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Junney Baeza Dager, M.D., Joins Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute as a Nonsurgical Spine Care Physician
August 31, 2026 – Junney Baeza Dager, M.D., has joined Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute at Baptist Health Brain & Spine Care as a nonsurgical spine care physician. Board-certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation with specialized expertise in spinal cord injury medicine, Dr. Baeza Dager focuses on helping people with neurological conditions improve their function, […]
American Cancer Society adds Guardant Health's Shield blood test to colorectal cancer screening guideline
'By making colorectal cancer screening more accessible with a blood-based option in conjunction with other established methodologies, we can get people screened.'
Exhaling may speed up reaction times
Scientists testing potential treatments for sleep apnea made an unexpected discovery. How quickly people react may depend on whether they’re breathing in or out.
As AI political deepfakes go viral, lawmakers struggle to keep up – 2 states’ laws show limits of what they can do
Most states require warnings on AI-generated political ads, but studies show these disclosures do little to alter people’s willingness to share the content. Most states have legislated election deepfakes by requiring a warning 28 states require disclosures on the media
'Law and Order: SVU' star Mariska Hargitay condemns Cornell rape case
Mariska Hargitay is joining the chorus of people demanding accountability for a former Cornell University student's alleged rape.
Kentucky warns of health insurance enrollment scams
FRANKFORT – State officials are warning Kentuckians to be on the lookout for scams that affect the annual health insurance enrollment period, which is currently underway. Many people will apply […]
Ticked Off! @negative political ads
See what upsets people and what occasionally makes them happy
Cannabis users were twice as likely to commit violence, review finds
A review of more than 265,000 people found that cannabis use was associated with higher rates of both committing violence and becoming a victim of it. The researchers say the link is significant but does not prove cannabis itself is the cause.
Can death be reversed? New science is testing where life really ends
Death sounds absolute. Once the heart stops, blood stops circulating and oxygen no longer reaches the brain, most people assume there is a clear point beyond which nothing can be recovered. Modern res...
Boston 25 News
In Somerville, a unique partnership between city leaders and a local business is creating just that type of space, while also helping young people explore new interests, develop skills, and prepare...
Debt service and the Pentagon. Private equity and the politics of the US housing market. The return of black lung disease & the Franco-Prussian War in color.
Thank you for opening your Chartbook email. RALPH BALSON. 1890—1964. Oil and enamel, signed. Source: Gavekal This going to hurt - the two 7s in the US: diesel and mortgage rates Source: Gavekal In the US housing market, costs are soaring and the role of corporate, private equity-backed buyers is high on the mid-term election agenda. HEY READERS, THANK YOU for opening the Chartbook email. I hope it brightens your day. I enjoy putting out the newsletter, but tbh, what keeps this flow going is the generosity of those readers who clicked the subscription button. If you are persuaded to click, please consider the annual subscription of $60. It is both better value for you and a much better deal for me, as it involves only one credit card charge. Why feed the payments companies if we don’t have to. Subscribe It is striking how, since 2020, big banks have dropped out of the political spotlight in the US. For contributing subscribers only. Subscribe Rates of the lung disease pneumoconiosis among working US coal miners have risen to levels not seen in nearly 40 years Source: Bloomberg Chinese Clean Technology Exports For contributing subscribers only. Subscribe Ralph Balson (1939) Portrait of Grace Crowley Cole, G. O. & Haseman, S. M., (2023) “‘The Substance of Paint’: Class and Materiality in the Work of Ralph Balson”, Open Library of Humanities 9(2). Ralph Balson (1890–1964) was an English plumber and house painter who emigrated to Australia in 1913 and subsequently became a key member of Sydney’s artistic avant-garde. He is credited with having the first solo exhibition of purely abstract painting in Australia in 1941. Despite his role in developing Australian non-objective painting, Balson remained principally a house painter, working on his art practice at weekends. In 1955 he retired on a state pension and became a full-time artist. Balson’s artistic education and methods were critically shaped by his working-class background. He did not travel abroad until 1960 and was an avid auto-didact. His materials, palette, techniques and compositional strategies were likewise informed by his trade. Balson’s profession as a painter-decorator made him conspicuous within the predominantly middle-class Sydney art scene, though his painting partner Grace Crowley considered it an advantage in their pursuit of constructive painting. This paper explores the impact of Balson’s trade on his trajectory towards pure abstraction. While his art was at odds with the predominantly figurative mode of class-conscious art in Australian Modernism, we argue that it is embedded in the experience of class through its creative adaptation of labour into aesthetics. Source: OLH Svetlana Alexievich, The Art of Oral History No. 1 Paris Review Issue 257, Fall 2026 Interviewed by Elena Kostyuchenko INTERVIEWER How were you able to go to Chernobyl? Did you need special papers? ALEXIEVICH It was a time of chaos. They let me right into the zone. … More than anything, there was confusion. Adamovich [Ales Adamovich, the Soviet Belarusian writer], I remember, persuaded Gorbachev to send in the scientists, who showed up without even bringing their shaving kits. They were told that there had been an explosion at a nuclear power plant, but for some reason they thought that they’d be there for only a day or two. The first time I went was several months later, and people kept telling me about things they didn’t understand—how the fishermen couldn’t find worms, because they’d burrowed deep into the earth, how the milk wouldn’t curdle at the cheese factories. The honeybees wouldn’t come out of their hives. The evacuations started, I think, in the first month. The old women hid, they wouldn’t leave. I mentioned radiation to one of them and she said, “I’ve seen that radiation, all right! It’s yellow with green in it. I saw puddles of it in my garden, and I told the other women, and we ran and looked, and she had it in her garden, and the other one, too!” God, it was wild, the way the mind made sense of it. There was a story going around about Gorbachev telling the scientists to show him the radiation. “We can’t, it’s invisible.” “But I want to see it!” I also ran into the soldiers who’d been flown in on helicopters from Afghanistan. I asked them, “What are you doing here with your machine guns?” They said, “We’re collecting the radiation, that’s what.” So you had some of them running around with their guns, others out in the village washing off firewood or burying soil in the soil. These were the kinds of things that exploded our worldview. They made you realize that culture was just a chest filled with old manuscripts. There were no books in there that could help me. Our philosophers turned out to be useless when faced with the unprecedented. Derrida, Baudrillard—philosophy fell silent. What was happening? How would we live with it? That’s when I decided it simply needed to be witnessed. Which is what I did. INTERVIEWER I wanted to ask about how you talk to people. … ALEXIEVICH Yes, we sit and we talk—about what interests me and about life in general. About love, about everything in the world. That way, what comes out is three-dimensional. If you cut straight to the part you need, which is what journalists do, it won’t be interesting, and it won’t be the truth, either. Not the whole truth. INTERVIEWER Do people always open up when you ask questions, or can questions get in the way? ALEXIEVICH You have to ask questions, of course. Your job is to scour away the banality and return people to their true selves, to make them face what they rarely tap into. With every new person, you have to find a new way to do it. When you ask an interesting question or you share what happened to you, you help people really think about what they’re saying and not just repeat whatever they’ve picked up from the newspaper. But not everybody is capable of it, not everyone wants to put themselves through that. Either the chemistry starts to kick in or it doesn’t. A person might be wonderful, but you can tell that the conversation just isn’t going to happen. You can try to push it, but it will be a product of your own intellect, rather than of that mysterious connection. Life doesn’t come from the mind. Some people I can call two years after our last conversation, and they’ll say, “Oh, Svetochka! I think of you all the time,” and we’ll start talking again. With others, that won’t happen. That doesn’t mean they’re not extraordinary people, just that you can’t connect with them. They might have some insight, but you don’t have the right antenna to pick up their signal. Source: The Paris Review Colorized Franco-Prussian war … the ruins of Strasbourg with a French photographer and his mobile dark room. Ralph Balson (1961) Matter Painting If you’ve scrolled this far, you know you want to click: Subscribe
Rural MAHA Followers Say Trump Health Policies Haven’t Reached Their Communities
President Donald Trump has championed sprawling health policy changes under the Make America Healthy Again movement, but a KFF-Associated Press survey of rural voters found people aren’t seeing the initiatives reach their communities.
