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Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Stop the clock': GOP, Dems come together to end Daylight Saving over health, economic risks
In 1957, rockabilly singer Bob Ehret repeated, "We've got to stop the clock, baby; to spend more time with you" — and in a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle strongly considered the benefits of doing so, in a way. Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Daylight Saving was grounded in good-faith efforts to reduce energy consumption, but that instead it has led to increased auto accidents in the dark, workplace issues and objections from the agriculture sector that relies on early-morning sunlight. "We find ourselves adjusting our clocks… springing forward and falling back in the fall. For many Americans, this biannual ritual is a minor inconvenience… But when we take a closer look at the implications of changing the clocks, its impact on our economy, our health and our everyday lives, we can see that this practice is more than an annoyance," Cruz said. "The idea was simple. Fewer hours of darkness meant less electricity consumption for lighting and heating." Trump's Daylight Savings Plan However, unlike the early 1900s, when the U.S. economy was heavily reliant on energy consumption tied to daylight hours, today's effects from sunrise and sunset timings are "de minimis," he said. Read On The Fox News App Cruz, along with Massachusetts neurology physician Dr. Karin Johnson, spoke about the health concerns associated with changing the time twice a year and with the permanence of Daylight Saving Time (DST), versus Standard Time. "Research has shown that the abrupt shift in time, especially the spring transition when we lose an hour of sleep," Cruz said, as Johnson spoke about the effects on people's circadian rhythm, vascular system and sleep deprivation. The panel also hosted an official from the National Golf Course Owners Association, as he and other lawmakers spoke of the increased revenue from evening tee times and other tourist activities only possible during daylight hours. On the Democratic side, Sen. Lisa Blunt-Rochester of Delaware agreed that it was time to consider a "permanent time for our country." She noted a bill from then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to abolish DST stalled in the House. "This body [then] took a harder look at how time changes work state-by-state," she said. "What works in my home state of Delaware may not work in Washington state, but I know I speak for many Americans when I say it's time. It's time to figure this out." 'I Can't Sleep Because Of Racing Thoughts At Night — How Can I Stop Them?': Ask A Doctor Witnesses to the hearing noted that it is indeed southern states like Florida and Texas where the negative effects of a permanent Daylight Saving Time would be most felt. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., spoke about his work shifting Daylight Saving Time twice to help assuage some of the issues that were brought up each time, including better guaranteeing trick-or-treating happens at worst at dusk. Markey quipped that his decades-long work on this issue earned him the nickname "the Sun King." "We need to stop the clock," Blunt-Rochester said. "We know that changing the clock disrupts sleep, which can lead to negative health outcomes. Several studies have noted issues with mood disturbances increase hospital admissions, and even heart attacks and strokes." Lock the Clock movement founder Scott Yates testified about the flawed history of DST, noting a time during the 1970s energy crisis that the Nixon administration briefly made DST permanent. Nixon signed the law in December 1973 while embroiled in Watergate — but it took effect the first week the following year — Jan. 6, 1974. "So you can imagine, the worst Monday of the year already is the one after the holiday break where you have to go back to school and everything — to have an extra hour of sleep robbed away right before that. You can understand why it was so unpopular and why it was repealed," Yates said, noting that months later, Nixon resigned. The burglary by the "Plumbers" at the Watergate Hotel also notably occurred during nighttime hours. "So maybe — if we had more daylight, the Watergate break-in doesn't happen," Cruz quipped in response. "And history would be different."Original article source: 'Stop the clock': GOP, Dems come together to end Daylight Saving over health, economic risks
Fox News
10-04-2025
- Health
- Fox News
'Stop the clock': GOP, Dems come together to end Daylight Saving over health, economic risks
In 1957, Rockabilly singer Bob Ehret repeated, "We've got to stop the clock, baby; to spend more time with you" – and in a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle strongly considered the benefits of doing so, in a way. Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Daylight Saving was grounded in good-faith efforts to reduce energy consumption, but that instead it has led to increased auto accidents in the dark, workplace issues, and objections from the agriculture sector that relies on early-morning sunlight. "We find ourselves adjusting our clocks… springing forward and falling back in the fall. For many Americans, this biannual ritual is a minor inconvenience… But when we take a closer look at the implications of changing the clocks, its impact on our economy, our health and our everyday lives, we can see that this practice is more than an annoyance," Cruz said. "The idea was simple. Fewer hours of darkness meant less electricity consumption for lighting and heating." However, unlike the early 1900s, when the U.S. economy was heavily reliant on energy consumption tied to daylight hours, today's effects from sunrise and sunset timings are "de minimis," he said. Cruz, along with Massachusetts neurology physician Dr. Karin Johnson, spoke about the health concerns associated with changing the time twice a year and with the permanence of Daylight Saving Time, versus Standard Time. "Research has shown that the abrupt shift in time, especially the spring transition when we lose an hour of sleep," Cruz said, as Johnson spoke about the effects on people's circadian rhythm, vascular system and sleep deprivation. The panel also hosted an official from the National Golf Course Owners Association, as he and other lawmakers spoke of the increased revenue from evening tee times and other tourist activities only possible during daylight hours. On the Democratic side, Sen. Lisa Blunt-Rochester of Delaware agreed that it was time to consider a "permanent time for our country." She noted a bill from then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to abolish DST stalled in the House. "This body [then] took a harder look at how time changes work state-by-state," she said. "What works in my home state of Delaware may not work in Washington state, but I know I speak for many Americans when I say it's time. It's time to figure this out." Witnesses to the hearing noted that it is indeed southern states like Florida and Texas where the negative effects of a permanent Daylight Saving Time would be most felt. