A painting stolen from an Italian museum is found in England, but its new owner wants to keep it

• March 11, 2025

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — A 16th-century painting stolen more than 50 years ago has been found — and is now at the center of a custody battle between a widow in England and a small Italian museum.

“Madonna and Child” by Antonio Solario was taken in 1973 from the civic museum in the town of Belluno in the Dolomite mountains of northern Italy. Sometime later it was bought by Baron de Dozsa and taken to his Tudor manor house in eastern England, according to Christopher Marinello, a lawyer who specializes in recovering stolen and looted artworks.

It is now in the possession of Barbara de Dozsa, the late baron’s ex-wife, though it remains on the database of stolen art maintained by the international police organization Interpol.

Marinello has vowed to return the painting to Belluno, where his family has roots.

“I have a family connection to this region, and I decided I was going to stick my 2 cents’ in and interfere,” said Marinello, whose company Art Recovery International has helped track down works by artists including Henri Matisse and Henry Moore and return them to their rightful owners.

But in this quest, he has so far been frustrated. Marinello said Tuesday that de Dozsa has declined to give up the painting, despite telling him “she never really liked it.”

“She doesn’t hang it – it reminds her of her ex-husband,” he said.

De Dozsa did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

Marinello said the painting’s rediscovery began when Barbara de Dozsa tried to sell it through an auction house in England a few years ago, and it was recognized as a stolen artwork.

The local police force, Norfolk Constabulary, was called in but eventually returned the painting to de Dozsa.

The force told the AP it had been advised by U.K. judicial authorities to give the artwork back because “several years have passed and there has been no response from Italian authorities in relation to the investigation.”

Norfolk police said they are not currently investigating the case.

Paintings by Solario, who worked across Italy in the early 16th century, have sold at auction for several hundred thousand dollars. Marinello said the “Madonna and Child” is probably worth less than $128,000.

“It’s not a Rembrandt,” he said, but added: “It has a value beyond its monetary value.

“Solario was from the area so it’s very important to the people of Belluno.”

​ Orange County Register 

State Farm executive fired after disparaging L.A. wildfires and victims

• March 11, 2025

A State Farm executive was fired after he was secretly recorded saying the company was “kind of” orchestrating a rate hike for California policyholders following January’s firestorms in Los Angeles County.

Haden Kirkpatrick, State Farm Mutual’s vice president for innovation and venture capital, was recorded in a video published on YouTube by O’Keefe Media Group saying the company manipulated its 22% emergency rate increase requested to cover losses from the catastrophe, “but not in the way you would think.”

A State Farm spokesman confirmed Kirkpatrick was terminated and said his statements in the March 6 video were false.

“These assertions are inaccurate and in no way represent the views of State Farm. They do not reflect our position regarding the victims of this tragedy, the commitment we have demonstrated to the people of California, or our hiring practices across the company,” spokesman Sevag Sarkissian said in a statement.

In the video, Kirkpatrick made unflattering remarks about wildfire victims in January’s devastating wildfires in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena. The conflagrations fueled by 100 mph Santa Ana winds killed 29 people, destroyed more than 12,000 homes and burned at least 57,000 acres.

Also see: State Farm Says LA wildfire losses total $7.6 billion

Kirkpatrick, who began working with State Farm in February 2021, couldn’t be reached for comment via his LinkedIn profile.

O’Keefe Media used a hidden camera planted on one of its employees to capture Kirkpatrick discussing “the company’s planned exit from the state’s insurance market,” and his “explicit hiring biases.”

Kirkpatrick used coarse language to criticize California residents, saying, “People want to build in areas where they want to have, like, natural areas around them for their ego. But it’s also a f*ing desert. And so, it dries out as a tinderbox.”

He also acknowledged that wildfires in these areas are not surprising to insurance professionals. “Climate change is pushing these seasons. If you’re an insurance professional, it’s predictable,” he says.

Kirkpatrick also says in the video that State Farm’s decision to pull out of the California insurance market was a calculated move in response to financial concerns and state regulations.

“Our people look at this and say, ‘Sh*t, we’ve got, like, maybe $5 billion that we’re short if something happens,” he continues. “We’ll go to the Department of Insurance and say, ‘We’re overexposed here, you have to let us catch up our rate.’ And they’ll say, ‘Nah.’ And we’ll say, ‘Okay, then we are going to cancel these policies.’ ”

A spokesman with the California Department of Insurance was not immediately available to comment.

