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☆ Storm blowing through California dumps snow in Sierra
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Heavy snow fell in the Sierra Nevada as a winter storm packing powerful winds sent ski lift chairs swinging and closed mountain highways while downpours at lower elevations triggered flood watches Sunday across large swaths of California into Nevada. More than 250 miles (400 km) of the Sierra from north of Reno south to Yosemite National Park remained under winter storm warnings either until late Sunday or early Monday. The Heavenly ski resort at Lake Tahoe shut down some operations on Saturday when the brunt of the storm hit. The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab reported Sunday morning that more than 43 inches (110 cm) had fallen in a 48-hour span. A stretch of California Highway 89 also was closed due to heavy snow between Tahoe City and South Lake Tahoe, the highway patrol said.

☆ Fact Check-Viral video promotes baseless vaccine depopulation theory
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +14 min

However, there is no evidence that mortality rates have surged or that stillbirths have increased as a result of COVID-19 vaccines. News reports about cardiac arrests and unexpected deaths are then shown on screen and are baselessly attributed to COVID-19 vaccines. There have been 55 deaths involving COVID-19 vaccines causing adverse effects in England between March 2020 and October 2022. While stillbirth rates remain constant, global birth or fertility rates, including in the U.S., have been declining for decades (here, here, here, here). The film does not provide evidence that the global elite are depopulating the world through COVID-19 vaccines.

The child lived in West Philadelphia, near Market and 61st Streets, according to Philadelphia police Capt. "It’s going to be an uphill battle for us to definitively determine who caused this child's death," Smith told reporters. Nonprofit Vidocq Society is made up of former law enforcement personnel and forensic professionals who share an interest in unsolved crimes. "Now our lad is no longer that 'Boy in the box.' "Joseph Augustus Zarelli will no longer be that 'Boy in the Box,' will no longer be unknown," Fleisher said.

☆ Apple abandons controversial plan to check iOS devices and iCloud photos for child abuse imagery
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Apple is abandoning its plans to launch a controversial tool that would check iPhones, iPads and iCloud photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) following backlash from critics who decried the feature’s potential privacy implications. Apple first announced the feature in 2021, with the goal of helping combat child exploitation and promoting safety, issues the tech community has increasingly embraced. Apple was criticized in 2021 for its plan to offer a different tool that would start checking iOS devices and iCloud photos for child abuse imagery. Many child safety and security experts praised the attempt, recognizing the ethical responsibilities and obligations a company has over the products and services it creates. But they also called the efforts “deeply concerning,” stemming largely from how part of Apple’s checking process for child abuse images is done directly on user devices.

Depiction of the "Boy in the Box". "I don't cry much, but my wife and I cried the other night," he told NBC Philadelphia after Philadelphia police told him they had identified the child. The grave of the "boy in the box" in Philadelphia, on Dec. 1, 2022. “Every time I heard the word(s) Fox Chase, I didn’t think of Fox Chase, I saw that little boy’s picture,” Fleisher said. It's believed the boy is connected to a prominent family in Delaware County, a Philadelphia suburb.

“And the pulse oximeter is used from any age to geriatrics,” he said. The US Food and Drug Administration is mulling over next steps for the regulation of pulse oximeter devices, which may give less accurate readings for people of color. A panel of its Medical Devices Advisory Committee met in November to review clinical data on the issue. “I think of the pulse oximeter reading in the same way. Of course this can be dangerous.”Ultimately, the pulse oximeter can estimate the amount of oxygen a person has in their blood without the need for a blood sample.

Therefore, experts say, hiring Black teachers is necessary to address the racial disparities that lead to poor educational outcomes and criminalization for Black children. Furthermore, advocates say that Black students who don’t have Black teachers are less likely to become teachers themselves, so commitments to diversifying the industry must start early on in the classroom. The Black Teacher Project in Oakland, California, works with Black teachers to “reimagine schools as communities of liberated learning,” the Project’s website reads. It also teaches educators how to implement restorative practices in their classrooms and invites them to retreats to foster community among Black teachers. “Therefore, the Black Teacher Project’s motto is ‘Every child deserves a Black teacher.’”