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., spoke about his work shifting Daylight Saving Time twice to help assuage some of the issues that were brought up each time, including better guaranteeing trick-or-treating happens at worst at dusk. Markey quipped that his decades-long work on this issue earned him the nickname "the Sun King." "We need to stop the clock," Blunt-Rochester said. "We know that changing the clock disrupts sleep, which can lead to negative health outcomes. Several studies have noted issues with mood disturbances increase hospital admissions, and even heart attacks and strokes." Lock The Clock movement founder Scott Yates testified about the flawed history of DST, noting a time during the 1970s energy crisis that the Nixon administration briefly made DST permanent. Nixon signed the law in December 1973 while embroiled in Watergate – but it took effect the first week the following year – Jan. 6, 1974. "So you can imagine, the worst Monday of the year already is the one after the holiday break where you have to go back to school and everything – to have an extra hour of sleep robbed away right before that. You can understand why it was so unpopular and why it was repealed," Yates said, noting that months later, Nixon resigned. The burglary by the "Plumbers" at the Watergate Hotel also notably occurred during nighttime hours. "So maybe – if we had more daylight, the Watergate break-in doesn't happen," Cruz quipped in response. "And history would be different."
USA Today
09-03-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
What could potential change to Daylight Saving Time mean to the golf industry?
What could potential change to Daylight Saving Time mean to the golf industry? With the clocks 'springing forward' on Sunday in nearly all the U.S., there is growing speculation about what potential changes to Daylight Saving Time could mean for the golf industry. Is it time to 'lock the clock?' It's a hot-button subject that even President Donald Trump has weighed in on and one that the National Golf Course Owners Association has been debating internally. Daylight Saving Time (DST) - putting the clocks forward one hour during the summer half of the year to make the most of the longer evenings - has been in place since the 1960s, but proponents have pushed to make it year-round. In March 2022, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to make daylight saving time permanent via the Sunshine Protection Act, but the effort stalled in the House of Representatives after lawmakers said they could not reach consensus. Lawmakers who have expressed support for the bill argue changing the clock twice a year is antiquated and an inconvenient disruption. A bipartisan group of 16 senators led by Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida in January made a new push to make daylight saving time permanent but Congress has held no hearings. Trump previously hinted at doing away with the custom. In December, he posted on his social media site, Truth Social, that Daylight Saving Time is 'inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.' Critics say it would force children to walk to school in darkness, since the measure would mean experiencing sunrise an hour later. But when reporters broached the subject with Trump this week, he backtracked, saying, 'This should be the easiest one of all, but it's a 50-50 issue. If something's a 50-50 issue, it's hard to get excited about it. I assumed people would like to have more light later. But some people want to have more light earlier because they don't want to take their kids to school in the dark." Changing the clock twice a year is more than simply an annoyance; it's a law that has economic implications. It could increase the number of golf playable hours by aligning the sun better with the hours that people like to play golf. Making Daylight Saving Time permanent has become a polarizing topic for many and one worthy of NGCOA CEO Jay Karen surveying his membership. 'My first line of duty here is to do no harm, the Hippocratic oath,' Karen said in a phone interview with Golfweek. 'I'm afraid Daylight Saving Time being permanent could harm some in our industry while helping many others. That's why we haven't landed on a position as an industry.' But the NGCOA's findings suggest that a majority of its membership favor making Daylight's Saving Time permanent. As Karen notes, most revenue happens after 12 p.m., even though weekend tee times are popular. 'If we allow for more sunlight in the winter months, it opens up more golf playable hours, too,' he said. He estimates the survey, which concluded on Friday, represented about 400 golf courses. The NCGOA found that roughly 66 percent of its members are in favor of DST, 25 percent prefer the status quo, and six percent want Standard Daylight Time. (A few were undecided.) To those in favor of locking the clock, the change sounds elementary. 'If Daylight Saving Time was made permanent, the seasonal businesses that make their hay in the summer would secure their future and can count on the leagues that play until 8-9 p.m.,' Karen said. Still, there are some that want the status quo, an if it ain't broke, don't fix it philosophy. A few believe it would be damaging for business because they have a lot of senior groups and women's leagues that take place in the early morning, which could be impacted. Karen said the survey results would be used to determine the NGCOA's position — and only its position — and whether it advocates for a possible change. Other sectors of the industry, such as the Club Managers Association, PGA of America and Golf Course Superintendents may have their own views on DST. More darkness in the morning during the winter months, for instance, could impact maintenance schedules for superintendents. It's just another example that underscores the complexity of the issue. And with the clocks ticking to another change on Sunday — you're welcome for one final reminder to spring forward — it sure is a timely topic that continues to make headlines.
