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DMARC launches Thanksgiving meal box program amid record demand
The Des Moines Area Religious Council is seeking more than 200 volunteers to help distribute 1,400 Thanksgiving meal boxes to Greater Des Moines residents in need. The drive-thru distribution will take place Nov. 21 at the DMARC-ket Southside Food Pantry, 100 Army Post Road in Des Moines. The initiative comes as DMARC’s network of 13…
Arts & Entertainment Agenda, Oct. 23 to 29
‘Día de los Muertos,’ Oct. 7 to31 Celebrate “Dia de los Muertos” with a vibrant three-course meal, available Wednesday to Saturday through Oct. 31 at Toro Snowmass inside the Viceroy Snowmass, 130 Wood Rd. Led...
11 things to do around the Seattle area this weekend
From cheap meal deals to one last ride at Wild Waves, here are the latest local things to do around the Seattle area.
Food Industry Innovation: The Convergence of Science and Trends
Food industry innovation combines AI, culinary science, and local trends to deliver sustainable, convenient meals, writes Mildred Villegas.
Breakfast, Lunch, Or Dinner? Which Meal Matters Most For Brain Health?
New study shows a clear winner.
Best Trader Joe's items for meal prep, according to former employee
As a former Trader Joe's employee and longtime shopper, I know the chain well. Some of my favorite items are the soy chorizo and miso-ginger broth.
Hope Ministries seeks volunteers to deliver 4,500 Thanksgiving meals
Hope Ministries has opened volunteer registration for its annual Thanksgiving meal program, which plans to provide up to 4,500 free meals to people in need across the Des Moines area on Nov. 26. The organization’s greatest need is for volunteer driver teams to deliver meals on Thanksgiving Day. According to Feeding America, more than 60,000…
Add a Handful of This Fall Food to Boost Fiber and Antioxidants, Dietitian Says
In TODAY.com’s Expert Tip of the Day, a dietitian shares her favorite fall food to add a sprinkle of nutrients to meals.
Farmworkers’ health matters: South Africa looks to alternatives for chemical pesticides
Insects like fall armyworm or mealybugs can decimate food and commercial crops; like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, South Africa’s small and large farmers alike use synthetic chemical pesticides to control these and other pests. But about 385 million cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning are reported worldwide each year, according to the Pesticide […]
Memorial Health System receives $15,000 grant for Packaged Meal Program
The Food and Nutrition Services department at Memorial Health System has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Dickinson County to support the development of a new
Sizzle Dining exceeds 100,000-meal goal in milestone 10th year
Sizzle Dining, Southwest Florida's premier culinary fundraiser, surpassed its ambitious goal of selling 100,000 meals during its monthlong dining event, generating a record $105,655 donation for Blessings in a Backpack
7-Day Mediterranean Diet Meal Plan for a Healthy Gut, Created by a Dietitian
If you’re looking for a way to support your gut health, look no further. Follow this Mediterranean-diet meal plan created by a dietitian.
Inside the science and routine behind Maryland football’s strict nutrition regime
Team nutritionist Addie Quinn crafts meal plans and organizes team dinners up to months in advance to help players reach their individual fitness goals.
Heart doctor: Healthy school meals are heart health policy
Right now, far too many Virginia children lack consistent access to the food they need to grow, learn and thrive. The 2026 Virginia Hunger Study found that one in two (51%) Virginia households with…
'They cannot compete with the prices that fish factories will pay': How demand for fish meal takes priority over feeding people
In this excerpt from "Every Last Fish," author Rose George examines the deep-rooted problems of the regulations surrounding fish meal — a product that's supposed to come from the discarded scraps of dead fish, but in reality removes huge quantities of food from people in West Africa who need it.
SPECIAL REPORT: Tough Business
A string of vacant restaurant buildings shows that many restaurants in the region are struggling — and several are closing By Stefan Yablonski [caption id=attachment_11132 align=alignright width=401] Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill on Route 31 in Clay closed its doors in April. It had been in operation since at least 2008.[/caption] By their nature, most restaurants have a limited life. An astonishing 60% go out of business within three years of opening, largely due to fundamental flaws in the planning of the operation. But even restaurants that experience years of success almost always face eventual closure. The restaurant business is very hard and because of both personal factors and external factors beyond anyone’s control, restaurants don’t last forever. For many restaurants, age is a big factor, according to Kenneth Walsleben, professor of practice, entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises at Syracuse University. “The owners have been at it for 20 or 25 years, if not longer, they want some time to themselves,” he said. Such was the case for Jocko’s Famous Ritz Diner in Oswego. Jocko Reitz bought the building in the late 1970s from Robert Shapiro. However, when he stepped away from the business, it eventually closed. [caption id=attachment_11142 align=alignright width=402] For nearly 80 years, Vona’s Restaurant passed through three generations of family in Oswego. It closed its doors on Dec. 31, 2025.[/caption] For nearly 80 years, Vona’s passed through three generations of family in Oswego. Vona’s Restaurant officially closed its doors on Dec. 31, 2025, when no family member wanted to take over. It is on the market. The Ruby Tuesday in Oswego operated for about two decades before permanently closing in April 2026. The restaurant faced multiple temporary health department closures in 2024 and 2025 due to persistent fruit fly and foundation pest issues. Management posted a final closure notice on the doors in mid-April 2026 and the building was put up for sale. The same pattern has been happening in Onondaga County. The big building once used by Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill on Route 31 in Clay remains empty, more than six months after the restaurant closed its doors in April. It had been in operation since at least 2008. [caption id=attachment_11130 align=alignright width=401] Ruby Tuesday in Oswego operated for about two decades before permanently closing in April 2026.[/caption] Just down the road from Smokey Bones, the popular Outback Steakhouse closed in August 2024. Another restaurant took its place, La Cocina Mexican Restaurant, but it closed shortly after. The building sits empty. Other very popular restaurants in the northern suburbs of Syracuse have recently closed. Among them, Fireside by the River in Baldwinsville and Primo Nestico’s Bistro Bar in North Syracuse. “I haven’t really paid attention to the Syracuse area. There has always been some turnover, but there probably has never been a tougher time to be a restauranter than now. It’s just brutal,” Walsleben said. In the first year, roughly 20% to 25% of restaurants close or change hands, according to the National Restaurant Association. [caption id=attachment_11122 align=alignright width=401] Outback Steakhouse closed in August 2024. Another restaurant took its place, La Cocina Mexican Restaurant, but it closed shortly after. The building sits empty.