Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Do it NOW! Register to vote. Apply for mail-in ballot.
If you don’t vote by November 5, you don’t get to complain!
💥Register on-line:
CLICK HERE.
Then follow in the instructions.
💥Register in a state other than Rhode Island.
💥Apply for a mail-in ballot.
CLICK
HERE. This gives you the form you can fill out on-line, but then you must
print it out, sign it and mail it to the town Board of Canvassers.
Time: NOW until October 15.
How Salt Triggers Multiple Sclerosis and Other Autoimmune Diseases
A good reason to curb your salt use
By Kevin Dennehy, Yale University
Researchers at Yale have identified a protein that triggers
loss of immune regulation associated with multiple sclerosis and other
diseases.
This discovery, which highlights the role of
environmental factors like high salt intake, offers a new target for developing
universal autoimmune treatments.
Groundbreaking Discoveries in Autoimmune Research
More than two decades ago, a research team in the lab of
David Hafler, a Yale researcher who at the time was at Harvard, discovered a
type of T cell in humans that suppresses the immune system; they later found
that these so-called regulatory T cells, when defective, are an underlying
cause of autoimmune disease, specifically multiple sclerosis (MS). For many
years, however, the mechanism behind this dysfunction has remained unclear.
In a new Yale-led study, a team of researchers finds that
this loss of immune regulation is triggered by an increase in PRDM1-S, a
protein involved in immune function, triggering a dynamic interaction of
multiple genetic and environmental factors, including high salt uptake.
With both U.S. Senate candidates and a TV station willing, at least one debate likely
Also, an update on Rhode Island's two US House of Representatives election
By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current
The Whitehouse campaign has indicated he’s willing, and one TV station has already extended invitations to both candidates.
Morgan had some practice when she taped a debate with her GOP primary opponent Raymond McKay Aug. 16 on WPRI 12. She went on to beat the former Warwick city administrator 64.5% to 35.5% in Tuesday’s primary.
Whitehouse’s televised appearances during his Democratic primary against Michael J. Costa were strictly through paid advertisements. Rhode Island’s junior U.S. Senator fended off Costa’s long-shot bid 83.8% to 16.2%.
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Project 2025: A Recipe For Environmental Destruction
End environmental regulation, promote fossil fuels, end green energy development, just for starters
That shouldn’t come as a surprise. According to Open Secrets, Trump received $951,902 in
campaign contributions from oil and gas companies in the 2024
election.
Add deregulation and promoting or funding anything
environmentally friendly to the agenda. “Cancel the electric vehicle mandate
and cut costly and burdensome regulations,” as the RNC Platform says.
Project 2025 and the EPA
Beyond the RNC Platform, we have the Heritage
Foundation’s Project 2025 document to inform us.
The introduction to the section on the Environmental Protection Agency sounds a
bit Orwellian with its claims to create “a better environmental tomorrow with
clean air, safe water, healthy soil, and thriving communities.”
Project 2025 recommends that former President Trump issue an executive order on day one to reconsider the EPA’s structure that would:
The excitement never ends: two events to celebrate!
First:
I did not make these up. - Editor
R.I. Keeping Up with Rest of U.S. in Residential Solar Installation
Rooftop solar's popularity increases
By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff
Rhode Island’s residential rooftop solar systems are getting
bigger and cheaper to install, but the state still lags when it comes to energy
battery storage.
Photo by Will Collette
That’s the main takeaway from a new report from California’s
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Energy Markets & Policy Department.
The report, called Tracking the Sun, is
an annual publication studying the average size of residential solar panels,
installation prices, and module efficiency.
Data from the report shows that, when it comes to
residential system size, Rhode Island is keeping up with the Joneses. The
median system size in Rhode Island for rooftop residential is 7.4 kilowatts
(kW) a system, pretty on par with the national average. The state’s solar
arrays are drawing more power from the sun, but it’s still lower than
neighboring states’ averages; Massachusetts boasts a median system size of 9.3
kW, and Connecticut’s median isn’t far behind at 8.9 kW.
The increase is likely from efficiency in the specific solar
modules installed on homes, according to the 46-page report. Solar
installed on rooftops covers anywhere from 15% to 40% of any given residential
home, with the national median landing at 26% for last year.
Want to eat less meat and dairy?
