Longtime music director at Michigan church fired for same-sex marriage

LGBTQ+ RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

Members of St. Francis Catholic Church in Traverse City, Mich., carry signs Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, to protest the firing of the parish music director. (Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP)


Members of St. Francis Catholic Church in Traverse City, Mich., carry signs Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, to protest the firing of the parish music director. (Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP)
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Members of St. Francis Catholic Church in Traverse City, Mich., carry signs Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, to protest the firing of the parish music director. (Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP)

 October 30, 2024

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The longtime music director at a northern Michigan church said he was fired just a few months before retirement after officials learned that he was in a same-sex marriage, a dismissal that has angered members and led to sidewalk protests by the choir.

“He’s extremely talented, he’s perfect on the piano, he has perfect pitch and because of him, I look forward to going to church every week,” said Bob Holden, a chorister at St. Francis Church in Traverse City.

“I’m divorced. Do I get thrown out next?” Holden told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

Fred Szczepanski said he was fired on Oct. 18 by the Rev. Michael Lingaur for marrying his longtime partner in a same-sex ceremony in Nevada in 2020. The church confronted him after receiving a letter from an unnamed person.

Szczepanski had been music director for 34 years and planned to retire in January. His recorded voice greets people who call the parish office.

The Catholic Church teaches that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. It opposes gay marriage, though Pope Francis says priests can offer blessings to same-sex couples.

“We take employee privacy very seriously and are not able to disclose details about individual personnel matters,” the Diocese of Gaylord, which oversees St. Francis, said in a written statement.

On Sunday, protesters carried signs outside the church: “Love Not Hate,” “God Includes, Not Excludes,” and “Fired Not Retired.”


Choir members on Oct. 20 wore black, left their seats empty and refused to sing, the Record-Eagle reported.


“People are hurt, people are sad. In a time where there is so much controversy in the world, the church needs to be a place of peace, and instead it’s turmoil after turmoil,” church member Toni Stanfield said.

Second Japanese high court rules lack of same-sex marriage protections unconstitutional

LGBTQ+ RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS


A Tokyo High Court ruled that a lack of protections for same-sex marriage in Japan was unconstitutional, becoming the second high court to do so. 

File Photo by Jiji Press/EPA-EFE

Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday ruled that the government's refusal to recognize same-sex marriage was against the country's constitution, marking the second court to do so.

The court said the Japanese government's failure to protect same-sex marriage had "no rational basis" and has become a form of "legal discrimination based on sexual orientation."

The court cited Article 14 of the Constitution, which declares that everyone is equal under the law, and a paragraph of Article 24 stating that laws on marriage "shall be enacted from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equality of the sexes."

Wednesday's ruling follows another by the Sapporo High Court in March, which backed a lower court's 2021 ruling that the lack of same-sex marriage protection violated Article 14.

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The Sapporo ruling also ruled the wording of the paragraph from article 24 could be interpreted to guarantee marriage for same-sex couples, countering the government's argument that the language excluded them.

"The degree of social acceptance for granting (same-sex couples) the same protection as heterosexuals has heightened considerably," Presiding Judge Sonoe Taniguchi said in her ruling, according to Kyodo News.


The plaintiffs took their case to the High Court after a Tokyo District Court in November rejected damages against the government while suggesting that the topic was one more suited to be resolved by the Japanese legislature.

The court, however, rejected the plaintiff's call for $6,500 in compensation from the government for not protecting same-sex marriage.

No court has approved financial compensation for plaintiffs in cases challenging the lack of same-sex marriage protection.

Taniguchi said in the ruling that the government could not be found liable to compensate plaintiffs as the Supreme Court has yet to rule on protections for same-sex marriage.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said during a press conference that introducing a same-sex marriage system "concerns the fundamentals of people's lives and is closely related to each parson's view of the family."

Autism diagnoses on the rise among U.S. children, adults

By Ernie Mundell, HealthDay News


Big surges in new autism diagnoses among young adults, as well a rise in diagnoses for girls and young women, have driven a near-tripling of U.S. autism cases in just over a decade, researchers report. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News

Big surges in new autism diagnoses among young adults, as well a rise in diagnoses for girls and young women, have driven a near-tripling of U.S. autism cases in just over a decade, researchers report.

Data on over 12 million patients enrolled in major U.S. healthcare systems found that between 2011 and 2022 the number of people diagnosed with autism climbed by 175%, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open.

The rise in diagnoses was especially dramatic among young adults ages 26 to 34 -- this group experienced a 450% increase (equivalent to more than a 5.5 times rise) in autism diagnoses between 2011 and 2022, the report found.

And even though boys are still four times as likely to be diagnosed with autism compared to girls, the "gender gap" in diagnoses is closing, according to a team led by Luke Grosvenor, of Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Pleasanton, Calif.

