PITTSBURGH — Sarah Tuthill has a pretty straightforward philosophy to assemble a food board for parties: Keep things simple, but also make your spread memorable by arranging the food and drinks thoughtfully.

The made-to-order cheese and charcuterie boards crafted at her tiny storefront and commercial kitchen, EZPZ Gatherings in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, are a case in point.

Not only are the cured meats, seasonal fruits, homemade spreads and various cheeses drool worthy, but they’re also artfully designed to make a table look pretty.

Richly layered and vibrant, they boast a contrasting mix of colors and textures. Some are traditionally arranged on wooden boards, but depending on the theme or season, Tuhill also might add a touch of whimsy by using woven harvest baskets or wooden bowls. Or she might opt for modern and minimalistic by placing pieces on acrylic or melamine boards.

As she details in her recently released how-to book, “Gathering Boards: Seasonal Cheese and Charcuterie Spreads” (Rowman & Littlefield, $27.95), the Aspinwall native and Penn State University grad also has been known to line up crackers on the vintage shirt-sleeve ironing board she found in an antique store. Big on repurposing, she also likes to tuck candles, jars of olives or flowers into a primitive wooden tool caddy.

“A lot of it comes down to social media,” Tuthill says of her distinctive displays. “Everyone is posting these beautiful pictures, and the bar is raised. You can’t just slap things on a [plain] board.”

Though she has always been a foodie and has dabbled in floral and interior design, Tuthill didn’t set out to be a food entrepreneur after graduating from college with a degree in advertising. Most of her career has been in communications, including many years as a freelance writer.

She only started toying with the idea of EZPZ Gatherings around 2018 because she longed to write a book and wanted to do something to “get my hands dirty” by doing it professionally.

“I love writing, but was drawn to doing something more hands-on, creating something tangible, but still creative,” she says.

While she has always loved to entertain and was known among family and friends for making beautiful hors d’oeuvres and other spreads, Tuthill knew she didn’t want to be a full-service caterer.

“So I zeroed in on appetizers,” she says, officially opening EZPZ Gathering in December 2019, just before the charcuterie craze took off during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Initially, Tuthill worked out of the food incubator kitchen her friend, Josephine Caminos Oria, opened in 2013. Then the pandemic hit “and I was done before I even started,” she says with a rueful laugh.

Back to the drawing board

No one would have blamed her if she threw in the towel. But Tuthill dug in, using the downtime to continue honing her packaging skills and further educate herself about cheese varieties, flavors, textures and production methods.

“It was a blessing in disguise,” she says.

Because so many were stuck at home and in search of hobbies, it also allowed her to start teaching online classes. “So many Zoom book clubs wanted cute snacks,” she remembers. “People wanted to learn and experience something rather than just sitting around.”

The public’s desire to create beautiful gathering boards at home only grew once pandemic restrictions were lifted and the charcuterie board craze exploded.

Today, the one-room storefront Tuthill took over in 2022 — one of the first local niche businesses focused on creating boards for dinner parties, graduation parties and other celebrations — now doubles as a “boarding school” in which fellow Pittsburghers can take workshops to learn the art of cheese and charcuterie styling.

As she notes in her book, “The truth is, you don’t have to be a culinary genius to throw a good party. In fact, you don’t have to know how to cook at all. By merely presenting food and drinks in an inventive, beautiful or whimsical way, you can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.”

Many of her ingredients are sourced locally at specialty shops (Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. is a favorite haunt) but she also fills her boards with items from chain grocery stores like Trader Joe’s. “It’s a little bit of everything, depending on the season.”

Tuthill was approached to write her book on boards in 2022 in the most Pittsburgh manner. A woman saw a story about Tuthill’s shop and her background as a writer in a local paper. “And lo and behold, she cut it out like grandmas do and sent it to her son,” who works for Rowman & Littlefield Publishing. And the rest, she says, “is history.”

She closed her shop at the beginning of 2023 to focus on the project, and did most of the writing last summer. The tome hit bookshelves on May 13, and can be found on Amazon and in Barnes & Noble.

Meant as a “how-to-do-it” for people who like to entertain, the book — beautifully photographed by Kari Hilton and sprinkled throughout with family stories — includes specific suggestions for each season, along with styling tips. The section on summer gathering boards, for instance, includes “Picnic in the Park” and “Lakeside Snackle Box” boards while fall features a “Game Day Tailgate Box” and a Halloween-inspired “CharBOOterie.”

Along with a handful of recipes for go-to dips and sides, Tuthill offers tips on serving temperatures, knife selection and serving sizes. She also includes suggestions for wine pairings and decor, along with tips on glassware, lighting, party flow and post-party clean-up.

For an end-of-summer picnic, Tuthill recommends focusing on foods that are easy to pack and eat, and can withstand some heat, such as the skewers and Chautauqua Salad featured below.

“And of course a [pre-made] cocktail or fancy drink is always fun,” she says. She suggests using mason jars for a summer sangria because they’re super cute and close tightly.

“You just pour ice and vodka over the top,” she says, “and it’s all self contained.”

Summer on a Stick

Serves 6, PG tested

Skewers make for stress-free (and mess-free) picnicking, and take the guesswork out of what goes with what. This summer spin on Caprese salad swaps out the tomato for slices of juicy peach.

6 slices chilled prosciutto (slightly thicker slices work best)

1 ripe peach, sliced

6 small mozzarella balls (cherry-sized)

6 fresh basil leaves

Skewers or toothpicks

1. Fold prosciutto into ribbons: Fold a single slice in half longways, then gently fold it back and forth like an accordion. Pinch the bottom while fanning out the folds.
2. Thread a piece of peach onto a toothpick, followed by mozzarella ball, basil leaf (folded in half or into quarters if large). Finish with a prosciutto ribbon, then place onto a serving platter. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

— Sarah Tuthill

Mason Jar Sangria

Serves 2, PG tested

Mason jars make the perfect vessel for individual cocktails-to-go and can be found in just about any supermarket or craft store.

1 ripe peaches, sliced

1 ripe plumb, sliced

1/2 cup berries

3 ounces vodka

6 ounces dry white wine

6 ounces lemonade

1 12-ounce can sparkling water or club soda

1. Fill 2 half pint jars with seasonal fruit (You can use the same ones you’re serving for your picnic!)
2. Top each with a shot of vodka and 2 shots of white wine. (I prefer a dry white like sauvignon blanc in the summertime.) Add a couple ounces of something sweet like lemonade or lemonade concentrate.
3. Screw on the lids, give them a shake and let the jars sit in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.
4. Pack them up and when you’re ready to enjoy, top off with chilled soda water and add a festive straw.

— Sarah Tuthill

Chautauqua Salad

Serves 2-4, PG tested

“This salad is a key component of our family’s favorite summer meal” in Chautauqua, N.Y., writes Tuthill.

There, it’s almost always served alongside nothing more than corn on the cob and a crusty loaf of bread on nights when it’s too hot for the oven or grill. But it’s also a refreshing salad that’s perfect for a picnic.

3/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup virgin olive oil

1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced thinly

2 large tomatoes, sliced

1. Prepare dressing: In a shallow bowl, dissolve sugar in the red wine vinegar. Whisk in the oil.
2. Gently fold in tomatoes and cucumbers and allow to sit, at room temp, for at least 20 minutes.

— Sarah Tuthill

©2024 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Missoula is one of Montana’s largest cities but is surrounded by rural mountain communities where cattle ranching is king. Despite the latitude and altitude, in recent years this region has experienced punishing summer heat waves.

It has been difficult for residents to adapt to the warming climate and new seasonal swings. Many don’t have air conditioning and are unprepared for the new pattern of daytime temperatures hovering in the 90s — for days or even weeks on end. Dehydration, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and abnormalities in heart rate and blood pressure are among the many health complications that can develop from excessive exposure to high temperatures.

