Visa announced major changes to how credit and debit cards will operate in the U.S. in the coming months and years.
Source: KFSN
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TRT: 00:33
Originally Published: 31 MAR 24 09:53 ET
Updated: 17 MAY 24 09:44 ET
By Eric Levenson and Nicki Brown, CNN
(CNN) — Even before law enforcement raided his homes, the rapper, producer and businessman Sean “Diddy” Combs faced a host of legal issues.
Since November 2023, he has faced five separate civil lawsuits accusing him of a range of sexual misconduct and other illegal activity. One of those cases has already been settled, but the others remain active.
Several of the lawsuits allege misconduct was captured on video. In addition, some were filed under the New York Adult Survivors Act, which created a one-year window for adult victims to file a lawsuit against their alleged abusers and the institutions that enabled them, regardless of statutes of limitations. This one-year window ended on November 24, 2023.
Authorities searched Diddy’s homes on March 25, 2024, because he is a target of a federal investigation carried out by a Department of Homeland Security team that handles human trafficking crimes, according to a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. The investigation stems from many of the same sexual assault allegations put forth in the civil lawsuits, according to a second law enforcement source familiar with the searches.
The music mogul’s attorney, Aaron Dyer, issued a statement calling the searches a “gross overuse of military-level force.”
“This unprecedented ambush – paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence – leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits,” he said. “There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”
Here’s a closer look at each of the lawsuits, what they allege and how Diddy has responded.
Ventura v. Combs
The basics: Casandra Ventura, the R&B singer known as Cassie who previously dated Diddy, filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on November 16, 2023, against Diddy and the companies Bad Boy Records, Bad Boy Entertainment, Combs Enterprises, Epic Records and Doe Corps. 1-10.
The allegations: Ventura alleged she was raped and subjected to years of violent abuse by Diddy. The lawsuit specifically accuses him of sex trafficking, human trafficking, sexual assault and battery, gender-motivated violence, sexual harassment, gender discrimination and a hostile work environment.
Diddy’s response: Attorney Ben Brafman said in a statement emailed to CNN via Diddy’s publicist, “Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations.”
The statement continued, “For the past 6 months, Mr. Combs, has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship, which was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail. Despite withdrawing her initial threat, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to filing a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’ reputation and seeking a pay day.”
Where the case stands: The lawsuit was settled “amicably” just a day afterward, both sides said. “A decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing,” Brafman said.
Dickerson-Neal v. Combs
The basics: Joi Dickerson-Neal filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court on November 23 against Diddy, Bad Boy Entertainment doing business as Bad Boy Records, and Combs Enterprises LLC.
The allegations: Dickerson-Neal accused Diddy of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 1991, when she was a Syracuse University student who had appeared with Combs in a music video. She also alleged she was a victim of “revenge porn,” saying he filmed the assault and showed it to others.
Diddy’s response: A spokesperson said the allegations are “made up and not credible,” adding the move is “purely a money grab.”
“This last-minute lawsuit is an example of how a well-intentioned law can be turned on its head,” the spokesperson said. “Mr. Combs never assaulted her, and she implicates companies that did not exist.”
Where the case stands: In April, attorneys for Diddy and the other defendants asked the court to throw out portions of the suit, denying the allegations and claiming certain allegations against Combs “were brought under statutes that did not exist at the time the alleged misconduct occurred” and thus could not be revived under the Adult Survivors Act.
Gardner v. Combs
The basics: In a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court on November 23 and in an amended complaint on March 12, Liza Gardner sued Diddy, Aaron Hall, MCA Inc., MCA Music Entertainment Group, Geffen Records, Universal Music Group NV, John and Jane Does 1-10 and ABC Corps. 1-10.
The allegations: Gardner accused Combs and Aaron Hall, a member of the R&B group Guy, of battery and sexual assault in 1990, when she was 16 years old.
She alleged that after they gave her alcoholic drinks, Diddy forced her into having sex and Hall pinned her down and forced her to have sex. The next day, Diddy assaulted her and choked her until she passed out, the lawsuit states.
Diddy’s response: In December, Diddy posted on Instagram denying the claims.
“Enough is enough. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy,” he said. “Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
CNN has reached out to Hall for comment. He has not yet publicly spoken about the allegations.
Where the case stands: Gardner’s attorneys have moved to voluntarily discontinue the case and refile it in New Jersey state court, where the assault allegedly occurred. Attorneys for UMG and the other music companies also moved to dismiss the case, arguing the claims are “time-barred” and “otherwise deficient as a matter of law.”
Jane Doe v. Combs
The basics: An anonymous woman using the name Jane Doe filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on December 6 against Diddy, Harve Pierre, an unnamed third assailant, Daddy’s House Recordings Inc. and Bad Boy Entertainment Holdings Inc. Doe filed an amended complaint on March 29.
The allegations: Doe accused Diddy, Pierre and a third person of sex trafficking and gang rape in 2003, when she was a 17-year-old high school student.
Diddy’s response: In court filings, Diddy formally denied the allegations and told the court the lawsuit should be dismissed because the woman’s “decision to wait more than two decades to file her complaint has prejudiced” him because he has “lost the ability to defend himself fully and fairly.” He also argued the evidence may now be “unavailable, lost, or compromised” and that “witness identification, availability, and recollections are likely compromised due to the substantial passage of time.”
