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  • Take Our Kids to Work Day turns 30, hopes donations rebound

    Take Our Kids to Work Day turns 30, hopes donations rebound

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    NEW YORK — At Michigan State University, children of employees can spend Thursday seeing what its like to staff a dairy farm, work in sports or plant a tree at the school’s first in-person Take Our Kids to Work Day since the pandemic began.

    Some 1,500 employees and kids have registered and the university has invited staff to bring any child in their life to explore the campus.

    “This is a way that people can see each other and meet their families, show off MSU, which is designated a family friendly university,” said Jaimie Hutchison, director of the university’s WorkLife Office. “It also allows people to see what others do across campus and have more pride in the institution that they work for.”

    MSU’s plans recall the roots of Take Our Kids to Work Day, which celebrates its 30th anniversary on Thursday. However, much has changed since then.

    The idea of Take Our Kids to Work Day seemed like part of a bygone era in recent years because, due to the pandemic, there weren’t a lot of workplaces to take them.

    Many parents were always taking their kids to work — or taking their work to wherever the kids were — in the dawn of the work-from-home era caused by COVID-19. And for parents who needed to head to a workplace, precautions over limiting the spread of the disease generally kept their kids away.

    This year, though, The Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Foundation, the nonprofit that promotes the day, hopes to remind people of the importance of showing kids where their parents work. The foundation also hopes to get some help to ensure its survival.

    The foundation, which marks the day annually on the third Thursday in April, was led for years by Carolyn McKecuen, an entrepreneur, artist and MacArthur Fellow, who Dave Oliveria, the foundation’s interim executive director, called the linchpin of the organization. She died in November.

    “The board is trying to pick up the pieces to just keep it going,” Oliveria said. The foundation lost money last year and currently has no employees.

    This year, it is partnering with Junior Achievement USA to host a virtual event that will include a gameshow format where panelists will answer questions about their careers.

    In the costal town of Brigantine, New Jersey, school superintendent Glenn Robbins is encouraging his staff to bring their children to school and for students to accompany their parents to their workplaces Thursday. He estimates that around 30% of students will participate.

    “It makes them appreciate things that they might not see when they’re stuck in a school building every day for five days a week,” he said.

    Over the years, educators and schools have complained that having some students taken out of class is more disruptive than helpful.

    Thirty years ago, the head of the Ms. Foundation for Women, Marie Wilson, was inspired by research into the flagging self-esteem of girls when they reached adolescence to suggest that parents bring their daughters to work to expand their sense of possibility.

    The foundation’s cofounder, Gloria Steinem, mentioned the idea in an interview and in the spring of 1993, “Take Our Daughters to Work” day exploded into reality.

    “It challenged the workplace to be responsive to the family needs in some ways, even making people aware that many people had children at home,” said Teresa Younger, president and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women.

    Women’s participation in the work force has been largely flat since 2000, after picking up in the 1990s. About three-quarters of women aged 25 through 54, a group that filters out students and retirees, were in the workforce in 1993, a figure that reached nearly 78% this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The pandemic disproportionally drove women out of the workforce and they returned more slowly even after lockdown measures ended and available jobs again increased.

    The name and date of the day has changed since it started, including boys officially in 2003, though many workplaces have used “kid” or “child” for years. Also, companies and workplaces are free to organize a day for employees to bring their children to work whenever and however they like, said Oliveria.

    Around 1,000 kids have registered for this year’s livestream, Junior Achievement US said. But it has always been difficult to measure participation, Oliveria said, but this year’s participation likely represents a sharp decline from the 18 million kids that the organization said participated between 2005 and 2009.

    “I don’t see evidence of a million people, but I think that many companies can do their own thing and we wouldn’t know,” Oliveria said. “That’s just a tough thing to put your arms around.”

    Younger said she understands the difficulty of continuing to meet the needs of the current moment.

    “That’s the challenge of every legacy organization, is: how do we respond to the challenges of now and continue to integrate the work as it needs to be?” she asked.

    Bringing a child to work is still a meaningful way to create a more economically and socially equitable society, she said. “It holds industry accountable for the opportunities that they provide for the next generation and the exposure they provide.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Montana lawmaker silenced but not silent, vows to fight on

    Montana lawmaker silenced but not silent, vows to fight on

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    HELENA, Mont. — Moves to stifle the voice of the first transgender woman elected to Montana’s legislature over her stand on gender-affirming care for children may have silenced her in the chambers of the state House, but Rep. Zooey Zephyr said she’s confident they’ve only amplified her message to constituents at home and others watching across the nation.

    “There are many more eyes on Montana now,” Zephyr said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But you do the same thing you’ve always done. You stand up in defense of your community and you … stand for the principles that they elected you to stand for.”

    Zephyr was thrust into the national spotlight last week when she was prevented from speaking in the House after telling lawmakers backing a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors that they would have blood on their hands. The Republican response to her comments, and her refusal to apologize for them as demanded, have transformed the lawmaker into a prominent figure in the nationwide battle for transgender rights and placed her at the center of the ongoing debate over the muffling of dissent in statehouses.

    The attention is a new phenomenon for Zephyr, a 34-year-old serving her first term representing a western Montana college town after being elected last November. She will spend her first day in legislative exile when the Montana House reconvenes Thursday morning, a day after the Republican majority voted to bar her from the House floor for the rest of the session.

    Lawmakers made the move in retaliation for her participation in a protest that disrupted Monday’s floor session. Protestors upset that she was prevented from taking part in House debates after making her comments packed the gallery and chanted “Let her speak!”

    She stood by the remarks even after House Speaker Matt Regier said they violated decorum rules and demanded she apologized.

    “The Montana House will not be bullied,” Regier said this week. He said the only person preventing Zephyr from speaking was Zephyr herself.

    In her interview with the AP, Zephyr likened efforts to silence her to the decision by Tennessee lawmakers to expel two Black representatives for disrupting proceedings when they participated in a gun control protest after a school shooting in Nashville that killed three children and three adults. The two were quickly reinstated.

    “That’s exactly what I’m talking about, is when young Black men stand up and say ‘We have a gun violence problem in this country’ and you are failing to recognize it, you’re failing to take action on it,” she said.

    Tennessee lawmakers not only rejected gun control laws, but by expelling the lawmakers they sent a message saying: “Your voices shouldn’t be here. We’re going to send you away,” Zephyr said.

    GOP leaders in Tennessee had said their actions were necessary to avoid setting a precedent that lawmakers’ disruptions of House proceedings through protest would be tolerated.

    Zephyr’s stand has drawn attention from lawmakers throughout the country. On Tuesday, Tennessee Rep. Justin Pearson, one of the lawmakers who was expelled earlier this month, called the Montana standoff anti-democratic.

    “We will not let our democracy die without fighting for every voice. We are in this fight from Memphis to Montana!” he tweeted.

    “The attack in Montana on Rep. Zephyr is an attack on all of us,” said Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt.

    Hunt, who has a transgender son, has spearheaded the charge against a similar proposal to ban gender-affirming care. She was served notice Wednesday of an official complaint filed against her that she said was an effort to silence her voice on the issue.

    “It’s so important that we not be silent about this from state to state to state. And it’s so important that people stand up against this rising movement, this radical movement, and say it is not welcome,” Hunt said.

    Zephyr is undeterred. She said throughout the events of the past week, she has both aimed to rise and meet the moment and continue doing the job she was elected to do: representing her community and constituents.

    “It’s queer people across the world and it’s also the constituents of other representatives who are saying ‘They won’t listen’ when it comes to these issues. It’s staff in this building who, when no one is looking, come up and say ‘Thank you,’” she said.

    ___

    Metz reported from Salt Lake City. Associated Press reporter Margery Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

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  • Study shows children’s inactivity remains an issue in wake of pandemic

    Study shows children’s inactivity remains an issue in wake of pandemic

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    Newswise — New research has revealed children’s physical activity in the UK has largely returned to pre-pandemic levels – but children are still more sedentary during the week.  

    The study, led by the University of Bristol and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, found that by summer last year 41% of children were meeting the national recommended physical activity guidelines of an hour on average of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily. Although this shows an improvement from the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, when little more than a third (37%) were meeting this target, it means the majority of children were still found to be falling short.

    Children are more sedentary during the week since public lockdown restrictions lifted, spending an extra 13 minutes on average daily being inactive according to the findings.

    Lead author Russ Jago, Professor of Physical Activity and Public Health, said: “It’s encouraging that on average children’s physical activity levels are back to where they were before the pandemic.

    “But it’s taken nearly a year since the last public lockdown was lifted, and children’s increased sedentary time during the week has persisted, which is an area of concern for policy makers, schools, and parents.”

    The study measured physical activity levels of 393 children aged 10 to 11 years old between June and December 2021 and a further 436 children of the same age between January and July last year. Children and a parent or carer wore an accelerometer to measure their physical activity and answered a questionnaire. Participants came from 28 schools in the Bristol area. This information was compared with data from nearly 1,300 children and their parents from 50 schools in the same area before the pandemic.

    On average, parents were found to take part in eight minutes more moderate to vigorous physical activity at weekends than before the pandemic.

    Physical activity is important for children’s health and well-being. The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend all children and young people should take part in an hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. This is activity that gets children slightly hot, slightly sweaty, and out of breath. The Chief Medical Officers also advise children should limit the amount of time they spend being sedentary, which means sitting or lying down, except when sleeping, for extended periods.   

    Co-author Dr Ruth Salway, Senior Research Associate in Epidemiology and Statistics, said: “The findings suggest physical activity is susceptible to disruptions in provision and leisure opportunities, and highlight that still not enough 10 to 11-year- olds meet the guidelines. On the flipside, it’s great to see how the pandemic may have encouraged parents to be more active and it looks like these habits may be continuing.”

    Paper

    ‘Short and medium-term effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns on child and parent accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary time: a natural experiment’ in the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition & Physical Activity by R. Jago et al.

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    University of Bristol

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  • East Palestine families living in limbo months after fire

    East Palestine families living in limbo months after fire

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    EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Jeff Drummond spends days and nights alone in a tiny room with fake wood paneling, two small beds and a microwave atop a mini refrigerator that serves as a nightstand — his pickup truck parked just outside the door at the roadside motel where he’s taken refuge since early February.