Democratic lawmakers call for protections over third country deportations after ‘indefensible’ court ruling
Lawmakers say ‘Congress must step in’ after supreme court ruled to allow Trump officials to resume deporting people where their lives could be in danger
When “DEI” research is cut, what happens to community health?
“I’m just going to run to the grocery store!” How many times have we said this without thinking about it? For most of us, it's usually an easy walk or a short drive to get the cheese we forgot. In reality, though, 13% of the U.S. population (about 39 million people) live in “food deserts,” which means living more than a mile from a grocery store in urban areas and more than 10 miles in rural areas. This was the case for people in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, where a quick run to buy food wasn’t an option. In the 1930s, federal maps marked the Hill as "hazardous" for lending, a practice known as redlining that steered investment away from Black neighborhoods. Decades of disinvestment followed, and residents went about 30 years without a nearby grocery store. This made it hard to keep healthy eating habits and contributed to chronic disease. When a grocery store finally opened in the area in 2013, researchers saw the opportunity and launched the PHRESH study, which initially compared the health of participants from the Hill district to those in the Homewood district. Over time, the study expanded to other factors such as brain health and Alzheimer's risk. Residents like Roderick Blair overcame initial hesitation to share their health data, trusting it would benefit their neighborhood. Then, in August 2026, the NIH abruptly canceled the study’s grant, citing that it was “subjective” and fell outside their scientific scope—an effect of the administration’s interpretation of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Research like PHRESH can help determine what changes in a neighborhood actually improve health, so cutting it has left that question unanswered. Other canceled studies have examined health issues like maternal health, preterm birth rates, or sickle cell disease. Courts have reversed some of these grant cancellations, but not all of them. If we really want America to be healthier, research into why some communities get sicker than others is absolutely critical. The law that created the federal minority health research institute passed with bipartisan support in 2000. But these days, as evidenced by grant cancellations, the political shift in attitudes toward DEI means we often lose access to the health information we need to help all communities thrive. DEI vs. health equity vs. equality and the overlap (or lack thereof) The letters “DEI” evoke very different reactions depending on who you are in the U.S. DEI programs can address gender, disability, age, and other factors, but the fiercest debate centers on race. For some people, hearing DEI brings to mind policies that may have cost them a job or a college seat because they are white. Others see DEI as a matter of justice: a way to expand representation and opportunity for groups that have been historically marginalized. Both perspectives are rooted in lived experience, and both center on the same question: whether hiring and admissions practices are fair. Hiring and admission practices, though related, are not the same as health equity. Health equity is “the attainment of the highest level of health for all people.” It’s the recognition that some groups of people consistently experience worse health outcomes than others. For instance, black mothers die from pregnancy-related complications at three times the rate of white mothers, and rural Americans are more likely to die from issues such as heart disease and cancer. Equity is also often conflated with “equality,” which leads to misunderstanding of how to actually best support communities. Equality ignores the fact that we aren’t all starting life with the same resources or circumstances, whereas equity is about helping people get what they specifically need based on their situation so they have the chance to achieve the same outcome as anyone else. For example, if every household in Pittsburgh got a $30 grocery gift card, that would be equal. But during the decades the Hill District went without a grocery store, that card wouldn’t have helped much. Equity means making sure everyone can actually access a store in the first place. DEI policies can overlap with health equity in many ways. For example, they may help expand access to quality education and stable, well-paying jobs, which in turn can provide health insurance, safer housing, and improved finances—all of which can reduce health disparities. But to make that happen, we first need data to identify disparities in communities and to develop solutions that effectively address them. What we lose when the research stops Community data is important to health equity because: You can’t fix what you don’t see: Data show which communities are most affected by health factors such as infection, heart disease, and cancer. If we don’t know what is happening and where, then we can’t develop interventions to help. Poor health costs everyone: Chronic disease is expensive—both to the individual person and to the overall economy. Understanding what groups of people are most at risk allows us to develop interventions that can save everyone money. Disparities exist for many communities: Health equity includes disparities that exist due to a whole host of factors, such as family background, race and ethnicity, rural vs. suburban residence, gender and sexual orientation, veteran status, disability, and lower income. This means many Americans can benefit from research into differences in health outcomes and how to improve them. Trust is easy to lose: Some participants in the PHRESH study were initially vocal about their concerns about participating. But that trust was earned because the researchers kept their promises and centered their work on the community. When projects are canceled mid-cycle, researchers have no choice but to leave behind communities they had promised to help. This hurts trust in the long run. It’s also a very inefficient use of resources, and it will take significant time and effort to redo the work when the government realizes this work is important again. How should we talk about health equity? This is hard because the words “equity” and “DEI” are currently very politically charged. So whether you’re a public health professional, teacher, or friend, how we talk about this topic matters. The right framing can help people who might otherwise be skeptical see why health equity research is important and deserves funding. Here are some suggestions to help your conversations: Choose your words strategically: Who are you trying to reach with your message? Are they likely to be resistant to terms like “diversity” and “equity”? If so, find alternative words to use to still get the message across. It is frustrating to be in that position, but the goal of improving health is too important not to try to make inroads. Sometimes simply reframing can help the message reach those who need to hear it. Focus on the problem: The terms “health equity” and “DEI” are abstract. Make it more specific. For example, discuss differences in maternal death or ways to improve health outcomes in rural communities. These still have equity at their core but will likely be better understood by those you’re talking with. Focus on systems: Disparities exist, but if they are communicated poorly, people can mistakenly think the issue is the individual’s fault. Disparities are largely driven by failures of the system—such as lack of access to health care and a long legacy of racism. When discussing the disparities, frame them around these systemic issues to ensure blame isn’t placed on the individuals impacted. Tell stories: Personalize these policies by using stories from those impacted that connect to the data you’re trying to convey. This helps make the policies and outcomes more concrete and meaningful. Bottom line Some communities end up sicker than others. That’s just the facts. We can argue about the best way to do that research, but canceling it simply because it may be linked to DEI doesn’t make anyone healthier. It just leaves communities like the Hill district behind. And in the end, it causes us all to move backward in our efforts to improve health in this country. Love, EM Big thanks to MacKenzie Isaac & Legairre Radden, who reviewed this piece and generously shared their expertise and lived experience to help improve it. Dr. Liz Marnik, PhD, is Executive Director of The Evidence Collective and a science communicator and immunologist working at the intersection of public trust, science, and public health. To discuss communication training on topics like health equity and storytelling, email Liz at liz@yle.health or learn more on our website. Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. The YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Your Local Epidemiologist is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Drugs are widely used to sedate dementia patients. Her sons wanted to keep her off them
Potent sedating medications are often used on agitated people with dementia in long-term care facilities despite federal efforts to discourage them. A clash over whether to drug a Michigan woman illuminates the wrenching decisions families and guardians face.