Here are your options for getting enough protein
Tony Benson, Queen's University Belfast; Anne Nugent, Queen's University Belfast, and Moira Dean, Queen's University Belfast
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| Cereal grains such as wheat are a rich source of protein. Porawat Suepchaktip/Shutterstock |
But meat and dairy are still the main source of protein for most adults in these countries. Protein is needed to grow and repair the body. So if you start eating less animal produce, you need to ensure you are still getting enough protein.
Many people might think eating less meat just means eating more plant-based meat alternatives like veggie burgers. But while these kinds of alternative protein products are better for the environment because they use less land and produce lower greenhouse gas emissions, there are drawbacks.
Some plant-based meat alternatives can be classified as “ultra- processed” and they often have a less favorable nutrition profile, higher in salt and lower in iron and vitamin B12 (although they can be lower in calories and fat too). Their taste and texture are also often criticized by consumers.
But plant-based meat alternatives are far from the only other type of non-animal protein available. There are five other broad categories of protein that don’t come from animals: pulses, algae, insects, cultured meat, and grains such as oat, wheat, barley and other cereals which are often overlooked as environmentally sustainable plant proteins.
Here’s what you need to know about consuming more of these animal-free protein sources.
R.I. Community Food Bank struggles to keep up with growing demand
The Rhode Island Community Food Bank needs your help
By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current
Between July 2023 and June 2024, the food bank distributed 18.3 million pounds of food to feed a monthly average of 82,600 people — an increase of more than 2 million pounds over the same one-year period ending in June 2023.
Food is accessed through a statewide network of 147 local and regional food pantries, including the three operated by the East Bay Community Action Program where leaders said it’s not uncommon to see someone who once donated food come in for services. EDITOR'S NOTE: These include just about all of our local agencies. Cathy and I support them as well as the Food Bank to keep the supply of food going for those who need help. - Will Collette
Monday, September 16, 2024
Can South County Hospital maintain its high rankings as internal discord goes public? Can it survive?
Shit hits the fan at South County Hospital
By Will Collette
She left SCH a
little over a year ago telling me she was disgusted by the grind of paperwork
and bureaucracy and moved over to URI’s student health services.
We’ve experienced the effects of SCH’s high turnover and
disappointing recruitment results. Since then, Cathy and I have not had a
regular doctor, relying instead on a succession of family nurse practitioners. Cathy
relies on getting home blood draws but that was one of the several services SCH
discontinued. She used to get iron infusions at the Cancer Center, but all of those staff quit in protest.
Most alarming for us is Cathy’s primary care doctor for her kidney
disease who was cited by The Public’s Radio reporter Lynn Arditi:
In the last two months, four of the five staff in the hematology and oncology group submitted their resignations, Dr. Mark Mancini, the hospital’s medical director of nephrology, said in an interview Friday.
Mancini, who cares for patients with kidney disease, said that he is “on the brink of departure” because of frustrations with operation since Robinson was appointed chief executive officer in 2019, replacing Lou Giancolo.
“We haven’t had an organized meeting with the administration specifically representing the employed physicians in five years,’’ Mancini said. “(That’s a) prime example of an administration that has completely dissociated itself and alienated itself from the individuals such as physicians and advanced practice providers who are the pillars of your hospital.”
I have no complaints about SCH staff whether at the
hospital, affiliated medical groups or our go-to favorite SCH Westerly site.
We’ve always felt proud to have such an outstanding hospital as “our” hospital
and appreciated the regular high ratings SCH has received. I
spent four days as an inpatient with pneumonia and wrote about how great I was
treated HERE.
But things have changed.
Right after Labor Day, the open-letter I mentioned in the opening hit
the media and created a firestorm. The letter cited a callous attitude by
hospital CEO Aaron Robinson, interference with proper medical treatment,
bureaucracy and under-funding as the cause for staff resignations and difficulties
in recruitment and retention.
While many institutions, especially in the health and
non-profit sections, may have similar complaints, the open letter and protests make
SCH’s issues much more than business as usual.
Since the letter, the focus has shifted to demands for
Robinson’s removal and a shakeup of SCH management.
Aaronson and the SCH Board respond that the hospital has
been losing money and that its reimbursements for services are 20% lower than
similar hospitals in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Their most recent audit report showed a loss of $6.3 million. They
lost almost $6 million last year too. Despite these losses and all the internal
turmoil, in the two years after he became CEO, Robinson enjoyed a pay hike of 60% to $757,503.
