Individuals of coloration are at greater threat of being hospitalized, in response to the CDC

People of color are far more likely to be hospitalized with the flu than white Americans, according to a large multi-year study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC study, released Tuesday, examined adult flu hospitalizations from 2009 through last year using data from its flu surveillance network, which includes more than 70 counties in 14 states.

According to CDC data, hospital admissions were 80% higher among black adults than white adults, 30% higher among Native Americans, and 20% higher among Hispanics.

Vaccination rates were lower among blacks than white adults. During last year’s flu season, immunization coverage was 54% among white adults, compared to 38% among Hispanics, 41% among Native Americans, and 42% among black adults.

CDC officials, speaking to reporters Tuesday, said lower vaccination rates among people of color are due to poorer access to health care, distrust of doctors and the government due to historical discrimination, and missed opportunities to immunize people when they go to the doctor.

People of color also often face poorer and cramped housing conditions and more chronic illnesses, making hospitalization for the flu more likely, officials said.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, influenza was one of the most challenging respiratory illnesses hospitals faced each year. The severity of the flu season varies depending on the strain of the virus and the effectiveness of the vaccines. According to CDC data, 9 to 41 million people have fallen ill, 140,000 to 170,000 people have been hospitalized and 12,000 to 52,000 have died each year over the past decade.

Carla Black, a CDC epidemiologist, told reporters Tuesday that the flu is difficult to predict, but the U.S. could face one of its worst seasons since the Covid pandemic began in March 2020.

“We’ve had two mild flu seasons and that means we may be ripe for a tough season because people aren’t taking all the action they took for Covid, which affected the flu, too,” Black said. “People haven’t had a natural disease in two years, so there’s less natural immunity out there.”

Only 49% of eligible adults were vaccinated against the flu last year. Black said everyone 6 months and older should have an injection; the CDC considers a 70% flu vaccination rate a success.

The effectiveness of flu shots varies from year to year, although they’re typically 40% to 60% effective at preventing disease, Black said. “Even people who get sick are less likely to have serious consequences like hospitalization and death,” she said.

dr Ashish Jha, the head of the White House Covid task force, has called on all Americans who are eligible to get both their Covid-Omicron booster and their flu shot as soon as possible.

“What happens in the coming weeks and months will have a huge impact on how the winter plays out, and what really happens this winter is largely up to us as the American people,” Jha told reporters last week.

“Don’t wait – get your new flu shot and your new Covid shot today. If Americans did that, we could save hundreds of lives every day this winter,” he said.

RHOP grads Monique and Chris Samuels open up about divorce rumors

Monique Samuels and Chris Samuels talk about the word on the street.

After the couple – who appeared on The Real Housewives of Potomac for four seasons – reportedly split after 10 years of marriage, the couple denied there was any truth to the rumors.

“Are Chris and I going to divorce? No, we’re not getting divorced,” Monique said in an Oct. 17 YouTube video while seated next to Chris. “Are Chris and I going our separate ways? Absolutely not.”

However, as Monique explained, while the couple prepared for the second season of their current show on OWN, Love & Marriage: DC, they went through a “process” that included both parties spending time alone in their respective homes.

“The process we went through to fix our marriage [was] by working on our personal problems”, Monique – who is a mother of children Christopher9, Milan7 and chase, 3, with Chris – shared. “We wanted to step back and focus on ourselves. If I’m not good, I’m not good for him or my kids. If he’s not good, he’s not good for himself, me or the kids.”

Semafor debuts in a tough media setting

Ben Smith, left, and Justin Smith

Source: Semafor

Semafor, a new digital media company focused on global news for graduate readers, debuted on Tuesday with the intention of bringing transparency and clarity to a news company that its co-founders believe is too polarized.

Semafor has been preparing for its launch since January when it used to be New York Times Media columnist Ben Smith and former Bloomberg Media chief executive officer Justin Smith quit their jobs to start the company. Semafor.com and its mobile site will have a distinctive yellow background consistent with coverage in the US and sub-Saharan Africa. The news company will launch regional and national coverage in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and beyond.

The Smiths, who are unrelated, will draw on more than 20 years of digital media experience to lead Semafor into what it hopes to be a global, profitable business.

Recent sales of Axios (to Cox Enterprises), The Athletic (to The New York Times) and Politico (to Axel Springer) have opened up a path for Semafor to build and sell a company for hundreds of millions of dollars, though Justin Smith said he did I didn’t have discussions with Semafor’s investors about selling it at a specific value. These include Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and Jessica Lessin, founder of technology news site The Information.

