WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) spoke on the U.S. Senate floor today to urge the U.S. to protect the rights of religious minorities throughout the world. Blunt specifically called for the release of Meriam Ibrahim and Pastor Saeed Abedini, who are both jailed for their religious beliefs.
In an effort to secure Ibrahim’s release, Blunt worked with U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) to send a letter on May 16, 2014, urging Secretary of the U.S. Department of State John Kerry to intervene on Ibrahim’s behalf. Blunt and Ayotte also sent a follow-up letter to Kerry and Jeh Johnson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), on May 21, 2014.
Last year, Blunt joined 11 of his colleagues in sending a letter to then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her to use all resources available to secure Pastor Abedini’s release. The letter also condemned the Iranian government for Pastor Abedini’s arbitrary persecution. Blunt also joined his colleagues in sending a follow-up letter to Kerry on February 12, 2013.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City police are recommending that people who hold garage sales not accept anything larger than a $20 bill to avoid being victimized by counterfeiters.
The Kansas City Star reports criminals are using fake $100 and $20 bills to make small purchases and receive real money as change. In one case the criminal asked the person conducting a garage sale to break a $100 bill.
Police have received reports of at least four people being ripped off by the counterfeiters on Kansas City’s north side. The victims discovered the crimes when they tried to deposit their garage sale earnings at banks.
In addition to not accepting larger bills, police suggest buying special pens sold by office supply retailers to detect counterfeit money.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge is to hear challenges to a pair of proposed constitutional amendments slated for the August ballot.
Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem scheduled hearings Thursday on lawsuits challenging the ballot summaries for measures that would enhance the right to bear arms and impose a three-quarter-cent sales tax for transportation projects.
In both cases, the lawsuits contend the summaries prepared by the Republican-led Legislature are unfair and misleading because they don’t mention some aspects of the measures.
Similar lawsuits routinely have been brought against other Missouri ballot proposals.
If Beetem were to order changes to the summaries, that could negate the votes on those measures for anyone who already has cast an absentee ballot in advance of the Aug. 5 election.
Portrait of Terence that’s part of a gallery exhibition called “Visual AIDS” at Outpost Worldwide, a Kansas City production company.-photo Duane Cramer
By Alex Smith
KCUR
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This Friday is National HIV Testing Day, created almost 20 years ago to encourage members of the public to learn their HIV status. Since then, what it means to be HIV-positive has changed dramatically.
Individuals diagnosed as positive today can expect to live as long as they would without the virus, as long as they receive treatment.
But many HIV patients, especially in African American communities, don’t receive the treatment they need, and health advocates blame that on the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS.
In Kansas City, a new art exhibition aims to erase that stigma.
Facing diagnosis
August 18, 2010, is a date Kaylon Sanders will probably never forget. It’s the day he found out he was HIV-positive.
Because of a communication mix-up, he didn’t hear the news in a doctor’s or counselor’s office. Instead, he got the news over the phone, while he was at work.
“That was very difficult,” Sanders said. “Especially for the setting, ’cause I actually shared my office with someone else. And so I’m like, ‘OK. Uh huh.’ You’re trying to be professional and not break down.”
He got in touch with his doctor, but it wasn’t long before he was in denial about the seriousness of his condition. Like 40 percent of those who know they are HIV-positive, he didn’t follow the prescribed treatment regimen.
“I didn’t get on medication,” Sanders said. “My counts were fine, so I kind of blocked it a little bit. I knew I had it, I knew I was still healthy, so I didn’t kind of go forward with it.”
He eventually did get treatment, and today he is strong and healthy. Now he works to help others overcome the emotional and social challenges associated with HIV.
Overcoming stigma
Sanders and nine other young, black, HIV-positive men are the subject of photo portraits in a gallery exhibition called “Visual AIDS” at Outpost Worldwide, a Kansas City production company.
Photographer and HIV/AIDS activist Duane Cramer, who is based in San Francisco, took the portraits in Kansas City.
“What these images do is show very strong, beautiful young men that look like other people in the community,” Cramer said. “They look just like you. They look just like me. They’re no different, but these people are standing up and standing out and really making a difference by putting their face forward with no fear and no shame.”