Pierre, the former president of Bad Boy Records, filed a 15-page response asking the court to dismiss the complaint. He said he “never participated in the sexual assault of the Plaintiff nor did he ever witness anyone else sexually assaulting the Plaintiff.”
Daddy’s House Recordings Inc. and Bad Boy Entertainment Holdings Inc. have also filed motions asking the court to dismiss the case.
Where the case stands: Attorneys for Diddy, Daddy’s House and Bad Boy Entertainment have filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the case was “baseless and time-barred.”
Lil Rod v. Combs
The basics: Rodney Jones, a music producer and videographer who went by Lil Rod, filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on February 26 against Diddy and a number of other defendants. The suit was refiled on March 4, and proposed amended complaints were filed on March 25 and March 27.
The allegations: The lawsuit specifically accuses Diddy of racketeering, sexual assault and sex trafficking in 2022 and 2023 as Jones worked on Diddy’s most recent album “Love.” Jones also alleges Combs did not compensate him for his music producing work.
In addition, the lawsuit accuses Cuba Gooding Jr. of sexual assault and makes reference to several other celebrities by name and by description.
Diddy’s response: Diddy’s attorney denied the allegations and called Jones’ claims “lies.”
“His reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines. We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies,” attorney Shawn Holley said.
An attorney for Gooding has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.
Where the case stands: Some of the defendants moved to dismiss the case. Jones subsequently moved to voluntarily dismiss them, and the court ordered them removed from the case.
O’Marcaigh v. Christian and Sean Combs
The basics: Grace O’Marcaigh, who worked as a crew member and bartender on a yacht leased by Diddy and his family in December 2022, named Sean Combs and his son Christian Combs in a lawsuit filed April 4 in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The allegations: Christian Combs is accused of sexual assault in the lawsuit. His father is accused of premises liability and aiding and abetting his son.
The lawsuit alleges the yacht experience was “sold as a wholesome family excursion” but turned into a “hedonistic environment” where suspected sex workers and other celebrities were often brought aboard.
In the early morning of December 28, Christian Combs pressured O’Marcaigh to drink a shot of tequila and shortly thereafter he assaulted her, the lawsuit says. O’Marcaigh believes the tequila, which she says Christian Combs brought aboard, may have been laced with drugs, according to the lawsuit.
On the yacht, Christian Combs “cornered” O’Marcaigh in a room and “became physical and extremely aggressive,” the lawsuit states. The alleged sexual assault stopped only when another yacht employee entered the room.
Diddy’s response: Aaron Dyer, an attorney for Combs and his son, said in a statement the lawsuit contains “manufactured lies and irrelevant facts.”
Where the case stands: Dyer said he will seek to “dismiss this outrageous claim.”
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Sean “Diddy” Combs
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Sean “Diddy” Combs has been accused of misconduct in multiple lawsuits filed since November.
Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
31 Mar 24
Cassie Ventura (L) and Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Cassie Ventura has accused Diddy, her former boyfriend, of rape and abuse.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
31 Mar 24
Originally Published: 17 MAY 24 06:30 ET
Updated: 17 MAY 24 10:11 ET
By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN
(CNN) — At Princeton High School, students are trying to combat the rapid decline of indigenous languages with some unlikely help: a furry, wide-eyed stuffed animal named Che’w.
But Che’w isn’t a standard plush toy. He’s a wildly intelligent generative AI robot that speaks Mam, a Mayan language spoken in the western highlands of Guatemala and Mexico and by a small population of the school’s students. The language is currently at risk of extinction, according to UNESCO; the students hope Che’w can help change that.
At a time when some high schools are restricting the use of AI in the classroom, others, like Princeton High School, are leaning into it.
In the short 18 months since the launch of viral chatbot ChatGPT, generative AI has emerged as a revolutionary technology in the field of artificial intelligence. Its capabilities have impressed both users and experts with its ability to perform a range of tasks, from generating creative content, essays and games to conducting mathematical equations, summarizing complicated concepts and more. All that is already reshaping various parts of our lives, including education.
But the technology has leaped ahead far faster, in many cases, than schools’ understanding of how to use it. And with new products out this week from Google’s XYZ initiative and OpenAI’s new GPT-4o, many teachers and districts realize they cannot avoid the subject.
Dr. Joy Barnes-Johnson, the science administrator for PHS, said the school is “trying to embrace AI” as much as possible. “It’s a tool, just like a pencil is technology that helps communication.”
She said the school will host an AI summit this summer with its teachers and administrators to have a conversation about how generative AI should or shouldn’t be used in the classroom.
“In the beginning of the school year, we talked about how AI is the world we’re in now and we have a responsibility to prepare kids for the world they will inherit,” she said. “The idea is that it will help people connect and learn, so we [as teachers] have to not be afraid of it.”
Proceeding with caution
When ChatGPT launched in November 2022, teachers worried that the tool, which can generate convincing responses and essays in response to user prompts, could make it easier for students to cheat on assignments. Some also worried ChatGPT and similar tools could be used to spread inaccurate information.
Not long after its launch, New York City public schools became one of the first school districts to ban students and teachers from using ChatGPT on the district’s networks and devices.
Other schools reacted similarly in the weeks and months that followed, including the Los Angeles Unified School District and Seattle Public Schools, which blocked access to ChatGPT on their networks.
Some of these districts have evolved their policies over time. The LAUSD, for example, has since launched a chatbot named “Ed” to act as a student advisor, with the ability to inform parents about information ranging from children’s test results to their school attendance.
