On the ice, a question: Where are the Black figure skaters?

By AARON MORRISON

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FILE - Vanessa James and Eric Radford, of Canada, compete in the pairs team free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, in Beijing. In a century-old sport that had been largely European until just a few decades ago, some still wonder how more Black athletes can make a lasting imprint on competitive figure skating. “If you don’t see yourself in the sport, how can you believe that you belong, how can you believe that you can be the best, how do you know that you can be creative or that you’ll be accepted for your uniqueness?” James said. 

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)


BEIJING (AP) — Before her own Olympic career began, Canadian figure skater Vanessa James had seen Black Girl Magic on the ice. It was on display at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, when French skater Surya Bonaly leapt into the air, kicked into a backflip and landed on one leg.

The thrilling move has neither been widely attempted since nor accepted by judges for international competitions, such as the Olympic Games, and thus “the Bonaly flip” has never became a big thing. Yet despite the move being controversial at the time, Bonaly’s tenacity in attempting it has inspired many who have followed her.

“I wanted to do a backflip, but I was always really too scared to try it,” says James, who is skating in Beijing in her fourth Winter Games after representing France in Vancouver and Pyeongchang.

The Salchow, the Biellmann, the Charlotte spiral — these figure skating standards are named after white people from the 20th century. And in a century-old sport that was largely European until just a few decades ago, some wonder: How can more Black athletes make the same lasting imprint on it?

“If you don’t see yourself in the sport, how can you believe that you belong, how can you believe that you can be the best, how do you know that you can be creative or that you’ll be accepted for your uniqueness?” says James, who in 2010 was one half of the first Black French pairs skating duo with Yannick Bonheur.

There are no Black athletes competing in figure skating for the Americans this year, though the U.S. team includes five Asian American skaters, an openly LGBTQ skater and the first gender-nonbinary skater. Mexico’s figure skating team consists of Donovan Carrillo, the lone representative from Latin America.

Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan came to define Asian American representation at the Olympics in the 1990s, while China, Japan and South Korea became more prominent in the early 2000s. And with Nathan Chen headed for a gold medal, and Alysa Liu and Karen Chen on the American team, the pipeline of figure skaters has yet to show signs of slowing.

James, who skates in the pairs event with teammate Eric Radford, is the only Black figure skater competing for any nation in Beijing. She carries not just the hopes of Canadian and French skaters, but also Black girls and women, boys and men across the world who strain to see themselves represented on the ice and slopes during the Winter Games.

Part of the reason, says Elladj Baldé, a Black and Russian professional figure skater from Canada, is that “Black skaters weren’t allowed to be in figure skating clubs (or) in figure skating competitions” during the sport’s early years.

Whether it was Europe’s blonde-haired, blue-eyed and petite figure skating standard or a period of racial segregation at rinks in the U.S., Black skaters who broke barriers in the sport did so with metaphorical weights chained to their skates.


France's Surya Bonaly performs a back flip during her free skate program at White Ring Arena Friday, Feb. 20, 1998, in Nagano, Japan. The thrilling move has neither been widely attempted since nor accepted by judges for international competitions, such as the Olympic Games, and thus “the Bonaly flip” has never became a big thing. (AP Photo/Eric Draper, File)

“That doesn’t leave a lot of room and a lot of time for Black skaters to innovate,” Baldé says, “especially if a sport is confining everyone to a certain style.”

Baldé’s unconventional, hip-hop-inflected dancing style has gone viral on social media in recent years, allowing him to leverage the notoriety to push for both change and diversity. The Stake Global Foundation, which he cofounded last year, works to build or rehabilitate ice rinks and exposes Black, Indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC) in Canada to figure skating.

For consecutive Winter Olympics, the Canadian and French Olympic teams have included Black skaters, which some say is a reflection of Bonaly’s influence. But the American team has struggled to establish a strong pipeline of Black talent.

Historians trace the problem to the stories of Black American skaters such as Joseph Vanterpool, a World War II veteran from New York City who took up professional skating after seeing an ice show in England but was rarely featured outside of all-Black showcases. Mabel Fairbanks, a pioneer whose Olympic dreams were dashed by racist exclusion from U.S. Figure Skating in the 1930s, was by far the most successful of the sport’s Black trailblazers.