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While new diagnoses among male children during the study period rose by 185%, they soared by 305% among girls, the data showed.

Among adults, women charted a 315% rise in autism diagnoses between 2011 and 2022, Grosvenor's group found, compared to a 215% rise among men.


Why these trends?

First of all, "increased advocacy and education" may be bringing autism spectrum disorders out of the shadows, encouraging more openness among Americans to get themselves or their children screened for the condition, the Kaiser team said.

Furthermore, there have been recent "changes to developmental screening practices" for children, as well as changes in "diagnosis definitions, policies and environmental factors" that could be playing a role in the rise in case numbers, according to the study team.

As for the surge in diagnoses among girls and women, Grosvenors' team pointed to research suggesting that "gender behavior norms" can lead females to "socially hide autistic traits (commonly referred to as 'camouflaging')."

It's possible that those social pressures and stigmas are now easing, allowing girls and women to more comfortably seek out a diagnosis.

Autism rates remain highest among the very young: According to this tally, about 30 out of every 1,000 children ages 5 to 8 have an autism diagnosis.

That's only slightly higher than the 27.6-per-1,000 (about 1 in 36) rate seen among children generally in 2020, as calculated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Grosvenor's group stressed that the new data could still be an undercount of cases of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), especially among adults.

"Rates reported here may underestimate the true prevalence of ASD in adults, especially older female adults, as many would not have been screened in childhood and remain undiagnosed," the researchers noted.

The bottom line, according to the study authors: "The population of autistic adults in the U.S. will continue to grow, underscoring a need for expanded healthcare services."

More information

Find out more about autism spectrum disorders at Autism Speaks.

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

New Zealand city bids farewell to 'disturbing' hand sculpture


"Quasi," a sculpture by artist Ronnie van Hout, is being removed from atop City Gallery Wellington in New Zealand after overlooking the city for five years. Photo courtesy of the Wellington City Council


Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A controversial sculpture of a giant hand with a human face is being removed from atop a gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, after overlooking the city for five years.

Quasi, a sculpture by Ronnie van Hout, was originally commissioned by the Christchurch Art Gallery in 2016, and was moved to the top of City Gallery Wellington in 2019.
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The 16.4-foot-tall sculpture, based on van Hout's own hand and face, proved immediately controversial with some Wellington residents and was branded "disturbing" on social media.

Wellington Sculpture Trust Chair Jane Black said in a Wellington City Council news release that the sculpture will be missed.

"No other, before or since, arrived so dramatically into our street-scape. Quasi arrived on an azure-blue morning by helicopter and created a stir from day one, locally, nationally and internationally. He was a great cheerleader for Wellington's creativity, and as Time magazine said, our 'quirkiness,'" Black said. "He will be missed and leaves a Quasi-shaped hole on our civic skyline."

Quasi is scheduled to be removed Saturday and will travel to Australia, but a new venue for the sculpture has yet to be announced.

Maryland historical society seeks to identify mystery machine

The Dorchester County Historical Society is trying to identify a mystery machine that has been in storage since the 1990s and includes components believed to be about 100 years old. 

Photo courtesy of the Dorchester County Historical Society/Facebook


Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Historians in Maryland are seeking the public's help to identify a mysterious machine donated to a museum in the 1990s.

The Dorchester County Historical Society posted photos to social media showing a machine composed of a flat ceramic counter top and two spinning objects that resemble rolling pins.

The contraption was donated to the historical society's Neild Museum in the 1990s and has been in storage since.

"Can you identify this machine? It has a new motor but everything else is around 100 years old. What local industry would have used it?" the Facebook post said.

Zoe Phillips, executive director of the historical society, said one theory being pursued by historians is the possibility that the machine was intended to make beaten biscuits, which were once popular in Maryland and were known for their dense texture.

She said it may have been intended to simplify the dough-making process, which traditionally involved using an ax to beat the dough on a stump to remove air pockets.

"We potentially think it was a Maryland beaten biscuit maker," Phillips told WBOC-TV. "Created by a man who was trying to help his aunt with the business, and the belief is that this would've helped beat the air out of the dough as the biscuits were being created."

Other possibilities suggested in the comments of the Facebook post include a meat tenderizer and a leather-working tool.

SPACE/COSMOS

China's Shenzhou-19 crew arrives at Tiangong space station


The crew of China's Shenzhou-19 arrived at the Tiangong space station on Wednesday and posed for a "family photo" with the Shenzhou-18 crew. Photo courtesy Chinese Manned Space Agency  

NOTE THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE CREW IS NOT IN FRONT WITH HER FELLOW ASTRONAUTS WHO JUST ARRIVED

Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A new trio of Chinese astronauts reached the Tiangong space station on Wednesday, starting a handover from the current crew already on the orbiting laboratory.

According to the Chinese Manned Space Agency, the latest Chinese crew docked with the space station at 12:51 p.m. Beijing time. All six members of the two crews eventually took a "family photo" together.

