Washington Post: "Social Security issues 2.5% COLA increase"

"Social Security recipients will see a 2.5 percent increase in their monthly checks next year, the federal government announced Thursday. It’s a smaller hike than in recent years, which was expected given the cooling of inflation.

Soaring prices in recent years brought unusually large cost-of-living increases in benefit checks, since Social Security payouts are automatically adjusted once a year based on a government measure of inflation. The annual adjustment, known as COLA, brought seniors a 5.9 percent boost in 2022, an 8.7 percent increase in 2023 (the largest in about 40 years) and a 3.2 percent increase in 2024."

Continue reading the article online via my "gift link" (no subscription required via this link) ->  https://wapo.st/489gZaY

Washington Post: "Social Security issues 2.5% COLA increase"

A study of five states’ food waste bans found that most were ineffective. - The Washington Post

"Nearly every state-led effort to ban food waste analyzed by researchers appears to be failing — except one, according to a new study.

The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, singled out Massachusetts for reducing the amount of food that gets tossed in the trash. But its more troubling findings in other states reveal how one of the most seemingly straightforward ways to tackle climate change is, in practice, a tough problem to solve.

Food waste is a pressing national problem. Of the millions of tons of food in the United States, more than 30 percent goes unsold and uneaten, according to ReFed, a research and advocacy group that works on food waste. Spoiled food makes up the single largest volume of material sent to landfills and incinerators, where it decomposes, releasing methane — a powerful greenhouse gas that is heating the planet. A study by the Environmental Protection Agency found emissions from food waste in the United States are roughly equal to more than 50 million cars on the road."

Continue reading the article online -> (via gift link)  https://wapo.st/3XpqFZP

The study referenced -> https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn4216

The article is timely in that the Hunger Action Month event Thursday evening featured Spoonfuls.org, a key player in the MA food recovery process. If you missed the event, you can get a taste of the topic  in the audio recording made with Liz Miller, Community Coordinator, of Spoonfuls, and Tina Powderly, Executive Director of the Franklin Food Pantry. The Pantry receives 2 deliveries a week of 1,000 pounds of fresh food on each delivery from Spoonfuls.

Listen here -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2024/09/listen-to-tina-liz-talk-about-how-food.html

A study of five states’ food waste bans found that most were ineffective. - The Washington Post

Washington Post has a "Deep Read" on Norfolk and the State prison shelter situation

"Here was the town where Kevin Roche grew up: empty sidewalks, a coffee shop, a pharmacy, two pizza parlors, two ambulances, two roundabouts and no grocery store. A small, quiet town, people in Norfolk said. Pleasant. Safe. Nothing much to do, and that meant nothing much changed from one morning to the next or the next, until this morning, when Kevin woke up and knew that the town would be different by the time the day was over.

He got in his car and drove toward Main Street just before 7 a.m. Main Street ran from one end of Norfolk to the other, four miles in all, and it led to the auto repair shop where Kevin, 60, had worked since he was 12 years old, first for his father, and now alongside his own son. He passed the line of houses he saw every morning, which were the same, except for the ones that had new signs in the yard. “NORFOLK PRISON-SHELTER,” they read. “NOT SAFE FOR ANYONE.”

At the east end of Main Street, razor wire was being removed from a chain-link fence around Bay State Correctional Center, an unused low-security state prison half a mile from Kevin’s shop. At the foot of the fence, rows of thick coil lay in the grass. Security guards stood at the front gates. Cribs and diaper kits sat on the floor of the prison gym. Clean, white sheets lay on the beds."

Continue reading via a gift subscription to this article -> https://wapo.st/3B5zO23

Washington Post has a "Deep Read" on Norfolk and the State prison shelter situation

Deceptive framing happens. We all need to be aware of it!

Deceptive framing happens. We all need to be aware of it! via the Washington Post:

"A particularly effective attack on a political candidate can come in the form of a video snippet that appears to reinforce an existing stereotype. The social media feed of the RNC regularly churns out misleading clips of President Biden, 81, intended to show that he is too old for the job.

