSSI in March that it would end all 14 of its contracts because “we will not tolerate the use of underage labor within our facilities or supplier network.”

    Tyson and JBS officials also reiterated their commitment to eliminating child labor in their plants, and they said each of their companies had ended PSSI contracts at several plants. But they declined to provide specific numbers about how many contracts they cut and how many plants PSSI is still cleaning for them.

    “Tyson Foods is committed to compliance with all labor laws and holding those we do business with to the highest standards of accountability,” said Dan Turton, a senior vice president at Tyson, in a letter to members of Congress about their child labor concerns. He promised Tyson would step up its audits of contractors and continue cooperating with federal officials to ensure its own hiring meets all standards.

    The major meat processors say they are looking to bring more of the cleaning work at their plants in house, but they will likely continue to rely on contractors in many places. Tyson, for instance, said that its own workers clean about 40% of its plants.

    PSSI wouldn’t say how many workers it has laid off after losing contracts, but the way it describes itself on its website hints at the job losses. PSSI now says it has about 16,500 employees nationwide working at more than 400 plants, down from the more than 17,000 it cited last fall before the investigation. Still, it remains one of the largest cleaners of food processing plants.

    PSSI says it is going above and beyond what the official court agreement required to ensure no kids are working there. And the company, which is owned by the New York-based private equity firm Blackstone, named a new CEO who just took over last week after its longtime top executive retired after 24 years.

    PSSI hired a former U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer to help strengthen the training its managers get to spot identity theft, and brought on a former Labor Department official to conduct monthly unannounced checks on its practices. The company also set up a hotline for employees to anonymously report any concerns.

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  • Missouri judge to rule on strict trans health care limits

    Missouri judge to rule on strict trans health care limits

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    COLUMBIA, Mo. — A Missouri judge is expected to decide Monday whether the Republican state attorney general’s unique rule can take effect that would require adults and children to undergo more than a year of therapy and fulfill several other requirements before they could receive gender-affirming treatments such as puberty blockers, hormones and surgery.

    St. Louis County Circuit Judge Ellen Ribaudo is expected to rule by 5 p.m. whether to extend her order barring enforcement of Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s emergency rule pending the outcome of a lawsuit that claims Bailey exceeded his authority by sidestepping the Republican-led Legislature and attempting to regulate gender-affirming care through the state’s consumer-protection laws.

    The rule, which was set to take effect last Thursday before Ribaudo issued a temporary hold on its enforcement, would require people to have experienced an “intense pattern” of documented gender dysphoria for three years and to have received at least 15 hourly sessions with a therapist over at least 18 months before they could receive puberty blockers, hormones, surgery or other treatment.

    Before receiving such care, patients would also have to be screened for autism, and any psychiatric symptoms from mental health issues would have to be treated and resolved. Minors, but not adults, also would have to be screened for “social media addiction” before treatments could begin. Some people would be able to maintain their prescriptions while undergoing required assessments.

    Legal experts and transgender advocates say that if Bailey’s rule takes effect, it would make Missouri the first state to restrict gender-affirming care for adults and the first to enact such restrictions through emergency rule-making instead of a law.

    Bailey has touted the rule as a way to shield minors from what he describes as experimental medical treatments, though puberty blockers and sex hormones have been prescribed for decades and the rule would also apply to adults.

    But the transgender Missourians and health care providers suing to block it say the rule is discriminatory and illegal.

    Tony Rothert, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, told Ribaudo at a hearing Wednesday that the regulations would “cause immediate, severe and potentially irreparable harm” for people who could lose access to medications that include puberty blockers and sex hormones.

    “We don’t allow attorneys general to legislate, and we don’t allow them to play doctor,” Rothert said.

    He and other attorneys said transgender people who can’t get gender-affirming care are at higher risk of suicide.

    Assistant Attorney General Joshua Divine argued that Bailey’s order would not ban gender-affirming care, and instead would provide “basic procedural guardrails.” He cited studies showing that a high percentage of children seeking to transition are dealing with mental health issues. He said that rather than transition they should undergo “talk therapy.”

    Bailey issued the restrictions following an investigation he launched in February into the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The investigation was prompted by a former employee who alleged that the center was providing children with gender-affirming care without informed consent, a sufficient individualized case review and wraparound mental health services. An internal review by the university found no misconduct and determined that the former employee’s claims were unsubstantiated.

    Some transgender people have been trying to stockpile their prescribed hormones or find alternative ways to get the medications on their own, out of fear they could lose access to the gender-affirming treatments many credit as life-saving. Some are considering leaving Missouri if the emergency rule isn’t blocked in court.

    “This feels like the end of Kansas City being my home,” said Stacy Cay, an autistic transgender woman. “It feels like it’s being taken away.”

    Missouri’s Democratic House minority leader, Crystal Quade, said last week that she asked President Joe Biden and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for an executive order that would extend coverage for Missourians who seek gender-affirming care in other states. She also asked the Democratic governors of Kansas and Illinois if their health care systems would accept Missouri patients for such care.

    Bailey’s efforts to crack down on gender-affirming health care come as Republicans across the country have proposed hundreds of laws aimed at transgender people. At least 13 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors.

    Bailey was appointed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson and took office in January. In a campaign email asking donors for money last week, Bailey said minors are “learning about their genders on TikTok.”

    “Think about how frightening that is!” the campaign email said. “And think about how CRAZY it is to expose children to the twisted experiments advocated by extreme transgender activists.”

    Brandon Hill, the interim president and CEO of Vivent Health, a health care provider with an LGBTQ+ and HIV focus serving Missouri and other states, questioned Bailey’s description of gender-affirming care as “experimental.” Hill said the same hormones used in gender-affirming treatment are used off-label to treat symptoms of menopause and help some cancer survivors.