Many schools also continue to grapple with how to best approach the technology inside the classroom.
“There is acceptance by educators, but we’re still seeing a lot of caution,” said Noel Candelaria, the secretary-treasurer of the National Education Association who is leading the charge around the union’s AI policy. “The challenge is there isn’t a lot of guidance on the district level, so the concern educators have is that it’s being something done to them, instead of with them.”
He added: “There are also major concerns around data confidentiality and where data is being pulled from.”
Candelaria told CNN that educators feel strongly that they want their voice to influence how it can be applied to schools. The NEA is developing a task force with educators across the country to address many of these issues.
Beyond generative AI
Some high schools around the country are trying to teach students how to use other forms of artificial intelligence for a greater good. At one prestigious public school in New York City, Stuyvesant High School, students created an app for the blind that uses artificial intelligence and tactile feedbackto help people detect threats and navigate obstacles.
Similarly, at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado, a team of students developed an AI-powered wildlife detection system called Project Deer to help cut down on car crashes. Although researchers have tried to combat such accidentsbefore, studies have shown wildlife don’t consistently react to any one stimulus. So the students instead derived an AI-based predictive solution to alert the driver to an imminent threat on the road.
Using four $5 infrared detection sensors placed on vehicles, the students developed a system for AI to scan the surroundings and emit a high-pitched sound when an animal’s body heat is detected, a signal that may helpto scare the animal away.
The school, which was the Colorado State Winner in Samsung’s annual Solve for Tomorrow competition, said it is partnering with the University of Colorado in Boulder this summer to help boost its success rate. The Solve for Tomorrow contest featured more than 1,000 schools submitting STEM-based solutions to real-world problems. Samsung told CNN there was a “definite uptick in” submitted AI-powered innovations this year compared to previous years.
Computer science teacher Tylor Chacon told CNN the group’s big vision is to one day have the technology regulated or adopted by the state for greater use.
School administration has told teachers to help create rubrics or lesson plans, Chacon told CNN. “We’ve been encouraged to embrace it and look into ways we can use it to maximize our own job effectiveness and ease the burden on us,” he said.
It’s an increasingly common trend among teachers to use AI tools to create assignments, quizzes, polls, videos and interactives for classroom use. Some are even turning to AI tools and platforms — such as ChatGPT, Writable, Grammarly and EssayGrader — to assist with grading papers or writing feedback, a practice that is also raising ethical considerations.
Saving a language, learning the future
Still, as schools continue to weigh the benefits or disadvantages to teaching and using artificial intelligence, some teachers and administrators feel strongly that it’s the future.
At Princeton High, a group of about 14 students met during school hours for months to build out Che’w’s conversational capabilities, drawn from artificial intelligence neural networks that are trained to recognize patterns, solve problems and understand words, sentences and phrases from spoken and written language.
Che’w, which translates to “star” in Mam, was trained to understand the language by the students so it can serve as a personal tutor. The robot is also trained to speak Spanish and English.
“It doesn’t lose patience or get sick of talking to them,” said Mark Eastburn, Princeton High School’s science, research and engineering teacher. “It’s taking [AI] off the screen and putting it onto a physical structure that looks like a friend that can help you do whatever you need to do.”
In April, the students were one of the top three National Winners at the Samsung Solve For Tomorrow’s competition.
AI is now a part of students’ lives, Eastburn said.
“And it will be there when they’re in college and also in their careers,” he added, “so they might as well learn and use it in appropriate ways in high school, if not even earlier.”
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Highlands Ranch Colorado Project Deer
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Students at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado work on a car prototype that aims to detect wildlife on the road.
Courtesy Samsung via CNN Newsource
17 May 24
Princeton High School students Che’w Robot
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Princeton High School students hold their AI-powered robot.
Courtesy Samsung via CNN Newsource
17 May 24
Highlands Ranch Colorado Project Deer
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Students at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado work on a car prototype that aims to detect wildlife on the road.
Courtesy Samsung via CNN Newsource
17 May 24
Originally Published: 17 MAY 24 06:00 ET
Updated: 17 MAY 24 10:14 ET
By Matt Egan, CNN
(CNN) — Ariel Barnes plunged into a credit card debt spiral in college, and a decade later she’s yet to escape.
Barnes, a manager of gift processing at Jackson State University, has maxed out seven credit cards and is struggling to make minimum payments on $30,000 of credit card debt.
“The interest is so high that it’s hard to get out of it,” Barnes, who is 28 years old and lives in Jackson, Mississippi, told CNN in a phone interview on Thursday.
Barnes is hardly alone.
Roughly one in seven (15.3%) Gen Z credit card borrowers have maxed out their credit cards, according to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (The NY Fed defined Gen Z as borrowers born between 1995 and 2011, though others mark the cut off as 1996 or 1997).
By comparison, just 4.8% of Baby Boomer borrowers and 9.6% of Gen Xers have maxed out their credit cards, which can be a sign of a severely tight cash-flow problem.
The findings underscore starkly different conditions masked by national economic statistics.
Barnes blames bad financial decisions when she was in college for her current situation, which has forced her to live at home and delay major life events.
“I want children. The clock is ticking. But I can’t afford to have any children,” she said. “I’ve had to go to therapy because it is a lot mentally.”