[/caption] “Depending on what statistics you look at, you’ll find that any business has a high mortality rate in the first year. That is just the nature of entrepreneurship,” Walsleben said. “There are certain ones that are getting hit hard while others are more fruitful. “And when you look at the restaurant industry you have to factor in labor which is a large part — typically a third of your expenses — and those costs are going up. And there is always turnover which means investing money to train people. Then you’ve got food costs, which is also a third of the typical restaurant budget. Since the pandemic labor has gone up 41%, food costs have gone up 35%. That’s a big tight squeeze righty there. That’s two-thirds of your budget that has gone up 35% to 40% in the last few years. And then the only way you can make that work is to raise the prices.” The National Restaurant Association reports menu prices are up 36% since February of 2020. In a survey released by the association, more than eight in 10 restaurant owners reported that their food, beverage and labor costs are now higher than before the pandemic. You have to deal with the reality of are the customers willing to pay for that? Walsleben added. Restaurants historically have very thin margins; their profit margin is about 5%. “You have a third that goes into food, a third that goes into labor and about 28%, 29% that goes into everything else — overhead, insurance etc. So that brings you down to your 5% leftover,” he said. “Everything is going up. Customer expectations are going up and people aren’t going to spend that much more. So, you have a tight squeeze here,” Walsleben continued. “Restaurants who use delivery apps, they pay a fee to those guys. Those guys don’t work for free. So, you can kind of see where the squeeze comes from.” Stuck in the middle There are pockets of opportunity; the two extremes of the market can make a profit. But the middle gets squeezed out. “If you are a low-end fast-food kind of place, there is room for that. People have changed their budgets. They are still going out, but they are not spending more,” according to Walsleben. “The high end remains positive. If you have a restaurant that brings a specific experience … a great food product or you are catering to high end customers who aren’t so budget conscious, those patrons are going to expect a high-end experience. They expect excellent food every time. They are expecting excellent service. If you can meet those expectations there is room for you at the top. It’s just the guys in the middle are getting the squeeze from both ends. Tough competition, customer expectations, costs are up. Menu items, you can’t raise the prices as much as you need to. That is why you are seeing a lot of restaurants baling out.” The ones that can adapt quickly are the ones who are doing OK. “Success is heavily dependent on the strength of a restaurant’s concept development and the planning of its execution. Eventually things aren’t always new. Things change. So, if you are in the restaurant business you have got to change your menu — keep things new, fresh and update your meals. It is very fickle industry. One year carbs are out, the next year berries are out. Everybody’s diet changes — constantly chasing the latest phase. You have got to adjust your menu and move with those modifications. If you have a static menu that you have used the last couple years that hasn’t changed except for the pricing, you’ve got a problem,” he said. A lot of times these buildings are singular purpose, he added. “You have a commercially viable kitchen and you got a seating area. There is not a lot of other businesses that cater to that type of a layout. So, it’s pretty common to see another restaurant slide in,” he said. One of the things a banker learns early on is you don’t lend money to restaurants … because they fail so quickly. It is very hard to predict who the winners will be. So, if you are a restaurant in addition to all the other challenges, it is very difficult to get loans, according to Walsleben. “You might work really well in the kitchen. But that doesn’t mean you are a great businessperson,” he said. “Restaurants can fail because the owner didn’t know how to manage things properly. There are a lot of challenges. “There is opportunity at the high end and the low end. But in the middle, that’s the death valley. There are just so many things working against you. You really need to have something that will pull people in and continue to pull people in because you to constantly have to change. Think about a theme and a product that is unique to the area people don’t travel that far these days you have to be able to deliver it in an innovative fashion and keep updating to keep people coming in the door.” Out of Business? How Fast? Do nine out of 10 restaurants fail in their first year, as commonly claimed? No. Survival analysis of 1.9 million longitudinal microdata for 81,000 full-service restaurants in a 20-year U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics non public census of business establishments in the western US shows that only 17% of independently owned full-service restaurant startups failed in their first year, compared with 19% for all other service-providing startups, according to ResearchGate. The median lifespan of restaurants is about 4.5 years, slightly longer than that of other service businesses (4.25 years). However, the median lifespan of a restaurant startup with 5 or fewer employees is 3.75 years, slightly shorter than that of other service businesses of the same startup size (4.0 years). What Makes a Restaurant Successful? Opening and maintaining a successful restaurant is not as easy as creating a great menu and serving excellent food. It takes more than that, according to local restaurant owners who have been in business for decades in the region. They all agree that there are some guidelines to running a successful restaurant. • Quality food: Successful restaurants know exactly what they serve and who they serve it to. Delivering the same great taste every single time builds loyal customers. • Smooth operations: Friendly greetings and attentive staff make guests feel welcome from the moment they walk in. Hiring staff for personality and training for skill ensures reliable, caring service. • Smart marketing: Exceptional food and experiences naturally get people talking and sharing online. Word of mouth can help entice customers. Consistent social media and targeted advertising brings in new and repeat guests also. The menu is what keeps patrons coming back to Mimi’s Diner in Fulton, located at 201 N. Second St. “We locally source our produce and our meats. Our chicken and biscuits is a popular, popular special,” said Richard Tagliareni, the third-generation owner and general manager. “It’s all homemade. We have consistently served quality food.” His grandfather started the business more than 55 years ago. Mimi’s is engrained in the community. They cater to the community and are very involved in everything from the schools to local events. The first Mimi’s Drive-In opened in Mexico. Then a second in Oswego and then Fulton. Fulton’s Mimi’s is the only one left. “The last couple of weeks have been kind of slower than normal. October is usually a busier month for us People will start coming back around again. Also, the price of gas is affecting some things,” Tagliareni added. “We try to keep our prices in line. You go out to eat, you’re going to spend about a hundred bucks or so for two people for dinner. You come here to Mimi’s you are probably for two people for dinner it’s between $50 and $60. We are trying to keep our prices in line. We did have to increase our prices a little bit but things are looking OK.” For the Press Box, 29 E. First St., Oswego, it’s also about great food and a family atmosphere. “Our sports bar and restaurant was established in 1984,” said Alison Canale Scanlon, manager. “I think putting the time into everything makes a big difference and treating people like family when they walk into your restaurant. That’s how we have always operated since 1984.” “It’s the family oriented aspect,” she added. “Consistency, quality and presentation of our food — that’s the secret to a successful restaurant. We try to be very consistent with it. We treat people like family when they come in; because we know how we want to be treated when we go to a restaurant. We treat people the same or better.”