It can happen anywhere and to anyone, said Missoula firefighter Andrew Drobeck. He remembers a recent 911 call. The temperature that day had risen to over 90 degrees and a worker at a local dollar store had fainted. “She’s sensitive to the heat. Their AC wasn’t working super good,” Drobeck said. “I guess they only get a 15-minute break.”

Drobeck said many of the heat calls his department receives are from seniors who struggle to stay cool inside their older homes. Montana’s population is among the oldest in the country. About 1 in 4 residents are over 60. Those over 65 are especially vulnerable to heat-related illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As people age, their bodies don’t acclimate to heat as well as they did when they were younger, including not producing as much sweat.

In July, a heat dome that settled over much of the western U.S. baked the region and shattered two types of temperature records: daily highs, and number of consecutive days over 90 degrees. Although the Northwest, including western Montana, is typically cooler, the region experienced record-breaking heat this summer.

Emergency responders like Drobeck have noticed. Drobeck says 911 calls during heat waves have ticked up over the last few summers. But Missoula County officials wanted to know more: They wanted better data on the residents who were calling and the communities that had been hardest hit by the heat. So the county teamed up with researchers at the University of Montana to comb through the data and create a map of 911 calls during heat waves.

The team paired call data from 2020 with census data to see who lived in the areas generating high rates of emergency calls when it was hot. The analysis found that for every 1 degree Celsius increase in the average daily temperature, 911 calls increased by 1%, according to researcher Christina Barsky, who co-authored the study.

Though that may sound like a small increase, Barsky explained that a 5-degree jump in the daily average temperature can prompt hundreds of additional calls to 911 over the course of a month. Those call loads can be taxing on ambulance crews and local hospitals.

The Missoula study also found that some of the highest rates of emergency calls during extreme heat events came from rural areas, outside Missoula’s urban core. That shows that rural communities are struggling with heat, even if they get less media attention, Barsky said. “What about those people, right? What about those places that are experiencing heat at a rate that we’ve never been prepared for?” she said.

Barsky’s work showed that communities with more residents over 65 tend to generate more 911 calls during heat waves. That could be one reason so many 911 calls are coming from rural residents in Missoula County: Barsky said people living in Montana’s countryside and its small towns tend to be older and more vulnerable to serious heat-related illness.

And aging in rural communities can pose extra problems during heat waves. Even if it cools off at night, an older person living without air conditioning might not be able to cope with hours of high temperatures inside their home during the day. It’s not uncommon for rural residents to have to drive an hour or more to reach a library that might have air conditioning, a community center with a cooling-off room, or medical care. Such isolation and scattered resources are not unique to Montana. “I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,” Barsky said. “There are no air-conditioned spaces in at least 50 miles. The hospital is 100 miles away.”

Heat research like the Missoula study has focused mostly on large cities, which are often hotter than outlying areas, due to the “heat island” effect. This phenomenon explains why cities tend to get hotter during the day and cool off less at night: It’s because pavement, buildings, and other structures absorb and retain heat. Urban residents may experience higher temperatures during the day and get less relief at night.

By contrast, researchers are only just beginning to investigate and understand the impacts of heat waves in rural areas. The impacts of extreme heat on rural communities have largely been ignored, said Elizabeth Doran, an environmental engineering professor at the University of Vermont. Doran is leading an ongoing study in Vermont that is revealing that towns as small as 5,000 people can stay hotter at night than surrounding rural areas due to heat radiating off hot pavement. “If we as a society are only focused on large urban centers, we’re missing a huge portion of the population and our strategies are going to be limiting in how effective they can be,” Doran said.

Brock Slabach, with the National Rural Health Association, agrees that rural residents desperately need help adapting to extreme heat. They need support installing air conditioning or getting to air-conditioned places to cool off during the day. Many rural residents have mobility issues or don’t drive much due to age or disability. And because they often have to travel farther to access health care services, extra delays in care during a heat-related emergency could lead to more severe health outcomes. “It’s not unreasonable at all to suggest that people will be harmed from not having access to those kinds of services,” he said.

Helping rural populations adapt will be a challenge. People in rural places need help where they live, inside their homes, said Adriane Beck, director of Missoula County’s Office of Emergency Management. Starting a cooling center in a small community may help people living in town, but it’s unrealistic to expect people to drive an hour or more to cool off. Beck said the Missoula County Disaster and Emergency Services Department plans to use data from the 911 study to better understand why people are calling in the first place.

In the coming years, the department plans to talk directly with people living in rural communities about what they need to adapt to rising temperatures. “It might be as simple as knocking on their door and saying, ‘Would you benefit from an air conditioner? How can we connect you with resources to make that happen?’” Beck said.

But that won’t be possible for every rural household because there simply isn’t enough money at the county and state level to pay for that many air-conditioning units, Missoula County officials said. That’s why the county wants to plan ahead for heat waves and have specific protocols for contacting and assisting vulnerable rural residents.

“Ideally we’d be in a situation where maybe we have community paramedics that can be deployed into those areas when we know that these events are going to happen so they can check on them and avoid that hospital admission,” Beck explained. She added that preventing heat-related hospitalizations among rural residents can ultimately save lives.

This article is from a partnership that includes MTPR, NPR, and KFF Health News.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.

©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Mercedes Dodge was raised by first-generation immigrant parents from Peru in a modest home in a rural part of southeastern Texas, where there weren’t many health care providers. Sometimes they had to travel to Houston, over an hour and a half away, to get basic health care.

Partly because of that experience, Dodge became a physician assistant. Since 2008, she has provided psychiatric and primary care services to adults and children, many of whom come from communities like hers.

Dodge, who now lives in Austin, Texas, has built up a loyal base of patients, including many who are part of military families. But when any of them move out of Texas, she has to stop treating them, even via telehealth, unless she gets a license to practice in that state.

“I do my best and collaborate with them, but they already feel alone,” Dodge told Stateline. “I wonder, ‘Why can’t I be the glue? Why can’t I step over state lines and provide the care that they deserve?’”

Physician assistants, commonly known as PAs, are licensed clinicians who have a master’s degree and can practice in a range of specialties. Their three years of training typically includes 3,000 hours of direct patient care, and they are an increasingly critical part of the health care workforce, which in many states isn’t keeping pace with a growing and aging population.

By 2028, the nation as a whole will be short some 100,000 critical health care workers — doctors, nurses and home health aides — according to a new report from Mercer, a management consulting firm.

The looming shortage is one reason why 13 states have joined the PA Licensure Compact, a multistate agreement that allows PAs to practice in any participating state, without having to get an additional license.

Delaware, Utah, and Wisconsin enacted the legislation in 2023.

Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia followed suit this year. Ohio became the latest state to enact it in July.

The PA compact is one of several that have emerged over the past several years, especially since the expansion of telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are similar compacts for doctors, nurses, occupational therapists and social workers.

One challenge has been completing the background checks required for providers who want to practice under the compacts. For example, Pennsylvania’s participation in the nursing and medical licensure compacts was delayed as the FBI denied the state access to its fingerprint database. They later reached an agreement on how to move forward.

The PA compact grants a “privilege to practice,” allowing PAs to practice in participating states without getting an additional license. The nursing compact gives nurses a multistate license, while the physician licensure compact just expedites the licensing process.

Some large states, such as California and New York, don’t participate in compacts for doctors, nurses, social workers or PAs. Some state lawmakers in those states say joining interstate compacts would reduce the quality of their states’ health care workforces, because other states require lower standards of education and training.

“We are proud that New York’s high standards have resulted in our state being an international destination in health care,” New York Democratic Assemblymember Deborah Glick wrote in an op-ed last year for the Times Union newspaper in Albany. “While it’s possible that it may make sense at some point for New York to join a licensure compact, we should pause before we allow a quick fix to lower New York’s standards.”