☆ What to Know About Getting a Job in Cybersecurity
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Lisa Ward | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Several hundred colleges and universities have been designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity. For job seekers, the field of cybersecurity can seem like a gold mine. It has more than 750,000 job openings, and the pay can go from around $86,000 for an entry-level position to more than $160,000 for a senior one, a scan of job postings shows. But the field is so new that many job seekers don’t know what kinds of skills or degrees are required or what kinds of jobs are out there.

☆ 'Holi-Drag Storytime' for children canceled because of right-wing protesters
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dennis-Romero-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Dennis Romero | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

More than 50 demonstrators, including members of the Proud Boys, gathered near the church Saturday morning and shouted, chanted and held up signs. Saturday morning, speaking on the event's stage, framed by holiday decor that included a Christmas tree in the rainbow colors of the pride flag, Red Oak Community School manager Cheryl Ryan made an emotional video address explaining why "Holi-Drag Storytime" was canceled. Ryan blamed local leaders, including law enforcement, for letting members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing demonstrators gather while the audience for "Holi-Drag Storytime" ultimately could not. The National Center for Transgender Equality said Saturday's cancelation is another example of right-wing incursions, including violence, on LGBTQ+ rights. The first “Holi-Drag Storytime” was took place successfully in Dec. 8, 2021, on the grounds of Columbus' Vanderelli Room art gallery.

☆ University of Florida quarterback arrested and accused of sharing child sexual abuse images on Discord
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Tim Stelloh | Tim Stelloh Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

University of Florida quarterback Jalen Kitna was charged Wednesday with distributing child exploitation material, accused of sharing images of sexual abuse on the messaging platform Discord, authorities said. Kitna, 19, faces two counts of the crime and three counts of possession of child pornography, Gainesville police said in a statement. The school’s University Athletic Association said Kitna, a freshman, was suspended indefinitely from its football program. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted local authorities Wednesday that someone shared an image depicting child abuse on Discord, the police department said. A preliminary analysis of Kitna's devices found three other images depicting child sexual abuse, according to the police department.

☆ Drug overdose deaths among seniors have more than tripled in two decades
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Deaths from drug and alcohol use are rising among America's seniors. Drug overdose deaths more than tripled among people age 65 and older during the past two decades while deaths from alcohol abuse increased more than 18% from 2019 to 2020, according to data published Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics. While some drug deaths among seniors are from accidental misuse of drugs, many are suicides from overdosing on opioids, Kuerbis said. Drug overdose deaths were highest among Black seniors. Alcohol deaths were highest among American Indian seniors followed by Hispanics, white Americans, Black Americans and Asian Americans, according to the data.

☆ Drug and alcohol deaths increasing among US adults 65 and older, CDC data shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

In 2020, more than 5,000 adults 65 and older in the United States died of a drug overdose. Though drug overdose death rates for older adults tend to be lower than for other age groups – and made up just 0.2% of total deaths among adults 65 and older in 2020 – such deaths have been climbing. Between 2000 and 2020, the rates rose from 2.4 to 8.8 deaths per 100,000 people among adults 65 and older. Between 2000 and 2020, drug overdose deaths increased more among men than women, rising from 2.7 to 12.3 deaths per 100,000 men compared with 2.3 to 5.8 per 100,000 women. “Because of ageism, we typically do not think of older adults as having a substance use disorder nor do we think of older adults for being at-risk for a drug overdose.

