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FDA approves new COVID vaccines

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved newly updated COVID-19 shots on Monday in an effort to give Americans some added protection ahead of a potential winter uptick in infections.Outside advisors for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday will recommend who should get the shots, which are manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. Once the CDC director signs off, the shots will be available to the public. "Vaccination remains critical to public health and continued protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death,” said Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, on Monday. “The public can be assured that these updated vaccines have met the agency’s rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality. We very much encourage those who are eligible to consider getting vaccinated.”The updated shots were designed to target the XBB.1.5 vari...

84-year-old woman rescued after hunters find her car 800 feet into drainage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (eastidahonews.com) — A woman was rescued thanks to the observant eyes of two hunters on Sunday morning after she reportedly drove off a ridge and into an 800-foot drainage area.On Sunday around 10 a.m., fifteen Bonneville County Search and Rescue volunteers, Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office Backcountry deputies, Idaho Falls Fire EMS, and Swan Valley Fire responded to Skyline Ridge in Bonneville County after a report from the hunters that they had spotted a car in a drainage area about 800 feet down from the ridge.The hunters also told dispatchers an elderly woman was inside the car.According to Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Bryan Lovell, the driver, an 84-year-old woman, had driven off the ridge possibly early in the morning or the previous night.“They were able to get her out of there. She was too frail to get up the steep embankment,” says Lovell.Search and Rescue says the woman was relatively unharmed but she was transported by ambulance to E...

Michigan State University football coach Mel Tucker suspended without pay amid investigation into reported accusation of sexual harassment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

(CNN) — Michigan State University announced Sunday it has suspended head football coach Mel Tucker without pay, less than a day after USA Today reported he has been under investigation about alleged sexual harassment.Vice president and director of athletics Alan Haller said at a news conference Tucker is the subject of an ongoing investigation that began in December. An investigative report was submitted in July and a formal hearing will take place the week of October 5, Haller said.According to the USA Today report, published Saturday night, Tucker is alleged to have made sexual comments and masturbated while on a phone call with Brenda Tracy, an advocate and rape survivor.Tracy reported the call to the university’s Title IX office, USA Today reported. “The idea that someone could know me and say they understand my trauma but then re-inflict that trauma on me is so disgusting to me, it’s hard for me to even wrap my mind around it,” Tracy told USA Today. “It’s like he sought me...

Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson was buyer who paid $3.5M for Theo Epstein’s Lakeview mansion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson and his wife, Chicago Red Stars forward Mallory Swanson, in late August were the buyers who paid $3.5 million to buy a six-bedroom Lakeview mansion from former Chicago Cubs President Theo Epstein.A Georgia native who previously played for the Atlanta Braves, Dansby Swanson, 29, has been a key part of the Cubs’ success this season. He signed a seven-year, $177 million contract with the team in December, which was the same month that the couple married. Mallory Swanson, 25, has been with the Red Stars since 2021.In Lakeview, sources confirmed to Elite Street that the Swansons were the buyers who, through a trust, purchased the 7,000-square-foot brick and limestone mansion from Epstein and his wife, Marie. Epstein is now a Connecticut-based consultant for Major League Baseball, and he and his wife last year paid $11.9 million for a six-bedroom, 8,155-square-foot mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut.The Swansons continue the Lakeview home’s...

Google’s search engine dominance is at the center of the biggest US antitrust trial in decades

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE (AP Technology Writer)The U.S. government is taking aim at what has been an indomitable empire: Google’s ubiquitous search engine that has become the internet’s main gateway.The legal attack will swing into full force Tuesday in a Washington D.C. federal courtroom that will serve as the battleground for the biggest U.S. antitrust trial since regulators went after Microsoft and its dominance of personal computer software a quarter century ago.The 10-week trial before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is expected to include potentially revelatory testimony from top executives at Google and its corporate parent Alphabet, as well as other powerful technology companies. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who succeeded Google co-founder Larry Page in 2019, will be among the most prominent witnesses likely to testify. Court documents also indicate one of Apple’s highest-ranking executives, Eddy Cue, might be called to the stand.The case against Google mirrors the...

