Latest news with #Hyman
CTV News
2 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Northern Ont. town continues to oppose radioactive material being relocated in the region
Nairn and Hyman Mayor Amy Mazey joins CTV's Ian Campbell in studio to talk about the latest developments following her town's opposition to the province's plan to transport radioactive material in the region.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Heavy rain causes major road washout in northern Ont.
Heavy rain caused a severe washout on Minto Street in Nairn and Hyman, leaving a 30-foot drop. Officials warn it's extremely dangerous, yet some drivers ignore barricades. Repairs could take two weeks.
CTV News
15-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
Northern Ont. residents oppose plan to dump radioactive material near drinking water source
About 100 people attended a town hall in Nairn & Hyman Township to discuss plans to move radioactive material from Nipissing First Nation to Agnew Lake. About 100 people attended a town hall in Nairn and Hyman Township to discuss provincial plans to move radioactive material from Nipissing First Nation to Agnew Lake. The township hired a consultant to review the technical report, citing environmental and health concerns. Mayor Amy Mazey urged the province to reconsider, saying the plan isn't the best solution. Residents in Nairn and Hyman and surrounding communities met Monday to discuss concerns about a plan by the province to transfer radioactive material into the area. Concerns were first raised last summer after a local municipal councillor noticed newer back roads and inquired about the upgrades. Nairn and Hyman About 100 residents from Nairn and Hyman and surrounding communities met Monday to discuss a provincial plan to dump radioactive material into tailings area at Agnew Lake, 27 kilometres from the community's drinking water supply. (Angela Gemmill/CTV News) That's when the township discovered that the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Mines were planning to move 18,000 cubic metric tonnes of niobium radioactive materials from Nipissing First Nation to the tailings area at Agnew Lake. Agnew Lake is 27 kilometres from the township's drinking water. 'We felt we really hadn't been consulted,' Nairn and Hyman Mayor Amy Mazey told the crowd. 'We were told the 'naturally occurring radioactive material' was just like gravel.' Last September, the municipality asked the province for more specific information about the project, which was scheduled to begin this summer. 'This is not 'NORM '–naturally occurring radioactive material,' Mazey said. 'It contains hazardous heavy metals -- uranium, niobium, radium 226, cadmium, arsenic, selenium, silver and manganese.' — Nairn and Hyman Mayor Amy Mazey 'It contains hazardous heavy metals -- uranium, niobium, radium 226, cadmium, arsenic, selenium, silver and manganese.' In April, both ministries provided the township with a massive report filled with technical and scientific details. So the township hired environmental consultants Hutchinson Environmental Sciences Ltd. to interpret the report -- and determine what science was missing. That information was presented to residents on Monday, who were then asked for feedback and suggestions on what to do next. Mazey said there are eight studies missing from the report. 'The two most important are a cumulative risk assessment -- what's going to happen when you put uranium tailings on top and niobium tailings together,' she said. Nairn and Hyman Residents in Nairn and Hyman learned last summer that the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Mines were planning to move 18,000 cubic metric tonnes of niobium radioactive materials from Nipissing First Nation to the tailings area at Agnew Lake. (Angela Gemmill/CTV News) 'What will happen? And also a drainage study -- so where is the water going to go, how is it going to leech? All of those things that were outlined that should have been done already, we just haven't seen them.' Township CAO Belinda Ketchabaw said what it boils down to is that the province wants to put radioactive materials in a lake that's already struggling. '(Agnew Lake) site is already in crisis, and they want to bring in more radioactive material to 'fix' the site,' Ketchabaw said. 'It doesn't really add up to me. When the science isn't there, there's no trust. We need to trust what is best for our community.' Safe outcome Ketchabaw said they've learned that some of the niobium material will be taken to a Clean Harbors facility near Sarnia, made for hazardous waste. She said it raises the question that if the material is hazardous enough to be sent to this facility, shouldn't it all be sent there? 'Let's just bring it all there and have a safe outcome for everyone,' Ketchabaw said. Furthering distrust, Mazey said the two ministries often give the community contradictory information. 'It just raises a lot of red flags,' she said. 'I hope that the Ontario government listens to the residents and takes us seriously that this isn't an easy fix ... Just because this is the most convenient solution for the province, it doesn't mean that it's the best solution.' Margaret Lafromboise, who lives close to the Spanish River, said she's concerned about having 'an unsafe radioactive site increased in volume.' 'I think the most constructive and practical thing to do would be to see if the municipality could get financial help to hire a lawyer and initiate an injunction to stop the action immediately,' Lafromboise said. 'As a society, as a province, we are not taking good enough care of our environment, the water and I don't believe our current government is willing to take the action that is required.' Representatives from the provincial ministries were not invited to Monday's town hall. 'When they came to our first meeting, all they did was say 'this is safe,' 'this is gravel.' I don't want to hear that, I want science,' Ketchabaw said. Mazey said they've been told trucks will begin hauling the radioactive material from Nipissing First Nation to the Agnew Lake site in mid-August. 'I hope that we can stop them,' she said.
