Why flu and COVID hit older adults so hard

Aging lungs may spark runaway inflammation that makes infections far more dangerous.

University of California - San Francisco

Older adults are far more likely to develop severe illness from flu or COVID, and new research from UC San Francisco offers an explanation. The study shows that aging lung cells can trigger an overly aggressive immune response, which can turn even mild infections into serious conditions.

These findings provide new insight into age-related inflammation and help explain why something as simple as a cough can sometimes lead to hospitalization in older individuals.

Aging Lung Cells and Inflammation

To explore what changes in older lungs, researchers focused on fibroblasts, the structural cells that help maintain lung tissue. In experiments with young mice, they activated a stress signal typically linked to aging. This caused the lungs to develop clusters of inflamed cells, including some marked by the GZMK gene, which was first identified in severe COVID-19 cases. Scientists believe future treatments could target these cells to interrupt the harmful cycle known as inflammaging.

"We were surprised to see lung fibroblasts working hand-in-hand with immune cells to drive inflammaging," said Tien Peng, MD, a professor of Medicine and a member of the Cardiovascular Research Institute and Bakar Aging Research Institute at UCSF. "It suggests new ways to intervene before patients progress to severe inflammation that can require intubation."

Peng is the senior author of the study, published in Immunity on March 27. Nancy Allen MD, PhD, a clinical fellow in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division in the UCSF Department of Medicine, is the first author.

Foulkes Releases Plan to Lower Utility Bills and Advance Clean Energy

No False Choices

News release from the Foulkes campaign

As energy bills in Rhode Island soar and Rhode Islanders see the effects of climate change every day, Governor McKee has walked back the climate goal that he celebrated just four years ago. Lacking a plan, the governor is creating a false choice between affordable energy and taking action to meet our climate goals. Helena Buonanno Foulkes has outlined her plan to lower energy costs for Rhode Islanders while addressing climate change and advancing renewable energy in the Ocean State. 

“Choosing between lower energy costs and addressing climate change is a false choice that Rhode Island cannot afford to make,” said Helena. “As governor, I’ll focus on cost-effective sources of renewable energy to meet our climate goals while working to lower costs for Rhode Islanders. Today, I’m outlining my plan to do exactly that.”

Last year, 89% of Rhode Island’s electricity came from natural gas, and our state ranks 44th in energy affordability. Meanwhile, renewable energy sources are consistently the cheapest energy options available to meet rising demand. Helena’s plan focuses on increasing clean energy generation in Rhode Island and taking basic steps to hold our for-profit utility accountable to lower costs for Rhode Islanders.

Ensuring lower rates for Rhode Islanders starts with holding the utility accountable for proposed rate increases. The McKee Administration has allowed Rhode Island Energy and its parent company Pennsylvania Power & Light broad latitude to pass more and more costs on to Rhode Island ratepayers. Thankfully, our AG has fought to hold them accountable to the tune of tens of millions of saved ratepayer dollars. 

Helena’s plan, titled No False Choices, rejects the premise that clean energy and lower costs are at odds. As governor, Helena will: 

Something deeper than greed drives Trump’s compulsion to destroy

Will the planet survive this meddlesome moron?

Sabrina Haake

As the price of oil explodes, Trump is doing everything he can to kill cheap energy alternatives. The administration just announced that the U.S. is paying one billion dollars to a French company, TotalEnergies, to cancel wind farm projects already underway, in exchange for new investments in oil and gas. Darwin posted a cryptic ‘SMH’ in response to the news.

Doug Burgum announced the deal, claiming, “the era of affordable, reliable and secure energy is here to stay.” Someone might want to tell Burgum that we’re in the middle of a war proving just the opposite. With crude oil prices skyrocketing, and WWIII looming over the Strait of Hormuz, there’s nothing reliable or secure about fossil fuels except for campaign donations to Trump.

Trump’s war on alternative energy has led to an extraordinary transfer of public money to prop up fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change, which Trump still calls a “hoax.” Trump’s fight to overrule science and abandon all climate protections seems like a compulsion to destroy more than anything; Trump likely assumes he’ll be pushing up daisies before Big Oil is forced to compensate victims.