On Nutrition: Tips for kids’ school lunches

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

Barbara Intermill | (TNS) Tribune News ServiceBefore I ever dreamed of having kids of my own, I was a consultant for the New Mexico Department of Education in Santa Fe. My job? To make sure the schools in our state were meeting federal guidelines for feeding wholesome meals to kids.Then I had kids of my own, who often chose to take their lunch to school rather than buy it.That was when my knowledge of foods that can optimize a child’s health came face to face with getting my kids to eat those foods.If you’re one of those parents, a good starting place is to know what kids actually need nutritionally. For example, the United States Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program is required to follow the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (www.dietaryguidelines.gov). The recommendations change every five years based on current nutriton research.Based on the 2020-2025 guidelines, five food components are required to meet a child’s nutritional goals: fruit, vegetables, gr...

Heat-related deaths are up, and not just because it’s getting hotter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

Phillip Reese | (TNS) KFF Health NewsHeat-related illness and deaths in California and the U.S. are on the rise along with temperatures, and an increase in drug use and homelessness is a significant part of the problem, according to public health officials and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Heat was the underlying or contributing cause of about 1,670 deaths nationwide in 2022, for a rate of about 5 deaths per million residents, according to provisional data from the CDC. That’s the highest heat-related death rate in at least two decades. Data from this year, which has been exceptionally hot in much of the country, is not yet available. The next-highest death rate was logged in 2021.Heat-related illness ranges from heat exhaustion, which causes heavy sweating and a rapid pulse, to heatstroke, which causes confusion, loss of consciousness, high fever, and in many of the severest cases even death. Heat-related illness can occur alongside and exacerbate other h...

Roth IRA conversion: Here’s everything you need to know before converting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

James Royal, Ph.D. | Bankrate.com (TNS)A Roth IRA is the best retirement account around, according to many experts, and it offers huge benefits such as tax-free income and the ability to leave tax-free money to heirs. Plus, because of its tax-free status, a Roth IRA gives you flexibility when it comes to taking retirement income.But what if you have another retirement plan? The good news is that you can convert plans such as a 401(k) or traditional IRA to a Roth IRA and take advantage of its range of benefits.“Converting to a Roth can be a great way to take advantage of historically lower tax rates and establish a tax-free retirement,” says Eva Victor, senior director of high-net-worth wealth planning at Northwestern Mutual. “Once you have a Roth IRA, it can produce tax-free income for years, even decades.”Here’s how to use a Roth IRA conversion to set up tax-free income for your retirement.What is a Roth IRA?A Roth IRA is a tax-advantaged retirement account. With a Roth IRA, you de...

US sets record for expensive weather disasters in a year — with four months yet to go

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

By SETH BORENSTEIN (AP Science Writer)The deadly firestorm in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia’s watery storm surge helped push the United States to a record for the number of weather disasters that cost $1 billion or more. And there’s still four months to go on what’s looking more like a calendar of calamities.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020. So far this year’s disasters have cost more than $57.6 billion and claimed at least 253 lives.And NOAA’s count doesn’t yet include Tropical Storm Hilary’s damages in hitting California and a deep drought that has struck the South and Midwest because those costs are still be totaled, said Adam Smith, the NOAA applied climatologist and economist who tracks the billion-dollar disasters.“We’re see...

US approves updated COVID vaccines to rev up protection this fall

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

By LAURAN NEERGAARD (AP Medical Writer)WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. approved updated COVID-19 vaccines Monday, hoping to rev up protection against the latest coronavirus strains and blunt any surge this fall and winter.The Food and Drug Administration decision opens the newest shots from Moderna and Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to most Americans even if they’ve never had a coronavirus vaccination. It’s part of a shift to treat fall updates of the COVID-19 vaccine much like getting a yearly flu shot.There’s still another step: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must sign off. A CDC advisory panel is set to issue recommendations Tuesday on who most needs the updated shots. Vaccinations could begin later this week, and both the COVID-19 and flu shot can be given at the same visit.COVID-19 hospitalizations have been rising since late summer although –- thanks to some lasting immunity from prior vaccinations and infections –- not nearly as...