Fairbanks later opened doors that were closed to her for generations, including one of her mentees, Debi Thomas. In the 1988 Calgary Games, Thomas became the first Black American to medal at the Winter Olympics. But few others have come close to appearing in Olympic competition after her.

“How did somebody like Debi Thomas have the success that she had, break down the barriers that she did, but yet didn’t that lead to further influx of BIPOC skaters following in her footsteps?” wonders Ramsey Baker, the executive director of U.S. Figure Skating.

It’s a question the governing body had wrestled with for years, in addition to the socioeconomic barriers associated with elite competition. Then, diversity in figure skating became an even bigger focus following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by American police, amplifying the Black Lives Matter movement’s calls for racial justice and equity.

As protests over police brutality erupted across the world, the figure skating associations in Canada and the U.S. responded with pledges to answer protesters’ cries and make changes from within. However, both also have faced some criticism from Black athletes who felt the pledges were a ploy for media attention.


 Elladj Balde of Canada performs during the gale exhibition of the NHK Trophy figure skating in Osaka, western Japan, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2014. Balde’s unconventional, hip-hop-inflected dancing style has gone viral on social media in recent years, allowing him to leverage the notoriety to push for both change and diversity. 

(AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

Last year, U.S. Figure Skating hired Kadari Taylor-Watson, a Black woman, as its first director of diversity, equity and inclusion. Her work has included its first diversity census of skaters, judges and other sport officials. Through a working group, the association plans to put tangible action behind the pledge to be even more inclusive of Black skaters.

“We have to think about the 100 years of not just U.S. figure skating history, but the 100 years of U.S. history,” Taylor-Watson says, “and all of the racial turmoil that has been going on in our society that created those barriers.

“We don’t want to invite BIPOC skaters into a community that is not welcoming for them or ready for them.”

James’s participation in the Winter Games coincides with Black History Month, an annual observance that originated in the United States but has been recognized in Canada, Britain and increasingly in other parts of Europe.

Former French Olympic figure skater Maé-Bérénice Méité, who is Black, gave James a shoutout over Instagram ahead of the first day of the figure skating team competition in Beijing last week.

“So to all of you who’d like to support an example of what Black excellence looks like, I encourage you to support my best friend,” Méité wrote to her more than 52,000 followers.

James says the two came up in the sport together. “It’s important to have her support because we see each other when we look in the mirror,” James says. “When she’s on the ice, I see me.”

She and Méité know they are beacons of inspiration for young, aspiring Black skaters. James says she imagines that somewhere, young Black girls are watching the Winter Games and thinking, “I look like her. I wanna be just like her. I can do that. I can be better than that.”

“That’s the key to excellence,” James adds. “It’s not just seeing it once. It’s recreating it and repeating it. We need that. We need to grow.”

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New York-based journalist Aaron Morrison is a member of the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team on assignment at the Beijing Olympics. Follow him on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Sudan’s military rulers step up crackdown, arrest activists

By SAMY MAGDY

Amira Osman sits at her home after being released from detention, in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, February 9, 2022. Osman is one of scores of pro-democracy activists and protesters who have been detained without charge since a military coup in October deposed the transitional government, in what many fear is a return to the tactics of autocrat former President Omar al-Bashir. (Marwan Ali/AP)

CAIRO (AP) — Amira Osman, a Sudanese women’s rights activist, was getting ready for bed a few minutes before midnight when about 30 policemen forced their way into her home in Khartoum last month.

The men, many in plainclothes and armed with Kalashnikov rifles, pistols and batons, banged on her bathroom door, ignoring her mother’s pleas to at least allow her to get dressed before they took her away.

“It was like they were engaging in a battle or chasing a dangerous terrorist, not a disabled woman,” said Osman’s sister, Amani, a rights lawyer.

Osman, who uses crutches since a 2017 accident, was imprisoned twice under Sudan’s former autocratic President Omar al-Bashir for violating strict Islamic laws governing women’s behavior and dress. This time, she was detained for speaking out against military rule.

With her Jan. 22 arrest, Osman joined hundreds of activists and protest leaders targeted since a military coup last October removed a transitional government from power.