‘Boy kibble’: Healthy and convenient or a bowl full of nothing?
One meal, no thought, and all your nutrients. It sounds like a good idea to many, but experts caution ‘boy kibble’ needs some sprucing up.
Samsung Health Makes Sleep Coaching Easier to Start and Tailors Weekly Guidance
Sleep Coaching starts with three days of data and adjusts weekly, while Running Coach introduces advanced training and Scan Meal debuts in U.S. beta alongside personalized nutrition guidance
Penn State Altoona hosts Smeal College of Business visit Oct. 20
Representatives from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business will visit Penn State Altoona on Tuesday, Oct. 20, from noon to 3 p.m. in the Pond View Lounge of the Slep Student Center.
People Ate 2 Meals With The Same Calories And Macros. Scientists Watched As 1 Spiked Their Insulin Much More
Ultra-processed food impacts brain activity associated with rewards, as well as our metabolisms.
Just a Handful of This 1 Ingredient Will Add More Healthy Fat and Protein to Your Meals, Dietitian Says
In TODAY.com’s Expert Tip of the Day, a dietitian shares her easy trick to add even more nutrients to her favorite meals.
Why Eating Fiber First Can Help Manage Type 2 Diabetes
A registered dietitian explains how the order in which you eat the food on your plate can help prevent post-meal blood sugar spikes.
Scientists Gave People 2 Nearly Identical Meals. One Triggered Much More Insulin.
"We were shocked."
South Texas Health System (@stxhealthsystem)
3 likes, 1 comments - stxhealthsystem on October 10, 2026: "Serving Health, Healing & Hospitality: Proper nutrition plays an important role in the healing process, helping patients recover, regain strength and achieve better outcomes. Across South Texas Health System's acute care facilities and behavioral hospital, our Nutrition & Dietary Services teams work diligently each day to provide nutritious meals and exceptional service to patients, visitors and staff. During National Healthcare Foodservice Workers Week, STHS proudly recognizes the dedicated Nutrition & Dietary Services teams at STHS McAllen, STHS Edinburg, STHS Children's, STHS Heart and STHS Behavioral for their hard work, professionalism and commitment to excellence. From developing specialized meal plans that support patient recovery to serving every meal with care and compassion, these team members play an essential role in creating a positive healthcare experience. Their dedication to both nutrition and hospitality is felt throughout our hospitals and contributes to the quality, compassionate care our patients receive every day. Thank you for the care, kindness and pride you bring to your work. Your commitment helps nourish our patients, support our caregivers and strengthen the communities we serve.".
2026 Mayor’s Small Business Awards set for Oct. 21
The Maui Chamber of Commerce will host the 2026 Mayor’s Small Business Awards from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Oct. 21 at the King Kamehameha Golf Club Waikapu Ballroom. Registration is required for this Academy Awards-style event honoring Maui small businesses. Tickets may be purchased at MauiChamber.com by clicking on the Events page. Meals are $125 […]
Public warned about possible measles exposure at several Chester County stores
The Chester County Health Department is warning the public of a possible measles exposure at several local stores.
Better together: How to pair protein and fiber
Learn how to pair protein and fiber for more satisfying meals. A dietitian shares simple protein-and-fiber food combinations to try.
Why Fermented Foods Are Important for Maintaining a Healthy Gut
Maintaining a healthy gut is a vital way to lower risks of illnesses like heart disease and dementia. Gastrointestinal health expert Dr. Trisha Pasricha joins the 3rd Hour of TODAY to share tips to improve gut health, including eating more fiber, diversifying fruits and vegetables in meals, and introducing fermented foods into your diet.
Hanoi native finds food science passion through UGA research
A UGA student is turning her love for family meals into a career developing products for major food brands.
GLP-1s: the science behind today’s weight-loss drugs
The medicines reshaping obesity treatment grew out of research into how the body handles a meal. Long before weekly weight-loss injections became familiar, scientists were studying signals that travel from the intestine to the pancreas, helping it release insulin when nutrients arrive.