In other states, such as Texas, doctors who have succeeded in limiting the “scope of practice” of Texas PAs oppose the compact because they believe it might allow out-of-state PAs to go beyond those limits for their patients who reside in Texas. The American Medical Association and its state affiliates argue that allowing PAs to provide care traditionally provided by physicians puts patients at risk.

Dr. G. Ray Callas, president of the Texas Medical Association, said he values the role that physician assistants play in the health care system, but that his organization objects to any measure that might “give PAs authority to do more in health care than they are trained to do.”

“TMA is not opposed to appropriate, expedited licensure, but we do oppose these compacts when they expand scope of practice and create a patient safety issue, lowering the standard of care in Texas,” Callas said in a statement.

Supporters of the compact say that fear is unfounded, and that the agreement has no effect on state scope of practice rules. The model legislation for the compact specifies that PAs who treat patients in another state can only do so “under the Remote State’s laws and regulations.”

Last year, the Texas legislature considered legislation to join the PA compact, but it died in the state Senate.

Monica Ward, president of the Texas Academy of Physician Assistants, said her group will keep pushing for the bill.

“In the rural areas of Texas, there is absolutely a need and a shortage of health care providers,” Ward said. “We’re surrounded by multiple states, so it’s nice to be able to reduce those administrative burdens, paperwork and possibly fees for those that are looking to work in Texas.”

It will take 18 to 24 months for the compact to become fully operational and for PAs to apply for the privilege to practice in other areas. The compact commission also needs to create a data system to keep track of licenses.

This model of licensure may not have worked even five years ago, said Tennessee Republican state Rep. Jeremy Faison, who sponsored his state’s compact legislation.

“It would have had major pushback and people would have asked, ‘What are you trying to do? We like to control what we’re doing in our state,’” said Faison. “But because we live in a global society and people move around so much more than ever before, I think the average person has embraced this.”

Faison told Stateline that for states such as Tennessee, which borders eight states, joining the compact makes economic sense because it will encourage people to move to the state.

Financial stability was 32-year-old Aneil Prasad’s motivation for getting a compact nursing license. He moved from New Orleans to Asheville, North Carolina, last year.

“It allows people to seek out better-paying jobs and move themselves ahead, buy houses and have better health and education and all that,” Prasad said. “And then the less competitive places are forced to raise their wages in order to attract people.”

After moving from Louisiana to North Carolina with his multistate license, Prasad said his wage increased from $21 an hour to $36 an hour. He notes that while the multistate license for nurses costs a bit more than a regular license, it would be much more expensive for him to apply for a new license in every state.

Since Texas hasn’t joined the PA compact, Dodge maintains active licenses in her home state as well as Alaska, California, Florida, New Mexico and Washington. She said the process to get them was expensive and time-consuming. Licenses can cost upward of $500 and can take three to nine months to obtain. Dodge said it’s been worth the trouble to help her patients, but she would appreciate an easier pathway.

“I got all these state licenses to follow my patients,” she said. “So when the PA compact license gets enacted in Texas, I hope it’s going to help me continue following my patients and I’ll be the glue that they need.”

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

For 13 years, the 3% annual salary boost that Ricardo M. could count on every October felt like a beacon of stability and a nod that his loyalty as a plumbing supply salesman was being rewarded.

But in the aftermath of a post-pandemic inflation surge, those raises have since lost their luster. His grocery bills have doubled. The cost of filling up his Toyota 4Runner has jumped to $70 a week, and he’s had to dip into his savings to avoid taking on credit card debt. All the while, his pay increases have stayed the same.

“Inflation has taken it all,” says Ricardo, a California resident who requested that his last name be abbreviated, so he could speak freely about his employment situation. “I know costs are going up everywhere, and I understand that a business has to make money and stay profitable. But at the same time, don’t forget about the people who are bringing you business. I don’t make enough for the sales that I generate.”

Economists have celebrated inflation’s rapid dissent, and perhaps even more, the relatively little pain it’s caused the U.S. job market. For over a year now, wages have been rising faster than inflation as prices slow and the job market holds up, giving Americans an opportunity to recover the buying power that they lost after ultralow interest rates, supply shortages and a stimulus check-fueled spending boom combined to form the worst inflation crisis in 40 years.

But the race isn’t over yet. The past 16 months of “real” wage growth — as economists have called it — haven’t been enough to offset the 25 months where prices were rising disproportionately faster than Americans’ paychecks, according to a new analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data from Bankrate.

Bankrate’s 2024 Wage To Inflation Index

Since the beginning of the post-pandemic inflation surge in Jan. 1, 2021, prices have risen 20.0%, compared with a 17.4% increase in wages over the same period, Bankrate’s second-annual Wage To Inflation Index found.

Inflation feels akin to taking a pay cut, helping explain why Americans have been so downtrodden about the U.S. economy. Despite a half-century low unemployment rate at the time, the majority (59%) of Americans said in a Bankrate poll from December 2023 that they felt like the U.S. economy was in a recession.

Americans could even take these frustrations to the voting booth come November. Most adults (89%) say the economy will be an important factor in determining their vote, with two-thirds (62%) calling it very important, according to Bankrate’s Biden and Americans’ Personal Finances Survey from November 2023.

To be sure, some ground has already been recovered. Thanks to over a year of “real” wage growth, the current gap between wage growth and inflation (2.6 percentage points) marks major improvement from when it was at its widest in the summer of 2022 (3.9 points).

Yet, wages have recently lost some momentum. In Bankrate’s 2023 index, Americans’ paychecks were on track to fully recover from post-pandemic inflation by the fourth quarter of this year. Now, Americans’ paychecks are on pace to bounce back by the end of the second quarter of 2025, updates to Bankrate’s index for 2024 found.

The job market has cooled more than expected this year

Wages are taking longer to recover amid a faster-than-expected cooldown in the job market, which has already stripped workers of some of their bargaining power to ask for higher pay.

Between the second quarter of 2023 and 2024, prices rose 3.194%, nearly matching the 3.187% expected increase from last year’s index. Wages, however, rose 4.03% over the same period, after previously being on pace to grow 4.6%.

The labor market functions much like any other open market, economists say. Wage growth is often a reflection of who has the upper hand: the employer or the employee.

When there are too many job openings and not enough workers, employers compete for talent by lifting pay or offering big bonuses. But too few jobs for the number of people seeking work might make Americans hesitant to leave their current positions, wary about how greener other pastures might actually be in a more competitive job market.

If they’ve been on the hunt for a while, they might be inclined to settle for a job that pays less. And if they’re so inclined to negotiate for higher pay, they might not ask for as much.

“We’re seeing wage growth cool because demand is falling,” says Sam Kuhn, labor economist at Appcast, a recruiting platform. “In 2022, there were serious labor shortages. As that gap has closed, there’s just less incentive to give out higher wages or yearly raises.”

Illustrating the shift, there’s now just one job opening per every unemployed worker, the smallest ratio since April 2018, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. Employers have created an average 96,000 jobs in the private sector over the past three months, a massive slowdown from a three-month moving average of 203,000 in March. The hiring rate, meanwhile, has plunged to levels that are even lower than they were before the pandemic. Unemployment is now the highest since before the pandemic.

ADP’s Chief Economist Nela Richardson has watched wage growth for job changers dip from a high of 16.4% in June 2022 to the most recent level of 7.3%, according to data that her firm collects. Americans who’ve stayed at their current positions, meanwhile, saw their pay increase 4.8% for the second month in a row, ADP data also shows. In the leisure and hospitality sector, Richardson says she’s starting to notice that workers are accepting new positions for less pay than they were making previously — echoing trends from before the pandemic and painting a picture of a slowing labor market.

“There’s a lot of reasons workers switch jobs that aren’t tied primarily to compensation,” she adds. “It could be a better shift, a better team, a better location.”