On Saturday, State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said that he expects to make a decision soon on State Farm’s emergency rate hike request. That decision, he said, could see the insurer shoulder a portion of the financial responsibility to cover losses from the historic Los Angeles County firestorms.

State Farm executives said at a Feb. 26 meeting with Lara that it needs the 22% emergency rate hike in California to cover more than $7.9 billion in losses. Lara initially rejected the request, saying in a Feb. 14, letter to State Farm executives that he needed more information before he can approve an increase.

According to the O’Keefe Media video, Kirkpatrick didn’t shy away from discussing his explicit effort to reshape State Farm’s workforce demographics, acknowledging his personal bias in hiring practices.

“I task my HR team, finding me … the perfect profile of the workforce of the future,” Kirkpatrick says. “I want the 2040 workforce. So, go find me the demographic profile of America in 2040: more Hispanic and Latinos.”

O’Keefe Media is an activist group that uses information gathering techniques to attack mainstream media organizations and progressive groups. The company and its “Project Veritas” have produced undercover audio and video encounters that claim to show abusive or illegal behavior.

A spokesman with O’Keefe Media wasn’t immediately available to comment on who recorded the video or where the recording took place.

​ Orange County Register 

Income-driven repayment applications shut down, student loan borrowers left in the dark

• March 11, 2025

By Eliza Haverstock, NerdWallet

The U.S. Education Department took down the online and paper applications for all income-driven repayment (IDR) plans on Feb. 21, following the latest legal ruling in a lawsuit against the new IDR plan, Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE).

“A federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction preventing the U.S. Department of Education from implementing the SAVE Plan and parts of other income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. The Department is reviewing repayment applications to conform with the 8th Circuit’s ruling. As a result, the IDR and online loan consolidation applications are currently unavailable,” an Education Department spokesperson said.

That means borrowers cannot currently apply for SAVE or any of the other three IDR plans: Paye as You Earn (PAYE), Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) or Income-Based Repayment (IBR).

The online IDR application was previously unavailable last year from July through September. Paper IDR applications remained as a workaround then, though there were processing delays.

“The risk of harm to borrowers is much higher this time,” says Abby Shafroth, co-director of advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center. The temporary student loan “on ramp” that kept borrowers who missed payments from going into delinquency or default ended on Sept. 30, so borrowers who can’t afford standard payments but are blocked from applying for an IDR plan may now be unfairly penalized, she says.

Here’s who is affected by the IDR application suspension and what options you have.

Borrowers who need to recertify their income for IDR plans

Borrowers on all IDR plans must recertify their income each year — which must be done through the general IDR application. They can’t do so right now.

As a result, some borrowers on IDR plans could be penalized through no fault of their own. Borrowers who miss their recertification deadline risk getting kicked out of their IDR plan and could see their balance balloon with capitalized interest, Shafroth says. (Interest capitalizes when you leave the IBR plan.)

Borrowers with at least one loan in the SAVE plan don’t have to worry about this yet: Their recertification deadlines were previously moved out to at least February 2026, according to the latest Education Department guidance.

Student loan servicers are waiting on the Education Department to provide guidance on recertification for the other three IDR plans, says Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance. However, he expects recertification deadlines to be pushed back for all IDR borrowers.

In the meantime, servicers will work with borrowers who have looming certification deadlines to help them avoid getting penalized, Buchanan says.

“If [borrowers] have a recertification date that is coming up, reach out to the servicer and say, ‘hey, what can I do here?’ Because that’s changing day by day,” Buchanan says. Servicers will contact borrowers once they get government guidance about IBR, ICR and PAYE recertification deadlines, so keep an eye on your inbox, he says.

What you can do

• Call your servicer and check that your contact information is up to date. Ask about your options for recertification if you have an upcoming deadline.
• Wait until more information comes out. In the past, the Education Department has suspended recertification deadlines during periods of uncertainty.

Recent graduates who want to enroll in an IDR plan

Borrowers who just graduated or left college last spring recently entered student loan repayment. Usually, they’d have their choice of student loan repayment plans, including an IDR plan that would cap monthly payments at a certain percentage of discretionary income.

Instead, borrowers must now choose between the default standard 10-year plan, the graduated plan or the extended plan. Payments on these plans can be much higher than IDR payments, especially for recent grads who are still job-seeking or earning an entry-level salary.

What you can do

• Estimate your payments. Use the Education Department’s loan simulator to gauge what your monthly payments could be under the three non-IDR plans: standard, extended and graduated repayment.
• Keep an eye on IDR application news. Apply for an IDR plan when they reopen.
• Ask your servicer for guidance. You can ask for a plan with the lowest monthly payments.
• Consider a deferment. If you don’t have a job yet, you can pause payments with unemployment deferment — but interest will build, increasing the overall amount you owe. 

