RIPTA to launch on-demand service in South County

Is Charlestown going to remain the only RI mainland town without RIPTA service?

By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current

Looking to get around South County without a car? The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) is launching a one-year program it boasts will bring the convenience of rideshare apps to public transportation.

Starting Monday, South County riders may request a ride using the agency’s Flex on Demand smartphone app, which provides an estimated pick-up time and tracks the ride in real time.

One free ride

RIPTA is offering the first Flex On Demand ride free with promo code “203Free” on their app through Sept. 30.

“This new pilot program leverages the convenience of modern technology to make public transit more accessible, flexible and responsive to the needs of our communities in South County,” Interim CEO Christopher Durand said in a statement Friday. “By integrating the benefits of rideshare with the reliability of public transportation, we’re providing our riders with more choices and greater control over their travel experience.”

The service also covers Westerly, southern Aquidneck Island, Woonsocket and Pascoag/Slatersville.

A New Study Reveals That This Type of Diet Is Best for Weight Loss

Better Than the Mediterranean

By Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine  

New research shows that a low-fat vegan diet significantly reduces harmful advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) by 73%, compared to no reduction with a Mediterranean diet, and is associated with notable weight loss. 

The study highlights the vegan diet’s effectiveness in cutting down AGEs primarily by eliminating meat and reducing the intake of added fats and dairy products, challenging the efficacy of the Mediterranean diet in weight management and reduction of dietary AGEs.

A study finds that a low-fat vegan diet cuts down inflammatory AGEs by 73% and leads to significant weight loss, challenging the weight loss superiority often claimed for the Mediterranean diet.

New research published in Frontiers in Nutrition by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine reveals that a low-fat vegan diet can reduce harmful inflammatory compounds known as advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) by 73%. 

In contrast, no reduction in AGEs was observed with a Mediterranean diet. Additionally, participants on the vegan diet experienced an average weight loss of 13 pounds, while those on the Mediterranean diet saw no change in weight.

Little-Known Project 2025 Policy Would Tax Benefits for More Than 15 Million Workers

Trump plan would screw fifteen million workers

Julia Conley for Common Dreams

Project 2025, the right-wing policy blueprint spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation and co-authored by more than 100 former Trump administration staffers, has been denounced for several of its tax proposals, including slashing the corporate tax rate and the capital gains tax to benefit wealthy Americans—but a research group on Wednesday warned that one economic policy that hasn't gotten much attention could "greatly increase" financial hardships for millions of working families.

EPI Action, a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization affiliated with the Economic Policy Institute, published an analysis of a proposal that appears on page 7 of Project 2025's section on the Treasury Department—whose authors include at least two people who served on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign and transition team for his term in office.

The proposal calls to tax employers on workplace benefits that exceed $12,000 per worker annually—which would undoubtedly "lead to employers cutting back on these benefits," wrote Josh Bivens, chief economist for EPI Action.

Based on health insurance benefits that are provided to more than 150 million Americans through their employers, Bivens found, more than 15 million workers would see their benefits taxed under the Project 2025 plan.

Those workers would collectively pay over $12 billion more in taxes if their employers shifted away from providing benefits as a cost-cutting measure.

Under the proposal, "at best, employers would switch compensation away from tax-preferred benefits to taxable wages and salaries, increasing the taxes workers must pay," wrote Bivens. "At worst, employers would simply cut back on benefits without offering an offsetting increase in wages and salaries."

Rightwingers step up attacks on the teaching of scientific theories in US schools

Science is the enemy of ignorance

Ryan Summers, University of North Dakota

Scientific theory has had a rough time in America’s public schools.

Almost 100 years ago, science teacher John Scopes was convicted of violating a Tennessee law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. 

Although his conviction was overturned on a technicality in 1927, laws banning classes on Darwin’s theory stuck around for another 40 years. They were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1968.

Over the past few decades, conservative or religious groups that object to including the theory of evolution in science classes have tried a different approach. Now, they argue, if the “scientific” theory of evolution is taught, other views, such as “intelligent design” – a stand-in for creationism – should also be taught.

How Donald will protect us

In solidarity!