The detentions have intensified in recent weeks as Sudan plunged into further turmoil with near-daily street protests, sparking fears of an all-out return to the oppressive tactics of al-Bashir. The coup upended Sudan’s transition to democratic rule after three decades of international isolation under al-Bashir, who was removed from power in 2019 after a popular uprising.

“The military delivers one message to international diplomats, that they are interested in a political dialogue and fundamental reform of the state, but then they do nothing to hide their blatant efforts to maintain the status quo and undermine efforts to unseat them,” said Cameron Hudson, a former U.S. State Department official and Sudan expert at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.

Following the coup, security forces launched a deadly crackdown on protesters. They fired live ammunition and tear gas at crowds on the streets and knocked the country’s internet and mobile signal offline — all in efforts to keep people from gathering. Around 80 people, mostly young men, have been killed and over 2,200 others injured in the protests, according to a Sudanese medical group.

Sudanese security forces have also been accused of using sexual violence against women taking part in the demonstrations. The ruling, military-led Sovereign Council said a probe was launched into the allegations of rape and gang rape on Dec. 19, after the United Nations called for an investigation. It is not the first time security forces have been accused of using rape — such attacks occurred under al-Bashir and also under the military during the transitional period.

The U.S., U.K., and Norway, along with the European Union, Canada and Switzerland, called the recent pattern “troubling,” and urged the release of “all those unjustly detained.”

“We remind Sudan’s military authorities of their obligations to respect the human rights and guarantee the safety of those detained or arrested and the need to ensure that due process is consistently followed in all cases,” the group said in a statement released by the U.S. State Department.

Osman’s detention drew condemnation and concern internationally. She was finally released on Sunday.

But for nearly a week after the arrest, her family didn’t know where she was held. Then, they received a phone call asking them to send clothes to a prison in Khartoum’s twin city, Omdurman, according to her sister, who also is her lawyer.

Osman said she spent the first three days in solitary confinement in “very bad and humiliating conditions.” Then another activist, Eman Mirghani, joined her in the cell. Mirghani remains in detention.

Authorities accused Osman of possession of illegal weapons and ammunition — the “five old bullets” found in her wardrobe, she said, souvenirs from the 2016 national shooting championship in which she competed.

It’s unclear who the officers are who stormed Osman’s house. During the raid, they said they were from a drug-combating force, but Amani Osman, the sister-lawyer, said she believes they were actually from the country’s feared General Intelligence Service.

Formerly known as the National Intelligence and Security Service, the agency was for decades a tool used by al-Bashir’s government to clamp down on dissent. After the coup, the military reinstated the agency’s powers, which include detaining people without informing their families. They are known to keep many of their detainees in secret prisons called “Ghost Houses.”

Gibreel Hassabu, a lawyer with the Darfur Bar Association, a legal group that focuses on human rights, said the exact number of those detained across the county is still unknown — a situation reminiscent of al-Bashir’s rule.

Hassabu says he knows of over 200 activists and protest leaders detained in the Sudanese capital alone. Many activists were taken from their homes or snatched from the streets, according to documents he provided to The Associated Press.

At least 46 activists are held in Khartoum’s Souba Prison, the documents show. Some female activists — including Amira Osman — are sent to the women’s prison in Omdurman.

The wave of arrests has expanded following the killing of a senior police officer during a Jan. 13 protest close to the presidential palace in Khartoum. The officer was stabbed to death, according to local media. Security forces raided a Khartoum hospital and arrested six, including an injured protester and women who were visiting him, accusing them of being responsible for the killing.

And on Jan. 29, paramilitary troops from the Rapid Support Forces, another security body with a reputation for brutality, grabbed Mohamed Abdel-Rahman Naqdalla, an activist and physician, from a Khartoum street, his family said.

A spokesman for the RSF did not answer requests for comment. The force is largely comprised of former militiamen and has been implicated in atrocities under al-Bashir in the the western region of Darfur. It is headed by the country’s second most powerful general, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, and runs its own detention centers in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

This week, authorities rearrested Khalid Omar, a minister in the ousted transitional government. Omar had been detained in the Oct. 25 coup and was released a month later as part of a deal between the military and civilian leaders. His party, the opposition Sudanese Congress Party, said he was taken Wednesday at the party’s headquarters.