USA Today
28-01-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Tom Watson gets emotional recounting final round with his dad
Tom Watson gets emotional recounting final round with his dad Show Caption Hide Caption Tom Watson says what helped him win the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Tom Watson tells a story about what helped him win the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Tom Watson was on the verge of tears. On Wednesday, the 75-year-old eight-time major champion attended the PGA Show in Orlando and was honored by the National Golf Course Owners Association with its Merit Award, the association's highest honor. He participated in an hour-long fire side chat with NGCOA CEO Jay Karen and touched on some of the highs and lows of his career, sprinkling in a few swing tips with advice on the business of the game that attendees could bring home to their clubs. But it was during the tail end of the session when Karen opened the questioning to members of the audience that one attendee asked what seemed like an innocuous question that struck a chord with Watson. 'What's your favorite memory you have about the game of golf whether it's playing or anything else that you can share with this room?' Watson went silent for 10 seconds. 'Excuse me,' he finally said. Another 10 seconds of silence in the room as Watson tried to control his emotions. 'It was the last time I played with my dad,' he began. 'I'll tell you the story.' Raymond Watson was a retired insurance salesman and former club champion at Kansas City (Mo.) Country Club, who stuck a cut-down, hickory-shafted 5-iron in his son's hands in 1955 at age six and immediately taught him the correct grip and stance. A scratch handicap player, Raymond died of a heart attack in 2000 at age 80 while in Hawaii to watch his son compete in a PGA Tour Champions event. 'My dad had a stroke when he was 78 years old but he loved to play. He'd go out in those 38-degree days with a stocking cap on, gloves and his long handles and corduroy pants and he'd go out with six clubs in a little bag and he'd walk around the golf courses and play nine holes,' Watson said. 'I'd always ask, 'What did you shoot, dad?' He'd say, 'Ah, I shot a newspaper 50.' 'Newspaper means to guess what you'd shot when you picked up. I gave myself a 7. I kept asking, 'What did you shoot?' He'd say, 'A newspaper 94.' Before he had a stroke he shot in the upper 70s, shooting his age at 78 years old. We'd go up to Michigan by Long Lake. We would spend 2-3 weeks up there every summer. His favorite course up there was Belvedere Golf Club in Charlevoix, beautiful (Willie) Watson course up there. And we're up there, this is 1999. The last round of golf we played in that trip was Belvedere. We got to the first tee and I said, 'All right, dad, here's the deal: No pick ups today.' The reason I said that was he hadn't broken 90 since the stroke. He got off to a great start. He was 3-over-par after 8. He's got this wired. Nine, he makes a double bogey, damn, but still, he's out in 41.' Watson figured his dad could make 48 on the back side, no problem, but then he started making some double bogeys on the way to the house. 'We get to the last hole and he needs to make a bogey to shoot 89,' Watson continued. 'He hits a perfect drive, just smokes it out there. But the second shot, the stroke got him. He had a right-hand problem and he lost the club and the ball hit off the toe of this hybrid and went straight right and underneath a tree in fescue rough and bare dirt. Oh, shoot! 'I didn't have the heart to go over there. He took some club out and I'll never forget his last swing, whoosh, he couldn't take a full swing because of a tree limb that stopped his follow through but there's dust and the ball comes rocketing out and lands about 20 yards short of the green and rolls up like this (hands held close together). He's got it! I'm walking up there and I contemplated giving him the putt but knowing my father I knew he wouldn't accept it. I made him putt it and he missed it.' But Raymond Watson still finished with a bogey for 89 and broke 90 for the first time since suffering a stroke. 'Walking off the green, he probably reacted just how I would've reacted,' Tom said. 'Dad, you know what you shot? Yeah, son, I know what I shot. He was pissed that he missed that short putt. That was the last round of golf I ever played with my dad.' Watson's favorite memory involving golf had nothing to do with any of his greatest accomplishments but rather a round with his dad, the man who introduced him to the game. And everyone in that room at the Orange County Convention Center that hung on Watson's every word at the NGCOA conference closing luncheon will never forget the Hall of Famer's emotional response to a softball, open-ended question.
