Protein can help build and preserve muscle, but eating more has its limits

As with all food choices, put some thought into what you choose to eat

Dominic Farsi, Teagasc; King's College London; Queen's University Belfast

DON'T be this guy!

High protein content has become a selling point on foods ranging from breakfast cereals to yoghurts. For anyone hoping to build muscle or stay strong as they age, choosing the product with the most protein can seem sensible. But whether an extra serving will help depends on what they already eat and how they use their muscles.

Someone who regularly lifts weights may benefit from additional protein to support muscle growth. An older person with a small appetite may need help getting enough to maintain strength. Someone already eating enough protein may gain little from adding more.

Understanding those differences can make it easier to decide whether to change your diet, buy a supplement or concentrate on exercise.

Muscle tissue is continually being broken down and rebuilt. Dietary protein supplies amino acids, the small molecules the body uses to make its own proteins, including those in muscle.

Resistance exercise makes muscles work against a load. That load might come from weights or from your own body during an exercise such as press-ups. It stimulates the processes involved in building and repairing muscle, allowing muscles to adapt to repeated demands.

Protein supports this adaptation, but increasing intake does not reproduce the effects of exercise.

A review of 49 trials involving 1,863 participants found that protein supplements produced additional improvements in muscle size and strength during resistance training. Participants were training for at least six weeks. The findings therefore concern protein’s contribution to a training program, rather than the effects of adding a shake to an otherwise unchanged routine.

For someone already eating enough protein, establishing a manageable strength-training routine may be more useful than searching for another high-protein snack.

Dolores Huerta, Chicana activist and defender of farmworker rights, dies at 96

A life well spent

Jessica Kutz, Climate Reporter

This story was originally reported by Jessica Kutz of The 19th. Meet Jessica and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

Dolores Huerta, who rose to national prominence as the co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association and was known for her advocacy for women farmworkers, died on October 28. She was 96. 

Long recognized for her lifelong dedication to farmworkers, Huerta’s fight against injustice — and the sacrifices she made in that fight –  reemerged in the wider public consciousness this year when she spoke of being sexually assaulted and raped by César Chávez, the farmworker movement’s most visible leader. Her revelation was just one more act of speaking out in a life dedicated to justice.

Huerta was born in New Mexico but spent most of her life in California’s Central Valley, an agricultural hub where a quarter of the country’s food is grown. 

After graduating college, she became an elementary school teacher. A majority of her students were the children of migrant farmworkers. She left teaching when she realized that she could better use her talents to help their parents fight issues like wage theft and poor working and living conditions. She is widely quoted as saying: “I couldn’t tolerate seeing kids come to class hungry and needing shoes. I thought I could do more by organizing farmworkers than by trying to teach their hungry children.”

She left the school to work at the Community Service Organization, a Latino civil rights group.  In 1955 she helped start the Stockton chapter of the organization, which is where she met Chávez, a rising Chicano leader. The two went on to create the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). 

One of the first major actions she undertook was helping organize the Delano Grape Strike in 1965, a five-year strike that was started by Filipino workers who were fighting for higher wages. About a week into the strike, NFWA joined the movement with 1,200 Mexican laborers. The two groups representing the strikers eventually merged to become the United Farm Workers (UFW), a labor union. 

As part of the UFW’s work to fight for better working conditions and union contracts, Huerta went to New York to organize a national boycott against table grapes. There she met the feminist leader Gloria Steinem, who in 1968 flew out to California to march with the striking farmworkers. 

While Huerta was the lead negotiator for the grape worker contracts that resulted from the organizing, her contributions and leadership during the strikes and subsequent boycotts were often overshadowed by Chávez. It was Huerta who coined the ¡Sí Se Puede! chant, which means “yes, it can be done” and came to define the farmworker movement – but the phrase has been erroneously credited to him over the years. The phrase continues to be a rallying cry of activists across the country, and more recently has been used by politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former President Barack Obama.