Borrowers who need lower payments

In the past, borrowers who had unaffordable payments relative to their incomes could switch from the standard 10-year repayment plan to an IDR plan to get lower monthly payments — as low as $0 if they earned a small enough income or lost their job.

“If none of the IDR plans are available, then that safety net is removed, which could potentially lead the borrower to head down the path of delinquency and default,” says Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

Now, struggling borrowers can only turn to deferments or forbearances to get relief from unmanageable payments. In most cases, interest will build during these pauses, increasing the amount borrowers owe in the future.

“These are temporary stopgaps,” McCarthy says. “They’re not long-term plans. It’s not a repayment plan like the income-driven repayment plans are.”

What you can do:

• Pause payments with a deferment or forbearance. Interest may build, increasing the amount you’ll pay overall, but you won’t default on your debt. A deferment is usually a better choice than a forbearance, because interest is less likely to build, but you’ll need to meet specific conditions to qualify.
• Avoid falling behind on payments. If you simply don’t pay your federal student loans, you could face delinquency or default, which can hurt your credit score and devastate many aspects of your financial life. Request a forbearance or deferment first.

Borrowers who want to consolidate their student loans

Borrowers can still submit paper consolidation applications, but servicers aren’t allowed to process them right now, says Buchanan.

Consolidation allows you to replace multiple federal student loans with a single federal student loan. It’s different from refinancing, which replaces one or more student loans with a single private student loan. If you have older federal loans, like FFELP loans, you must consolidate them before you can access IDR plans or Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

However, even though you can apply for consolidation right now doesn’t mean you should. Shafroth suggests borrowers hold off on consolidating until we know whether the Education Department will continue to protect borrowers who consolidate from losing all previous credit they earned toward IDR forgiveness.

What you can do

• Wait until there’s more information. Since you can’t enroll in IDR anyway right now, you may consider waiting until the Education Department clarifies its position about counting pre-consolidation payments toward PSLF and IDR forgiveness.
• Submit a paper consolidation application, if you need to. Print and fill out the PDF version of the consolidation application and mail it directly to your servicer. Expect processing delays.

SAVE borrowers who want PSLF credit

Borrowers on the SAVE plan have been in an interest-free payment pause since the summer, when lawsuits first blocked the plan. Though these SAVE borrowers are getting a break from student loan bills, they also aren’t making progress toward PSLF, which forgives a borrower’s remaining student debt after they spend 10 years working for a qualifying nonprofit employer.

In recent months, SAVE borrowers were able to earn PSLF credit again by switching to a different IDR plan, like PAYE, IBR or ICR. But they no longer have that option.

What you can do

• Switch to the standard repayment plan. Months spent on the standard repayment plan count towards PSLF, but your payments could be much higher than they were on the SAVE plan. Use the Education Department’s loan simulator to estimate your payments. And since the standard plan has a 10-year term, you won’t want to stay on this plan for the entire term — or you could wind up paying off all your debt by the time you reach the 10-year PSLF finish line. Switching to the standard plan may also be a good option if you’re only a few months away from getting forgiveness on PSLF.
• Look into the PSLF Buyback. If you recently hit the 10-year PSLF finish line, you could use the PSLF buyback to get credit for payments missed during the SAVE forbearance.

Other ways to get help

This is an evolving situation for borrowers. For the latest updates and personalized guidance, consider these ways to get student loan help:

• Call your servicer. Your servicer is your go-to contact for any questions about your student loan repayment option. Your assigned servicer’s name appears in your studentaid.gov dashboard. Prepare before calling your servicer and take notes during the call in case any issues arise in the future or you need to make a student loan complaint.
• Reach out to your college’s financial aid department. A financial aid officer from your college can help you walk through your repayment options, even if you left campus years ago, McCarthy says. However, they can’t help you ultimately apply for something like a forbearance or deferment. You have to work with your servicer for that.
• Contact borrower assistance organizations. Vetted nonprofits, like the National Consumer Law Center, offer resources to help borrowers navigate their repayment options.
• State-based student loan ombudsmen. If your state has a student loan ombudsmen office, it may be able to help you with issues or complaints.

Eliza Haverstock writes for NerdWallet. Email: ehaverstock@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @elizahaverstock.

The article Income-Driven Repayment Applications Shut Down, Student Loan Borrowers Left In the Dark originally appeared on NerdWallet.