Also arrested Wednesday was Wagdi Saleh, a member of a government-run agency tasked with dismantling the legacy of al-Bashir’s regime, according to the pro-democracy Forces of Freedom and Change alliance.

The trend has frustrated diplomats working to bring the military and civilian leaders to some sort of an agreement.

“Arbitrary arrests and detention of political figures, civil society activists and journalists undermine efforts to resolve Sudan’s political crisis,” said Lucy Tamlyn, U.S. chargé d’affaires in Sudan.

Bipartisan lawmakers announce compromise on Violence Against Women Act


A group of bipartisan lawmakers announced an agreement on legislation to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act on Wednesday, which does not include a provision to close the so-called "boyfriend loophole." 

Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE

Feb. 9 (UPI) -- A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Wednesday announced an agreement on legislation to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act that removes a key provision related to gun ownership.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Lisa Murkowski, R-Ala., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, announced the legislation that will "reauthorize and strengthen" the law for the first time in nearly a decade.

Feinstein said the bill "preserves the good work of the last reauthorization bill in 2013" and will strengthen "existing programs to support survivors and to prevent and to respond to domestic violence, and that's dating violence and sexual assault and stalking."

Further, she said the legislation will seek to expand services for domestic abuse survivors including "survivors in rural communities, LGBT survivors," as well as survivors with disabilities and strengthen the criminal justice response to domestic violence.

However, the bill does not include a provision that advocates say would close the so-called "boyfriend loophole" by extending restrictions barring individuals convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence that currently only includes spouses or formerly married partners to dating partners.

"Now, this isn't a perfect bill, I regret the boyfriend loophole is not addressed," Feinstein said. "Many of us have tried very hard to get there. But it's a good bill. And we need to finally get a Violence Against Women Act reauthorization to the president."

The provision, however, drew criticism from guns rights activists who panned it as an unnecessary restriction on gun ownership.

"The boyfriend loophole is a play straight from the Biden gun control agenda. It's just gun control," Aidan Johnson, director of federal affairs at Gun Owners of America said.

Actress Angelina Jolie, who has lobbied for the bill to be reauthorized, lamented that there are "many people for whom this legislation comes too late."

"The women who have suffered through this system with little or no support who still carry the pain and trauma of their abuse," said Jolie. "The young adults who have survived abuse and emerged stronger not because of the child protective system, but despise it. And the women and children who have died, who could have been saved."

President Joe Biden, who wrote the original bill, applauded the senators for reaching a compromise.

"In the nearly three decades since its passage, the law has been reauthorized three times with broad bipartisan support," Biden said. "Each time, I have helped work to strengthen its protections -- expanding access to safety and resources for all survivors, particularly those from marginalized communities."

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AHA News: Low-income WHITE Americans at higher risk for clogged neck arteries

By HealthDay News

Study participants making less than $35,000 a year had 15% greater odds of carotid artery stenosis than those with a higher income, new research showed. 

Photo by Vector8DIY/Pixabay

People making less than $35,000 a year may be more likely to have carotid artery stenosis, a leading cause of stroke, a new study found.

Carotid artery stenosis is a narrowing of the large arteries on either side of the neck that carry blood to the brain. The narrowing is often a buildup of sticky plaques. Known risk factors include high levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking and diabetes.

Previous research shows Black and Hispanic people have a lower risk of carotid artery stenosis compared to White people, and Native Americans have a higher risk. But prevalence according to factors other than race and ethnicity is less clear.

To identify possible patterns, researchers evaluated electronic health records of a diverse pool of 203,813 participants in the National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program. Half of participants were White, 20% were Black, 20% were Hispanic, 3% were Asian and the rest identified as other races or ethnicities. One in 10 had less than a high school degree and 36% had a household income of less than $35,000 per year.

Overall, 2.7% of participants had been diagnosed with carotid artery stenosis. Among them, 7.3% had undergone revascularization, a surgical procedure to restore normal blood flow to the brain.

Those making less than $35,000 a year had 15% greater odds of carotid artery stenosis than those with a higher income. Lower income also was associated with 38% higher odds for carotid revascularization.