More and more Americans of all ages are falling behind on their bills — especially credit card bills. The NY Fed found that for all debt outside of student loans, delinquency rates have been steadily rising since tumbling to historic lows during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Credit card delinquencies have surpassed pre-pandemic levels and continue to rise. Severe credit card delinquencies, those 90 days overdue, have now climbed to 10.7% — the highest since 2012.
The findings show how pockets of financial stress continue to emerge in the US economy following three years of high inflation.
“It is worrisome that so many Gen Zers are falling behind,” said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.com. ”We’re seeing more people financing daily essentials such as groceries and gas, and this can be a tough cycle to break.”
‘Cause for concern’
Even as stocks on Wall Street hit historic highs and unemployment remains unusually low, millions of Americans are struggling with the cost of living.
“The rise in severe delinquencies — those over 90 days overdue — is a cause for concern,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY.
The NY Fed found there is a direct link between maxing out credit cards and falling behind on payments.
Very few Americans who have used 20% or less of their credit card limit have fallen behind on their bills, according to the research.
However, the transition rate into delinquency for those who have used more than 60% of their credit card limit has now surpassed pre-Covid levels and continues to rise, the NY Fed said.
A third of maxed-out borrowers are delinquent
The researchers said this trend is “especially remarkable” for those who have maxed out their cards, defined as using 90% to 100% of their limit.
A third of maxed-out borrowers have gone delinquent in the last year, compared with less than a quarter before the pandemic, the NY Fed said.
“While most commentators discuss a soft landing for the economy or the consumer,” Daco said, “the latest evidence on credit conditions points to multiple economies, multiple consumers, affected to different degrees by the higher cost and higher interest rate environment.”
Maxing out credit cards can hurt borrowers’ credit scores. Under FICO Score’s calculation, the ratio of balance-to-credit limit is the second most important category for determining credit scores.
“FICO will be closely monitoring this trend in the coming quarters to better understand whether this is simply a reversion to pre-pandemic consumer behaviors,” Tommy Lee, senior director at FICO, told CNN in an email.
The NY Fed explained that part of the reason Gen Z borrowers are maxed out is because they have much lower credit limits. Many younger Americans haven’t had the time to build credit histories and credit scores that would let them borrow more.
For instance, the median Gen Z borrower’s credit limit is just $4,500, compared with $16,300 for Millennials and $21,800 for Gen X, the NY Fed said.
The NY Fed declined to share historical data on maxed out credit cards by generation.
During a call with reporters, NY Fed researchers explained that it’s a “typical age pattern” where younger borrowers have used up more of their credit card limit.
Lee, the FICO executive, said history shows that as consumers age and their credit experience increases, so do their credit limits.
Americans in low-income areas are more likely to be maxed out
Of course, it’s not just younger users maxing out their credit cards.
The NY Fed found that borrowers who live in low-income areas are also more likely to be maxed out.
About 12% of borrowers living in neighborhoods with the bottom 25% of incomes have maxed out their cards, the report found.That’s more than twice the 5.5% of borrowers living in the highest income neighborhoods who are maxed out.
There’s never a good time to carry a credit card balance, but right now is arguably the worst time. The average credit card interest rate stands at 20.66%, according to Bankrate. That’s just shy of the record high of 20.75% set last month.
Daco said officials at the Federal Reserve must take into account the credit card stress some Americans are feeling as they decide when to lower interest rates.
The Fed faces a delicate balance.
Cutting rates prematurely could make inflation worse. But waiting too long could pile even more pressure on borrowers, especially if the jobs market slows and more people struggle to find work.
“The risk of over-tightening could lead to unintended consequences that further strain household finances,” Daco said.
Ways to get out of debt
Experts say there are possible solutions for people who feel trapped by credit card debt.
Rossman, the Bankrate analyst, said options include:
- Transferring high-interest credit card debt to balance transfer cards that offer 0% interest for up to 21 months
- Seeking out nonprofit credit counseling
- Looking for ways to boost income and cut expenses
“I know it’s easier said than done,” Rossman said, “but it’s so important to make credit card debt payoff a priority.”
CNN’s Alicia Wallace contributed reporting.
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Gen Z Credit Card
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Roughly one in seven (15.3%) Gen Z credit card borrowers have maxed out their credit cards.
Westend61/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
17 May 24
Originally Published: 17 MAY 24 10:49 ET
By Michele Fiore
Click here for updates on this story
MILWAUKEE (WDJT) — A male giraffe at the Milwaukee County Zoo is recovering today after a successful surgery, one that zoo officials say up until now, had never been performed on a giraffe.
Thursday afternoon, Kendi the Giraffe had as much interest in all of us as we had in him.
“Whoa,” said Hazel Engel, a fan of giraffes from Appleton.
Hazel Engel and her family couldn’t wait to see the giraffe barn.
“The giraffes are really cool,” said Engel.
But just a month ago, 14-foot tall, nearly 2,000 pound “Kendi” wasn’t healthy.
“He basically had a laceration up in the reproductive tract and was getting infected,” said Tim Wild, Curator of Large Mammals, Milwaukee County Zoo.
The four year old male brought to Milwaukee from a Dallas zoo last fall experienced trauma on his first go at mating here.
“We tried treating that topically and with medication and stuff and after a couple days of that decided we need to get our hands on it,” said Wild.
Horses and bulls have undergone similar surgeries, but Tim Wild can’t point to one single giraffe that’s had it done. This is the team of professionals that successfully tranquilized Kendi using a dart and then cleaned up his infected wound in a barn that was well padded.