    Shelby Walker bounces from hotel to hotel with her five children and four grandchildren while crews tear up railroad tracks and scoop out contaminated soil near their four-bedroom home.

    Almost 3 months after a fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment blackened the skies, sent residents fleeing and thrust East Palestine into a national debate over rail safety, residents say they are still living in limbo. They’re unsure how or whether to move on from the accident and worry what will happen to them and the village where they have deep family roots, friendships and affordable homes.

    “I have no idea how long we can continue to do this,” says Walker, while washing clothes at a laundromat.

    Walker, 48, also works at a small hotel where many workers are staying, so is constantly reminded of the accident. She remembers the scorched rail tanker at her property line and a backyard flooded with water from the burn site. “Sometimes I just break down,” she says.

    About half of East Palestine’s nearly 5,000 residents evacuated when, days after the Feb. 3 derailment, officials decided to burn toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars to prevent a catastrophic explosion.

    Most have returned, though many complain about illnesses and worry about soil, water and air quality. Some are staying away until they’re sure it’s safe. Others, like Drummond, are not allowed back in their homes because of the ongoing cleanup.

    The retired truck driver and Gulf War veteran misses mowing the lawn, puttering around his yard and chatting with regulars at the tavern next door.

    “I have nothing here,” says Drummond, sitting on an orange plastic chair outside the Davis Motel in North Lima, Ohio. “So it’s trying to find something to keep yourself busy, to keep from going crazy.”

    FEARING THE UNKNOWN

    Norfolk Southern Railroad is paying for lodging for some families but won’t say how many still are out of their homes while the railroad excavates tens of thousands of tons of contaminated soil, a process the Environmental Protection Agency expects to take another 2-3 months. The railroad also must remove toxic chemicals from two creeks, which could take longer.

    “I pledge that we won’t be finished until we make it right,” Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw told an Ohio rail safety committee last week.

    The railroad also handed out $1,000 “inconvenience checks” to residents within the ZIP code that includes East Palestine and surrounding areas, but most did not qualify for further assistance and went home.

    The EPA’s Mark Durno says continual air monitoring at the derailment site and in the community and soil tests in parks, on agricultural land and at other potentially affected areas have not yet detected concerning levels of any contaminants.

    “Nothing jumped off page for us yet,” Durno says, adding that testing would continue just to be sure.

    The railroad says testing shows drinking water is safe, though it’s establishing a fund for long-term drinking water protection. It’s also establishing funds for health care and to help sellers if their property value falls because of the accident.

    But it’s the unknown that worry people.

    Jessica Conard, a 37-year-old speech therapist, wonders whether her boys — ages 3, 8 and 9 — will ever be able to fish in the pond separating their property from the railroad tracks. Or play at the park where the chemicals are being removed from a stream. Can they remain in the town where “generations upon generations” of family have lived?

    “You want them to be able to have those memories,” says Conard, who returned to East Palestine six years ago to raise her family where the sound of trains was the backdrop to her own childhood. “I just kind of feel like those memories are tainted because when you hear a train now it kind of makes you cringe.”

    DEEP ROOTS

    This is the kind of place where everyone seems connected to everyone else, residents say. Parents don’t worry about their kids because they know other parents are looking out for them.

    Summer Magness chokes up recalling how the community held benefit dinners after her eldest daughter, Samantha, suffered multiple cardiac arrests playing softball four years ago, resulting in a brain injury that left her paralyzed and unable to speak. Samantha, now 16, gets all A’s, attends homecoming and still has her circle of friends.

    “We couldn’t have made it without them,” Magness says.

    Eighty-one-year-old Norma Carr raised four children in the cedar-sided 1930s duplex she moved into 57 years ago and where three generations lived together before the derailment. She knew everyone in her neighborhood, walked to church and always felt safe among friends.

    For now, she’s staying in a condominium 10 miles (16 kilometers) away that the railroad rented the family for six months because Carr, who has Parkinson’s, fared poorly during a month in a cramped hotel room.

    “I miss being able to look out the window and not see a stranger,” says Carr, choking back tears.

    Most of Conard’s relatives work in factories and, like many here, live paycheck to paycheck, putting aside money to buy and fix up homes, she says. “I mean, this is what we strive for. It’s the American dream.”

    She and her husband sold their first East Palestine home last year to move into their “forever home” a couple miles away, on a road named for one of her ancestors. “Then all of a sudden, overnight (the dream is) gone.”

    STAY OR GO?

    Small businesses like Sprinklz on Top and The Corner Store line the main drag, North Market Street, along with chains like McDonald’s and Pizza Hut. The Chamber of Commerce, library and post office are there, too. Statues of bulldogs, the high school mascot, are placed throughout town.

    There also are signs reflecting the hardship the village has been through: “Y’all OK?” says one. Others say “Get ready for the greatest comeback in American history.”

    But many wonder if they should stay or go.

    For Summer Magness, it would be difficult to leave the community where her family has lived for generations. She doubts her home could sell for what it would cost to buy elsewhere. Still, she would move if she could, because the feeling of security has been upended and “the safety of my children is my only concern.”

    To stay, Carr’s daughter Kristina Ferguson, 49, says she would want independent testing and a thorough cleaning of their home. But she isn’t sure if the family will ever feel safe there again.

    Ferguson also worries whether living there could affect her mother’s Parkinson’s.

    “There’s … no home in the world that is worth losing one family member over,” she says. “I know as long as we’re together we will have a home in our heart.”

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • A Texas family fought for weeks to regain custody of their newborn. Experts say the case shows how Black parents are criminalized. | CNN

    A Texas family fought for weeks to regain custody of their newborn. Experts say the case shows how Black parents are criminalized. | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Black Texas couple has been reunited with their newborn daughter after authorities removed the baby and placed her in foster care last month citing a doctor’s concerns about how they were treating a jaundice diagnosis.

    Rodney and Temecia Jackson of DeSoto, Texas, regained custody of their daughter, Mila, on April 20 following a nearly month-long battle with the state’s Child Protective Services, according to The Afiya Center, a reproductive justice advocacy group.

    A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Family Protective Services, which includes CPS, confirmed to CNN that the office had recommended a dismissal of the case to an assistant district attorney. Mila’s release was granted on Thursday, according to a court filing.

    The Jacksons had been pleading for Mila’s return in videos posted to social media, and news conferences as reproductive justice activists protested and rallied behind the family.

    The removal, the Jacksons say, was sparked by their decision to let their midwife treat Mila’s jaundice instead of taking her to the hospital for care as their doctor had recommended. Temecia Jackson said during a news conference earlier this month that she gave birth to Mila at home on March 21 with the help of a midwife and wanted that same trusted midwife to provide medical care for her baby. But Mila’s pediatrician disagreed with this decision and ultimately contacted CPS, Temecia Jackson said.

    “We’ve been treated like criminals,” Rodney Jackson said during the news conference. “This is a nightmare that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”

    Reproductive justice advocates say Mila’s removal is just the latest example of the criminalization of Black parents, who lose their children to the child welfare system at disproportionate rates. In the US in 2018, Black children made up 23% of youth in foster care, but only 14% of the nation’s child population, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Additionally, one study found that between 2003-2014, 53% of Black children were the subjects of child welfare investigations by the time they reached age 18.

    Marsha Jones, executive director of The Afiya Center – a Dallas, Texas, based non-profit that advocates for Black women and girls – said there is a systemic problem with the child welfare system that unfairly targets Black parents. In many cases, Black families have their first experiences with the criminal justice system in family court, Jones said.

    “It’s almost unspoken and unseen because there is just this thought that Black women are not good parents and that we are criminalized because of poverty,” Jones told CNN. “This is not new.”

    Jones said the center stepped in last month to support the Jackson family and put pressure on public officials to return Mila home. She believes this played a role in reuniting the family last week.

    “There’s no reason this baby should have been removed from her home,” Jones told CNN. “This family was not being heard. The Black midwife wasn’t being heard.”

    Rodney and Temecia Jackson could not be reached for comment.

    In a letter to CPS obtained by CNN affiliate WFAA, the family’s pediatrician, Dr. Anand Bhatt, who is with the Baylor Scott & White healthcare system, wrote that while the Jacksons “are very loving and they care dearly” about Mila, “their distrust for medical care and guidance has led them to make a decision for the baby to refuse a simple treatment that can prevent brain damage.”

    “I authorized the support of CPS to help get this baby the care that was medically necessary and needed,” the letter continued.

    CBS News, which obtained a copy of the affidavit filed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, reported that Bhatt reached out to a DFPS investigator on March 25 and indicated that Mila’s bililrubin test showed levels of 21.7 milligrams.

    A bilirubin test can screen for jaundice and other conditions. That level was “cause for a lot of concern,” Bhatt told the investigator, according to CBS News, and could lead to brain damage, he said, “because the bilirubin can cross the blood brain barrier.”

    Bhatt said he reserved a bed for Mila at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas and asked the Jacksons to take her there or he would call police for a welfare check, according to court documents obtained by CBS News. WFAA reported that Bhatt wanted Mila to receive phototherapy – a common treatment for jaundice.

    But court documents, according to CBS News, say Rodney Jackson told Bhatt he and Temecia Jackson planned to treat their baby “naturally” and didn’t believe in “modern medicine.”

    The midwife, Cheryl Edinbyrd, told CBS News the family had ordered a blanket and goggles to provide light therapy to treat Mila’s jaundice.

    When the Jacksons didn’t show up at the hospital, a CPS investigator and police went to the Jackson’s home at 4 a.m. on March 25 but Rodney Jackson declined to speak with them, according to court documents obtained by CBS News. An hour later, authorities returned with an ambulance and fire truck and Rodney Jackson still denied them entry.

    Authorities returned to the home on March 30 with a warrant and arrested Rodney Jackson on charges of preventing the execution of a civil process, according to CBS News. Police entered the home and took Mila from Temecia Jackson. According to CBS News, the Jacksons’ other two children were not removed.

