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  • A pregnant mom crossed the Rio Grande decades ago to give her unborn child a better life. Now her daughter is becoming a member of Congress | CNN Politics

    A pregnant mom crossed the Rio Grande decades ago to give her unborn child a better life. Now her daughter is becoming a member of Congress | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Delia Ramirez walks toward the microphone determined to make her message heard.

    “It is time – it is past time that we deliver on the promise that we have made to our Dreamers,” she says.

    On a crisp morning in early December, Ramirez is standing steps away from the US Capitol, with its white dome gleaming against the blue sky behind her. This is a rallying cry we’ve heard here time and again – but Ramirez hopes when she says it, the words will carry even more weight. This isn’t merely a talking point from her campaign platform.

    “This,” the Illinois lawmaker says, “is very personal for me.”

    It’s personal because if Congress doesn’t act, Ramirez’s husband could be among hundreds of thousands of people facing possible deportation. And it’s personal because Ramirez herself is about to become a member of Congress.

    She’s called this news conference, flanked by several of her fellow incoming freshmen lawmakers and Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state Democrat, to push for members of Congress to pass several key pieces of legislation while Democrats still control the US House. Among them: the DREAM Act, which would give a possible pathway to citizenship to some 2 million undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

    “I am the wife of a DACA recipient. I am the daughter of Guatemalan working immigrants. I know firsthand the challenges and constant fear our families live every single day,” Ramirez tells reporters. “We have to end this.”

    That’s far easier said than done, as decades of debate over immigration reform on Capitol Hill clearly show.

    But Ramirez says no matter how many obstacles pop up in her path, she’ll keep pushing.

    As constant and controversial as conversations around immigration in Washington have become, many lawmakers weighing in don’t have direct personal connections to the issues they’re debating.

    Ramirez, 39, has lived them her entire life.

    Her mom was pregnant with her when she crossed the Rio Grande – a detail Ramirez made a point to include in a candidate bio on her campaign website, which notes that her mom went on to work “multiple low-wage jobs to give her children a fighting chance to escape poverty.”

    Ramirez says over the years some of her political opponents have tried to use details like this from her background against her, accusing her of being in favor of open borders and speaking dismissively about her family during debates. But Ramirez sees her family’s story as a strength that’s helped her connect with voters and better understand the issues that matter to her constituents.

    “I didn’t have to shy away from the fact that I’m working class and my husband’s a DACA recipient, that I’m worried about how I’m going to pay for housing. That is the reality of so many people,” she says. “And I want men and women, young and old, to see me and think, ‘That was my m’hija, That was my daughter.’ Or…’I’m an intern somewhere and I don’t feel seen. But if she could do it, so can I.’”

    Ramirez says the story of her mom’s journey from Guatemala to the United States infused her childhood in Chicago, where Ramirez was born.

    According to the story Ramirez grew up hearing, when her mom crossed the Rio Grande, strong currents nearly swept her away. She’d hidden her pregnancy from others on the journey, but in that moment she called out in desperation, “Help! Help! Save me! Save my daughter!” A man did, Ramirez says, but after that day, her mom never saw him again.

    As she struggled with depression as a teenager, Ramirez says her mom would frequently invoke this part of her past, saying, “I nearly died so that you could be born. Now I have to fight to keep you alive.”

    That struggling teen, Ramirez says, would never have imagined that she’d run a homeless shelter and other successful nonprofits, go on to become a state lawmaker and one day be on the cusp of entering US Congress.

    “But that is the journey, right?” Ramirez says. “Maybe not the Congress part as often as it should be, but the journey of so many people and so many children of immigrants who contribute and do so much for this country.”

    How does her family’s journey shape her view of what’s unfolding now at the border?

    “I am clear that anyone willing to risk dying, starving or even being raped in the long journey through desert, cold and tunnels is crossing because they feel like there is no other solution to their situation. Their migration is the only way they see themselves and loved ones surviving deep poverty and, in some cases, persecution,” Ramirez says.

    “My mother wouldn’t have risked my life or hers had it not been the only option she saw for her unborn child to have a chance at a life and childhood better than hers.”

    As Ramirez shares these and other details from her past with CNN in the Longworth House Office Building one evening in early December, an aide steps in with her phone in hand.

    “It’s time,” he tells her.

    Ramirez is still an Illinois state legislator for a few more weeks, and she needs to vote on a measure that might not pass if she doesn’t.

    She holds the phone in one hand and looks into the camera.

    “Representative Ramirez votes yes,” she says, then hands the phone back to her aide.

    “Done,” she says with a triumphant smile.

    It’s the latest in numerous bills Ramirez has helped pass since her 2018 election to the Illinois General Assembly.

    In that way alone, she knows it will be an adjustment to work as a lawmaker in Washington, where partisan fights often get in the way of passing laws.

    She still remembers the first state bill she sponsored that passed in March 2019 – a measure to expand homelessness prevention programming, a top concern for Ramirez, who previously directed a homeless shelter.

    “It was a very emotional moment,” she says. And the first thing she did after the bill passed, she says, was call her mom and share the news.

    Ramirez in a portrait from her campaign website.

    “I said, ‘Mom, in three months I was able to do more (to prevent homelessness) than I had done in almost 15 years,’” Ramirez recalls.

    Her mom responded that she was proud but reminded Ramirez that her work wasn’t finished.

    “Go hang up, and do more,” she said, according to Ramirez. “And don’t forget where you come from.”

    It’s with that mantra in mind, and with memories of growing up as the daughter of immigrants who worked multiple jobs to support their family in Chicago, that Ramirez is heading to Washington.

    Both her parents are US citizens now, but Ramirez says they’re still struggling to make ends meet.

    “I am the daughter of a woman who at 61 has given so much to this country and is a minimum-wage worker that can’t afford health care, so she’s on Medicaid, and diabetic,” Ramirez says. “I am the daughter of a man who spent 30 years working in an industrial bakery, a union busting company, and the day he retired, he got a frozen pie. He didn’t get a retirement pension and he struggled with Medicare supplemental, covering the cost.”

    Ramirez’s newly redrawn Illinois congressional district is nearly 50% Latino and heavily Democratic, spanning from Chicago’s Northwest side into the suburbs, according to CNN affiliate WLS. She won more than 66% of the vote in the general election, defeating Republican mortgage company executive Justin Burau.

    After Ramirez’s election, her background landed her on many lists of firsts. She will be the first Latina elected to Congress from the Midwest.

    She’s also helped set another record as part of the largest number of Latinos ever in the House of Representatives.

    There’s another notable detail about her background that Ramirez has pointed to regularly in interviews since her election: She has a “mixed-status family.”

    More than 22 million people in the United States live in mixed-status families, according to immigrant advocacy group fwd.us, meaning at least one family member is an undocumented immigrant and others are US citizens, green card holders or other lawful temporary immigrants. But it’s rare to hear a member of Congress use the term to describe themselves.

    Because of her family’s experience, Ramirez knows many of the people who supported her candidacy see her as a voice who will speak out for them, and for so many immigrants who are in the shadows and rarely heard.

    Ramirez married Boris Hernandez in October 2020. They met earlier that year in what she describes as “one of those pandemic loves.”

    Delia Ramirez, left, with her husband, Boris Hernandez, center, and Ramirez's mother.

    She’s best friends with his cousin. Hernandez is originally from the same town in Guatemala as her parents. He came to the United States when he was 14. And for years, like hundreds of thousands of other people, he’s relied on the Obama-era program known as DACA, short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which granted certain young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children work permits and protection from deportation.

    On her campaign website and social media feeds, Ramirez has shared photos of Hernandez. And she’s invoked her husband’s story in recent speeches and conversations with constituents.

    Hernandez often stood by her side at campaign events. He occasionally took photos, too (he’s a photographer, in addition to also having worked in nonprofits and early childhood development). He accompanied Ramirez as she voted on Election Day, even though he couldn’t cast a ballot.

    Ramirez acknowledges that she’s privileged compared to many loved ones of DACA recipients. She’s a US citizen, and because of that, Hernandez has a pathway to citizenship no matter what Congress decides. But still, she says, they could end up in a precarious position.

    If a federal judge’s ruling ends DACA – something many immigrant rights advocates warn is likely to happen in the next year – and her husband’s paperwork to adjust his immigration status is pending, Ramirez knows she could have a lot more to worry about in addition to her busy schedule as a first-term congresswoman.

    “I’m going to be fighting to keep my husband here,” she says, “and I’m a member of Congress. …. What happens to the other 2 million (undocumented immigrants that the DREAM Act would protect)? What happens to his brother? What happens to my best friend from high school? What happens to all of them who have no pathway, who don’t have a citizen husband or wife or partner?”

    Ramirez says that question keeps her up at night.

    Standing beside Ramirez outside the Capitol on that morning in December, Congressman-elect Robert Garcia of California praises her for bringing the group of freshmen lawmakers together even before they’ve taken office.

    “She’s been leading on issues of immigration, on DACA for Dreamers, to ensure that our country’s taking care of those who really need our help,” Garcia says.

    Helping Dreamers isn’t the only topic on the agenda during this December news conference; Ramirez and the others are also pushing for extensions to the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit, and more funding for early childhood education programs.

    In her interview with CNN, Ramirez said her plans to fight for policies that help immigrants extend beyond immigration reform. One key issue she wants to work on while in office: housing, an area that she says is critically important to immigrant families and working-class families in general.

    Ramirez ascends a staircase at the US Capitol on November 18, 2022.

    The progressive policies she champions, she says, would benefit immigrants and US citizens alike. “It’s an ‘and,’” she says, “not an ‘or.’”