“We kind of fixed a halter on his head and used some ropes to help us lift his head up just enough to get that board underneath him. He went down a lot faster than we expected him to, but that’s why we had the entire perimeter of the stall padded with either mattresses or straw bales. The biggest trick with a giraffe is to keep that head up, keep that neck straight, keep the airways open, keep the circulation going,” said Wild.
Five weeks post-op, Kendi is doing well, though in his recovery he’s being separated from his female friends. The zoo expects to reunite them this July.
“The surgeons are optimistic that he will still be a viable breeder,” said Wild.
And that’s important, for so much more than just the fun of seeing baby giraffes.
“Giraffe are in trouble in the wild and we need to have a sustainable population in zoos in America,” said Wild.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
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Giraffe undergoes unprecedented surgery
Embargo: Milwaukee, WI A male giraffe at the Milwaukee County Zoo is recovering today after a successful surgery, one that zoo officials say up until now, had never been performed on a giraffe.
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17 May 24
| BUFFALO AKG ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR LIPSEY SUMMER JAZZ AT THE AKG Today, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum announced this season’s upcoming lineup for the Lipsey Summer Jazz at the AKG series. The Lipsey Summer Jazz at the AKG concerts take place on the museum’s Lincoln Stairs overlooking Hoyt Lake. Admission is free. Limited paid parking is available in the museum’s underground parking lot. There is also parking available on the roads surrounding the Buffalo AKG. Please take care to adhere to all parking regulations.Sunday, July 7, 2–4 pm Star People—Music Arrangements of Bobby Militello A Buffalo-based jazz group launched as a tribute to Miles Davis, now performing arrangements by Bobby Millitelo. Arranger Bobby Militello Drummer John Bacon Pianist George Caldwell Trumpeter Mark Filsinger Trombonist John Hasselback Jr. Bassist Joe Goehl Saxophonist Andrew Weinzler ***Sunday, July 14, 2–4 pm Jeff Jarvis and The Buffalo Big Band Allstars Composer, arranger, educator, and trumpeter Jeff Jarvis returns to Buffalo to perform his best-known arrangements with The Buffalo Big Band Allstars.Jarvis currently serves as Director of Jazz Studies at the Bob Cole Conservatory at California State University, Long Beach. He has performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Indonesia, and has been a featured guest soloist with most major jazz and symphony orchestras throughout the United States, including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, USAF Airmen of Note, US Army Jazz Ambassadors, USAF Shades of Blue, and the Oslo, Norway–based Big Band.As a studio trumpeter he has recorded more than 100 R&B and disco recordings with Lou Rawls, Michael Jackson, Melba Moore, and The O’Jays. His other live performance credits include Gladys Knight, Van Morrison, Dizzy Gillespie, Louie Bellson, Henry Mancini, Slide Hampton, Eddie Daniels, Rob McConnell, and Doc Severinsen.***Sunday, July 21, 2–4 pm Heather Bambrick Heather Bambrick is a Canadian jazz singer, proud Newfoundlander, voiceover artist, radio broadcaster, and teacher based in Toronto, Ontario. The Buffalo audience adores Heather’s talent, while critics and industry professionals place Heather on the top rung of the musical ladder. “Heather hits every right note,” says Mark Rheume of CBC Radio. WholeNote Magazine calls her “one of the finest jazz singers in this country,” and All About Jazz says her voice is a “paragon of clarity” and that “she’s the real deal in every way.”As one of Canada’s top jazz vocalists, Heather has collaborated with some of the best around, including Phil Nimmons, Fred Hirsch, Gene DiNovi, Guido Basso, Anne Hampton Callaway, Carol Welsman, Jackie Richardson, Ian Shaw, as well as the late Rob McConnell and Peter Appleyard. She is a founding member of vocal ensembles The Beehive Singers and Broadsway and has appeared as a guest performer with numerous jazz ensembles, as well as with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic, and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra.***Sunday, July 28, 2–4 pmJ. D. Allen with the George Caldwell Quartet Hailed by The New York Times as “a tenor saxophonist with an enigmatic, elegant and hard driving style,” J. D. Allen is a bright light on today’s international jazz scene. His unique and compelling voice on the instrument has earned Allen years of critical attention. Originally from Detroit, Allen’s apprenticeship, anchored by his lengthy tenure with Betty Carter, occurred largely in New York, where he worked with legends Lester Bowie, George Cables, Ron Carter, Louis Hayes, Frank Foster Big Band, Rufus Reid, and Geri Allen. ***Sunday, August 4, 2–4 pm Três Mais Três Mais is a collaboration between American and Brazilian musicians, incorporating Brazilian samba with American jazz. César Haas, GuitarWayne Moose, Bass Graciliano Zambonin, DrumsLisa Hasselback, PianoJohn Hasselback, Trombone Sal Andolina, Woodwinds The musicians of Três Mais met while recording the album Brazilian Images, featuring Bobby Militello. The members of Três Mais have collaborated with world-class jazz musicians such as Heather Bambrick, Bobby Militello, Clay Jenkins, Freddy Cole, John Pizzareli, Kevin Mahogany, Regina Carter, Gene Bertoncini, Steve Davis, Annie Ross, Cyrus Chestnut, Chris Byars, Brian Dickinson, Houston Person, Anaadi, Don Salvador, Romero Lubambo, Bruce Johnstone, Don Menza, and Jane Monheit.***About the Buffalo AKG Art Museum Founded in 1862, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly the Albright-Knox Art Gallery) is the sixth-oldest public art institution in the United States. For more than 160 years, the Buffalo AKG has collected, conserved, and exhibited the art of its time, often working directly with living artists. This tradition has given rise to one of the world’s most extraordinary collections of modern and contemporary art. |
Originally Published: 15 MAY 24 14:00 ET
Updated: 15 MAY 24 14:53 ET
By Sandee LaMotte, CNN
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(CNN) — Eating a vegan, vegetarian or lacto-ovo vegetarian diet significantly reduces the overall risk of developing cancer, heart disease and dying early from cardiovascular disease, according to a new “umbrella” analysis of more than 20 years of research.