    Temecia Jackson said in a press conference that when she asked to see the affidavit, she noticed it had the name of a different mother on it.

    “Instantly I felt like they had stolen my baby as I had had a home birth and they were trying to say that my baby belonged to this other woman,” Temecia Jackson.

    Marissa Gonzales, a spokesperson from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said in an email to CNN that her department was given an incorrect name for the initial affidavit. The mistake, she said, was corrected in the case filings.

    Gonzales declined an interview with CNN to discuss the case further, citing “state confidentiality restrictions.”

    “It is always the goal of DFPS to safely reunite children with their parents,” Gonzales also said. “The decision about when that happens rests with the judge who ordered the removal.”

    CNN’s request to interview Bhatt was also denied by Baylor Scott & White.

    “In respect of patient privacy, it is inappropriate to provide comment on this matter,” the health system said in an emailed statement. “We do abide by reporting requirements set forth in the Texas Family Code and any other applicable laws.”

    Advocates say the racial bias of professionals such as teachers, doctors and social workers has created inequity in the child welfare system.

    Dorothy Roberts, a law professor and sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said decisions to report neglect and abuse are largely shaped by racist stereotypes of Black families.

    The child welfare system, she said, needs to consider the trauma inflicted on children when they are separated from their families.

    “We have to ask whether there is a better way of addressing children’s medical needs instead of the system we have now where doctors are reporting suspicions, which we know is highly biased, and investigating families, which we know is very traumatic,” said Roberts, author of “Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families – and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World.” “Hospitals should not be places of fear for parents.”

    Roberts said there is also a longstanding cultural conflict between the healthcare system and midwives who are often devalued. Black midwives provided care for mothers for hundreds of years, delivering the babies of enslaved women and even slave owners’ wives. But as medicine became more professionalized in the late 1800s, male doctors wanted to take control of childbirth, with some suggesting midwives were unfit, according to a report by Vox.

    Monica Simpson, executive director of Sistersong, a reproductive justice organization advocating for women of color, said many Black women are choosing midwives because they have lost trust in doctors and hospitals.

    Much of that is driven by the harrowing statistics: Black women are 2.6 times likelier to die of pregnancy-related complications than White women, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

    Black infants also die at more than twice the rate of White infants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Simpson said the child welfare system is broken. She said racism has played a part in the continued criminalization and separation of Black families.

    “There’s been this narrative that Black women can’t parent their children properly,” Simpson said. “We have been battling these narratives for decades. The way that Black women are criminalized around their motherhood, it’s horrible.”

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  • For this Black mom, Ralph Yarl could have been her son

    For this Black mom, Ralph Yarl could have been her son

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    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On April 13, the nightmare that I’d worried about ever since we moved into our neighborhood came true.

    That was the day that I learned 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot after mistakenly ringing a doorbell at the wrong house while trying to pick up his younger brothers from a playdate. And even as I anguished over what happened to him, one thing kept echoing in my mind: It could have been my child.

    John, my older son, is 17 and attends the same high school as Ralph. It’s common for me to ask John to pick up his 14-year-old brother Jaden from various extracurricular activities. I’ve been cautious about what I ask John to do and where I ask him to go. I don’t know what might happen if he crosses paths with someone who feels threatened by the color of his skin.

    That’s because the suburbs of Kansas City north of the Missouri River have long held a reputation of not being the most welcoming to Black families. While I’ve adjusted to the awkward stares and subtle racism, I’ve always had a nagging fear that something bad could happen if my sons ventured too far from home without me.

    I became painfully aware that John shared that fear shortly after Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down by white men while jogging through a Georgia neighborhood in 2020. Like Arbery, John liked to jog through the neighborhood. Now, however, he was asking me to trail him in my car as he jogged through ours.

    I felt like I’d failed as a mother. I had done everything I could to make him feel safe and protected, but he was afraid to run past the familiar, well-manicured lawns in the only neighborhood he’s ever known as home.

    ___

    I knew there would be challenges when we moved in as one of the only Black families in the subdivision in 2005. But I figured the benefits would outweigh the drawbacks. Besides, you can’t run or hide from racism.

    My ex-husband and I bought our home when John was just six weeks old — three years before Staley High School opened — because we wanted our children to receive a quality education. Our realtor touted plans for the state-of-the-art high school campus as a selling point. We loved the layout of the home on a half acre of land, and the sprawling backyard was perfect for the Irish setter we had at the time.

    Some neighbors welcomed us with housewarming gifts of flowers and baked goods. Later, we were told that one family sold their house shortly after we moved in because they didn’t want to live near Black people. At a party at a neighbor’s house not long after that, a guest wondered out loud why Black people would want to live in a predominantly white neighborhood. “Wouldn’t they feel more comfortable living around their own people?”

    Then there was the time I sent my then-husband to return a casserole dish a neighbor left at my house after a party. The former neighbor, whom we’d known for years at that point, opened the door and yelled, “We don’t want any. Go Away,” and slammed the door. She didn’t take the time to make out the face on the other side of the door. She just saw Black. She apologized profusely when she realized what she had done.

    It touched John from very early on, too. He was in kindergarten when I had to confront some of the realities of raising a Black child in this predominantly white suburb. Silly me. I thought I’d have more time to prepare.

    We were home one evening when I overheard John yell at the TV during a game of Wii boxing. “Take that, you jigaboo!” He could tell by my face that the word was more than a casual insult aimed at his virtual opponent. It took a while for me to coax out of him that a white kid at school had called him that name.

    How do you explain to a 5-year-old why someone would call him that? I fumbled through it just as I’ve learned to fumble through raising my Black sons in an environment where their skin is considered by some to be a weapon.

    These things happen. You block them out and you move on, but the subtle tension remains. No one wants to talk about it. Eventually you become numb. You avoid certain situations. It’s like walking on eggshells to avoid a landmine.

    It becomes exhausting to try to shield my sons from the ugliness I know exists. John is dating now. If he plans to ask a white girl out, I always ask: “Do her parents know you are Black? Are they OK with it?”

    ___

    When I heard what happened to Ralph, I cried. I haven’t slept well since, because it could have easily been John who was shot in the head after mistakenly going to NE 115th Street instead of NE 115th Terrace to pick up his brother.

    Ralph’s mistake was an innocent one. In my neighborhood, address mix-ups happen all the time. Many houses are numbered identically, and sometimes the only difference in a street address is “terrace” versus “street” or “northwest” versus “northeast.”

    We recently had a string of unexpected visits. Just after dawn one morning, we were awakened to men we didn’t hire inspecting tree damage in our backyard after a storm. A few days later, workers for a lawn-care company let themselves into our backyard to treat it for grubs.

    The most troubling incident came when a man we didn’t know rang our doorbell in the middle of the day.

    My husband and I, both working from home, couldn’t answer right away. By the time we got to the door, the man was in our backyard and fumbling around our back door. When my husband confronted him, he told us he was a contractor sent to measure our door for a replacement. We hadn’t ordered a door.

    So it’s easy for me to see how mistakes happen. But it never occurred to me to grab my firearm and shoot these unexpected visitors. That simply isn’t the first option in the world that I’m working so hard to create for my family.

    Since Ralph’s shooting, I’ve had a lot of friends check on us. My best friend, who lives in St. Louis, pointed out that Ralph looks a lot like Jaden, my younger son. I’d noticed the resemblance, too. I cried again.

    ___

    I don’t regret moving here. My sons have outstanding teachers and coaches. They’ve excelled academically and developed valuable friendships with a diverse group of young people. I’ve met some of my closest friends in this neighborhood.

    Yet as a Black woman in America, I rise each day knowing that I will invariably face small indignities tossed my way by white people who mistakenly believe they’re entitled to dismiss me because of my race.

    I haven’t been called the “N-word,” nor have I been physically accosted. Racism in this part of the city is far more subtle, and if you’re not acutely aware of what to look for, it blows right past you.

    I won’t say I’m used to misguided attempts to marginalize my presence, because I won’t accept being treated like I’m less than anyone else. But when it happens, I’m rarely surprised.

    And I’ll also admit: It’s tiring for my family to have to go out of its way to make white people feel comfortable with our Blackness. We can’t peel off our skin; not that we would if we could. Everyone wants to proclaim, “I don’t see color,” when, in fact, that’s the first thing that they see when they see my sons. It’s hard to miss the only Black kid on the baseball diamond.

    But on the playing field, at least, my boys generally get the benefit of the doubt that Ralph Yarl wasn’t given on that fateful night earlier this month.

    ___

    Longtime Associated Press journalist Kia Breaux is currently Midwest regional sales director for the AP, based in Kansas City.

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  • For transgender kids, a frantic rush for treatment amid bans

    For transgender kids, a frantic rush for treatment amid bans

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    SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — As a third grader in Utah, mandolin-playing math whiz Elle Palmer said aloud what she had only before sensed, telling a friend she planned to transfer schools the following year and hoped her new classmates would see her as a girl.

    Several states northeast, Asher Wilcox-Broekemeier listened to punk rock in his room, longing to join the shirtless boys from the neighborhood playing beneath the South Dakota sunshine. It wasn’t until menstruation started, and the disconnect with his body grew, that he knew he was one of them.

    Both kids’ realizations started their families on a yearslong path of doctors, therapists and other experts in transgender medicine.

    Now teenagers, their journeys have hit a roadblock.

    Republican lawmakers across the country are banning gender-affirming care for minors. Restrictions have gone into effect in eight states this year — including conservative Utah and South Dakota — and are slated to in at least nine more by next year.

    Those who oppose gender-affirming care raise fears about the long-term effects treatments have on teens, argue research is limited and focus particularly on irreversible procedures such as genital surgery or mastectomies.

    Yet those are rare. Doctors typically guide kids toward therapy or voice coaching long before medical intervention. At that point, puberty blockers, anti-androgens that block the effects of testosterone, and hormone treatments are far more common than surgery. They have been available in the United States for more than a decade and are standard treatments backed by major doctors’ organizations including the American Medical Association.

    The new laws have parents scrambling to secure the care their kids need. They worry what will happen if they can’t get the medications they’ve been prescribed, especially as their kids start puberty and their bodies change in ways that can’t be reversed.