What happens next for the U.S. job market can have grave implications for Americans’ prospects of catching up. In June, economists projected that job growth over the next year would average 115,000 jobs a month, Bankrate’s quarterly Economic Indicator Survey found. That would represent an even sharper slowdown in labor demand, with job growth currently averaging 197,000 over the past 12 months.

A cooling economy means less inflation, but slower wage growth, too, setting Americans back in their game of catch up. Richardson says a valid concern is whether their wages will recover at all.

“Will workers make up the ground lost when real wages weren’t growing with inflation? From what I see in key sectors, the answer is not likely,” Richardson says. “It’s really about can the wage level remain above current inflation, to get a better picture for workers.”

Not all workers have lost ground to inflation

Some workers are even further ahead — or behind — in their race against inflation, depending on the specific industry in which they work.

Bankrate’s analysis found that pay has risen faster than inflation in two industries: leisure and hospitality (23.7%) and accommodation and food services (23.3%), compared with a 20% rise in prices from the start of 2021 to the end of June. Paychecks are furthest behind in education (13.6%), construction (14.1%) and financial activities (14.3%) during that same timeframe.

Meanwhile, after increasing at a faster rate than inflation in Bankrate’s 2023 Wage to Inflation Index, pay in the retail sector (up 19.4% since the beginning of 2021) has since fallen behind.

The industries where wage growth has boomed correspond with where labor demand was the strongest. At one point, a record 11.1% of jobs within the accommodation and food services sector and 10.9% of positions within leisure and hospitality were vacant, the most of any other industry. On the flip side, job opening rates in the industries with the slowest wage growth peaked at much lower levels, with construction at 5.4% and education hitting 4%, according to Bankrate’s analysis.

That’s not to say Americans in inflation-beating industries are feeling particularly better off. The average hourly earnings of workers in the financial activities sector ($45.73), for example, are more than two times as high as those in leisure and hospitality ($22.18).

The more money workers make, the better positioned they are to absorb higher prices in their budgets. Low-income households tend to spend more money on essentials that they can’t cut back on, whereas upper-income Americans have more options to free up cash, such as trimming discretionary spending or their savings contributions.

Workers making less than $50,000 a year (at 43%) were nearly twice as likely as those who earn $100,000 or more a year (24%) to feel that they’re living paycheck to paycheck, according to a Bankrate survey from July.

Americans working jobs in retail, leisure and hospitality and food services were also more likely to have lost their jobs during the pandemic, making it hard to say whether they’re truly better off today, says Elise Gould, senior economist at the independent Economic Policy Institute.

“Even if their wages have risen, it has been very hard for people to make ends meet on the kinds of wages that our labor market has been delivering over the last 50 years,” Gould says. “But the fact that people are struggling doesn’t mean that they didn’t experience real wage growth. Both things can be true.”

‘I don’t know if it’ll get as good as it was’

Robert Santy, a psychotherapist based in Connecticut, has taken on 20 extra clients in the four years since the pandemic. He says the decision was equal parts personal necessity and societal urgency.

For starters, every corner of Santy’s budget has grown more expensive. Car insurance for his family of five is costing him $10,000 a year. His monthly electric bills often range between $600-$800. His cell phone bill jumped by $40 a month, and even his grocery costs can easily reach $1,000 a week. He’s taken on longer hours simply to replace some of his lost income.

“It’s nickel and dime, nickel and dime, and everyone wants a piece of the pie,” he says. “My pie keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller.”

But whether it’s lingering stress from the pandemic or financial anxieties surrounding inflation and recession fears, Santy says he’s been in no need for clientele over the past four years, either. He often takes calls from patients after hours and goes to his office on weekends to catch up on paperwork. He estimates that he gets about four cold calls a week from new, inquiring clients, whom he has to turn away because he doesn’t have enough room for them in his schedule.

“People are highly stressed, highly anxious, struggling financially. That leads to family squabbles, relationship issues,” he says. “You get the cable company, the electric company, the cell phone company, your mortgage goes up, your taxes go up. Any one thing might be manageable, but when it’s death by a thousand needles, that just wears on people over time.”

Contributing to his rising expenditures, his two youngest children are in college, while his oldest daughter is living at home on an extended job hunt after graduating two years ago. Him and his wife are now earning nearly $300,000 a year as a household, but they feel like they had an easier time getting by when they were in their early 20s, earning just $22,000 a year. Still feeling surprised by bills or unexpected expenses, he’s had to temporarily halt his retirement contributions.

“I’m certainly in better shape financially than I’ve ever been in my life, but I’m not where I thought I was going to be or where I think I should be,” Santy says. “It’ll get better, but I don’t know if it’ll get as good as it was. I realize everything goes up and up and up, but did it have to go up so much so quickly when I didn’t have time to adjust? It felt like it just happened overnight.”

Even if wages recover, inflation may have already damaged the American psyche

Americans look at inflation differently than economists. Analysts track annual rates of change in inflation to determine whether the U.S. economy is overheating, while the typical American consumer focuses on how much the items they see everyday have risen in cost.

Just 6% of the nearly 400 items the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks are cheaper today than before the pandemic, a Bankrate analysis of inflation data shows. Key essentials that consumers regularly buy — like gasoline, groceries, utilities, rent and more — have risen at a faster rate than overall inflation. Car insurance, meanwhile, is up almost 50% since February 2020.

Inflation can have a profound effect on consumer psychology. Nearly half of adults (47%) say money has a negative impact on their mental health at least occasionally, Bankrate’s Money and Mental Health Survey from May 2024 found. Almost two-thirds of them (65%) cited rising prices as a reason.

“It will require that workers continue to enjoy some restoration of buying power through real wage gains,” Hamrick says, referring to when Americans could start to feel better. “To the extent we see falling prices for goods within a fairly normal, not recessionary, economic environment, that would be helpful.”

Ricardo is already gearing up for his annual review next month. He’s preparing to make a case for why he deserves a bigger raise than usual, citing his sales numbers and translating how it adds to his company’s bottom line. He hopes to use the money to visit his five grandchildren, who live across the country in both Florida and Seattle.

But even if he doesn’t get the money he’s hoping for, he says he’s unlikely to quit. He hopes to retire within the next few years and is afraid of taking a pay cut by starting over somewhere else.

“I’m waiting for them to one day tell me, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you.’ That’s what you want to hear after 16 years,” he says. “Hopefully, I don’t get disappointed with what I’m going to hear.”

Visit Bankrate online at bankrate.com.

©2024 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A group of former members of Congress wants action before the end of this session on legislation barring lawmakers from owning or trading individual stocks.

The former lawmakers, organized by Issue One, a Washington-based political reform group, on Monday sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., calling for a floor vote on a proposal that advanced out of committee in July. Specifically, the group calls for the legislation to be tacked on to any “must pass” package Congress will take up in the waning days of the 118th Congress.

“Members of Congress are public servants. We want to uphold public service and we want to be more aspirational in what that means,” said Zach Wamp, a Tennessee Republican who served in the House from 1995 to 2011. “So disconnect yourself from any appearance of wrongdoing. And this has the appearance of wrongdoing.”

Wamp is one of more than 40 former members and officials who signed the letter. Schumer and McConnell did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The issue picked up intensity in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a series of questionable trades by lawmakers who’d been briefed on the global health emergency drew the attention of the public and federal regulators.

Recent efforts to address such trading have fallen flat, but the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s vote to advance a measure gave new hope to those who support stricter rules.

Tim Roemer, an Indiana Democrat who spent more than a decade in the House in the 1990s and early 2000s, signed on in part because of a perception among voters that members of Congress are “out for themselves.”

“Disclosure and transparency of stocks is simply not enough,” said Roemer, who was the U.S. ambassador to India after leaving Congress. “Insider knowledge, too often, is translated into insider benefit. And public service is not about private profit.”