Still, ad-supported digital media is a sector notorious for recession droughts and low growth — with many cautionary tales. BuzzFeed Since the IPO, the valuation has plummeted 80%. Vice’s attempt to go public fell through as investors clouded the company’s future prospects. For several years she has been trying to find a buyer.

Semafor’s unique article structure will immediately set it apart from older news publications like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, or CNN.com. All articles, with the possible exception of breaking news, will follow a semaform consisting of five sections: The News, Reporter’s View, Room for Disagreement, The View From, and Notable.

Each story gives reporters a chance to speak for themselves about news in a specific section, while also including paragraphs about why their opinion might be wrong. The stories will also include a section that offers a macro/global perspective to limit local bias.

According to Justin Smith, to fix information overload, a major flaw in the current media ecosystem, external media analysis is truncated and found in the Noteworthy section. The “semaform” stems from Justin Smith’s experience managing newsrooms at Bloomberg, The Atlantic, Quartz and The Week, along with Ben Smith’s time as Editor-in-Chief at BuzzFeed News and his time at the New York Times.

It is an evolution of Axios’ distillation of news into bullet points, the “Bloomberg Way” (a style guide that focuses on clarity) and The Week’s emphasis on a wide range of viewpoints.

“We started by isolating and disentangling individual issues like polarization and information overload,” Justin Smith said. “We engaged in meaningful conversations with different segments of users and polled them about some of the ideas we came up with. There was a real sense of frustration, but also wonder, that the core unit of journalism – the article – hasn’t really evolved in literally hundreds and hundreds of years.”

The business plan

Semafor will start as a free, ad-supported media site but will evolve into a paid subscription site in about 12 to 18 months as it gains exposure, Justin Smith said. Although Semafor launches at a time of economic uncertainty when brands are cautious about how they spend on advertising in digital media, Semafor will debut with partnerships with companies including Verizon and Pfizer.

“We are certainly ahead of our expectations on the revenue and monetization front,” said Rachel Oppenheim, Semafor’s Chief Revenue Officer. “We operate in a specific part of the advertising market, which is corporate reputation and brand advertising. While brands are under pressure from a financial perspective, they are also under a lot of pressure to improve their reputation and reach key stakeholders. A hallmark from many of the conversations we’ve had is, ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’ It was deeply humbling and encouraging.”

Semafor has raised $25 million and shared its five-year business plan with investors, Justin Smith said. It will spend its initial investment and assess how the business is doing before setting firm profitability targets or raising more money, he added.

Ben and Justin Smith named the Semafor company after the word “semaphore,” a visual signaling device that sounds the same in about 35 different languages. The media company starts with around 60 employees, more than half of whom are reporters.

WATCH: Ben Smith on Facebook’s board of directors

“She should pay her money owed”

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes (L) arrives in federal court with her partner Billy Evans October 17, 2022 in San Jose, California.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A star witness in the trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes doubled down on his testimony Monday, two months after he showed up on Holmes’ doorstep to speak to her.

“I don’t want to help Ms. Holmes, she’s not someone to help,” Adam Rosendorff, former Theranos lab director, said during a special hearing before Judge Edward Davila in the US District Court. “The only person who can help Mrs. Holmes is herself. She must pay her debt to society.”

In January, Holmes was convicted on four counts of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy related to the Theranos collapse. She is seeking a new trial over an unannounced visit by Rosendorff to her home on the sprawling Green Gables estate in Woodside, California in August 2022.

According to court documents, Holmes’ partner Billy Evans alleges that Rosendorff made rueful comments outside their home on August 8.

Evans claimed that Rosendorff said he wanted to “help” Holmes.

However, during questioning by US District Judge Edward Davila, federal prosecutors and an attorney for Holmes, Rosendorff claimed that his previous statement that Theranos was a scam was honest.

Rosendorff told the court his conversation with Evans lasted 10 minutes and the reason for his visit was to seek forgiveness and healing for himself so he could “move on” with his life. He also denied Holmes’ claim that he had recanted previous statements he had made under oath at the trial.

Rosendorff worked at Theranos from 2013 to the end of 2014. He spent six days on the witness stand, longer than any other witness, during Holmes’ high-profile trial. It turned out that Rosendorff was a key source for former Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou, who wrote a series of stories exposing the company’s shortcomings and dubious business practices.

“In the months following Elizabeth Holmes’ sentencing, I felt increasingly distressed and uneasy at the prospect of her young child spending the formative years of his life without his mother,” Rosendorff said, an attorney for Holmes. “And I understand that Ms. Holmes could be pregnant again.”

Holmes left the court and did not answer questions about whether she was pregnant with a second child.

Federal prosecutors and attorneys for Holmes will present written arguments for Monday’s hearing within a week. Judge Davila will then rule on her request for a new trial.

