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Travel: Why so many flock to Sedona’s vortexes — and what to really expect when you get there

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:04 GMT

By Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles TimesSEDONA, Ariz. — The rock formation known as Kachina Woman rises like an obelisk out of a cool green canyon. At its base, more than three dozen women are tucked into crevices in the rust colored stone, their faces turned toward the warm Arizona sun. Some sit with their legs crossed. Others are curled into a fetal position. They did not all come together, but they came for the same purpose: to soak up the energy of one of the most popular vortexes in Sedona.Surrounded by towering mesas and spectacular vistas, and located on the ancestral home of the Yavapai people, the small town of Sedona has long been a destination for New Age seekers and the astrologers, psychics, tarot readers, shamans and healers who cater to them. For the last 40 years, these spiritual pilgrims have been drawn to the region by tales of its mysterious and amorphous energy vortexes. Definitions vary, but Sedona’s vortexes are generally understood to be geographical sites of inv...

Hepatitis A cases reported among Boston homeless individuals: Health care providers urged to ‘be vigilant’ for highly contagious liver infection

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:04 GMT

Hepatitis A cases have been confirmed among Boston homeless individuals, as city public health officials urge healthcare providers to “be vigilant” for signs of the highly contagious liver infection in patients.The Boston Public Health Commission has been notified about two positive cases among homeless individuals over the last week.Both of the unsheltered residents have been connected to health care, and neither of them have required hospitalization, according to BPHC.“The Boston Public Health Commission is urging the city’s health care providers, particularly those that work closely with unsheltered populations and people who use drugs, to be vigilant for signs of hepatitis A in patients,” BPHC said in a statement on Wednesday.Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus. It ranges in severity from mild infection that lasts a few weeks to severe disease that lasts several months.The virus is primarily spread pers...

Is Novavax, the latecomer COVID vaccine, worth the wait?

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:04 GMT

By Amy Maxmen, KFF Health NewsErin Kissane, a co-founder of the COVID Tracking Project, rolled up her sleeve for the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine in mid-October soon after it was finally recommended in the United States. Like many people with autoimmune diseases, she wants to protect herself from a potentially devastating COVID infection.Kissane’s autoimmune arthritis seems to make her susceptible to unusual vaccine side effects. After getting an mRNA booster last year, her joints ached so painfully that her doctor prescribed steroids to dampen the inflammation. She still considers the mRNA vaccines “miraculous,” knowing COVID could be far worse than temporary aches.Nonetheless, when the pain subsided, she pored through studies on Novavax’s shot, a vaccine that is based on proteins rather than mRNA and has been used since early 2022 in other countries. Data from the United Kingdom found that people more frequently reported temporary reactions — like low fevers, fatigue, and pain — as th...

‘We see a lot of turkey-cutting injuries’: Be careful when carving on Thanksgiving

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:04 GMT

By Jason Howland, Mayo Clinic News NetworkFood tends to be the focus on Thanksgiving, but preparing that food is often trickier than many people expect. Dr. Sanj Kakar, a Mayo Clinic orthopedic hand surgeon, says far too many people accidentally carve up their hands while trying to carve up the turkey. Dr. Kakar offers these tips to help keep you out of the emergency department this Thanksgiving.This Thanksgiving, don’t let a poke, stab or slice prevent you and your family from enjoying turkey time.“We see a lot of turkey-cutting injuries,” Dr. Kakar says.Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time dedicated to family, football and food, but too often, it turns into a day of finger and hand injuries.Related ArticlesHealth | Bridge Over Troubled Waters steps up as number of homeless children rises in Boston Health | Turkey is cheaper, but inflation raised prices of other Thanksgiving fixings Health | Turn Thanksgiving leftovers i...

Since JFK assassination, no US president has visited Dallas’ Dealey Plaza

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:04 GMT

By Todd J. Gillman, The Dallas Morning NewsWASHINGTON — In the six decades since President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, the United States has had 11 presidents. If any of them visited Dealey Plaza or even drove through the triple underpass, there’s no record of it.For whatever reasons — be it superstition or coincidence — every presidential motorcade since Nov. 22, 1963, has steered clear of the site where a sniper ended Kennedy’s life.Presidents have made dozens of visits to Dallas in the past 60 years. Many got very close to Dealey Plaza without driving through it.“It seems to me it would have gotten some attention,” said Dallas historian Darwin Payne.No such headlines exist.Gerald Ford led a parade in an open-top car barely a quarter-mile away, flanked by nervous Secret Service agents.Barack Obama came within 1,000 feet, heading for the Omni hotel the night before the George W. Bush library opened in 2013. That motorcade exited the freeway onto Commerce St. but turn...