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tom Watson gets emotional recounting final round with his dad
Tom Watson was on the verge of tears. On Wednesday, the 75-year-old eight-time major champion attended the PGA Show in Orlando and was honored by the National Golf Course Owners Association with its Merit Award, the association's highest honor. He participated in an hour-long fire side chat with NGCOA CEO Jay Karen and touched on some of the highs and lows of his career, sprinkling in a few swing tips with advice on the business of the game that attendees could bring home to their clubs. But it was during the tail end of the session when Karen opened the questioning to members of the audience that one attendee asked what seemed like an innocuous question that struck a chord with Watson. 'What's your favorite memory you have about the game of golf whether it's playing or anything else that you can share with this room?' Watson went silent for 10 seconds. 'Excuse me,' he finally said. Another 10 seconds of silence in the room as Watson tried to control his emotions. 'It was the last time I played with my dad,' he began. 'I'll tell you the story.' Raymond Watson was a retired insurance salesman and former club champion at Kansas City (Mo.) Country Club, who stuck a cut-down, hickory-shafted 5 iron in his son's hands in 1955 at age six and immediately taught him the correct grip and stance. A scratch handicap player, Raymond died of a heart attack in 2000 at age 80 while in Hawaii to watch his son compete in a PGA Tour Champions event. 'My dad had a stroke when he was 78 years old but he loved to play. He'd go out in those 38-degree days with a stocking cap on, gloves and his long handles and corduroy pants and he'd go out with six clubs in a little bag and he'd walk around the golf courses and play nine holes,' Watson said. 'I'd always ask, 'What did you shoot, dad?' He'd say, 'Ah, I shot a newspaper 50.' 'Newspaper means to guess what you'd shot when you picked up. I gave myself a 7. I kept asking, 'What did you shoot?' He'd say, 'A newspaper 94.' Before he had a stroke he shot in the upper 70s, shooting his age at 78 years old. We'd go up to Michigan by Long Lake. We would spend 2-3 weeks up there every summer. His favorite course up there was Belvedere Golf Club in Charlevoix, beautiful (Willie) Watson course up there. And we're up there, this is 1999. The last round of golf we played in that trip was Belvedere. We got to the first tee and I said, 'All right, dad, here's the deal: No pick ups today.' The reason I said that was he hadn't broken 90 since the stroke. He got off to a great start. He was 3 over par after 8. He's got this wired. Nine, he makes a double bogey, damn, but still, he's out in 41.' Watson figured his dad could make 48 on the back side, no problem, but then he started making some double bogeys on the way to the house. 'We get to the last hole and he needs to make a bogey to shoot 89,' Watson continued. 'He hits a perfect drive, just smokes it out there. But the second shot, the stroke got him. He had a right-hand problem and he lost the club and the ball hit off the toe of this hybrid and went straight right and underneath a tree in fescue rough and bare dirt. Oh, shoot! 'I didn't have the heart to go over there. He took some club out and I'll never forget his last swing, whoosh, he couldn't take a full swing because of a tree limb that stopped his follow through but there's dust and the ball comes rocketing out and lands about 20 yards short of the green and rolls up like this (hands held close together). He's got it! I'm walking up there and I contemplated giving him the putt but knowing my father I knew he wouldn't accept it. I made him putt it and he missed it.' But Raymond Watson still finished with a bogey for 89 and broke 90 for the first time since suffering a stroke. 'Walking off the green, he probably reacted just how I would've reacted,' Tom said. 'Dad, you know what you shot? Yeah, son, I know what I shot. He was pissed that he missed that short putt. That was the last round of golf I ever played with my dad.' Watson's favorite memory involving golf had nothing to do with any of his greatest accomplishments but rather a round with his dad, the man who introduced him to the game. And everyone in that room at the Orange County Convention Center that hung on Watson's every word at the NGCOA conference closing luncheon will never forget the Hall of Famer's emotional response to a softball, open-ended question. This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Watson tells the story of the final time he teed it up with his dad