Dietitian highlights dairy's role in student-athlete health
The role of dairy in a well-balanced diet. Emily Lyday, a registered dietitian with St. Vincent Sports Performance, says proper student nutrition helps support healthy brain and bone development. “Often times dairy comes in as a side, as an addition to their meal, just to help support it a little bit more to get some […]
Scientists changed how zoo lions eat. Their wild side came out
Giving zoo lions whole carcasses on a feast-and-fast schedule appears to bring out more natural behavior. The lions spent nearly three times longer feeding, engaged in more tearing and manipulating of food, and rested more heavily after meals. Their activity then increased gradually during the fasting period, closely resembling the rhythm seen in wild lions.
MNUFC, Allina Health and the Sanneh Foundation Team Up to Address Food Insecurity with Meal Kit Initiative
Meal kit program launched to build connection between nutrition education and lifelong well-being
Minneapolis shops invite customers for Latino business week as many recover from ICE surge
Minneapolis celebrates its third annual Latino Business Week this week, as many Latino-owned shops around the city continue recovering from losses during the federal immigration enforcement surge.
Tickets available Holiday Home Tour
Support senior nutrition in Yolo County beginning by buying tickets to Friends of Meals on Wheels' 24th annual Dickens in the Valley Holiday Home Tour, taking place Saturday, Dec. 5,
Together for a lifetime: Vietnamese couples renew lifelong commitments
On Friday, September 25, at 11 a.m., 86 elderly Vietnamese couples celebrated celebrated years of love and commitment with hearty meals, gifts, formal dress, and a formal vow renewal ceremony
Block Club Chicago’s Free South Side Health & Wellness Fest Is Coming to Chatham
Join Block Club and community partners on Nov. 7 for activities and resources to help address health equity gaps. Join a fun run with Joabe Barbosa, get a free meal and more.
Uber to buy US catering platform ezCater for $2.3 billion
Oct 6 (Reuters) - Uber said on Tuesday it would buy US catering platform ezCater in an all-cash deal for $2.3 billion, expanding its food delivery and workplace meals business.
Gas stoves put restaurant cooks’ health at risk, new study finds
In restaurant kitchens around the U.S., cooks are toiling away to create mouthwatering meals, from bibimbap to spaghetti puttanesca. But their own stomachs may be roiling.
Science Just Revealed the Worst Way to Eat a Meal (And You Probably Do It Every Day)
Eating the exact same meal alone is less healthy than eating it with other people, new research warns.
8 Fermented Foods To Add to Your Diet
Fermented foods like pickles and kimchi can help keep your gut health. An expert shares which foods are worth adding to your meals.
Meal Plan
The restaurant business is hard, but are too many restaurants making it harder?
Rome Rescue Mission collecting donations for Thanksgiving
The Rome Rescue Mission is looking for food and monetary donations for its annual Thanksgiving meal service, which will provide more than 2,000 hot meals to people in the community.
The Business of Civility
In an ever-coarsening world where even hosts on the bastion of conservative media, Fox News, are now using profanity on a regular basis, there is still one place where civility is demanded—and usually delivered. And that place is the business community. Whether you’re ordering a meal at McDonald’s or interviewing the wealthy CEO of Mississippi’s […]
'Basher attack': Rovelyn Baterbonia finally meets Angelica Yulo
Rovelyn Baterbonia and Angelica Yulo finally met in person, sharing a meal and photos of their unexpected meeting.
Sam's Club exec breaks down changing fresh-food shopping habits
Sam's Club Chief Merchandising Officer Myron Frazier told FOX Business that members still want value, but increasingly want fresh food delivered, available for curbside pickup or designed to make mealtime easier.
Franciscan Health presenting The Family Dinner Project
News release, Franciscan Health: Initiative aims to help families connect over meals MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. – Franciscan Health is again hosting The Family Dinner Project, a free program focused on helping families connect, laugh and grow one meal at a time. The program provides easy recipes, fun conversation starters and simple activities to help dinnertime become a positive experience for the whole family. The Family Dinner Project sparks real conversations without cell phones, builds stronger family bonds, removes mealtime stress by making it fun and fits into any schedule or lifestyle. All families are welcome, whether big or small, multigenerational
Eating More Protein Might Not Be as Healthy as You Think
A comprehensive look at scientific research to date points to unexpected benefits from consuming less protein, challenging the surging popularity of protein-packed meals and snacks. The research also raises a bigger question: How much protein do we really need?
Start TODAY’s October Challenge: Routine Revamp, Healthy Meals
October is the perfect time to revamp your routines, so fitness contributor Stephanie Mansour stops by Studio 1A to break down some easy Start TODAY workouts, which can be accessed for free on the app this month. TODAY nutrition and health expert Joy Bauer also shares some simple meals, including a French toast grilled cheese, cottage cheese fettuccine alfredo, pumpkin peanut butter, and more!
Community Focus: Program helps Rhode Islanders make healthy, affordable meals
Carrie Bridges, vice president of the Community Health Institute at Brown University Health, joins 12 News to talk about “Food is Medicine.”
DRC: Early access to care and oxygen decisive for Ebola patients’ survival
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), health workers fighting the country’s largest-ever Ebola outbreak are struggling to overcome critical challenges to patient care, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.
Highmark Foundation and Buffalo Bills Foundation Unveil “Victory Table” to Expand Access to Healthy Food and Wellness Resources Across Western New York
New mobile initiative will bring free healthy meals, nutrition education and community health support directly to neighborhoods in nee
Trying Gordon Ramsay frozen meals, ranked from worst to best
I tried eight options from Gordon Ramsay's line of frozen meals, By Gordon Ramsay. Some were better than others, but I loved the spicy cheese ravioli.
I had a simple meal-prep idea. My company now makes millions.
David Rabie grew up in an Iranian immigrant family full of entrepreneurs. Their experience shaped his tolerance for risk as he built Tovala.
5 TV Shows To Watch If You Like The Dungeon Crawler Carl Books
Need something to watch while Dungeon Crawler Carl makes its way to Peacock? From death games to monster meals, these five shows have plenty to offer.
