Latest news with #MattVasilogambros
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Two Washington cats infected with bird flu
Cats, either domestic or wild, are especially susceptible to the deadly bird flu virus. (Photo by Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline) Two domestic cats in Washington state have been infected with bird flu after eating raw pet food. The state Department of Agriculture confirmed the virus in both animals based on test results received on Tuesday. Both of the cats had eaten Wild Coast Raw pet food, which was recalled earlier this month due to the potential contamination of the highly pathogenic avian influenza. One of the cats was euthanized due to the severity of illness while the second is being treated by a veterinarian, according to the department. The pet cats belonged to people in King and Snohomish counties. Wild Coast Raw pet food, produced in Olympia, is also linked to deaths of at least five cats in Oregon. For more information on recalls, pet owners can visit the Washington State Department of Agriculture's website. The most recent bird flu outbreak has spread through poultry and dairy cows and sickened some agricultural workers, though the strain is still considered low risk to the general public. Cats are especially susceptible to the virus, which often spreads by migrating birds. Common symptoms include low energy and appetite, fever, hypothermia, pneumonia, and upper respiratory infection. The department encourages people with pets that ate the recalled cat food to bring the animals to a veterinarian immediately. There is no documented case of a human becoming sick after exposure to an infected cat or contaminated food, but those who are around infected animals or who handle raw food are at a greater risk. The department encourages caretakers to wear a mask and wash their hands when around a sick animal. Animals could also be isolated to prevent possible spread. 'This is a difficult situation, we love our pets, and it's devastating when they fall ill,' state field veterinarian Dr. Zac Turner said in a statement. The department is continuing to investigate the situation and urges people against feeding raw pet food or milk to their animals. Department spokesperson Amber Betts said the state is currently investigating three other suspected cases of bird flu in Washington cats, and veterinarians continue to identify possible exposure and test animals as needed.
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Two Oregon cats dead after eating raw pet food made in Washington
Cats, either domestic or wild, are especially susceptible to the deadly bird flu virus. (Photo by Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline) Two more Oregon cats died this month after eating raw cat food that was contaminated with the deadly bird flu virus, prompting Washington state officials to issue a recall. The cats lived in separate households in Multnomah County but both ate the same food produced by Wild Coast Raw in Olympia, Washington, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture. They became so ill that they had to be euthanized within days of each other, state records show. As of Friday, there had not been any reports of cats in Washington affected by the infected pet food, a spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Agriculture said. The owners reported the illnesses and Oregon Department of Agriculture officials collected samples of the food from opened and unopened containers for testing. Tests were conducted by labs in Oregon, Washington state and by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which confirmed that the food was tainted with the same strain that killed the cats. Washington state officials announced a recall of the tainted food on Friday. Pet owners should toss or return any containers of Wild Coast's boneless free-range chicken formula, lots 22660 and 22664, with a best-by date of December 2025. These are the fifth cats known to have died after being infected with the bird flu virus in Oregon, and this is the second case in recent months of a Northwest brand of raw cat food being tainted with the deadly virus. In late December, the Oregon Department of Agriculture said another cat was euthanized after eating raw food from Northwest Naturals, a Portland-based company. Health officials advise pet owners to avoid feeding cats, in particular, raw food of any kind, whether it is frozen or freeze-dried. It takes high heat like that used to produce cooked food to kill the virus. Cats, both domestic and wild, are especially susceptible to the highly pathogenic avian influenza, and dogs can contract it as well, though they appear to be more resilient to the virus. Other animals, especially poultry and dairy cows, have been sickened by bird flu. The disease is often spread by migrating birds. People exposed to the virus in agricultural operations have also become sick, including a poultry worker in Clackamas County. One man in Louisiana, who was elderly and had other health problems died in early January after being infected with the virus. This article was first published by the Oregon Capital Chronicle, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: info@
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Two more Oregon cats die from bird flu virus in raw food