The findings, published in the journal Stroke, will be presented Thursday at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference.

"Having a lower income may affect people's food choices," said Dr. Helmi Lutsep, professor and interim chair of the department of neurology at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. She was not involved in the study. "They may not be able to buy healthy fruits and vegetables. And the more we learn about this, the more we can intervene and potentially change the pattern."

Lutsep said the study offers further evidence that doctors should be considering health disparities and using what they learn about their patients to guide preventive care.

When race and ethnicity were considered, Black and Hispanic participants had lower odds of carotid artery stenosis, echoing previous research. Black participants with the condition also were less likely to receive revascularization therapy.

"That could be due to less severe presentations," said lead author Dr. Daniela Renedo, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.

So-called volunteer bias, which leads to more healthy people enrolled, might explain the lower rates of carotid artery stenosis in certain groups, the researchers said.

Even so, Lutsep commended the diversity of the study population, especially that 61% were women, because men are overrepresented in many stroke-related trials. But she also noted the potential for bias toward participants with access to computers in the All of Us Research Program, since enrollment appeared to be done mainly through its website.

Plenty of questions remain, Renedo said. But researchers will soon have access to the All of Us participants' genetic information, and "we will use these data to better understand the interaction between social determinants of health and biological factors that ultimately lead to carotid stenosis and its consequences."

The takeaway message for now, she said, "is that more attention should be given to the present healthcare disparities in this condition."

American Heart Association News covers heart and brain health. Not all views expressed in this story reflect the official position of the American Heart Association. Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association, Inc., and all rights are reserved. If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.

By Kat Long
Copyright © 2021 HealthDay.

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'Bored' security guard vandalizes 90-year-old painting at Russian exhibit

By UPI Staff

Officials said the unidentified security guard drew a pair of eyes onto two human figures in the painting, which is valued at more than $1 million.

 File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 10 (UPI) -- A Russian security guard has been fired for defacing a valuable painting worth $1.3 million that was hanging in an art gallery -- apparently because he said he was "bored."

Authorities said the guard defiled the artwork by Russian painter Anna Leporskaya, titled "Three Figures" -- which depicts three faceless human figures with no facial detail.

Officials said the guard drew eyes on two of the figures with a ballpoint pen.

"His motives are still unknown but the administration believes it was some kind of a lapse in sanity," curator Anna Reshetkina said, according to The Guardian.

"Fortunately, the vandal drew with a pen without strong pressure, and therefore the relief of the strokes as a whole was not disturbed," Ivan Petrov wrote in the Art Newspaper. "The left figure also had a small crumble of the paint layer up to the underlying layer on the face."

The painting was created in the 1930s and was on display at the gallery as part of an abstract art exhibition. After the vandalism was found, it was returned to the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow about 850 miles away.

Experts said it would cost a few thousand dollars to restore the painting to its original form.

Authorities opened an investigation into the incident and the guard faces up to three months in jail and a fine.

MARCEL DUCHAMP 1919 LHQQQ

Sen. Chuck Schumer says he will back marijuana legalization bill


Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., answers reporters' questions during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on February 1. Schumer said Thursday he will back new marijuana legalization legislation 

Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday he is supporting an effort by Democrats to bring a marijuana initiative to the floor that would legalize it and set banking rules for its sale for the first time.

The Democrats are pushing to introduce legislation by April that could be considered for votes during the mid-term elections.

"As majority leader, I can set priorities," Schumer, D-N.Y., said, according to Bloomberg Law. "This is a priority for me."

A letter sent to Democratic colleagues signed by Schumer, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said 18 states have already taken the step to legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use and 37 states have given it medical approval.

"Hundreds of millions of Americans live in states that have legalized cannabis in some form while it remains illegal at the federal level," the letter said. "This discrepancy leads to confusion and uncertainty and raises significant questions around criminal justice reform, economic development and small business growth, and public health and safety, all of which we believe require some type of federal answer."

A Pew Research Center study released in April 2021 revealed that 91% of U.S. adults favored medical marijuana use and 60% agreed it should be legalized for recreational use

The letter asked Democrats to get involved in the legislative process so the bill can be finalized. Politics, though, could get in the way. The Senate is evenly split 50-50 and Democrats will need 10 Republicans to get any marijuana legislation to a vote in the Senate.