Business Insider
05-07-2025
- Health
- Business Insider
I thought I had great cholesterol, but a trendy new blood test said the opposite — sending me down a mind-boggling rabbit hole
The Rock loves it, Zac Efron invests in it, and Equinox gym members are signing up for it in droves. Function Health is the latest hot commodity for longevity seekers looking to optimize their health. The promise is simple: skip the waiting room at the doctor's office and head straight to the lab, for comprehensive medical testing that evaluates the health of key organs, like your heart and kidneys. Function also measures some things that "regular" doctors typically don't, like electrolyte levels as well as the so-called "heavy metals" — lead, mercury — potentially poisonous substances that can sometimes lurk in our air, water, and food. It might even find cancer. I wanted to see what all the big buzz was about with this $500 annual blood-and-pee testing service, so I tried it out. Disclaimer: I didn't have to pay for it, because Function Health gave out free trials to journalists as the company is still in beta testing mode. In the end, my Function results led me to seek out more advice from doctors than I usually would, to help me separate the signal from the noise in all the data. I freaked out about all the little cholesterol particles hiding out in my blood The good news is that Function is not a huge time suck. It takes about 15 minutes to get the initial testing done and you can roll up to just about any Quest Diagnostics lab location nationwide (except in Hawaii and Rhode Island). Their tests measure over 90 different biomarkers in your blood and urine, including almost all the typical stuff you'd find in a doctor's office (except STD testing). Function performed roughly three times the number of tests I had done the last time I went to the doctor's office for routine bloodwork. There were more measurements related to hormones, key nutrients, my metabolism, and heart health. Function Health also measured my " biological age," a scientifically squishy indicator of health and fitness. With so many tests being run, there's a good chance that something you measure when you do Function will come back abnormal. That doesn't always mean there's something wrong with you; sometimes your own "normal" doesn't fit neatly into a given reference range. Function is OK with having a few errant flags in the data, and encourages re-testing any out of range labs. Their ethos is the more information, the better. It's about creating a more detailed picture of your overall health, not making sure each test is perfect every time. People are "wanting to know more about their biology, and to be advocates for their own health," Dr. Mark Hyman, one of the founders of Function Health, told Business Insider. Hyman, a longtime friend of US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., chalks it up "to disillusionment with healthcare in general" in the US. Hyman says many people who use Function's tests may be able to resolve their own health concerns without ever seeing a doctor afterwards. "While you'll need to see a doctor for certain things, the beauty of Function is you come in, follow up, order follow up tests on yourself, and then you can follow the guidance," Hyman said. His venture dovetails with the rise of new tech promising to put you in the driver's seat of your own health. Think wearables (rings, watches, glucose monitors) and concierge medicine (full body MRIs, anti-aging IV drips). As the personalized medicine industry booms, Function is taking off. The company says its membership has more than doubled since December, to more than 200,000 customers. I ended up overanalyzing my results, and coming to some pretty silly conclusions The very first "out of range" marker that was mentioned in my Function report was a cholesterol measurement. While my regular LDL, or "bad" cholesterol number — the one you'd get measured in a doctor's office — looked fine, Function also measured the size of my LDL cholesterol particles. Apparently, I had slightly elevated numbers of small and medium sized LDL cholesterol particles, which are more dangerous than larger LDL particles. This "could indicate an increased risk for cardiovascular disease despite normal LDL cholesterol levels," my results said, adding "it is vital to address the out-of-range results." This was a surprise. I had always been told I have "good" cholesterol. I started imagining all those tiny, sticky cholesterol particles racing towards my aging heart. Knowing how important heart health is for healthy aging, and that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US, I started to worry. Should I quit my beloved mayonnaise? Maybe I should at least cut back. After my initial shock, I reached out to independent cardiologists and longevity doctors for this story. I also spoke directly to Hyman about my results. All of those physicians refocused my attention, helping me interpret the results, and zoom in on the more meaningful ways to adjust my lifestyle. Frankly, they reminded me why this kind of testing isn't widely recommended, and why we go to the doctor in the first place. Without help from doctors, I was stressing about the wrong things in my labs and on my plate Even for me, a seasoned health journalist who isn't generally freaked out by medical test results, this felt like a lot to take in. In addition to the supposedly off-balance cholesterol numbers, there was also low vitamin D, and a few other items that could impact everything from my immunity to metabolism and fertility. Without a doctor's advice, I found it was easy to get lost in the noise of all the results. "I think if you showed any cardiologist or lipidologist your panel, they wouldn't be worrying