Rashaan Gilmore, the prevention coordinator at the Kansas City Care Clinic and organizer of the exhibition, explains that the stigma associated with being HIV-positive can be almost as terrifying as the diagnosis itself, driving many to deny they even have the virus and yet others to avoid getting tested.
“There is that moment where you ask yourself the question: What does this mean for my life? Will anybody love me? Can I be in a happy, healthy relationship? Will I be rejected by family and friends? Am I a pariah?” Gilmore said.
Sara Nelson-Johns, the Kansas City Care Clinic’s clinical coordinator of therapy, is all too familiar with the fear and misinformation that can haunt patients, even in their own homes.
“I know people whose family make them use paper plates and plastic silverware, which is completely needless and has nothing to do with transmission,” Nelson-Johns said. “And when it happens, that person has a really hard time feeling like, ‘I’m OK.’”
HIV and African Americans
Keith Irvin, who is pictured in one of the exhibition portraits, said that while plenty of helpful HIV information is available, much of it does not resonate with those who need to hear it.
“A lot of the brochures and literature about it, you see mostly Caucasian males on the covers and the pictures and interviews that they have,” Irvin said. “You don’t see a lot of black men that are 1) educated about it, and then 2) that are proud to educate others about it.”
The disproportionate impact of HIV on black men is made graphically clear by the statistics.
In 2009, for the first time, the number of new cases among African American men surpassed new cases among white men. In 2010, the rate of new infections among black men soared to nearly eight times that of white men.
For many black men raised with a cultural distrust of health providers — men like Kaylon Sanders — the problem is that much worse.
“I didn’t go to the doctor that often,” he said. “My dad was not a ‘doctor person.’ We didn’t do dentists, eye doctors, anything like that. ‘Ah, you’re fine. Take a Benadryl. You’ll be alright.’”
Beyond cultural influences, Nelson-Johns said, other factors affect the way people approach health care.
“You’re less likely to have access to medical care dependent on economic class, education,” she said. “So the lower we go on that, the less someone is health literate as well. Even just the basics, about how to take care of one’s body, may not have been taught to them because their lives have been really tough.”
The situation is further complicated in Kansas City by the scarcity of local therapists or care providers of color. Gilmore said having a professional who shares the patient’s race or background can make a huge difference.
“It can often be the difference between life and death on both a physical and mental level. You want to know that the person who’s providing your treatment and care understands where you’re coming from. Not just what got you into that office that day for treatment, but also what it means to have to go back into your community and to your family and deal with those cultural dynamics that will impact your life day-to-day,” Gilmore said.
Visual AIDS
On a recent afternoon, Gilmore walked through the photo exhibition, pointing out the portraits he hopes will speak to young black men.
The images range from men in ball caps and sneakers to one sporting a dress and high heels.
Looking at his portrait, Sanders admits his first reaction was a little mixed.
“Only because I’m critical about my own photos!” he said.
Then he takes a closer look.
“I could see the courage and the bravery that maybe I didn’t even know I had, but it did come off on camera,” he said.
Can a roomful of photos really make a difference in the way people see HIV? Can it break through the stigmas and stereotypes and connect with young black men?
“I think it already has,” Irvin said.
Irvin said he’s heard from both friends and strangers, thanking him for presenting himself — and his diagnosis — to the world.
Visual AIDS is on display at Outpost Worldwide through the end of June.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Five regional health systems across Missouri have formed a new network its leaders hope will improve business practices and patient care.
The Health Network of Missouri is made up of University of Missouri Health Care in Columbia; Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia; Capital Region Medical Center in Jefferson City; Hannibal Regional Healthcare System; and Lake Regional Health System in Osage Beach.
The network’s governing board held its first meeting Wednesday. Dr. Hal Williamson of the MU health system told the Columbia Daily Tribune that each organization will provide $40,000 to hire an executive director and pay for consultants under a new limited liability company.
MU Health Care spokeswoman Mary Jenkins said the network will allow collaboration on clinical services, recruiting physicians, contracted services and enhanced information technology infrastructure.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri’s Republican legislative leaders are hitting back against Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon in a battle over state budget cuts.