7 Surprising Health Benefits of Prunes, According to Nutrition Experts
You can add them to your morning oatmeal, toss them in a salad, or eat them as a snack.
Florida grocer's donation to help provide 1 million meals
Winn-Dixie is giving $100,000 to 10 Feeding America food banks, including organizations serving Tampa Bay, Sarasota and Southwest Florida.
Meal deliveries can save money and improve health. Will they survive Medicaid cuts?
Some states deliver meals to Medicaid patients that address their dietary needs. Evidence shows it aids recovery and saves healthcare costs, but federal budget cuts may lead some states to cancel it.
New York City creator turns healthy food swaps into viral mission
He is seen all over social media paying for the meals of New Yorkers -- but there's a catch and it's all to benefit others.
Sacramento’s SMUD Museum opens new cafe with a menu that’s out of this world
In addition to its Cookie Comet milkshake and Tropical Galaxy smoothie, the cafe offers full meals such as teriyaki bowls and sandwiches.
Couple Uses Home Depot Bins To Create Simple Blackstone Storage
If you want to give your Blackstone griddle more storage, follow this couple's DIY and attach sliding Home Depot storage bins to the bottom of yours.
New Pittston meal prep business delivers comfort food
Michael Langdon, chef at Pittston’s Rotten Tomato Company meal prep store, competed on “Hell’s Kitchen” with Gordon Ramsay. The business offers delivery and pickup.
More Wendy's drop breakfast after partner's Chapter 11
Fans of the fast-food brand may show up to order a meal and find they can't.
Fitbit creators unveil screenless wearable to help track aging parents
The $300 Luffu Link wearable has location sharing, health sensing, a wau to ask for help, plus voice logging for medications, meals, mood and other reminders.
Fitbit creators unveil screenless wearable to help track aging parents
The $300 Luffu Link wearable has location sharing, health sensing, a wau to ask for help, plus voice logging for medications, meals, mood and other reminders.
Phoenix groups team up to bring health care, hot meals to those in need
A Phoenix-based outreach organization is partnering with a mobile medical clinic to bring health services directly to neighborhoods across the city.
Peabody business prioritizes patriotism
PEABODY — For Nutré Meal Plans, honoring 9/11 meant doing more than writing a check. The Peabody-based family-owned meal delivery company sponsored and participated in SURVIVE 24: a 24-hour endurance… Related posts: 25 years later, community reflects Region to mark 25-year anniversary of 9/11 9/11/26 Bunnies lend an ear to Peabody readers
Google's new 'CC' is an AI agent that helps families run their households
Google is refocusing its CC AI agent on household coordination, letting families share emails, schedules, and tasks so the AI can manage calendars, fill out forms, make shopping lists, plan meals, and more.
Cost-Saving Medicaid Meal Deliveries Threatened by Cuts, Policy Uncertainty
An experiment to provide meals to some Medicaid recipients shows food can be cost-effective medicine. But even as federal officials tout the power of nutrition, Medicaid budget cuts could lead states to think twice about covering healthy food for sick residents. One has already reconsidered.
Kauai small businesses ask tourists to return after Hurricane Lowell, with aloha and some patience
Watching her staff happily hand out free meals for hundreds of residents outside their Wailua commercial kitchen, food truck co-owner Kelly Kakalia felt fulfill
Kauai small businesses ask tourists to return after Hurricane Lowell, with aloha and some patience
Watching her staff happily hand out free meals for hundreds of residents outside their Wailua commercial kitchen, food truck co-owner Kelly Kakalia felt fulfilled.
Science Lab: Use the sour defensive debut as fuel to sweeten the next Cowboys' meal
Welcome to "The Science Lab", a place where football facts and in-depth analysis always triumph over feelings.
Illinois State University partnership advances AI innovation in healthcare
Through a partnership with Healthy Tray, Illinois State University faculty and student researchers are helping transform how hospitals measure and manage patient nutrition.
It’s almost time to airdrop rabies vaccines again
The USDA program uses fishmeal-coated bait bricks to lure raccoons and other animals.
Mom, Don’t Forget About You: Healthy Living Tips for Every Decade
As moms, it’s easy to put ourselves at the bottom of the to-do list. Between school drop-offs, work, activities, meals, appointments and everything in between, taking care of everyone else can feel…
Eating alone may be quietly hurting mental health and social connection, expert says
Regularly splitting apart for meals may contribute to isolation and disconnection, according to dietitian Tanya Freirich. Sharing flexible, modular meals can make it easier for people with different needs or schedules to eat together.
QuikTrip selects GRAND Mental Health for annual Day of Caring
QuikTrip employees spent the day completing projects at GRAND Mental Health facilities and delivering meals for its outreach team.
The 9 Best Snack Options to Support Your Gut Health
Experts break down the best food options for day’s smallest meal that won’t cause bloating or indigestion.
Press play: 5 celeb-creator interviews the internet loved this week (Sept. 11)
From Owen Thiele's Lisa chat to Gillian Anderson's 'last meal'.
Mikel Arteta: Arsenal manager says he deliberately sabotaged his team's travel plans to prepare for difficulties on the road
Arsenal were involved in travel difficulties on the way to Naples because of the UK Air Traffic Control incident on Tuesday; Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed he has deliberately sabotaged the clubs journey to stadiums, affected meal times and made changing rooms hotter
New professorship to fuel research at the intersection of finance and AI
Penn State alumnus Ken Kulju, a founding member of the Penn State Smeal College of Business’s Finance Advisory Board, recently made a $3 million estate commitment to endow the Ken Kulju Professorship in Finance.
With these easy changes in the kitchen, you can boost long-term health while also celebrating Latin American culinary traditions
To help you create healthy and balanced meals, we spoke with two Colorado chefs about the significance of food in Hispanic culture and their recommendations for elevating flavors while also cooking healthy dishes.