As doctors, staff and patients go public, several facts
stand out: we all want South County Health to survive and thrive as the
high-quality health care institution many of us rely on. Yes, there are
reimbursement and market pressures pushing management to try to stem the
bleeding – the state should do whatever it can to help out.
But it’s also clear that management, particularly Dr.
Aaronson, are central to the problems that need to be resolved. While Aaronson
may still have the full confidence of his Board - for now - he has lost the hearts and
minds of a significant part of the staff and community so much so that I don’t
see how he can continue.
My relationship with South County Hospital goes back 50
years to 1974 when I met their legendary, long-time CEO Donald Ford. I was
working on a campaign to push hospitals to provide uncompensated care to the
uninsured, a problem exacerbated by a deep recession. Donald, alone among
hospital administrators, actually took out radio ads telling the uninsured and
unemployed that South County Hospital would never turn them away for lack of
ability to pay.
He became a source as well as a friend and mentor. He
oversaw SCH’s growth and I believe he inspired the kind of care that gave South
County Hospital its top rankings. He died in 2010.
I wish current administration at SCH would use the axiom
“What would Donald Do?” as they work their way through this crisis.
Rhode Island beaches were much healthier this summer, at least when compared to last year’s data.
Beach Closures Declined Sharply
By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff
The number of beach closure days imposed by state health
officials sharply declined this year. According to data from the Rhode Island
Department of Health, beaches around the state were closed for a combined 71
days between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the traditional summer season. Last
year closures reached an all-time high, with DOH officials closing beaches for
a total of 284 days, the highest number since 2006.
Photo by Will Collette
DOH orders beaches closed when they test positive for
elevated levels of enterococci, a kind of gut bacteria that is used by federal
and state health officials as an indicator for fecal waste contamination in
bodies of water. Any beach with water testing higher than the standard of 60
colony-forming units (CFU) per 100 milliliters is automatically closed by DOH
until the tests produce a passing result again.
Overall the bacteria represents a small health risk for
swimmers and bathers. Swimming in contaminated water can cause gastroenteritis,
an inflammation of the stomach and intestines that can cause symptoms such as
vomiting, headaches, and fever. It can also result in ear, eye, and throat
infections, and in more serious cases salmonella.
Trump's hate is no joke
Trump and Vance lie to stir supporters to commit acts of violence
“They” should not be coming after anyone. There is no place
in our democracy for violence, nor for threats of violence.
Which brings me to Trump’s claim in last week’s debate that
Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are “eating the dogs … eating the
cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
It quickly became a vast internet joke, fueling thousands of
hilarious memes and songs. But it’s no laughing matter. Trump’s claim has
already provoked threats of violence.
After JD Vance first began spreading baseless rumors about
Haitians in Springfield, members of the neo-Nazi group “Blood Tribe” marched into the city carrying guns,
wearing body armor, and carrying Neo-Nazi flags. At an August 27 town hall meeting, one claimed that the
city had been taken over by “degenerate third worlders,” blamed Jews for the
influx, and warned that “crime and savagery will only increase with every
Haitian you allow in.”
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| For Trump, it's all about hate |
Springfield’s Haitian immigrants say they are afraid. Some
have kept their children home from school, fearing
violence. Others have reported harassment on the street, in their cars, and at
stores. A Springfield family whose son died last year when the bus in which he
was riding accidentally collided with a car driven by a Haitian immigrant has
pleaded for Trump and Vance to stop using their deceased son for political
purposes.
Yet Trump and JD Vance are doubling down. Yesterday, before
the attempt on Trump’s life, Vance said on CNN that
the claims about Haitians eating the pets of Springfield residents came from
“firsthand accounts from my constituents.” When interviewer Dana Bash suggested
that the claims had caused bomb threats, Vance called her a “Democratic propagandist.”
But the connection is indisputable.
Rather than offhand comments, Trump’s and Vance’s claims are
calculated. Trump’s last two posts on Truth Social before the debate were AI
images of cats and ducks — one depicting cats in military fatigues carrying
assault rifles and wearing MAGA hats, the other showing the candidate himself
sitting on a plane amid a crowd of ducks and cats.
Trump is now talking about holding a rally in Springfield.
“We’re going to get these people out,” Trump said in a Friday
news conference. Although Springfield’s Haitian immigrants are in the United
States legally, he promised to stage “the largest deportation in the history of
our country” if reelected.