UPDATED: Mid-term election results

How big will the Blue Wave be? It's certainly big in Charlestown and Rhode Island

Another really bad night for LORIB

By Will Collette

UPDATE: Clearly, we won't need to wait to appreciate the scope of yesterday's Blue Tsunami and Donald Trump's massive loss. Democrats took both Houses of Congress as well as numerous Governorships and state houses across the country. 

Now we wait to see what King Donald does.

Locally, the overnight tallies did not change the results I reported last night. Notably, Samantha Wilcox's win over incumbent state Senator Elaine Morgan (MAGA-R, representing the northern half of Charlestown) is now solid at 52.6% to Morgan's 47.35%. That's a margin of just under 700 votes. Rep. Megan Cotter (D) margin in winning her third term increased from 15% to 20%.

Charlestown's controversial Question 7 to reduce Planning Commission terms from 6 years to 4 remains uncertain. The "reject" votes outnumber the "accept" votes by just 3.   

The Chariho School Construction bond question appears to have passed by a slim margin, thanks to Charlestown's votes. 

The Westerly Sun reports:

"Charlestown had the most voters supporting the bond with 2,450 votes, while Hopkinton had the least, 1,521, with 2,060 Hopkinton voters voting no. In Richmond, 1,670 people voted yes, and 1,886 voted no."

The Sun got the Richmond numbers wrong - it was 1886 YES to 1670 NO. 

By last count, with 5,857 yes to 5,292 no votes, the bond to construct a new unified elementary school on the site of the existing Charlestown Elementary passed by 565 votes. 

And here is Dear Leader's first take on the results:

It will probably take a while for all of the votes to be counted so we can find out whether the Democrats take both houses of Congress. Or what Donald Trump will do after that.

But we do have enough votes counted to reliably report who won and lost here in Charlestown plus contested General Assembly seats in South County. The final counts may change a percentage point or two when all mail-in and early votes are counted, but that will matter only in very close races.

Congratulations to Sam Wilcox for flipping incumbent state Senator Elaine Morgan's seat by a likely margin of 53% to 47%.

Brewed Awakenings' owner Dave Levesque continues to see his money circle the drain. His 40 League of Rhode Island Businesses (LORIB) political action committees backed all the wrong candidates. Levesque had endorsed Elaine Morgan who was the only flipped seat in South County.

His other South County candidates all lost to Democratic incumbents mostly by very large margins:

• Sen. Victoria Gu won by 24 points
• Rep. Carol McEntee won by 20 points
• Rep. Kathy Fogarty won by 30 points
• Rep. Megan Cotter won by 15 points
• Rep. Sam Azzinaro won by the largest margin - 33 points 

In Charlestown, Charlestown Residents United (CRU) maintains its 4-1 majority on the Town Council. The Council will also have the first Democratic majority in the 25 years I've lived here with the election of incumbent Council President Deb Carney, Cynthia Drummond in third place and Jill Fonneman who came in fourth. 

Deb, Cynthia and Jill, all elected

In a surprise, at least to me, the least competent Council incumbent, CCA 's Bonnita Van Slyke, came in second. CRU incumbent Steve Stokes (R) keeps his seat with a 5th place finish. Incumbent Craig Marr (R) loses his seat with a 7th place finish. 

The big disappointment for the night was Ruth Platner's big win in getting her entire slate of CCA-bots elected to the Planning Commission. That plus her first-place finish get her another six years to block every project she doesn't like. 

Platner probably eked out another goal - rejection of Charlestown Question 7 which would have reduced the terms of Planning Commission from the current six years to four. As of this writing at 11:30 PM, the margin was down to only 3 votes for the CCA position to reject reducing PC terms.

Richmond Blue Wave

All four Richmond Democrats running for Town Council won, along with one Republican. That sole Republican WAS NOT Justin Price, former state Representative and J6 insurrectionist. Price's campaign pitch was based on his time in the General Assembly which was a pretty bad strategy given how awful he was. This was his third comeback attempt.

Westerly sweep.

Democrats swept town offices, with every Democrat winning and all Republicans losing, giving Blue Wave control in the Town Council and Westerly School Committee. Democrats won everything that wasn't nailed down.