    “My body’s basically this ticking time bomb, just sitting there waiting for it to go off,” said Asher Wilcox-Broekemeier, now 13.

    ___

    Elle remembers her first day at the school after she transferred. Before leaving, she came downstairs in rainbow sparkle-embroidered cowboy boots her mother worried would only spur bullies. Taunts from kids at Elle’s prior school drove her into depression so deep she had suicidal thoughts.

    But on that first day, a boy told Elle he loved her boots. Some kids bullied her, but classmates and teachers were far more supportive than at her prior school. Elle discovered new passions in hip hop and drama class, and she settled into a new school and a truer version of herself. She started to see a therapist as her uncertainty about how she fit in the gender spectrum grew more pressing.

    Elle came out as a transgender girl in fifth grade. Now in seventh, she planned to start hormone treatment this summer so potential side effects wouldn’t interfere with her life during the school year, especially her team’s extracurricular math competitions.

    But then Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed a gender-affirming care ban in January. In a compromise, the law let kids keep taking medications if they were already on them. So Elle’s mom rushed to get her treatment months earlier than planned, as did other parents.

    The waitlist at one Utah clinic swelled to six months. Doctors were confronted with difficult decisions about who to get in for appointments.

    Elle’s medication arrived in the mail just before Utah’s law went into effect. A small stick implanted in Elle’s forearm is slow-releasing hormone blockers to prevent the effects of male puberty from taking hold. Eventually she may be prescribed estrogen, and she and her parents will have to navigate the next steps, and whether they’ll find doctors to continue her care.

    At least for now, they have a reprieve.

    “It feels like we can breathe again now,” Cat Palmer said.

    ___

    There’s no relief for Asher Wilcox-Broekemeier’s family — not yet.

    When Asher began menstruating, he felt a terrifying disconnect between how his body was changing on the outside and how he felt inside.

    Elizabeth began researching online to understand what was going on with her son, while Asher’s father, Brian, looked to doctors for expertise. With referrals from his longtime pediatrician, Asher met with therapists and doctors who helped explore his history, personality and feelings over his whole life.

    Nearly two years ago, doctors prescribed puberty blockers and birth control to slow breast development, regulate menstruation and lower the pressure of his disconnect with his body.

    He’s 13 now, and finds solace in music to ground him in a world of occasional bullying and constant mistaken pronouns. He practices Blink-182’s “All the Small Things” on guitar, plays trumpet in the school band and is rehearsing various singing roles for the Cinderella school musical. When he’s not thinking about testosterone to lower his voice or eventually getting top surgery, he looks forward to playing in the high school marching band next year.

    Asher still struggles with moments of gender dysphoria. Friendships that were once strong fizzled after Asher came out as transgender. Parents have disinvited him from their houses out of fears he’s a “bad influence.”

    But his parents have noticed his emotions stabilize through his treatment.

    “From a parent’s view, I see him as being able to be himself authentically, which is wonderful for him,” Elizabeth said.

    Now he and his parents worry they’ll have to start over.

    In February, South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed a law banning the medications and procedures that doctors have increasingly prescribed for transgender teens.

    Asher’s current doctors in South Dakota won’t be able to prescribe his medications, so the family is looking for a new doctor in neighboring Minnesota, where the Democratic governor has signed an executive order explicitly protecting gender-affirming care for minors. They’re hoping to find a clinic close enough they can drive to appointments and don’t have to pay for hotel stays.

    The planning has been time-consuming. Logistical questions to their current South Dakota doctors for referrals have gone unanswered. They want to beat whatever onslaught of patients from other states enacting similar bans will bring to providers in Minnesota, but also want to maintain as much normalcy for Asher as they can.

    The sudden twists in Asher’s trajectory makes him question why his health care is of concern to politicians.

    “Even though trans people don’t make up a big percent of the population doesn’t mean that we’re not part of it still,” Asher said.

    ___

    The full consequences of the bans on care for minors aren’t yet clear.

    Dr. Nikki Mihalopoulos, an adolescent medicine doctor in a Salt Lake City specialty clinic with transgender teens, worries the new laws will make families too scared to seek help and doctors too scared of losing their licenses to provide care.

    In the middle are kids like Elle and Asher.

    Multiple studies have shown that transgender youth are more likely to consider or attempt suicide and less at risk for depression and suicidal behaviors when able to access gender-affirming care.

    Both sets of parents are trying to shelter their kids from the stress and anxiety caused by the recent changes in the laws.

    After years of worrying about their kids’ safety and mental health, they still fear what could happen if they can’t find the drugs their kids have been prescribed.

    “My kid being OK is my number one priority. I know what the suicide rate is. I do not want my child to be a statistic,” Cat Palmer said of Elle.

    ___

    This story corrects the identification of the person in one photo to Elle Palmer.

    ___

    Biraben reported from Pierre, South Dakota.

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  • For transgender kids, a frantic rush for treatment amid bans

    For transgender kids, a frantic rush for treatment amid bans

    [ad_1]

    SALT LAKE CITY — As a third grader in Utah, mandolin-playing math whiz Elle Palmer said aloud what she had only before sensed, telling a friend she planned to transfer schools the following year and hoped her new classmates would see her as a girl.

    Several states northeast, Asher Wilcox-Broekemeier listened to punk rock in his room, longing to join the shirtless boys from the neighborhood playing beneath the South Dakota sunshine. It wasn’t until menstruation started, and the disconnect with his body grew, that he knew he was one of them.

    Both kids’ realizations started their families on a yearslong path of doctors, therapists and other experts in transgender medicine.

    Now teenagers, their journeys have hit a roadblock.

    Republican lawmakers across the country are banning gender-affirming care for minors. Restrictions have gone into effect in eight states this year — including conservative Utah and South Dakota — and are slated to in at least nine more by next year.

    Those who oppose gender-affirming care raise fears about the long-term effects treatments have on teens, argue research is limited and focus particularly on irreversible procedures such as genital surgery or mastectomies.

    Yet those are rare. Doctors typically guide kids toward therapy or voice coaching long before medical intervention. At that point, puberty blockers, anti-androgens that block the effects of testosterone, and hormone treatments are far more common than surgery. They have been available in the United States for more than a decade and are standard treatments backed by major doctors’ organizations including the American Medical Association.

    The new laws have parents scrambling to secure the care their kids need. They worry what will happen if they can’t get the medications they’ve been prescribed, especially as their kids start puberty and their bodies change in ways that can’t be reversed.

    “My body’s basically this ticking time bomb, just sitting there waiting for it to go off,” said Asher Wilcox-Broekemeier, now 13. ___

    Elle remembers her first day at the school after she transferred. Before leaving, she came downstairs in rainbow sparkle-embroidered cowboy boots her mother worried would only spur bullies. Taunts from kids at Elle’s prior school drove her into depression so deep she had suicidal thoughts.

    But on that first day, a boy told Elle he loved her boots. Some kids bullied her, but classmates and teachers were far more supportive than at her prior school. Elle discovered new passions in hip hop and drama class, and she settled into a new school and a truer version of herself. She started to see a therapist as her uncertainty about how she fit in the gender spectrum grew more pressing.

    Elle came out as a transgender girl in fifth grade. Now in seventh, she planned to start hormone treatment this summer so potential side effects wouldn’t interfere with her life during the school year, especially her team’s extracurricular math competitions.

    But then Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed a gender-affirming care ban in January. In a compromise, the law let kids keep taking medications if they were already on them. So Elle’s mom rushed to get her treatment months earlier than planned, as did other parents.

    The waitlist at one Utah clinic swelled to six months. Doctors were confronted with difficult decisions about who to get in for appointments.

    Elle’s medication arrived in the mail just before Utah’s law went into effect. A small stick implanted in Elle’s forearm is slow-releasing hormone blockers to prevent the effects of male puberty from taking hold. Eventually she may be prescribed estrogen, and she and her parents will have to navigate the next steps, and whether they’ll find doctors to continue her care.

    At least for now, they have a reprieve.

    “It feels like we can breathe again now,” Cat Palmer said. ___

    There’s no relief for Asher Wilcox-Broekemeier’s family — not yet.

    When Asher began menstruating, he felt a terrifying disconnect between how his body was changing on the outside and how he felt inside.

    Elizabeth began researching online to understand what was going on with her son, while Asher’s father, Brian, looked to doctors for expertise. With referrals from his longtime pediatrician, Asher met with therapists and doctors who helped explore his history, personality and feelings over his whole life.

    Nearly two years ago, doctors prescribed puberty blockers and birth control to slow breast development, regulate menstruation and lower the pressure of his disconnect with his body.

    He’s 13 now, and finds solace in music to ground him in a world of occasional bullying and constant mistaken pronouns. He practices Blink-182’s “All the Small Things” on guitar, plays trumpet in the school band and is rehearsing various singing roles for the Cinderella school musical. When he’s not thinking about testosterone to lower his voice or eventually getting top surgery, he looks forward to playing in the high school marching band next year.

    Asher still struggles with moments of gender dysphoria. Friendships that were once strong fizzled after Asher came out as transgender. Parents have disinvited him from their houses out of fears he’s a “bad influence.”

    But his parents have noticed his emotions stabilize through his treatment.

    “From a parent’s view, I see him as being able to be himself authentically, which is wonderful for him,” Elizabeth said.

    Now he and his parents worry they’ll have to start over.

    In February, South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed a law banning the medications and procedures that doctors have increasingly prescribed for transgender teens.

    Asher’s current doctors in South Dakota won’t be able to prescribe his medications, so the family is looking for a new doctor in neighboring Minnesota, where the Democratic governor has signed an executive order explicitly protecting gender-affirming care for minors. They’re hoping to find a clinic close enough they can drive to appointments and don’t have to pay for hotel stays.

    The planning has been time-consuming. Logistical questions to their current South Dakota doctors for referrals have gone unanswered. They want to beat whatever onslaught of patients from other states enacting similar bans will bring to providers in Minnesota, but also want to maintain as much normalcy for Asher as they can.

    The sudden twists in Asher’s trajectory makes him question why his health care is of concern to politicians.