Montana starts enforcing Medicaid work requirements on Oct 1. Patients are confused
In most states, people with Medicaid coverage will have to prove they're working, volunteering or studying, starting Jan. 1. But Montana is starting that early, and it's sowing confusion and anxiety.
What's behind HHS claims that gender-affirming care 'may' radicalize
The report is the agency's latest effort to chip away at trust in established health care models for transgender people. Critics say it frames transgender identity as illegitimate or even dangerous.
Zohran Mamdani’s Campaign May Have Accomplished Something More Fundamental Than Moving Policy Debate to the Left
It’s the people, stupid.
State health officials back mental health first aid training at colleges, universities
By Skye Crawford Key Takeaways: When she was growing up in rural southeastern North Carolina, Alicia Freeman saw people whose mental health and substance use concerns went untreated because her area had very few resources to help them. Freeman, who’s been at UNC Chapel Hill since 2019, said watching her community members struggle is part […]
Your feed is political: Social media changes how candidates reach young voters
In 2026, politicians no longer need a press conference, television interview or newspaper story to reach voters. With one post, they can deliver a message directly to millions of people — including young voters who increasingly encounter news online.
An overview of Hampton Roads
Home to 1.79 million people across 17 localities, Hampton Roads is Virginia’s second most populous region, just behind Northern Virginia. It also boasts
Trading cards: A hobby-turned business
“‘I shouldn’t be walking into a Target, [going] to the Pokémon section and [worrying] I’m about to get tackled by somebody because I just wanted to get a pack of cards. I feel like it drives people away from the community.’”
ChatGPT maker wants to be the App Store for AI as safety concerns grow
OpenAI on Tuesday launched a less expensive artificial intelligence (AI) model and tools that run continuously, as it aims to reposition ChatGPT as an app store for AI. Other companies, such as Adobe, will be able to offer their software directly within ChatGPT, which is now used weekly by 1.2 billion people.– “Disappoint Wall Street” – As speculation swirls around when OpenAI might go public, Altman told reporters on Tuesday that the company was "investing more in safety, security, alignment,
Graffiti in Turners Falls causes damage, business owners perplexed by messages
What struck several people in downtown Turners Falls when their businesses were defaced with graffiti is — it seemed targeted, but misplaced. In this western Massachusetts village in the town of Montague, the numerous messages were connected to the violence in Gaza, to children dying, and notably to the eating of brunch.
New mental wellness platforms that meet people where they are
Aura Health and Manifest are making mental health more personalized and accessible.
HealthPartners, Essentia Health Announce Merger Plans
Minnesota-based healthcare systems HealthPartners and Essentia Health announced today that their boards of directors have approved an affiliation agreement to combine their organizations. The combined organization will be called HealthPartners and would employ 45,000 people. It would include 22 hospitals and 135 clinics spanning the Twin Cities, northern Minnesota, and…
Mental health professional speaks on Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
Suicide Prevention Month can draw attention to just how many people struggle with mental health and suicidal thoughts.
Decades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis
For people who support peace and good relations, the spectacle of riot police separating communities conjures the strife that once plagued the province.
OpenAI's latest features take direct aim at the app store model
OpenAI is building out the pieces of an alternative to the traditional app store model, turning ChatGPT into a place where software can be discovered and used by people and AI agents alike.
You Can 'Get Ready' for iPhone Duo Pre-Orders on October 12
People who plan to purchase an iPhone Duo can go through the "Get Ready" process starting on Monday, October 12. The new detail was added to the iPhone Duo product page yesterday, according to Reddit. Get Ready lets users select a preferred color and capacity, confirm their carrier status, choose accessories, choose an AppleCare+ plan, select a trade-in, add a payment method, and set a shipping and billing address.
Confessions of a political handicapper
ANALYSIS — What if we got it all wrong? That’s the question that usually goes through my mind at this point in every election cycle. Because 25 years of experience in analyzing elections has made me more humble, rather than more cocky. Political handicapping has a way of knocking people down a couple of notches. […]
Supreme Court lets Trump continue deporting people to 3rd countries while justices consider policy
Under a series of often-secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported some 25,000 people to more than two dozen countries, including Liberia and Guyana.
Medicaid is about to end in NC for thousands of refugees
Thousands of refugees and people granted asylum who are living in North Carolina will lose their Medicaid coverage due to cuts made in the 2025 federal spending bill.
Klobuchar's knowledge of Midwest college sports comes in handy during hearing
"I think people should have their facts right before they call someone a dirtbag and not get the teams wrong. You have the teams wrong, sir," Klobuchar said,
What smart people say about Anthropic's leaked IPO prospectus
Anthropic is planning its massive IPO after the November midterms, Reuters reported. Market watchers and techies are weighing in.
Countries of the Americas advance a health sector digital highway to connect care across borders
PAHO Directing Council briefing highlights regional progress toward a trusted digital health ecosystem where secure information can accompany people across services and borders.
The business of living longer is booming in Dallas
New procedures and tests can help people live a more "optimized" life, but they are usually so expensive that they remain largely inaccessible.
PAHO and Panamerican Trauma Society join forces to expand care for injured people during emergencies in the Americas
Five-year collaboration will strengthen training and preparedness, expand access to specialized clinical expertise, and promote knowledge exchange to help countries rapidly scale up trauma and emergency care during disasters and other health emergencies.
'Digger' review: Tom Cruise swings big and misses in Alejandro G. Iñárritu's latest
Alejandro G. Iñárritu's political satire is sure to have people talking, at least?
