After All Things
Tick treatment
New York has some of the highest numbers of tick-borne diseases in the country. The U.S. Senate approves the Kids Online Safety Act, sponsored by Senator Blumenthal. Connecticut honors a local swimmer headed to the Paralympics. And Indigenous communities in the region have a lot more events planned for the summer.
- Duration:
- 11m
- Broadcast on:
- 30 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
you're listening to After All Things, WSHU's Daily News and Culture update from the Long Island Sound region. Suffolk County leads the nation in tick-borne diseases. The U.S. Senate approves the Kids Online Safety Act, sponsored by Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut honors a local swimmer, headed to the Para Olympics, and indigenous tribes in our region gear up for some end-of-summer festivals. Those stories and more are ahead. I'm Sabrina Garon. U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York was in Suffolk County yesterday to push for $200 million to study tick-borne diseases. WSHU's Desiree Diorio reports. The money will go to research programs that study Lyme disease and other illnesses spread by tick bites. Gillibrand says the federal funds will help develop treatment for tick-borne illnesses and study new methods of prevention and diagnosis. Suffolk County has one of the highest numbers of Lyme disease cases in the state according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey have some of the highest in the country. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that can cause long-term health problems. Desiree Diorio, WSHU News. The U.S. Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill meant to protect children online. It's sponsored by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, and Marcia Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee. WSHU's Abang Udama has more. Blumenthal says the bill is historic because for the first time it holds big tech companies accountable for protecting children's online privacy and safeguarding them from dangerous online content. Social media platforms will be bound by a duty of care to prevent their products from causing self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, and other harmful impacts. Blumenthal shares the Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on privacy technology and the law. Blackburn is the ranking Republican on the subcommittee. There's going to have to be a portal so bad actors in the virtual space can be reported and the social media platforms will have to do something about it. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader, says he's glad the bill passed with a 91-3 bipartisan support. It shows the chamber can work on something important. The bill is also expected to pass in the U.S. House and be signed into law by President Joe Biden before a new school year begins this fall. Abang Udama, WSHU's. And in another effort to protect kids, New York Governor Kathy Holkel is on a statewide tour to study banning cell phones in school. A bipartisan pair of lawmakers have also embraced this idea. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Senator Mitt Romney of Utah are introducing the Smart Kids Not Smart Phones Act. The bill would establish an award program to highlight schools that ban phone use by students during instructional hours. The senators say smartphones are a major distraction to students and the bill would allow federal agencies to publish policies on smartphone use. Connecticut swimmer Ali Truitt is headed to the Para Olympics in August and Governor Ned Lamont is marking the 24-year-old's achievement in a special way. WSHU's Molly Ingram has more. And Lamont has declared August 28th Ali Truitt Day in Connecticut. Truitt, who grew up in Darianne and swam at Yale, lost her foot in part of her leg in a shark attack last year in Turks and Caicos. She swam 75 yards back to a boat after the attack to save her life. The beautiful thing about swimming is that it's continued to save me these past 11 months. So I realized pretty quickly after the attack that I was fearful to get back in the water. And I was really determined to not lose that love of the water that I'd had my whole life. The Paralympics begin on August 28th and end on September 7th. Molly Ingram, WSHU News. Connecticut and Long Island residents can participate in a variety of indigenous events this summer. More on that is ahead after a message from our supporter. Local support comes from Hartford HealthCare, the only health system in the Northeast, with all its hospitals receiving A grades for safety from the LeapFrog group, the nation's leading independent safety watchdog group, HartfordHealthCare.org. The town of Babylon will use $90,000 in federal COVID relief to create a database of all local Hispanic owned businesses and identify those that were hurt financially by the pandemic. Non-official say they hope to improve relations with their Hispanic community and the initiative will last through 2026. Retail chain Bob's stores will close all of its remaining 21 locations nationwide, including two on the island and 12 in Connecticut. The Connecticut-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in June due to a liquidity crisis. Connecticut-based manufacturer Sikorsky is getting a chance to show off a concept to NATO for a potential helicopter. WSHU's Shelley Hasman-Cadish reports. Lockheed Martin Sikorsky is one of three aerospace defense companies chosen by NATO to compete under its next-generation rotorcraft requirements program. This comes after Sikorsky has lost out on contracts with the U.S. Army in recent years. Sikorsky's website says the company is building on its X-2 technology to provide NATO with an aircraft that is faster and easier to maneuver than previous models. Airbus and Leonardo are competing with Sikorsky. According to her's Connecticut media, Connecticut-based jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney is part of the Airbus team on the project. Shelley Hasman-Cadish, WSHU News. Indigenous communities in our region have had an eventful year from powhows and fundraisers to book clubs and festivals. I spoke with WSHU's Janice Roman about some more upcoming indigenous events. Janice, what are some of the indigenous events that we can look forward to seeing this summer in our region? Throughout Connecticut and on Long Island, there are several festivals and powhows that area residents really can look forward to whether you're indigenous or non-indigenous. In Connecticut, the Mohican tribe has its annual wigwam festival, which is also known as the Green Corn Festival. You can see a showcase of traditional Native American crafts, foods, dance competitions. This is an event that's open and free for the public. The Mashantucket Pequot tribe also has a festival known as Gimmetsen. It's a two-day festival hosted by the tribal nation and it is hosted near the tribes museum. The event will run from August 26 until August 27, and it also will feature Native American arts and crafts, ceremonial items, clothing, books, prints, all available for purchase. The Shinnecock Indian Nation will host its annual powhow on its territory in Southampton. It's going to be running throughout Labor Day weekend and the event is one of the largest Native American gatherings on the East Coast. You will be able to see tribe members from across the United States. It's not just area tribes that attend, but it's also open to the general public as well. On the Connecticut side, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center will host a fundraiser on the 17th. Throughout the summer, they also have reading circles and activity classes for families and children. They can participate in these reading circles and events that happen at the museum and usually they're included with the price of general admission. Yeah, it sounds like a busy summer. For folks who want to attend some of these events, for the non-Native attendees specifically, what should they know in terms of what to expect, how to be respectful and how to behave at these events. Right, so many of these events, whether there are festivals or powwows, are going to take place on traditional home lands or on reservations. This is something that attendees must be aware of and be respectful of, especially with some of these locations. Sometimes they're close to burial grounds, so number one is never to wander outside of any designated festival or powwow space and really be respectful of the area itself. There are also different segments of singing and drumming that are considered in many tribes to be a form of spirituality, so guests should be mindful of that as well. A lot of those times at these powwows, there are some form of grand entry or grand opening. Typically, everyone stands and sometimes they will say a traditional prayer and offer a blessing, so it's important to be respectful at that time. For more details about Indigenous events in our region, visit our website, WSHU.org. For the latest news from Long Island and Connecticut, you can listen on the radio, stream online at WSHU.org or download the WSHU app. After all things is supported by Hartford HealthCare, and whether it's news, classical music or podcasts like this one, they're all made possible with support from our listeners. So if you like what you hear, please consider making a donation to WSHU. All the info on how to do that is there for you on our website, and as always, reach out to us with any thoughts or story ideas you might have. Our email is news@wshu.org. I'm Sabrina Garone. Enjoy the rest of your day. I'll talk to you tomorrow. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]