On May 16, 2021, Vice Admiral Dr. Vivek Murthy gave a heartfelt and humble commencement address to the 331 graduate students and 208 undergraduate students who make up the UC Berkeley School of Public Health class of 2021. Murthy, who is both the 19th and 21st surgeon general of the United States, is a passionate believer in the power of public health to change lives and communities. He?s devoted his career to tackling some of the nation?s most urgent health issues, including addiction, the lack of safe and walkable communities, and the loneliness epidemic.

In 1899 Samuel Untermyer purchased Greystone, the former estate of Samuel Tilden. In the forty one years Untermyer owned Greystone, he transformed the gardens and greenhouses into some of the most celebrated gardens in America. After expanding the estate through property purchases to the north and east of the original estate, he hired Beaux Arts architect Welles Bosworth to design the gardens in 1916. These gardens sprawled over 150 acres overlooking the Hudson River and were maintained by 60 gardeners and supplied by 60 greenhouses.

Julia Sneden wrote: When my daughter-in-law announced that if their expected child were female, they?d name her Julia, I was caught completely unprepared. I think I stammered an ungracious "...uh...are you sure you want to do that to her?" Even worse, I may have followed that with: "Oh, you don?t have to do that!" Whatever I said, I'm sure it was the wrong thing, because of course I should have said something conveying gratitude and love and the fact that I was thrilled and honored. Alas, I am almost never eloquent on short notice.

Small Business and Entrepreneurship- On Wednesday, the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee will hold a hearing, ?Realizing the Vision of Parren Mitchell?Untapping the Potential of Minority and Women Contracting; ?Oversight of Prudential Regulators: Ensuring the Safety, Soundness, Diversity, and Accountability of Depository Institutions.? Bringing women policymakers together across party lines to advance issues of importance to women and their families. ?Paid Leave for Working Families: Examining Access, Options, and Impacts.? A bill to require mail-in ballots to use the United States Postal Service barcode service, to provide paid parental leave to officers and employees of the Postal Service. A bill to limit the amount that the portion of a taxpayer's tax refund attributable to the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit may be reduced by reason of student loan debt. A bill commitment to combating hate, bigotry, and violence against the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community.

?Designing earlier and more personalized individual-specific approaches to heart failure rehab shows great promise for improving outcomes for this common but complex condition that is one of the leading causes of hospitalization for older adults,? said NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, M.D. ?These results mark encouraging progress on a path to better overall quality of life and physical function for the millions of older Americans who develop heart failure each year.? For this new study, a research team led by Dalane W. Kitzman, M.D., professor of cardiovascular medicine and geriatrics/gerontology at Wake Forest followed 349 clinical trial participants with heart failure enrolled in ?A Trial of Rehabilitation Therapy in Older Acute Heart Failure Patients" 

Vaccine breakthrough cases are expected. COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness in vaccinated people. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19.  Like with other vaccines, vaccine breakthrough cases will occur, even though the vaccines are working as expected. Current data suggest that COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States offer protection against most SARS-CoV-2 variants currently circulating in the United States.

Ferida Wolff writes: "I tend to talk to my herbs as I water them. I compliment them on how big they?re getting and nuzzle them so that I get whiffs of their delicious scents. It reminds me of the time my friend tried an experiment with two of the same plants. One plant she spoke to daily and smiled at as she passed it during the day. The other she merely watered but didn?t try to connect with. The spoken to plant thrived while its twin barely survived. I think all living things interact through energy. When we offer positive energy, whether to plants or people, we encourage connection. And that stimulates growth and our relationship to all around us. It opens a door to the broader sense of life and helps us to feel how important our input is in our world."

CDC: Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance. If you haven?t been vaccinated yet, find a vaccine. This guidance applies to COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson (J&J)/Janssen COVID-19 vaccines. This guidance can also be applied to COVID-19 vaccines that have been authorized for emergency use by the World Health Organization (e.g. AstraZeneca/Oxford).

?Having a vaccine authorized for a younger population is a critical step in continuing to lessen the immense public health burden caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,? said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA?s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. ?With science guiding our evaluation and decision-making process, the FDA can assure the public and medical community that the available data meet our rigorous standards to support the emergency use of this vaccine in the adolescent population 12 years of age and older.? The FDA has updated the Fact Sheets for Healthcare Providers Administering the Vaccine (Vaccination Providers) and for Recipients and Caregivers with information to reflect the use of the vaccine in the adolescent population, including the benefits and risks of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine. 