Trump’s and Vance’s claims are completely bogus. Ohio’s
Republican governor, Mike DeWine, told CBS News on
Wednesday that “these Haitians came in here to work because there were jobs,
and they filled a lot of jobs. And if you talk to employers, they’ve done a
very, very good job and they work very, very hard.”
Another of Trump’s bogus claims is now threatening legal
immigrants in Aurora, Colorado, a Denver suburb that Trump has repeatedly
asserted is being “taken over” by Venezuelan criminals. “Simply not true,”
Aurora’s Republican mayor and city council member wrote in a joint statement.
As in Springfield, Trump’s baseless claims are harming
innocent people in Aurora. Immigrants there say they have
been told their nationality makes them ineligible for jobs or housing. Trump’s
claims have led to threats and drawn armed groups to the city, claiming to
offer vigilante-style protection.
Trump and Vance are using the oldest of tyrannical ploys —
fueling deep-seated fears by creating an “other” — depicted as subhuman — who
“take over” towns and “devour” loved ones.
In Springfield, the loved ones are peoples’ pets. But how
far is this bogus claim from vicious Nazi claims of Jews devouring children?
Substitute “Jew” for “Haitian” in Springfield or for “Venezuelan” in Aurora,
and you’re back to the Nazis of the 1930s.
In demonizing and dehumanizing migrants, Trump and Vance are
not just seeking to win over a few wavering voters across the nation or making
a play for control of the Senate. They are trying to scare America into
becoming a more fearsome, more racist nation.
“They’re poisoning the blood of our country,” Trump said of immigrants at a rally in New
Hampshire eight months ago, virtually quoting Adolf Hitler (who wrote in Mein
Kampf that “All great cultures of the past perished only because the
originally creative race died out from blood poisoning.”)
In a last-ditch effort to prevail in their campaign, Trump
and Vance are encouraging the haters. On September 10, Vance told his
followers to “keep the cat memes flowing,” notwithstanding that they were
endangering people in his own state.
Meanwhile, members of Trump’s social media war room —
including Trump confidante Laura Loomer (known for sexist, homophobic,
transphobic, anti-Muslim, and antisemitic posts) — are busily spreading
AI-generated images of dogs and cats being protected by Trump, along with other
content promoting the claim that the pets were being eaten by Haitians.
Let me repeat: There no justification whatsoever for
violence or threats of violence in our democracy. While utterly despicable,
yesterday’s second apparent assassination attempt on Trump can be seen as a
symptom of the hate-filled politics he and Vance are peddling.
This must stop.
Children are increasingly putting in excessive hours and working in dangerous conditions
The Companies Behind the Surge in Illegal Child Labor
Good Jobs First
Read the report.
These include companies controlled by private equity firms, which in this analysis are treated as the parents of their majority-owned portfolio companies. We also associate franchises with their national company names no matter how the national company is owned.
Topping the list is the private equity firm Roark Capital.
Fast-food businesses such as Subway, Dunkin’, Auntie Anne’s and Sonic which are
owned or franchised by Roark portfolio companies, accounted for more than $1.7
million in penalties between 2017, when the current surge in child labor
violations began, and 2023, the most recent year for which complete data is
available.
Roark’s properties received more than 2,000 separate violations during those seven years.
In second place is the McDonald’s chain, whose operations together accounted for slightly less than the Roark penalty dollar total but a higher number of individual violations. Every McDonald’s violation was found at a franchised location.
Blackstone comes in third in total penalties because one of its portfolio companies, Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI), has been penalized $1.5 million for employing scores of children as young as 13 to perform dangerous cleaning work at meat processing plants in eight states.
Other major companies whose properties have been disciplined most often for child labor misconduct include Berkshire Hathaway (owner of Dairy Queen), and Restaurant Brands International (owner of Burger King and Popeyes).
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Why Men Need To Rethink Their Budding Bromance With the GOP
Democrats Face Growing Gender Divide as Men Shift Toward Trump and GOP
By Max Taves
Poll after poll keeps reaching the same conclusion: Women
are moving left; men, right into Donald Trump’s arms.
“This is the most gendered election America has seen — and
the split has only deepened with Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic
ticket instead of Joe Biden,” Axios recently reported.
While Vice President Harris had the support of 56% of women
in a head-to-head race against Trump in a mid-August CBS News poll of registered voters, only 45% of
men said they’d support her. Trump led by nine points among men in that poll.