Bridge Over Troubled Waters steps up as number of homeless children rises in Boston

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:04 GMT

Dozens of homeless children from across Boston escaped the damp weather and enjoyed a nice, warm Thanksgiving meal, turning a gloomy day into a festive one.The holiday season is the biggest challenge at Bridge Over Troubled Waters , said Elisabeth Jackson, president and CEO of the nonprofit, which provides a full continuum of services to homeless, runaway and at-risk youth.As holiday decorations go up, young people are reminded that they “don’t have a safe and warm place, a loving home or families that they are missing during this time,” Jackson told the Herald.Jackson’s organization strives to create holiday cheer by holding meals such as Wednesday’s lunch featuring turkey and other Thanksgiving staples and other celebrations throughout the joyful season.Bridge is also counting on the greater community to step up to make its children feel seen and comforted. Jackson is calling on the public to donate gifts, holiday bundles and gift cards “to make their holiday special.”“This is the...

Border crossings closed after vehicle explosion on bridge connecting New York and Canada

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:04 GMT

By The Associated PressNIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — A vehicle exploded at a checkpoint on the American side of a U.S.-Canada bridge in Niagara Falls Wednesday, prompting the closing of four border crossings in the area, authorities said.There was no immediate information on whether anyone was injured or on the cause of the explosion.“This is obviously a very serious situation in Niagara Falls,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Parliament, as he excused himself from Question Period in the House of Commons to be briefed further.“We are taking this extraordinary seriously,” he added.The blast happened on the U.S. side of the Rainbow Bridge, which connects the two countries across the Niagara River. Three other bridges between western New York and Ontario were quickly closed as a precaution, and the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport began security checks on all cars and told passengers to expect additional screenings.Trudeau said that “additional measures” were being con...

Two reported dead after 'vehicle explosion' at Rainbow Bridge between U.S. and Canada

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:04 GMT

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WIVB) – All four international border crossings between the United States and Canada in Western New York were closed Wednesday due to a “vehicle explosion” at the Rainbow Bridge.CBS News reports two people were killed in the incident. Citing a senior U.S. official, CBS added a car traveling at a high rate of speed crashed into a pylon at the bridge crossing, which was followed by the explosion. CNN also reported two people inside the vehicle had died.The City of Niagara Falls said the incident involved a vehicle attempting to enter the U.S. The FBI Buffalo Field Office termed the incident an explosion."The FBI Buffalo Field Office is investigating a vehicle explosion at the Rainbow Bridge, a border crossing between the U.S. and Canada in Niagara Falls," the FBI's Buffalo office wrote in a statement shared to social media. "The FBI is coordinating with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners in this investigation. As this situation is very...

Humanitarians want more aid for Gaza, access to hostages under Israel-Hamas truce. And more time

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:04 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — International aid groups say they are ready to deliver thousands of truckloads of food, water and other supplies to besieged Gaza if a temporary cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war takes hold as hoped on Thursday.Some hailed an important first step, but many said Wednesday that a four-day truce isn’t enough to meet overwhelming needs after seven weeks of fighting have displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians now living in miserable conditions.Key details of the accord announced Wednesday remain unclear, including the mechanics of getting more aid to desperate civilians and escorting the first group of Israeli hostages out of Gaza where they have been held since Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage in Israel.Aid groups say a key ambition is to get help to northern Gaza, which has been largely inaccessible and where nearly all hospitals stopped working during a blistering air and ground offensive by Israeli forces.“The entire humanitarian sector is ready to scale up once ev...

Closing arguments in Vatican trial seek to expose problems in the city state’s legal system

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:04 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Lawyers for a once-powerful cardinal accused Vatican prosecutors of being “prisoner to their completely shattered theory” on Wednesday in the latest round of closing arguments of a trial that has raised fundamental questions about the rule of law in the city state.Despite attempts to demonize Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the two-year trial hasn’t proved any of the prosecutors’ allegations of embezzlement, abuse of office or witness tampering against him, said attorneys Maria Concetta Marzo and Fabio Viglione.“The cardinal is innocent,” they said in a statement. “Thanks to the hearings, we were able to ascertain that none of the accusations had any foundation and that prosecutors were prisoner to their completely shattered theory.”Becciu is on trial along with nine others in a sprawling case that is focused on the Vatican’s 350 million-euro investment in a London property but also includes two other tangents. Prosecutors have accused the 10 of a host of financial...