"Subsequently, the two astronaut crews will perform on-orbit rotations at the space station," the CMSA said in a translated statement. "During this period, the six astronauts will work and live together on the space station for about five days to complete various scheduled tasks."

The two crews will work together on Tiangong for about five days before the Shenzhou-18 crew returns home leaving the new Shenzhou-19 crew to work on the space station alone.

The Shenzhou-18 crew is expected to land at the north China Dongfeng landing site on Nov. 4.

The Shenzhou-19 crew consists of commander Cai Xuzhu, 48, former Air Force pilot Song Lingdong, 34, and spaceflight engineer Wang Haoze,34. Cai was part of the Shenzhou-14 crew to the space station.

"My two new teammates were both born in the 1990s," Cai said during a news conference, according to Space.com. "Although there is an age difference between us, we share the same goal -- to serve our country and win honor for it while working and striving together."

UNRWA head says Israel's effort to dismantle the aid agency will be catastrophic for Gaza


 United Nations Work and Relief Agency for Palestine Commissioner General Phillpe Lazzarini said Tuesday that Israeli legislation against UNRWA will have a catastrophic impact on the international response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Palestinians inspect a destroyed UNRWA school following an Israeli air strike in Al Nusairat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, 06 June 2024. File photo by Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE

Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The head of the United Nations Work and Relief Agency for Palestine said in a Tuesday letter to the U.N. General Assembly that Israeli legislation against UNRWA will have a catastrophic impact on the international response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on X that Israeli bills targeting UNRWA are aimed at preventing it from operating to offer aid in the occupied Palestinian territory.
His letter to the U.N. General Assembly sought support to make sure UNRWA can continue delivering aid to Palestinians.

"The adoption today by the Knesset of two laws on UNRWA in effect denies the protections and means essential for UNRWA to operate, forbidding Israeli state officials from contact with UNRWA or its representatives, and prohibiting UNRWA operations within what is referred to as the sovereign territory of the State of Israel," Lazzarini wrote in his letter to the U.N. General Assembly president.

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Lazzarini said hostages taken by Hamas continue to suffer in captivity and Gaza's surviving civilian population "is trapped, awaiting death by airstrikes or starvation."

"After more than a year of the most intense bombardment of a civilian population since World War II, and the restriction of humanitarian aid far below minimum needs, the lives of Palestinians are shattered," Lazzarini added. "More than 43,000 people are reported killed, the majority women and children. Nearly the entire population is displaced. Schools, universities, hospitals, places of worship, bakeries, water, sewage and electricity systems, roads and farmland have all been destroyed."

UNRWA was formed in 1949 and is the primary aid agency for Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territories, delivering food and other supplies while educating 660,000 Palestinian youth.

Israel's Knesset overwhelmingly passed two bills Tuesday banning the organization within Israel.

"UNRWA has long ceased being a humanitarian aid agency. Beyond being an integral part of encouraging terrorism and hatred, it is an agency for perpetuating poverty and suffering," Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Knesset's foreign affairs and defense committee, said as it was passed.

Israel accuses a handful of UNRWA's employees of being involved in the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 Israelis.

So far Israel's war in Gaza, launched after the Hamas attack, has killed 43,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

In his letter to the U.N. General Assembly, Lazzarini said the names of all UNRWA employees have been shared with Israel.

He said UNRWA takes allegations of UNRWA employees' complicity with Hamas very seriously, but asserted Israel has not provided evidence of its allegations requested by the agency.

"No response has been received," Lazzarini wrote. "UNRWA is therefore in the invidious position of being unable to address allegations for which it has no evidence, while these allegations continue to be used to undermine the Agency."

Lazzarini said UNRWA has been under "intense physical attack in Gaza." He said 237 UNRWA personnel have been killed, more than 200 premises have also been damaged or destroyed, killing 560 people seeking U.N. protection.

NOAA: Antarctic ozone hole has shrunk, full recovery predicted



This year's ozone hole over the Antarctic is one of the smallest ever recorded and scientists say the ozone layer should fully recover by 2066. Image courtesy of NOAA Climate.gov

Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A hole in the atmosphere's ozone layer is the seventh-smallest since recovery began in 1992, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday.

The hole annually opens over the Antarctic at the southern pole and is much smaller than in most prior years, the NOAA announced.


NOAA and NASA scientists estimate the ozone layer could fully recover by 2066 and no longer have a hole opening each year.

"The 2024 Antarctic hole is smaller than ozone holes seen in the early 2000s," NASA ozone research team leader Paul Newman said. "The gradual improvement we've seen in the past two decades shows that international efforts that curbed ozone-destroying chemicals are working."

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The peak time for ozone depletion is from Sept. 7 through Oct. 13, but this year's hole ranked as the seventh-smallest since efforts began tin 1992 to counteract the hole caused by ozone-depleting chemicals.