    Ramirez’s voice cracks with emotion as the news conference ends and she makes her closing argument.

    “It is time to deliver for our Dreamers,” she says. “It is time for Boris Hernandez to finally have a pathway to citizenship.”

    Ramirez says she feels overwhelmed by gratitude that her constituents have given her this chance to represent them, and a strong sense of urgency to deliver the results she knows so many people desperately need.

    Weeks later, the 117th Congress adjourned without taking most of the steps Ramirez and her fellow incoming freshmen had been pushing for.

    And with the balance of power shifting, she knows the battles to come will be even tougher. But for Ramirez, the words she proudly proclaimed in that first news conference outside the Capitol still hold true. She and other new members of the House Progressive Caucus have only just begun to make their voices heard.

    “We’re rooted,” she says, “and we are ready to help with this fight. … Let’s get to work.”

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  • As Buffalo officers fan out to perform welfare checks, harrowing accounts emerge of those who died in the storm | CNN

    As Buffalo officers fan out to perform welfare checks, harrowing accounts emerge of those who died in the storm | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    As police in Buffalo, New York, sifted through 911 and welfare check calls dating back to the earlier days of the deadly winter storm, harrowing accounts of those lost in the storm have emerged.

    Among the victims was Monique Alexander, a 52-year-old mother who died in the Buffalo storm, her daughter Casey Maccarone said. Alexander had rushed out of the house as conditions were worsening, saying she would be right back, Maccarone said.

    Two hours later, when she had not returned, her daughter said she posted on a Buffalo blizzard Facebook group asking if anyone had seen her mom. Just minutes later, a stranger messaged her and asked to call her, Maccarone said.

    “He just instantly broke down crying,” Maccarone said. “He was stranded as well and he was walking down the street and he saw her in the snow. So he picked her up and he placed her under the awning … so that she wouldn’t get snowed on anymore.”

    “Her grand kids were waiting for her to come home. We were waiting for her to come home,” Maccarone said.

    The death toll in Erie County, New York, climbed to 37 by Tuesday evening as first responders went door-to-door and car-to-car checking on people they couldn’t reach days ago, when a blizzard swept through the area, trapping residents and snarling emergency response during the holiday weekend.

    It took until Wednesday evening for Buffalo Police to announce they were done following up on the unanswered 911 and welfare check calls – which at some point reached 1,100 calls, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph A. Gramaglia said.

    Some officers checking on residents arrived to find that, in some cases, they were too late.

    “It’s a grueling, gruesome task that they had to do,” Gramaglia said. “They recovered a substantial amount of bodies and it’s terrible.”

    Some people have been found dead in cars, on streets or in snowbanks, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said.

    Among the storm’s victims is Anndel Taylor, 22, whose family said she was found dead in Buffalo over the holiday weekend after getting trapped in her car by the blizzard.

    After losing contact with her, her family also posted her location to a private Facebook page related to the storm to ask for help, and a man called to say he had found her without a pulse, her sister said.

    Also among the fatalities was 46-year-old Melissa Morrison, a Buffalo mother of two whose body was found in the snow near a Tim Horton’s, her mother Linda Addeo told CNN.

    Addeo had worried about her daughter after her son came across social media posts on Friday about a body that was found near the coffee shop that Morrison lived by, she said.

    On Tuesday, the coroner’s office informed the family that the same body was positively identified as that of Morrison, Addeo said.

    Another storm-related death involved a 26-year-old man, Abdul Sharifu, who left to get provisions for a family who asked for his help on Saturday morning, his cousin Ally Sharifu told CNN.

    His wife – who is pregnant and days away from giving birth – woke up that evening to find him gone. After sharing a photo of the missing man on Facebook in a desperate attempt to find him, the family got a call about a man who was found lying on the street and rushed to a children’s hospital, Ally Sharifu said.

    Ally Sharifu said he ended up identifying his cousin’s body at a hospital the next morning. Abdul Sharifu and his cousin are refugees from Congo who were resettled in the US in 2017 after they lived for about five years in a refugee camp in Burundi, Ally Sharifu said.

    “The stories are heartbreaking, just heartbreaking,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said.

    The police commissioner said he expects that rising temperatures in the coming days will melt the snow and uncover more storm victims. Officers will be out on Thursday searching in areas where bodies were reported but never found, Gramaglia said.

    The winter storm’s grim effects have been widespread, with reports of fatalities stretching beyond New York and across 11 other US states. There have in total been least 62 storm-related deaths reported nationwide, and they mainly involved weather-related traffic accidents or fatalities related to the cold.

    Ohio confirmed 9 weather-related deaths, Colorado recorded 2 deaths, Kansas and Kentucky confirmed 3 deaths each, South Carolina confirmed 2 deaths, and Missouri, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin each recorded one storm-related death.

    Sha'Kyra Aughtry helps a man she found stranded in the snow in Buffalo

    As emergency services were restored in Buffalo, the New York National Guard said they made at least 86 rescues, including getting a woman to the hospital just before she gave birth.

    Police were also back out, making ten arrests in Buffalo as of Wednesday in connection with suspected winter storm looting, the police commissioner said in a Wednesday news conference.

    But, Mayor Brown stressed, “This is a minority of individuals.”

    “In typical ‘city of good neighbors’ fashion, people have come together – they’ve assisted each other. Neighbors have helped neighbors. Friends have helped friends, and members of this community have helped people that they have never met before,” the mayor said Wednesday.

    One Buffalo woman, Sha’Kyra Aughtry, said she looked out her window on Christmas Eve to find a frostbitten man calling for help in the frigid cold.

    Her boyfriend carried the man, 64-year-old Joe White, into the house, and she used a blow dryer to melt the ice off his red and blistered hands, Aughtry said.

    After she called 911 and no one came to help, Aughtry said, she took to Facebook to plead for assistance and ended up getting White to the hospital with help from good Samaritans who came and snowplowed them out, she said.

    Social media also proved useful when a woman went into labor two days before Christmas.

    When Erica Thomas began having contractions, the snow from the winter storm had piled up about halfway up the front door of her Buffalo home and she and her husband, Davon Thomas, couldn’t get out.

    The soon-to-be father called 911 for help and was told they’d attempt to get an emergency vehicle there as soon as possible. He was later told responders had attempted to get to their house but couldn’t.

    Davon Thomas called a friend who made a post for the couple on a Buffalo Facebook group, asking for help and the couple ended up getting in touch with Raymonda Reynolds, an experienced doula of five years.

    Reynolds and her friend, doula and nurse Iva Blackburn, got on a video call with the couple and guided them through delivering the baby and cutting the umbilical cord.

    “We started screaming like it was a Buffalo Bills touchdown,” Reynolds said, describing the moment the baby girl was born. “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve been a part of.”

    In another act of kindness, a Buffalo barbershop owner, Craig Elston, ended up opening his store for people to seek refuge from the storm. “A lot of people slept in the barber chairs a lot of people put the chairs together,” Elston said.

    “I was just thinking about just keeping people warm. It was really that simple,” he said.

    Vehicles drive down Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo on Wednesday, December 28, 2022.

    After six days of restrictions on traveling while road conditions were unsafe, Buffalo is lifting its winter storm driving ban at midnight Thursday and replacing it with a travel advisory, Poloncarz announced.

    The driving ban had been in place in Buffalo since Friday morning.

    “We still have a ways to go but we have come a long way in just a couple of days. This will allow our residents to get back to work – allow them to get to supermarkets, pharmacies, and to get to medical appointments,” Mayor Brown said.

    Poloncarz was asked Wednesday about the timing of the driving ban, and whether there had been discussion among officials about issuing it earlier.

    Officials started discussing a potential ban Thursday, Poloncarz said, but they initially believed the snow band wouldn’t reach the Erie County until 10 a.m. the next morning.

    On Friday morning, temperatures “dropped dramatically,” but whiteout conditions didn’t hit until about 10 a.m., he noted, after the ban was issued.

    “If anyone is to be blamed, you can blame me. I’m the one who has to make the final call on behalf of the county,” Poloncarz said.

    Poloncarz also criticized how Buffalo’s mayor has handled storm cleanup efforts, saying Brown has not been on daily coordination calls with other municipalities and that the city has been slow to reopen.

    When asked about those remarks, the mayor told CNN, “I’m not concerned about those comments, my concern is for the residents of the city of Buffalo.”

    Hundreds of pieces of equipment were plowing and hauling snow on Wednesday, and most streets were passable in Buffalo by the evening, Brown announced in a Wednesday evening update.

    As temperatures warm up, there have been concerns about a possible “rapid melt” leading to flooding, Erie County officials said.

    The Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Daniel J. Neaverth, Jr. said they feel “very comfortable” in their positioning to be able to handle potential flooding.

    “We have an ample supply ready to go ready to be deployed with personnel in the event that we have some type of flooding,” Neaverth said.

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  • What older Americans need to know before undergoing major surgery | CNN

    What older Americans need to know before undergoing major surgery | CNN

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    KHN
     — 

    Larry McMahon is weighing whether to undergo a major surgery. Over the past five years, his back pain has intensified. Physical therapy, muscle relaxants, and injections aren’t offering relief.

    “It’s a pain that leaves me hardly able to do anything,” he said.

    Should McMahon, an 80-year-old retired Virginia state trooper who now lives in Southport, North Carolina, try spinal fusion surgery, a procedure that can take up to six hours? (Eight years ago, he had a lumbar laminectomy, another arduous back surgery.)

    “Will I recover in six months — or in a couple of years? Is it safe for a man of my age with various health issues to be put to sleep for a long period of time?” McMahon asked, relaying some of his concerns to me in a phone conversation.