​ Orange County Register 

El Modena softball showed its resiliency in winning Dave Kops Tournament of Champions

• March 11, 2025

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El Modena’s softball team overcame more than a talented field of competitors to capture the Dave Kops Tournament of Champions for the first time.

The Vanguards prevailed in Bullhead City, Ariz. on Saturday after facing two waves of adversity.

In the September, the mother of Oregon-committed shortstop Kylie Tafua died from lung cancer. And in the second game of the season, Kansas committed center fielder Jocelyn Alatorre suffered a dislocated knee in a collision with a teammate in the outfield.

“Life has really hit us hard and hit our community hard, and we’re getting through this all together,” El Modena coach Bobby Calderon said on Monday. “We know we got great people surrounding us.”

“We wish we had Jocelyn (playing) but I think her absence has really kind of galvanized our team because all of our girls know that they all have to contribute to fill that void,” the coach added. “(Tafua) is going to get going here and look out when that arrives.”

El Modena (7-1) celebrated a 5-4 win against Norco in the championship game by jumping around pitcher Sara Pinedo after the senior struck out the final batter with the tying run on first base.

The Vanguards, who moved to No. 1 in Orange County this week, finished the tournament 5-0. They edged previously No. 1 Canyon 2-1 in the quarterfinals and defeated Norco for the first time under Calderon, in his ninth season.

“To be able to accomplish things like we have,” Calderon said, “when we feel like we’re probably not completely 100 percent, really does speak volumes for what kind of club and what kind of teammates we have.”

“The biggest thing is we try to develop a culture of community and family,” he added. “That’s exactly how we’ve been able to get through.”

El Modena also is developing players.

First baseman Lucy Mitchell and catcher Parker Mayes — both sophomores — have been breakout performers after playing JV last season. Mayes hit a two-run home run against Norco while Mitchell had the go-ahead RBI.

Calderon’s daughter Hallie, a sophomore third baseman, also played JV last season.

The list of rising players includes pitcher Ashley Driskill and outfielders Ava Savala and Jillian Alvarado. All three are juniors.

Driskill started against Canyon and Norco. Savala has shifted to center field and hit a two-run home run against Norco. Calderon said Alvarado also has “stepped up big-time” by moving to the leadoff position.

“We still know,” Calderon cautioned, “it’s early March. We got a long way to go.”

GAMES OF THE WEEK

On Thursday at 6 p.m., La Mirada plays host to No. 10 Fullerton and will dedicate its field to alumnus and two-time Olympian Jennie Finch, who is expected to attend the game. Finch’s niece Malaya Majam-Finch will start in the circle for Fullerton. …

On Friday, El Modena plays host to No. 6 JSerra at 3:30 p.m.

​ Orange County Register 

Older Black people die at higher rates than their white peers. Here’s why aging is a greater risk for Black Americans.

• March 11, 2025

By Jazmin Goodwin

For older Black people in America, the golden years often come with a harsh reality: They are more likely to suffer from chronic illnesses, be sicker in old age, and die younger than their white counterparts.

In 2018, Black Americans’ average life expectancy was 74.7 years, four years less than the overall average of 78.7. However, a drop in life expectancy during the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated racial disparities among mortality rates: Black people were expected to live 70.8 years, compared with 76.4 years for white people and 77.7 years for Hispanic people, according to 2021 provisional data.

Black Americans were also 20% more likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure and 1.4 times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than non-Hispanic white adults, according to 2025 data from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. They also tend to have worse outcomes and higher mortality rates for cancers, including lung and prostate cancer. Recent data from the CDC shows older Black populations die from stroke, diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension, and sepsis (a life-threatening reaction to an infection) at significantly higher rates than their white peers.

Research has shown that Black people encounter worse health outcomes as they age due to a lifetime of unequal access to health care, healthy food, safe housing, and economic opportunities. These nonmedical factors influencing health and well-being are known as social determinants of health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Social determinants of health often amplify with age. “We are living in bodies that have to endure multiple harms that attack us throughout the life course,” Dr. Jessica Owens-Young, associate professor of health studies at American University, told Stacker. “When we finally reach the age of being a senior, all of those experiences can lead to entering seniorhood or eldership—those golden years—with a body and with experiences that have been weathered.”

QMedic analyzed data from the CDC and spoke with experts to take a hard look at the reality of aging as a Black person in America.