Johnsonville Votes For Sausage Over Political Ads - Midland
Johnsonville has jumped back into electoral politics, this time asking people to vote for something sensible: affordable protein for dinner. The humorous campaign targets viewer fatigue, as record spending on political ads threatens to drain the fun out of every last game, sitcom and streaming pleasure. This time, the company is throwing its hat in the ring for Dinner 2026. Backed by research it conducted with Harris Polls, Johnsonville has learned Americans are already overwhelmed by both politics and meal planning. Sausage is running the dinner race on a core promise to simplify dinner decisions, the company says.
The 20 colleges with the best food, campus dining
Niche identified the top US colleges for campus food options, based on student reviews and meal plan costs.
Proposed Changes to Head Start Undermine Its Role in Promoting Child Nutrition and Healthy Eating - Food Research & Action Center
Published September 8, 2026 For more than 60 years, Head Start has supported young children during their most important phase of growth and development. For families with limited resources, Head Start is a trusted source of care, education, nutritious meals, and health services. Despite Head Start’s long history of bipartisan support, and demonstrated success, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has a proposed new […]
Prairie Meadows awards $275,000 to WesleyLife
Prairie Meadows has awarded $275,000 to the WesleyLife Foundation to support three of the organization’s initiatives. The grants include a $200,000 Legacy Grant supporting the $49.5 million redevelopment of The Village, a WesleyLife community in Indianola; $65,000 for WesleyLife Meals on Wheels; and $10,000 for WesleyLife Hospice. WesleyLife broke ground in 2025 on the redevelopment…
AMID POLITICAL AD BOMBARDMENT, SAUSAGE DECLARES ITS CANDIDACY… FOR DINNER
As political advertising floods screens, phones and mailboxes ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Johnsonville is entering the race for Dinner 2026 with a candidate of its own: Sausage. Backed by new research commissioned by Johnsonville suggesting Americans are overwhelmed by both politics and meal planning, Sausage is running on a core promise to simplify dinner decisions.
'Down to a science': Labor Day barbecue goes off without a hitch
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August Monthly Review: ChatGPT In Epic
Death, taxes, another frontier lab healthcare launch inspiring truly insane LinkedIn takes. As much as I want to stay away, I repeatedly am the crewman unplugging his ears whenever we pass these sirens. So it’s not the first and probably not the last time we dial up the typewriter rather than tie ourselves to the mast. The full blow-by-blow timeline: Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe The End of the Standalone PHR (Jan 8): ChatGPT Health arrives for consumers, at the time powered by b.well. I was bullish on the approach in that the best way for the PHR to finally solve distribution was to meet consumers were they already are (i.e. When Horizontal Meets Healthcare (Jan 9): OpenAI for Healthcare puts out the shingle for enterprises, with SharePoint ingestion standing in for the EHR integration the product actually needed. Another One: Anthropic’s Healthcare Debut (Jan 16): Claude's version, on HealthEx rails instead of b.well, with Agent Skills for FHIR development as the one true vertical-specific investment. ChatGPT for Clinicians: The Trap Sprung (Apr 24): OpenAI filled in the missing GTM middle with a free product for verified clinicians, effectively peeling the enterprise wrapper off ChatGPT for Healthcare and taking the PLG fight directly to OpenEvidence. OpenAI’s Second Attempt at Health (Jul 31): a relaunch of their patient specific app, now branded Health in ChatGPT, where the privacy partition came out, the connectors thinned, and b.well disappeared in favor of first-party FHIR work against a smaller network Beyond a Shingle So what was announced now? Today, we’re introducing a new electronic health record integration that brings authorized patient context from Epic into ChatGPT for Healthcare, along with the Healthcare Public Data plugin for direct, structured access to official healthcare datasets like PubMed, DailyMed, and CMS Coverage. Together, these capabilities bring ChatGPT closer to the systems and sources healthcare teams trust, while supporting the controls and compliance healthcare work requires. The core portfolio is unchanged from prior announcements we delineated and discussed (aside from the relaunch of patient-facing). Since trade publications still seem to be confusing them by using the wrong names: Enterprise sales motion: ChatGPT for Healthcare Protecting their core product / PLG: ChatGPT for Clinicians Consumer/patient-facing product: Health in ChatGPT So really, this is a feature release (specifically for ChatGPT for Healthcare when it comes to EHR integration). What’s cool about it, though, is that we are moving beyond just putting out a shingle. Everything in the January enterprise launch was horizontalizable: Horizontal tech companies thus generally start verticalization with their “putting out a shingle phase”. Telling the world you’re open for business as a horizontal tech company reliably attracts early inbound interest from buyers who are already trying to force-fit horizontal tools into domain-specific workflows and are eager for any signal that the vendor intends to support their use case more directly. Nothing was really vertical specific, which is exactly what you'd expect from the ultimate hypergrowth horizontal company dipping their toes into specific industries. But eventually you have to stop changing the sign on the door and start changing the product. Can you guess where the horizontal product was going to run out of road? This is the core dilemma writ large: verticalization requires differentiation, while scale economics of consumer and horizontal push toward unification. I’ve buried the lede so deep here it will be painful to some readers, but what should be shocking to no one is that my perspective is that EHR integration is the only path that meaningfully resolves this tension for ChatGPT for Healthcare. Integration with Microsoft Sharepoint is fine, but it is categorically insufficient for any product that hopes to influence clinical decision-making. SMART Money Well here we are, eight months later! Real vertical investment has begun, which surprised a few people. One friend in the industry messaged me: “Absolutely no way Epic gave ChatGPT API access.” Looking forensically at the announcements, the integration is notably read-only across