An umbrella review looks at existing metanalyses of large numbers of studies, providing a high-level view of existing research on a topic.
In addition to lowering cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol, the umbrella analysis found a “protective effect” for specific cancers, including “liver, colon, pancreas, lung, prostate, bladder, melanoma, kidney and non-Hodgkin lymphoma,” said lead author Dr. Angelo Capodici, a graduate student in health science, technology and management at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy.
Vegetarians don’t eat any animal flesh, while the lacto-ovo version of vegetarianism allows dairy products and eggs while excluding all meat, poultry and fish. Veganism, the stricter form of vegetarianism, bans any food products made from meat, poultry and seafood as well as any animal by-products such as gelatin.
However, the protective nature of the diets could be sabotaged if poor dietary choices were made, the study authors said via email.
“Diets that emphasize consumption of unhealthy plant foods, such as fruit juices, refined grains, potato chips, and even sodas” might counter the positives of a plant-based diet for health, said study coauthor Dr. Federica Guaraldi, medical director of the pituitary unit at the IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences of Bologna in Italy.
Fruit juices, which are “full of sugars or sweetener,” Guaraldi said, “(were) recently demonstrated to have detrimental impact on metabolism as much as or even more than white sugar.”
Results may be affected by other lifestyle factors
Researchers have long known that people who follow plant-based diets often live healthier lives full of exercise and an avoidance of sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, refined grains, snacks, alcohol and tobacco, the study said.
“What is attributed to diet here may be in part due to other lifestyle practices,” said Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine who founded the nonprofit True Health Initiative, a global coalition of experts dedicated to evidence-based lifestyle medicine. He was not involved in the study.
“That is a minor concern, however,” Katz said in an email. “The net effect of plant-predominant dietary patterns is clearly favorable to crucial health outcomes even if some of the observed benefit is attributable to other lifestyle practices.”
In fact, adopting a plant-based diet, even without additional exercise, could still yield health benefits, according to a November study on twins by Christopher Gardner, one of the coauthors of the umbrella analysis published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.
In the 2023 study, healthy twins who ate a vegan diet for eight weeks had lower “bad” low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol, better blood sugar levels and greater weight loss than siblings who ate a diet of meat and vegetables, according to Gardner, a research professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center in Palo Alto, California.
“There was a 10% to 15% drop in LDL cholesterol, a 25% drop in insulin, and a 3% drop in body weight in just eight weeks, all by eating real food without animal products,” Gardner told CNN at the time.
One reason for that may be the nutritional boost that plants provide, including high levels of vitamins, minerals and other substances with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, while also reducing the inflammatory impact of meat and processed food, the authors said.
“Plants have more fiber (animal foods have zero), less saturated fat and zero cholesterol (all animal foods have cholesterol),” Gardner said in an email. “An entirely separate category is phytochemicals (literally, ‘plant chemicals’) such as antioxidants. By definition there are no phytochemicals in animal foods.”
No meat, poultry or seafood, but dairy and eggs are OK
The new review analyzed 48 metanalyses that had investigated the impact of eating a vegetarian or vegan diet on the development of cancer, cardiovascular disease and early death.
“We analyzed reviews considering vegan and vegetarian diets that completely exclude(ed) meat, poultry and seafood,” said study coauthor Dr. Davide Gori, an associate professor of biomedical and neuromotor sciences at the University of Bologna in Italy.
“To be more precise regarding vegetarian diets, lacto-vegetarian (allowing certain dairy products such as yogurt, cheese and milk), ovo-vegetarian (allowing whole eggs, egg whites and egg-containing foods such as mayonnaise, egg noodles and certain baked goods), (and) lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets were included,” Gori said in an email.
However, vegetarian diets limiting but not completely excluding certain types of meat and fish, such as pesco- or pollo-vegetarian diets, were excluded, he said.
The review found eating these plant-based diets reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and inflammation by affecting risk factors such as body mass index, fasting glucose and other measures of blood sugar control, and the systolic (top) and diastolic (bottom) measurements of blood pressure.
The diets also significantly lowered total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and “C-reactive protein — an index of inflammation that is typically higher in cardiovascular and metabolic disease,” Gori said. Metabolic disease is a constellation of symptoms such as obesity, high blood pressure and poor control of cholesterol and blood sugars that can all lead to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
However, there was no benefit in eating plants for pregnant women, an “intriguing finding” that needs further research, said Guaraldi of the IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences. It’s also possible that the hormones of pregnancy might affect findings, and “we cannot rule out that participants have taken supplements during the study period that could have altered the impact of diet on the considered parameters.”
Special considerations of plant-based diets
Because certain vitamin and minerals are more easily found and absorbed from meat, dairy or fish, vegetarians and vegans must take extra precautions to add those into their diets, experts say.
