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Help! My mother has done a Kris Jenner. She looks younger than I do

Help! My mother has done a Kris Jenner. She looks younger than I do

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The ultra-exclusive mountain hideaway the one percent have turned into a summer playground
The ultra-exclusive mountain hideaway the one percent have turned into a summer playground

Daily Mail​

time44 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

The ultra-exclusive mountain hideaway the one percent have turned into a summer playground

As rental properties in the Hamptons remain empty this year, those who love to summer are headed elsewhere. The luxury hotspot that's seducing the ultra-rich has long been known as a winter hub for the wealthy, who come to ski and après-ski in the town's many resort chalets. Nestled deep in Colorado 's San Juan Mountains, Telluride has turned into the latest summer destination for billionaires, celebrities, and Silicon Valley moguls. Telluride offers privacy and exclusivity without the fuss of many summer getaway areas. 'I've seen the transformation first hand,' local luxury realtor Brian O'Neill told He's watched the town — once sleepy in the summer — morph into a playground for the one percent. 'It's funny, the same saying has always gone around here. I came for the winter and stayed for the summer,' O'Neill said. People stay for the $20 million ranches, private hiking trails that start from your front door, and, for celebrities, a paparazzi free summer. With limited commercial flights, Telluride is perfect for private jets, which isn't a problem for its residents, including Oprah Winfrey, who owns four properties there. The upcoming arrival of a Four Seasons — the first five-star hotel and luxe condo development in over 15 years — is a sign of what's to come. 'This project is going to have a significant impact on the sophistication of our community,' says O'Neill, who is handling sales for the property. 'The developer is amazing… they're creating something that not only elevates Telluride but maintains its low-key vibe. 'You go to Aspen where people want to be noticed. You come here and people don't really care where they came from – New York, Miami, or LA. They're low-key folks with a great appreciation for that.' He says many of the Four Seasons' residences have already been snapped up by elites fleeing California, Florida, and the Southwest for Telluride's cool mountain air. The fun-filled summers are also starting to heat up the local real estate market. 'We do 57 percent more real estate sales in the summer than in the winter,' O'Neill told 'Occupancy rates are higher too. It's grown so much, the area has a packed calendar of summer events. 'Everybody in Telluride said, "We need a more year-round economy,"' O'Neill said. 'Festivals started coming and are now almost every weekend. We have our own self-proclaimed title: the festival capital of the world. Some of the festivals include the iconic Telluride Bluegrass Festival, MountainFilm, jazz, blues, wine, science talks, and even mushroom hunting. Telluride is built for families, too. They can bike outside, easily ride the local rivers on inner tubes, zip-line, bungee, and jump on trampolines in Mountain Village. Locals can sip coffee outside of the charming cafés that line Main Street while admiring a backdrop of 14,000-foot mountain peaks. Visitors can hike the Via Ferrata or explore the ghost towns left behind on the old mining roads. Telluride has shed its winter only reputation and has become a summer destination too 'There's just a lot of merit to what you can do here that you don't have the option to do elsewhere,' said O'Neill. 'You can hike, fly fish, rock climb, mountain bike, downhill bike, cross-country bike. 'You can go to a food and wine event, then go to a science talk. We even have an incubator for startup companies. It's endless.' He added that the town probably has more quality restaurants per capita than anywhere — maybe even more than Aspen. That includes the legendary New Sheridan Hotel, where visitors can belly up to the 122-year-old bar once frequented by outlaws and miners. But, O'Neill warns, rentals don't come cheap. 'If you want to rent a house or condo in town, you're gonna spend $500 to $1,000 a night,' he says. 'It's not cheap.' For those wanting to make it permanent, Telluride is a wonderful option. 'We have our schools annually ranked in the top 10 percent of the state,' O'Neill said. 'This year we had kids go to Columbia and Berkeley. Great teachers want to live in a great place.'

