Officials unveil plan to fix dangerous issue with bridge at US-Mexico border: 'You just can't stand it'
According to local outlet KTSM, the U.S. government is set to modernize the Bridge of the Americas — or BOTA — located in El Paso, Texas. Originally constructed in 1967, the current infrastructure requires an upgrade. As a part of the upgrade proposal and review process, it has been determined that commercial trucks will no longer be able to use the bridge once the project is complete.
Funded through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the effort recently overcame a delay to conclude the required environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. El Paso Matters reported in March that the delay occurred to ensure compliance with new presidential executive orders. The "record of decision" obtained in recent weeks now concludes the NEPA process, another step in the project moving forward.
U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar of Texas, a champion of the redesign, said, "We are one step closer to delivering a transformational investment to our border region, which will lead to cleaner air and a healthier community for generations to come."
The decision to eliminate commercial trucks from the port comes in part as a result of the environmental review under NEPA as well as concerns from surrounding communities, which say they have long endured substantial air pollution from idling trucks. San Xavier resident Ricardo Leon, for example, told The Guardian in 2024 that he had developed a cough from the pollution.
"On a hot day, it's very, very irritating, annoying. You just can't stand it. Your eyes start burning, you feel it in your throat, you can taste it," he said.
Particulate matter pollution from vehicle emissions has been linked to a range of health issues, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, including cardiac conditions, asthma, and premature death in those with heart or lung disease. Commercial vehicles can cause more air pollution than passenger vehicles, and marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by poor air quality.
El Paso-based organization Familias Unidas del Chamizal, which describes itself as "working to organize families in the Barrio Chamizal to develop a community that can defend itself," said in a statement, per KTSM, "Removing the commercial vehicles is a major benefit to the public health of the residents of the Chamizal and communities that neighbor the BOTA who will no longer be subject to the diesel contamination."
Eliminating a route for commercial trucks could cause concern about hampering trade, but the nearby Tornillo, Santa Teresa, and Zaragoza land ports of entry will still be open for this purpose. Assessments of the communities around each of these ports were included in the environmental review, or Environmental Impact Statement.
According to Land Line Media, which covers the trucking industry, construction for the upgrade "is anticipated to begin in spring 2027, with 'substantial completion' of the project expected in summer 2030."
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While reducing gas-powered traffic near densely populated communities is a great way to lessen the effects of air pollution on human health, using public transportation, riding a bike, and walking are other methods of cutting back on the heat-trapping pollution driving global temperature rise and extreme weather events. Mass conversion to electric vehicles among commuters as well as commercial transport could also make a big difference going forward.
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New York Post
07-08-2025
- New York Post
I went blind after drinking a tainted cocktail while traveling — the scary threat you've never heard of
There could be an undetectable poison lurking in your vacation cocktail. A Canadian woman is warning social media users after she lost her eyesight from sipping a stealthily toxic cocktail overseas — and she says she's one of the lucky ones. In December, seven tourists were hospitalized in Fiji after drinking tainted booze at a luxury resort bar. Just a month earlier, six young travelers, including one American, died in Laos under similar circumstances. Advertisement 6 Ashley King wasn't born blind. She lost her eyesight after drinking a poisoned alcoholic beverage abroad. TikTok / @ashkng Each year, thousands are killed or sickened after unknowingly consuming alcoholic beverages laced with methanol. 'It smells no different and it tastes no different from the alcohol that we typically drink,' explained Ashley King, who lost her vision after drinking tainted booze while backpacking through Bali. Methanol is a clear, flammable liquid that smells almost identical to ethanol — its drinkable cousin — but don't be fooled: it's highly toxic to humans. Advertisement 'Just as little as 30 milliliters of it — a shot — can kill you, and 15 milliliters of it can make you go blind, have organ failure, liver damage and even brain damage,' King warned. The chemical is commonly used in household and industrial products, such as gasoline, antifreeze, paint thinner and windshield wiper fluids. But on the black market, especially in developing countries, it's often dumped into bootleg alcohol to stretch supply and fatten profits. Advertisement That toxic mix is then sold to bars, hotels and other establishments, where it's served to unsuspecting patrons. 