Independent documentary 'People vs. Politics' to open ninth annual WYO Film Festival
SHERIDAN — The WYO Film Festival will present a feature-length independent documentary "People vs. Politics" as its opening night film Thursday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. at the WYO Theater.
Queen Latifah Says Biopic May Need 3 People to Play Her
The hip-hop icon wants performers who can capture her journey from Dana Owens to Grammy winner, Oscar nominee, producer, and entrepreneur.
Why young people are turning to peers for mental health support
OK Today reports that 47% of young people prefer talking to peers for mental health support, yet many lack the skills to handle such discussions.
Scientists discover how excess dietary salt drives 'lean MASH'
Fatty liver disease is commonly associated with obesity, yet a growing number of people with normal body weight develop a severe form of the condition.
Business Council of Douglas County announces business spotlight and lifetime achievement awards
STATELINE, Nev. – The Business Council of Douglas County honored businesses and people that have made a positive mark on Douglas County with the Business Spotlight Awards and the Lifetime Achievement Awards at its 34th...
Scientists Say Earth Needs to Shrink by Billions of People By 2200. But I Think We’re Already Screwed.
Fossil fuels have hidden the true cost of 8 billion people. Here’s what could happen when the illusion ends.
Students Discover a 309-Million-Year-Old Creature Was Actually a New Species, and Name It After Their Moms
The ancient creature had been mistaken for another species for years — until two Field Museum interns took a closer look and gave it a very personal name
Ukraine’s Academy of Sciences warns against Russian cooperation after attack
The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine has urged the international scientific community not to “restore or legitimise institutional cooperation with Russian state scientific and educational structures,” after a Russian drone hit its Presidium building in central Kyiv, killing at least two people and injuring several others. The drone strike took place in the early afternoon on September 28 while staff were working.The academy called the strike, one of several Russian attacks on Ukraine’s capital using jet-powered drones in recent days, an act of terrorism. “It is a strike [. . .] on the very idea that knowledge, research, and the search for truth should serve life, not its destruction,” it said in a statement.The academy thanked the global scientific community for its solidarity following the attack and warned against any temptation to normalise scientific relations with Russia.“Science cannot exist outside of moral responsibility. There can be no ‘ordinary scientific cooperation’ with a state that kills people and destroys scientific institutions of another country,” it said.“We urge not to create opportunities for Russian state institutions to return to the international scientific community as if nothing happened. There can be no ‘science beyond politics’ when science is attacked with weapons.”After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Europe almost entirely cut institutional ties and joint programmes with Russian science, although personal academic contacts are still ongoing.Related articlesRussia widens targeting of European research centresHow geopolitical rifts cut scientific collaborationThe European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA), for instance, continues to exclude the Russian Academy of Sciences from its network.ALLEA condemned the latest attack as a “barbaric act” and part of a broader “systematic targeting of Ukraine’s scientific and cultural infrastructure.” This is a “deliberate attempt to erase the conditions under which free inquiry, knowledge, and democratic life are possible,” it said in a statement.Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, more than 4,650 educational institutions across Ukraine have been damaged, and a further 423 have been destroyed, according to ALLEA.National academies across Europe joined ALLEA in condemning the attack. “Science is about the pursuit of knowledge for the benefit of humanity, so this is an attack on civilisation itself,” said Paul Nurse, president of the UK’s Royal Society.Attacks on scientific, university and cultural institutions “are attacks on the foundations of society and constitute a clear violation of international law,” wrote the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.The presidents of the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine also released a joint statement condemning the attack and pledging to continue to support the Ukrainian research community.The targeting of the Ukrainian academy prompted outcry from European leaders. “Today, science became a target for Russia,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on social media.“These strikes are the latest illustration of the Russian regime’s hostile contempt for science and truth,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
What business owes the next generation
Business leaders play a role in creating opportunities for young people.
Lesbian Bar Project Co-Founder: Purity Politics Could Destroy Our Remaining Spaces
Subscribe As a professional lesbian and Massachusetts native, I’ve recently been asked by a lot of folks what I think about the saga unfolding at Last Ditch. The now-viral story, first reported by The Boston Globe, centers on a Western Massachusetts lesbian bar that lifted its mask requirement for one night a week to help drum up business. The decision ignited an intra-queer controversy that has been feasted on by media outlets across the political spectrum—from the New York Post to LGBTQ Nation—and is even reportedly being eyed for a Hollywood adaptation. Apparently nothing is more entertaining than a bunch of lesbians and queers fighting with each other over KN-95s. What has been lost in all of the chatter and media coverage is the very real possibility that Last Ditch, which just opened in April 2025, will have to close its doors. The venue’s one remaining founder, Jackie Matellian, revealed in a community Zoom meeting that she’s working four jobs, is now solely responsible for the bar’s $50,000 business loan and is struggling to keep up with the bills. So as we laugh about the controversy’s similarity to a “Portlandia” skit and how one of the bar’s founders left to enroll in clown school, we forget that yet another lesbian bar is facing an existential crisis—and this time the call is coming from inside the house. In 2020, my friend Elina Street and I created The Lesbian Bar Project, an Emmy-, Webby- and GLAAD Media Award-winning docuseries and initiative that tells the stories of lesbian queer bars around the world. We were moved to act because at the time there were only an estimated 16 lesbian bars in the United States, and the pandemic threatened to bring that number down even further. There are now more sapphic bars than there were just before the pandemic—about 36 of them in total—but this is down from approximately 200 in 1980. Maybe that doesn’t mean much to you, but for the millions of sapphics living in the U.S., this number is calamitous. As the world laughs at lesbians and sapphics, I want to take a second and tell you what I feel when I walk into one of these bars, which are all unique and irreplaceable in their own way: I feel seen. Sometimes I think Cubbyhole in New York City’s West Village neighborhood knew I was gay before I did. When I walked in there for the first time, before I was even out, I was transfixed by the colorful array of tchotchkes hanging from the ceiling and how the women standing next to me were completely unafraid to express their desire for one another. I knew the minute I was ready to come out, I had a home. I also felt the joy of a new couple falling in love at Seattle’s Wildrose, the quiet confidence of a short king lining up her shot at the pool table at Ginger’s in Brooklyn and the kick of cayenne pepper in Julie Mabry’s crawfish at Houston’s Pearl Bar. Subscribe Lesbian bars don’t just serve lesbians; they serve queer folks across the spectrum, including bisexual, pansexual and trans people. As Elina and I traveled across the U.S. and Europe and to parts of Latin America to document the bar owners, staff and patrons that make up the ecosystems of these spaces, we also became uniquely acquainted with the factors that threaten their existence: gentrification, wage gaps, sexism, environmental disasters, gun violence, rising insurance premiums and political administrations working to annihilate queer people and their families. Lesbian bar owners, like all leaders and entrepreneurs, are imperfect. There have been significant issues over the years at lesbian bars: employee harassment, racism, lack