Hopkinton didn't go quite so Blue

Their Town Council is now split between an independent top-vote getter, two Republicans and two Democrats.

Dems won two of three of their Chariho School Committee seats, one of them going to Greg Avedisian, a former Charlestown Town Council member who was excommunicated by the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) in 2010.

All blue statewide and federal

All three of our members of Congress, Sen. Jack Reed, Rep. Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo, won by comfortable margins. 

Helena Foulkes (D) trounced Independent Ken Block to become Rhode Island's next Governor. Kim Ahern easily won the right to succeed term-limited Attorney General Peter Nerohna.

The race between incumbent Democratic Lieutenant Governor Sabrina Matos and Republican John Loughlin was supposed to be tight with some polls giving the edge to Loughlin. However, she wins easily by about 16 points to retain her seat. 

There. Problem solved

Saturday: help clean up Ninigret Park

Now is the time to get your flu shot.

Experts say don't wait. 

Sarah Boden

Influenza season started early this year, and Americans are advised to get their flu shots now, even in the parts of the United States where activity is currently low.

Nearly 5,000 lab-confirmed influenza hospitalizations were reported nationwide during the week ending October 17, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

This is the highest early-season hospital rate for mid-October since the 2010-11 flu season, said Anna Durbin, MD, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Immunization Research, during today's media briefing. 

Early cases seem driven by an H1N1 variant, a type of influenza A, for which data suggest this year's vaccine is an incomplete match. Even so, the vaccine can prevent severe illness.

Preliminary CDC estimates find that up to 81,000 US residents died of flu-related illness from October 1, 2025, through May 23, 2026.

Additionally, the shot protects against two other flu viruses: another influenza A strain and a B lineage flu virus. Both are expected to circulate widely later this respiratory virus season. 

Because the vaccine works best before flu activity starts, people should get it as soon as possible, said Andrew Pekosz, PhD, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center of Excellence in Influenza Research and Response.

"This [moment] should be viewed as a good last call," he said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I got my COVID and flu shots at CVS in Westerly on October 23. As a determined PRO-vaxxer, I get whatever shots are available to ward off life-threatening illness. I made an advance appointment and was seen exactly at the time of that appointment. I was too early in the season to get the new mRNA-based flu shot. That will have to wait until next year. In the past, the mRNA COVID vaccine has caused me to undergo a day-after reaction where I feel sick for a couple of hours. But for the second year in a row, I had no negative after-effects. I have never had COVID and no flu or RSV since getting the shots.   - Will Collette

Trump just held a final election "rally" at the infamous Reflecting Pool in DC

 Here's how it went, courtesy of Jeff Tiedrich:

Over 3,000 Charlestown voters have cast their ballots as of noon. If you haven't voted yet, make sure you do. Polls close at 8 PM.

Not the actual result. Satire, folks.

A single sauna session sends immune cells surging through your body

Feeling sick? Finns say hop in the sauna

University of Eastern Finland

Bobby Kennedy Jr. and Kid Rock do sauna
workout. In blue jeans.

A new Finnish study reveals that just 30 minutes in a sauna can temporarily flood the bloodstream with additional white blood cells, potentially helping the immune system patrol the body and detect threats. The surprising response resembles the immune boost seen during exercise and may help explain some of the health benefits linked to sauna bathing.

During the study, researchers observed an increase in every type of circulating white blood cell they measured. Among them were neutrophils and lymphocytes, two important groups of immune cells. Neutrophils are often among the first defenders to respond to an infection, while lymphocytes include cells that recognize specific threats, produce antibodies, and help coordinate immune responses.

The increase was temporary. Within 30 minutes after the sauna session, neutrophil and lymphocyte counts had returned to their original levels.

Who controls the past, controls the future

The EPA is quietly killing its web archive

Rachel Santarsiero, Mother Jones

This story was originally published by Mother Jones and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.​

In a little-noticed webpage update, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced a plan to decommission its online web archive at the end of the year, a move that would wipe tens of thousands of publicly available environmental resources from the web. The discreet banner notice comes in stark contrast to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s recent public takedowns of the agency’s power plant pollution standards and federal methane regulatory system.