    “Even though trans people don’t make up a big percent of the population doesn’t mean that we’re not part of it still,” Asher said. ___

    The full consequences of the bans on care for minors aren’t yet clear.

    Dr. Nikki Mihalopoulos, an adolescent medicine doctor in a Salt Lake City specialty clinic with transgender teens, worries the new laws will make families too scared to seek help and doctors too scared of losing their licenses to provide care.

    In the middle are kids like Elle and Asher.

    Multiple studies have shown that transgender youth are more likely to consider or attempt suicide and less at risk for depression and suicidal behaviors when able to access gender-affirming care.

    Both sets of parents are trying to shelter their kids from the stress and anxiety caused by the recent changes in the laws.

    After years of worrying about their kids’ safety and mental health, they still fear what could happen if they can’t find the drugs their kids have been prescribed.

    “My kid being OK is my number one priority. I know what the suicide rate is. I do not want my child to be a statistic,” Cat Palmer said of Elle.

    ___

    Biraben reported from Pierre, South Dakota.

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  • Alabama education director ousted over ‘woke’ training book

    Alabama education director ousted over ‘woke’ training book

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    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) —

    Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday announced she replaced her director of early childhood education over the use of a teacher training book, written by a nationally recognized education group, that the Republican governor denounced as teaching “woke concepts” because of language about inclusion and structural racism.

    Barbara Cooper was forced out as as head of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education after Ivey expressed concern over the distribution of the book to state-run pre-kindergartens. Ivey spokesperson Gina Maiola identified the book as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Developmentally Appropriate Practice Book, 4th edition. Maiola said she understands that the books have been removed from the state classrooms.

    “The education of Alabama’s children is my top priority as governor, and there is absolutely no room to distract or take away from this mission. Let me be crystal clear: Woke concepts that have zero to do with a proper education and that are divisive at the core have no place in Alabama classrooms at any age level, let alone with our youngest learners,” Ivey said in a statement.

    Ivey’s statement comes as conservative politicians have made a rallying cry out of decrying so-called “woke” teachings, with schools sometimes emerging as a flashpoint over diversity training and parents’ rights.

    The governor’s office said Ivey first asked Cooper to “send a memo to disavow this book and to immediately discontinue its use.” Ivey’s office did not say how Cooper responded but that the governor made the decision to replace Cooper and accepted her resignation. Cooper could not immediately be reached for comment.

    The book is a guide for early childhood educators. It is not a curriculum taught to children.

    The governor’s office, in a press release, cited two examples from the book — one discussing white privilege and that “the United States is built on systemic and structural racism” and another that Ivey’s office claimed teaches LGBTQ+ inclusion to 4-year-olds. Those sections, according to a copy of the 881-page book obtained by The Associated Press, discuss combating bias and making sure that all children feel welcome.

    “Early childhood programs also serve and welcome families that represent many compositions. Children from all families (e.g., single parent, grandparent-led, foster, LGBTQIA+) need to hear and see messages that promote equality, dignity, and worth,” the book states.

    The section on structural racism states that “systemic and structural racism … has permeated every institution and system through policies and practices that position people of color in oppressive, repressive, and menial positions. The early education system is not immune to these forces.” It says preschool is one place where children “begin to see how they are represented in society” and that the classroom should be a place of “affirmation and healing.”

    NAEYC is a national accrediting board that works to provide high-quality education materials and resources for young children. In an emailed response to The Associated Press, the group did not address Ivey’s statements but said the book is a research-based resource for educators.

    “For nearly four decades, and in partnership with hundreds of thousands of families and educators, Developmentally Appropriate Practice has served as the foundation for high-quality early childhood education across all states and communities. While not a curriculum, it is a responsive, educator-developed, educator-informed, and research-based resource that has been honed over multiple generations to support teachers in helping all children thrive and reach their full potential,” the statement read.

    Cooper is a member of the NAEYC board. In a previously published statement on the organization’s website about the latest edition of the book, Cooper said that book teaches, “applicable skills for teaching through developmentally appropriate practices that build brains during the critical first five years of life.”

    Alabama’s First Class voluntary pre-kindergarten programs operates more than 1,400 classrooms across the state. The program has won high ratings from the National Institute for Early Education Research.

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  • Growing up in a green environment doesn’t prevent eczema.

    Growing up in a green environment doesn’t prevent eczema.

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    According to a new Finnish study, greenness around the home in early childhood does not seem to protect children from atopic eczema. Instead, the proximity of coniferous, mixed forests and agricultural areas was associated with elevated risk of eczema. The effect was seen especially in children who were born in the spring.

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    University of Turku (Turun yliopisto)

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  • ASU expert says executive actions to support caregivers a step in the right direction

    ASU expert says executive actions to support caregivers a step in the right direction

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    Newswise — A set of executive actions by the Biden-Harris administration focusing on improving various facets of care was announced on April 18.

    The directives include reducing childcare and long-term care costs, improving access to home-based care for veterans, addressing care workers’ rights and expanding support for family caregivers, among others.

    David W. Coon, associate dean for research initiatives support and engagement at Arizona State University’s Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, says the newly announced initiatives are a step in the right direction for addressing some of the challenges caregivers face.

    Coon’s decades of research focuses on family caregivers and creating interventions that help improve their quality of life.

    Currently, there are an estimated 53 million people in America providing unpaid care for a family member, friend or neighbor. And those who are able to enlist the help of long-term or disability care services are paying more than ever. According to the administration’s fact sheet, “long-term care costs are up 40% in the past decade.”

    In order to lower costs and expand support services for family caregivers, the executive order signed by President Biden directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to consider supporting respite care and make it easier for caregivers to access Medicare beneficiary information.

    Coon, who is also a professor and director of ASU’s Center for Innovation in Healthy and Resilient Aging, shares his thoughts on the family caregiver elements of the executive order and the important role researchers can play in complementing federal initiatives in their local communities. 

    Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

    Question: What was your reaction to seeing these executive actions announced by the Biden-Harris Administration? 

    Answer: It’s great to see since there have been countless reports over the years that show the heavy burden placed on family caregivers, the fact that we often don’t have the direct care workforce that we need to help older adults in their homes and in long-term care settings, and (that) we lack the level of support that’s needed for essential home and community-based services.

    Q: Put the need for expanded and additional care services in perspective for us.

    A: Around 2030, there will be more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 18 in the U.S., which is a historical first. Our society is living longer and with more chronic conditions, including memory loss and the development of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. We must figure out how to make long-term care more accessible and affordable. 

    This is why we not only need the federal support outlined in the executive actions of the Biden-Harris administration but also local complementary efforts like ours in the Center for Innovation in Healthy and Resilient Aging that are designed to help improve care and services.

    Q: Speaking of the center, talk about some of the ongoing work you all do to support caregivers.

    A: At the Center for Innovation in Healthy and Resilient Aging, we develop evidence-based programs that increase the quality of life for older adults and their family caregivers that are working so hard to maintain, if not increase, the quality of life for the older adults that they’re caring for. … We need to support these families and those in the direct care workforce to help them better manage the challenges and stress associated with their caregiving roles and responsibilities. 

    This is an iterative ongoing process. … It’s critically important that we engage the communities we’re serving to see what resonates. Our goal is to help figure out how we can take the interventions, services and programs that work, and adapt them to meet the needs of a variety of different populations and the situations and settings in which they can provide care. 

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    Arizona State University (ASU)

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  • Children’s cat-killing contest axed following backlash in New Zealand | CNN

    Children’s cat-killing contest axed following backlash in New Zealand | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A contest planned for children in New Zealand to hunt and kill feral cats as part of a drive to protect native species has been axed following backlash from the public and animal rights groups.

    The event would have been part of a fundraiser organized by the North Canterbury Hunting Competition for the Rotherham School, located in the Canterbury region of South Island.

    Organizers on Saturday had announced a new junior category for children under 14 in the annual competition – to hunt feral cats for a top prize of 250 New Zealand dollars ($150).

    The announcement drew public anger leading organizers to withdraw the event on Monday.

    In a statement issued Wednesday, organizers said “vile and inappropriate emails and messages had been sent to the school and others involved.”

    “We are incredibly disappointed in this reaction and would like to clarify that this competition is an independent community run event,” the statement read.

    While cats are a popular and beloved pet among many New Zealanders, feral cats have been a long-standing issue between animal lovers and authorities because of the impact they can have other wild animals.

    In neighboring Australia, authorities say feral cats threaten the survival of more than 100 native species. Feral cats are blamed for killing millions of birds, reptiles, frogs and mammals, every day, prompting authorities to arrange regular culls.

    Organizers of the contest in Canterbury maintained that the junior hunting tournament to kill feral cats, using a firearm or other means, was about “protecting native birds and other vulnerable species.”

    “Our sponsors and school safety are our main priority, so the decision has been made to withdraw this category for this year to avoid further backlash at this time,” it said.

    “To clarify, for all hunting categories, our hunters are required to abide by firearms act 1983 and future amendments as well as the animal welfare act 1999.”

    Addressing concerns from the public, organizers had earlier announced rules to discourage young participants from targeting pets.

    Any child who brought in a microchipped cat would have been disqualified, organizers said.

    The group also noted that scheduled hunts for other categories like local pigs and deer would still proceed.

    The New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was “both pleased and relieved” that the cat-killing contest for children had been removed. “Children, as well as adults, will not be able to tell the difference between a feral, stray or a frightened domesticated cat,” the SPCA said.

    “There is a good chance someone’s pet may be killed during this event. In addition, children often use air rifles in these sorts of event which increase the likelihood of pain and distress and can cause a prolonged death,” it added.

    Animals rights group PETA also welcomed the decision to cancel the event.

    In a statement,Jason Baker, the group’s Asia Vice President said,”Encouraging kids to hunt down and kill animals is a sure-fire way to raise adults who solve problems with violence … We need to foster empathy and compassion in kids, not lead them to believe animals are ‘less than’ humans while rewarding them for brutality.”

    The event attracted significant overseas attention, including from British comedian Ricky Gervais, a known animal lover with more than 15 million followers on Twitter.