Federal law already prohibits members from trading on nonpublic information and mandates the public disclosure of assets. But critics argue that the 2012 law lacks teeth. Its punishments are trivial — if applied at all — and members of Congress have continued to participate in the stock market in large numbers. More than half of all representatives and senators owned stocks in the 117th Congress, according to a Campaign Legal Center analysis.

The bipartisan proposal advanced out of committee this summer would significantly tighten existing rules.

Built on a bill led by Sen. Jeff Merkley, dubbed the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act, it was a product of compromise between the Oregon Democrat and Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and Gary Peters, D-Mich.

“We have momentum on our side to pass the ETHICS Act,” Merkley said in a statement Monday. “And the support of former members provides added fuel. They see the corrupt impact of stock trading, and I appreciate their support and advocacy.”

The legislation as amended would ban members of Congress, as well as the president and vice president, from buying and selling securities, commodities, futures, options, trusts and other comparable holdings. It would require divestiture from all covered assets and impose harsh penalties on members who fail to divest.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who is one of the wealthiest senators and isn’t seeking reelection, said the bill was too harsh and could disincentive qualified candidates to run for office. Roemer — who remembered owning stocks in individual companies while in Congress, but said none exceeded $1,000 in value — didn’t entirely disagree.

Roemer, like Romney, called the bill punitive. But he said he didn’t have concerns that it would turn away prospective public servants.

“I do think that once, hopefully, we pass this, that there might be some ways to learn from what’s happening in Congress and how it’s cleaned things up and to amend it later on,” Roemer said. “But we have to start with something, and I think this is the right place to start, given how far the pendulum has swung … and the American people’s eroding trust in institutions.”

Wamp referred to a July 2023 survey conducted by the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy that found 87% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats favored a proposal to bar members from owning or trading stocks in individual companies (though the proposal polled included a provision allowing qualified blind trusts).

“Very, very rarely does any issue ever poll at 87% and 88% support among Democrats and Republicans,” Wamp said. “This is one of those things that could be done simply, quickly and help the Congress help themselves.”

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©2024 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Donald Trump headlined an event billed as the unveiling of a crypto platform promoted by the Republican nominee and his sons, putting the spotlight on a niche digital-asset sector with a history of controversy.

The project, World Liberty Financial, will be part of the decentralized finance segment of digital assets and is supposed to help with financial security and being able to transact freely, Trump’s son Donald Jr. said in an X Spaces livestream on Monday.

“It’s a real problem that needed to be addressed, and honestly I think this is the way,” Donald Jr. said after comments from his father. The launch came a day after the former president emerged unscathed from a second apparent assassination attempt, the latest shock to roil the presidential contest.

The Republican nominee has pivoted to courting the digital-asset sector in search of donations and votes amid a tight race for the White House, even vowing to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet.” His stance is an about-face given that he previously denounced Bitcoin as a “scam.”

On the goal of becoming the key crypto hub, Donald Trump said: “If we don’t do it, China is going to do it. China is doing it anyway. But if we don’t do it, we’re not going to be the biggest, and we have to be the biggest and the best.”

Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. began promoting World Liberty Financial on X and Telegram in recent weeks. Decentralized finance — or DeFi — is an arcane crypto sector, where people trade, lend and borrow digital assets peer-to-peer using automated software.

“The effort is consistent with Trump’s pro-crypto policy stance,” said Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University. “It’s one thing to say you are pro-crypto, and other to launch a company in the space.”

The former president’s profile may make many more people aware of DeFi, proponents of which often claim gains in efficiency resulting from cutting out traditional intermediaries like banks. Critics argue the sector rests in a regulatory gray zone and is prone to hacks, a bugbear for crypto as a whole.

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©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Just five hours north of Los Angeles sits a national park that should be on your outdoor bucket list.

It features a valley carved millions of years ago by glaciers, hulking mountains made of granite and other rock, countless waterfalls, massive ancient trees and a cool, clear river.

I know what you’re thinking: “That sounds like Yosemite.” Even better. It’s like Yosemite, but way more chill.

Kings Canyon National Park will give you the majestic outdoors respite you’re dreaming of without all the busy trails, swarming crowds and traffic jams at the park entrance gate that come with the Hollywood Boulevard of national parks. Just east of Fresno, this swath of paradise is the underrated local favorite, with welcoming campgrounds, easy-to-navigate day trails, plentiful backpacking opportunities and swimming holes galore.

As I was heading out to report this story, I steeled myself for the typical national park experience. As someone who once accidentally got into a spat with another grown adult at Yellowstone National Park while attempting to help my 5-year-old niece steal a peek at Old Faithful, I know all too well the way chaotic tourist crowds can get under my skin.

But those crowds never materialized. Kings Canyon gets a fraction of the foot traffic that Yosemite does. Last August, Yosemite saw almost 594,000 visitors, and Kings Canyon saw 81,000, according to federal data. At its busiest, in June of last year, Kings Canyon welcomed 126,000 visitors, which was just over a fourth of the visitors who went to Yosemite that month.

You might be wondering: Is Kings Canyon’s landscape as spellbindingly majestic? The short answer is yes, if a tad more rugged. Both parks feature massive granite mountains, gorgeous rivers and alpine meadows. But Yosemite’s natural wonders have the manicured sheen of a famous name. Kings Canyon is its untamed, serene cousin. When I asked a ranger the name of a nearby cliff, they quipped: “We don’t name everything like Yosemite.” During my three-day stay, I heard multiple guests say: “This is like a chill Yosemite.”

In fairness, many of the best experiences you can have at Kings Canyon are in the back country and require some level of backpacking knowledge. But even if you’re a camping novice, this guide outlines the many different ways you can experience the park, whether it’s from a cozy lodge or magnificent campground.

This guide focuses on the Cedar Grove area of the park. After being closed for more than a year because of major flooding, it reopened this summer. Its campgrounds are slowly but surely becoming available to book. (More on how to do that below.)

Please enjoy your stay in this slept-on paradise. And eat your heart out, Yosemite.

Getting there

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are two parks managed as one. Kings Canyon is the northern half of the parks. They have several entrances. The most direct way to reach the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon National Park from L.A. is to take Highway 180 near Fresno to the Big Stump entrance.

From here, you’ll follow this scenic seasonal roadway into Kings Canyon. It’s a beautiful drive, especially the beginning that passes through Sequoia National Forest. There you’ll be met with incredible vistas and waterfalls, including one you can take a short walk to visit. (More on that below.)

This route is not accessible year-round. Highway 180 from Grant Grove Village to Cedar Grove is open seasonally. It generally opens the fourth Friday in April and closes in mid-November. You can check the road conditions on the Kings Canyon website.

If you’d like to take the scenic way to reach Kings Canyon, you can drive through Sequoia National Park via Highway 198. You’ll pass through the idyllic town of Three Rivers before entering Sequoia National Park. A slow winding journey, you’ll drive about 46 miles north until you reach the Highway 180 junction. There are several great places to stop along the way. Honorable mention goes to the General Sherman Tree, a giant sequoia that’s one of the largest and oldest trees in the world.

If you’re craving more giant trees, this route offers multiple spots to see them, although it will add about two hours to your trip. You can also take the first route mentioned and stop at the Grant Grove area of Kings Canyon before you reach Cedar Grove, which doesn’t feature sequoias like the rest of the parks.

Take note that if you have the “avoid tolls” option selected on your mapping app, it might try to direct you to take an unpaved road to avoid paying the park entrance fee. In short: this is a bad idea. Also, beware that service is scant in these parts, so it’s best to download the area on your GPS app before you leave. While I’m ticking through lifesaving necessities, be sure to top off your gas tank in a nearby town before entering the park, since options are limited inside. At present, there are no electric car chargers in Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Best to enter the park with a full charge.

Where to stay

Sentinel Campground

Reopened in July, Sentinel Campground is the only campground open in the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon as of late August. It offers 82 sites for tents, RVs and trailers that you can reserve on Recreation.gov. There are no first-come first-served sites in the campground.