    Older adults contemplating major surgery often aren’t sure whether to proceed. In many cases, surgery can be lifesaving or improve a senior’s quality of life. But advanced age puts people at greater risk of unwanted outcomes, including difficulty with daily activities, extended hospitalizations, problems moving around, and the loss of independence.

    I wrote in November about a new study that shed light on some risks seniors face when having invasive procedures. But readers wanted to know more. How does one determine if potential benefits from major surgery are worth the risks? And what questions should older adults ask as they try to figure this out? I asked several experts for their recommendations. Here’s some of what they suggested.

    Ask your surgeon, “How is this surgery going to make things better for me?” said Dr. Margaret “Gretchen” Schwarze, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Will it extend your life by removing a fast-growing tumor? Will your quality of life improve by making it easier to walk? Will it prevent you from becoming disabled, akin to a hip replacement?

    If your surgeon says, “We need to remove this growth or clear this blockage,” ask what impact that will have on your daily life. Just because an abnormality such as a hernia has been found doesn’t mean it has to be addressed, especially if you don’t have bothersome symptoms and the procedure comes with complications, said Drs. Robert Becher and Thomas Gill of Yale University, authors of that recent paper on major surgery in older adults.

    Schwarze, a vascular surgeon, often cares for patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms, an enlargement in a major blood vessel that can be life-threatening if it bursts.

    Here’s how she describes a “best case” surgical scenario for that condition: “Surgery will be about four to five hours. When it’s over, you’ll be in the ICU with a breathing tube overnight for a day or two. Then, you’ll be in the hospital for another week or so. Afterwards, you’ll probably have to go to rehab to get your strength back, but I think you can get back home in three to four weeks, and it’ll probably take you two to three months to feel like you did before surgery.”

    Among other things people might ask their surgeon, according to a patient brochure Schwarze’s team has created: What will my daily life look like right after surgery? Three months later? One year later? Will I need help, and for how long? Will tubes or drains be inserted?

    A “worst case” scenario might look like this, according to Schwarze: “You have surgery, and you go to the ICU, and you have serious complications. You have a heart attack. Three weeks after surgery, you’re still in the ICU with a breathing tube, and you’ve lost most of your strength, and there’s no chance of ever getting home again. Or, the surgery didn’t work, and still you’ve gone through all this.”

    “People often think I’ll just die on the operating table if things go wrong,” said Dr. Emily Finlayson, director of the UCSF Center for Surgery in Older Adults in San Francisco. “But we’re very good at rescuing people, and we can keep you alive for a long time. The reality is, there can be a lot of pain and suffering and interventions like feeding tubes and ventilators if things don’t go the way we hope.”

    Once your surgeon has walked you through various scenarios, ask, “Do I really need to have this surgery, in your opinion?” and “What outcomes do you think are most likely for me?” Finlayson advised. Research suggests that older adults who are frail, have cognitive impairment, or other serious conditions such as heart disease have worse experiences with major surgery. Also, seniors in their 80s and 90s are at higher risk of things going wrong.

    “It’s important to have family or friends in the room for these conversations with high-risk patients,” Finlayson said. Many seniors have some level of cognitive difficulties and may need assistance working through complex decisions.

    Make sure your physician tells you what the nonsurgical options are, Finlayson said. Older men with prostate cancer, for instance, might want to consider “watchful waiting” — ongoing monitoring of their symptoms — rather than risk invasive surgery. Women in their 80s who develop a small breast cancer may opt to leave it alone if removing it poses a risk, given other health factors.

    Because of McMahon’s age and underlying medical issues (a 2021 knee replacement that hasn’t healed, arthritis, high blood pressure), his neurosurgeon suggested he explore other interventions, including more injections and physical therapy, before surgery. “He told me, ‘I make my money from surgery, but that’s a last resort,” McMahon said.

    “Preparing for surgery is really vital for older adults: If patients do a few things that doctors recommend — stop smoking, lose weight, walk more, eat better — they can decrease the likelihood of complications and the number of days spent in the hospital,” said Dr. Sandhya Lagoo-Deenadayalan, a codirector in Duke University Medical Center’s Perioperative Optimization of Senior Health (POSH) program.

    When older patients are recommended to POSH, they receive a comprehensive evaluation of their medications, nutritional status, mobility, preexisting conditions, ability to perform daily activities, and support at home. They leave with a “to-do” list of recommended actions, usually starting several weeks before surgery.

    If your hospital doesn’t have a program of this kind, ask your physician, “How can I get my body and mind ready” before having surgery, Finlayson said. Also ask: “How can I prepare my home in advance to anticipate what I’ll need during recovery?”

    There are three levels to consider: What will recovery in the hospital entail? Will you be transferred to a facility for rehabilitation? And what will recovery be like at home?

    Ask how long you’re likely to stay in the hospital. Will you have pain, or aftereffects from the anesthesia? Preserving cognition is a concern, and you might want to ask your anesthesiologist what you can do to maintain cognitive functioning following surgery. If you go to a rehab center, you’ll want to know what kind of therapy you’ll need and whether you can expect to return to your baseline level of functioning.

    During the Covid-19 pandemic, “a lot of older adults have opted to go home instead of to rehab, and it’s really important to make sure they have appropriate support,” said Dr. Rachelle Bernacki, director of care transformation and postoperative services at the Center for Geriatric Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

    For some older adults, a loss of independence after surgery may be permanent. Be sure to inquire what your options are should that occur.

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  • This year’s top health-related Google searches are in, and Covid-19 is nowhere to be found | CNN

    This year’s top health-related Google searches are in, and Covid-19 is nowhere to be found | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Stress, But Less newsletter. Our six-part mindfulness guide will inform and inspire you to reduce stress while learning how to harness it.



    CNN
     — 

    You can learn a lot from a search history.

    This month, Google released its annual “Year in Search” list to show which terms saw the highest spikes over the past year. The roundup offers some insight into what internet users around the world cared about, were curious about and concerned about in 2022.

    One big topic is noticeably absent this year: Covid-19. Last year, vaccination and preventing infection were of great interest, but this year saw no mention of coronavirus in the top health and wellness searches.

    Instead, this year’s searches focused on physical and mental recovery — how to get stronger physically and how to cope with issues like anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

    Here’s a breakdown of 2022 in Google searches and some ways to address these topics going into 2023.

    Workouts were a big focus of conversation this year: “Body weight workouts,” “weekly workouts,” “exercising for mental health,” and “core workouts at the gym” all were among the popular health searches.

    Body-weight workouts are a good access point for exercise because you don’t need expensive equipment, and you can build a foundation for eventual weight training, said Dana Santas, CNN fitness expert and a mind-body coach in pro sports, in a previous story.

    She laid out a 10-minute workout to get started.

    Try this 10-minute body-weight workout


    10:46

    – Source:
    CNN

    If you are looking to go further and build a regular exercise routine, a 2021 megastudy found that the keys are to make a plan, build in reminders and reward yourself for sticking to it.

    Google users asked “how to handle stress,” “how to stop a panic attack,” “how to cure depression” and “focus with ADHD.” They also looked up good mental health practices for little ones, with searches for breathing exercises for kids.

    It might not be surprising that many people were focused on coping and stress, especially in light of an ongoing global pandemic, economic concerns, and the adjustments associated with returning to school and workplaces.

    While stress is a normal physiological reaction that all people experience, it can slide into a severe condition like anxiety or depression if left unchecked. One thing to look for is whether the feeling goes away after a stressful event has ended, said Dr. Gail Saltz, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.

    Stress can also exacerbate mental conditions like depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Saltz said in a 2021 interview with CNN.

    If you suspect you might have chronic stress or another mental health disorder, you should talk to a trusted friend or family member to see whether they have noticed differences and reach out to a mental health professional, said Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble, psychologist and founder of the AAKOMA Project, a youth mental health nonprofit, in a 2021 story.

    The quest for better mental and physical health didn’t stop at a quick internet search, according to the data.

    Among the popular terms were searches for more resources on mental health, like books, podcasts and journaling techniques aimed at improving wellness.

    “Expressive writing works for a number of reasons,” said James Pennebaker, a psychologist, researcher and professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Acknowledging an upsetting event has value, he added in a previous CNN story. “And writing about it also helps the person find meaning or understand it.”

    There are also guided and formatted journals to help keep you going.

    One significant change this year was the addition of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline for mental health crises. The number is as simple as three digits: 988.

    Those numerals were among the health-related searches that saw a surge this year.

    The dialing code is available across the United States and is meant to be easier to access for people in mental health crises, similar to 911.

    “One of the goals of 988 is to ensure that people get the help they need when they need it, where they need it. And so, when a person calls 988, they can expect to have a conversation with a trained, compassionate crisis counselor who will talk with them about what they’re experiencing,” said Dr. Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, the administrator of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in an interview with CNN in July.

    “If it’s the case that they need further intervention, then likely the crisis counselor will connect them with a local mobile crisis team,” she added.

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  • Bidens read to children at Children’s National Hospital ahead of Christmas weekend | CNN Politics

    Bidens read to children at Children’s National Hospital ahead of Christmas weekend | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden met with patients at Children’s National Hospital in Washington on Friday, carrying on a longstanding tradition during the holiday season.

    The first couple, sporting cloth masks, met with pediatric patients, their families and hospital staff, greeting leadership and emergency department workers. Dr. Biden read Ezra Jack Keats’ “The Snowy Day” before the Bidens visited with children and their families in the cardiac intensive care unit.

    “Thanks for coming and listening to me read and have the president hold the book,” she said after reading, as Biden deadpanned, “It’s my job.”

