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Health disparities among communities of color cost Massachusetts $5.9 billion a year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:10:15 GMT

Health disparities experienced by communities of color cost Massachusetts about $5.9 billion a year, with a quarter of the economic burden associated with avoidable healthcare spending and another quarter due to lost labor productivity, according to a report released this morning.Supporters of the new study commissioned by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation say it helps reveal the broader consequences of health inequities and provides motivation for public and private sector leaders to help rectify the disparities. The research also looks to the future of the state’s population, where communities of color are driving growth but are also the ones who are the most heavily impacted by health inequities.As the next generation rises, the report said, these groups will represent nearly half of the state’s population compared to the less than one-third share they represent today.“Massachusetts faces a choice to ‘pay now or pay greater later,’ as demonstrated by th...

VIDEO: Rare sperm whale seen off SoCal coast

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:10:15 GMT

DANA POINT, Calif. -- Talk about a whale of a find! Drone video posted last Thursday caught a rare sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) breaching off the coast of Southern California near Dana Point. The marine mammal surprised passengers aboard a catamaran operated by Capt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari, the whale watching tour agency said in a press release Friday.Dave Anderson, president of Capt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari, explained the rare sperm whale is most likely a male, which tend to separate from the pod to feed and look for a mate."And this whale was alone. It could stay in the area for days or be gone the next time we go out. Very exciting! In this drone footage, you can see how its single blowhole is off to one side. It's the only toothed whale that is like that," Anderson said. Why are there so many parrots in Los Angeles? Sperm whales have the ability to hold their breath for over one hour, so seeing them at the surface is a rare opport...

Ukraine official says Russian missile attack on Zelenskyy’s hometown kills at least 3, wounds dozens

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:10:15 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A regional governor says at least three people were killed and 25 wounded after missiles hit civilian buildings in an overnight attack in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine.Gov. Serhiy Lysak of the Dnipropetrovsk region said the strike involving cruise missiles hit a five-story residential building early Tuesday and the area was engulfed in fire. He said in a Telegram post that people were trapped under the rubble and rescue operations were ongoing.The devastation in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown is the latest bloodshed in Russia’s war in Ukraine, now in its 16th month, as Ukrainian forces are mounting counteroffensive operations using Western-supplied firepower to try to drive out the Russians.Images from the scene relayed by Zelenskyy on his Telegram channel showed firefighters battling the blaze as pockets of fire poked through multiple broken windows of a building. Charred and damaged vehicles littered the nearby ground. “More terrorist missi...

‘Hair,’ ‘Everwood’ actor Treat Williams killed in Vermont motorcycle crash

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:10:15 GMT

DORSET, Vt. (AP) — Actor Treat Williams, whose nearly 50-year career included starring roles in the TV series “Everwood” and the movie “Hair,” died Monday after a motorcycle crash in Vermont, state police said. He was 71.Shortly before 5 p.m., a Honda SUV was turning left into a parking lot when it collided with Williams’ motorcycle in the town of Dorset, according to a statement from Vermont State Police.“Williams was unable to avoid a collision and was thrown from his motorcycle. He suffered critical injuries and was airlifted to Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, where he was pronounced dead,” according to the statement. Williams was wearing a helmet, police said.The SUV’s driver received minor injuries and wasn’t hospitalized. He had signaled the turn and wasn’t immediately detained although the crash investigation continued, police said.Williams, whose full name was Richard Treat Williams, lived in Manchester Center in southern Vermont, police sa...

Stan Kroenke has won NFL, NHL and now NBA titles in back-to-back-to-back seasons

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:10:15 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Stan Kroenke’s sports empire has produced an NFL, NHL and now NBA champion in three consecutive seasons.His latest title came Monday night when the Denver Nuggets won their first championship 47 years after joining the NBA. His Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the Super Bowl following the 2021 season, and his Colorado Avalanche hoisted the Stanley Cup last summer after dispatching Tampa Bay in six games.Through the champagne spray and cigar smoke choking the Nuggets’ locker room following their rugged 94-89 win over Miami in Game 5, Kroenke reflected on his football, hockey and basketball titles and couldn’t pick one over the other.“It’s like having children: You love them all,” Kroenke said. “It’s unbelievably exciting. I’m just so happy for everybody involved, particularly the city, which for 47 years they never had this.”The Nuggets were a founding franchise in the old ABA and played for that league’s champion...