about you," Dr. Ken Feingold, an emeritus professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who is an expert on lipids and lipoprotein metabolism, told BI. The cholesterol numbers that really matter were fine, including the basics (total cholesterol, LDL, HDL) but also some of the more niche measurements that doctors are now factoring into clinical decision-making, like lipoprotein A and apolipoprotein B (APOB), Feingold said. "I think it would be very unfair to expect a consumer, the person that had the lab work done to try and figure it out on their own," Dr. David Sabgir, a cardiologist in Ohio who is also not involved with Function Health, told BI. In theory, Function is designed to help consumers make simple nutrition tweaks they hadn't thought to make — perhaps adding fatty fish for omega-3, vitamin D, or fiber supplements. "80% of people's health issues will never need a doctor," Hyman said. "They're really lifestyle-driven and they can be modified through modifying your diet and your lifestyle." However, as a consumer, I found the barrage of information confusing, making it harder to feel in control of good decision-making. Plus, while Function gave me diet and supplement recommendations (vitamin D, fiber, berberine, omega-3, and coQ10, along with more fish and eggs), it buried the most important piece of nutrition advice that every doctor I spoke to was quickly able to point out. Doctors told me to cut back on white bread and enjoy avocados In a follow-up interview with Hyman — which is not standard procedure for Function patients — he told me I could improve my particle numbers by cutting down on, or ideally eliminating, refined starches and sugars. This was advice that was not highlighted in my Function dashboard, but other doctors wholeheartedly agreed. It was the first thing they said. Miora longevity clinic director Dr. Gregory Pippert uses advanced blood testing that's similar to Function's, often catering to patients who are trying to optimize their health and gains in the gym. "I look at so much green on that," he said of my cholesterol panel. "Then I see particle numbers that are not massively high." For Pippert, the headline was simple: just skip the refined grains more often. "Do I really, really need the big extra thick slice of white bread? Maybe not," Pippert said. "It's making the good choices more than the bad choices, but not obsessing." Seeing more granular data may help some patients take general pieces of health advice — to hit the gym five days a week, incorporate more strength training, or adhere to heart healthy diets, like the Mediterranean diet, more seriously. "The anxiety associated with the results may trigger more compliance with lifestyle modification," Sabgir said. But how can we be sure we'll pick out the right tweaks on our own? If I'm skipping mayo but not switching to whole grains or cutting back on sugar, I'm probably not going to have a huge impact on my test results. "I don't know why people are offering this," Feingold said. "It's a way to make a lot of money because sure, they're charging a significant amount of money for this, but you don't really need it to make decisions about who you're going to treat, most of the time."
New York Times
02-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Ranking the Edmonton Oilers' 10 best free-agent signings in history
The Edmonton Oilers were quiet in free agency on July 1 until late in the day, when Andrew Mangiapane signed with the team. The club may add a few small pieces over the next few days, including a goaltender, but the cap is spent, and trades are more likely now. With the big addition via free agency now done, we can look back on the Oilers' most successful free-agent signings. It's a varied group, and Mangiapane may one day join it. It'll be a steep climb. Advertisement A look at the team's all-time best free-agent signings reveals a mix of big-money investments that paid off and signings so small they barely made the newspapers (or websites) on the day they were signed. All 10 names represent fantastic free-agent value. The Oilers were searching for wingers with boundless motors who could score goals the year Zach Hyman was available in free agency. He was an instant home run and remains a major part of the current team. His absence in the Stanley Cup Final this spring had an impact on the Oilers, who skated through three rounds with the help of his rambunctious style. In a hockey world that brings such promise on Day 1 of free agency, followed by massive disappointment, Hyman has been an extreme outlier. In four regular seasons with Edmonton, Hyman has been an impact scorer. Per 82 games, he's averaging 38 goals, and in 68 playoff games, he has scored 35 goals. Hyman, signed by Ken Holland in free agency, is the top UFA signing in Edmonton's history. The 1979 entry draft was unique in NHL history. The league was merging with the rival WHA, a league that had several teenagers (including future Oilers legends Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier) who were now pros and could not return to junior hockey. It was decided that the NHL would allow the draft age to ease from 20 to 19, and the number of rounds would be reduced from 22 to six. That meant dozens of quality hockey players went undrafted. One of those players was Charlie Huddy, an outstanding two-way defenceman who played for Edmonton during the glory years of the 1980s. Paired with Paul Coffey, Huddy gave Edmonton 11 great seasons, helping the Oilers to five Stanley Cup victories. The average output per his seasons with the team: 63 games, 10 goals and 43 points. Advertisement Randy Gregg played university hockey in Edmonton for the Alberta Golden Bears, and followed that up by playing for Canada