In battleground states, the partisan gender divide was wide
four years ago. Now, it’s wider.
On election day 2020, Trump had a 6-point advantage against
Biden among men in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada, per New York
Times/Sienna College data. By mid-August 2024, Trump had a
15-point advantage over Harris among men in those same states, according to a
Times/Sienna survey of likely voters.
R.I. Chooses SouthCoast Wind to Build 200-MW Offshore Wind Facility
Bid award is part of coordinated procurement effort with Massachusetts
By Mary Lhowe / ecoRI News contributor
Rhode Island selected 200 megawatts (MW) from the SouthCoast Wind project,
by developer Ocean
Winds, a 50-50 joint venture between EDP Renewables and ENGIE. Construction
on the project is expected to start in 2025 and to deliver power by 2030.
Massachusetts selected 2,678 MW of power from three
projects. They will include 1,087 MW from SouthCoast Wind; 791 MW from New England Wind 1 (formerly
called Park City Wind), built by the developer Avangrid; and 800 MW
from Vineyard Wind 2, built by the developer Vineyard Offshore.
For comparison, the 65 turbines of Revolution Wind, now
under construction off Rhode Island’s coast, will produce 704 MW to be shared
by Rhode Island and Connecticut, enough to power 350,000 homes.
Through the new procurement, offshore wind will power more
than 125,000 Rhode Island homes and 1.4 million Massachusetts homes, according
to state officials. One megawatt equals 1,000 kilowatts. A typical Rhode Island
home uses 500 kilowatt-hours a month.
Some Gulf of Maine seafood has PFAS
Your freshwater fish may not be safe either.
By Claire Sullivan, Rhode Island Current
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Instead of getting fried up, three filets each of haddock, salmon, tuna, and cod, three lobster tails, and some shrimp and scallops were transported by researchers to Dartmouth College in Hanover and frozen at negative 20 degrees Celsius. Then, they were tested for PFAS.
The researchers — spanning institutions across the Northeast — found in a study published this spring that the Gulf of Maine seafood had levels of PFAS that could pose health risks to residents considering how much of the protein is consumed. They observed the highest PFAS concentrations in shrimp and lobster.
The diet staple is just one of many ways that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — the “forever chemicals” better known as PFAS – end up in humans. Almost all Americans have measurable amounts of the synthetic chemicals, of which there are thousands of varieties, in their blood. Even the state’s youngest residents suffer from exposure.
With TV Drug Ads, What You See Is Not Necessarily What You Get
Instead of TV drug ads, cut drug prices
Triumphant music plays as cancer patients go camping, do some gardening, and watch fireworks in ads for Opdivo+Yervoy, a combination of immunotherapies to treat metastatic melanoma and lung cancer. Ads for Skyrizi, a medicine to treat plaque psoriasis and other illnesses, show patients snorkeling and riding bikes — flashing their rash-free elbows. People with Type 2 diabetes dance and sing around their office carrels, tipping their hats to Jardiance. Drugs now come with celebrity endorsements: Wouldn’t you want the migraine treatment endorsed by Lady Gaga, Nurtec ODT?Drug ads are not a new problem, but one that has gotten worse
Drug ads have been ubiquitous on TV since the late 1990s and have spilled onto the internet and social media. The United States and New Zealand are the only countries that legally allow direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising. (The European Union was furious when Lady Gaga’s Instagram post promoting the migraine drug was visible on the continent, noting it flagrantly violated its ban on direct-to-consumer advertising.)
Manufacturers have spent more than $1 billion a month on ads in recent years. Last year, three of the top five spenders on TV advertising were drug companies.
Such promotion was banned until 1997, when the FDA reluctantly allowed pharmaceutical ads on TV, so long as they gave an accurate accounting of a medicine’s true benefits and risks, including a list of potential side effects.
Saturday, September 14, 2024
Trump’s tax cuts led to a $20B reduction in charitable giving within a year
Charities took a huge hit from Trump's 2017 tax bill
Daniel Hungerman, University of Notre Dame
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| CC BY-ND |
That helps explain why the U.S. tax code encourages giving by offering some donors a tax break. When those taxpayers give, they get a discount on their tax bill through the charitable deduction.
Overall, this deduction lowers tax revenue by tens of billions of dollars every year. To be sure, since giving is socially valuable, the forgone tax dollars might be worth it.
Many taxpayers stopped taking advantage of this tax break after President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law in late 2017.