The South Fork of the Kings River runs along the northern side of the campground, near a handful of coveted (read: quickly booked) sites. But you don’t have to be next to the river to enjoy yourself. No matter where you end up staking your tent, you will be treated to a dark sky full of twinkling stars, a concert of crickets, the calming sound of the nearby river rushing and the soothing whoosh of wind through the canyon. This is hopefully not all drowned out by the roar of your neighbor’s RV generator. Quiet hours are at 10 p.m. after all.

Steller’s jays and robins may appear when you start cooking your dinner, optimistic for a treat. Hopefully, you aren’t greeted by one of the park’s larger hungrier residents, the black bear. Throughout the campground, there are flush toilets, sinks to wash dishes and spigots with drinking water. Each site has a campfire ring, picnic table and bear-proof food storage box.

During the day, when you aren’t out adventuring, you can find a shady spot beneath a towering ponderosa pine or cedar tree. Some might even be small enough to hang a hammock.

The Cedar Grove Lodge

Location, location, location! The Cedar Grove Lodge is a rustic but charming throwback to simpler times. The Wi-Fi is iffy at best, and there aren’t televisions in the rooms. But you aren’t coming here to hang out in your room. The lodge is close to all the area’s main attractions. It’s situated next to the Kings River, where guests pull up a lawn chair and enjoy the serenity of the space. It offers standard and suite rooms with queen and king beds and a complimentary breakfast.

It also has a gift shop (with fairly priced souvenirs), a market and the Cedar Grove Diner, a counter-service snack bar, on its first floor. From 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., the diner serves burgers, sandwiches and wraps. The menu includes beef, chicken and fish offerings as well as a plant-based veggie burger and hummus wrap. But sorry, no fries.

Meanwhile, its market is a good resource in case you forgot to pack something. It sells tent stakes and chairs, as well as food and ice.

The most luxurious part of the Cedar Grove Village area is the showers, available to anyone in the park. The lodge’s market sells shower tokens for $1.50 for three minutes. (You can use multiple tokens to extend your hygienic routine, but make sure to allow each token’s time to run out before inserting the next. Otherwise, it’s a wasted token.)

Other options

Outside Kings Canyon, nearby campgrounds include:

—Convict Flat Campground, a first-come first-served spot with five campsites in Sequoia National Forest. It’s free to use with the entry fee you pay to get into the park. Light on amenities, it has a vault toilet and no potable water. It’s about 11 miles from the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon.

—Princess Campground, an 88-site reservation-only site in Sequoia National Forest featuring giant Sequoia stumps, a Sequoia grove and a meadow with wildflowers. Amenities include drinking water, vault toilets and an amphitheater. It’s about 23 miles from the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon.

—Sunset Campground, a 158-site reservation-only campground in Sequoia National Forest, three miles from the Kings Canyon entrance. It boasts beautiful trees, cellphone reception, flush toilets and a camp store that sells ice, firewood and other necessities. It’s about 30 miles from the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon.

What to pack

If camping, you’ll want to pack the usuals, including: a tent, sleeping bags, an air mattress or other cushioning, extra blankets and pillows. Remember to pack a few light sources. I always like to have both a headlamp and a few solar-powered lanterns. And, just because I’ve forgotten each of these items on various trips, I will remind you: Don’t forget to bring a mallet for your tent stakes, your camping chairs and a shovel to dig out the campfire pit.

You will not have cellphone reception in the Cedar Grove area. For safety reasons, you should share your trip itinerary with a family member or friend, along with an estimated time of when you’ll be back. There is a pay phone at the Cedar Grove Lodge. For the zoomers reading, that’s a coin-operated phone you can use to make calls. Maybe put a roll of quarters in your car, just in case.

Bear safety

Kings Canyon is home to American black bears. Throughout the park, you’ll find signs reminding you to be “bear aware.” That includes ensuring that all food, beverages and scented items (like shampoo, toothpaste and lip balm) are stowed in a bear box when you aren’t using them. This applies to not only campgrounds but also trails. At trailheads, you will find bear-proof brown vaults where you should stow any snacks and scented items you aren’t taking on the hike. (I left half a bar of chocolate in one, and no one stole it. The honor system is alive and well in this park!)

The park advises that, if you see a bear, clap your hands and in a loud firm voice yell: “Get out of here, bear!” You should report all bear sightings to a ranger. Leave the bear spray at home, though. Bear spray is illegal in national parks where only black bears are present.

Where to day hike

The Kings Canyon Cedar Grove area has plenty of day hikes to choose from, all of which you can hike without a permit. Wilderness permits are required only for overnight trips. Here’s a three-day itinerary of the best spots to go to if you’re visiting for a quick weekend.

Roaring River Falls to Zumwalt Meadows

Day 1: After setting up your tent, hit the trails for an introductory stroll at the Roaring River Falls parking area. This short paved path leads you to a nice-sized waterfall noisy enough you’ll know how it earned its name. This is a nice spot to unwind and have a picnic. (Though swimming is not advised. Drowning is the most common way people die in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.)

Once you’re done at the waterfall, you can take the nearby dirt path about two miles to the backside of Zumwalt Meadows. Flooding in 2019 washed out its boardwalk, so this is no longer a loop trail. That said, it’s a pleasant walk between the canyon walls where you can appreciate your first taste of beauty before embarking on bigger adventures tomorrow. Plus, there are a few sandy spots where the current is manageable. Life jackets are advisable for younger kiddos or anyone who cannot swim.

Mist Falls trail

Day 2: This is when you’ll want to do your longest hike. For that I’d recommend heading to the Road’s End parking area to tackle the Mist Falls trail, an eight-mile out-and-back trail that will lead you through forest, wetlands, over boulders and up to a massive, humbling cascade of water. The last mile is where you gain the most elevation, so make sure you’re hydrated and sated with a power snack for that final push. After completing the trail, head over to Muir Rock for a swim. Be mindful of the current.

Hotel Creek trail

Day 3: Do you have one more hike in you? Great! This last one is a treat, especially as the sun rises. Head to the Hotel Creek trailhead, located about a half mile north of the Cedar Grove Lodge. You have two main options here. You can hike 4.4 miles out and back to the Cedar Grove overlook, where you will find panoramic views of the whole park. Or, you can do a 7.3-mile loop of Hotel and Lewis Creek. From the overlook, I watched the early morning light over the canyon, feeling like a little speck of stardust in our vast universe.

Bonus: I was alone until the final mile when I saw three hikers. Like I’m saying: a chill Yosemite!

Other activities

—Fishing is allowed in most areas of Kings Canyon. Those 16 and older must have a valid California fishing license. The park advises you should buy one before arriving, as they aren’t always available in its markets. You are allowed to keep some of what you catch, including rainbow trout. You must follow daily limits, and must take note of the areas of the park that are catch and release only.

—Horseback ridesare sold through the Cedar Grove Pack Station. They offer one- and two-hour rides for $70 and $110 respectively, and half ($180) and full-day ($230) trips. They also sell pack trips where mules and horses, led by a packer, carry your group and gear to a backcountry site.

—Head underground to the Boyden Cavern, a marble cavern that features stalactites, stalagmites and other geological delights. A walking tour, which takes about an hour, will cost between $8 and $23 depending on age, date and time. Staff also offers a flashlight tour at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. if at least four people buy tickets. That tour takes up to 75 minutes and is $35. The cavern is about 10 miles west of Cedar Grove off Highway 180.

—Picnic near Grizzly Falls, an 80-foot waterfall in Sequoia National Forest, just under five miles from Cedar Grove. It’s a short walk from your car to the picnic area where you can view the falls.

Regardless of whether you spend your days relaxing along the South Fork, or hit the back country for more rugged hiking, you will return home feeling refreshed and energized. In an era where escaping the bustle of the city often means swapping one type of crowd for another, Kings Canyon is an underpopulated gem that, for now, proves that nature can still be peaceful.