Because of elevated risk from mosquito-borne disease, RI Health Dept. suggests changing schedules

No one is immune, not even Dr. Fauci

NOTE: CNN reports that pandemic hero Dr. Anthony Fauci was released from the hospital where he was being treated for West Nile Disease, one of the mosquito-borne diseases currently plaguing our area. He is recovering at home. There is no vaccine nor effective treatment for West Nile other than to treat the symptoms. West Nile can be fatal especially to older people. Fauci is 83. Hope Dr. Fauci has a speedy recovery.

Due to the elevated risk of mosquito-borne diseases in Rhode Island and neighboring states, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) and the Mosquito Borne Disease Advisory Group (MDAG) they convene, are recommending that members of the public, schools, and communities consider “smart-scheduling.”

With this recommendation that has been communicated to municipal officials and the Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL), the MDAG recommends that schools and organizations consider rescheduling games, practices, and other outdoor activities scheduled to occur during early morning or dusk hours to earlier in the afternoon or relocated to an indoor venue.

The recommended smart-scheduling of outdoor activities during peak mosquito activity hours is intended to help minimize the risk of mosquito bites. DEM and RIDOH urge Rhode Islanders to continue protecting themselves and their loved ones from mosquito bites and the diseases they carry, including Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEE) and West Nile Virus (WNV).

While the most recent mosquito samples from 121 samples collected from 22 traps set statewide by DEM on August 8 and 13 and tested by the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories (RISHL) have confirmed no positive findings of WNV, EEE virus, or Jamestown Canyon Virus (JCV), previous testing has indicated a significant risk in Washington County and an elevated risk level throughout Rhode Island. 

Blood sugar fluctuations after eating play an important role in anxiety and depression

You act with you eat

Mary Scourboutakos, Eastern Virginia Medical School

Consuming these types of foods regularly can contribute
to mental health risks. 

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images News via Getty Images

The proverbial “sugar high” that follows the ingestion of a sweet treat is a familiar example of the potentially positive effects of food on mood.

On the flip side, feeling “hangry” – the phenomenon where hunger manifests in the form of anger or irritability – illustrates how what we eat, or don’t eat, can also provoke negative emotions.

The latest research suggests that blood sugar fluctuations are partly responsible for the connection between what we eat and how we feel. Through its effects on our hormones and our nervous system, blood sugar levels can be fuel for anxiety and depression.

Mental health is complex. There are countless social, psychological and biological factors that ultimately determine any one person’s experience. However, numerous randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that diet is one biological factor that can significantly influence risk for symptoms of depression and anxiety, especially in women.

As a family medicine resident with a Ph.D. in nutrition, I have witnessed the fact that antidepressant medications work for some patients but not others. Thus, in my view, mental health treatment strategies should target every risk factor, including nutrition.

Inside Conservative Activist Leonard Leo’s Long Campaign To Gut Planned Parenthood

Destroying a revered and important institution

Rachana Pradhan

This is not Leonard Leo but it might as well be

A federal lawsuit in Texas against Planned Parenthood has a web of ties to conservative activist Leonard Leo, whose decades-long effort to steer the U.S. court system to the right overturned Roe v. Wade, yielding the biggest rollback of reproductive health access in half a century.

Brought by an anonymous whistleblower and later joined by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the suit alleges the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and three Planned Parenthood affiliates defrauded the Texas and Louisiana Medicaid programs by collecting $17 million for services provided while it fought state efforts to remove it as an approved provider.

The suit claims violations of the False Claims Act, an obscure but powerful law protecting the government from fraud, and seeks $1.8 billion in penalties from Planned Parenthood, according to a motion that lawyers for the whistleblower filed in federal court in 2023.

The lawsuit builds on efforts over years by the religious right and politicians who oppose abortion to deliver blows to Planned Parenthood — which provides sexual and reproductive health care at nearly 600 sites nationwide — now bolstered by Leo’s work reshaping the American judiciary.

Anti-abortion groups and their allies secured a generational victory in 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which ended the constitutional right to abortion and paved the way for bans or severe restrictions in 20 states. The court challenge in Texas demonstrates how the forces behind the end of Roe threaten access to other health and family planning services.

The Planned Parenthood clinics being sued do not provide abortions. They are in Texas and Louisiana, which banned nearly all abortions, respectively, in 2021 and 2022.