☆ Improve memory as you age by eating more flavonols, study says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Eating more flavonols, antioxidants found in many vegetables, fruits, tea and wine, may slow your rate of memory loss, a new study finds. The cognitive score of people in the study who ate the most flavonols declined 0.4 units per decade more slowly than those who ate the fewest flavonols. One of the most common flavonols, quercetin, has shown promise in reducing the onset of colorectal cancer and other cancers, according to studies. (For comparison, the average flavonol intake in US adults is about 16 to 20 milligrams per day, according to the study.) The study looked at the impact of the four major flavonols — kaempferol, quercetin, myricetin and isorhamnetin — on the rate of cognitive decline over the seven years.

☆ Community health groups that played crucial role during Covid-19 pandemic say they’re being left out of government funding
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Elizabeth Cohen Lauren Mascarenhas | Elizabeth Cohen | Lauren Mascarenhas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

“A lot of times, the funding streams have names that say ‘community,’ ‘community-based organizations’ or ‘community health workers,’ but the funding often goes to states and doesn’t end up helping at a grass-roots level,” said Denise Smith, executive director of the National Association of Community Health Workers. “HRSA strongly values the critical role that community health workers play – and can increasingly play – in supporting the health and well-being of communities. “Community health workers are frontline public health workers who are trusted members of the community they serve. The group’s promotores de salud, or community health workers, encouraged vaccination and set up a hotline to distribute accurate information about the virus. “Grantees will be able to hire community health workers, as needed and appropriate,” said Nordlund, the CDC spokesperson.

☆ Overboard cruise passenger spent hours in Gulf of Mexico before he was rescued
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dennis-Romero-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Dennis Romero | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A man who went overboard during a holiday cruise in the Gulf of Mexico was rescued after several hours in the water off New Orleans, authorities said Friday. He was rescued about 20 miles south of Louisiana's Southwest Pass, where the Mississippi River meets the coast, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. "It makes it more miraculous that we were able to find him conscious and treading water," Graves said. Coast Guard rescue crews pulled the man to safety six hours after receiving a 2:30 p.m. Thursday report of a passenger overboard, Graves said. The water was warm, he said, but the the trio was beset by signs of hypothermia when they were rescued by Coast Guard crews Oct. 9.

☆ Flooding in Saudi Arabia Kills Two, Stirs Rare Public Anger
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Stephen Kalin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Cars piled up in a street after they were washed away by heavy rains in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah. Municipal workers in Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city rushed to pump water and clear damage Friday after flooding from torrential rains killed at least two people and stirred rare public anger with the government. More than 7 inches of rain fell in Jeddah within six hours on Thursday, according to the desert kingdom’s National Center for Meteorology, the highest amount recorded in 13 years. The flat terrain and high water table along that part of the Red Sea coast make it particularly vulnerable to flooding.

The U.S. Justice Department, in a report this September, said many crypto exchanges still "make little or no effort to comply" with know-your-customer requirements. These sites often included links for users to pay via crypto exchanges, the IWF told Reuters, declining to name companies. While banks and payment platforms demanded more details from online merchants, many crypto exchanges for years requested little or no information from clients. Asked at his trial for his opinion of crypto, Mohammad noted, "Privacy is something that a lot of users value." The IWF received more reports last year of websites selling child abuse imagery for crypto than any year prior.

☆ Crypto exchanges enabled online child sex-abuse profiteer
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +22 min

These sites often included links for users to pay via crypto exchanges, the IWF told Reuters, declining to name companies. “For those people looking to make money from child sexual abuse, crypto has lowered the barrier,” said Dan Sexton, the IWF’s chief technology officer. The Dark Scandals website, owned by Michael Mohammad, instructs users to send tokens to a Dark Scandals digital wallet to purchase content. While banks and payment platforms demanded more details from online merchants, many crypto exchanges for years requested little or no information from clients. The IWF received more reports last year of websites selling child abuse imagery for crypto than any year prior.