Carrying a lifelong burden of racism and ageism

The harms experienced by Black people are well documented: The majority (75%) of Black adults say they’ve experienced racial discrimination either regularly or occasionally, according to Pew Research Center. Black Americans are statistically more likely than whites to have experienced the death of an immediate family member before midlife, an often overlooked source of stress and trauma. These types of consistent physical and psychological stressors contribute to what’s known as the allostatic load, or chronic stress that accumulates in the body, which exacerbates numerous health issues, including poor appetite or overeating, frequent headaches and stomachaches, and alcohol and substance abuse issues—all of which are more common among Black Americans.

For older Black people, this means that the natural effects of aging are accelerated. The additional “wear and tear” is a phenomenon known as “weathering,” first introduced by public health researcher Dr. Arline Geronimus. It illustrates how, for older Black people, prolonged exposure to stress and adversity can accelerate the aging process, leading to the earlier onset of chronic health issues.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and elsewhere found that Black Americans had a biological age nearly 12 years older on average than their chronological age. In comparison, their white counterparts had an average biological age that was 10 years younger than their actual age. In other words, Black Americans weather 6.1 years faster than their white counterparts.

Medical experts note that social determinants include policies that determine or limit access to housing, education, and economic opportunities, all critical to long-term health. For example, redlining, a practice where lenders assess financial risk based on property values and a property owner’s race and ethnicity, continues to harm communities of color more than 50 after the 1968 Fair Housing Act made redlining illegal, according to the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. ZIP codes corresponding to formerly redlined neighborhoods were shown to have higher rates of COVID-19, according to a study from the IZA Institute of Labor Economics.

Formerly lower-grade D neighborhoods, which had higher portions of non-white residents, were close to nearly twice the density of oil and gas wells compared to higher-grade A neighborhoods. Women’s reproductive health was also affected with more associations to low birth weight and preterm births in these historically redlined areas.

“Systemic barriers and misdiagnoses are rampant, even with resources; without an advocate, navigating the health care network can be nearly impossible,” Dr. Ryon Cobb, a professor of social work at Rutgers University, told Stacker. Many Black people live in health care deserts, according to Cobb, where they do not have access to information or even doctors with the expertise to provide treatment.

The intersection of ageism and systemic racism compounds is often called a “double disadvantage” for older Black people, according to the American Geriatrics Society. This means navigating a health care system that often overlooks their specific needs, from implicit biases in diagnostic practices to underrepresentation in clinical trials.

The impact of discriminatory practices and mistrust heightens with age

Reliable transportation, an often overlooked barrier, plays a significant role in health disparities, especially among older Black populations. Urban Institute data from 2022 found that 8% of Black adults missed or delayed medical care due to transportation issues, compared to 4% of white adults. Another major compounding factor is inadequate health insurance coverage. Black beneficiaries comprise just under 11% (6 million) of the U.S. Medicare population, though they account for a disproportionate number in some states. In Mississippi, for instance, Black beneficiaries account for 31% of total Medicare recipients, and in Washington, D.C., that number surges to 63%. Notably, Black Americans have a lower life expectancy after age 65 than their white or Hispanic counterparts.

The importance of transportation was recognized in 2021, when transportation services for nonemergencies were included on a list of mandatory benefits for people with Medicaid who lack reliable modes of travel. A growing number of Medicare Advantage plans now include this benefit.

Historical discriminatory practices within the medical system have also been well-documented throughout history, and this legacy also plays a role. Some 7 in 10 Black Americans say they’ve received unfair treatment by the health care system, and over half (55%) say they distrust it. Black adults are more likely than whites to report they have to be careful about their appearance to be treated fairly by health practitioners, and that a health care provider has refused them prescription pain medication they thought they needed, according to 2024 KFF data.

These types of negative experiences and unfair treatment contribute to a persistent lack of confidence in the system. This can heighten mistrust and discourage seeking preventative care, according to a 2024 qualitative study of 25 Black patients discharged from emergency room departments published in JAMA Health Forum.

Study participants reported experiencing dismissiveness and a lack of confidence in their health literacy, making them hesitant to seek medical attention. That, in turn, can exacerbate existing conditions and delay diagnoses.

As one study participant put it, “seeking health care for a Black person is a roll of a dice all the time. [There will never] be a moment at this time in [the US] that a person of color [is] like, ‘Oh, I’ll just go to the doctor.’ No, it’ll be…’Okay, what doctor am I going to? Is it bad enough that they’ll treat my condition [seriously], or should I wait until it’s bad enough that they have to?’ That’s a terrible way to live, and that’s how we live. We show up in the emergency room because everything else gets dismissed…so it gets bad enough that [there’s] no other choice until we have to get treated…it’s terrible.”