of accessibility, sexual assault and transphobia. All bar owners should be held accountable and should listen to their communities to evolve into safer and more equitable spaces. I also acknowledge my privilege: I am able-bodied, white, cis and from a family system that loves me for who I am. Not everyone has that. Queer people, especially trans and bisexual people, are suffering from disproportionately high levels of depression, and our mental health system isn’t equipped to support them. Immunocompromised people and long COVID are real, and many of my friends are suffering to this day. The people with the least safety net are often the ones for whom a bar closing costs the most. And yet, as we’re seeing with Last Ditch, the queer community often lashes out at each other. It’s also the mainstream media taking the internal conflict and making a mockery out of it, distracting from the real possibility that this bar could close due to financial pressures. A bar that many people loved and needed is facing extinction. Perhaps it’s safer to dissent with one another than with the larger forces trying to eradicate us, but in doing so, we risk destroying the few spaces we have left. Due to the constraints of purity politics—some in good faith, some not so much—lesbian bar owners, almost all of whom are queer women themselves, are forced to be everything for everyone, similarly to how women are forced to be everything for everyone. By asking these bars to uphold impossible standards—standards very few other third spaces are asked to consider—we all end up losing. I want to move as a community toward dialogue, compassionate dissent and collaboration to make our spaces better with the goal of keeping them OPEN and thriving, rather than destroying them from the inside with expectations that are arguably unattainable. Subscribe While I have your attention—for this fleeting second of the news cycle—may I urge us to spearhead a way to keep these small businesses afloat without attacking our own community along the way? Bar owners are left with an impasse: They want to be community-centered, but they also have to make money to keep their doors open. Sometimes they might make business decisions that don’t work for everyone—and that’s partly because different patrons have different priorities and want different things—but these owners deserve the opportunity for productive dialogue**.** We have to work with them and with each other to keep our spaces open, to keep them growing. Lesbian bars raised me into the queer woman I am today. One thing I think about as I reflect on the six years of work we’ve done to document these spaces is that shared, unspoken language I have with a stranger the moment we both walk into one of these bars: the nod, the ease, the not having to explain ourselves. I don’t want to lose that, and neither should you. If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button: Donate
Alex ‘Big Red’ Dougherty prepares for the Baton Rouge stop of his Day Made DJing tour
Making people’s day is nothing new for Alex ‘Big Red’ Dougherty. Now, he’ll get the chance to do it in person as his Day Made Tour makes its stop in Baton Rouge. The tour will stop in Baton Rouge on Sept. 30 at Chelsea’s Live, bringing Dougherty to LSU for a night he said will...
Primetime Review: That’s Entertainment?
If you decide to see Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime, it’s important to remember the title as you watch. Yes, this is a biopic of sorts about Chris Hansen and his work on To Catch a Predator, but it is more accurately about the quest for fame and using people’s trauma to attract ratings. True crime entertainment continues to have a prominent place in many people’s television habits, and this film asks us to examine what that means both for those whose stories have become our viewing pleasure and those of us watching. Primetime starts as Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) is told that his show, To Catch a Predator, is moving to a 9 PM spot opposite LOST. Chris and his producer, Andie (Merritt Wever), see this as an opportunity to make the program even more sensational, looking for bigger, more horrific predators. As part of their plan, they hire a young actor, Dan Plum (Skyler Gisondo), to play “Decoy Dan,” the person who greets the would-be predators who were catfished by Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher). Oppenheim, along with writers Ajon Singh and Luke Dittrich, is less concerned with an accurate retelling of the show as much as they are interested in interrogating the why of it all. That decision sometimes leaves Primetime feeling less like a biopic and more like a satirical look at the nature of programming like this. Visually, the movie is impressive. Oppenheim uses light and color effectively to cast Hansen as both villain and savior. Pattinson plays Hansen in an almost comical manner, as we see him wake his two young sons to watch a clip of the show, just to brag that he was moving into a prime spot on television. Even Andie struggles to accept a “nice” job when there is so much more fame to be found producing salacious true-crime content. Wever does an excellent job showing how the hunger for fame is not just in front of the camera, but in every aspect of the production. The heart of the movie, and the standout performance, belongs to Gisondo as Dan Plum. He is someone who just wants to get enough hours to be admitted into the Screen Actors Guild, and stumbles into this job without really knowing what it is. Throughout the film, we watch him suffer one trauma after another, ending with him witnessing the suicide of a District Attorney who is about to become the next unwitting star of Hansen’s show. If there is a sympathetic character in Primetime, it is Decoy Dan, and Gisondo plays him brilliantly. If you’re a fan of programming like To Catch a Predator, then Primetime will probably make you feel uncomfortable, and I think it’s worth sitting with that feeling and examining why we turn on shows that display the worst of humanity while we judge from our couches. Yes, it is correct to want to see people who would hurt children brought to justice, but perhaps it shouldn’t be something that we watch as entertainment. Rating: 3.5/5 This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on September 25, 2026. MacGuffin or Meaning: Film & TV Reviews and Reflections is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Confusion and Angst Follow State's Early Rollout of Medicaid Work Rules
In most states, people with Medicaid coverage will have to prove they’re working, volunteering, or studying starting Jan. 1. But Montana put the rules into effect early, and they’re sowing uncertainty and anxiety.
Will Boston Blue Hill Ave biz owners be displaced?
Blue Hill Ave. business owners worry that the corridor's redevelopment isn't for them, it's for the wealthy white people on their way.
Commentary: Appalachian Ohio and its people don't exist to be exploited by politicians and industry. Stop.
Data centers will not make Appalachian Ohio a “benefit zone,” but a sacrificial zone. Appalachian Ohio doesn’t exist to be recklessly exploited by politicians and industry, and after so many decades of abuse, they need to stop.
New Microsoft data innovations unlock what only your business knows
Every organization has knowledge that is uniquely its own: the way its business operates, the data it has built over time, the expertise of its people and the context behind thousands of everyday decisions. As powerful AI models become more widely available, that unique business intelligence matters more than ever. The difference will come from...
France: Student protests over conditions at French high schools fuel political clashes
Over 160 people were arrested and dozens injured after student protests in France descended into violence. With a presidential election approaching, senior politicians are pointing fingers at each other.
Trump Slashes Fuel-Economy Standards in Blow to Climate, Health, EV Market
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Trump Officials Revise Biden-Era Sex Discrimination Rules
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Palmer Luckey says AI won't make a founder's job easy
The Anduril founder said AI can automate technical work, but founders will remain on the hook for legal issues, people, and key business decisions.
7-9- years-old
7-9- years-old – from left, Laken Tyler Thomas received the award for prettiest hair and people’s choice. She is the nine year-old daughter of Nathan and Steffanie Thomas; second runner-up
‘An opportunity to compete’: DC-area small businesses connect with big institutions
Small minority-owned construction businesses in the D.C. area connected with large contractors at an event at Georgetown University’s Capitol Campus Monday.