    He slammed the proposed cat hunt in a sarcastic tweet, saying: “Right. We need some new PR ideas to make the world love New Zealand. Maybe something involving kids & kittens. Yes, Hargreaves?”

    New Zealand is one of the world’s last remote island nations and has no native land mammals besides bats.

    There have been official campaigns against cats in previous years – including one that encouraged cat lovers to avoid replacing their pets when they die.

    “Cats are the only true sadists of the animal world, serial killers who torture without mercy,” said then-Prime Minister John Key, who himself had a cat named Moonbeam.

    “Historically, we know that feral cats were responsible for the extinction of six bird species and are leading agents of decline in populations of birds, bats, frogs and lizards,” Helen Blackie, a biosecurity consultant at Boffa Miskell told CNN affiliate RNZ.

    Blackie, who has studied feral cats for two decades, said numbers had exploded in the last decade, and in some areas where pests were tracked by camera, feral cats outnumbered other species like possums.

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  • Semi-automatic rifle ban passes Washington state Legislature

    Semi-automatic rifle ban passes Washington state Legislature

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    BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A ban on dozens of semi-automatic rifles cleared the Washington state Legislature on Wednesday and the governor is expected to sign it into law.

    The high-powered firearms — once banned nationwide — are now the weapon of choice among young men responsible for most of the country’s devastating mass shootings.

    The ban comes after multiple failed attempts in the state’s Legislature, and amid the most mass shootings during the first 100 days of a calendar year since 2009.

    The Washington law would block the sale, distribution, manufacture and importation of more than 50 gun models, including AR-15s, AK-47s and similar style rifles. These guns fire one bullet per trigger pull and automatically reload for a subsequent shot. Some exemptions are included for sales to law enforcement agencies and the military in Washington. The measure does not bar the possession of the weapons by people who already have them.

    The law would go into effect immediately once it’s signed by Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, who has long advocated for such a ban. When the bill passed the state House in March, Inslee said he’s believed it since 1994 when, as a member of the U.S. Congress, he voted to make the ban a federal law.

    After the bill passed, Inslee said the state of Washington “will not accept gun violence as normal.”

    Inslee said lives will be saved because of the semi-automatic rifle ban and two other measures approved by the Legislature this session: one that introduced a 10-day waiting period for gun purchases and another to hold gunmakers liable for negligent sales.

    Republican state lawmakers opposed the ban, with some contending school shootings should be addressed by remodeling buildings to make them less appealing as targets and others saying it infringes on people’s rights to defend themselves.

    “HB 1240 clearly violates our state and federal constitutions, which is why it will end up in court immediately,” Sen. Lynda Wilson of Vancouver said.

    The U.S. Congress reinstating a ban on semi-automatic rifles appears far off. But President Joe Biden and other Democrats have become increasingly emboldened in pushing for stronger gun controls — and doing so with no clear electoral consequences.

    Nine states including California, New York and Massachusetts, along with the District of Columbia, have already passed similar bans, and the laws have been upheld as constitutional by the courts, according to Washington’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

    In Colorado, lawmakers debated on Wednesday about similar gun measures, but a sweeping ban on semi-automatic firearms faces stiffer odds.

    Lawmakers in the Texas Capitol set aside a slate of proposed new gun restrictions without a vote after hours of emotional appeals from Uvalde families whose children were killed last year. The hearing didn’t end until the early morning hours Wednesday.

    During debate on the Washington state bill, Democrats spoke of frequent mass shootings that have killed people in churches, nightclubs, grocery stores and schools.

    Sen. Liz Lovelett of Anacortes said that kids’ concerns about school shootings need to be addressed.

    “They are marching in the streets. They are asking for us to take action,” Lovelett said. “We have to be able to give our kids reasons to feel hopeful.”

    Another gun-control bill that passed in Washington this session would allow people whose family members die from gun violence to sue if a manufacturer or seller “is irresponsible in how they handle, store or sell those weapons.” Under the state’s consumer-protection act, the attorney general could file a lawsuit against manufacturers or sellers for negligently allowing their guns to be sold to minors, or to people buying guns legally in order to sell them to someone who can’t lawfully have them.

    A second bill would require gun buyers to show they’ve taken safety training. It would also impose a 10-day waiting period for all gun purchases — something that’s already mandatory in Washington when buying a semi-automatic rifle.

    Some gun-control legislation in other states has been struck down since last year’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which set new standards for reviewing the nation’s gun laws. The ruling says the government must justify gun control laws by showing they are “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

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  • Major leagues, broadcasters pledge responsible betting ads

    Major leagues, broadcasters pledge responsible betting ads

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    ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Most of the nation’s major professional sports leagues, plus the media companies Fox and NBCUniversal are creating an alliance to ensure that sports betting advertising is done responsibly and does not target minors.

    The Coalition for Responsible Sports Betting Advertising was created Wednesday, consisting of the ; Major League Baseball; the men’s and women’s leagues of the National Basketball Association; the National Hockey League; NASCAR, Major League Soccer, Fox and NBCUniversal.

    They described the group as a voluntary alliance to control how sports betting advertising, which is ever-present on the airwaves, in print and online, is presented to consumers.

    It includes a recommendation that “excessive” advertising be avoided.

    Formation of the group follows a move last month by the commercial casino industry through its national trade association, the American Gaming Association, to adopt a new responsible sports betting marketing code.

    Both efforts recognize the proliferation of sports betting advertising in the five years since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for any state to offer legal sports wagering.

    They also have a clear, if unstated goal: to regulate their own advertising before the government might step in and do it for them. One New York congressman has introduced legislation that would ban all online and digital sports betting advertising, and others have called for government-imposed regulation of sports betting ads.

    “As the legalization of sports betting spreads nationwide, we feel it is critical to establish guardrails around how sports betting should be advertised to consumers across the United States,” the group said in a joint statement. “Each member of the coalition feels a responsibility to ensure sports betting advertising is not only targeted to an appropriate audience, but also that the message is thoughtfully crafted and carefully delivered.”

    David Schwartz, a gambling historian at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, said the prosects for government control of sports betting ads are uncertain.

    “I can see how it would be in the leagues’ and operators’ best interests to avoid formal federal oversight,” he said. “Advertising is an area that touches not just customers, but the public at large. As such, it may have more visibility than even the actual business of taking bets. It is understandable that those involved want to get out in front of this.”

    The group has several core principles, including that sports betting should be marketed only to adults of legal betting age; that the ads should not promote irresponsible or excessive gambling; they should be in good taste and not be misleading; and that publishers of sports betting advertising should have strong internal reviews and should take seriously complaints from consumers about such advertising.

    Kenny Gersh, executive vice president of media and business development for Major League Baseball, called the group “another important step for our industry as legal sports betting continues to grow.”

    Sports betting is currently legal in 33 U.S. states, plus Washington D.C.

    “While providing new fan engagement opportunities to enjoy our sport in more ways, we have to continue to be mindful and deliberate with how these sports betting options are presented and to whom they’re directed,” Gersh said. “Layering this coalition’s work in the advertising arena on top of our efforts to promote responsible gambling and address problem gambling challenges will lead to more thoughtful planning and implementation across the board.”

    David Highhill, general manager of sports betting for the NFL, said the leagues recognize advertising as an important component of responsible conduct.

    “Legalized sports betting offers fans another way to engage with their favorite sports, but just as we must support problem gambling prevention and resourcing, we must also remain mindful of how sports betting is presented and advertised to consumers, and this coalition should greatly aid in that cause,” he said.

    Mike Mulvihill, an executive vice president with Fox Sports, said, “We are committed to providing fans a responsible and ethical engagement with sports betting, keeping the integrity of the games and our broadcasts at the forefront at all times.”

    Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, praised the group for “taking steps to lead the industry in proactive change to protect consumers.”

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    Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at https://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

    ___

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  • Poverty Linked to Higher Relapse Risk of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

    Poverty Linked to Higher Relapse Risk of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

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    Newswise — (WASHINGTON, DC, April 18, 2023) – Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who live in extreme poverty and were undergoing maintenance therapy faced an almost two-fold greater risk of relapse compared with kids who weren’t as poor, according to a study published in today’s issue of Blood. Moreover, a higher proportion of these children had difficulty adhering to treatment, though researchers said this only partially explains the link between poverty and the risk of relapse.

    “ALL is a curable disease, so while we observed relatively few relapses in total, children living in extreme poverty – those whose families were really stretched thin and not able to make ends meet – had a significantly higher risk of relapse, even after controlling for all other biologic and prognostic factors,” said Aman Wadhwa, MD, MSPH, pediatric oncologist and health sciences researcher in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/ Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the study’s lead author.

    “These children were also much less likely to be able to maintain a critical level of adherence needed for sustained remission during maintenance therapy,” he said. “These findings underscore an urgent need to identify patients with this level of financial hardship and connect them to resources, even if finite, to help.”

    For example, if transportation is an issue, providing gas cards or ride shares can make a difference. Providing plain language education about the importance of staying on maintenance therapy may also help.

    ALL, which affects the blood and bone marrow, is the most common childhood cancer. In fact, more than half of ALL cases (about 60%) occur in children, and five-year survival rates now approach 90% thanks to advances in treatment, though this isn’t true for or equitable across all children, according to Dr. Wadhwa.

    He added that this is the first study to look at the effect of individual level poverty using annual household income and its effect on relapse rates among children with ALL. Previous research has relied on community measures of poverty – for example, using zip codes within which there can be wide variations in socioeconomic status – or health insurance status.

    This study, a secondary analysis of the Children’s Oncology Group Study that examined adherence to oral 6-mercaptopurine during maintenance therapy for ALL, included 592 patients. Patients were enrolled between 2006 and 2012 and followed for a median of 7.9 years. Two-thirds of patients were male. The median age at diagnosis and enrollment was 5 and 6 years of age, respectively. The most commonly reported race/ethnicity was Hispanic (35%), followed by non-Hispanic white (32.4%), Black (18.2%), and Asian (14.4%). Overall, 34.8% of parents reported their education as high school or lower. Researchers collected self-reported individual income information at the start of the study and used data from the U.S. Census Bureau to group patients as living above or below federal poverty threshold. Among those living in poverty, patients were characterized as living in extreme poverty if the federal poverty threshold was over 120% of the yearly household income.  