Biden’s Republican opponent, former president Donald Trump, turned 78 on Friday, but polls show there is less concern about his physical and mental fitness for office. In a recent Pew Research poll released in April, fewer than a quarter of voters expressed a high degree of confidence in Biden’s mental fitness (21 percent) and physical fitness (15 percent). By contrast, about four in ten voters were extremely or very confident about Trump’s mental and physical fitness. So there is an incentive for the Republicans to keep hammering away at a perceived vulnerability for Biden.

This past week, the RNC feed has misleadingly called attention to two video clips of Biden. One was so distorted that it resulted in a “community note” on the X platform calling out its dishonesty. But the RNC’s dismal track record — which we have highlighted on multiple occasions — has not stopped right-leaning outfits from echoing the RNC’s framing and reinforcing its narrative that Biden has lost a step."

View the video framing online at the Washington Post -> (shared via gift link)

https://wapo.st/4eqrjhy

(shared via gift link)  https://wapo.st/4eqrjhy

Democracy, Refreshed: Increase the membership of the House

By Danielle Allen, Contributing Opinions columnist

As I wrote in the first part of this course, we desperately need to renovate our democracy. Our institutions weren’t built for the country as it has become — and we have been cobbling on additions and extensions decade after decade.We need a plan for functional institutions of self-government in 21st-century conditions. There’s so much work to do. Where to begin?

I propose we start with the first branch of government — the branch of the federal government that was designed by the framers to be closest to we the people. What if we increased the size of the House?

Given that most of us are pretty frustrated with Congress, this might sound crazy. But growing the House is the key to unlocking our present paralysis and leaning into some serious democracy renovation.

Continuing to read the Washington Post via my gift article =  https://wapo.st/3V10gAx

Sign up for the Democracy, Refreshed, newsletter 

Sign up for the Democracy, Refreshed, newsletter from Post Opinions - The Washington Post

Danielle Allen writes:

"Over the past year, I focused my columns and my public speaking on how we can renovate our democracy so it works for all of us — today and into the future. Readers wrote in and commented, asking one thing over and over again: What can I do? How can I help?

To answer those questions, we’ve turned the columns into a course. The course, delivered via email weekly for 10 weeks, gives you the chance to dive deep into some important approaches to renovating our democracy. It also gives you a chance to take your turn helping advance the cause of renovation. Sign up here.

You’ll receive the first email upon sign-up. Then, starting the following Monday at 8 AM. E.T., you will receive:

• A summary of a key democracy renovation
• Links to related reading and resources
• An activity you can do in your own community to renovate democracy
• Suggestions for other features from The Post that can help you stay updated on American democracy.

As Abraham Lincoln said, democracy is of the people, by the people and for the people. Join us, and help make sure that the next era of our democracy is truly by the people."

Read more and sign up here ->   https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/06/democracy-refreshed-newsletter-sign-up/

Sign up for the Democracy, Refreshed, newsletter 

Washington Post: "Are home prices still rising? See how prices have changed in your area"

"Many first time home buyers are struggling to break into the U.S. housing market as prices continue to rise. 

Since 2019, home prices have surged 54 percent. In the last year, prices increased 5.8 percent — a more steady rise after the volatile years of the early pandemic, according to a Washington Post analysis of home value data from the mortgage technology division of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). But high interest rates, low inventory and years of price jumps continue to challenge Americans buying homes. 

Prices vary widely depending on where you live. Enter your Zip code below to see how the market value of the average home in your area has changed."

Are home prices still rising? See how prices have changed in your area"

Shared from -> https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/housing-market-price-trends-zip-code-map/

Washington Post: "Are you ready to buy a house? Take our quiz and find out"

"Homeownership is how many Americans accumulate wealth, and it’s an important life goal for millions. But affording a home is a growing challenge — if not out of reach entirely — for many people.

In the past three years, mortgage rates have more than doubled and are now at nearly 7 percent on a typical 30-year loan. And they are unlikely to drop significantly this year. Even those who can swing an all-cash purchase, experts say, still have plenty of other expenses to consider, including maintenance and insurance.

So, should you buy a home right now? To help you decide, take this quiz."