6 If ingested, methanol can cause severe health issues. kittisak – 'No different from any other night' That's what happened to King, who was visiting southern Bali in 2011 on a gap year before starting college. She and her friend were at a high-end bar, where she got drunk on vodka cocktails. Advertisement 'It was no different from any other night that I'd had when I was there,' she said. Though she felt hungover the next day, she first suspected something was wrong about two days later when they arrived in Australia. 'I remember talking to the customs people and it was like I was drunk,' she told The Guardian. 'I could not form sentences in a way that sounded confident.' After landing in New Zealand, she went to sleep when they got to their hotel. When she woke up at noon the next day, she was confused to find her hotel room seemed to be totally dark. But it wasn't dark — there was something wrong with her vision. She also couldn't breathe. 6 Ashley (pictured on her gap year in 2011) didn't know anything was wrong with her drink while out with a friend in Bali. Instagram / @ashkng At the hospital, a blood rest revealed methanol in her blood. It was bad enough that doctors were surprised she'd even woken up. 'Losing my eyesight is the hardest thing I've ever gone through, and I deal with it every single day,' King said on TikTok. The hidden danger lurking in your drink Advertisement When methanol enters the body, it turns into formaldehyde and formic acid — both highly toxic — which causes the blood to become dangerously acidic, according to the Methanol Institute. Early symptoms can mimic an ordinary night out drinking: dizziness, nausea, vomiting, poor judgment and drowsiness. But things can go from bad to deadly within 12 to 24 hours of drinking — and in some cases, more severe symptoms take up to 72 hours to surface, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While a normal hangover fades, methanol poisoning only gets worse. Victims may suffer severe abdominal pain, vomiting, vertigo, trouble breathing, confusion, headaches and blurry vision. Advertisement In more severe cases, blindness, seizures and coma can follow. 6 At the hospital — where doctors were surprised she'd made it alive — she had to drink vodka to help flush the methanol from her system. Instagram / @ashkng The Institute says methanol poisoning can often be treated if doctors intervene within 10 to 30 hours. One surprising thing that can help? Drinking alcohol. While she was in the hospital, King says she was given several vodkas with orange juice to flush the methanol from her system. Advertisement 'It was the most absurd drinking game I've ever played,' she said. 'The drunker I got the more I could breathe, the more I was able to see.' They also give her hemodialysis to filter waste from the blood, plus steroids to try to fix her eyes — but she was left with only about 2% vision, which she describes as 'like snowfall or a TV screen.' 'I've never felt so alone in my life,' she said. 'Three days ago, I had had my entire life ahead of me. And now you're telling me that I'm blind?' 6 The early signs of methanol poisoning might not raise any red flags after a night of drinking. Tunatura – How to avoid the poison pour Advertisement While the problem is global, statistics show that Asia has the highest prevalence of methanol poisoning worldwide, with outbreaks commonly occurring in Indonesia, India, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines, according to Doctors Without Borders. Since 2019, the group has tracked more than 1,000 incidents that have poisoned over 40,000 people and killed roughly 14,200. The fatality rate in an outbreak is often reported to be 20% to 40%. Last month, the US Embassy in Jordan issued a warning after a rash of methanol-related deaths linked to locally made booze — and offered some tips for travelers looking to avoid similar fates. Start by sticking to alcohol sold in licensed liquor stores, bars, hotels and established markets. Skip street vendors and informal setups. If the drink is dirt cheap, there's probably a reason — counterfeit alcohol is often sold for a fraction of the real thing. And don't accept free drinks from strangers. At the bar, watch your drink being made. If it smells off or tastes strange, ditch it. You should also avoid homemade liquor or local spirits. When in doubt, especially in unfamiliar places, skip the hard stuff altogether. Pre-packaged options like beer, cider, wine or duty-free liquor are generally safer and harder to tamper with. 6 If you suspect you've been exposed to methanol, contact emergency services right away. Jair – Before cracking open any bottle, inspect it for signs of tampering — poor label quality, broken seals or obvious spelling errors are all red flags. And of course, never let your drink out of sight. While abroad, the office said it's smart to sign up for travel alerts from your government's foreign-affairs department or local embassy. Keeping tabs on local news and knowing how to reach emergency services can also make all the difference, just in case that nightcap turns into a nightmare. 'This doesn't need to happen. But it does, and not enough people know about it. Because of this, I'm sharing my story,' King said. She's also launched a petition to spread awareness and encourage education on the dangers in both schools and airpots.