This law greatly increased the standard deduction. As a result, many people stopped itemizing and started using the standard deduction instead because they could pay less in taxes without itemizing that way.
About 30% of taxpayers itemized their tax returns in 2017, making them free to take advantage of the charitable deduction, according to the Internal Revenue Service. But since 2018, only about 10% have been itemizing.
For the 30 million taxpayers who stopped itemizing, the charitable deduction disappeared. They lost an incentive to support many of their favorite causes.
I am an economist who studies charitable activities and public policy. Working with two colleagues, Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm and Xiao Han, I co-authored a study looking at what happened to charitable giving after the Trump-era tax reforms were enacted.
Still smoking and want to quit?
Scientists Say These 3 Methods Work Best
By University of Massachusetts Amherst
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- Varenicline
– This prescription medication is marketed under brand names such as
Chantix and Champix.
- Cytisine
– Derived from plants, this compound is accessible over the counter as
Cravv® in Canada and across Central and Eastern Europe, and by
prescription in the UK, though it remains less common in the U.S.
- Nicotine
e-cigarettes.
The review, published September 4 in the journal Addiction,
was conducted by the non-profit Cochrane
Tobacco Addiction Group (CTAG) and led by senior author Jamie
Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy and management in the
UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and lead author
Jonathan Livingstone-Banks, a University of Oxford researcher in
England.
Worldwide, smoking is the leading cause of preventable
disease and death, resulting in more than seven million deaths per year.
More research shows your genetics determine whether coffee is healthy for you
Coffee drinking is a heritable habit, and one that carries a certain amount of genetic baggage.
By University of California - San Diego
She is one of an international
group of researchers who compared coffee consumption characteristics from a
23andMe database with an even larger set of records in the United Kingdom. She
is the corresponding author of a study recently published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
Hayley H. A. Thorpe, Ph.D., is the lead author on the paper.
Thorpe, of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Schulich School of
Medicine and Dentistry at Western University in Ontario, explained that the
team collected genetic data as well as self-reported coffee-consumption numbers
to assemble a genome-wide association study (GWAS). The idea was to make
connections between the genes that were known to be associated with coffee
consumption and the traits or conditions related to health.
“We used this data to identify regions on the genome
associated with whether somebody is more or less likely to consume coffee,”
Thorpe explained. “And then identify the genes and biology that could underlie
coffee intake.”
These Household Brands Want to Redefine What Counts as “Recyclable”
Looking for a license to lie
By Lisa Song for ProPublica
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The film that acts as a lid on Dole Sunshine fruit bowls, the rings securing jars of McCormick dried herbs, the straws attached to Juicy Juice boxes, the bags that hold Cheez-Its and Cheerios — they’re all destined for the dumpster.
Now a trade group representing those brands and hundreds more is pressuring regulators to make plastic appear more environmentally friendly, a proposal experts say could worsen a crisis that is flooding the planet and our bodies with the toxic material.
The Consumer Brands Association believes companies should be able to stamp “recyclable” on products that are technically “capable” of being recycled, even if they’re all but guaranteed to end up in a landfill. As ProPublica previously reported, the group argued for a looser definition of “recyclable” in written comments to the Federal Trade Commission as the agency revises the Green Guides — guidelines for advertising products with sustainable attributes.
The association’s board of directors includes officials from some of the world’s richest companies, such as PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Land O’Lakes, Keurig Dr Pepper, Hormel Foods Corporation, Molson Coors Beverage Company, Campbell Soup, Kellanova, Mondelez International, Conagra Brands, J.M. Smucker and Clorox.
Some of the companies own brands that project health, wellness and sustainability. That includes General Mills, owner of Annie’s macaroni and cheese; The Honest Co., whose soaps and baby wipes line the shelves at Whole Foods; and Colgate-Palmolive, which owns the natural deodorant Tom’s of Maine.
ProPublica contacted the 51 companies on the association’s board of directors to ask if they agreed with the trade group’s definition of “recyclable.” Most did not respond. None said they disagreed with the definition. Nine companies referred ProPublica back to the association.
Friday, September 13, 2024
Westerly continues to struggle with policies for transgender students
Westerly School Committee moving forward with plan to edit district's transgender student policy
The Westerly School Committee is finally
making good on its promise [threat?] to rewrite the Rhode Island
Department of Education (RIDE)’s Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Transitioning Student
policy, weakening many of its key protections for trans
students. In March, the Committee voted unanimously to develop a local policy on
transgender students, but since then, according to Committee member Diane
Chiaradio Bowdy at the September 4th meeting I cover
below, “What we've done to date … is nothing.”