There's a greater risk of maternal death during pregnancy or soon after from pregnancy-related causes among rural residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC and the Health Resources and Services Administration fund programs aimed at reducing maternal mortality, including in rural or underserved areas where it can be harder to get health care services. These agencies collect data ? like the percentage of women receiving postpartum visits ? but don't always separate and analyze this data for rural and underserved areas. We recommended they do so to help ensure program funding helps those in need.

Jill Norgren Reviews: "In their newly published compendium, Women?s Liberation! Feminist Writings That Inspired a Revolution & Still Can editors Alix Kates Shulman and Honor Moore have selected ninety important texts written from 1963 through 1991 that educate us on the range of feminist thinking in the 20th century ? what it meant to be a woman in the United States and the changes that these authors wanted, often demanded. And like the Seneca Falls Declaration, once read these writings provide a similar opportunity to explore which feminist goals have been achieved and where the movement is still reaching." 

From the CDC: COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. You may have side effects after vaccination, but these are normal. It typically takes two weeks after vaccination for the body to build protection (immunity) against the virus that causes COVID-19. You are not fully vaccinated until 2 weeks after the 2nd dose of a two-dose vaccine or two weeks after a one-dose vaccine. COVID-19 vaccines are more widely accessible. Everyone 16 years and older is now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination. Find a COVID-19 vaccine. People who have been fully vaccinated can start to do some things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic.

The proclamation recognizes that older Americans and families have faced substantial challenges during the last year, and their resilience and strength have made our country stronger. Older adults deserve to age with dignity and have equitable access to the long-term care system, regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender identity, disability, or socioeconomic status. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to expanding access to health care, nutrition services, caregiving, and opportunities to age in place for all older Americans. In the first 100 days, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken significant steps to address the health and security of older adults.

Despite the looming shadow in the 1930s of World War II, the magazine and book-publishing world thrived in New York City. The section ?Art as Design, Design as Art? explores the ways the city?s budding graphic-design culture gave rise to a diversity of photography ? as it absorbed literary, painterly, and cinematic elements ? and challenged the conventional distinction between the fine and the applied arts. ?Fashion as Desire? highlights the fusion of art and fashion during the 1940s, when American modernism in magazine publishing established itself during the boom economy of the war years. Photographers such as Erwin Blumenfeld, or Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, both influenced by Brodovitch, as well as by Edward Steichen, merged art and fashion in their work, and altered the genre of portraiture.

Chair Jerome H. Powell at the "2021 Just Economy Conference" sponsored by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Washington, D.C. (via webcast): "Together, over the past year, we have been making our way through a very difficult time. We are not out of the woods yet, but I am glad to say that we are now making real progress. While some countries are still suffering terribly in the grip of COVID-19, the economic outlook here in the United States has clearly brightened. Vaccination levels are rising. Fiscal and monetary policy are providing strong support. The economy is reopening, bringing stronger economic activity and job creation."

Editor's Note: We found ourselves considering a copy of Knit Your Own Dog that we had acquired some years ago but hadn't followed through on that order. Beyond that our grandchildren may be of the age that this might no longer have an appeal in their dorm rooms. But for Joan Cannon the subject held appeal: "My son-in-law is allergic to cats. I don't know about his sons, who are polite to our dogs. No one in that group seems ever to have wished for a pet. It makes me nervous about their children, should they ever have any ... "Reams have been written about how animals ? pets, in most cases ? contribute to the comfort of human lives. Most of us have wept over Flag in The Yearling, Black Beauty, Old Yeller, and many more."

Beginning in 2017, the Problem Solvers Caucus became an independent member-driven group in Congress, comprised of representatives from across the country ? equally divided between Democrats and Republicans ? committed to finding common ground on many of the key issues facing the nation. Co-Chaired by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), the Caucus? aim is to create a durable bloc that champions ideas that appeal to a broad spectrum of the American people. It is a group united in the idea that there are commonsense solutions to many of the country's toughest challenges. Only when we work together as Americans can we successfully break through the gridlock of today?s politics. Beginning in 2017, the Problem Solvers Caucus became an independent member-driven group in Congress, comprised of representatives from across the country ? equally divided between Democrats and Republicans ? committed to finding common ground on many of the key issues facing the nation.