appointment notes, laboratory results, medications, and specialist documentation. So while I’m not a betting man, I'd wager the house this is a SMART on FHIR launch: That sounds a lot like USCDI! The recommended path for the workflow they outline would be SMART on FHIR Their Health AI lead’s post is evocative of both standalone and EHR launch SMART, which another termed “ChartGPT” and “EHR Plugin” The implementation burden for SMART on FHIR is the lowest of the available integrative paths This is the team who literally did patient-facing SMART on FHIR with Epic last month Most importantly, if you’re a horizontal company, you generally still haven’t taken the full plunge and thus (overly) value reusability. SMART on FHIR is the logical compromise: healthcare-specific enough to matter, but standardized enough to reuse. Nobody Asked Judy Another friend asked “I thought they had to go to each health system, or did they go direct to Epic and now health systems opt in?” Given the trust paradigms in healthcare, this functionally cannot be Epic hoovering up all the data for OpenAI and shoving ChatGPT in their customers’ faces (or they would revolt). However, I do believe the aforementioned terrible coverage by TechCrunch and other outlets is probably responsible for that question, given the 325 million reference. When using FHIR as a business associate to an Epic customer, there is no EHR gatekeeping to speak of, as that isn’t how fhir.epic.com works: You register an app You pick your APIs You test against the sandbox APIs You list as “Ready for Production” Hospitals pick your app You test and go live with them Bluntly, nobody had to say yes or no in Verona (nor were they given the chance). Vendor Services (their next developer tier up that I doubt OpenAI is using quite yet in this initial release) certainly has contractual paperwork that some resent, but even there, the twin pressures of mounting antitrust and information blocking make outright gatekeeping increasingly fraught. My friend’s sentiment is, to me, representative of a broader industry neurosis, perhaps a sort of scar tissue of prior eras: people assume the gate is still there and never actually try the door. There are certainly other ways Epic (and any EHR) can put its thumb on the scale, but they are not so dumb as to stand in front of a federally mandated API and play bouncer at this exact moment in time. So I think they can and probably should go deeper, as this release is at best parity and at worst behind vertical-specific competition. OpenEvidence did a basic SMART launch with Sutter Health in February, allowing for more convenient evidence search by providers. They then add patient-context (the equivalent SMART on FHIR flow to what we see here) when Cedars-Sinai went enterprise-wide in May. UpToDate has four distinct applications across deeper workflows like patient engagement listed in Epic Showroom and announced a partnership with Epic to power Art at UGM Abridge and other ambient scribes have invested deeply into the deepest bidirectional clinical copilot workflow with integrations well beyond SMART on FHIR. In that light, the “Who is OpenAI primarily targeting here?” is clear. This release brings them into striking distance of OpenEvidence, but not the others quite yet. They are the only one of the three you can reach without building something truly Epic-specific. When will they go further? Competition is a great motivator to overcome the horizontal demons and start building things that can’t be reused: not across industries, not across EHRs, maybe not past the customer you built them for. That’s the price of actually verticalizing. The question is if and when OpenAI will be willing to pay it. Month in Review Here is the monthly review. As a reminder, this is a regular round-up of the month’s posts and other content to surface things you may have missed across regulation, litigation, interoperability, and beyond. AI assistance is used in these bullet summaries so I can focus on articles. Articles Published: None this month Video Content: The Information Exchange: Standards-based Thruple Edition (Aug 14): Back to school for us too, with Brad reporting in from the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem’s one year anniversary in DC. We get into the January CMS-0057 deadline, the fall rulemaking reading list, and why enrollment still keeps most apps off FHIR. The Information Exchange: Epic Dúnadan Edition (Aug 25): A UGM roundup with Ryan Brickner joining for the first time to check our takes against what the building actually thinks. Rangers, Ergo sitting on top of EHI, and a down-market lineup that needs some cuts. Regulatory: Stacked Deck, Bad Hand (Aug 05): ONC’s website refresh took the entire HIT Policy Committee record with it, so I rebuilt the archive and went looking for the regulatory capture story everyone assumes is buried in there. Stacking the deck and winning the hand turn out to be very different things. The Sixth Generation of Patient Access (Aug 19): A quick catalog of the five generations of patient access we’ve layered on since HIPAA, and the two candidates now competing to be the sixth. One is planned. The other is the market routing around the plan entirely. Court cases: Three Cases Walk Into a Docket (Aug 06): Two surprise settlements cleared the board in a single week, and then Judge Maddox dropped ninety-four pages on Vyne v. Henry Schein. The sleeper is a DMCA holding that makes direct-to-database a considerably riskier business model. Epic v. Health Gorilla: Into the MDL (Aug 10): Nine class actions are headed to Miami, and the Panel signaled it wants to bring the case that spawned them along too. That would leave Epic arguing the requests were obviously fraudulent in one courtroom and unknowable in the other. Amazon v. Perplexity: Agents Are Legalized! (Aug 11): The Ninth Circuit vacated the injunction against Comet, holding that the user is the one accessing the servers rather than the company that built the agent. A real win for agentic access, and a much narrower one than the headline suggests. Veeva v. Epic: Come At Me, Bro (Aug 26): Epic’s response brief wants the dismissal affirmed and, unusually, wants the opinion published as precedent. Buried in it is Epic’s own description of what its non-competes actually prohibit, which current and former employees should read closely. EHRs: The Contract Epic Would Never Sign Today (Aug 04): A 1999 SEC exhibit catches Epic licensing nearly its entire product line, Tapestry included, to the company that became TriZetto. The marketing services menu attached to it is the part that will make you blink. Forecast from Verona (Aug 07): The Epic Almanac makes one argument six different ways: the AI is only as good as the networks behind it. Emmie headlines, Art’s context stack is the most ambitious part, and Penny finally gets an autonomous coding date on the calendar. Works With Epic MyChart (Aug 17): Epic’s first new Showroom category since the death of Workshop certifies hardware instead of software, badge on the box and all. Made for iPhone, but for blood pressure cuffs, and rough news for anyone selling the RPM stack sitting in between. UGM Hot Takes 2026 (Aug 20): Everyone else covered the AI announcements, so I went after Savvy deleting the payment gateway, Rangers as Boost with the timer removed, and a down-market lineup with too many entries. Plus the Health Grid tidbits I cannot help myself on. MyChart Central Grows Up (Aug 24): Device data and Emmie turn Epic’s identity hub into a full consumer platform, which is both a logical answer to ChatGPT and a bit of a mistake. It also happens to be the best scraping target Epic has ever shipped. Industry Analysis: The Wrong Yardstick (Aug 12): Vertical software keeps getting judged against Superhuman and Notion, which is the wrong bar entirely. Your user is comparing your product to a whiteboard and forty phone calls before lunch. Primitives vs. Abstractions (Aug 27): Developers want building blocks, systems of record prefer to hand out business logic, and both sides have a real case. There’s no test from the outside that separates the engineering reason from the competitive one, which is why this keeps ending up in court. Cross-industry Comparisons: The Two Kinds of Platform Power (Aug 18): Attention power and record power are different problems that keep getting handed the same regulatory toolkit. Congress’s latest swing at Big Tech shows both what’s possible and where it falls apart. The Dogs of (Platform) War (Aug 21): A CourtListener alert turned up a property management fight with healthcare’s exact shape and none of the Cures Act. Shell prospects, ghost accounts, a notetaker bot that came back to haunt someone, and a lawyer arguing both sides of the same theory in two states. Fractals All the Way Down (Aug 31): Yardi dominates property management right up until you zoom into one segment, where AppFolio owns it outright and Yardi doesn’t appear at all. Where you draw the line around a B2B software market is about to decide an awful lot of cases. Other News: If Judy Had the Courage (Aug 13): A short eulogy for the era when software was allowed to look insane: WinAMP, bold colors, and everything the grey chatbot era has taken from us. External Media: Portland Monthly Health Tech Meetup: Erin O’Brien channeled my own feelings - maybe it’s just because it’s August and beautiful, but the monthly edition of the PDX Health community meetup was a ripper. Make sure to reach out if interested to join for the next one. STAT’s Coverage of Epic This Month: Brittany Trang of STAT did a fantastic job of breaking the FTC investigation that’s been lurking, as well as UGM related coverage, so I had to give her her wish of a meme. Fall Conferences: I’m pumped to be kicking off my fall conference season in NYC at Nabla Accelerate next month, which Chrissy provided the link to apply for. Here’s the rest of my schedule in case you want to meet up: Commonwell (Redwood Shores, CA): Oct 13-14 Open@Epic (Madison, WI): Oct 21-22 eHealthExchange (Austin, TX): Oct 27 Sequoia Project (Austin, TX): Oct 28-29 HLTH (Vegas): Nov 15-18 RSNA (Chicago): Nov 29-Dec 3 Posts I Liked: HTI-6 Should Unbundle API Certification: Josh Mandel makes the case that HTI-6 should split (g)(10) into separate authorization and data certifications, so a PACS or a genomics platform can certify only the role it actually performs. Imaging is the urgent example, but the structure solves a much bigger problem. On implementing ePrior Auth with Epic: Scott Rossignol’s field notes from a live ePrior Auth build on Epic, including the two app registrations nobody warns you about and the CPT mapping problem waiting at the end. CMS-0057 implementations are going to be such a beast. Healthcare point solutions are starting to look a lot like streaming services: Spencer Dorn runs the cable-to-streaming arc against health IT and lands squarely on the bundling half of the cycle. Bundling can be good! It can also be bad! Life is nuanced. Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Maybee church festival to offer food, music and family fun
The Divine Grace Parish Fall Festival in Maybee will feature meals, music, games and family activities from Sept. 18-20.
Interface’s Minné joins Penn State Smeal Sustainability Advisory Board
Travis Lesser, director of the Penn State Smeal College of Business Center for the Business of Sustainability, has announced the addition of Liz Minné to the Smeal Sustainability Advisory Board.
Back-to-school healthy eating: Simple tips for families
As families get back into the school-year routine, doctors say healthy meals and snacks don't have to be expensive or complicated.
Ernst Names Small Business of the Week, The Bread Board
Read the release on Sen. Ernst's website HERE. Throughout this Congress, Chair Ernst plans to recognize a small business in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties. RED OAK, Iowa – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, today announced her Small Business of the Week: The Bread Board of Marion County. Throughout the 119th Congress, Chair Ernst plans to recognize a small business in each of Iowa's 99 counties. “The Bread Board has risen to the occasion, growing from Heidi’s passion for baking into a thriving Pella bakery that brings people together,” said Chair Ernst. “From serving fresh sourdough and homemade meals to supporting local businesses, schools, and community events, Heidi and her team have proven they have the perfect recipe for success.” Heidi Rozenboom grew up baking fresh bread alongside her grandmother, always using the same bread board that would eventually inspire her business’ name. Years later, Heidi started selling fresh bread to local coffee shops and cafes. As demand grew, she opened her storefront in downtown Pella in 2021 and named her bakery the Bread Board. Today, the Bread Board serves fresh sourdough bread, pastries, homemade meals, and other baked goods. Stay tuned as Chair Ernst continues to recognize outstanding Iowa small businesses with her Small Business of the Week award. ###
Penn State Smeal welcomes 16 new faculty members
The Penn State Smeal College of Business welcomes 16 new faculty members for the 2026-27 academic year, bringing with them a wide depth of both academic and executive leadership experience.
Apple defies memory shortage with new Mac minis
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