Chronic kidney disease, for example, often goes undiagnosed among Black communities, according to Cobb. Yet Black Americans are more likely to progress to end-stage kidney disease: Without tailored interventions that address both systemic racism and ageism, these health disparities can continue to widen, posing the same risk to future generations.

What’s being done to curb disparities

Grassroots organizations nationwide can be crucial for empowering older Black populations to take control of their health. “Fundamentally, we must return to our ancestral tradition of treating aging as a collective rite of passage and not as an individual test of mettle,” Carlene Davis, co-founder of Sistahs Aging with Grace & Elegance, told Stacker.

In California, the California Black Women’s Health Project collaborates with Sistahs Aging with Grace & Elegance to host “Celebrating the Aging Journey” seminars, which support Black women in planning for long, healthy, and financially secure lives while also providing resources for caretakers of older people.

Healthier Black Elders Center in Detroit works to reduce health disparities through research and education. HBEC offers health education workshops and screenings and maintains a Participant Resource Pool to encourage research participation among older Black adults. Its goal is to increase the representation of older Black adults in research, as this demographic has historically had a low participation rate.

In communities across the country, companies like Uber Health have partnered with health care organizations to offer rides to medical appointments for older people. The partnership aims to reduce missed appointments, allow for more consistent care, and, ultimately, improve health outcomes.

On a national level, the Diverse Elders Coalition represents older people throughout the country: American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Native Hawaiians, Black Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans, and LGBTQ+ Americans. The coalition advocates for policies that improve aging outcomes for racially and ethnically diverse communities, addressing health disparities, economic security, and culturally competent care.

The National Caucus and Center on Black Aging also offers a health and wellness program that provides virtual events and newsletters tailored to older Black Americans.

Investing in culturally competent care

While the numbers are discouraging for older Black adults, efforts underway that center Black health also offer a glimmer of hope. “Black seniors fare better when they have Black or culturally competent and responsive health care providers. And far too often that is not the case,” Davis said.

Research from the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute confirms this, and recommends that providers and organizations implement culturally competent practices to enhance the quality of care. These practices include offering interpreter services, recruiting and retaining diverse staff, and providing training in cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills.

A 2020 study of low-income patients with heart failure who lived on the South Side of Chicago published in the journal Critical Pathways in Cardiology found that those who received weekly visits from a community health worker had a 75% decrease in emergency visits due to heart failure and an 89% decrease in heart failure-related readmissions, as well as a significant reduction in costs related to the disease.

The importance of culturally competent care extends beyond community programs. A 2022 study of 1,618 U.S. counties published in JAMA Network Open found that every 10% increase in Black primary care representation was associated with a higher life expectancy of about 31 days. Higher representation levels were also associated with lower death rates due to any cause and even lowered the mortality rate disparities between Black and white patients.

Over time, higher mortality rates coupled with excess deaths among the Black population have accumulated. In a study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health, 80 million years of potential life were lost among Black Americans over the course of two decades. Those are years, and lives, that they won’t get back.

Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Janina Lawrence.

This story originally appeared on QMedic and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.

​ Orange County Register 

San Pedro Fish Market talks Fish Fridays for Lent and ‘Kings of Fi$h’ reality show

• March 11, 2025

Seafood lovers and Lent observers are in for some treats at San Pedro Fish Market.

The San Pedro Fish Market, located at 706 S Harbor Blvd., and its Long Beach and Wilmington locations are hosting Fish Fridays. Visitors can enjoy featured and specialty menu items and participate in the restaurant’s Instagram page contests to enter to win prizes every Friday until the promotion ends on Easter Sunday, April 20.

Michael Ungaro, CEO and owner of San Pedro Fish Market, said he and his family grew up Catholic and attended the Mary Star of the Sea Church in San Pedro and other Catholic schools. He said Lent has always been a big part of his community. In Christian tradition, seafood is eaten during Lent (for those who observe), usually on Fridays, to commemorate Jesus’ sacrifice on Good Friday. Fish is considered a cold-blooded animal, so seafood is allowed as a substitute for the cuts of meat produced by warm-blooded animals such as beef and chicken.

“Our customer base is primarily Catholic, so typically, on Fridays, this time of the year, our customers come looking for seafood,” Ungaro said in a phone interview. “Over the years, we’ve tried accommodating that with some specials so the food is not so boring. If you’re observing Lent, and that’s part of your tradition, we want to make sure that we have something a little different, not just fried fish.”

The first special offered on Friday, March 7, was a salmon sandwich with a side of fries. Other items and instructions for how to win free food will be revealed every Friday. While the sandwich is a personal dish, the restaurant offers others that emphasize sharing.

