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☆ Justice Department reaches $139 million settlement over FBI failures in investigation of Nassar gymnastics abuse claims
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —The Justice Department has reached a $138.7 million settlement with more than 100 victims of disgraced former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar over the FBI’s initial failures in investigating the sexual assault case. More than 150 women and girls, including Olympic athletes, have alleged that Nassar sexually abused them under the guise of performing medical treatments. The FBI failed to investigate their claims, the victims say. In 2021, victims of Nassar reached a $380 million settlement with USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic Committee and their insurers. In 2022, the DOJ offered to begin settlement discussions with the sexual assault survivors.

Persons: Larry Nassar, Nassar, Lawrence Nassar, ” Benjamin Mizer Organizations: CNN, The Justice Department, USA Gymnastics, Olympic, FBI, Justice Department, USA, US Olympic Committee, DOJ Locations: Michigan, FBI Indianapolis

☆ Family Dollar to pay nearly $42 million in connection with rodent-infested warehouse
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Parija Bhatnagar | Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Family Dollar Stores was hit with a record fine for violating product safety standards after selling items that were stocked in a rat-infested warehouse filled with live, dead and decaying rodents. The retailer, a subsidiary of Dollar Tree was fined $41.6 million, “the largest-ever monetary criminal penalty in a food safety case,” the Justice Department said in a statement Monday. Family Dollar and Dollar Tree will also be under robust corporate compliance and reporting requirements for the next three years, according to the DOJ. The agency said at the time that Family Dollar has been aware of the rodent problem since at least January 2020. The DOJ said Family Dollar, which has more than 8,000 stores nationwide, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of causing FDA-regulated products to become adulterated while being held under insanitary conditions.

Persons: ” Benjamin Mizer, exterminators, Rick Dreiling, “, Dreiling, – CNN’s Nathaniel Meyersohn, Rebekah Riess Organizations: New, New York CNN, Justice Department, DOJ, The, Food and Drug Administration, FDA, Dollar Tree’s Locations: New York, Arkansas

☆ Addressing isolation may reduce risk for obesity-related mortality, study shows
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Treating loneliness and social isolation may put people classified as obese at a lower risk for health complications, according to a new study. Social isolation was found to be a greater risk factor for all causes of mortality, including cancer and cardiovascular disease, than depression, anxiety and lifestyle risk factors — which included alcohol, exercise and diet, according to the study. But the findings do point to improving “social isolation as a potential remedy for the reduction of mortality,” he said. “Think of maintaining a social network like any other health-promoting activity: exercising regularly, eating well, looking after yourself,” Canli said. And fatphobia can lead communities to make it harder for people with obesity to feel understood and accepted, she said.

Persons: “, ”, Lu Qi, Qi, ” Qi, Philipp Scherer, Gifford O, Touchstone Jr, Randolph G, Dallas . Scherer wasn’t, Turhan Canli, Canli, ” Canli, Rachael Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin said, ” Benjamin Organizations: CNN, Tulane University School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Diabetes Research, Touchstone Diabetes, Stony Brook University Locations: New Orleans, Dallas, New York City

☆ New billionaire heirs overtake self-made ones as $5.2 trillion wealth transfer begins
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“The great wealth transfer is gaining significant momentum as many billionaire entrepreneurs age,” Benjamin Cavalli, who oversees strategic clients in the global wealth management unit at UBS, told reporters. Their combined wealth rose 9% to $12 trillion, before taking inflation into account. Arnault is the world’s third-richest man, with a net worth of $167 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Risks and opportunity for UBSThe “staggering” transfer of wealth to younger generations presents a huge opportunity for UBS, but also poses considerable risks, according to Cavalli. Heirs lean more toward impact investing — that is, socially or environmentally beneficial investing — over “classic grant-giving philanthropy,” Cavalli said.

Persons: “, ” Benjamin Cavalli, LVMH's Bernard Arnault, Helene, Frederic, Delphine, Antoine, Alexandre, Bernard Arnault, Arnault, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos —, —, India’s Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani, Cavalli, ”, Morgan Stanley —, Stefan Wermuth, ” Cavalli, Charlie Munger, Henry E Organizations: London CNN, UBS, Bloomberg, Adani Group, Reliance Industries, Suisse, Getty, ”, Berkshire Hathaway, Huntington Library, Art Locations: Paris, Europe, France

☆ New ‘supercontinent’ could wipe out humans and make Earth uninhabitable, study suggests
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Amy Woodyatt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The formation of a new “supercontinent” could wipe out humans and all other mammals still alive in 250 million years, researchers have predicted. They found it would be extremely hot, dry and virtually uninhabitable for humans and mammals, who are not evolved to cope with prolonged exposure to excessive heat. Humans – along with many other species – would expire due to their inability to shed this heat through sweat, cooling their bodies,” Farnsworth added. This grim outlook is no excuse for complacency when it comes to tackling today’s climate crisis, the report authors warned. “While we are predicting an uninhabitable planet in 250 million years, today we are already experiencing extreme heat that is detrimental to human health.