New Zealand police arrest 120 anti-COVID-19 mandate protesters



Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Police and anti-COVID-19 mandate protesters clashed outside of New Zealand's Parliament on Thursday, resulting in some 120 people arrested, authorities said.

The arrests were conducted as protesters refused to leave the parliament grounds, which were closed to the public earlier in the day.

Those arrested have been charge with trespass and obstruction, the New Zealand Police said in a statement.

The authorities said despite the grounds' closure some protesters refused to leave and attempted to breach the police cordon, and officers twice deployed pepper spray after protesters tried to pull them into the crowd.

"They were not seriously injured, however such behavior is unacceptable," New Zealand Police said. "Anyone threatening the safety of police staff or the public should expect to face enforcement action."

More than 100 additional police were called into the district on Thursday as protests at the Parliament have stretched into their third day.

Inspired by Canada's so-called Freedom Convoy of truckers who have been protesting against COVID-19 mandates in the northern North American nation, the Convoy 2022 NZ began Sunday for Wellington, where they convened on Tuesday and encamped themselves in demand for the end of mandates and against media censorship.

Wellington District Commander Superintendent Corrie Parnell told police that the removal of protesters could take days.

"This is unprecedented for New Zealand," Parnell said, according to 1News. "We've never had an occupation of this scale and certainly with tents on Parliament grounds, so some degree uncharted waters."

Police said parking wardens have begun to issue infringement notices to vehicles unlawfully blocking streets around Parliament and will be seeking to have them towed shortly.

"Police will continue to have a presence at Parliament into the night and as long as necessary to ensure public safety," New Zealand Police said.

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Lethal combos of opioids, cocaine, meth hit Black communities hardest

By HealthDay News

Between 2007 and 2019, there was a 575% increase in the rate of Black Americans dying from opioid and cocaine overdoses, compared to a 184% increase among White Americans, according to the study. Photo by stevepb/Pixabay

Combined use of opioids and stimulant drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine can be deadly, and in the United States Black communities have been hit especially hard by this lethal combo, new research indicates.

Over a 12-year period, Black Americans have had much larger increases in overdose deaths from opioids and stimulant drugs than other racial groups, an analysis of federal government data found.

Driving this alarming trend is the growing contamination of non-opioid drugs by fentanyl, an extremely potent synthetic opioid, New York University researchers said.

Between 2007 and 2019, there was a 575% increase in the rate of Black Americans dying from opioid and cocaine overdoses, compared to a 184% increase among White Americans, according to the study.

RELATED Report: 1.2M more opioid overdose deaths expected in North America by 2029

In 2019, overdose death rates from methamphetamines and other stimulants (MOS) were lower than from cocaine/opioids. But in recent years, researchers saw that MOS/opioid overdose death rates rose 16,200% among Black people, compared with 3,200% among White people.

"While all racial and ethnic groups we examined are dying in greater numbers from opioids combined with stimulants, we are alarmed to see these trends worsening so much faster in marginalized communities that have historically been less affected by the current epidemic," said study lead author Tarlise Townsend. She is a postdoctoral researcher in population health at NYU Langone, in New York City.

"We need to be targeting harm reduction and treatment strategies to those who are being hardest hit," Townsend said in an NYU news release.

The analysis found that overdose deaths from opioids and stimulants rose in all racial groups and across the country, but increased more than three times faster among Black Americans than among White Americans, particularly in eastern states.

The researchers also found a significant increase in opioid and stimulant overdose deaths among Hispanic and Asian Americans versus White Americans.

"Our findings bolster the argument that overdose prevention efforts should target not only people who use opioids, but also those who primarily use cocaine, methamphetamine, and other stimulants," said study co-author Magdalena Cerdá, professor and director of the hospital's Center for Opioid Epidemiology and Policy.

"Because of structural and systemic racism, adequate access to harm reduction and evidence-based substance use disorder treatment services is lacking in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. More state and federal funding for these programs are needed," according to Cerdá.

When the research team looked at state by state data, the largest Black/White disparity was in MOS/opioid deaths in the Midwest, according to the study.