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©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Pfizer Inc.’s experimental drug for cancer weight loss was shown to help patients regain weight in a mid-stage study, offering fresh promise for treating the dangerous muscle-wasting condition.

In cancer patients, a syndrome called cachexia causes changes in metabolism and appetite. It can lead to the loss of critical skeletal muscle and fat that weakens the body and, in some cases, can make cancer treatments less effective. Studies suggest that as much as 30% of all cancer deaths are caused by cachexia and about 80% of patients with advanced stage cancers are affected by the condition. There are currently no drugs approved to treat it.

Pfizer’s drug, called ponsegromab, is a monoclonal antibody that blocks GDF-15, a protein expressed when the body is under extreme stress. High GDF-15 levels in cancer patients are thought to be associated with loss of appetite and nausea, which led Pfizer’s scientists to hypothesize that blocking the protein’s expression could prevent the onset of cachexia.

The drug was discovered in-house at Pfizer, which has been looking to cancer drugs to drive its next growth chapter. Last year, the company bought cancer drugmaker Seagen Inc. for $43 billion, and investors have been hungry for positive news as its COVID-19 vaccine sales continue to dwindle.

Pfizer enrolled 187 patients with cancer and high levels of GDF-15 in a Phase 2 study that tested ponsegromab’s effect on body weight compared with a placebo. Patients in the trial had non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer or colorectal cancer, and about 75% of them had progressed to stage 4.

At the highest 400 milligram dose, patients regained about 5.6% of their body weight in 12 weeks, according to results published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Those patients also saw improvements in appetite, physical activity levels and skeletal muscle, according to the findings, which will be presented simultaneously at the European Society for Medical Oncology conference in Barcelona.

Charlotte Allerton, head of discovery and early development at Pfizer, said in an interview that the company hopes ponsegromab will enable weight gain that allows patients to tolerate more treatment and “be more active, which of course will improve their overall health.”

Pfizer is discussing development plans with regulatory agencies and aims to begin registration-enabling studies in 2025. The company is also testing ponsegromab in patients with heart failure and high levels of GDF-15. Allerton said the company is exploring other conditions linked to elevated GDF-15, such as chronic kidney disease.

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©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

LOS ANGELES — The 2024 Primetime Emmy Awards arrived on Sunday.

The awards, presented by the Television Academy, honored the best of the 2023-2024 TV season. The 76th edition of the ceremony came just months after the 75th edition, which was held in January after being delayed by the dual Hollywood strikes.

Here are the winners, including several previously announced at the Creative Arts Emmys.

Comedy series

“Abbott Elementary”

“The Bear”

“Curb Your Enthusiasm”

Winner: “Hacks”

“Only Murders in the Building”

“Palm Royale”

“Reservation Dogs”

“What We Do in the Shadows”

Drama series

“The Crown”

“Fallout”

“The Gilded Age”

“The Morning Show”

“Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

Winner: “Shōgun”

“Slow Horses”

“3 Body Problem”

Drama lead actress

Jennifer Aniston, “The Morning Show”

Carrie Coon, “The Gilded Age”

Maya Erskine, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

Winner: Anna Sawai, “Shōgun”

Imelda Staunton, “The Crown”

Reese Witherspoon, “The Morning Show”

Drama lead actor

Donald Glover, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

Walton Goggins, “Fallout”

Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”

Winner: Hiroyuki Sanada, “Shōgun”

Dominic West, “The Crown”

Idris Elba, “Hijack”

Limited series

Winner: “Baby Reindeer”

“Fargo”

“Lessons in Chemistry”

“Ripley”

“True Detective: Night Country”

Limited series / TV movie lead actress

Winner: Jodie Foster, “True Detective: Night Country”

Brie Larson, “Lessons in Chemistry”

Juno Temple, “Fargo”

Sofía Vergara, “Griselda”

Naomi Watts, “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans”

Limited series / TV movie lead actor

Matt Bomer, “Fellow Travelers”

Winner: Richard Gadd, “Baby Reindeer”

Jon Hamm, “Fargo”

Tom Hollander,“Feud: Capote vs. the Swans”

Andrew Scott, “Ripley”

Directing for a drama series

Hiro Murai, “First Date,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

Winner: Frederick E.O. Toye, “Crimson Sky,” “Shōgun”

Saul Metzstein, “Strange Games,” “Slow Horses”

Stephen Daldry, “Sleep, Dearie Sleep,” “The Crown”

Mimi Leder, “The Overview Effect,” “The Morning Show”

Directing for a comedy series

Randall Einhorn, “Party,” “Abbott Elementary”

Lucia Aniello, “Bulletproof,” “Hacks”

Winner: Christopher Storer, “Fishes,” “The Bear”

Ramy Youssef, “Honeydew,” “The Bear”

Guy Ritchie, “Refined Aggression,” “The Gentlemen”

Writing for a limited or anthology series or movie

Winner: Richard Gadd, “Baby Reindeer”

Charlie Brooker, “Joan Is Awful,” “Black Mirror”

Noah Hawley, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” “Fargo”

Ron Nyswaner, “You’re Wonderful,” “Fellow Travelers”

Steven Zaillian, “Ripley”

Issa López, “Part 6,” “True Detective: North Country”

Writing for a drama series

Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Graham Wagner; “The End,” “Fallout”

Francesca Sloane, Donald Glover; “First Date,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

Rachel Kondo, Justin Marks; “Anjin,” “Shōgun”

Rachel Kondo, Caillin Puente; “Crimson Sky,” “Shōgun”

Winner: Will Smith, “Negotiating With Tigers,” “Slow Horses”

Peter Morgan, Meriel Sheibani-Clare; “The Ritz,” “The Crown”

Limited series / TV movie supporting actor

Jonathan Bailey, “Fellow Travelers”

Robert Downey Jr., “The Sympathizer”

Tom Goodman-Hill, “Baby Reindeer”

John Hawkes, “True Detective: North Country”

Winner: Lamorne Morris, “Fargo”

Lewis Pullman, “Lessons in Chemistry”

Treat Williams, “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans”

Talk series

Winner: “The Daily Show”

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

“Late Night With Seth Meyers”

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”

Writing for a comedy series

Quinta Brunson, “Career Day,” “Abbott Elementary”

Meredith Scardino, Sam Means; “Orlando,” “Girls5eva”

Winner: Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky; “Bulletproof,” “Hacks”

Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo; “Fishes,” “The Bear”

Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider; “Brooke Hosts a Night of Undeniable Good,” “The Other Two”

Jake Bender, Zach Dunn; “Pride Parade,” “What We Do in the Shadows”

Directing for a limited or anthology series or movie

Weronika Tofilska, “Episode 4,” “Baby Reindeer”

Noah Hawley, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” “Fargo”

Gus Van Sant, “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans”

Millicent Shelton, “Poirot,” “Lessons in Chemistry”

Winner: Steven Zaillian, “Ripley”

Issa López, “True Detective: North Country”

Writing for a variety special

Winner: Alex Edelman, “Alex Edelman: Just For Us”

Jacqueline Novak, “Jacqueline Novak: Get On Your Knees”

John Early, “John Early: Now More Than Ever”

Mike Birbiglia, “Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and The Pool”

“The Oscars”

Scripted variety series

Winner: “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver”

“Saturday Night Live”

Limited series / TV movie supporting actress

Dakota Fanning, “Ripley”

Lily Gladstone, “Under the Bridge”

Winner: Jessica Gunning, “Baby Reindeer”

Aja Naomi King, “Lessons in Chemistry”

Diane Lane, “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans”

Nava Mau, “Baby Reindeer”

Kali Reis, “True Detective: Night Country”

Reality competition program

“The Amazing Race”

“RuPaul’s Drag Race”