Persons: ” Alexander Farnsworth, ” Farnsworth, Farnsworth, ” Benjamin Mills, Eunice Lo, ” Lo Organizations: CNN, University of Bristol, Nature, University of Leeds Locations: United Kingdom, UN

Data is trickling in on a new COVID-19 strain nicknamed “pirola,” giving researchers a wider picture of what the variant could mean for the U.S. and the world. Van Kerkhove said that the global COVID-19 variant picture is complex, and that while BA.2.86 is spreading, it is not currently outcompeting other strains. “It is quite a complex picture globally in terms of how these variants behave because different variants circulate in different countries at different times.”Will Vaccines Work on Pirola? Moderna and Pfizer have announced that early data indicates that their updated vaccines do produce an immune response against BA.2.86. "These results demonstrate that our updated COVID-19 vaccine generates a strong human immune response against the highly mutated BA.2.86 variant.

Persons: “ pirola, ” Mandy Cohen, Maria Van Kerkhove, ” Benjamin Murrell, Ashish Jha, pirola, Van Kerkhove, it’s, ”, “, Stephen Hoge Organizations: U.S, CDC, Centers for Disease Control, World Health Organization, WHO, White, Moderna, Pfizer, EG Locations: United States, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Israel, Canada, South Africa

☆ How Classical Composers Made Music After the Holocaust
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Kira Thurman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Perhaps she’d learned them in the early days after the war, when she’d performed with Holocaust survivors at a hospital in 1945. Jansen does not appear in Jeremy Eichler’s new book, “Time’s Echo,” but the impulse to turn to music during and after the Holocaust is at the heart of it. Eichler, The Boston Globe’s chief classical music critic, suggests that music can help us remember what we’ve lost. “Time’s Echo” is an engrossing recovery project that reveals the depths of Europe’s ability — and inability — to mourn those losses. Not only do we remember music but, just as importantly, “music also remembers us,” Eichler argues.

Persons: Jeremy Eichler, Fasia Jansen, Brecht, she’d, Jansen, Jeremy Eichler’s, Eichler, we’ve, —, Richard Strauss’s “, ” Arnold Schoenberg’s “, ” Benjamin Britten’s “, ”, Dmitri Shostakovich’s “ Babi Yar, ” Eichler, “, ” Schoenberg Organizations: The Boston, Central Locations: German, Hamburg, Neuengamme, Warsaw, Europe

☆ Colorado River Basin has lost 10 trillion gallons -- enough water to fill Lake Mead, study shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Ella Nilsen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Rising temperatures have sucked more than 10 trillion gallons of water out of the Colorado River Basin between 2000 and 2021 – a volume about the size of Lake Mead – according to a recent study. The Tier 1 shortage took effect in January 2022; a Tier 2 shortage – due to even lower water levels at Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir – was implemented in January 2023. Last summer in particular set off alarm bells when the water level in Lake Mead dropped an astonishing 20 feet over the course of four months. Mead, fed by the Colorado River, fell to its lowest level to-date in July 2022, with lake elevation of 1040 feet. “Even though there’s been a wet winter, there’s still going to be that 10% reduction in runoff.”The Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon on the Hualapai reservation.

Persons: Lake Mead –, ” Benjamin Bass, “, John Locher, Lake Mead, Mead, ” Bass, Bass, there’s, Ethan Gutmann, ”, ” Gutmann Organizations: CNN, UCLA, Water Resources Research, AP State, National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration Locations: Colorado, Lake, American, Lake Mead, snowier

☆ Cuba: A Russian navy ship docks in Havana as tough times bring the old friends together
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Patrick Oppmann | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Havana, Cuba CNN —As a series of welcoming cannon blasts rang out from a nearby colonial fort, the Russian navy’s training class ship Perekop sailed into Havana on Tuesday. “We are condemning, we are rejecting, the expansion of NATO towards Russia’s borders,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel told Russian-controlled network, RT, in a rare interview in May. He also blasted US economic sanctions on Russia, while heralding Russian “projects of cooperation and collaboration” under development in Cuba. But following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost its main trading partner and entered a deep economic depression. Despite the high cost of the war in Ukraine and economic sanctions, Russian officials say they are committed to Cuba.