“The EPA’s online archive makes information about a wide variety of environmental issues and past policies available to the public, dating back at least 20 years,” said Gretchen Gehrke, co-founder of the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, or EDGI. “This information is irreplaceable, and if the archive is decommissioned, that information will be lost forever.”

For decades, the web archive has been an unparalleled resource for researchers, legislators, policymakers, and the public writ large. It houses everything from fact sheets and environmental reports to agency policy changes and regulatory actions, making it a tool for “democratic oversight,” according to Gehrke, who for 10 years has been tracking changes to vulnerable federal environmental data.

Some tips for last-minute undecided voters

Your vote counts. Be wise how you use it

By Will Collette

If you’re the kind of person who does their Xmas shopping on Xmas Eve, or mails in their tax return on the evening of April 14, this article is for you.

As of Monday after early voting ended, 2323 of Charlestown’s 6805 active registered voters cast their ballots either by mail or through in-person early voting. On its own, that’s a big turn-out for a non-Presidential election. Tomorrow, it’s up to the remaining 4,482 to decide whether to go to the polls and, if so, to decide how they will cast their ballots.

To find out WHERE you need to go to vote, CLICK HERE.

From a Progressive Charlestown standpoint, many of those decisions are clear and at the federal and state level, we should follow Donald Trump’s call for us to vote like he’s on the ballot…and vote for Democrats, especially US Rep. Seth Magaziner, and Helena Foulkes for Governor.

At the town level, the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee supports three outstanding Democrats for Town Council:

Left to right: Town Council President Deb Carney, Cynthia Drummond and Jill Fonnemann. Endorsed Democrats.

Charlestown Residents United (CRU) is a bi-partisan PAC that has held the Council majority for the past four years. They defeated the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) and it’s corrupt and inept leadership in 2022 and have since delivered competent, fiscally responsible, no-drama government. Their Council slate:

Charlestown Residents United's endorsed slate for Town Council

In my opinion, the CRU incumbents – Deb Carney, Craig Marr and Steve Stokes – have earned re-election. Jill Fonnemann is also one of my favorites – I supported her first election effort in December’s special election to fill the Council term of the late Rippy Serra. I don’t know much about Republican Matt Westover, other than he gave negative answers to the Womenx Project’s survey on women’s rights issues.

Democrat Cynthia Drummond (D) is on the town Democrat’s list but not on CRU’s list. She IS featured on the CCA’s endorsement list as if she was the top of the ticket.

Because this seemed contrary to Cynthia’s interview remarks to Alex Nunes that she wanted to steer clear of the CRU-CCA rivalry and only seek the town Democratic endorsement, I asked her this:

COLLETTE’S QUESTION:

[F]rom the CCA campaign material, it looks like the CCA is touting you as the top of their ticket. Did you give the CCA your consent for them to market you so prominently? 

Second, the CCA is notorious for demanding loyalty from all their endorsed candidates not just to their platform but also to every directive from the leadership. They purged their very first Council [in 2010] when the CCA decided to make a 180-degree switch of position on wind energy going from positive support to total opposition. Were you asked to pledge your loyalty to their platform? To their leadership? 

CYNTHIA’S RESPONSE:

When I decided to run, I stated that I would not be accepting endorsements from either the CCA or CRU. I did not want to become embroiled in the rivalry between the two PACs, which I often find distracting and unnecessary. The CCA accepted that I had declined their endorsement, but asked if they could still support me, which I agreed to. Then I learned that for CRU, CCA support amounted to what they considered to be an endorsement, and that CRU would, therefore, not support me. 

For the record, I have known Deb Carney for more than a decade and I did reach out to her before announcing my candidacy. We have always gotten along well, and I believe she has done an excellent job as council President. 

The CCA has never demanded loyalty or anything else from me and I have declined to take part in their campaign activities such as canvassing or envelope stuffing. Consistent with that effort, I went door to door last Sunday with my neighbor who is a Republican and not affiliated with either PAC. The CCA has put me at the top of their ticket, which I am fine with.