Continue to read the article and take the quiz (gift article link)

https://wapo.st/4aAes9W

Washington Post: "Are you ready to buy a house? Take our quiz and find out"

Washington Post: "Ultra-processed foods linked to 32 health problems"

"A review of research involving almost 10 million people has found a direct association between eating too many ultra-processed foods — those breads, cereals, snacks and frozen meals that have been industrially manufactured with flavors and additives to make them more palatable — and more than 30 health conditions, including heart disease, anxiety and early death.

The facts

• In recent years, dozens of studies have found that people who consume a lot of ultra-processed foods have higher rates of weight gain, obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases.
• Now, a team of international researchers has undertaken a comprehensive review of the evidence on adverse health outcomes to date — examining 45 “pooled meta-analyses” from 14 review articles involving nearly 10 million people. All were published in the past three years, and none was funded by companies making ultra-processed food.
• The researchers’ findings, published in the British medical journal BMJ, “show that diets high in ultra-processed food may be harmful to many body systems.”

Shared from (subscription maybe required) ->   https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/02/29/ultraprocessed-foods-health-risk/

Direct link to research study -> https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-077310

Washington Post: "Ultra-processed foods linked to 32 health problems"

When the subject is tough how do you handle it? Poynter Institute Shares insights on what the Washington Post did

"Today (11/16/23), The Washington Post went further than any mainstream news organization has ever gone before in showing the brutality and devastation of something that plagues this nation: mass shootings.

This morning, The Washington Post published “Terror on Repeat.”

It’s at this point, you should be warned: The Post piece is extremely graphic and some may find it disturbing. The Post looks back at 11 mass shootings in which the weapon used was an AR-15. Just the names of the places bring back horrific memories: Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas, and Newtown, Connecticut. The Post’s project includes the shootings at a concert in Las Vegas, a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

To have the most impact, the Post told the story through photos, videos and the words of those who have survived these horrific shootings. The photos are jarring. For example, there are images of schoolrooms at Robb Elementary in Uvalde moments after dead children were removed. Videos are hard to watch, such as one that includes the cries of students inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, as gunshots are heard.

On Wednesday, I spoke with Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee. Buzbee told me, “We know it’s very sensitive material and very disturbing and we know it will be disturbing to people.”

Continue reading the article online -> 
https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2023/washington-post-terror-on-repeat-mass-shootings-images/?s=03

Vaccines and what they do "reduce your risk of hospitalization and death"

"Rick from Maryland is among the many readers who expressed bewilderment about becoming infected despite vaccination. “My wife and I are both in our 80s with diabetes," he wrote. "We got the new vaccine as soon as it became available. Not even two weeks later, we both tested positive. We are fine other than for a stuffy nose, but we are wondering what happened. Some of our family members are against vaccines, and they are using our experience to explain why they are not getting vaccinated.”

Rick brings up an important point: We need to be clear about what the coronavirus vaccines do and what they don’t. As with every medical intervention, health-care providers must set expectations so that people don’t view anticipated outcomes — in this case, testing positive — as failures.

The most important reason to stay up-to-date on coronavirus vaccines (and the flu vaccine and RSV vaccine, for that matter) is to reduce your risk of hospitalization and death. On this front, the coronavirus vaccine has delivered consistently strong results. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the bivalent vaccine reduced the chance of critical illness by 69 percent in the week to 59 days following the shot. The protection remained three to four months later, though it diminished to 46 percent."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/12/covid-vaccine-booster-benefits-limitations-protection/

Vaccines and what they do "reduce your risk of hospitalization and death"

Investigation on school shooting hoax calls continues

Over the past year, more than 500 schools in the United States have been subjected to a coordinated campaign of fear that exploits the all-too-real American danger of school shootings, according to a review of media reports and dozens of public records requests. The Washington Post examined police reports, emergency call recordings, body-camera footage or call logs in connection with incidents in 24 states.

The calls are being investigated by the FBI and have generated an aggressive response by local law enforcement — particularly after officers in Uvalde, Tex., came under criticism for waiting more than an hour to confront the gunman during the May 2022 elementary school massacre.

In state after state, heavily armed officers have entered schools prepared for the worst. Students have hidden in toilets, closets, nurse’s offices. They’ve barricaded doors with desks and refrigerators. Medical helicopters have been placed on standby while trauma centers have paused surgeries, anticipating possible victims. Terrified parents have converged on schools, not knowing if their children are safe.