Who cleans up the mess?

Tomorrow is the day when Trump's Easter war crimes threat is supposed to happen

Will he do it or will he TACO?

This from the Perv-In-Chief who won't release the Epstein files

Attorney General Neronha, coalition sue Trump Administration for rolling back limits on toxic air pollutants

Fighting to stop Trump's attack on public health

SteveAhlquist.news

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha joined a coalition of 21 states and local governments in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s repeal of the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) Rule and return to outdated standards that harm the environment and public health.

The MATS Rule implements nationwide standards that limit emissions of toxic air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants, including mercury, arsenic, lead, and other toxic metals, as well as acid gases such as hydrogen chloride and formaldehyde. 

In 2024, following significant developments in technologies for controlling pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated the standards for emissions of these hazardous air pollutants from power plants. Last month, the Trump administration rolled back the updated standard, allowing for more of these dangerous emissions to be released into the air.

“Public health and safety should be the top priority of any government,” said Attorney General Neronha.

Judge orders Matunuk owner Perry Raso be given another shot at starting to aqua-farm scallops

‘Do it again, but the right way.’

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Perry Raso. Photo: Chip Riegel, Edible Rhody

The embattled Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council was dealt another blow last week after a Superior Court judge tossed one of its most high-profile and controversial decisions because the panel violated its own procedures.

The 48-page order from Associate Justice Joseph Montalbano reopens the longstanding battle between acclaimed restaurateur and oyster farmer Perry Raso and nearby property owners, remanding the case back to the council for additional public hearings and consideration. 

Raso, originally known for the now-closed Matunuck Oyster Bar, sought to expand his shellfish empire with a scallop farm in Potter Pond in South Kingstown. The expansion spawned public outcry by property residents who argued the shellfish beds would interfere with recreational boating, fishing and other activities within the cove. A five-year standoff ended in June 2023, when the coastal agency’s appointed panel approved a scaled-down version of Raso’s original proposal, cutting 40% of the acreage and banning floating cages. The council later signed off on further modifications submitted by Raso that changed the size, layout and position of the submerged scallop nets.

Two sets of property owners took their case to the judiciary, filing two separate lawsuits in Providence County Superior Court in September 2024, later consolidated into a single case. The property owners, through their attorneys, again argued the scallop beds interfered with their ability to enjoy the cove — a point Montalbano rejected in his order.

However, Montalbano, who is on track to become the court’s presiding justice, found credence in the plaintiffs’ arguments over process. Specifically, he said the council flouted its own rules by failing to fully explain the rationale for its decision, which contradicted the recommendation from a smaller subcommittee that gave a preliminary, and more comprehensive, review. The council also violated its procedures by failing to give public notice or opportunity for additional public input in the “substantial” revisions Raso submitted after the final vote.

Disgraced former Rhode Island general Mike Flynn just ripped you off for $1.25 million

DOJ payout to Mike Flynn has J6-ers lining up at the trough

Liz Dye

The Department of Justice announced that it was “settling” a malicious prosecution case with Michael Flynn for $1.25 million.

Flynn’s claims were entirely without merit, and a federal judge had already dismissed them once. But the Justice Department decided to pay him anyway, calling it a righteous vindication of Trump’s constant whining that he was illegally targeted by the FBI and Robert Mueller.

"Those who instigated the Russia Collusion Hoax and Crossfire Hurricane abused their power to mislead the American people and tarnish the reputations of President Trump and his supporters,” a DOJ spokesperson told ABC. “Today’s settlement, secured by this Justice Department, is an important step in redressing that historic injustice."

Encouraged by this blatant corruption, Trump’s most ardent supporters are demanding their own cut. This week, a group of January 6 rioters filed a class action lawsuit demanding recompense for the injuries they suffered when they attempted to overturn the election.

The stage is set for the wholesale looting of the federal coffers by Trump and his MAGA allies.

“I’m the opposite of desperate. I don’t care.”