    “If you’re concerned about the drug and its potential effects, you should be concerned about it for everybody,” Hill said.

    He said it is “discriminatory if you decide to isolate one group and decide what their treatment looks like, but not others who use the same exact products.”

    Meanwhile, Republican state lawmakers are fighting over competing Missouri House and Senate bills that would ban all gender-affirming care for minors. The chambers are split over which version they want to send to Parson, who is threatening to force the Legislature to keep working if nothing is done on the issue by the May 12 end of the legislative session.

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  • Conflict over transgender rights simmers across the US

    Conflict over transgender rights simmers across the US

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    As transgender people have increasingly gained acceptance and visibility, conservative lawmakers have zeroed in on restricting their rights: keeping transgender children off girls’ sports teams and out of certain bathrooms, and blocking them from receiving gender-affirming medical care.

    In response, a growing number of Democratic-controlled states officials have moved to protect such rights, especially access to gender-affirming care.

    In developments this week, one governor is telling lawmakers they’ll have to return for a special session if they fail to pass some restrictions, two others signed protections into law and a transgender lawmaker was barred from a Statehouse floor amid a standoff with colleagues.

    THE BIG PICTURE

    The push by conservatives has mushroomed over the last few years and become, alongside abortion, a major theme running through legislative sessions across the country in 2023.

    Six states have laws or policies in effect barring minors from receiving puberty blockers or hormone therapy. Similar provisions have been adopted but paused by courts in three more. They’ve been signed into law but haven’t yet taken effect in another eight. And one more bill is awaiting a governor’s signature.

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    THE CENTER OF DEBATE

    In Missouri, the gender-affirming care battle is playing out in the Legislature and in court.

    Earlier this month Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey used an emergency rule to impose restrictions on both children and adults before they can receive such care. Just before it was to take effect this week, a judge halted enforcement until at least Monday and said she could push the date back further while legal challenges are considered.

    Gov. Make Parson, also a Republican, said he would call a special legislative session if lawmakers fail to pass bills that would restrict transgender rights by May 12.

    The GOP-controlled Legislature is on board but not in agreement over exceptions such as whether treatment for people already receiving puberty blockers or hormones would be allowed to continue.

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    BANNED FROM THE HOUSE FLOOR

    Montana House Republicans barred a Democratic transgender colleague from the floor of the chamber for the rest of the legislative session as punishment.

    Zooey Zephyr had told Republicans there would be “blood on your hands” — an expression frequently used in politics — if they approved a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. The bill passed, though it has not yet been signed into law.

    Zephyr’s situation, which echoed the ouster of two Tennessee lawmakers from that state’s Legislature for a protest over gun policy this year, has turned her into a political cause for liberals nationwide.

    She spent the first day of her exile this week battling to use a bench in a Statehouse hallway.

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    THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WEIGHS IN

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday filed a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s law, scheduled to take effect July 1, banning transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming care.

    The federal government said “no person should be denied access to necessary medical care just because of their transgender status.”

    Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke sent a letter last month to all state attorneys general warning them that federal law protects transgender youth against discrimination.

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    ACCESS PROTECTED

    Governors’ signatures in Minnesota and Washington on Thursday made them the latest of at least nine states with laws protecting access to gender-affirming care. Vermont lawmakers passed bills with similar provisions this week, though they haven’t been signed.

    The measures aim to shield patients, health care providers and other actors from punishment or investigations into whether they violated gender-affirming care and abortion bans in states that have them.

    So far, officials have not been trying to reach across state lines to enforce bans.

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    DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS IN KANSAS

    The Republican-controlled legislature in Kansas fell one vote short this week of overriding Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

    But lawmakers overrode other vetoes of restrictions on rights for transgender people. One blocks them from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identities at schools, prisons, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers.

    At least eight other states have bathroom restrictions, but most of them apply only at schools.

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    ROLING BACK A LIBERAL CITY’S BOYCOTT

    San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to repeal a measure barring city staffers from making business trips to states with restrictions on abortion, voting and LGBTQ+ rights.

    The 2016 policy also blocked the city government from doing business with companies headquartered in those states.

    Officials said it was doing more harm than good. Instead of exerting pressure on those states, it was raising costs for San Francisco.

    A final vote is expected on Tuesday. California is considering a repeal a similar measure at the state level.

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  • Providing Mental Health Care to Rural Communities

    Providing Mental Health Care to Rural Communities

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    Most often-rural counties in Texas and across the country do not even have one child and adolescent psychiatrist. This is where programs like the Texas Child Health Access through Telemedicine (TCHATT) program, comes into play. TCHATT offers appointments through telemedicine that provide immediate mental health care needed by youth, especially in these days of regularly occurring crises like mass shootings than often trigger PTSD, anxiety, and panic attacks.

    • One in six U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year.
    • Half of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24.
    • Depression alone costs the nation about $210.5 billion annually.
    • The average delay between onset of mental illness symptoms and treatment is 11 years.

    Our mental health expert is available to speak on how Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso serves as the West Texas hub for TCHATT.

    TCHATT provides rapid assessment, therapy sessions, resource referrals, and psychoeducation to school officials, children and families in areas often underserved and underinsured.

    TTUHSC El Paso’s TCHATT program has the capability to reach 36 school districts from El Paso County to Val Verde County in Del Rio, Texas.

    Currently, TTUHSC El Paso’s TCHATT program works with 16 West Texas school districts. To date, 1,258 young students have been enrolled in the program. As of February 2023, therapists and child and adolescent psychiatrists have seen 3,090 total patient visits.

    Mental health expert available for interviews week of May 1, 2023. 

    https://elpaso.ttuhsc.edu/youthmentalhealth/Initiatives/Tchatt

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    Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso

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