Robert Chiaradio, anti-LGBT crusader, from
his post to "Legal Insurrection"
The meeting began with some promise, as Superintendent Mark
Garceau presented on a Food Insecurity Program and
the findings in the book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan
Haidt. I include that information here because occasionally these
presentations came up during public testimony.
No school committee in the state can seemingly avoid having
anti-trans activist Robert Chiaradio at the podium, and since
Westerly is where Chiaradio lives, his hateful presence is felt more keenly.
His time at the podium was spent with his usual fearmongering, but he did spend
some time talking about his other favorite subject: banning books he doesn’t
approve of from schools and libraries. More interesting was the testimony of
Westerly resident Diane Goldsmith, who spoke between Chiaradio’s
two times at the podium.
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2024-25 URI Theater Department season has a show for everyone
Season features 'Machinal,' 'Peter and the Starcatcher,' 'Backkhai,' and 'Guys and Dolls'
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URI’s Theatre
Department takes dynamic storytelling to the next level with a lineup
of mainstage student performances ranging from a classic Greek tragedy to a
bread-and-butter American musical. The range in themes and tone of each play
offers students an opportunity to challenge themselves and rise to their
strengths.
“Machinal,” “Peter and the Starcatcher,” and “Bakkhai” will
premiere in J Studio in the Fine Arts Center, 150 Upper College Road. “Guys and
Dolls” will be held at the Robert E. Will Theatre to accommodate the
iconic musical’s scale.
The season will begin Oct. 10 with
“Machinal,” directed by URI’s own Rachel Walshe. The 1928 play by American
playwright and journalist Sophie Treadwell is inspired by the real-life case of
convicted and executed murderer Ruth Snyder. The play is considered one of the
high points of expressionist theater in the history of the American stage and
offers contemporary students the opportunity to test the waters of avant-garde
theater.
You Can Beat Diabetes
Study Shows Healthy Habits Reduce Risk for All
By University
of Eastern Finland
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Type 2 diabetes is a global problem. According to the International Diabetes Federation, IDF, one in eleven adults worldwide has diabetes, with type 2 diabetes accounting for 90 percent of the cases.
To date, researchers have identified more than 500 genetic variants that predispose individuals to type 2 diabetes, but lifestyle factors, too, affect the risk of developing the disease. Significant lifestyle-related risk factors include overweight, low intake of dietary fiber, high intake of saturated fats, and lack of exercise.
Previous studies have shown that type 2 diabetes can be effectively prevented
by lifestyle changes, but it has not been explored whether the disease can be
prevented even in individuals carrying numerous genetic variants that predispose
them to type 2 diabetes.
State-by-state data boosts bird conservation planning
Detailed numbers can help sound planning
By Pat Leonard, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
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| Photo by Will Collette |
A team of data scientists at eBird, the participatory
science platform, has packaged summaries covering every bird species, in every
state, and made
them available online for free. These data summaries will help states
prepare their federally required 2025 updates to State Wildlife Action Plans.
“As we began to work more closely with state agencies and
regional conservation partnerships, we realized that we needed to significantly
increase the accessibility of eBird information for these partners,” said
Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, assistant director of the Cornell Lab’s Center for
Avian Population Studies and the driving force behind development of the
state summaries.
Thursday, September 12, 2024
R.I. wanted 1,200 megawatts of wind power but it’s only buying a fraction of that.
McKee moves slowly on wind
By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
Kind of.
The tentative contract announced Friday between Rhode Island, Massachusetts and developers of the SouthCoast Wind project will bring another 200 megawatts of wind-generated electricity to the Ocean State, providing enough electricity to power 125,000 homes if operating at full capacity.
Gov. Dan McKee in a statement lauded the award as a “historic milestone” that advances Rhode Island’s decarbonization goals.
But the tentative agreement represents just 16% of the amount of 1,200-megawatt maximum the state put out to bid.
“It’s certainly not as much as we had hoped for in Rhode Island,” said Amanda Barker, clean energy program coordinator for Green Energy Consumers Alliance.
And not for lack of choice.
The bid administered by Rhode Island Energy, which closed in March, drew four project proposals representing more than three times the total electricity Rhode Island hoped to buy.