Continue reading the article (subscription may be required)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/10/04/school-swatting-hoax-active-shooter/

Note: The data includes incidents where multiple schools were targeted and situations where  calls were linked to a broader pattern of hoaxes.  HANNA ZAKHARENKO/THE WASHINGTON POST

Disability: visible, or invisible, or in-between

"Disabilities are usually categorized as visible or invisible — but what about the in-between? I was born with a congenital foot deformity that affects the muscles, bones, and tendons. But thanks to early surgeries and years of casting, I look pretty normal to the average person. The only catch? Chronic pain, limited mobility and a “special occasions” wheelchair that my friends and family have never seen."

Continue reading the visual article online (a gift article from my subscription)

https://wapo.st/3YG47V0 

"I’ve been disabled my entire life. But only strangers can tell."

Tick borne disease creates meat allergy; raises need for reminders on tick bite prevention steps

"Up to 450,000 Americans may have been affected by a potentially life-threatening red meat allergy caused by ticks as many doctors remain unaware of what it is or how to treat it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In new reports released on Thursday, the CDC found that between 96,000 and 450,000 Americans since 2010 may have been affected by alpha-gal syndrome. The syndrome, also known as a red meat allergy or tick-bite meat allergy, stems from alpha-gal, a sugar molecule not naturally present in humans. Instead, it is found in meat including pork, beef, rabbit, lamb and venison, as well as products made from mammals including gelatin and milk products.

“Because the diagnosis of alpha-gal syndrome requires a positive diagnostic test and a clinical exam, and some individuals with alpha-gal syndrome may not get tested, it is estimated that as many as 450,000 people might have been affected by AGS in the United States,” the CDC said, adding. “Of those aware of AGS, knowledge about diagnosis and management is low.”

Continue reading at The Guardian (subscription maybe required) ->

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/27/tick-bite-red-meat-allergy-ags-cdc

Other news outlet's provide coverage as well

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/07/27/tick-red-meat-allergy/

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/27/metro/lone-star-tick-meat-allergy/

Original report from CDC ->

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7230a2.htm

Franklin's Health Director Cathleen Liberty talks about ticks and insect borne diseases in this podcast ->  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/05/fm-271-franklin-health-director.html

From 2017 to 2021, there was an annual increase in positive AGS test results across the country, the CDC report said. Photograph: Jason Ondreicka/Alamy

Yes, there is such a thing as "Walking Soccer"

"The physical demands of soccer — a fast-paced, high-intensity sport known for lots of running — prevent people such as Clark from participating after a certain age or an injury.

The game requires rapid accelerations, decelerations, turns and stops, which take a toll on players’ knees and ankles. A standard soccer pitch, at 115 yards long and 74 yards wide, is larger than an American football field. Players cover, on average, nearly seven miles, in a single match.

So when a variant of the sport with no running allowed emerged in 2011, some laughed it off as a joke.

Walking soccer, however, has become a global phenomenon."

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required) -> 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/07/18/walking-soccer-rules-health-benefits/

The Barnet WFT (Walking Football Team) in England boasts 140 players between ages 50 and 87. (Shaun Sherrick)

New AI development "still makes many of the errors of previous versions"

"The artificial intelligence research lab OpenAI on Tuesday launched the newest version of its language software, GPT-4, an advanced tool for analyzing images and mimicking human speech, pushing the technical and ethical boundaries of a rapidly proliferating wave of AI.

OpenAI’s earlier product, ChatGPT, captivated and unsettled the public with its uncanny ability to generate elegant writing, unleashing a viral wave of college essays, screenplays and conversations — though it relied on an older generation of technology that hasn’t been cutting-edge for more than a year.

...

In its blog post, OpenAI said GPT-4 still makes many of the errors of previous versions, including “hallucinating” nonsense, perpetuating social biases and offering bad advice. It also lacks knowledge of events that happened after about September 2021, when its training data was finalized, and “does not learn from its experience,” limiting people’s ability to teach it new things.'