US military says helicopter accident in northeastern Syria left 22 American troops injured

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:10:15 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — A helicopter accident in northeastern Syria over the weekend left 22 American service members injured, the U.S. military said Tuesday, adding that the cause of the accident was under investigation and that no enemy fire involved.The military statement said the service members were receiving treatment and 10 were moved to “higher care facilities” outside the region. “A helicopter mishap in northeastern Syria resulted in the injuries of various degrees of 22 U.S. service members,” it said. “No enemy fire was reported.”A spokesman for the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.There are at least 900 U.S. forces in Syria on average, along with an undisclosed number of contractors. U.S. special operations forces also move in and out of the country, but are usually in small teams and are not included in the official count.U.S. forces have been in Syria since 2015 to advise and assist the Kurdish-led Syrian Dem...

Stock market today: Asia markets higher ahead of US inflation, Fed rates decision

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:10:15 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mostly higher Tuesday ahead of a U.S. inflation update and a Federal Reserve decision on another possible interest rate hike.Shanghai declined while Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced. Oil prices rebounded from Monday’s plunge.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.9% to a 14-month high ahead of the release of U.S. inflation figure Tuesday. Forecasters expect it to show inflation eased in May but still was double the Fed’s 2% target despite interest rate hikes to cool business activity.Traders hope the Fed will skip another rate increase when its monthly board meeting ends Wednesday, but that might be complicated if inflation is higher than expected. Central banks in Europe and Japan also are due to meet this week to discuss possible rate hikes.The Fed’s benchmark lending rate is at a 16-year high, which has led to a contraction in manufacturing activity and three high-profile bank failures.“The bull market rally lo...

Japan’s Toyota announces battery electric vehicle initiatives

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:10:15 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota plans to make an all solid-state battery as part of its ambitious plans for battery electric vehicles, the company said Tuesday, amid mounting criticism Japan’s top automaker needs to do more to fight climate change.Toyota Motor Corp. aims for a commercial solid-state battery as soon as 2027. Charging time, one of the main drawbacks of electric vehicles, will get shortened to 10 minutes or less, the company said in a statement.“With the evolution of the vehicle’s operating system, the next-generation battery EV will also enable customization of the ‘driving feel,’ with a focus on acceleration, turning and stopping,” it said.EV owners usually have charging stations in their homes and keep their cars plugged in overnight to recharge. That’s one of the main reasons Toyota has long insisted that hybrids are a better solution. A hybrid recharges as the car runs. Toyota President Koji Sato has said the company must play catchup after falling behind in the EV sector. Th...

30,000 Haitian kids live in private orphanages. Officials want to shutter them and reunite families.

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:10:15 GMT

SAINT-LOUIS-DU-SUD, Haiti (AP) — Mylouise Veillard was 10 when her mother dropped her off at an orphanage in southern Haiti and promised her a better life. For three years, Mylouise slept on a concrete floor. When she was thirsty, she walked to a community well and hauled heavy buckets of water herself. Meals were scarce, and she lost weight. She worried for her younger brother, who struggled even more than she did at the facility. It’s a familiar story among the estimated 30,000 Haitian children who live in hundreds of orphanages where reports of forced labor, trafficking, and physical and sexual abuse are rampant. In recent months, Haiti’s government has stepped up efforts to remove hundreds of these children and reunite them with their parents or relatives as part of a massive push to shut down the institutions, the vast majority of which are privately owned.Social workers are leading the endeavor, sometimes armed with only a picture and a vague description of the neighborhood wh...

Three from east metro awarded Bush Fellowships. Here’s what they plan to do.

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:10:15 GMT

In the early days of the pandemic, after the murder of George Floyd, Noel Nix noted many of his coworkers at St. Paul City Hall were dealing with intense stresses, both personal and professional.Last fall, Nix — St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s director of community initiatives — went back to school in his free time to study counseling psychology at the University of St. Thomas, with the general goal of applying the discipline to his work in public service.“I don’t think it’s uncharted, but I think there’s a lot of room for growth and exploration,” said Nix, who lives in St. Paul’s North End. “How do we support and sustain community leaders in government, nonprofits and other sectors who are working on change?”Noel Nix, director of community initiatives in St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s office, is a recipient of the 2023 Bush Fellowship, which provides a grant of up to $100,000 to support further study, special pr...