Bobby Kotick’s lawyers sent me a bad email (and later apologized)
The message I had received was unsettling—for a moment. Then it was just really confusing. Back on January 20 of this year, at 5:15pm ET, I received an email with the subject line “Legal Correspondence re Bobby Kotick.” It was from the law firm Clare Locke, a firm I’d heard had been emailing reporters in recent years about their coverage of Kotick, the former, longtime CEO of Activision Blizzard. The letter was threatening. A lawyer from the firm introduced themselves as “defamation counsel to Bobby Kotick.” They issued a “demand” that I “correct” a Game File article I’d published a week prior. The article that had irked them had been a scoop of sorts. I’d written about a a 2022 lawsuit brought by a Swedish pension fund, AP7, over Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. The suit wasn’t news, but I was first to review and report about Kotick’s extensive pushback to the fund’s claims. The pension fund’s core contention was that the sale had been rushed by Kotick to avoid the consequences of sexual misconduct scandals swirling around the company in 2021. (He’d not been accused of misconduct himself in those suits, to be clear.) As I wrote at the time, Kotick had denied the allegations of the rushed sale. Beyond that, Kotick used a December 2025 reply to the Swedish fund’s lawsuit to assign blame for those workplace scandals, the bad press and even for the AP7 lawsuit. I’d found Kotick’s arguments novel and newsworthy. Across nearly 3,000 words, I explained Kotick’s take: that a Swedish gaming company was behind the Swedish fund’s lawsuit (the Embracer group; they denied it); that the Microsoft-Activision deal was not rushed and was secured at what Kotick felt history had proven to be an optimal price for shareholders; that he believed a conspiracy of people at unions government agencies, PR firms and the media had spun up claims of widespread workplace misconduct at Activision Blizzard in 2021. The article gave context for all of this, letting readers assess the claims and weigh their credibility. As I’d later write to Kotick’s lawyers: I would be surprised if you could point to any news article about Bobby Kotick in the last five years that has spent more of its wordcount articulating his point of view. He is welcome to do an interview with Game File any time. Nonetheless, there they were in my inbox that Tuesday evening: Clare Locke, the law firm that secured a $787.5 million settlement from Fox News over false statements about voting machines. They were emailing me, threatening that failure to comply with their demand could support a claim of “actual malice,” a legal standard for libel. Unless… Unless, they said, I added a key paragraph to my article. This was a paragraph that I already knew Kotick’s lawyers had been emailing reporters about for at least a year, and it was a paragraph that was already in my article. The paragraph they wanted is from a 2023 settlement that California’s Civil Rights Department struck with Activision Blizzard. The settlement had closed a two-year-old lawsuit over alleged sexual discrimination at the game maker. The paragraph basically said that claims of systemic or widespread sexual harassment—or of execs like Kotick tolerating such behavior—had never been proven. I’d already seen proof that Kotick’s lawyers had pushed for the settlement’s language to be added to reports about 2021 sexual discrimination and misconduct lawsuits brought against Activision Blizzard by California and, separately, by the U.S. federal government (both suits were since settled). I knew that Kotick and his lawyers felt that the California settlement language should be mentioned in the same breath as references to an article he hated and denied, a November 2021 Wall Street Journal article claiming Kotick knew “for years” of sexual misconduct at Activision Blizzard. So, in the Game File article that Clare Locke emailed me about, in the interest of ensuring I was being fair and balanced regarding the person I was covering, I had already included the following excerpt from the California settlement [emphasis added in bold]: (Kotick has repeatedly pushed back against that November article in the Wall Street Journal, citing among other things, language from a court-approved consent decree as part of Activision’s 2023 $54 million settlement over the California suit. It states: “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations that: there has been systemic or widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard [or] that Activision Blizzard senior executives ignored, condoned, or tolerated a culture of systemic harassment, retaliation, or discrimination.”) On the evening of January 20, I was incredulous. How do you write a four page legal threat about a week-old article and miss this? While scrambling to also make my kids dinner, I wrote a lengthy reply to Clare Locke’s lawyers, basically asking them to cool it with the threats and to start making sense. In part, I wrote: I hope you can understand why I am having trouble understanding what you’re asking for, when the statement you’re demanding to see in Game File’s article already appears in Game File’s article. Actual malice, as you know, refers to a reckless disregard for the truth. I’m not sure what your argument is when my article already states your client’s position. Here is where I should remind you, the reader, that I am an independent journalist. I publish on Substack, and have availed myself of the Substack Defender program that provides writers on the platform with legal support. But I’m no Wall Street Journal or New York Times, nor even IGN or GameSpot when it comes to such things as, well, having a legal department. There are more fun things for me to do as an independent journalist than writing back to a powerful law firm representing a very rich person. On the evening of January 20th, I was just trying to cook some pasta, broccoli and chicken nuggets for hungry twins. Nevertheless, I wrote back to them. Two hours later, I got a reply. Summarizing: A lawyer for Clare Locke said they’d “reviewed an incomplete version” of my article and they “apologize for the confusion.” (My guess: Someone didn’t read past the piece’s paywall, even though they’d had a full week to scrounge up the funds to do so. What I’d published above the paywall was balanced, as was what came after.)1 That was almost that, but something about the situation bothered me. The letter had been marked “confidential.” I hadn’t agreed to that, and I disliked the idea that powerful people on the beat that I cover would act like they could unilaterally control what I might tell my readers about. On the morning of the 21st, having already gotten the powerful law firm to back off, I oh-so-wisely re-approached them with just one more thing. I thanked them for clearing things up the night before but noted that I’d never agreed to keep their letter confidential. I’m all for agreeing with a source to keep things off the record, but that’s the thing. We have to agree. You can’t just declare it. I’m not bound by that. I wrote to Clare Locke’s lawyer and said, in part: I trust the matter is resolved. It was disappointing to have to spend less time with my kids last night in order to address your legal letter. Family time’s precious. I will add, for clarity’s sake, that, while your letter stipulated that it was confidential, I did not agree to those terms. In the future, should you wish to communicate with me confidentially, I am happy to agree to classifying our communication as “off the record” prior to the actual communication—as is standard with any professional journalist. The firm’s lawyer replied, not directly addressing the confidentiality issue but asserting that the matter was resolved. Why I didn’t write about this until now In May, I told this story on an episode of Simon Parkin’s podcast My Perfect Console, but I held off on sharing it directly with Game File readers. I held off to avoid stepping on the toes of another reporter, the journalist Mikhail Klimentov. He’d interviewed me in the spring of 2025 about an investigation he was working on regarding Bobby Kotick lawyers pressing the media to add the California settlement language to stories referencing the 2021 lawsuits. And about how some outlets had changed their stories and how some simply deleted them. Initially, I