    And the president chimed in with a message for parents in the room before departing, saying, “To all you parents, be strong. We spent a lot of time in children’s hospitals with patients too, It’s going to be OK.”

    The Bidens’ travel within Washington comes as much of the nation – including the nation’s capital – faces extreme cold weather, such as frigid temperatures, high winds and heavy snow.

    According to the White House, President Biden’s visit last year marked the first time a sitting president made a holiday visit to Children’s National.

    The visit ahead of Christmas Eve comes a day after the president delivered his Christmas address, where he sought to strike a unifying message.

    Biden emphasized in his speech that “we’re surely making progress” and “things are getting better.”

    “Covid no longer controls our lives. Our kids are back in school. People are back to work. In fact, more people are working than ever before,” he said. “Americans are building again, innovating, dreaming again.”

    Still, he acknowledged that, for some, “Christmas can be a time of great pain and terrible loneliness,” drawing on his own experience with loss over the holidays – the deaths of his first wife and daughter 50 years ago this week.

    “I know how hard this time of year can be … no one can ever know what someone else is going through, what’s really going on in their life, what they’re struggling with, what to try and overcome. That’s why sometimes the smallest act of kindness can mean so much,” Biden remarked.

    “So, this Christmas, let’s spread a little kindness.”

    CORRECTION: This story and headline have been updated to correct the name of the hospital to Children’s National Hospital.

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  • Democracy has its flaws, but it has emerged from the pandemic in much ruder health than the alternative | CNN

    Democracy has its flaws, but it has emerged from the pandemic in much ruder health than the alternative | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    For nearly half a decade, you could be forgiven for thinking just about everything in Western democracy seemed a bit broken. The social-media yelling in 140 characters. The wild populism, and dog-whistle racism. The clumsy coronavirus lockdowns and their attendant conspiracy theories. The tolerance of absolute, constant falsehoods. The questioning and beleaguering of the electoral process.

    Some began to behave as if it were smoother on the other side of the fence, in autocracies where things are just ordered to happen, and criticism is swallowed whole.

    Yet, as we stagger past the third anniversary of Covid-19’s emergence, the fallacy that autocracies are a superior social contract is crumbling. At the end of 2022, the world is a place where consent matters, and debate might actually save your hide.

    The Trump era created a safe space for autocracies to flex on the global stage, while American tried to put itself First, and its commander-in-chief was happy to receive “lovely” letters from North Korea, or get very close to the Kremlin. But it took the pandemic to expose the utter mess one man in charge can create.

    The most glaring and unimaginably stark example is Russia. President Vladimir Putin bumbled his way through the pandemic with snap lockdowns, a poorly performing vaccine, and a general disregard for how useful accurate data can be in defeating a complex foe like Nature. But it was his personal choices that led to a disconnect which has proved fatal to tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainians, and perhaps even more Russian soldiers.

    The persistent warnings from Western intelligence in January that an invasion of Ukraine was imminent seemed far-fetched to many analysts, including me. Those analysts overlooked the enormity of the task, and the assumption the Kremlin remained a rational actor. Those calming caveats were swiftly whisked away when – in the days leading up to the war – Putin summoned his security henchmen and dressed them down, at a safe distance of well over 20 feet, and then delivered a 57-minute televised speech showing he had spent the pandemic reading all the wrong parts of the internet.

    His spoken dissertation even reminded Russians how mean Bill Clinton had been 20 years ago, shunning Putin’s stated desire to join NATO. Putin’s isolation had compounded not just his historical grievances. There were now fewer subordinates in contact with him, and fewer opinions voiced to counter the absurd assumption Russia’s invasion would be welcomed by Ukrainians and last about three days.

    A RUSI report recently noted that seized Russian orders showed units expected to be “cleaning up” within 10 days, and that no effective “red team” assessment of the plan – challenging its assumptions – had happened.

    And so, the largest land war in Europe for 75 years began, and with it a likely military defeat for Russia that may rewrite the established norms of European security and see Moscow’s place as a global superpower evaporate. Putin’s insecurities over NATO and the practical task of connecting the occupied Crimean Peninsula to the Russian mainland fueled his catastrophic decision. But the Kremlin head’s isolation – along with his echo chamber of paranoid nonsense – cemented it.

    But even now, in this late stage in the Russian military demise, when its readiest form of resupply is forced conscripts to the frontline, Moscow must be mindful of consent. The “partial mobilization” announced in September has sent 77,000 Russian men to Ukraine, Putin recently said. But it has also unleashed a wave of protests perhaps not seen in Russia since the 1990s.

    Tightening the screws on dissent is a sign opposition is growing, not ebbing. The nastier Russia gets, the more acutely aware the Kremlin is of its unpopularity. Invading Ukraine was the worst decision a Russian leader has made since the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. We know how that misadventure ended.

    Police officers detain demonstrators in St. Petersburg on September 21, 2022, following calls to protest against partial military mobilisation announced by President Vladimir Putin.

    The pandemic caused economic and emotional stress in every society, leaving citizens less tolerant of poor managers and outdated dogma. Even the United Kingdom swiftly ejected two prime ministers over issues of conduct and incompetence, not long after their ruling Conservative Party had won a landslide victory at the last election.

    The economic fallout from the pandemic is also the backdrop for another dazzling failure of autocracy, in Iran. But the focal point of recent protests has been the brutal treatment of teenagers for protesting mandatory headscarves. Killing a young woman for not wanting to dress more conservatively than her grandmother perhaps did (Iran was – as recently as the 1970s – secular) is grotesque in any society.

    Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police, in Tehran, Iran, on October 1, 2022.

    But it lit the touch paper in communities ravaged by years of sanctions, the pandemic, and persistent inflation of perhaps as much as 50%. Permit salaries and savings to diminish that much annually, and any elected government could expect to be ousted fast. In Iran’s cities, the violence around this dogma did not distract from the economic fury, but amplify it.

    Well over half of Iran’s population was born in the 1990s, when the Islamic Revolution was already a decade old. A system born in the era of the landline is telling youth born into the world of fax machines how to behave in the era of quantum computing.

    The pandemic hit Iran hard, and I witnessed in 2020 how poorly resourced Tehran’s hospitals were. When your parent is dying and you can’t get a ventilator for them, you don’t have time for a lengthy discourse blaming US sanctions imposed because of Iran’s confrontation of the American hegemony in the region. An emergency like Covid can damage what remains of the contract between ruling conservatives and citizens: If you cannot protect us from a disease at our time of need, then what is the purpose of the corruption, repression and rules on women’s dress?

    Medical workers transport a patient with Covid-19 at Rasoul Akram Hospital in Tehran on October 20, 2020.

    The recent public confusion over whether the country’s morality police would be disbanded – a statement made by the prosecutor general which was later mauled – is a sign of government reform perhaps, but also an indication of how state power is not a tidy behemoth in Iran. There is debate, too, and here it clearly, with hundreds of corpses already underfoot, considered bending to popular will.

    This stark and deadly repression does not at this time herald the demise of the Iranian regime. But it is perhaps a moment of irreversible acceptance that the people cannot just be Ctrl-Alt-Deleted when they don’t suit the state program. It is a recognition that even the best-resourced, most controlling and efficient of repressive regimes – China – has had to deal with.

    Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police, in Tehran on October 27, 2022.

    The pandemic led Beijing to resort to mass control on a whole new level. Its solution to the disease ravaging the planet was to be the harshest of all – in limiting movement. The authorities’ favored tool – used to its limits – was the one almost every other society realized would not work indefinitely.

    Until recently, Chinese citizens were still being welded into their homes in quarantine, and even burning to death in one tragic instance when they perhaps could have been rescued from a domestic fire. It’s perhaps the most damning indictment of China’s one-person rule this century.

    Workers in protective clothes walk past barriers placed to close off streets in areas locked down after the detection of cases of Covid-19 in Shanghai on March 15, 2022.

    The world has been on a steep learning curve, where social distancing, economic subsidies, vaccines, agonizing deaths and limited global travel have led most societies to now accept the Covid-esque persistent cough as part of what happens in winter. Yet China’s initial decision – stifle the disease – has barely evolved. Its vaccine program has faltered, yet its original tool of mass surveillance has not.

    What is more remarkable is not protests breaking out under such an authoritarian yoke, but that President Xi Jinping did not presume they would.

    Beijing appeared to have been taken by surprise, but also believed it could repress its way out of the unrest. The recent removal of significant parts of the quarantine and testing systems does not solve China’s Covid problems. It was simply their authorities’ only choice. And it is a badly timed one. China is not adequately vaccinated to cope with a massive rise in cases, particularly its elderly population, many experts argue. Even if 1% catch it badly, that is 14 million people in need of medical care – roughly the population of Zimbabwe.

    A demonstrator holds a blank sign and chants slogans during a protest in Beijing, China, on Monday, November 28, 2022.

    Huge challenges require decision-makers of enormous ability. Xi has unparalleled power, evidenced when he sat by as his predecessor Hu Jintao was inexplicably led out during the highly choreographed closing moments of the recent National Congress. But it is pretty clear that Xi got the big decisions around Covid wrong. And that the country where SARS-Cov-2 first emerged is enduring the longest impact of the virus because of poor decisions by its leaders.

    It is a problem for Xi. The singular selling point of autocratic power is that it is absolute: that you can get things done without the delay of debate and compromise that democratic systems endure.

    The point is to be strong, implement decisions fast, and consider dissent the cost of tough, good decisions; not to appear strong, implement fast, and then change your mind publicly after months pursuing a bad idea. For Xi, it is also dangerous for a population to learn they can only truly communicate with their government through disobedience and protest.