The ozone hole this year averaged 8 million square miles with a peak size of 8.5 million square miles on Sept. 28, according to the NOAA.

The ozone hole's average size this year was about three times larger than the combined landmass of the United States.

The NOAA and NASA have reported the ozone hole's size every year since 1979, when satellites made it possible to track it.

Areas subject to ozone depletion are subjected to more UV radiation from the sun, which raises the potential for skin cancer, cataracts and reduced agricultural yields.

Ozone depletion also harms animals in important ecosystems and damages aquatic plants.

The Montreal Protocol established international agreement on ceasing the use of chemicals that depleted the ozone layer, which provides the Earth with a natural sunscreen, according to the NOAA.

A decline in the international use of chlorofluorocarbons -- combined with a natural infusion of ozone due to air currents from north of the Antarctic -- helped the ozone hole stay relatively small this year, NOAA scientists said.

While the ozone hole generally is shrinking, relatively large holes have been recorded as recently as last year.

Brain changes in marijuana users might not stem from cannabis

By Dennis Thompson, 

HealthDay News
Oct. 30, 2024 

People who regularly use marijuana experience changes in their brain structure and function, but it's not clear that cannabis is the cause, a new study finds. 

Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News

People who regularly use marijuana experience changes in their brain structure and function, but it's not clear that cannabis is the cause, a new study finds.

Researchers found specific differences in the brains of people who'd ever used weed, particularly in areas densely packed with cannabinoid receptors. However, genetic analysis couldn't pin down any specific association between cannabis use and these brain changes.

This means some other factor besides weed might be causing these brain changes in marijuana users.

"Our results need to be interpreted with careful consideration," concluded the research team led by Saba Ishrat, a doctoral student in psychiatry with the University of Oxford in Britain. Additional research is needed to understand the effects of heavy cannabis use in this population, including considerations of potency and related information, to inform public policy."

For the study, researchers analyzed data on nearly 15,900 weed users participating in the U.K. Biobank research project for whom genetic profiling and MRI brain scans were available.

Looking at the brains of the marijuana users, researchers found that they had poorer integrity of their "white matter," the part of the brain that connects different brain regions.

This was particularly evident in the corpus callosum, which serves as the main route of communication between the left and right sides of the brain.

Weed users also had weaker neural connections in the brain regions which make up the default mode network, which is thought to be active during mind wandering or daydreaming, researchers said.

However, heavy or long-term use was not strongly associated with any of these observed changes, researchers said.

Further, genetic analysis showed no significant association between a person's cannabis use and these brain changes.

The new study was published Tuesday in the journal BMJ Mental Health.

"Cannabis users had significant differences in brain structure and function, most markedly for markers of lower white matter microstructure integrity," the researchers wrote in a journal news release. "Genetic analyses found no support for causal relationships underlying these observed associations."

It could be that some other variable like family history, diet or other medications might have influenced the changes, researchers said.

It's also possible that the genetic analysis didn't include enough people to be able to detect the effects of weed on the brain, they added.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on cannabis and brain development.

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

CDC confirms onions caused McDonald's E. coli outbreak

By Mike Heuer

Health News
Oct. 30, 2024 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday reported there is "very low" risk to the public after an outbreak of E. coli affected 90 people in 13 states after eating McDonald's Quarter Pounders containing yellow slivered onions. Photo by Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/EPA-EFE


Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Slivered onions served on McDonald's Quarter Pounders and other menu items caused a recent E. coli outbreak, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday.

The CDC began investigating the E. coli outbreak on Oct. 22 and identified 90 cases that caused one death and 27 hospitalizations in 13 states.

The CDC says the current risk to the public is "very low" due to the actions take by McDonald's and Taylor Farms to remove fresh yellow slivered onions from McDonald's restaurants and other food services operators that also used the onions from Taylor Farms.

The CDC identified between 16 and 29 cases in Colorado and Montana and between six and 15 cases in Utah, Nebraska and Missouri.

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Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington each had between one and five cases.

No new cases have occurred since McDonald's and supplier Taylor Farms recalled the slivered onions.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture on Oct. 22 received multiple lots of fresh and frozen beef patties from McDonald's locations in the state that were associated with the E. coli outbreak.

The CDA Microbiology Laboratory analyzed the beef, which tested negative for E. coli. The CDA says it does not expect to receive more samples.


The CDA did not test McDonald's onions and said there is no evidence showing Colorado-grown onions are linked to the outbreak.

E. coli is a group of bacteria that can cause infections in people's stomachs, urinary tract and other parts of the body, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

E. coli usually won't cause harm, but some strains can make people ill and experience watery diarrhea, vomiting and fever.

The Shiga toxin-producing E. coli strain is the most likely to cause severe illness.