Cats, either domestic or wild, are especially susceptible to the deadly bird flu virus. (Photo by Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline) Two more Oregon cats died this month after eating raw cat food that was contaminated with the deadly bird flu virus, prompting Washington state officials to issue a recall. The cats lived in separate households in Multnomah County but both ate the same food produced by Wild Coast Raw in Olympia, Washington, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture. They became so ill that they had to be euthanized within days of each other, state records show. The owners reported the illnesses and Oregon Department of Agriculture officials collected samples of the food from opened and unopened containers for testing. Tests were conducted by labs in Oregon, Washington state and by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which confirmed that the food was tainted with the same strain that killed the cats. Washington state officials announced a recall of the tainted food on Friday. Pet owners should toss or return any containers of Wild Coast's boneless free range chicken formula, lots 22660 and 22664, with a best by date of December 2025. These are the fifth cats known to have become infected with the bird flu virus that died in Oregon, and this is the second case in recent months that a Northwest brand of raw cat food has been tainted with the deadly virus. In late December, the Oregon Department of Agriculture said another cat was euthanized after eating raw food from Northwest Naturals, a Portland-based company. Health officials advise pet owners to avoid feeding cats, in particular, raw food of any kind, whether it is frozen or freeze-dried. It takes high heat like that used to produce cooked food to kill the virus. Cats, both domestic and wild, are especially susceptible to the highly pathogenic avian influenza, and dogs can contract it as well, though they appear to be more resilient to the virus. Other animals, especially poultry and dairy cows, have been sickened by bird flu. The disease is often spread by migrating birds. People exposed to the virus in agricultural operations have also become sick, including a poultry worker in Clackamas County. One man in Louisiana, who was elderly and had other health problems died in early January after being infected with the virus. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Gulf Today
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
States have few tools to fight misinformation
Matt Vasilogambros, Tribune News Service As deadly wildfires raged in Los Angeles this month, local officials were forced to address a slew of lies and falsehoods spreading quickly online. From artificial intelligence-generated images of the famous Hollywood sign surrounded by fire to baseless rumors that firefighters were using women's handbags full of water to douse the flames, misinformation has been rampant. While officials in Southern California fought fire and falsehoods, Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — announced it would eliminate its fact-checking programme in the name of free expression. That has some wondering what, if anything, state governments can do to stop the spread of harmful lies and rumors that proliferate on social media. Emergency first responders are now experiencing what election officials have had to contend with in recent years, as falsehoods about election fraud — stemming from President Donald Trump's refusal to acknowledge his 2020 loss — have proliferated. One California law, which passed along party lines last year, requires online platforms to remove posts with deceptive or fake, AI-generated content related to the state's elections within 72 hours of a user's complaint. The measure allows California politicians and election officials harmed by the content to sue social media companies and force compliance. However, federal statute protects social media companies broadly from lawsuits, shielding them from being found liable for content. 'Meta's recent announcement that they were going to follow the X model of relying on a community forum rather than experts goes to show why the bill was needed and why voluntary commitments are not sufficient,' Democratic Assemblymember Marc Berman, who introduced the measure, wrote Stateline in an email. X, the company formerly known as Twitter, sued California in November over the measure, likening the law to state-sponsored censorship. 'Rather than allow covered platforms to make their own decisions about moderation of the content at issue here, it authorizes the government to substitute its judgment for those of the platforms,' the company wrote in the suit. The law clearly violates the First Amendment, the suit argues. Further hearings on the lawsuit are likely to come this summer. Berman said he's confident the law will prevail in the courts since it's narrowly tailored to protect the integrity of elections. California's measure was the first of its kind in the nation. Depending on how it plays out in the courts, it could inspire legislation in other states, Berman said. The spread of misinformation about the Los Angeles fires, bolstered by algorithms that boost divisive content, shows how social media companies cannot and are not handling this 'crisis moment,' said Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause, a pro-democracy advocacy organization. States need to do more, he said. 'You're not getting information from fire agencies or from the local authorities unless the social media companies ensure that you do,' he said in an interview. 