    It’s important to feel discomfort when extolling the virtues of modern democracy. It doesn’t really work. It is slow and encourages ego and half-measures. It keeps changing its mind and wasting endless resources while stumbling for the solution.

    But it provides space for dissent and, more importantly, other, competing ideas. And, if you are forcing taxi drivers to fight in a war of choice you are losing, or shooting teenagers for taking off headscarves, or imprisoning people in their apartments to suppress a virus the rest of the world is living calmly with, alternative ideas are important.

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  • Opinion: I almost died last year from a medical problem that was entirely preventable | CNN

    Opinion: I almost died last year from a medical problem that was entirely preventable | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Alice Paul Tapper, 15, is a high school sophomore in Washington, DC. She is the daughter of CNN’s Jake Tapper. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely hers. View more opinions on CNN.



    CNN
     — 

    I almost died around Thanksgiving last year, and it was entirely preventable.

    It started one weekend in November 2021 with stomach cramping, a low fever, chills and vomiting. Soon it became clear I needed to go to the emergency room. By the time I got there, I had low blood pressure, an elevated heart rate, intense abdominal pain and a high white blood cell count.

    I was given IV fluids to combat my dehydration, but I didn’t get better. The doctor and nurses didn’t know what was wrong and stood around me confused, as if they were waiting for me to tell them what to do. The sharp cramping pains and the throbbing feeling in my stomach got worse, so they transferred me to another hospital.

    With guidance from my pediatrician, my parents told the doctors to check for appendicitis. But since I was tender all over my abdomen — not just on my right side — the doctors ruled it out. My parents kept pressing, so a doctor told me to stand up and jump. I could barely get an inch off the ground. The doctors concluded that what I had must be a viral infection and would eventually just go away.

    It didn’t. I got sicker and my skin started turning a pale green. As Monday turned into Tuesday, I was only given Tylenol for my pain. My mom asked the doctors why I couldn’t get a sonogram to see what was happening inside my abdomen; they said it wasn’t needed. My dad asked why I couldn’t get antibiotics; the doctors said for a viral infection they could do more harm than good. My parents kept pushing for a gastroenterologist who might have more insight about my condition to evaluate me, but one never came.

    I felt helpless. My condition wasn’t the only thing that alarmed me; so did the lack of recognition I received from the hospital. I was not being heard; when I described to the doctors how much pain I was in, they responded with condescending looks.

    On Tuesday night, my dad went home to be with my brother, but it wasn’t long before my mom called him in tears. I was in agony and was only being treated with a heating pad. My dad got the phone number for the hospital administrator and begged for a gastroenterologist, for imaging — for anything. The phone call worked, and at the hospital administrator’s orders, I was finally taken to get an abdominal X-ray. The imaging showed this was no viral infection.

    In the middle of the night, I was rushed to get an ultrasound that revealed I had a perforated appendix that was leaking a poisonous stream of bacteria throughout my internal organs. When I learned my diagnosis, I was almost relieved. At least the doctors now had a plan.

    Finally, the surgical team took over. The next couple of hours were a blur. A CT scan was followed by emergency surgery; two laparoscopic drains were inserted in my body to get rid of the toxic leakage. I had sepsis and we would later learn I was going into hypovolemic shock — which can cause organs to stop working. That night was the scariest night of my life.

    Once I was well enough to leave the ICU, I stayed in the hospital for another week, bedridden with uncomfortable drains in my body and horribly sharp cramping pains, for which I was given morphine. I could barely walk. I didn’t recognize the helpless, hunchbacked, green, exhausted girl I saw in the hospital mirror.

    Why did this all go so horribly wrong?

    My mom soon learned about research conducted by Dr. Prashant Mahajan, vice chair of Emergency Medicine and division chief of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Mahajan’s research notes that, despite being the most common surgical emergency in children, appendicitis can be missed in up to 15% of children at initial presentation. Up to 15%!

    This is because there are so many possible reasons for abdominal pain. Appendicitis can mimic several common conditions including constipation and acute gastroenteritis, which my hospital pediatricians mistakenly thought I had. According to Mahajan, up to half of appendicitis patients may not exhibit the classic signs of right lower quadrant pain, fever and vomiting.

    Mahajan’s research also shows that appendicitis misdiagnoses are more likely in children under 5 — and in girls. I was disappointed but not surprised to learn that girls can be listened to and taken seriously less often.

    Alice Tapper could barely walk after emergency surgery to address her perforated appendix.

    Hospitals need to change the way they assess and diagnose appendicitis because it can frequently present in atypical ways. Anupam Kharbanda, pediatric emergency medicine doctor at Children’s Minnesota, came up with what’s called the pARC (pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator) score to help assess a child’s probability of appendicitis, using variables such as sex, age, duration of pain, pain migration, white blood cell count and more.

    The pARC score could be an important piece of changing diagnostic practices and saving lives.

    In 2018, a 5-year-old girl in England, Elspeth Moore, was sent home by a pediatrician even though she complained her stomach “felt like it was on fire.” The doctor diagnosed a viral infection. She died of peritonitis, sepsis and acute appendicitis two days later.

    My story has a less tragic ending. Luckily, I wasn’t sent home without monitoring like Elspeth was, and I finally got the care I needed. Months after my first hospitalization, I had an appendectomy at a new hospital — Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. My health has returned to normal. But I have a new mission to spread awareness about misdiagnoses of appendicitis — because what happened to Elspeth could have happened to me, too.

    The X-ray machine was down the hall, the CT machine just a floor below, the sonogram machine just steps away and the antibiotics I needed were just one phone call away. But doctors didn’t utilize these tools to quickly diagnose and treat me and, as a result, I almost died. It breaks my heart to think about the boys and girls who don’t have parents who can get the phone number of the hospital administrator — who can’t make their voices break through.

    I still can’t believe this happened to me — and I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.

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  • Prince Harry says William ‘screamed’ at him over royal split with Meghan, in final episodes of Netflix documentary | CNN

    Prince Harry says William ‘screamed’ at him over royal split with Meghan, in final episodes of Netflix documentary | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Prince Harry said it was “terrifying” to have his brother, Prince William, scream at him during his bitter split from the royal family, in the final installments of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s controversial Netflix documentary that were released Thursday.

    The fourth, fifth and sixth episodes of “Harry & Meghan” cover the pair’s challenges since their 2018 wedding, Meghan’s deteriorating mental health and her 2020 miscarriage, and ultimately their decision to quit as working members of the family.

    Harry said he initially asked for a “half in, half out” arrangement, where Harry and Meghan would have their own jobs but still work in support of the Queen, during a crunch family meeting. “But it became very clear very quickly that that goal was not up for discussion or debate,” Harry said.

    “It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me, and my father say things that just simply weren’t true, and my grandmother quietly sit there and take it all in,” he said, recalling the conversations with Prince William, then-Prince Charles, and Queen Elizabeth II.

    “But you have to understand that from the family’s perspectives, especially from hers, there are ways of doing things. And her ultimate mission and goal, responsibility, is the institution … she’s going to go on the advice that she’s given,” Harry said.

    The pair describe throughout the new episodes how, in their view, their position within the royal family became untenable after constant hounding from Britain’s media and repeated disregard for the couple’s wellbeing inside palace walls.

    Buckingham Palace reiterated it will not comment on the documentary on Thursday. Royal engagements are meanwhile continuing, with King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, set to visit a community kitchen in London and attend a carol service with the Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the family.

    Harry hinted that there was jealousy from other royals towards Meghan given the amount of media attention she was initially receiving. “The issue is when someone who is marrying in, who should be a supporting act, is then stealing the limelight or is doing the job better than the person who is born to do this,” he said.

    “That upsets people. It upsets the balance. Because you have been led to believe that the only way that your charities can succeed and your mission can grow is if you are on the front pages of those newspapers.”

    The series also touches on Meghan’s deteriorating mental health and her miscarriage in July 2020. “I was pregnant. I really wasn’t sleeping. The first morning that we woke up in our new home is when I miscarried,” Meghan said.

    She described experiencing suicidal ideation, telling the filmmakers she believed “all of this will stop if I’m not here. And that was the scariest thing about it, it was such clear thinking.”

    “The lies, that’s one thing. You kind of get used to that when you live within this family,” Harry added. “But what they were doing to her, and the effect it was having on her… enough. Enough of the pain, enough of the suffering.”

    “I just did everything I could to make them proud, and to really be a part of the family,” Meghan said in the fifth episode, speaking of her relationship with the other royals. “And then the bubble burst.”

    “I realized that I wasn’t just being thrown to the wolves, I was being fed to the wolves,” she said.

    The highly anticipated Netflix documentary marks the Sussexes’ latest attempt to reclaim the narrative surrounding their departure from royal life.

    It features details on the increasingly tense relationships between Harry and his brother, WIlliam, and his father, King Charles III. And it emphasizes the suggestion that the royals wanted to sideline and isolate the couple, often through the planting of negative media reporting, rather than have them dwarf more senior royals in popularity.

    “My dad said to me: ‘Darling boy, you can’t take on the media. The media will always be the media,” Harry said, describing the palace’s relationship with news outlets as a “dirty game.”

    The culmination of the breakdown between the royal institution and Harry and Meghan, who were once touted by parts of the media as the modernizing force the monarchy needed, was their historic and controversial decision in early 2020 to quit as working royals and leave the UK.

    Harry said he spoke to Queen Elizabeth II and arranged to meet her, with Meghan, before that split was finalized.

    “She knew that we were finding things hard. I’d spoken to her many times about it,” Harry said. But as the meeting approached, Meghan said they received a message from an aide telling them they were not allowed to see the monarch.