    More than 12% of children that participated in the study were living in extreme poverty. Children living in extreme poverty were more likely to report being Hispanic or Black and having more household members (six vs four people on average). There were no differences in disease or treatment intensity by poverty status. Rates of relapse at three years after enrollment were nearly double among children living in extreme poverty compared to those above the poverty threshold, 14.3% vs 7.6%. Compared to children not living in extreme poverty, those living in extreme poverty were significantly more likely to be nonadherent to prescribed treatment (57.1% vs 40.9%).

    Extreme poverty, like other social determinants of health, was on par with some clinical measures used to risk stratify patients, Dr. Wadhwa explained.

    “When I see someone with a new diagnosis of ALL, we look at biological factors that a patient walks in with – to determine if they have standard or high-risk disease. Patients at high-risk are 2.5 times more likely to relapse, that’s similar to the risk of relapse that we are finding with extreme poverty and other social determinants of health,” he said.

    The findings underscore the need for interventions that assess and develop tailored solutions to make sure patients have equitable access to care.

    “If we are going to risk stratify patients and give different treatments based on certain biological factors, then why not design interventions and treat these social factors that are also increasing their risk of relapse,” Dr. Wadhwa said. “There are only so many gains we may be able to make by continuing to intensify therapy. We can come up with the best treatment in the world, but if the patient doesn’t get it, then of what use was it?”

    To date, poverty and other barriers to optimal care aren’t routinely assessed or considered as part of treatment planning, but this may be necessary in order to improve outcomes among certain populations.

    This study is limited in its relatively small sample size and was conducted before measurable residual disease was a routine part of clinical care. Still, the findings lay the foundation for future research to examine other social determinants of health and their potential role in childhood cancers, as well as inform interventions to address these barriers.

    # # #

    Blood (www.bloodjournal.org), the most cited peer-reviewed publication in the field of hematology, is available weekly in print and online. Blood is a journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) (www.hematology.org).

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  • COVID-19 Children Safely Treated at Home, Easing Hospital Burden

    COVID-19 Children Safely Treated at Home, Easing Hospital Burden

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    Newswise —

    Children with COVID-19 can be treated safely at home, helping to take the burden off the hospital system, according to a new study.

    The study, headed by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and released in Archives of Disease in Childhood, discovered that children who tested positive for COVID-19 and had moderate symptoms or pre-existing high-risk conditions could be treated efficiently through a Hospital-in-the-Home (HITH) plan. Furthermore, a significant number of unwell children without COVID-19 were given treatment at their residences during the outbreak.

    Dr. Laila Ibrahim from Murdoch Children’s stated that the initiative alleviated the burden on pediatric emergency departments and aided in the reduction of COVID-19 spread within hospitals in the initial two years of the outbreak.

    “Managing children at home is preferable, and due to the contagious nature of SARS-CoV-2, it became even more crucial to attempt to avoid hospitalization for children,” she remarked.

    “These findings provide reassurance that home-based care has been both safe and effective, regardless of the type of COVID strain, and this eases the load on inpatient care,” she added.

    The research was conducted on 3719 children between the ages of 0 and 18 years who were referred to HITH care from The Royal Children’s Hospital or the Victorian Department of Health between March 2020 and March 2022. Out of these, 421 children were diagnosed with COVID-19, and 3,298 children did not have COVID-19, but both groups received treatment at home, with many of them avoiding hospitalization altogether.

    Among the children who tested positive for COVID-19, 63% were considered high risk, and 33% had moderate symptoms. Out of these, only 10% of children were readmitted to the hospital, with just 5% requiring medical intervention.

    The research recorded a 21 per cent increase in patients admitted to the HITH program and a 132 per cent jump in telehealth appointments.

    Associate Professor Penelope Bryant from Murdoch Children’s mentioned that even before the COVID-19 outbreak, the demand for treating children in settings outside of hospitals as an alternative to hospitalization was on the rise.

    “The advantages of receiving treatment in a home-based care program include better quality of life for the child, greater satisfaction for parents, and prevention of hospital-acquired infections. We support the idea that whenever feasible, children should receive care at home rather than in a hospital, particularly given the significant impact of the pandemic on children’s mental health,” she emphasized.

    The study also had contributions from researchers at The Royal Children’s Hospital and the University of Melbourne.

    Publication: Penelope A. Bryant, Joanna Lawrence, Suzanne L. Boyce, Catherine M. Simpson, Gemma Sinclair, Candie Chong, Phillipa Lewis, Stephanie Lee, Rebecca Hughes, Samuel Dalton, Cara Lacey, Lauren C. Nisbet, Tessa E. Smith, Sarah Chapman, Swathi Lakshminarayanan, Kahlia Hurd, Katie Smith, Brenda Savill and Laila F. Ibrahim. ‘Hospital bed-replacement for acute care of children at home during the COVID-19 pandemic through a Hospital-in-the-Home program,’ Archives of Disease in Childhood. DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2022-325004

    *The content of this communication is the sole responsibility of the Murdoch Children’s and does not reflect the views of the NHMRC.

    Available for interview:

    Associate Professor Penelope Bryant, Murdoch Children’s Group Leader, Infection and Immunity

    Dr Laila Ibrahim, Murdoch Children’s Clinician Scientist Fellow, Infection and Immunity

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  • Two Russians claiming to be former Wagner commanders admit killing children and civilians in Ukraine | CNN

    Two Russians claiming to be former Wagner commanders admit killing children and civilians in Ukraine | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Two Russian men who claim to be former Wagner Group commanders have told a human rights activist that they killed children and civilians during their time in Ukraine.

    The claims were made in video interviews with Gulagu.net, a human rights organization targeting corruption and torture in Russia.

    In the video interviews posted online, former Russian convicts Azamat Uldarov and Alexey Savichev – who were both pardoned by Russian presidential decrees last year, according to Gulagu.net – described their actions in Ukraine, during Russia’s invasion.

    CNN cannot independently verify their claims or identities in the videos but has obtained Russian penal documents showing they were released on presidential pardon in September and August of 2022.

    Uldarov, who appears to have been drinking, details how he shot and killed a five- or six-year-old girl.

    “(It was) a management decision. I wasn’t allowed to let anyone out alive, because my command was to kill anything in my way,” he said.

    According to Gulagu.net, the testimonies were given to founder and Russian dissident Vladimir Osechkin over the span of a week. It said Uldarov and Savichev were in Russia when they spoke.

    “I want Russia and other nations to know the truth. I don’t want war and bloodshed. You see I’m holding a cigarette in this hand. I followed orders with this hand and killed children,” Uldarov said, describing his motivation for the interview.

    The Wagner Group is a Russian private mercenary organization fighting in Ukraine, headed by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin.

    It has recruited tens of thousands of fighters from Russian jails, offering freedom and cash after a six-month tour. It’s estimated by Western intelligence officials and prison advocacy groups that between 40,000 and 50,000 men were recruited.

    Uldarov said in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Soledar and Bakhmut – which have seen some of the fiercest fighting – Wagner mercenaries “were given the command to annihilate everyone.”

    “There is a superior over all the commanders – it’s Prigozhin, who told us not to let anyone get out of there and annihilate everyone,” he added. CNN has previously reported on former Wagner fighters making similar claims.

    Uldarov has since appeared to recant his account in a video call with Prigozhin-linked Russian news agency RIA-FAN.

    At one point in the interview, Savichev described how they “got the order to execute any men who were 15 years or older.”

    He also talked about getting orders to ‘sweep’ a house. “It doesn’t matter whether there is a civilian there or not. The house needs to be swept. I didn’t give a f**k who was inside,” he said.

    “Whether a hut or a house, the point was to make sure that there wasn’t a single living person left inside,” he said. “You can condemn me for this. I will not object. It’s your right. But I wanted to live, too.”

    Savichev said Wagner fighters who did not follow orders were killed.

    Wagner Group chief Prigozhin confirmed on his Telegram channel that he had watched parts of the video, and threatened retribution against the two former Wagner fighters. “As for what (Osechkin) filmed, I looked at the pieces of video I managed to see,” he said. “I can say the following: if at least one of these accusations against me is confirmed, I am ready to be held accountable according to any laws.”

    But Prigozhin said that “if none is confirmed, I will send a list of 30-40 people who are spitting at me like Osechkin (there is a whole list of them, including the scum that fled Russia) that the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine is obligated to hand over to me for a ‘fair trial,’ so to speak.”

    “They will not be “civilians” for us, and especially not children, whom we have never touched and do not touch. This is a flagrant lie. These people (spreading the lies) are our enemies, and we will deal with them in a special way.”

    Earlier, Prigozhin said on Telegram: “Regarding the execution of children, of course, no one ever shoots civilians or children, absolutely no one needs this. We came there to save them from the regime they were under.”

    Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said in a tweet Monday that the group must be held accountable.

    “Russian terrorists confessed to numerous murders of Ukrainian children in Bakhmut and Soledar. Confession is not enough. There must be a punishment. Tough and fair. And it will definitely be. How many more crimes like these have been committed?” he said.

    In February, CNN spoke to two former Wagner fighters who described how recruited Wagner convicts are pushed to the front lines in a human wave, reminiscent of World War I charges. Deserters, or those who refuse orders are killed and there was no evacuation of the wounded, they said.

    In January, US Treasury Department designated Wagner Group as a significant transnational criminal organization, and imposed a slew of fresh sanctions on a transnational network that supports it.

    The US Department of State concurrently announced a number of sanctions meant to “target a range of Wagner’s key infrastructure – including an aviation firm used by Wagner, a Wagner propaganda organization, and Wagner front companies,” according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

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  • Tiny troubles: Toddler infiltrates White House grounds | CNN Politics

    Tiny troubles: Toddler infiltrates White House grounds | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    A tiny intruder infiltrated White House grounds Tuesday, prompting a swift response from the US Secret Service.

    Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service, said a toddler crawled through the fence on the north side of the White House, setting off security alerts.