Unless the diet is carefully optimized, additional sources of B12, calcium, iron, zinc, iodine and vitamin D may be needed to avoid a deficiency, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“Strictly vegan diets can be deficient in vitamin B12,” Gardner said. “This is easily resolved by consuming foods fortified with (vitamin) B12 — easy to do because the recommended daily allowance for B12 is lower than any other vitamin or mineral.
“Iron is another nutrient that is harder to get from a fully vegan diet,” Gardner added. “Many plant foods are relatively high in iron (beans/legumes). Again, supplements can be helpful.”
Protein is also a challenge, but good sources in plants include legumes such as lentils, chickpeas and beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains and soy products such as edamame, tempeh and tofu.
Processed meat substitutes are options as well, experts say, but due to the processing can be packed with sodium, so read labels carefully.
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Vegan Diet
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Vegans abstain from all animal meat and by-products.
Wesley Soares Ferracini/Moment RF/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
15 May 24
A fire caused passengers of a Delta Air Lines flight to use emergency slides to evacuate onto the tarmac at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
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Originally Published: 14 MAY 24 13:00 ET
Updated: 14 MAY 24 16:42 ET
By Brenda Goodman, CNN
(CNN) — After decades of decline, accidental drowning rates are rising in the US, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported. With Americans getting ready to hit swimming pools and beaches on Memorial Day weekend, a new study shows that many lack the skills they need to stay safe in the water.
Roughly 15% of US adults – 40 million people – say they don’t know how to swim. More than half of adults have never taken a swimming lesson, according to a new national survey by the CDC. The new data on swimming skills in the US population is included in a Vital Signs report released Tuesday by the CDC.
It comes on the heels of an increase in drowning deaths in the US in the years following the Covid-19 pandemic. Each year, on average, about 4,000 Americans died from accidental drowning, a number that changed little from 2011 to 2020.
But that number has been about 10% higher the past few years, adding 500 to 600 more deaths each year to the annual tally. It’s the first uptick in drowning rates in the US for at least two decades.
“When I just look at the overall numbers, with over 4,000 people dying – that’s over 12 people a day – that’s really one person every two hours. And those are lives, not numbers,” said Dr.DebraHoury, chief medical officer for the CDC.
The increases in drownings were even more dramatic for certain ages and racial groups.
Drowning has long been the leading cause of death for preschool-age children. Drowning rates increased almost 30% in this age group in 2021 and 2022. Although the number of drowning deaths in children ages 4 and younger increased among young children in 2020, the rate increase was not statistically significant that year.
Black people also saw drowning rates increase faster than the general population; compared with 2019, they were nearly 30% higher in 2021. That’s despite the fact that Black Americans reported spending less recreational time in the water than White and Hispanic people. If drowning rates were calculated based on exposure rather than population, the study authors noted, it’s likely that the disparities for Black people would be even more pronounced.
Additionally, the CDC’s swimming skills survey found that 1 in 3 Black adults said they couldn’t swim, compared with 1 in 7 adults in the general population, a legacy of segregation and discrimination in access to swimming pools in the US, according to the CDC.
Hispanic Americans, a group that doesn’t traditionally have disproportionately higher drowning rates compared with White non-Hispanics, also saw drowning rates increase by nearly 25% in 2022, compared with 2019.
American Indian and Alaska Natives continued to have the highest rates of drownings of any racial or ethnic group overall. In 2019, there were about 3 drowning deaths for every 100,000 people among American Indian and Alaska Natives, a rate that has seen little change over the course of the pandemic. By comparison, there were 1.2 accidental drowning deaths for every 100,000 among White people in 2019.
Houry says it’s hard to say exactly how the pandemic may have played a role in the increases. The study can only make associations – it can’t untangle the causes – but she notes that it was harder to get into public pools, with many closing or implementing policies that limited access. Staffing was also problematic for many swim venues.
“There would have been people, if swimming pools were closed for that year, who didn’t get swim lessons and so might have been behind ingetting swim lessons,” Houry said.
Berkeley Champlin didn’t know the statistics around drowning deaths in young children until her son, Gordie, tragically became one of them.
In July 2020, 3-year-old Gordie slipped unnoticed out of the sliding glass doors in Champlin’s home in Livonia, Michigan, while Champlin was at work. Normally, he would have been in day care, but like many schools, it was shut down at the time.
His father, who was home with him, later found him in the family’s pool. He couldn’t be revived.
Gordie loved animals and couldn’t go to sleep at night without special stuffed animals: an elephant and a bunny.
“I put his elephant and his bunny in his casket with him so that he has them always, because he’s sleeping,” Champlin said. She has drawings of the stuffies tattooed on her forearm.
“I wish he would have had swim lessons,” she said.
Every year since Gordie died, Champlin has channeled her grief into raising money for swim lessons for other children.
“It’s very expensive. It costs $120 a month in some places for a child to take lessons,” said Champlin, who knows that may put them out of reach for some families.
Champlin set a goal of paying for three kids to learn to swim each year. This year, 42 families reached out to her for help, and she set up a GoFundMe account to raise money to cover them all.
“If anyone else is ever in that situation, or if you go on vacation, or you’re on the lake or a new pool or something that you don’t have your standard parameters around, swim lessons is the way to prevent accidents from happening,” she said.
Houry, from the CDC, agrees.
“I think we forget drowning is still a really big problem for our young kids and that we can do something about it by making sure kids know how to swim,” she said.