US COVID vaccine recommendations sow confusion among doctors, insurers
US COVID vaccine recommendations sow confusion among doctors, insurers

Reuters

timean hour ago

  • Reuters

US COVID vaccine recommendations sow confusion among doctors, insurers

CHICAGO, June 5 (Reuters) - Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s intervention in COVID-19 vaccine recommendations without input from a key U.S. CDC advisory panel has sown confusion among physicians and insurers over who should get the shots and whether they will be covered, experts told Reuters. Kennedy, a long-time vaccine skeptic, in a video posted on social media last week said the government was dropping its recommendation that healthy children and pregnant women should receive COVID shots. Days later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its recommended childhood vaccine schedule online to show the shots could be given to healthy children when parents and doctors agree they are needed. It removed its recommendation that pregnant women should receive the shot. The moves sidestepped the normal process in which a panel of outside experts to the CDC - the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices - reviews data in a public meeting and votes on vaccine recommendations. The ACIP recommendations are sent to the CDC director for approval and incorporated in the agency's vaccine schedule, which helps determine insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. "The surprise announcement has created uncertainty for payers and providers about whether the video posting constitutes an official policy change," said Sarah Moselle, a principal at health consultancy Avalere. Insurers will wait to make coverage decisions until after ACIP makes a recommendation at its upcoming meeting scheduled for June 25-27, according to Robert Popovian, founder of healthcare consultancy Conquest Advisors. The Department of Health and Human Services overseen by Kennedy said the move was within its legal and regulatory authority and reflects the agency's move toward clinical-guided decision making, a department spokesperson said. HHS will continue to rely on the work of expert panels, including ACIP, he said, noting that the committee will be meeting this month. The meeting agenda will be released in accordance with prior practice. Determinations on coverage are up to insurance providers, the spokesperson said. The CDC has previously recommended the COVID shot for everyone aged 6 months and older. "This whole thing is so murky," said an ACIP member who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It's very unclear whose decision is final." Infectious Diseases Society of America President Dr. Tina Tan said the conflicting COVID vaccine guidance could cause "significant confusion among medical professionals and the public." Dr. Matthew Zahn, an Orange County, California, public health official at OC Health Care Agency who serves as a liaison to the CDC's advisory panel, said: "We're all awaiting clarity." "It's going to be important to understand how these vaccines are insured," Zahn said. "Specifically, if ultimately there is a recommendation for high-risk populations to be vaccinated, how that is interpreted by insurance companies and thus, how providers can recommend it." Zahn expects CDC to clarify its guidance in the weeks ahead, though he could not comment on whether that will be at the ACIP meeting. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that pediatric infectious disease expert Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, a CDC official who helped oversee the expert panel on COVID vaccines, told colleagues she was leaving her post as she was "no longer able to help the most vulnerable members" of the U.S. population. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists raised concerns on May 27 that the HHS decision not to recommend COVID vaccines during pregnancy would make it harder for pregnant women to get the shot "despite the clear and definitive evidence demonstrating its benefit." The Affordable Care Act generally requires insurers to cover vaccines that are listed on ACIP's vaccine schedule, according to the CDC's website. Narrowing coverage without knowing what ACIP recommends could put insurers at risk, Popovian said. "It's a liability," he said, adding that insurers need clarity on what they will be required to cover. A source familiar with plans for the meeting said the panel is expected to consider and vote on COVID-19 vaccines for the upcoming autumn and winter season, adding that the panel had been leaning toward narrowing its recommendations. The advisory panel has yet to receive an agenda for the upcoming meeting, the source said, and it is unclear whether Kennedy would override any deviation from his announced policy.

Who's in charge? CDC's leadership 'crisis' apparent amid new COVID-19 vaccine guidance
Who's in charge? CDC's leadership 'crisis' apparent amid new COVID-19 vaccine guidance

The Independent

timean hour ago

  • The Independent

Who's in charge? CDC's leadership 'crisis' apparent amid new COVID-19 vaccine guidance