The Catastrophe of Trump’s War and Its Mounting Costs

Robert Reich 

Sorry to intrude on you again, but as we near the end of the fourth week of Trump’s war with no end in sight, I want to make sure you are aware of what he said today, and its implications.

After Tehran dismissed his 15-point ceasefire plan, Trump claimed today that Iran is “begging to make a deal” and that he wasn’t the one pushing for negotiations. (Earlier, he told Tehran to “get serious soon” about negotiating an end to the war.)

“They’ll tell you, ‘We’re not negotiating,’” Trump said. “Of course, they’re negotiating. They’ve been obliterated.” He said Iran is allowing some oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz as a “present” to show how serious it is about negotiating to end the war.

He rejected reports that he was looking for an exit ramp. “I read a story today that I’m desperate to make a deal,” Trump told reporters. “I’m the opposite of desperate. I don’t care.”

Is he naive? Ignorant? Stupid? Or does he think we’re so stupid as not to see that he’s making this up as he goes, that he has no plan, no exit strategy, no way out?

Trump — and Pete Hegseth and anyone else who may be advising him — have already blown this.

They thought the Iranian regime would fall as easily as the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. They assumed they could use air power alone. Wrong on both counts.

They overestimated the capacity and desire of Iranians to overthrow the regime.

They underestimated the regime’s resilience. They didn’t count on it expanding the conflict through the use of cheap drones aimed at closing the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting supply chains throughout the region, and raising oil prices — thereby putting mounting political and economic pressure on the United States.

They didn’t anticipate that they’d have to lift sanctions on Iran, delivering the regime a huge windfall. Nor that they’d deliver vast oil profits to Vladimir Putin.

To the extent they engaged in any planning at all, they focused on America’s military might rather than the consequences of what might happen next. But as we should have learned years ago from bombing North Vietnam, political outcomes cannot be achieved solely from the skies.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on fired Attorney General Pam Bondi

April 7 – Chariho School Budget Referendum

Vote "YES" on Tuesday - vote at Charlestown Town Hall

Donald Trump issues his most inspiring and profound holiday message yet

Will someone PLEASE go get the 25th Amendment!

Save the Bay volunteers count nearly 600 seals along Rhode Island coastline

Seal population drops

By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current

Photo by Will Collette

Volunteers for Save the Bay counted 22% fewer seals when conducting their annual census of the marine mammal along Rhode Island’s coastline in mid-March. A third of those counted were found on or around Block Island.

The nonprofit environmental advocacy group held its point-in-time count on Wednesday, March 18, when the high temperature reached into the mid-30s off Block Island and winds were between 5 to 10 mph. 

Counts are typically held in March because that’s when the peak number of harbor seals are seen in the Narragansett Bay before they migrate further north, Save the Bay spokesperson Juan Espinoza said. 

“They kind of thrive in spring,” Espinoza said in a phone interview.

How to contain avian flu H5N1 if human-to-human spread begins

With RFK Jr. in charge of the CDC, we are not prepared

By Sandra McLean, York University

Edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Robert Egan 

The Onion

At this point, avian flu H5N1 is thought to have very limited ability to transmit between humans, but a recent case in British Columbia with an unknown source of transmission has piqued the curiosity and concern of scientists, including York University Professor Seyed Moghadas. Did this lone case come about through transmission from an animal or another person, and if it was via human transmission, what methods would control its spread in the human population?

Director of York's Agent-Based Modeling Laboratory in the Center of Excellence in AI for Public Health Advancement, Moghadas and a group of researchers used modeling to understand the best spread control measures should human-to-human transmission become possible.

"The idea was, let's evaluate some of the interventions that we usually implement at the very earliest stage of a disease outbreak or emerging disease, which we know very little about," he says.

For the research, "Containment Scenarios for Post-Spillover Transmission Chains of Avian Influenza H5N1 from Poultry to Humans," published in Nature Health, various scenarios from isolation to vaccination before or after a spillover event were modeled.

It is one of only a few studies that have explicitly modeled outbreak dynamics following spillover into humans or the effectiveness of public health interventions in early and highly uncertain phases of virus development.