The Hill
07-08-2025
- The Hill
Democrats press UnitedHealth Group over nursing home policies
Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden (Oreg.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) are launching an investigation into UnitedHealth Group (UHG) over its actions reportedly steering seniors away from hospital visits for the sake of cutting costs. In a letter to UHG CEO Stephen J. Hemsley, Wyden and Warren cited reporting from outlets including The Guardian that said his company was paying nursing homes to reduce hospital transfers of sick patients. The senators wrote that UHG representatives told them bonus programs for nursing homes are offered to encourage 'adherence to certain quality measures.' One of these programs allows for nursing homes to receive bonuses if they reach certain levels of influenza and pneumococcal vaccination rates and cholesterol medication adherence rates, while also maintaining a hospital admission per thousand rate below a certain threshold. They also pointed to UHG institutional special needs plans, provided through its subsidiary Optum, which reportedly disincentivize 'medically-necessary hospitalizations and emergency room visits.' These plans also reportedly pressure nursing home residents to sign 'do not resuscitate' (DNR) and 'do not intubate' (DNI) orders. At the time of The Guardian's reporting in May, UHG denied it was preventing hospital transfers or pushing patients to sign DNRs and DNIs. 'Put simply, these allegations suggest that UHG appears to be prioritizing its bottom line at the expense of the health and safety of nursing home residents enrolled in UHG I-SNPs. Nursing home residents and their families should not live in fear of a for-profit health care company withholding care when it is most critical,' the lawmakers wrote. Though they expressed their support for evidence-based models that reduce 'unnecessary hospitalizations of nursing home residents,' Wyden and Warren noted a briefing with UHG representatives did not resolve their concerns surrounding these reports. The lawmakers requested information on UHG's I-SNP model, Optum's policies on transferring residents on I-SNP to the hospital as well as information on its bonus programs. 'Any attempt to take advantage of vulnerable nursing home residents is unacceptable, especially to pad a for-profit insurance company's revenues. It is vital that UHG respond to these alarming reports and provide prompt, detailed responses to our questions,' wrote Wyden and Warren.
Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Ozzy Osbourne's death revives COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theory
Claim: Ozzy Osbourne died from years of illness caused by the COVID-19 vaccine. Rating: On July 22, 2025, famed heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne died at age 76. Although his family did not release a cause of death, he had been battling a range of health issues over the years, including a variant of Parkinson's disease. However, soon after his death, rumors spread that the COVID-19 vaccine caused his illness. Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones shared an old article in which Osbourne said he was "relieved" after getting his COVID-19 vaccine. Jones wrote on X in response to the article: The iconic Ozzy Osbourne has died suddenly after years of illness which mysteriously started after getting vaccinated. The Black Sabbath lead singer cancelled concerts after experiencing blood clots in his legs, and had a filter placed in his artery to protect spread to his heart and brain. Ozzy was excited when he first got his shot. He's now dead… Rest in peace Ozzy Osbourne. (X user @RealAlexJones) Osbourne's various health concerns had been widely documented long before he ever received the COVID-19 vaccine and before the pandemic took place. He publicly spoke about his decades of health challenges and attributed many of them to years of drug and alcohol abuse. As such, we rate the above claim as false. In January 2020, Osbourne publicly announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In an interview, he said the diagnosis came after he had a fall in 2019 that led to neck surgery. Around that time he also had pneumonia and had to go into the ICU. Osborne also had a near-fatal quad bike accident in 2003. Jones' claim that blood clots in Osbourne's leg were connected to the vaccine also is false. Osbourne described having blood clots in his legs in an August 2019 interview with Rolling Stone, saying he developed them while he recovered from his neck surgery. In a May 2025 interview with The Guardian, Osbourne described his difficulties training for his final concert because of blood clots and other issues: I do weights, bike riding, I've got a guy living at my house who's working with me. It's tough — I've been laid up for such a long time. I've been lying on my back doing nothing and the first thing to go is your strength. It's like starting all over again. I've got a vocal coach coming round four days a week to keep my voice going. I have problems walking. I also get blood pressure issues, from blood clots on my legs. I'm used to doing two hours on stage, jumping and running around. I don't think I'll be doing much jumping or running around this time. I may be sitting down, but the point is