☆ Elon Musks says the issue of child sexual exploitation content on Twitter is 'Priority #1'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk tweeted that the issue of child sexual exploitation content is "priority #1" for Twitter. Bleu also said that Twitter had added a direct reporting option for child sexual exploitation on tweets with images or videos. Insider was able to verify this, and found that when reporting a tweet, users can now select the option of "child sexual exploitation" as the reason for the report. They added that potentially only "a percentage" of child sexual abuse material reported was actually being taken down by Twitter. Twitter's child sexual exploitation policy currently says that it has "zero tolerance towards any material that features or promotes child sexual exploitation, one of the most serious violations of the Twitter Rules."

"For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic Caucus that I so deeply respect," Pelosi, 82, said in her floor speech. “Pelosi and Hoyer showed a lot of grace in stepping aside,” one younger Democratic lawmaker told NBC News. Meg Kinnard / AP fileAguilar said Friday he is now running for Democratic Caucus chairman. Under that scenario, Aguilar's caucus chair role would move up to No. But with Clyburn going for the assistant job and Aguilar entering the race for caucus chair, Neguse could find himself the odd man out.

☆ Flu variant that hits kids and seniors harder than other strains is dominant in U.S. right now
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A strong strain of H3N2 influenza has claimed the lives of 74 Californians under the age of 65 since the flu season began in October of last year. A variant of the flu that hits kids and seniors worse than other strains of the virus is dominant in the U.S. right now, setting the country up for a potentially bad flu season. The flu hospitalization rate has surged to a decade high this season. The hospitalization rate for seniors is more than double the general population at 18 per 100,000. For kids younger than age five, the hospitalization rate is about 13 per 100,000.

☆ Children's hospitals call on Biden to declare emergency in response to 'unprecedented' RSV surge
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

The president should declare an emergency under the Stafford Act or the National Emergencies Act, and the health secretary should declare a public health emergency, Wietecha and Del Monte wrote. ACEP described the situation as a public health emergency. Oregon this week became the first state to declare on emergency in response to the RSV surge. A national public health emergency would be determined based on countrywide data, science trends and the insight of public health experts, the spokesperson said. UPMC Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh has faced a huge surge in respiratory illnesses since September, said Dr. Raymond Pitetti, director of the hospital's emergency department.

☆ Elections 2022 shows the Latino vote moving to the right. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Keith Humphreys | Keith Humphreys Is The Esther Ting Memorial Professor Of Psychiatry At Stanford University School Of Medicine. He Served As A Drug Policy Advisor In The Bush | Obama White Houses | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

In the five years prior to the pandemic, Hispanic median household income grew more than twice as much as whites. It follows that, just as people rarely consider quitting jobs or divorcing spouses that they like, they find political change unappealing when they are satisfied with their life situation. There are certainly many Hispanic Americans who are poor and oppressed, but there’s considerable evidence that many are doing better than ever. In this year’s entering class at the University of California, the largest racial and ethnic group is Hispanics. But it’s easy for political junkies to assume that most people follow political nuances closely, when in fact they don’t.

Rising salinity in the Delta has multiple causes, experts and farmers say, including overextraction of groundwater and excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. "With time, with the sea level higher, that line of salinity will go down into the Delta. EVAPORATIONSea water intrusion and salinity also threaten the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta in Bangladesh. "You have to do much better job in a place like the Nile Delta because the water just evaporates quickly," she said. Rice cultivation helps wash the soil, but the government has imposed restrictions on the crop in parts of the Delta to conserve scarce water.

☆ US home births reached highest level in 30 years in 2021
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Carma Hassan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

This follows a 22% increase in home births between 2019 and 2020, “corresponding with the initial surge of COVID-19 cases in the United States,” the report says. Home births increased 21% for Black women, 15% for Hispanic women and 10% for White women in 2021. Among the 30 states that reported more births at home, West Virginia had the highest increase: 49% between 2020 and 2021. Despite the rise, home births still remain rare, accounting for 1.26% of all births in the US, according to the report. The pediatrician group generally doesn’t recommend planned home births, but it does recognize a woman’s right to choose one.

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