was a third-party source for Klimentov’s reporting, providing on-the-record context about the state of the games media. I’d heard about the letters but hadn’t put the time into pursuing the story. I thought it was interesting, and I was glad he was covering it. When the outlet that Klimentov was going to run his reporting in dropped the story, I began talking to him about potentially publishing his reporting on Game File. This was tentative. Then, in January, when I got my own Clare Locke letter, I told Klimentov that I didn’t think it would make sense for me to publish him, not with me now being part of the story. I had my own version of this situation to tell. But I wished him well and said I’d refrain from telling my tale until he could get his reporting out there. Last Friday, Klimentov finally ran his investigation, in a nearly 48-minute video report for People Make Games. It covers various Clare Locke letters, how media outlets reacted to them and what to make of all this. His video weighs the merits of Kotick’s request and looks at some of the articles that were changed (one of which had a glaring error). I highly recommend watching it: (Note, I did some editorial consulting for a People Make Games video last year but nothing to do with this report.) While many outlets haven’t left any public evidence that they updated their Kotick coverage at Kotick’s counsel’s request, at least one has. Back in October 2025, the mainstream outlet Reuters applied the most transparent article update I’ve seen. On the 3rd of the month, they published an article about the state of the Swedish pension fund’s lawsuit. Days later, they added this: In an October 7 letter sent after publication of this article, Kotick’s defamation counsel disputed claims of widespread harassment at Activision. “Not a single investigation, court finding, verdict, or ruling ever concluded that there was any merit” to the allegations of widespread harassment at Activision, Tom Clare and Nick Brechbill of Clare Locke wrote. I’ve never added a statement to my article on Game File, because none was needed. Not for fairness’ sake, nor to meet any demands of Kotick’s lawyers. I’ve nevertheless wanted to be transparent with Game File readers. If someone powerful is questioning my reporting, is threatening a lawsuit over it… if that threat is part of a pattern involving other games media outlets and if, in my case, the whole thing ran into a ridiculous ditch, I want you to know about it. I also share this as a real example of how I handle threats to Game File. I stand up for my own reporting, even when it’s not comfortable to do so. (In that same category of standing up for the work I do, I’ll point to an incident in late August. Asocial media post I published to X/Twitter regarding reporting I did about Take Two and GTA VI was hit by bogus copyright claim by a firm working for the publisher. I pushed back and got it reversed; even while a bigger games media outlet let themselves be censored. This is the other reason I’m sharing this story: To emphasize that dealing with threats from powerful people is one of the costs of covering the video game industry independently and as fearlessly as possible. This is where you come in. Your support, through free and paid subscriptions (sign up here!), can help me keep doing that. It can ensure that I’ve got the back-up I need. And it can help make fiascoes like this even less of a worry, so I can spend my evenings dealing with more important things, such as making sure I steam the kids’ broccoli just right. 1 That pension fund lawsuit I wrote about in January has all but gone away. In May, the fund and Activision Blizzard owner Microsoft agreed to settle. Lawyers for the fund brokered a $250 million settlement for former Activision Blizzard shareholders. In the settlement, the fund’s lawyers changed their rhetoric. Where once they’d questioned the meaning of the California settlement language, they adopted a version of it for themselves. Several weeks ago, while seeking to get a court to sign off on the terms of the settlement, they proposed their fee for their work in the case: $60 million.
Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. is running for reelection. Some Democrats are questioning whether he should.
People close to Jones have encouraged him to reconsider seeking a new term and clear the way for State Rep. Morgan Cephas to run for Council’s 4th District.
Queen Creek chamber names Business Awards winners
The Queen Creek Chamber of Commerce recently honored the winners of its 17th annual Business Awards Dinner. “Each year, we’re reminded just how many people, educators and businesses are …
Scenes From the 2026 State Fair of Texas
Photographer Jason Janik documents the people, traditions, excitement, and well-earned naps of the Fair throughout its three-week run.
Food Safety Finds a Place Among ‘Kitchen-Table’ Political Issues
By Stephanie Armour The run-up to the midterm elections is turning into a food fight — literally. The summer was marred by a massive foodborne outbreak that sickened scores of people and the recall of tens of thousands of pounds of imported meat, turning the safety of the U.S. food supply into a ...
Food Safety Finds a Place Among ‘Kitchen-Table’ Political Issues
By Stephanie Armour The run-up to the midterm elections is turning into a food fight — literally. The summer was marred by a massive foodborne outbreak that sickened scores of people and the recall of tens of thousands of pounds of imported meat, turning the safety of the U.S. food supply into a ...
Angel Reese Is Becoming a PROBLEM for the WNBA
Remember when people questioned whether Angel Reese could become a legitimate WNBA superstar? That conversation looks ridiculous right now. Reese has been dominant in her first season with the Atlanta Dream, averaging 16.4 points and 12.1 rebounds while rewriting the record books. She became the first player in WNBA history to grab 500 rebounds in…
People Are Going Completely Wild Over Fortnite's FNAF Crossover Announcement
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California coalition trains thousands of election monitors ahead of midterms
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Opinion | Trump Revealed Something Essential About Elites
There are always elites. The people get to decide which ones rule.
CT Business Blend: Sept. 28, 2026
Hartford Business Journal’s Greg Bordonaro and WTIC’s Brian Shactman explore the people, companies and trends shaping Connecticut’s business scene every Monday at 8:30 a.m. on WTIC 1080 AM.
Scientists Studied A Teenager With One Of The Rarest Memory Abilities Humans Can Have. Here’s What They Found
People with highly superior autobiographic memory have incredible recall for events in their own lives.
Childhood cancer survivors face severe mental health challenges as adults
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Stanley Parable Co-Designer Perfectly Explains Why People Play 1,600 Hours Of Dota 2 And Still Hate It
This is exactly how I've felt
DR Congo Ebola emergency: Calls grow for urgent humanitarian access
Aid teams trying to keep deadly Ebola disease from spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are increasingly concerned about ongoing fighting and violence that has forced thousands of people to flee a displacement camp in the vast, resource-rich east of the country.
Deadly strike on Kyiv Science Academy as Russian jet-drones hit Ukraine
The Ukrainian capital’s mayor said 19 people had been injured in attacks on the city.
Fund Run Glow Lights Up the Night to Support Local Health Programs
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Equip Expo 2026 Tackles The 5 Greatest Business Challenges Facing Landscapers and Contractors Head On
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How a UTC professor is helping first-year chemical engineering students explore career paths
What does a chemical engineer do? How can a student prepare for medical or pharmacy school? Where can students find people and resources to help answer those questions? Dr. Bradley Harris, head of UTC’s Department of Civil and Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS), is helping students begin those conversations through A Moc’s First Year, a campuswide program designed to help incoming first-time, full-time undergraduates make connections to UTC, Chattanooga and one another.