'And, unfortunately, the social media companies not only aren't doing it, they're actively working to make it harder for government to do anything about online mis- and disinformation.' The two words are sometimes used interchangeably, but 'misinformation' applies to false and misleading information, while 'disinformation' refers to falsehoods that are spread deliberately by people who know the information is inaccurate. California Common Cause and its California Initiative for Technology and Democracy project helped craft Berman's bill and are working to promote similar state legislation around the country. Misinformation laws in other states have been far more limited. In Colorado, for example, Democratic lawmakers last year passed legislation that requires the attorney general to develop statewide resources and education initiatives aimed at preventing the spread of online misinformation. But it doesn't target social media companies. In July, the US Supreme Court put on hold laws in Florida and Texas that would have prevented social media companies from banning or restricting content from politicians. Social media companies argued those laws violated their First Amendment protections. The laws were a response to what Republican state lawmakers saw as anti-conservative bias in social media companies, especially after Trump was banned from Twitter and Facebook in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. The justices unanimously agreed that the legal issues need further study in lower courts.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A big step forward in New Hampshire's efforts to reduce food waste
Food waste makes up about a quarter of the general trash that New Hampshire businesses and homes produce. (Photo by Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline) Next month, New Hampshire launches a new law to cut food waste, and in the process eventually save landfill space and reduce the methane gas emissions that drive climate change. Other potential upsides of the Feb. 1 start for the food waste law? New sources of healthy food for pantries and shelters, fertilizer for farms, and jobs transporting, processing, and marketing the food that once just got trucked and dumped. Under the new law, similar to those in neighboring states, facilities that create more than a ton of food waste a week will redirect that waste from landfills and incinerators to alternative management facilities that either recover edible food to feed people and animals, or use composting or anaerobic digestion to process wasted food into useable byproducts. Hospitals, colleges, restaurants, correctional facilities, stadiums, convention centers, large hotels, and big-box grocery stores are all likely contributors on the ton-a-week-plus side, but no producer of food waste will be required to transport that waste unless a management facility with adequate capacity is within 20 miles. The law came out of the state's Solid Waste Working Group headed by Rep. Karen Ebel, a New London Democrat, as a key part of the state goal to reduce disposal of solid waste tonnage by 25% by 2030 and 45% by 2050. New Hampshire's Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) is now seeking proposals for a consultant, to be hired with the approval of the governor and Executive Council, to help determine who exactly is affected by the new law, and begin working out logistics for education, transportation, and diversion. Even a small dent in the amount of food waste dumped in landfills makes a big difference: Food waste makes up about a quarter of the general trash that New Hampshire businesses and homes produce. In 2023, New Hampshire dumped roughly 171,785 tons of food waste, according to estimates from Michael Nork of the NHDES Solid Waste Management Bureau. In Vermont, a similar law has decreased food waste in landfills by 13%. In Massachusetts, with the most successful program in the country, one study indicated a 13.2% reduction in all landfill waste because of the law, and a 25% reduction in methane emissions. 'As New Hampshire develops a network of food waste management facilities within easy reach of the larger producers, we hope not only that landfill space will be saved and methane emissions will be reduced, but that the cost of transporting food waste from producers to management facilities will drop, saving businesses money,' said Nork of NHDES. New England's largest grocery store chain is already operating an effective food waste diversion program across all six states. Hannaford no longer takes any food waste from its 183 stores to a landfill – decreasing landfill disposal by 65 million pounds in 2020 alone. One boost to help food waste generators and management facilities divert food waste from landfill disposal is a $500,000 grant program appropriated by the New Hampshire Legislature. Grant funds will help with implementation of the law by providing financial assistance to increase infrastructure capacity for those who want to explore transportation operations or create or expand composting and digester sites. Jennifer Mitchell of NHDES, who is managing the implementation and operation of the new law, said money from that grant could be available to help manage food waste by deferring costs associated with compliance of the ban. For example, potential use of the funds could go toward the purchase of a new truck for a food bank that wants to increase mobile food distribution capacity. NHDES will need to develop rules to establish this new grant program, and intends to hold listening sessions over the coming year to help inform that process. As composting sites and digesters ramp up, and food pantry transportation replaces landfill dumping of good food, food waste producers should see not only a dramatically better outcome for their leftovers, but the potential reduction in costs from the current $100 a ton they pay to simply 'waste' food that has far better uses. To her great credit, Gov. Kelly Ayotte has made clear her strong opposition to a proposed new mega-landfill in New Hampshire's North Country. This is great news for finally getting New Hampshire off the never-ending treadmill of landfill expansions. The launch of New Hampshire's new food-waste law will play an essential role in pivoting the Granite State away from its historic focus on waste disposal to a new, more sustainable focus on waste reduction. Our communities, environment, and economy will all benefit.