I take Cynthia at her word that she is not committed to the CCA. Throughout her years as a journalist covering Charlestown politics, I felt she has been honest and forthright.

Cynthia isn’t the only candidate the CCA has given an unsolicited endorsement. Council member Steve Stokes (CRU-R) received the CCA’s “conditional” endorsement, a dubious honor he never sought. The Democratic candidates for Chariho School Committee also did not seek the CCA’s endorsement. 

Indeed, Democrat Holly Eaves rejected the CCA's unsolicited endorsement and asked the CCA to remove her from their website, which they have done.

I urge voters to reject the CCA's Ruth Platner
for Planning and her crony Bonnie Van Slyke
for Council.

For the Planning Commission, I recommend you vote AGAINST the CCA slate, especially CCA founder and Planning Commissar-for-life Ruth Platner. She’s the architect of the CCA’s sleezy land deals, cover-ups, financial screw-ups, and persistent use of phony issues to scare voters. Bring the CCA's mailer with you to the polls and don't vote for their Planning Commission slate

Among the Charlestown Town Questions, I urge you to support Question 6 to approve funding for construction of a new unified Chariho District elementary school on the site of the existing Charlestown Elementary. It’s needed badly. Since Hopkinton and Richmond often vote against investment in Chariho, Charlestown voters need to get this referendum passed.

I also urge you to vote YES on Question 7. This question is bitterly opposed by the CCA because it would cut the current six-year staggered terms for Planning Commission members to a staggered 4-year term. The CCA says the 6-year terms are necessary so commission members for continuity on major projects. I say “WTF?”

This is the CCA saying the quiet part out loud – that they use the Planning Commission to talk projects to death and run out the clock on the funding developers hope to use. Six years for Planning to complete its work on projects is four years too long. The CCA knows that projects with government funding face deadlines and that investors in private projects will not wait 6 years for a final decision.

Charlestown is the ONLY Rhode Island municipality that still elects its Planning Commission. All other towns appoint their planning boards. The state enacted legislation in 1972 in an effort to de-politicize planning decisions. In Charlestown, the CCA has ensured that planning decisions are hyper-politicized, if not outright corrupt. While holding on to an elected board is the real problem with Charlestown’s planning, voting YES on Question 7 is a step in the right direction.

Re-elect incumbent state legislators EXCEPT ONE

Senator Victoria Gu, Reps. Megan Cotter, Carol McEntee and Kathy Fogarty have done a terrific job and will hopefully win re-election in landslides.

One incumbent deserves defeat: state Senator Elaine Morgan who represents the northern half of Charlestown. She has embarrassed her district and the state of Rhode Island with her MAGA-inspired antics.

Instead, I strongly recommend her opponent, Democrat Samantha “Sam” Wilcox, the effective Richmond Town Council president. Unlike Morgan, she has the skills and intelligence to actually help her district that spans northern Charlestown through Exeter.

Finally, I recommend you vote to approve four of the five state bond proposals. They meet important infrastructure needs and will create jobs.

I am skeptical about Question 3 and voted against it. This bond measure will put millions more into infrastructure at Quonset Point. While I’m sure this measure will create jobs, especially in construction, the Quonset Point Development Corporation has made a lot of dubious choices, such as support for asphalt and hazardous waste disposal. The QPDC, a quasi-governmental agency, has also stonewalled local officials seeking more information on the now-stalled sludge incinerator project.

The businesses at Quonset are pretty profitable, especially Electric Boat. Isn’t it time that they, not the taxpayers, finance the continuing build-out at Quonset? If taxpayers are going to continue pouring in millions, we need an expanded role for the community in decision-making and a lot more transparency. Send the right message: Vote NO on state Question 3.

Trump makes his final mid-term pitch

Thursday: a session on the issues of artificial intelligence.

A session discussing the role of AI in creating and spreading misinformation, and strategies to stay vigilant against its effects.

Sen. DiMario honored for her work supporting families and children with special needs

Honored for her effective advocacy

 From left, Sen. Alan M. DiMario and RIPIN
 Executive Director Samuel Salganik.