There was a notable absence last week when U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a 58-second video that the government would no longer endorse the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children or pregnant women. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the person who typically signs off on federal vaccine recommendations — was nowhere to be seen. The CDC, a $9.2 billion-a-year agency tasked with reviewing life-saving vaccines, monitoring diseases and watching for budding threats to Americans' health, is without a clear leader. 'I've been disappointed that we haven't had an aggressive director since — February, March, April, May — fighting for the resources that CDC needs,' said Dr. Robert Redfield, who served as CDC director under the first Trump administration and supported Kennedy's nomination as the nation's health secretary. $9.2 billion-a-year agency without leader as nomination awaits The leadership vacuum at a foremost federal public health agency has existed for months, after President Donald Trump suddenly withdrew his first pick for CDC director in March. A hearing for his new nominee — the agency's former acting director Susan Monarez — has not been scheduled because she has not submitted all the paperwork necessary to proceed, according to a spokesman for Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who will oversee the nomination. HHS did not answer written questions about Monarez's nomination, her current role at the CDC or her salary. An employee directory lists Monarez, a longtime government employee, as a staffer for the NIH under the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. Redfield described Kennedy as 'very supportive' of Monarez's nomination. Instead, a lawyer and political appointee with no medical experience is 'carrying out some of the duties' of director at the agency that for seven decades has been led by someone with a medical degree. Matthew Buzzelli, who is also the chief of staff at the CDC, is 'surrounded by highly qualified medical professionals and advisors to help fulfill these duties as appropriate,' Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesperson said in a statement. Adding to the confusion was an employee-wide email sent last week that thanked 'new acting directors who shave stepped up to the plate." The email, signed by Monarez, listed her as the acting director. It was was sent just days after Kennedy said at a Senate hearing that Monarez had been replaced by Buzzelli. The lack of a confirmed director will be a problem if a public health emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic or a rapid uptick in measles cases hits, said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota. 'CDC is a crisis, waiting for a crisis to happen,' said Osterholm. 'At this point, I couldn't tell you for the life of me who was going to pull what trigger in a crisis situation." An acting director rarely seen, and stalled decisions At CDC headquarters in Atlanta, employees say Monarez was rarely heard from between late January – when she was appointed acting director – and late March, when Trump nominated her. She also has not held any of the 'all hands' meetings that were customary under previous CDC chiefs, according to several staffers. One employee, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media and fears being fired if identified said Monarez has been almost invisible since her nomination, adding that her absence has been cited by other leaders as an excuse for delaying action. The situation already has led to confusion. In April, a 15-member CDC advisory panel of outside experts met to discuss vaccine policy. The panel makes recommendations to the CDC Director, who routinely signs off on them. But it was unclear during the meeting who would be reviewing the panel's recommendations, which included the expansion of RSV vaccinations for adults and a new combination shot as another option to protect teens against meningitis. HHS officials said the recommendations were going to Buzzelli, but then weeks passed with no decision. A month after the meeting ended, the CDC posted on a web site that Kennedy had signed off on recommendations for travelers against chikungunya, a viral disease transmitted to humans by mosquitos. But there continues to be no word about a decision about the other vaccine recommendations. Controversial COVID-19 vaccine recommendations bypassed CDC panel The problem was accentuated again last week, when Kennedy rolled out recommendations for the COVID-19 vaccine saying they were no longer recommended for healthy children or pregnant women, even though expectant mothers are considered a high-risk group if they contract the virus. Kennedy made the surprise announcement without input from the CDC advisory panel that has historically made recommendations on the nation's vaccine schedule. The CDC days later posted revised guidance that said healthy kids and pregnant women may get the shots. Nixon, the HHS spokesman, said CDC staff were consulted on the recommendations, but would not provide staffer's names or titles. He also did not provide the specific data or research that Kennedy reviewed to reach his conclusion on the new COVID-19 recommendations, just weeks after he said that he did not think 'people should be taking medical advice' from him. 'As Secretary Kennedy said, there is a clear lack of data to support the repeat booster strategy in children,' Nixon said in a statement. Research shows that pregnant women are at higher risk of severe illness, mechanical ventilation and death, when they contract COVID-19 infections. During the height of the pandemic, deaths of women during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth soared to their highest level in 50 years. Vaccinations also have been recommended for pregnant women because it passes immunity to newborns who are too young for vaccines and also vulnerable to infections. Nixon did not address a written question about recommendations for pregnant women. Kennedy's decision to bypass the the advisory panel and announce new COVID-19 recommendations on his own prompted a key CDC official who works with the committee – Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos – to announce her resignation last Friday. 'My career in public health and vaccinology started with a deep-seated desire to help the most vulnerable members of our population, and that is not something I am able to continue doing in this role,' she wrote in an email seen by an Associated Press reporter. Signs are mounting that the CDC has been 'sidelined' from key decision-making under Kennedy's watch, said Dr. Anand Parekh, the chief medical adviser for The Bipartisan Policy Center. 'It's difficult to ascertain how we will reverse the chronic disease epidemic or be prepared for myriad public health emergencies without a strong CDC and visible, empowered director,' Parekh said. 'It's also worth noting that every community in the country is served by a local or state public health department that depends on the scientific expertise of the CDC and the leadership of the CDC director.'

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