Persons: Perekop, “, Miguel Diaz, Canel, Patrick Oppmann, Jorge R, –, Russia –, Yamil Lage, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Biden, ”, Ric Herrero, ” Herrero, “ There’s, ” Benjamin Ziff, Chargé d’Affaires, Sergey Shoigu, Alvaro Lopez Miera, ” Shoigu Organizations: Cuba CNN, Prensa Latina, Cuban, Soviet, NATO, CNN, University of Texas, Austin Energy Institute, Russian, Getty, Trump, Cuba Study, US Naval, Russian Defense Locations: Havana, Cuba, Russian, Soviet Union, Ukraine, Cuban, Moscow, Russia’s, Russia, USSR, AFP, Trump, Spanish, Guantánamo, East, West, “ Cuba

☆ How Gay Men Saved Us From Monkeypox - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Ina Park | Dan Savage | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

We know gay sex has been unfairly blamed for everything from natural disasters to the fall of Rome. But in their efforts to avoid stigmatizing the community, health authorities and the media failed to effectively warn gay and bi men. Ignorant of the threat as the virus spread, gay and bi men couldn’t take steps to protect themselves and their partners. Gay party promoters canceled long-planned events and individual gay men temporarily deleted hookup apps from their phones and reduced their sexual contacts. They acknowledged the realities of gay sexuality and its breadth of expression, using the actual language gay men use when discussing sex with each other.

☆ Analysis: Chaos in Congress sends an ominous signal to Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Many on Wall Street cheered last fall when the midterm elections ushered in a return of divided government in Washington. But the historic dysfunction playing out in Congress this week is a reminder that you should be careful what you wish for. Buckle up for debt ceiling brinksmanshipBut lawmakers did not agree to tackle the debt ceiling, the borrowing limit that must be raised to avoid a calamitous US debt default. In the past, brinksmanship over the debt ceiling eventually gave way to a compromise, though often not until significant pressure was applied by business leaders, financial markets — or both. Andrew Frankel, co-president of Stuart Frankel, dismissed the House speaker race as a “big, fat nothing-burger” for the market and said it was “just noise.”“It’s all about the Fed,” Frankel said.

☆ Black and Hispanic adults less likely than Whites to receive ‘potentially lifesaving’ bystander CPR during cardiac arrest, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The data also showed that 38.5% of Blacks and Hispanics received bystander CPR when the cardiac arrest happened at home, compared with 47.4% of Whites. He added that not receiving bystander CPR during a cardiac arrest can have “significant clinical outcomes” for the person whose heart stopped pumping. “Bystander CPR ensures some level of blood circulation, oxygenation of the brain and other vital organs,” Benjamin said. “Certainly time to intervention is critical, and bystander CPR and defibrillator access and use is a part of that,” she said, adding that disparities in how much CPR training is conducted in communities also plays a role in the likelihood of someone receiving bystander CPR. “We need to use what we learn about disparities to help improve the likelihood of bystander CPR for everyone.

☆ Doctors decry 'record profits' for fossil fuel companies as climate change weighs on global health
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The report’s theme reflects a growing frustration and helplessness expressed by medical professionals left to deal with the impacts of climate change as world leaders struggle to address the root cause. The annual report catalogs the health impacts of change worldwide and a separate policy brief outlines impacts in the U.S. Tiny particles released into the air as pollution during fossil fuel use were responsible for 1.2 million deaths in 2020. Climate change is taking a toll on mental health. The report notes growth in renewable energy investment, increasing media coverage of climate change and growing engagement from government leaders on health-centered climate policies.

☆ Duke Energy is one of the top leakers of a gas that is 25,000 times more polluting than carbon dioxide, EPA records show
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Phil Mckenna | Inside Climate News | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +22 min

The emissions were equal to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of more than 59,000 automobiles, according to the EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalency calculator. Under such a scenario Duke Energy would likely have years of low emissions punctuated by a single year of high emissions. While other utilities have participated for decades in a voluntary program with the EPA to reduce SF6 emissions to next to nothing, Duke Energy has not. Brooks said Duke Energy is also targeting its most leaky equipment for faster replacement. The figure is roughly half of 1% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, far smaller than yearly emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary driver of climate change.

☆ How to stay warm in the winter without breaking the bank
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-29 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Here are 25 ways to stay warm this winter — with or without indoor heating — that won’t break the bank. How to warm your bodyPortable electric warmers are one way to temporarily keep parts of the body warm. “If you warm the core you can warm the hands and feet. It is harder to warm the core by warming the hands and feet.”Be careful that you don’t burn yourself, Benjamin said. Physical activities like indoor exercise or dancing can help you warm up, but don’t get to the point where you’re sweating, Smith said.

Persons: Georges Benjamin, JohnEric Smith, Benjamin, “, don’t, Smith, ” Smith, Snuggles, ” Benjamin, johns Organizations: CNN, American Public Health Association, Mississippi State University Locations: United States, kinesiology

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