“We’ve found that celebrating food and family is one of our niches for which people visit us,” Ungaro said. “We’ve noticed over the years, especially on Sunday, which has been our busiest day right when mass is finished. We have a religious Catholic and Christian customer base that comes together as a family, celebrates in church and then comes to visit us. We’ve always tried to honor that, and that’s part of the reason that this promotion going on. It’s to thank them for their loyalty and being great customers.”

Some of those larger sharable dishes include specialty trays such as the restaurant’s famous “a la plancha” style shrimp tray, served with a platter of shrimp and veggie mix seared and slightly smoked. Other savory seafood shareables include ceviche, oysters, sweet and spicy calamari, and a 15-inch shrimp cocktail.

The Sea Food Market has operated as a family business since 1956 and has experienced several challenges, from losing its original location in the now-demolished Ports O’ Call Village to hitting a wall after plans to develop a new location in San Pedro’s cruise center failed due to permitting issues, not to mention the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the struggles, the seafood family business is on an upswing. It recently secured a 49-year lease with West Harbor as part of the new waterfront development, which is expected to take several years for construction to finish. Ungaro says it will span 55,000 square feet, making it “one of the largest restaurants in the United States.”

In the meantime, the San Pedro Seafood Market is operating out of its temporary location, The Landing Phase 2, which is also getting a bit of a makeover. It will add 900 more seats, which will be waterfront and make space for live entertainment. Ungaro said the plan is to wrap the construction fully by Mother’s Day.

The restaurant’s battle to secure a new permanent location will be part of the second season of the Amazon Prime series “Kings of Fi$H,” which documents the family’s restaurant empire. The next season could air sometime in the fall, according to Ungaro. However, seafood fans of the iconic restaurant don’t have to wait too much longer to get real-time updates on what’s going on behind the scenes. Ungaro is launching his podcast this month, where he’ll talk to vendors and other essential parts of the restaurant operation.

“We’ll start to release snippets of what we’re filming and doing for season two, which will be on our YouTube channel and shared on social media,” he said. ” It will include partners like US Foods, who, if you noticed, were mentioned frequently in ‘The Bear.’ You’ll see a lot of shout-outs to them about how they came in and helped us out during some tough times and why we switched over to them. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

​ Orange County Register 

4 charged in death of 5-year-old boy ‘incinerated’ in hyperbaric chamber explosion

• March 11, 2025

By COREY WILLIAMS

Four people have been charged in the death of a 5-year-old boy who was “incinerated” inside a pressurized oxygen chamber that exploded at a suburban Detroit medical facility, Michigan’s attorney general said Tuesday.

Thomas Cooper from Royal Oak, Michigan, was pronounced dead at the scene on Jan. 31 at the Oxford Center in Troy. His mother was standing next to the chamber and was injured trying to save her boy.

“A single spark it appears ignited into a fully involved fire that claimed Thomas’s life within seconds,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said at a news conference Tuesday.

“Fires inside a hyperbaric chamber are considered a terminal event. Every such fire is almost certainly fatal and this is why many procedures and essential safety practices have been developed to keep a fire from ever occurring,” she said.

The center’s founder and chief executive, Tamela Peterson, 58, is charged with second-degree murder. The facility’s manager Gary Marken, 65, and safety manager Gary Mosteller, 64, are charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. The operator of the chamber when it exploded, Aleta Moffitt, 60, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false medical information on a medical records chart.

All were arrested Monday pending arraignments Tuesday afternoon in Troy District Court, Nessel said.

Nessel said the defendants unscrupulously put children’s bodies at risk through unaccredited and debunked treatments, simply because it brought cash through the door.

Raymond Cassar, Marken’s attorney, said the second-degree murder charge comes as “a total shock” to him and his client.

“For fairness, he is presumed innocent,” Cassar said. “This was a tragic accident and our thoughts and our prayers go out to the family of this little boy. I want to remind everyone that this was an accident, not an intentional act. We’re going to have to leave this up to the experts to find out what was the cause of this.”

Moffitt’s lawyer, Ellen Michaels, declined to comment before Tuesday’s arraignment. The Associated Press left a telephone message Tuesday morning seeking comment from Peterson’s attorney. An attorney was not listed for Mosteller.

A voicemail was left seeking comment from an attorney representing the Oxford Center. The AP also left a message seeking comment from the center. The Associated Press emailed attorneys representing the family for comment on the charges and did not immediately receive a response.

