More Americans Are OK With Political Violence; an At-Home Flu Vaccine? Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Oct. 26, 2023

Indy Digest: Oct. 26, 2023

Confession time: I don’t want to write this Digest intro.

I’ve been putting it off all afternoon. Instead, I’ve been going back and forth between crossing other things off my to-do list, and researching hotels for a weekend trip in December.

Why have I been putting it off? Well, most of the news stories I could write about are simply awful.

There’s the latest mass shooting (unless there’s been one since last night, which is entirely possible), in Lewiston, Maine, where 18 are dead, 13 others are injured, and the suspect, as of this writing, is still at large.

Or I could write about the devastation in Acapulco, which just got annihilated by a Category 5 hurricane—a hurricane that intensified so quickly, forecasters didn’t even think it would be a Category 1 hurricane until hours before the storm walloped the resort city. Climate change, everyone!

I could also write about the fact that we finally have a new speaker of the House—who’s an election denier, staunchly opposed to LGBTQ rights, against women’s choice and someone who believes that whole separation-between-church-and-state thing shouldn’t really be a thing.

There’s also what’s happening in Israel and Gaza, which is so bad that I can’t really wrap my head around it.

So … sorry. This is the best intro you’re going to get from me today. I leave you with the links above, so you can go read more if you’d like.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some hotels to research.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• The idea of political violence in the United States is gaining acceptance. Ugh. Time magazine reports: “Two months after Donald Trump egged on his supporters as they violently marched on the U.S. Capitol, the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution decided to start asking Americans about their stomach for political violence. The way they measured this was asking if respondents agreed that ‘because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.’ That first time, in March 2021, pollsters found 15% of Americans agreed. More than two years and eight surveys later, the pollsters found the support for that statement rising to 23%. It’s the first time they found more than 1 in 5 Americans open to condoning political violence.”

• Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, is being sued by 41 states and the District of Columbia. CBS News explains why: “Attorneys general from states ranging from California to Wisconsin filed federal lawsuits on Tuesday, accusing Meta of intentionally turning kids into social-media addicts. The lawsuits claim that Meta was motivated to keep children hooked in order to boost profits, and allege that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law. Features like ‘infinite scroll’ and constant streams of alerts are hooking children and teens, contributing to the mental health crisis that now affects many young people, the states allege. The lawsuits come after failed settlement discussions with Meta, according to the Wall Street Journal. ‘Children are particularly susceptible to addictive technologies, and Meta has exploited these vulnerabilities, putting its quest for advertising revenue over the psychological and emotional well-being of young people,’ said Brian L. Schwalb, the attorney general for Washington, D.C., in a statement.”

• Today’s recall alert involves … diced onion products. CBS News reports: “An outbreak of salmonella poisoning linked to bagged, precut onions has sickened at least 73 people in 22 states, including 15 who were hospitalized, U.S. health officials said Tuesday. Gills Onions of Oxnard, California, has recalled packages of diced yellow onions, red onions, onions and celery and a mix of onions, celery and carrots, known as mirepoix, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. The products recalled had use-by dates in August 2023. … The diced onion products were sold to food service providers and other institutions in the U.S. and Canada, and at retailers in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Retail sites included Stater Bros., Bashas’ markets, Smart & Final and Chef’s stores.”

• Here’s some much better food-related news, from a press release: “Beginning today, independent restaurants can apply for a $5,000 grant from the California Restaurant Foundation’s (CRF) Restaurants Care® Resilience Fund. Earlier this year, Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) donated $1 million to the Resilience Fund, bringing it to $2.1 million—the largest fund to date since the program’s inception in 2021. Grants will be awarded to 182 California restaurants, including 88 in SoCalGas’ service area, and funds may be used for technology adoption, equipment upgrades, employee onboarding and retention, or unforeseen hardships. … This is the second round of grants in 2023, made possible through donations from SoCalGas, the PG&E Corporation Foundation (PG&E Foundation), and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E). The first round of 2023 Restaurants Care Resilience Fund grants were distributed in June and restaurants that submitted applications in the spring but who were not funded do not need to reapply to be considered for this round of grants. Resilience Fund applications are open October 25 through November 8, 2023. Eligibility is open to California restaurants located in the utility companies’ service areas, must be open for at least one year, have up to five units, have annual revenue of up to $3 million, with special consideration for those owned by women or people of color. Applications can be found at www.restaurantscare.org/resilience.” Previous local grantees include Otori Japanese Cuisine, Natures Natural Health Food & Cafe Inc., Cork & Fork, Norma’s Italian Kitchen, Musashi Japanese Restaurant, Bubba’s Bones and Brews, Casa Luna, Los Pablos Birreria y Taqueria and Sandbar Restaurant.

• CNN reports on the possibility that you may not need to leave the house to get a flu vaccine next year: “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing an application for the nasal spray flu vaccine FluMist to be able to be self-administered at home, drugmaker AstraZeneca said Tuesday. The vaccine, the only nasal spray option against flu, has been on the market in the United States since 2003. AstraZeneca has asked the FDA to allow adults ages 18 to 49 to be able to give themselves the vaccine, or to give it to children as young as age 2, citing a “usability study” showing people can do it properly without a health care provider present. If approved, it would be the first flu vaccine cleared for self-administration.”

• And finally … I almost fell out of my chair when I read this story, from the Palo Alto Daily Post, about an incredible mishap involving an MRI machine: “Kaiser Permanente in Redwood City is paying an $18,000 fine after an MRI machine unexpectedly pulled a metal bed and a nurse several feet, leaving her with serious injuries. She suffered injuries to her pelvis, right leg and abdomen, according to documents the Post obtained from the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration. She spent several days in the hospital recovering. … The nurse was in the preparation area with a patient and another nurse on Feb. 23. Typically, the door between the prep area and the room with the MRI is closed, according to the Cal/OSHA documents. Once the patient was prepped, the nurse began to move the bed toward the door to the MRI room. However, the door was open, and as the nurse got closer to the door with the metal bed, she and the bed were suddenly flung toward the machine, pinning her between the machine and bed, according to various witness reports to Cal/OSHA.” Yikes!

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