Sen. Alana M. DiMario was honored today for her work on behalf of families and children with special needs with a Legislative Partner award at the RIPIN Annual Breakfast.

“I am honored to receive this award and celebrate the 35th anniversary of RIPIN, a group founded by parents of children with special needs who recognized that through community and mutual support they could build a more inclusive and supportive Rhode Island,” said Senator DiMario (D-Dist. 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown, New Shoreham). 

“I’ve been proud to do my part in the General Assembly to move our laws in the same direction. Every child deserves to thrive, and every family deserves the support they need to provide the best learning environment possible for their children.”

Senator DiMario has sponsored a number of laws supporting special education and children with special needs, including to improve individualized education plans (IEP) for children and their parents, to ensure that parents of children with special educational needs have access to local advisory committees for support and advice, to allow students to help with IEP physical education classes, and to codify federal 504 education plans into state law.

She also successfully advocated for the state budget to fund behavioral health training for staff in out-of-school programs and personally supported workforce training for child mental health professionals by covering membership fees for infant and child care professionals.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Senator DiMario was one of several Democratic women legislators in South County who were targeted for defeat by the far-right League of Rhode Island Businesses. She beat her LORIB challenger Mark Mesrobian by 72% to 28%. She also has no opponent in the General Election tomorrow so she automatically will retain her seat.  - Will Collette

Medicare Drug Plans Are Hiking Premiums While Trump Claims Victory on Medicine Prices

Another Trump lie- he DIDN'T lower seniors' prescription costs

By Phil Galewitz

Millions of Medicare enrollees who buy stand-alone prescription drug plans will see their average monthly premiums rise by 50% in 2027, a new analysis finds.

But enrollees can avoid the average increase — from $34 a month to $51 — by switching to lower-cost plans during the program’s open enrollment period, which runs through Dec. 7.

Robert Travis Scott of Abingdon, Virginia, did just that in late October after he received a notice that his AARP-UnitedHealthcare Medicare drug plan premium would be increasing from $39.60 a month in 2026 to $121.90 in 2027. With just a little work checking prices online, Scott found a Humana plan for $19.30 with similar benefits.

“Yes, I am quite happy about that,” he said of the new plan he just found. He said he was stunned his existing plan was going up so much and worried that other seniors won’t shop for plans to save money. He estimates he saved himself about $1,000 for next year.

“With some plans increasing premiums substantially, the stakes are higher this year for people with Medicare stand-alone drug coverage if they sit on the sidelines during open enrollment,” said Juliette Cubanski, a vice president and the director of the Program on Medicare Policy at KFF, which conducted the analysis. KFF is a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

Rising drug costs are among the litany of affordability issues angering voters ahead of November’s midterm election. Donald Trump, whose approval rating in some polls has dipped to the lowest level of his two terms in office, claims his administration has succeeded in negotiating lower prices from drug manufacturers.

Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s company was facing a criminal investigation for allegedly enabling and profiting from the sale of illegal drugs on its platforms.

Zuckerberg off the hook after donating millions to Trump schemes

Jake Johnson for Common Dreams

Top officials at the US Department of Justice have reportedly halted a years-long criminal investigation into Facebook parent company Meta for allegedly facilitating—and profiting from—the illegal sale of drugs on its platforms, including to children.

Bloomberg Law reported Thursday that “senior leaders” at the Justice Department “ordered career prosecutors in the Western District of Virginia to cease the criminal investigation following advocacy from Meta’s legal team.” Meta is headed by Mark Zuckerberg, a billionaire who has worked to ingratiate himself with Donald Trump by helping to bankroll his inauguration and ballroom project.

“This is what Meta’s money is buying,” Kyle Jacobs-Morse, deputy executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, wrote in response to reports of the halted probe.

The existence of the Meta investigation was first revealed in March 2024 by The Wall Street Journal, which reported at the time that US prosecutors were “sending subpoenas and asking questions as part of a criminal grand jury probe looking into whether the company’s social-media platforms are facilitating and profiting from the illegal sale of drugs.”

According to Bloomberg Law, DOJ leaders’ decision to sideline the probe came “just after company executives were subpoenaed to testify.”