    “I’ve actually been told that I’m busy all week,” the Queen then told Harry, according to his recollection. “I was like, wow,” Harry said. “This is when a family and a family business are in direct conflict … really what they’re doing is blocking a grandson from seeing his grandmother,” added Meghan.

    The couple were critical of the Queen’s aides but again were again complimentary of the late monarch herself, who died aged 96 in September, shortly after filming concluded for the series.

    Their documentary, and Harry’s upcoming memoir, focus more attention on the difficult relationship between the prince and his father, King Charles.

    Thursday’s release follows last week’s batch of episodes, in which Prince Harry criticized “unconscious bias” inside the family.

    It remains to be seen whether the venture will enhance the reputation of the couple as they look to sculpt their post-royalty personas.

    Six in 10 Brits believe it was a bad idea for the duke and duchess to release the Netflix documentary, according to a Savanta poll of 2,250 British adults carried out online between December 9 and 11, between the release of the first and second parts of the series.

    The same poll found that Harry and Meghan both have negative approval ratings among the British public – -3 and -19 respectively, when subtracting those with a negative opinion from those with a positive one – unlike the high popularity of Prince William (+60) and Charles III (+36).

    If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 to connect with a trained counselor or visit the NSPL site. The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide also provide contact information for crisis centers around the world.

    Sign up for CNN’s Royal News, a weekly dispatch bringing you the inside track on the royal family, what they are up to in public and what’s happening behind palace walls.

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  • What’s gone wrong at Beyond Meat | CNN Business

    What’s gone wrong at Beyond Meat | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN Business
     — 

    A slew of problems have stalled the growth of Beyond Meat, once a darling of Wall Street whose top product became synonymous with plant-based burgers.

    Sales have been declining, sliding 22.5% in the third quarter compared to the previous year, and the company has laid off over 20% of its global staff since August. After an extremely successful market debut in 2019, Beyond Meat

    (BYND)     has lost favor with investors. The stock dropped about 77% so far this year.

    Some of the problems can be attributed to broader industry challenges. In the grocery store, interest in plant-based meats has waned as consumers, faced with inflation, focus on shopping for affordable basics.

    At the same time, restaurant traffic is dipping. Cash-strapped customers are pulling back on dining out, making Beyond’s foodservice business more vulnerable. And Beyond is far from the only company to lay off staff as a possible recession looms.

    But Beyond is facing some unique challenges.

    The company recently parted ways with three members of its C-suite, one of whom allegedly bit someone’s nose. A recent LA Times report called into question the hygiene of a Beyond Meat facility in Pennsylvania, though the company stands by the cleanliness of the plant, saying that its “food safety protocols go above industry and regulatory standards.”

    Also, a promising partnership with McDonald’s

    (MCD)     has stalled in the United States. And fierce competition is squeezing sales, including in frozen, plant-based chicken, a category that is growing while refrigerated plant-based meat sales falter.

    The company’s plan is to focus on cash flow and profitability rather than growth, and become more strategic in its restaurant and marketing initiatives, among other things.

    “Despite the current headwinds facing our business and category, we remain confident in our ability to deliver on the long-term growth and impact expected from our global brand,” a Beyond Meat spokesperson told CNN Business in response to a request for comment.

    “They’ve got a big task ahead of them,” said Peter Saleh, restaurant analyst at financial services firm BTIG. Next year will be about “trying to get their financials in order to a place where they can sustain themselves,” he added. “It’s a tall order.”

    Last year, Beyond Meat announced a strategic partnership with McDonald’s, including working with the burger chain on the McPlant, a plant-based burger.

    Since then, the McPlant has been added to the McDonald’s menu permanently in some European markets.

    In the US, McDonald’s

    (MCD)     tested out the burger in some locations. But it hasn’t added the item to the menu, and it’s not clear if or when that will happen.

    “I don’t think it’s totally off the table, but I’m not sure that it’s going to be [Beyond’s] saving grace at this point,” said Saleh.

    Beyond has also lost its spot on the Dunkin’ menu. The coffee chain enthusiastically rolled out a breakfast sandwich with Beyond sausage nationally in 2019, but stopped working with Beyond last year.

    McDonald's tested the McPlant, but has not added it permanently to US menus.

    Beyond still has plenty of partnerships with restaurants, but many of them are limited-time tests.

    “In the last 12 months, we have had 25 trials for permanent menu launches with nine distinct products,” said Beyond CEO Ethan Brown during a November analyst call discussing the company’s third-quarter results.

    Brown positioned the launches as long-term investments, saying they won’t generate big sales in the short term but should pay off eventually. But getting a permanent menu spot might be challenging, noted Kathryn Fenner, principal at foodservice consulting firm Technomic.

    “Even if they sell, say 30 to 40 of these plant-based burgers a day … that still pales in comparison to their traditional proteins,” she said, speaking about plant-based burgers in general. And these days, making a limited-time offer permanent is a tough sell because operators have been slimming down their menus, she noted.

    Meanwhile, Burger King continues to sell the Impossible Whopper nationally. “We haven’t been experiencing what Beyond Meat and some of the other brands in the space have reported,” said Impossible foods spokesperson Keely Sulprizio. Impossible is private and is not required to share its sales data publicly.

    In the grocery store, Beyond is facing a swell of competition.

    Beyond has embraced competition in the past. But now, rivals are interfering with its bottom line.

    “We believe that healthy competition within plant-based meat is a good thing as it brings investment in marketing to the category,” said Brown during the November analyst call.

    “However, in the current environment, we are not seeing this benefit,” he said. “Instead, more companies are pursuing the same or fewer consumers.” Brown said Beyond is the leader in refrigerated plant-based meat, and that he expects some brands to pull back or consolidate in the future.

    It’s true that the plant-based meat pie is smaller these days. Retail sales of meat alternatives fell about 12% in the year through November 6, according to data from IRI. Ground plant-based meat fell about 19%, and patties were down 30% in that period.

    But frozen chicken alternatives are growing. Strips and cutlets sales increased about 16% and nuggets jumped nearly 28%.

    “Frozen plant-based chicken is the largest single subcategory in all of plant-based meats and continues to grow at a double-digit pace,” said Brown during the analyst call. “So we are pleased to be expanding our presence of additional chicken items.”

    Beyond Meat introduced plant-based chicken strips in retail in 2014, but pulled the product in 2019. It launched a retooled version, Beyond Chicken Tenders, in stores in 2021, and has built its plant-based chicken portfolio since then.

    But in the few years Beyond’s product was off the market, new entrants rushed into the space.

    Nuggs, a plant-based chicken nugget made by startup Simulate, has made a splash online thanks to its bold packaging over the last few years and has been expanding in retail.

    Daring, another plant-based chicken company, launched its product in the US in 2020. Daring’s chicken alternative became available at Whole Foods last year. Impossible and other legacy brands have offerings, as well.

    “Plant-based chicken is a good growth category,” said Saleh. “I would have liked to have seen [Beyond] double down.”

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  • Forget smartwatches, consumers are snapping up these quirky alternatives | CNN Business

    Forget smartwatches, consumers are snapping up these quirky alternatives | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    In 2015, the same year Apple introduced its smartwatch, a Kickstarter campaign launched for a very different kind of wearable device: a wellness-tracking ring called the Oura.

    Seven years later, the Apple Watch is the most popular wearable device while other similar products from Google and Samsung also dominate the wearables market. But something notable is underway: products like Oura, which look and sometimes function markedly different from more mainstream wearables, are gaining renewed traction.

    The Oura ring ($399) experienced a spike in sales during the pandemic, and has seen continued momentum this holiday season, CEO Tom Hale told CNN Business. It provides sleep tracking data without needing to wear a smartwatch to bed and can detect subtle changes in body temperature. It also has no screen. Earlier this year, the company announced it had received a $2.55 billion valuation and has since rolled out partnerships with Gucci, Strava and other brands.

    The ring is among a small but increasingly buzzy group of alternative wearable devices that people are gravitating toward right now, including a fitness band tracker with no screen and headphones that don’t need to be put in the ear. Some of the demand stems from shifts during the pandemic, as consumer interest in health monitoring surged. People turned to activity trackers, smartwatches and other devices to keep tabs on their steps, vital statistics and more. Many were also willing to experiment with different form factors, as long as they provided accurate data and were still comfortable – a trend that continues today.

    “The funny thing is that most of these devices have been around for a while but have slowly built a name for themselves in recent quarters,” said Ramon Llamas, a research director at IDC Research. “But it takes time for word of mouth to spread.”

    The devices may also tap into a desire to get the benefits of wearable trackers without necessarily having a screen or device on their body at all times.

    Take the WHOOP band, a health tracker without a screen that first came out in 2015. It has a very specific focus on workout recovery, resting time, training and coaching. Founder and CEO Will Ahmed told CNN Business this year’s Cyber Monday was its largest sales day ever.

    “It wasn’t that long ago that people only wore a health monitor if something was wrong. Now, we’re seeing people take a much more proactive approach to their health,” he said. “This trend has continued even as the pandemic subsides.”

    Like Oura, the WHOOP is a subscription-based device and targeting a more niche audience. It’s pricy, too: $480, including a two-year subscription plan.

    The WHOOP band

    “The challenge is that most of these devices are vying for single-digit market share behind the market leaders, [such as Apple and Samsung],” Llamas said. “That’s why it is key to have a well-differentiated segment that you can serve almost exclusively. Companies like WHOOP have been successful because they focus on athlete rest and recovery so well, and those are key factors for many athletes today.”