By 2019, rates of cocaine/opioid deaths among Black Americans were considerably higher in 47 states than among White Americans. In the South, deaths from cocaine and opioids rose 26% a year in Black people, 27% a year in Hispanic people and 12% a year in White people.

Among Black Americans, death rates from opioids plus meth or other stimulants increased 66% per year in the Northeast, 72% per year in the Midwest, and 57% per year in the South, the researchers reported.

The findings were published online recently in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

More information

For more on overdose death rates, go to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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Treasury report: two brewers dominate U.S. beer, wine and spirits markets
By Doug Cunningham


Missouri Governor Jay Nixon inspects a Bud Light beer bottle at opening ceremonies of the new Anheuser-Busch expanded aluminum manufacturing plant in Arnold, Mo., on April 8, 2016. A Feb. 2022 Treasury Department report says U.S. alcohol markets are dominated by Anheuser-Busch and Molson Coors.

 Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo


Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Two brewers dominate the U.S. alcohol industry, according to a U.S. Treasury Department report required by an Executive Order from President Biden.

The report found that Anheuser-Busch Inbev and Molson Coors have dominated the U.S. markets since 2008, accounting for about 65% of the beer market nationwide, as measured by revenue.

The report encouraged the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to "continue their antitrust scrutiny of the alcohol markets."

The report noted two major trends in the last several decades in the beer, wine and spirits industry.

The first is significant growth of small and "craft" makers of beer, wine and spirits. More than 6,400 breweries, 6,600 wineries and 1,900 distilleries are operating in the United States.

The report said the second major alcohol industry trend is consolidation.

"In many states," the report said, "there has been significant consolidation in distribution."

The Treasury Department said studies have shown direct links between major brewery mergers and an ability to raise prices in the markets in which they compete.

The department's report encouraged states to explore changes to eliminate anticompetitive effects and to bolster competition in the alcohol industry.

Study: Fossilized bones suggest dinosaurs had respiratory infections, too

By HealthDay News

CT scans of infected vertebra from Dolly, a fossilized sauropod, show externally visibly abnormal bone growth and other internal irregularities -- which researchers say suggests a unique respiratory condition in dinosaur.

 Photo by Woodruff, et al./Ohio University/Nature


The fossilized bones of a young dinosaur show evidence of a respiratory infection that may have caused familiar flu-like symptoms -- fever, coughing and trouble breathing.

Dolly, as she's been dubbed by researchers, was an immature diplodocid -- a large, long-necked plant-eating sauropod. Her remains were found in southwest Montana and date back about 150 million years to the late Jurassic period.

Close examination of three of Dolly's neck bones revealed never-before-seen protrusions with an unusual shape and texture.

The abnormal growths were in an area that would have been penetrated by air-filled sacs connected to Dolly's lungs.

RELATED Malignant bone cancer found in ancient dinosaur fossil

CT imaging revealed the protrusions were made of abnormal bone that most likely formed in response to a respiratory infection.

"Given the likely symptoms this animal suffered from, holding these infected bones in your hands, you can't help but feel sorry for Dolly," said Cary Woodruff, director of paleontology at the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum in Malta, Montana.

"We've all experienced these same symptoms -- coughing, trouble breathing, a fever, etc. -- and here's a 150-million-year-old dinosaur that likely felt as miserable as we all do when we're sick," Woodruff said in a news release from Ohio University.

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The discovery, possibly the first evidence of a unique respiratory infection in a dinosaur, adds to understanding of the illnesses that occurred in dinosaurs, according to the authors of the study, which was published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

The researchers speculate that Dolly's illness could have been caused by a fungal infection similar to aspergillosis. It's a common respiratory disease that affects modern-day birds and reptiles. It can cause bone infections.

If untreated, aspergillosis can be fatal in birds, so it's possible that a similar infection in Dolly could have ultimately caused her death, Woodruff and his colleagues suggested.

Aspergillosis can also affect humans.

"This fossil infection in Dolly not only helps us trace the evolutionary history of respiratory-related diseases back in time, but gives us a better understanding of what kinds of diseases dinosaurs were susceptible to," Woodruff explained.

More information

There's more on aspergillosis at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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