I'll be there, and I'll do the best I can. So all I can do is turn up. Again, he first spoke about having blood clots in 2019, and there is no evidence tying them to his getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The musician has had a long history of poor health in the years before he took the COVID-19 vaccine and even before the pandemic took place. In his 2011 memoir "I Am Ozzy," Osbourne described his addiction to a range of intoxicants and how it affected his health. In one passage described experiencing a tremor in his hand in the early 1990s: I started to notice a tremor in my hand. My speech was slurred. I was always exhausted. I tried to escape from it all by getting loaded, but I'd developed such a tolerance to all the drugs I was taking, I had to overdose to get high. It reached the point where I was getting my stomach pumped every other week. I had a few very close calls. One time, I scammed a bottle of codeine off a doctor in New York and downed the whole f***ing lot. I nearly went into respiratory arrest. All I remember is lying in this hotel bed, sweating and feeling like I was suffocating, and the doc telling me over the phone that if you take too much codeine, your brain stops telling your lungs to work. I was very lucky to survive. Although, the way I was feeling, I would have been happy never to wake up again. He also described being diagnosed in 2003 with "Parkinson-ian syndrome": Finally, me and Sharon went back to [Dr. Ropper's] office to find out what the f*** was wrong with me, once and for all. "I think I've got to the bottom of this," he said. "Basically, Mr Osbourne, you have a very, very rare condition, which is caused by your mother and your father both having the same damaged chromosome in their DNA. And when I say it's very rare, think one-in-a-billion rare. The good news is that it's not MS or Parkinson's disease. The bad news is that we don't really have a name for it. The best description is probably Parkinson -ian syndrome." "Is that what's been giving me the tremor?" "Absolutely." "And it's hereditary? It has nothing to do with the booze or the drugs?" "The alcohol and some of the drugs you were taking were definitely making it worse. But they weren't the primary cause." "Can you treat it?" "Yes. But first I have to tell you something, Mr Osbourne. If you keep drinking, and if you keep abusing drugs, you'll have to find another doctor, because I won't have you as a patient. I'm a busy man, I have a very long waiting list and I can't afford to have my time wasted." I'd never been spoken to like that by a doctor before. And the way he looked at me, I knew he was serious. "OK, doc," I said. "I'll try my hardest." Because of all his health issues, Osbourne described being "relieved" that he got the COVID-19 vaccine in February 2021. In an interview he gave before getting the shot, he said he wanted the two-dose vaccine: "I want to get the shot. … I look at it like this — if I don't get the shot and I get the virus, there's a good chance I ain't going to be here." Osbourne performed his final live show a few weeks before his death. His wife, Sharon Osbourne, told the media that this performance was his goodbye to his fans. The claim about his health and the COVID-19 vaccine is consistent with a common conspiracy theory that spread online during the pandemic, falsely attributing numerous famous peoples' deaths to the vaccine. We have previously fact-checked such claims about Betty White, Lisa Loring and even Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. We also reported in 2021 that there was very little evidence tying blood clot cases to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. An investigation by the European Medicine Agency found that the vaccine was "safe and effective." While the EMA said that it would add a warning label to the vaccine to alert doctors and patients to the extremely rare possibility of blood clots, the agency said that "benefits of the vaccine clearly outweigh the risks." Emery, David. "Did Betty White Say She Got COVID Booster 3 Days Before She Died?" Snopes, 2 Jan. 2022, Accessed July 25, 2025. Evon, Dan. "Does AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Cause Blood Clots?" Snopes, 16 Mar. 2021, Accessed July 25, 2025. Grow, Kory. "Ozzy Osbourne on His Road Back From Hell: 'I Was Absolutely in Agony.'" Rolling Stone, 20 Aug. 2019, Accessed July 25, 2025. Liles, Jordan. "No Evidence Lisa Loring's Cause of Death Was COVID-19 Vaccine." Snopes, 31 Jan. 2023, Accessed July 25, 2025. Osbourne, Ozzy. I Am Ozzy. Grand Central Publishing, 2010. Accessed July 25, 2025. "Ozzy Osbourne Dies at 76: What He Shared About His Health Over the Years." 23 July 2025, Accessed July 25, 2025. Peters, Mitchell. "Ozzy Osbourne Says He's Feeling 'Relieved' After Getting His First COVID-19 Shot: Watch." Billboard, 15 Feb. 2021, Accessed July 25, 2025. Petridis, Alexis. "'I Don't Want to Die in a Hotel Room Somewhere': Black Sabbath on Reconciling for Their Final Gig – and How Ozzy Is Living through Hell." The Guardian, 2 May 2025. The Guardian, Accessed July 25, 2025. "Rocker Ozzy Osbourne Announces Parkinson's Diagnosis." AP News, 21 Jan. 2020, Accessed July 25, 2025. Wrona, Aleksandra. "Did Alexei Navalny Die from COVID-19 Vaccine?" Snopes, 21 Feb. 2024, Accessed July 25, 2025.