at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. There were rumblings about Gregg signing with an NHL team at that time, but he chose instead to play two seasons in Japan (Kokudo) before signing an NHL deal with Edmonton in time for the 1982 postseason. Gregg was 26 in his first full NHL season, and instantly one of the smartest defencemen in the game. He was part of all five Stanley Cup winners in the 1980s, while also finding time to play for Canada in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Gregg gave the Edmonton defence two-way quality, and per 82 games with the team, averaged seven goals and 33 points. Two-way centre Craig MacTavish's promising career with the Boston Bruins came to an abrupt end when he pled guilty to vehicular homicide in 1984. After serving a year in prison, MacTavish was released by the Bruins, then signed to a free-agent contract by the Oilers. MacTavish quickly established himself as an exceptional checking centre and was an important part of Edmonton's Stanley Cup wins in 1987, 1988 and 1990. He was also instrumental in the New York Rangers' 'Oilers East' Stanley Cup victory in 1994. MacTavish averaged 18 goals and 39 points per 82 games with Edmonton. After his playing career, MacTavish had a successful coaching career with the Oilers (peaking in the 2006 trip to the Stanley Cup Final) and was general manager of the team for a time. There was a time when the Oilers organization could find quality NHL defencemen at an unlit outdoor rink at midnight in a snowstorm. That was the 1980s, when Huddy, Gregg and others appeared as if by magic to help fill holes every fall. Steve Staios gave fans who remember those days some deja vu when he arrived in 2001. After being named captain of the upstart Atlanta Thrashers, Staios played well but was not offered an extension. Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe stepped in during the 2001 offseason and signed him to a value deal. In the seasons that followed, Staios gave Edmonton fans everything he had, including fine two-way play, a rugged edge, and a strong playoff run in the spring of 2006. Staios averaged five goals and 21 points per season. Rem Murray was one of Glen Sather's under-the-radar signings that cashed more often than not when he was GM in Edmonton. A centre with a solid college resume, his drafting team (the Los Angeles Kings) passed on signing him. Murray inked a deal with the Oilers, flew to Cape Breton and scored at will for the AHL Oilers in 1995-96. The following season, he began a seven-year run with Edmonton as a strong two-way centre who often played with some combination of Mike Grier, Ethan Moreau and Todd Marchant. Per 82 games with the club, he averaged 14 goals and 32 points, mostly on the second or third line. Advertisement Corey Perry's time with the Oilers was short and eventful. A fan base that expressed vitriol toward the veteran for 20 years did an about-face when Perry arrived in Edmonton. As maddening as his antics were to witness from the other side, it took very little time for fans to embrace him as a member of the home team. In this way, Perry became the modern version of Ken Linseman, who was reviled as a Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins centre, but loved as an Oilers player. Unlike Linseman, Perry's time with Edmonton did not result in a Stanley Cup, but he won over fans with his skill and guile. On July 1, 2015, it appeared the Oilers had finally adopted analytics and would move forward with an eye to underlying numbers and their predictive value. Sekera was a darling of the fancy stats community and had a range of skills that included puck-moving ability and creativity with the puck. His Oilers career peaked in 2016-17, when he helped a young upstart bunch to the second round of the playoffs. An injury against the Anaheim Ducks that spring derailed the promise and ended a strong run. He averaged five goals and 29 points per 82 games with the team. The pinnacle of general manager Steve Tambellini's career with Edmonton may well have been the signing of college defenceman Justin Schultz. A gifted and mobile defender, he arrived with much fanfare when the then-lowly Oilers procured Schultz from Wisconsin (NCAA). Schultz immediately flourished offensively, but the organization was not mature enough to handle a young defenceman like Schultz. Oilers coaches thrust Schultz into difficult waters, and he was unable to handle the transition from college to pro defensively. After being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins, he found his game and helped them to Stanley Cup victories in 2016 and 2017. Per 82 games with Edmonton, he scored 9-24-33. It is fitting that the final name on the list is another stealth addition by Sather. Signed after his OHL career with the Niagara Falls Thunder ended in 1994, de Vries took parts of three pro seasons to matriculate from the AHL to the NHL. Once there, he provided the Oilers with solid defensive play that included heavy hits and an enforcer role. He would play just three seasons in Edmonton, but went on to a long career that included a Stanley Cup victory with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001. Oilers fans are satisfied after Day 1 of the 2025 free-agent window. The team lost Perry and Connor Brown and traded Viktor Arvidsson. Adding Mangiapane is a big piece, and there is now room for names like Matt Savoie and David Tomasek. More mistakes are made by NHL general managers on July 1 than at any other time of the year. Stan Bowman stayed late, found a good deal and made the Oilers better. Oilers fans would be delighted if Mangiapane joins the list above in the years to come. (Photo of Corey Perry and Zach Hyman: Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)