    “The Secret Service Uniformed Division today encountered a curious young visitor along the White House north fence line who briefly entered White House ground,” Gugliemli said. “The White House security systems instantly triggered Secret Service officers and the toddler and parents were quickly reunited.”

    It’s not the first time a toddler has crawled through the White House fence. There was a similar incident in 2014 when a toddler squeezed through the White House fence just before then-President Barack Obama was about to address the nation on Iraq. The breach prompted a temporary lockdown and delayed the briefing.

    “We were going to wait until he learned to talk to question him, but in lieu of that, he got a timeout and was sent on way with parents,” Edwin Donovan, then a spokesman for the United States Secret Service, said.

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  • FDA clears the way for additional bivalent boosters for certain vulnerable individuals | CNN

    FDA clears the way for additional bivalent boosters for certain vulnerable individuals | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended the terms of its emergency use authorizations for the Pfizer and Moderna bivalent vaccines on Tuesday, allowing people ages 65 and older and certain people with weakened immunity to get additional doses before this fall’s vaccination campaigns.

    The bivalent vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna carry instructions for fighting both the original strain of the Covid-19 virus as well as Omicron and its spinoffs.

    They have been available in the United States since September under emergency use authorizations, or EUAs, which tightly restrict how the vaccines may be given.

    On Tuesday, the FDA changed the terms of the authorizations for those vaccines so that certain individuals could get an additional dose ahead of most others.

    Namely, adults ages 65 and older who have received a single dose of a bivalent vaccine may receive an additional dose at least four months following their first dose.

    Most individuals with certain degrees of immunocompromise who have received a first dose of a bivalent vaccine can get a second at least 2 months later. Additional doses may be administered at the discretion of their healthcare provider.

    Dr. Peter Hotez, who co-directs the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital, has been calling on the FDA to increase access to the bivalent boosters for those who want them. He says for the most part, today’s guidance from the agency makes sense.

    “My only question is why the 65 year age cutoff? What was that based on? Ordinarily I would have preferred that it be brought down to 60 or even 50,” Hotez said in an email to CNN.

    “For those Americans who understand its importance, we should make second bivalent boosters available. Finally, we’ll soon need guidance about another annual fall booster. Presumably that information comes sometime this summer,” he added.

    For immunocompromised children ages 6 months through 4 years, eligibility for additional bivalent doses will depend on the vaccine previously received, the FDA said in a news release.

    Another big change is that most unvaccinated individuals may now receive a single dose of a bivalent vaccine, rather than mutiple doses of the original single-strain vaccines, the agency said. The FDA simplified its recommendation for unvaccinated individuals after recognizing that most Americans now have some immunity against Covid-19, even if its just through past infections.

    “Evidence is now available that most of the U.S. population 5 years of age and older has antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, either from vaccination or infection that can serve as a foundation for the protection provided by the bivalent vaccines. COVID-19 continues to be a very real risk for many people, and we encourage individuals to consider staying current with vaccination, including with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. The available data continue to demonstrate that vaccines prevent the most serious outcomes of COVID-19, which are severe illness, hospitalization, and death,” said Dr. Peter Marks, head of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a news release.

    Children ages 6 months through 5 years who have not yet been vaccinated may now receive a two-dose series of the Moderna bivalent vaccine as their primary series, or a three-dose series of the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent vaccine if they are 6 months through 4 years of age. Children who are age 5 may receive two doses of the Moderna bivalent or a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent vaccine.

    Children ages 6 months through 5 years who got started on their monovalent vaccines, can now get a dose of a bivalent vaccine, but the number of doses they qualify for will depend on the number of doses they’ve already had and what kind of vaccine they got.

    The agency stressed that most people who have gotten one dose of a bivalent vaccine are not currently eligible for a second dose.

    And they encouraged everyone who hasn’t yet gotten their first dose of a bivalent vaccine to do so, and many Americans are still in that bucket.

    Only about 17% of those eligible, less than 1 in 5 Americans, has gotten a recommended dose.

    As time has passed, adults with reduced immune function because of their age or an underlying health problem have been asking doctors whether they need another dose of the bivalent vaccines.

    The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention has reported early data showing that the effectiveness of the bivalent vaccines, even against emergency room visits and hospitalizations, has already started to wane.

    But the agency has not been free to make what’s known as a “permissive use” recommendation about the boosters, which would allow doctors to offer additional doses to vulnerable patients because of the terms of the EUA.

    The updated terms give the CDC and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) greater freedom to recommend additional doses of the bivalent vaccines. The ACIP is holding a meeting on the Covid-19 vaccines Wednesday and is expected to endorse the FDA’s changes.

    For everyone not covered by today’s changes, the FDA says it intends to make decisions about future vaccinations after receiving recommendations on the fall strain composition from its advisory committee in June.

    Both Canada and the United Kingdom have offered another round of bivalent boosters to those at highest risk from Covid-19 this spring.

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  • Nonprofits scramble for help amid dearth of volunteers

    Nonprofits scramble for help amid dearth of volunteers

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    CASA of Lexington has tried just about everything to find volunteers to serve as advocates for abused and neglected children with the Kentucky nonprofit.

    Since 2020, it has hired someone to focus on recruiting volunteers, added in-person and virtual outreach events and options to complete the required 30-hour training, and printed information on fans to hand out in churches, Melynda Milburn Jamison, its executive director, said. She even visited a men’s-only barbecue to make a quick 10-minute pitch.

    The result? In 2022, CASA of Lexington had 62 new volunteers complete training, short of its target of 80. Only two came from the group’s recruitment events, with the rest mostly via word of mouth, Jamison said.

    “We’ve been able to retain keeping the number of children we serve fairly consistent,” she said, “but we should have been increasing because we’ve taken on new counties and we’ve added additional staff.”

    Jamison is not alone in her frustration. Her experience reflects the latest twist in a decadeslong trend of declining volunteer participation. As pandemic-related government aid programs end and inflation rises, nonprofits of all kinds are looking everywhere and trying everything to get volunteers. According to a recent U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps survey, formal volunteer participation dropped 7% between 2019 and 2021 — the largest decrease the survey has recorded since a version of it started in 2002.

    It’s reached the point where the lack of volunteers strains the safety net that nonprofits provide to many of society’s most vulnerable.

    “This is a wake-up call for the social sector, which depends on volunteers, especially as needs for services remain high,” said Michael D. Smith, CEO of AmeriCorps, which has opened its yearly grant program to award $8 million to help nonprofits recruit and retain volunteers.

    The largest drop between 2019 and 2021 in any state was Colorado at 16.1%. Hawaii, Wisconsin and Ohio also saw double-digit drops. Utah, with its highest-in-the-nation participation rate of 40.7% in 2021, the most recent figures that are available, saw an 8.8% drop.

    Researchers, nonprofit professionals and volunteers offer a variety of explanations for the decline, including the COVID-19 pandemic and economic woes.

    Historically, volunteering has been strongest among college graduates, married people and people with children. However, many Millennials and Gen Zers are delaying those traditional markers of adulthood, and even their peers who do reach these milestones are volunteering at lower rates, researchers at the University of Maryland found in a 2019 report.

    “Younger generations today are much more likely to work several jobs, more likely to have to share places to live long past the college roommate stage of life,” said Mark Snyder, director of the Center for the Study of the Individual and Society at the University of Minnesota. “These are barriers to getting involved. They are not all blessed to have the discretionary time to go out and volunteer.”

    The COVID-19 pandemic also played a role, as closures and fears about getting sick led some people to break their volunteering habit. Some did not return, instead putting their attention on their families or, as local United Ways report, their own needs for help with food, rent, utilities and health care.

    At CASA of Lexington, the recruiting problems mean the nonprofit cannot increase the number of children it provides an advocate for as quickly as it would like.

    “Even though we served just shy of 700 kids last year, that was less than 20% of the need here. So there’s a huge need,” Jamison said. “We typically get the worst of the worst cases.”

    Shannon Arimura, who runs volunteer support programs with Nevada Volunteers, said organizations should clearly outline the commitment and skills needed in volunteer postings, build relationships with new volunteers, and offer appreciation for their work.

    “If you’re only going to give so much of your resources towards volunteer management, then it shouldn’t surprise you when you don’t have volunteers that will stay,” she said.

    Karmit Bulman, executive director of Minnesota Alliance for Volunteer Advancement, recommends nonprofits learn from informal volunteering networks, meaning the help neighbors provide each other when needed. Those behaviors remained largely steady through the pandemic, the census survey found. The rate was 50.9% in 2021, compared with 51.4% in 2017.

    “We need to stop thinking that we can do everything we used to do in the same way. So it’s a time for some pretty intensive change management,” she said.

    Her advice is to seek volunteers from within the communities that nonprofits are serving, make the onboarding process as efficient as possible and meet volunteers when and where they are.

    “A lot of our systems were set up as a best practice for the professionals who might typically be a white woman who’s leading the program as opposed to being a best practice for anyone” else, Bulman said.

    Companies, long an important sources of volunteers, are looking to prioritize in-person volunteering again but are asking employees to take on a larger role organizing that and choosing programs, according to a recent survey by Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, which advises companies on sustainability and corporate responsibility issues.

    “This orchestrated corporate vision of a day of service and one-day activities is shifting to companies wanting their employees to chart their own path of volunteerism and being ambassadors in the community,” Kari Niedfeldt-Thomas, a managing director with that organization, said. “And they’re providing the toolkits and the resources to be able to make those decisions.”

    The only state that saw an increase in formal volunteer participation from 2019 to 2021 was Wyoming. Rachel Bailey, executive director of the Food Bank of Wyoming, said many residents wanted to help when the pandemic hit and were willing to participate despite potential health risks.

    The demand for food assistance also spiked, with her organization increasing the number of mobile food pantries from four to 19. Almost all of the new pantries are staffed by volunteers, some of whom are also seeking food assistance.

    Her organization has been able to expand its volunteer force in part because it dedicated a paid staff to managing them and increased its warehouse space, Bailey said.

    “We had some other team members that joined us that really have been looking at our volunteer program and understanding how important it is to the organization and how important it is for us to have the ability to distribute the amount of food that we do across the state,” she said.

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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