Leo, an anti-abortion Catholic, is connected to the key players in the Texas lawsuit — the whistleblower plaintiff, an attorney general, and the judge — according to a KFF Health News review of tax records, court documents from multiple lawsuits, statements to lawmakers, and website archives.

What Harris' Bid to End Medical Debt Tells Us About Her View of Corporate Price Gouging

Counting on Kamala to act on price-gouging and debt

Chuck Idelson for Common Dreams

Vice President Kamala Harris’ bold proposal to eliminate medical debt offers a window into the approach that informs the entire progressive economic agenda the Democratic nominee for President unveiled August 16.

In addition to the proposals for re-instating and expanding the child tax credit with a baby bonus for new parents, federal support for affordable housing construction and a subsidy down payment for first time home buyers, much of the new focus and attacks have centered on what the Washington Post labeled the “first ever” ban on price gouging for groceries and food.

What makes that idea especially noteworthy is its correlation to the medical debt plan, cap on prescription drug costs and rent increases. A central cause of those inflated costs goes well beyond the usual claims of supply chain bottlenecks, government spending on social programs, and the disruption of the pandemic. In every case, there is a direct link to monopolization and big corporations exploiting those factors to jack up charges to extract higher, often record, profits, well beyond their own costs to produce or provide them.

Unpacking the crisis and main source of medical debt as well as for health care costs overall, including for prescription drugs, provides the tell.

Putin's creature

Yes!

DEM Offers Free Critter Kit Learning Resources for Elementary Educators

Science Learning Gone Wild!

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) is excited to announce that for the fourth year in a row, Rhody Critter Kits are back and ready to roll! DFW’s Wildlife Outreach Program staff have curated a collection of educational resources for K-5 educators that contain lesson plans, activities, videos, and hands-on learning materials. 

The kits have been designed to connect students to the wildlife resources right in their own backyards and communities, as well as spread awareness about wildlife conservation work in the state. 

Materials were developed and selected to correlate to the Next Generation Science Standards.

“We included video interviews with our biologists and fun virtual field trips to give kids a behind-the-scenes look at conservation work in action,” said Mary Gannon, Wildlife Outreach Coordinator for DFW. 

After a string of positive studies on coffee health effects, here's another point of view

Could Your Coffee Habit Be Hurting Your Heart?

By American College of Cardiology

From coffee to tea, caffeinated beverages are an integral part of morning routines across the globe, but these popular drinks can be harmful when enjoyed in excess. According to a new study being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s ACC Asia 2024 in Delhi, India, drinking over 400 mg of caffeine per day on most days of the week could increase the susceptibility of otherwise healthy individuals to cardiovascular disease.

“Regular caffeine consumption could disturb the parasympathetic system, leading to elevated blood pressure and heart rates,” said lead author Nency Kagathara, MBBS, Department of Internal Medicine, Zydus Medical College and Hospital, Dahod, India. “Our study sought to determine the effects of chronic caffeine consumption on heart health, specifically the recovery of heart rate and blood pressure.”

Americans love free speech, survey finds − until they realize everyone else has it, too

OK for me, but not for thee

John G. Geer, Vanderbilt University and Jacob Mchangama, Vanderbilt University

Should there be limits on free speech? Westend61/Westend61 via Getty Images

Americans’ views on free speech change directions every so often. One of those times was during the protests at U.S. universities about the Israel-Hamas war. As scholars of free speech and public opinion, we set out to find out what happened and why.

The Supreme Court itself, as recently as 1989, has declared that the “bedrock principle” of the First Amendment is that “the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”

For years, conservative politicians and commentators have warned that college campuses are not strong enough protectors of free speech. But as demonstrations erupted, these same people complained that the protests were filled with antisemitic hate speech. Leading conservatives declared the demonstrations should be banned and halted, by force if necessary.

Liberals executed a similar reversal. Many of them have supported increased regulation of hate speech against minority groups. But during the campus protests, liberals cautioned that crackdowns by university administrators, state officials and the police violated protestors’ free speech rights.

As researchers at Vanderbilt University’s Project on Unity and American Democracy and The Future of Free Speech, respectively, we sought to determine where Americans stand. We drew inspiration from a poll done in November 1939 in which 3,500 Americans answered questions about free speech. In June 2024, we asked 1,000 Americans the identical questions.