House Budget Chairman Rick Stream and Senate Appropriations Chairman Kurt Schaefer have sent a letter to the state Highway Patrol asking it to limit the use of state airplanes only for emergencies and law enforcement purposes.
The lawmakers say other flight costs can’t be justified given Missouri’s declining state revenues.
Nixon frequently uses the airplane. He traveled around the state Wednesday holding events at which he defended his vetoes of numerous tax-break bills passed by the Legislature.
Nixon announced more than $1 billion of budget vetoes and spending restrictions Tuesday. But he said he would release his freeze on education funding increases if lawmakers sustain his vetoes of the tax breaks.
ATLANTA (AP) — When it comes to flu vaccines, a federal panel says a squirt in the nose is better than a shot in the arm for young children.
The advisory panel agreed Wednesday to tell doctors that FluMist nasal spray is a bit better at preventing flu in healthy young kids. The advice is specific to children ages 2 through 8.
Federal health officials usually adopt the panel’s recommendations and ask doctors and patients to follow them.
A pediatricians’ group, however, opposes the move. The group says FluMist is more expensive and doctors have already ordered their vaccine doses for the fall flu season.
The flu vaccine is recommended for everyone over 6 months old. The nasal spray version is approved only for ages 2 to 49.
WASHINGTON – Above all other companies in all other industries in America, those that rank the worst in a survey of customer satisfaction are cable companies. Now U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, who leads the Senate panel on Consumer Protection, is laying the groundwork for a new federal law aimed at bringing transparency and fairness to cable, satellite, and other pay-TV billing practices-and she is starting by soliciting personal stories and tips from Missouri consumers.
McCaskill is asking any consumer who believes they have experienced deceptive, or confusing billing practices by a cable, satellite, or other pay-TV company to visit her website, www.McCaskill.senate.govand use the “Submit Your Scam” web tool to tell their story.
The billing practices of cable, satellite, and other pay-TV services rank among the fastest-growing consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission. McCaskill cited some examples of common consumer complaints, including:
Confusing updates to channel line-ups, broadband Internet speeds, or pricing that are not clearly explained to consumers
Overbilling or ongoing charges that consumers should not be paying
Excessive (or erroneous) equipment rental fees
Early termination and/or change of service fees
McCaskill also expressed interest in hearing stories about consumers’ specific experiences attempting to dispute a charge on a cable, satellite or other pay-TV service bill.
“Consumers in every corner of the country share common experiences about fending for themselves against confusing, deceptive billing practices by cable, satellite and other pay-TV companies-and I want to hear their stories,” said McCaskill, a former Missouri prosecutor. “Consumers need protections from these practices, and I’m aiming to provide that and begin holding these companies accountable.”
McCaskill used a Senate hearing earlier this year to challenge representatives of the cable and satellite industry on their billing practices.
Leading the Senate’s panel on Consumer Protection, McCaskill has previously highlighted the voices and stories of her Missouri constituents to force predatory companies and scam artists to answer for their fraudulent practices, and to enact policies to better protect families and consumers across the country. McCaskill has drawn upon tips and firsthand stories to launch Senate investigations aimed at schemes involving reverse mortgages, credit card companies, inaccuracies on credit reports, fraudulent robocalls, and scam artists known as “patent trolls” that threaten Missouri job and business opportunities.
JENNIFER KAY, Associated Press
WILFREDO LEE, Associated Press
AQUARIUS REEF BASE, Fla. (AP) — Fabien Cousteau has a week left in his 31-day underwater living experiment in the Florida Keys, but he’s not eager to return to the surface.
He says he’s panicking about the short amount of time his team of filmmakers and scientists have left during their “Mission 31” expedition. They return to land July 2.
Cousteau spoke Tuesday with The Associated Press inside Aquarius Reef Base, a laboratory 63 feet below the surface in the waters off Key Largo. He said he’s comfortable and happy living underwater, although almost all the food has started to taste bland.
Florida International University and Northeastern University researchers joined Cousteau underwater. Cousteau is the grandson of ocean exploration pioneer Jacques Cousteau.