The Oxford Center had said in an email following the explosion that “the safety and wellbeing of the children we serve is our highest priority.”

“Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy. We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all of the investigations that now need to take place,” the center’s statement said.

Hyperbaric therapy delivers pure oxygen to a person’s body inside the pressurized chamber. That’s up to five times the amount of oxygen in a normal room, Troy Fire Lt. Keith Young said following the explosion.

“The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible,” Young said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared hyperbaric chambers to be marketed as safe and effective for a list of 13 disorders, such as severe burns, decompression sickness and non-healing wounds. The list doesn’t include many of the other disorders advertised by the Oxford Center.

NBC News reported that according to the family’s attorney, the boy had received multiple sessions of hyperbaric therapy for sleep apnea and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. These conditions aren’t approved by the FDA to be marketed as effectively treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

The FDA also recommends that consumers only use hyperbaric centers that are inspected and accredited by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. The Oxford Center doesn’t appear on the society’s February 2025 list of accredited facilities.

Nessel said her office extensively consulted experts on hyperbaric chambers and treatments.

“Horrifying and simple conclusions were reached,” she said. “The Oxford Center routinely operated sensitive and lethally dangerous hyperbaric chambers beyond their expected service lifetime and in complete disregard of vital safety measures and practices considered essential by medical and technical professionals.”

​ Orange County Register 

Pope Francis follows Vatican spiritual retreat as doctors say he’s no longer in imminent danger

• March 11, 2025

By NICOLE WINFIELD

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis participated remotely in the Vatican’s spiritual retreat Tuesday after getting good news from his doctors: They upgraded his prognosis and say he is no longer in imminent danger of death as a result of the double pneumonia that has kept him hospitalized for nearly a month in the longest and gravest threat to his 12-year papacy.

The 88-year-old pope isn’t out of the woods yet, however. Doctors are still cautious and have decided to keep him hospitalized for several more days to receive treatment, not to mention a period of rehabilitation he will likely need.

But the doctors said he remains stable and has consolidated improvements in recent days, according to blood tests and his good response to treatment. Francis, who has chronic lung disease, is still using supplemental oxygen during the day and a ventilation mask at night to help him breathe.

In an early update Tuesday, the Vatican said Francis was resuming his physical and respiratory physiotherapy after a quiet night. In a sign of his improved health, Francis also followed the Vatican’s weeklong spiritual retreat via videoconference for a third day, and spent some time in prayer in his private chapel, the Vatican said.

“It really makes me happy, because we were sad as it looked like he was not recovering,” said Sister Maria Letizia Salazar, a nun who was praying for Francis on Tuesday outside the Gemelli hospital. “But now that I’ve got this news I am very happy.”

This week also counts some important anniversaries for Francis: Tuesday is the 67th anniversary of his entry into the Jesuit religious order’s novitiate, and Thursday marks the 12th anniversary of his election as pope.

Doctors on Monday lifted their “guarded” prognosis for the pope, meaning they determined he was no longer in imminent danger as a result of the original respiratory infection he arrived with on Feb. 14. But their caution remained, given Francis’ fragility, the severity of the original infection and overall complexity of his condition.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, had what was just a bad case of bronchitis when he was hospitalized last month. The infection progressed into a complex respiratory tract infection and double pneumonia that has raised questions about the future of his pontificate.

He was still keeping his eye on things, however. The Vatican said he had been informed about the floods in his native Argentina, sent a telegram of condolences and expressed his closeness to the affected population. In addition, a Vatican cardinal close to Francis spoke out Monday to deny some negative media reports that have circulated in his absence.

The Vatican development office released a letter written by Cardinal Michael Czerny to one of Francis’ close friends, the Argentine social justice activist Juan Grabois. Grabois had traveled to Rome to pray for Francis at Gemelli hospital, and some Italian media reported that he had tried to forcibly get into Francis’ 10th floor hospital suite, a claim he denied.

In the March 6 letter, Czerny told Grabois that Francis “knew of your presence in Rome and your daily vigils of prayer and spiritual solidarity at Gemelli Polyclinic and I’m sure this gave him a true comfort and support.”

“Additionally, I know that you join me in strongly repudiating the unfounded versions that have circulated in some media about alleged inappropriate behavior in the hospital,” Czerny wrote.

The Vatican is always abuzz with rumor but has gone into overdrive with speculation about Francis’ health and talk of conclaves, even though Francis is very much alive and in charge. The fact that Czerny felt it necessary to defend one of Francis’ friends suggested that the rumor and maneuvering in Francis’ absence had crossed a line.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

​ Orange County Register