In GOP Speaker Mike Johnson's district, the political mood is mixed for the party in power
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — The GOP's “Big Beautiful Bill” is rolling out in different ways across U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s home district — from steakhouse servers getting a tax break on tips to a community center where people line up for a free hot lunch as SNAP benefits are being cut.
How people are managing stress under political fatigue
Staying informed about politics while trying to reduce our anxiety isn't as easy as it looks.
They led protests against Netanyahu. Can they turn outrage into political power?
As Israel heads toward elections, protest leaders are running for parliament — and finding that bringing people into the streets is different from winning their votes
Honolulu Zoo Elephants Are Healthy, Active And Loved
Mari and Vaigai have also developed strong bonds with the people who care for them.
The dangerous assumption people make about aging — and how you can prevent a silent but potentially deadly disease
140,000 Missourians are at risk of losing Medicaid coverage under a new rule. One enrollee is suing
A new lawsuit challenges Medicaid regulations set to go into effect Jan. 1 that could hinder access to healthcare for people with chronic conditions. A Kansas City-based nonprofit says its client qualifies but struggles to clear administrative hurdles.
As World of Warcraft: Forever's beta popularity grows, Blizzard has yet again had to increase the server cap
Executive producer of World of Warcraft Holly Longdale broke the news, as people continue to hop in ahead of the beta release in November.
AI assessors says current science hasn't caught up to the safety measures people want
Anthropic and OpenAI say they are working with third-party evaluators to make sure their products are safe. Some evaluators caution that current AI science lags behind what people are calling for.
Airbus probes A321neo flaw as repair plan eases disruption
Airbus and Italy's Leonardo are investigating a glitch at a privately held coatings firm that triggered a quality alert affecting 500 of the planemaker's best-selling A321neo jets, people familiar with the matter said.
No solid evidence daylight savings time affects mental health, researchers find
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Chaplains and Commissars: An Analysis of the People's Liberation Army’s Political Work System and the Will to Fight
In future conflicts, Western forces can reduce the PLA’s will to fight by undermining belief in the chain of command and CCP more broadly.
Current and future RFK Jr. aides criticize his science-rejectionist vaccine views
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Taylor Swift Receives Inaugural Artist Director Honors at 2026 MTV VMAs as She Thanks Fans for Making Directing ‘So Rewarding’
Swift went on to premiere her new music video for “Patient Zero”
See the brilliance: Dunn artist creates and sells glass artwork that shines brightly
Cindy Akers-Gilford creates stained glass, fused glass, mosaics, handmade glass jewelry, pendants, suncatchers and other original glass artwork in her studio in Dunn, N.C. Photos provided by Cimply Broken.Self-made Artist and Founder of Cimply Broken, Cindy Akers-Gilford is helping people “see the brilliance” in all things with her glass artwork. Akers-Gilford started her business right after she retired from 20+ years as a civilian contractor at Fort Bragg. The official opening date for Cimply Broken was Nov. 8, 2021.“It’s been quite the adventure ever since. Not only did I have to learn how to manage a small business, but I’ve never taken a class in stained glass or anything I currently do,” shared Akers-Gilford. Her work includes stained glass, fused glass, mosaics, handmade glass jewelry, pendants, suncatchers and other original glass artwork.“I chose glass art just by happenstance. I saw a video on YouTube with a gentleman using plates and resin to make beautiful windows. I used that idea and created a simple picture frame-sized piece for myself. It was beautiful. I put it up in my window and pretty much forgot about it for a few days. Well, one beautiful sunny morning I went up to my studio, and the sun was rising and the light was shining beautifully through that piece. It was absolutely stunning. I thought that it was the perfect reflection of how God’s light shines through each of us. It was broken glass, so it changed ever so slightly as the sun continued to rise in the sky. I thought it poignant – like each of us – we all shine bright and differently in God’s glorious light, and we are all simply broken as well. We are all made beautiful in his light,” explained Akers-Gilford.The name of the business was inspired by the artist’s name and her faith-driven mission. “Simply became ‘Cimply’ as a play on my name and ‘simply’… and ‘Broken’ because we are all Cimply Broken – but each of us is beautiful,” added Akers-Gilford.Akers-Gilford sells her glass art at the Dunn Farmers Market when the weather is bearable, but mostly from her website at www.cimplybroken.com. “I enjoy getting lost in the creative process. I work out of my home, and I often compare my studio to Walmart returns after Christmas time. It’s hectic, busy and there are always at least 10 things being created simultaneously- it is fun!” shared Akers-Gilford. Her goal for the business is to continue to watch customers as they spot a piece of work from a distance and walk up to it in awe. “That is my biggest joy! I don’t speak to them until they speak – that is their moment to ‘See The Brilliance,’ which is my moniker,” shared Akers-Gilford. She also shared she would love to someday become part of an artist collective in Dunn.
12-year-old entrepreneur starts seed business
MARQUETTE — Ondine Bonk, a 12-year-old resident of Marquette, has started a business selling native clover seeds. Her business, Clover Lover, was started both as a way of making some money and as a way of helping the environment. “Clover has a ton of benefits for the earth, and people already know what it is,” […]
Why rehabilitation cannot be an afterthought in a health emergency: a new WHO toolkit is put to the test
When disaster strikes, saving lives is the priority. But what happens to the people who sustain injuries such as amputations, spinal cord damage, brain injury, or complex fractures if rehabilitation is not part of the response plan from the start? That question shaped a four-day training workshop held in Nadi, Fiji, from 14 to 17 April 2026, where 23 emergency managers, rehabilitation professionals, and partner representatives from 12 countries piloted a new World Health Organization (WHO) toolkit designed to help ministries of health build rehabilitation into their emergency preparedness planning.
What the movement to integrate the arts and health can teach us about making research matter
Moving research into action requires more than publishing evidence. Stories, images, trusted messengers and examples of uptake can build public acceptance, shift what people see as possible and help evidence become practice and policy
HSBC Private Bank's CEO In Optimistic Mood Over Business Growth, Strategy
The volatile market environment and changes wrought by AI and other forces aren't distractions but opportunities for private bankers to demonstrate their value. That's the stance of the HSBC Private Bank chief executive who was appointed at the start of this year.
Just One in Four People Trust Business Leaders as AI Adds to Global Trust Gap
Just 24% globally trust business leaders and only 23% trust AI chatbots, according to Ipsos, highlighting a growing leadership and AI trust challenge. Just 24% globally trust business leaders and only 23% trust AI chatbots, according to Ipsos, highlighting a growing leadership and AI trust challenge.
Fewer Than One in Four People Trust Business Leaders as AI Adds to Global Trust Gap
Just 24% globally trust business leaders and only 23% trust AI chatbots, according to Ipsos, highlighting a growing leadership and AI trust challenge. Just 24% globally trust business leaders and only 23% trust AI chatbots, according to Ipsos, highlighting a growing leadership and AI trust challenge.