    Ahmed said the product is evolving to support this growing interest in health by adding new features related to pregnancy, stress and deeper biometric monitoring. In August, WHOOP announced it raised $200 million in a funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, giving the company a valuation of $3.6 billion.

    Health tracking devices continue to take on new shapes and sizes, too, including some that don’t require being worn at all. In September, Amazon showed off a non-wearable sleep tracking monitor, Halo Rise, which sits on a nightstand and tracks breathing patterns while the user is asleep. Meanwhile, some companies like Withings let users slip sensors under the mattress to collect sleep data.

    There’s also a shift in demand for what is arguably one of the original wearables: headphones.

    Bone conduction headphones, which like the Oura have been around for years, are also “having a moment,” according to Steve Konig, head of the research department at the Consumer Electronics Association. Rather than sitting inside or on top of the ear canal, bone conduction headphones rest in front of the ear, leaving it uncovered. They transmit audio along the user’s bones and jaw to the ears instead of directly into the ear canal. The headphones also feature a soft band that runs behind the upper portion of the neck to secure it in place and minimize sound distortions.

    Bone conduction headphones by Shokz.

    At the same time, the exposed ear allows users to pick up on sounds and the environment around them, crucial for safety when doing activities such as riding a bike or jogging. Unlike earbuds, there’s also less concern about it popping out of your ears.

    Shokz ($125) pioneered bone conduction headphones, but the market has since expanded with other brands offering similar designs. Open earbuds – such as ones designed by Sony and Bose – feature a similar design that leaves the ear canals completely open so that the user can hear the outer noise. But some audiophiles say the sound quality on bone conduction headphones and open earbuds is less than stellar.

    “In the past 10 years, audio innovation in general has soared because of the introduction of new features, such as noise cancellation technology, built-in wireless capabilities and more,” Konig said. “Now, people own multiple pairs of personal listening products for different locations and use cases; some leave them at the office, others prefer bigger, beefier ones on airplanes. They also make a great holiday gift because, in the grand scheme of gift giving, they’re fairly reasonable to buy.”

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  • Pence says he supports banning abortions for nonviable pregnancies | CNN Politics

    Pence says he supports banning abortions for nonviable pregnancies | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Former Vice President Mike Pence said abortion should be banned when a pregnancy is not viable, according to the Associated Press.

    “I’m pro-life. I don’t apologize for it,” Pence told the AP in a recent interview. “I just have heard so many stories over the years of courageous women and families who were told that their unborn child would not go to term or would not survive. And then they had a healthy pregnancy and a healthy delivery.”

    CNN has reached out to the Pence campaign for comment.

    Pence strongly opposes abortion and has been perhaps the most outspoken Republican candidate about the issue as many of his GOP rivals have avoided staking out a clear position on abortion.

    During a CNN town hall in Iowa last month, Pence said he supports a federal abortion ban including exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. He also backs federal legislation limiting the procedure and has called on other 2024 GOP candidates to support a 15-week national abortion ban.

    Pence told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer back in March that he would support legislation restricting abortion to six weeks of pregnancy. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law in his state that banned abortion at six weeks while President Donald Trump has suggested the legislation was “too harsh.”

    Clinicians use ultrasound results and measure pregnancy hormone levels in order to determine “whether a pregnancy is viable beyond the first trimester,” according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

    Pregnancies that are deemed unviable regardless of gestational age include tubal ectopic pregnancies and early pregnancy loss, according to the ACOG, which can be deadly for the pregnant person. There are cases, such as “genetic or isolated structural abnormalities in which essential structures do not develop properly,” in which survivability is poor and patients may choose to end their pregnancies or give birth with palliative care options, the ACOG notes.

    Since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, several women have shared their harrowing stories of trying to obtain medically necessary abortions in states that have greatly restricted the procedure. One Texas woman told CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen that she nearly died after her water broke four months into her pregnancy, putting her at high risk for a life-threatening infection. Doctors in Texas had to wait until the woman was sick enough so they felt legally safe to terminate her pregnancy and then bring her to the ICU after she started developing symptoms of sepsis.

    A Christian conservative, Pence views the “cause of life” as “the calling of our time.”

    “As your President, I will always stand for the sanctity of life and I will not rest and I will not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in the land,” he said in his presidential campaign announcement last month.

    Pence has called for more support and resources for women in crisis pregnancies and advocated for adoption as alternatives to abortion.

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  • Iowa governor signs 6-week abortion ban into law | CNN Politics

    Iowa governor signs 6-week abortion ban into law | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law Friday that bans most abortions in the state as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

    “This week, in a rare and historic special session, the Iowa legislature voted for a second time to reject the inhumanity of abortion and pass the fetal heartbeat law,” she said in remarks ahead of signing the bill at the Family Leadership Summit.

    The law, which is effective immediately, comes after Reynolds ordered a special legislative session last week with the sole purpose of restricting the procedure in the state. But it is already facing a legal challenge after a group of abortion providers in the state filed a suit to try and stop the law.

    The bill, which passed the state’s Republican-controlled legislature earlier this week, prohibits physicians from providing most abortions after early cardiac activity can be detected in a fetus or embryo, commonly as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.

    It includes exceptions for miscarriages, when the life of the pregnant woman is threatened and fetal abnormalities that would result in the infant’s death. It also includes exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rapes reported within 45 days and incest reported within 140 days.

    While the bill language makes clear it is “not to be construed to impose civil or criminal liability on a woman upon whom an abortion is performed in violation of the division,” guidelines on how physicians would be punished for violating the law are left up to Iowa’s board of medicine to decide – leaving the potential for some vagueness in how the law ought to be enforced in the interim.

    Iowa joins a growing list of Republican-led states that have championed sweeping abortion restrictions in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

    Reynolds’ push for abortion restrictions in the state comes weeks after Iowa’s Supreme Court declined to lift a block on the state’s 2018 six-week abortion ban, deadlocking in a 3-3 vote whether to overturn a lower court decision that deemed the law unconstitutional.

    “The Iowa Supreme Court questioned whether this legislature would pass the same law they did in 2018, and today they have a clear answer,” Reynolds said Tuesday in a statement following the bill’s passage. “The voices of Iowans and their democratically elected representatives cannot be ignored any longer, and justice for the unborn should not be delayed.”

    Abortion rights supporters have been speaking out against the abortion ban in the state. National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison called the ban the “latest show of abortion extremism from MAGA Republicans.”

    “Governor Kim Reynolds just signed a cruel abortion ban into law among a crowd of extremists who cheered as Iowan women’s abortion rights were stripped away,” Harrison said in a statement Friday.

    Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups, including National Right to Life and Iowa Right to Life, praised Reynolds and the law’s supporters in the state legislature for the abortion ban.

    “We will continue to advocate for life and will not stop fighting until abortion becomes unthinkable,” Kristi Judkins, executive director of Iowa Right to Life said in a statement. “We want to see lives saved and women no longer placed in harm’s way because of abortion.”

    This story has been updated with additional information.

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  • North Dakota governor signs law banning nearly all abortions in the state | CNN Politics

    North Dakota governor signs law banning nearly all abortions in the state | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Republican Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota signed a near-total abortion ban bill into law Monday.

    Senate Bill 2150, which passed in the state’s legislature last week, defines abortion as “the act of using, selling, or prescribing any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman.”

    The law is one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the US and only allows exceptions for rape or incest within the first six weeks of pregnancy.

    Exceptions are permitted in the case that the procedure is “deemed necessary based on reasonable medical judgment which was intended to prevent the death or a serious health risk to the pregnant female.”

    Efforts to treat an ectopic or molar pregnancy would also be permissible at any stage of pregnancy under the law.

    Abortion rights activists have furiously objected to similar bans, saying most women do not know they are pregnant at six weeks.

    The bill joins other GOP-led legislation aimed at restricting abortion access that has become law in a post-Roe v. Wade world. Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio and Texas have also passed six-week abortion bans, sparking legal challenges.

    North Dakota’s new law follows a legal battle over a 2007 trigger law that was blocked by a district judge last year.

    The state’s Supreme Court upheld that ruling in March.

    The trigger abortion ban was set to take effect last August and would have made it a felony to perform an abortion in the state but it did allow exceptions in cases of rape or incest.

    With the trigger ban on pause, North Dakota law had allowed abortion up until 20 weeks or more post-fertilization.

    In a statement to CNN, Burgum said SB 2150 “clarifies and refines existing state law which was triggered into effect by the Dobbs decision and reaffirms North Dakota as a pro-life state.”

    Physicians who violate the new law could be charged with a felony. In addition, an abortion can’t be performed until a woman is offered the opportunity to see an “active ultrasound” at least 24 hours before the scheduled procedure.

    Any physician who fails to comply could face a misdemeanor charge.

    Last week, Burgum signed a bill banning gender-affirming care for most minors with the possibility of a felony for health care professionals who provide it.

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  • First US senator to give birth in office offers heartfelt Mother’s Day message: ‘You’re what keeps this country strong’ | CNN Politics

    First US senator to give birth in office offers heartfelt Mother’s Day message: ‘You’re what keeps this country strong’ | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the first sitting US senator to give birth while in office, offered a heartfelt Mother’s Day message on Sunday, celebrating moms nationwide for “growing the next generation for our nation.”

    “Hang in there, sister. We’re in this together, and nobody has perfect work-life balance, everybody struggles, and so do the best that you can,” the Democrat told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

    “You’re what keeps this country strong.”

    Duckworth and her husband, Bryan Bowlsbey, are the parents of two daughters, Abigail and Maile. Abigail was born while Duckworth was serving in the US House as a Chicago-area congresswoman.