“Top Chef”

Winner: “The Traitors”

“The Voice”

Comedy lead actress

Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”

Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”

Selena Gomez, “Only Murders in the Building”

Winner: Jean Smart, “Hacks”

Kristen Wiig, “Palm Royale”

Maya Rudolph, “Loot”

Drama supporting actress

Christine Baranski, “The Gilded Age”

Nicole Beharie, “The Morning Show”

Winner: Elizabeth Debicki, “The Crown”

Greta Lee, “The Morning Show”

Lesley Manville, “The Crown”

Karen Pittman, “The Morning Show”

Holland Taylor, “The Morning Show”

Comedy supporting actress

Carol Burnett, “Palm Royale”

Winner: Liza Colón-Zayas, “The Bear”

Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”

Janelle James, “Abbott Elementary”

Sheryl Lee Ralph, “Abbott Elementary”

Meryl Streep, “Only Murders in the Building”

Comedy lead actor

Matt Berry, “What We Do in the Shadows,”

Larry David, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”

Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building”

Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”

Winner: Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”

D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, “Reservation Dogs”

Drama supporting actor

Tadanobu Asano, “Shōgun”

Winner: Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show”

Mark Duplass, “The Morning Show”

Jon Hamm, “The Morning Show”

Takehiro Hira, “Shōgun”

Jack Lowden, “Slow Horses”

Jonathan Pryce, “The Crown”

Comedy supporting actor

Lionel Boyce, “The Bear”

Paul W. Downs, “Hacks”

Winner: Ebon Moss-Bachrach, “The Bear”

Paul Rudd, “Only Murders in the Building”

Tyler James Williams, “Abbott Elementary”

Bowen Yang, “Saturday Night Live”

Television movie

Winner: “Quiz Lady”

“Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie”

“Red, White & Royal Blue”

“Scoop”

“Unfrosted”

Guest actor in a drama series

Winner: Néstor Carbonell, “Shōgun”

Paul Dano, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

Tracy Letts, “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”

Jonathan Pryce, “Slow Horses”

John Turturro, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

Guest actress in a drama series

Winner: Michaela Coel, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

Claire Foy, “The Crown”

Marcia Gay Harden, “The Morning Show”

Sarah Paulson, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

Parker Posey, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

Guest actor in a comedy series

Winner: Jon Bernthal, “The Bear”

Matthew Broderick, “Only Murders in the Building”

Ryan Gosling, “Saturday Night Live”

Christopher Lloyd, “Hacks”

Bob Odenkirk, “The Bear”

Will Poulter, “The Bear”

Guest actress in a comedy series

Winner: Jamie Lee Curtis, “The Bear”

Olivia Colman, “The Bear”

Kaitlin Olson, “Hacks”

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “Only Murders in the Building”

Maya Rudolph, “Saturday Night Live”

Kristen Wiig, “Saturday Night Live”

For a complete list of Emmy nominees, go to Emmys.com.

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Despite the planet’s growing plastic pollution crisis, petroleum-based polymers have become an integral part of modern life. They make cars and airplanes lighter and more energy efficient. They constitute a core material of modern medicine by helping to keep equipment sterile, deliver medicines and build prosthetics, among many other things. And they are a critical component of the wiring and hardware that underlies our technology-driven civilization.

The trouble is, when they outlive their usefulness, they become waste and end up polluting our oceans, rivers, soils and bodies.

But new research from a team of chemists at UC Berkeley suggests a glimmer of hope when it comes to the thorny problem of recycling plastics — one that may allow us to have our cake, and potentially take a very small bite, too.

The group has devised a catalytic recycling process that breaks apart the chains of some of the more commonly used plastics — polyethylene and polypropylene — in such a way that the building blocks of those plastics can be used again. In some cases, with more than 90% efficiency.

The catalysts required for the reaction — sodium or tungsten — are readily available and inexpensive, they say, and early tests show the process is likely scalable at industrial levels. It uses no water and has fewer energy requirements than other recycling methods — and is even more efficient than manufacturing new, or so-called virgin, plastics, the researchers say.

“So by making one product or two products in very high yield and at much lower temperatures, we are using some energy, but significantly less energy than any other process that’s breaking down polyolefins or taking the petroleum resources and turning them into the monomers for polyolefins in the first place,” said John Hartwig, a UC Berkeley chemist who was a co-author of the study published recently in the journal Science.

Polyolefins are a family of thermoplastics that include polyethylene — the material used to make single-use and “reusable” plastic bags — and polypropylene — the ubiquitous plastic that holds our yogurts and forms microwaveable dishes and car bumpers. Polyolefins are produced by combining small chain links, or monomers, of ethylene or propylene, which are typically obtained from oil and natural gas.

Polyethylene and polypropylene account for the majority (57%) of all polymer resins produced, the study authors noted. They have proven a plague to the environment, and in microplastic form have been found in drinking water, beer and every organ in the human body, as well as blood, semen and breast milk.

Hartwig and R.J. Conk, a graduate student who led the research, said they have not yet heard from the plastics, recycling or waste industries. They said they had been keeping their technology under wraps until publishing their paper and obtaining a patent on the process.

A spokeswoman for the Plastics Industry Association declined to comment or provide an expert to review the paper.

Hartwig said there are some caveats to the work. For instance, the plastic has to be sorted before the process can be applied. If the products are contaminated with other plastics, such as PVC or polystyrene, the outcome isn’t good.

“We don’t have a way to bring those [plastics] back to monomer, and they also poison our catalyst,” said Hartwig. “So for us, and basically for everybody else, PVC is bad. It’s not able to be chemically recycled.”

He said other contaminates — food waste, dyes, adhesives, etc. — could also potentially cause problems. However, the researchers are still early in the process.

But plastic bags, such as the ones used to hold produce in supermarkets, offer promise as they are relatively clean and “nobody knows what to do with them.” He said plastic bags are problematic for material recovery facilities where they are known to gum up machinery.

“There are places that do collect those bags. I don’t know what they do with them. Nobody wants them,” he said.

But others are less sanguine.

Neil Tangri, science and policy director at GAIA — an international environmental organization — said that while he was not a chemist or chemical engineer, and therefore couldn’t comment on the methods, he noted that there are broader “real world” issues that could prevent such a technology from taking off.

“Plastic recycling is not something we do well … we only get about 5% or 6% per year. So there’s a hunt for new technologies that will do better than that,” he said. “My basic warning is that going from small-batch analysis in the lab to functioning at scale with real-world conditions … it’s a huge, huge leap. So it’s not like we’re going to see this move into commercial production in the next year or two.”

He noted that while the reaction temperature cited was lower than that used in pyrolysis — the burning of plastic for fuel — or cracking — when plastics are made from virgin material — it still requires a lot of energy, and therefore potentially creates a fairly sizable carbon footprint. In addition, he said, 608 degrees — the reaction temperature cited — is the temperature “where dioxins like to form. So, that could be a challenge.” Dioxins are highly toxic byproducts of some industrial processes.

But, Tangri said, even if you could solve all of those issues — as well as the sorting and contamination issues Hartwig cited — “it is so cheap to make virgin plastic that the collection, the sorting, the cleaning … they were talking about … all of those steps, the energy use, you just can’t sell your [recycled material] at a price that makes sense to justify all that …. And that’s not really the fault of the technical approach. It’s the realities of the economics of plastic these days.”

It’s a point to which Lee Bell, technical and policy advisor for IPEN — a global environmental advocacy group — agrees.

“What appears promising in the lab rarely translates to commercial scale success and high yields from mixed plastic waste,” he said. “Not only do they have to deal with the diabolical issue of unavoidable plastic contamination [because chemical additives are in all plastic] but also competing with cheap virgin plastic in the marketplace.

“My view is that this is yet another lab experiment on plastic waste that will ultimately be thwarted by mixed plastic waste contamination and commercial realities,” he said.

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.