"Add at least four years of free education. Investing in education is a down payment on the future of America. As access to high school became more widely available at the turn of the 20th Century, it made us the best-educated and best-prepared nation in the world. But everyone knows that 12 years is not enough today. The American Families Plan will make transformational investments from early childhood to postsecondary education so that all children and young people are able to grow, learn, and gain the skills they need to succeed. It will provide universal, quality-preschool to all three- and four- year-olds. It will provide Americans two years of free community college. It will invest in making college more affordable for low- and middle-income students, including students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and institutions such as Hispanic-serving institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs). And, it will invest in our teachers as well as our students, improving teacher training and support so that our schools become engines of growth at every level."

A collection of research and insights from Stanford experts who are revealing the stakes of emission cuts, enabling better carbon accounting, predicting the consequences of future emission pathways and mapping out viable solutions. Scholars consider how the legal system might protect and regulate non-human actors. A new analysis suggests the health care industry can reap many of the economic benefits of a ?Medicare for All? program through incremental changes to the private health care market. AI expands the reach of clinical trials, broadening access to more women, minority and older patients

Cabinet members and White House leaders discussed pathways that will significantly reduce greenhouse gases while growing the economy, creating good-paying, union jobs, and cutting pollution on a sector-by-sector basis, consistent with direction from President Biden to develop a 2030 greenhouse gas target as part fulfilling his promise to re-enter the Paris Agreement. Regions: CANADA, CHESAPEAKE, EAST ASIA, GREAT LAKES, GULF, INTERNATIONAL,LATIN AMERICA, NORTH ATLANTIC, PACIFIC, SOUTH ASIA, SOUTH ATLANTIC. There are over 300 Waterkeeper organizations and affiliates on six continents fighting for communities? clean water rights. Waterkeepers can be large or small, but every member patrols their waterway and enforces clean water protections when agencies and the federal government fail to do so.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland's statement following the verdict in the state of Minnesota's trial of Derek Chauvin: "The jury in the state trial of Derek Chauvin has fulfilled its civic duty and rendered a verdict convicting him on all counts. While the state?s prosecution was successful, I know that nothing can fill the void that the loved ones of George Floyd have felt since his death. The Justice Department has previously announced a federal civil rights investigation into the death of George Floyd. This investigation is ongoing." Component(s): Office of the Attorney General

Diane Girard Writes: I return to some of my favorite books these days for fun and for comfort. And, as the pandemic has shown me, reading printed books gives me a break from peering at words and images online. For contrast and with no obvious morals tucked into the story, I sometimes reread H.E. Bates?, A Little of What You Fancy. The Larkins are, as the cover of my 1979 edition notes, ?thirsty, hungry, lusty, happy, irrepressible ? immortal?. Bates wrote several books about the Larkins and there was a TV series called ?The Darling Buds of May.? The stories are set in the English countryside and Pop Larkin?s motto is the more the merrier, which also applies to his amorous activities. If income tax evasion, opposition to the tunnel under the English Channel, a lot of tippling, and women expressing healthy sexual appetites distress you, I suggest you don?t read the book.

People with red hair have a variant of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene. This gene controls the production of melanin, the pigment that gives skin, hair, and eyes their color. The cells that make melanin produce two forms ? eumelanin and pheomelanin. People with red hair produce mostly pheomelanin, which is also linked to freckles and fair skin that tans poorly. While red hair has been linked to differences in pain processing, the underlying reasons weren?t well understood. Researchers led by Dr. David E. Fisher of Massachusetts General Hospital examined the connection between MC1R and pain perception.

Other than receiving a diagnosis of a terminal illness, what?s the worst thing you can hear in a doctor?s office?  For me it?s a toss-up between, ?It?s time for another colonoscopy? and ?When were you born?? I am the proud owner of an impressive collection of imaginative recipes of veggies from asparagus to zucchini which I have Googled, printed and filed in a folder that I keep right next to my pristine Air Fryer and Instant Pot. They are pristine not because I am a meticulous housekeeper but because I have yet to use them. I keep hoping that simply buying each new appliance will magically transform me into Julia Child II. So far, however, the only one of her ?talents? I?ve been able to emulate is dropping food on the floor and picking it up before anyone notices.