Houry said the CDC is funding programs at the Red Cross and YMCA to help lower the cost of lessons and make sure everyone who needs them can get them “because it’s so important to have that equitable access,” she added.
Houry said kids should start getting swim lessons between the ages of 1 and 4.
“If you are an adult and you don’t know how to swim, it’s never too late to get that swim lesson. It’s really important,” she said.
But Hourysaid that even if kids can swim, adults shouldn’t leave them unattended, drink alcohol or get distracted while watching kids in the pool.
In settings like a party, where it’s easy for conversations or phones to divert attention, the CDC says it can be useful to assign an adult specifically to watch kids in the pool. When swim time is over, the CDC recommends shutting and locking doors that give access to water. In the event that something does happen, learning CPR can help you save a life before paramedics arrive.
Houry says fencing that completely encloses a pool can help make backyard and community pools safer. In open water, like lakes, life jackets are important for safety, too. When visiting a lake or ocean beach, it’s a good idea to take stock of the hazards, such as rip currents, before going into the water.
As Gordie’s birthday approaches on July 12, Champlin said, she finds herself wondering what kind of a party he’d want at age 6. Would he still love animals and superheroes as much, or would it be some kind of gaming thing like Roblox?
Just as in past years, they’ll spend his birthday at the zoo, a place that still holds vivid memories of her son.
“It’s something that doesn’t go away,” she said.
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Children Swimming Pool
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Drowning rates in children younger than age four have increased nearly 30% since 2019, perhaps because of pandemic disruptions to swimming lessons.
kali9/E+/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
14 May 24
Gordie Tattoo
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Berkeley Champlin tattooed her son Gordie’s favorite stuffed animals on her forearm to remember him.
Courtesy Berkeley Champlin via CNN Newsource
14 May 24
Gordie Champlin
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Gordie Statham drowned in his family’s swimming pool in 2020 shortly after his 3rd birthday. His mother is raising money to pay for swimming lessons for kids who might not otherwise get them.
Courtesy Berkeley Champlin via CNN Newsource
14 May 24
Originally Published: 14 MAY 24 15:08 ET
Updated: 14 MAY 24 21:28 ET
By Marnie Hunter, CNN
(CNN) — That didn’t take long. Less than a week after two public sculptures featuring a livestream between Dublin, Ireland, and New York City debuted, “inappropriate behavior” in real-time interactions between people in the two cities has prompted a temporary shutdown.
The two sculptures, “The Portals,” are round, lens-like installations with a 24/7 video link to allow residents and visitors in the two cities to interact with each other. Social media videos have shown people flashing body parts to people on the other side. The installation does not include audio.
The creators of the sculptures are now “investigating possible technical solutions to inappropriate behaviour by a small minority of people in front of the Portal,” according to a statement from the Dublin City Council.
“Dublin City Council had hoped to have a solution in place today, but unfortunately the preferred solution, which would have involved blurring, was not satisfactory,” the City Council said late Tuesday. The team behind the sculptures, Portals.org, is looking at other options.
The City Council planned to switch off the live stream at 10 p.m. local time Tuesday and said that Portals.org expected to be able to turn it on again later this week.
“We are delighted by how many people have been enjoying the Portal since it was launched last week,” the statement said. “It has become a global phenomenon and it is important to note that the overwhelming majority of people interacting with the Dublin Portal have behaved appropriately.”
Organizers in New York also underlined that the inappropriate behavior has come from “a very small minority” of visitors.
“In New York, we have had a set of protocols in place since the Portal’s launch, including 24/7 on-site security and barriers to prevent people from stepping onto the Portal,” said a statement from Flatiron NoMad Partnership,one of the project’s organizers in New York.
While the creators and their partners in both cities work on “additional solutions to limit such behavior appearing on the livestream,” the New York Portal will be turned off for a few days starting at 5 p.m. local time Tuesday, according to Flatiron NoMad Partnership.
On the Dublin side, the portal is installed facing the capital city’s main street, O’Connell Street. In New York, the portal sculpture is located on the Flatiron South Public Plaza at Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street.
The Portals are the brainchild of Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys.
The project’s intention, according to Daithí de Róiste, Dublin’s Lord Mayor, was to expand global connections.
“One of my key aims as Lord Mayor is to make the City more inclusive. The Portals project embodies this, bringing together technology, engineering and art to bring communities from across the world closer together and to allow people to meet and connect outside of their social circles and cultures,” de Róiste said in a news release on May 8 announcing the project’s debut. The Lord Mayor noted the “deep historical and cultural bond” between the two cities.
In July, Dublin expects to connect to destinations in Poland, Brazil and Lithuania, according to de Róiste’s statement.
“I would encourage Dubliners and visitors to the City to come and interact with the sculpture and extend an Irish welcome and kindness to cities all over the world,” de Róiste’s May 8 statement said.
De Róiste said the portals project is part of events lined up to coincide with Dublin’s 2024 EU Capital of Smart Tourism Designation.
The Dublin-New York city pairing isn’t the first real-time bridge between cities through these sculptures.
The first Portals, according to the organization’s website, linked Vilnius, Lithuania, with Lublin, Poland, in 2021.
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Greetings
**This image is for use with this specific article only** New Yorkers greet people in Dublin during the reveal of New York City’s Portal on May 8.
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14 May 24
Ireland
**This image is for use with this specific article only** People view the live stream between Dublin and New York, in Dublin, Ireland, on May 13.
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14 May 24