    In 2018, after giving birth to Maile, Duckworth became the first US senator to cast a vote on the floor with her newborn by her side.

    Her vote came just one day after the Senate changed long-standing rules to allow newborns on the chamber floor during votes. The rule change, voted through by unanimous consent, was done to accommodate senators with newborn babies and lets them bring children under 1 year old onto the Senate floor and breastfeed them during votes.

    “It feels great,” Duckworth told reporters at the time. “It is about time, huh?”

    The Illinois Democrat on Sunday spoke about Democratic efforts to pass legislation to address rising child care costs.

    “Families spend as much as a quarter to half of their income on child care, and there’s no way for working families to survive under those burdens,” Duckworth said.

    “We keep trying,” she added when asked by Bash about finding bipartisan solutions.

    Duckworth is a retired Army lieutenant colonel who was a helicopter pilot during the Iraq War. She was the first female double amputee from the war after suffering severe combat wounds when her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down.

    Duckworth served in the Obama administration as an assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs. She was first elected to the US House in 2012 and the Senate four years later.

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  • Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia, Carter Center says | CNN Politics

    Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia, Carter Center says | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Rosalynn Carter, the former first lady of the United States and wife of former President Jimmy Carter, has dementia, the Carter Center announced on Tuesday.

    “The Carter family is sharing that former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia. She continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones,” the center announced. Additional details about Carter, 95, were not immediately provided and the Center said it did not expect to comment further.

    The Center said that, in sharing news of Carter’s diagnosis, it helped to “increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor’s offices around the country.” As first lady, Carter made mental health advocacy her platform and formed a presidential commission on the matter during her time in the White House, a legacy that continues today.

    President Carter, 98, began home hospice care in February after a series of short hospital stays.

    The Bidens have “stayed in touch” with the former president’s team to “ensure that their family knows that they are certainly in the president and first lady’s thoughts,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a Tuesday press briefing.

    At an event in Norcross, Georgia, last week honoring the former president, President Carter’s former UN ambassador, Andrew Young, described the former president to WSB-TV as being in good spirits during a visit with him last month.

    “They’re coming to the end,” the Carters’ grandson, Jason Carter, said at the event. “He’s going to be 99 in October, but right now, it’s sort of the perfect way for them to spend these last days together at home in Plains. They’re together, and they’ve been together for 70-plus years.”

    Rosalynn Carter traveled across the country and the world as first lady in support of breaking mental health stigmas.

    “Since 1971, Rosalynn had been a champion of mental health issues, and her leadership in this cause continues even now,” President Carter wrote in “White House Diary,” an annotated account of his time in the White House published in 2010.

    Carter continued, “She mounted a worldwide crusade to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and helped persuade the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control to include mental health on their agendas.”

    Dementia is a broad term for an impaired ability to remember, think and make decisions, according to the CDC. People with dementia may have trouble with memory, attention, communication, judgment and problem-solving, and visual perception beyond typical age-related vision changes.

    Dementia is not a normal part of aging, according to the National Institute on Aging, but about one-third of all people age 85 and older may have some form of dementia.

    This story has been updated with additional background information.

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  • New US Army regulation could result in more soldiers failing body fat assessments | CNN Politics

    New US Army regulation could result in more soldiers failing body fat assessments | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    As the US Army moves to a new way to measure soldiers’ body fat, officials acknowledged Wednesday that some soldiers who had previously passed under the old regulations may now fail under the new.

    The Army is changing its tape test – a method to measure soldiers’ body fat by taking the circumference of various parts of a soldier’s body with a measuring tape. The tape test, an often-dreaded practice among soldiers, is used when soldiers’ weights do not fall within the mandated body mass index screening table.

    Previously, men were taped around their neck and abdomen, while women were taped around their neck, waist, and hips. Now, all soldiers regardless of gender will be taped in one area – around the navel – to calculate their body fat.

    Many soldiers had cheered the Army’s efforts to update its Body Composition Program when the study started in 2021.

    But Holly McClung, a lead researcher on the Army’s Body Composition Study that resulted in the change, told reporters Wednesday that more soldiers will fail the new test.

    Army data provided to CNN showed that 34% of people were passing the previous version of the tape test when they should have failed. The new test is expected to align with the regulations and lead to more failures, the data said.

    The change is a potential concern considering that soldiers who fail to meet the weight standards can be separated from the service, after several months of attempting to get within their weight standard.

    Asked about concerns over more soldiers potentially failing because of the updated body composition study, Sgt. Maj. Christopher Stevens, the senior enlisted leader of the Army’s personnel office, told reporters on Wednesday that the Army is “putting everything on the table to really look at how we can ensure that we continue to assess and retain quality.”

    The tape test practice has long been criticized as outdated and inaccurate, particularly as the Army shifted to a new fitness test that introduced more weightlifting than the old test, sparking concerns that the body assessment wouldn’t account for gaining muscle mass.

    The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the measurement of waist circumference can help predict who may be at higher risk of developing obesity-related health problems like diabetes and heart disease, but it is not a diagnostic tool to determine body fatness or health.

    Indeed, the Army said in March that soldiers “with a high volume of lean muscle mass were still at risk of failing the body fat assessment.” So the Army made an exemption for soldiers who scored a 540 out of 600 total points on the Army Combat Fitness Test, saying that those soldiers would not need to be taped. The exemption requires a minimum of 80 out of 100 points earned in each of the six fitness tests.

    “As soldiers leverage all domains of Holistic Health and Fitness and strive to reach their maximum potential, our policies should encourage their progress, not constrain It,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston said at the time.

    McClung said Wednesday that efforts by the Army to link data of body composition to soldiers’ performance is “kind of groundbreaking.”

    “And what we hope is that over years to come, maybe the bar will get heightened and that it won’t be a 540 it’ll be a 550, it’ll be a continuous moving benchmark because the soldiers will become more fit,” she said.

    For the next year, soldiers will have the option of using the previous measuring methods if they fail the tape test under the new regulations. If a soldier fails both, they have the option of requesting another assessment using specific machines that use X-ray or other methods to measure body fat.

    Soldiers who still weigh outside the required standard for their gender and height are enrolled in the Army Body Composition Program, which is meant to help them lose weight and get back within standards. Army regulations say they will be provided “exercise guidance” by a fitness trainer in the unit and meet with a registered dietitian.

    Soldiers who fail to get within standards after six months can be separated from the service.

    McClung said Wednesday that those who had been inaccurately passing would not be “necessarily separated from the Army.”

    “We want to help them,” she said, “we want to put them on a health promotion track, work with some dietitians and some trainers, and bring them up to standards.”

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  • Iowa House passes 6-week abortion ban in special session called by GOP governor | CNN Politics

    Iowa House passes 6-week abortion ban in special session called by GOP governor | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Iowa’s state House passed a bill Tuesday night that would ban most abortions in the state as early as six weeks into pregnancy, acting quickly in the special session ordered by GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds with the sole purpose of restricting the procedure in the state.

    The bill now heads to the Senate, where it must earn approval before it can move to Reynold’s desk for her signature.

    Senate File 579 prohibits physicians from providing most abortions after early cardiac activity can be detected in a fetus or embryo, commonly as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.

    The bill includes exceptions for miscarriages, when the life of the pregnant woman is threatened and fetal abnormalities that would result in the infant’s death. It also includes exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rapes reported within 45 days and incest reported within 140 days.

    The state House voted 56-34 largely along party lines to advance the measure following a roughly 12-hour day that saw the measure move through rounds of consideration and debate. Debate in the state Senate continued late into Tuesday night.

    The bill would immediately take effect with Reynolds’ expected signature.

    However, while the bill language makes clear it is “not to be construed to impose civil or criminal liability on a woman upon whom an abortion is performed in violation of the division,” guidelines on how physicians would be punished for violating the law are left up to Iowa’s board of medicine to decide – leaving the potential for some vagueness in how the law ought to be enforced in the interim.

    “There may or may not ever be rules promulgated,” said Iowa Senate President Amy Sinclair, a Republican, amid several questions from Democrats on the floor. There were no legal penalties for physicians added in the bill, she said.

    “As far as clarity, this is about as clear as mud,” Democratic state Sen. Molly Donahue said on the floor.

    Reynolds last week called for Iowa’s legislature to convene for the special session “with the sole purpose of enacting legislation that addresses abortion and protects unborn lives,” weeks after Iowa’s Supreme Court declined to lift a block on the state’s 2018 six-week abortion ban, deadlocking in a 3-3 vote whether to overturn a lower court decision that deemed the law unconstitutional.

    The new bill and its 2018 predecessor are nearly identical, though the latter was not enacted immediately, granting the board of medicine time to flesh out how it planned to administer the law.

    Democratic backlash to the bill and Reynolds’ special session grew throughout the day, with state House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst saying in a statement, “Women are not free when they cannot make their own healthcare decisions. And after today, women won’t be free.”

    Iowa’s Senate Democratic Leader Pam Jochum said in a statement that her Republican colleagues were “ignoring Iowans in their rush to pass an extreme ban” and that “their actions today threaten the health and futures of all Iowa women.”

    “This extreme Republican power grab infringes on the personal freedom of every Iowa woman and girl. There are women alive today who will not be alive in six months because of this law,” Jochum added.

    Iowa’s position as the first-in-the-nation caucus state for the coming GOP presidential primary has thrust its state politics onto the national stage, with Republican candidates jockeying for the favor of its voters.

    Former Vice President Mike Pence posted his support of the bill on Twitter Tuesday night, writing, “Grateful to see Iowa Republicans and Governor @KimReynoldsIA Standing For Life! Pro-Life Americans are Cheering You On!”

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