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/03/14/gpt-4-has-arrived-it-will-blow-chatgpt-out-water/

New AI development "still makes many of the errors of previous versions"

challenges to democracy round up

Former Proud Boy Says Group Prepared for ‘All-Out Revolution’ on Jan. 6 - The New York Times   (subscription maybe required)

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/22/us/politics/proud-boys-jan-6-trial.html

‘Incredibly damning:’ Fox News documents stun some legal experts

The disclosure of behind-the-scenes emails and texts greatly increased the chances that Dominion will win its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox, experts say.  (subscription maybe required) 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/02/23/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-legal-analysis/

Opinion  Kevin McCarthy’s Jan. 6 footage stunt demands a real response   (subscription maybe required)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/23/mccarthy-jan-6-footage-tucker-carlson-propaganda/

A grave mistake’: Schumer slams McCarthy for giving Tucker Carlson Jan. 6 surveillance footage   (subscription maybe required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/02/23/nation/schumer-slams-mccarthy-for-giving-jan-6-footage-to-tucker-carlson/

   

Elderly are targets of scammers, be aware!

"My 78-year-old mother-in-law handed an envelope containing $25,000 cash to a Florida Lyft driver who showed up one morning on her doorstep during the early days of the pandemic.

The cash was intended to bail out her beloved nephew from jail, where he sat after crashing into a pregnant woman and killing her. Or so my mother-in-law was told by the man on the phone who pretended to be her nephew’s lawyer. The man instructed her to tell no one or he would rot in jail. On two consecutive days, she made large cash withdrawals at her bank and the “lawyer” sent the Lyft driver to collect the loot.

But there was no accident and no jail stint. My mother-in-law, reacting with her heart and not her head, was too scared to call her nephew or other family members to verify the tale. Days later, she mentioned to my husband that she had bailed the nephew out of jail — with no idea that she had been scammed.

That was my family’s introduction to the pernicious crimes that strip senior citizens of their money and dignity. It also served as a wake-up call for my husband. He drafted a strategy to better protect her, which included overseeing her finances."

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required) ->

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/08/elderly-scams-protections-targets-finances/

For additional info on how to avoid scams, visit the FTC page ->    https://consumer.ftc.gov/scams

(Tara Anand for The Washington Post)

Washington Post: On TikTok "is no more risky than Facebook. That’s not entirely a compliment"

"As calls to ban TikTok grow, should you quit the app?

For the average user, TikTok is no more risky than Facebook. That’s not entirely a compliment.

I’ve been hearing from Washington Post readers concerned that the Chinese-owned app is handing our data to the Communist Party. So I looked under the hood at what TikTok knows about us, and quizzed both the company and the senators calling on us to stop using it.

So far, the arguments to ban TikTok are more rooted in fears than actual evidence. The best thing that could ​​come of this scare is that Congress finally realizes we need privacy rules and guardrails for kids across all apps — not just the ones with Chinese owners."

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required) ->

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/03/tiktok-delete-advice/

 

To TikTok, or not to TikTok, that is the question. (Video: Illustration by Elena Lacey/The Washington Post; iStock)

Debunking some appliance use myths, some practical info on energy savings

"When I was a kid, my dad followed behind me, shutting off the incandescent lights I left burning around the house. “You’re wasting energy,” he’d scold as I tried to slip out of the room. He was right, of course. In the 1980s, 5 to 10 percent of an average household’s electricity bill went to keeping the lights on. So when my own son was born last June, my dad joked he was waiting for the day when his grandson would exact his revenge on my utility bill.

Luckily for me, this day will never come. I’ve been rescued by LED lights, now the primary lighting source for about half of U.S. homes. LEDs are wafers of semiconducting material that emit as much light as incandescent bulbs while using about 10 percent of the electricity. Later this year, incandescent bulbs will disappear from store shelves for good as new federal efficiency standards take effect. If it isn’t already, your home lighting will soon be a rounding error on your energy budget.

Yet many people still sound like my dad. When you ask Americans how they save energy at home, “turn off the lights” has been at the top of the list since the 1980s. But when it comes to actual savings, it doesn’t even crack the top 10. Like most conventional wisdom about how to reduce household energy and emissions, much of what we believe about our homes and appliances is wrong."

Continue reading about some home appliance myths that linger (subscription maybe required) ->  https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/24/home-appliance-myths-energy-saving-tips/ 

Don’t pre-rinse. Run your dishwasher.