If the motion is denied, Holmes is scheduled to be sentenced on November 18.

“We’re in an awesome room proper now”

Some of the ups and downs of co-parenting in between Ari Fletcher and G Herbo have been very public in the past. However, during a new interview, Ari opened up about where they stand today.

During a recent interview with WGCI, when asked where they currently stand, Ari said,

“Co-parenting is great, and you know it’s been a long time coming. We are in a great space right now and I pray to God that we can stay right where we are. Everything is smooth, it’s cool, there’s no drama, it’s really good. He’s a great father, I’m a great mother and I think we have a healthy co-parenting relationship.

G Herbo and Ari welcomed their son Yosohn in 2018. They ended their relationship not too long after that.

G Herbo has since had two children with current girlfriend Taina Williams. They welcomed their son Essex in 2020 and their daughter Emmy earlier this year.

As many of you know, Ari is in a relationship with MoneybaggYo. As previously reported, Ari revealed on a recent episode of her YouTube cooking show that she and MoneybaggYo sadly suffered a miscarriage. Before she shared the news, pregnancy rumors swirled after MoneybaggYo posted and deleted a photo of Ari holding her stomach.

TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashey94

Midterms 2022 prime Senate races: Fetterman, Walker, Vance, Kelly

The battle for control of the U.S. Senate could hinge on a single race.

A handful of make-or-break Senate elections in key states are only growing more competitive as candidates barrel toward the Nov. 8 midterm elections. Only a few contests could determine how the Senate handles policy — and President Joe Biden’s nominees for key posts — for the rest of the president’s first term.

Republicans were considered favorites to win control of the upper chamber of Congress heading into the year. Democrats now appear slightly more likely to hold the majority in January.

Democrats hold the slimmest possible majority in the Senate, a reality that at times has reined in Biden’s most ambitious policy goals. The chamber is split 50-50, and Vice President Kamala Harris holds the tie-breaking vote.

Biden’s presence in the White House could make his party’s bid to hold the Senate more difficult: the president’s party historically struggles in midterm elections. While Biden’s approval rating has climbed from the lowest points of his term, most voters polled still disapprove of the job he is doing as Americans struggle with high inflation, among other issues.

Biden’s party reshaped its national campaign messaging after the Supreme Court overturned longstanding abortion rights in June. The court’s contentious and unpopular ruling seemed to upend the midterms overnight, handing Democrats a powerful tool to stoke turnout among voters outraged at the conservative court and its supporters in government.

In another potential boon for Democrats, a handful of Republicans saddled with political baggage, but backed by former President Donald Trump, won their party’s primaries over more mainstream alternatives. Democrats in multiple key races now face Republicans with little or no political experience, extreme policy views or scandalous personal lives, all of which could make them less appealing to general-election voters.

Of the 34 seats up for grabs in the midterms, here are the ones that could decide Senate control:

One of the most competitive and closely-watched races of the cycle pits Democratic Lt. Gov. Fetterman against Trump-backed Republican celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz. They are vying for the open Senate seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey.

Fetterman, the progressive former mayor of Braddock, has led Oz in the polls even after a May stroke took him off the campaign trail for months. The 6-foot-8 former college football player’s towering stature and dressed-down look have aided his campaign’s efforts to contrast him from Oz, a multimillionaire TV star whom it has attacked as an out-of-touch elitist and carpetbagger from New Jersey.

The Oz campaign, aided by tens of millions of dollars from Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell’s PAC, has bombarded Fetterman with ads accusing him of being soft on crime. Oz and his staffers have also sowed doubts about Fetterman’s health as he recovers from his stroke, and have hammered him for refusing to agree to more debates beyond one 60-minute face-off set for late October.

That move may be paying off: While Fetterman still leads Oz, the gap between the two candidates has shrunk considerably in recent weeks, polling averages show.

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock appears to be in a tight race with Republican challenger Herschel Walker, a famed former football pro and business owner backed by Trump. 

Warnock, a Baptist pastor whose special-election victory in 2021 helped Democrats seize a razor-thin Senate majority, is fighting to win a full term representing the swing state. 

Gaffes and scandals have hampered Walker’s run. He first was forced to reveal having more children than he previously acknowledged. Most recently, an ex-girlfriend accused Walker — a staunch abortion opponent — of paying for her abortion in 2009 and pressuring her to get another two years later. Walker has denied the allegation.

Polling averages of the race nevertheless show the two candidates neck and neck, with Warnock holding a slight lead. National political dynamics could be playing an outsize role. Though Biden narrowly beat Trump in the Peach State in 2020, a Monmouth University poll conducted in September showed Georgia voters viewed Trump and the Republican Party more favorably than Walker, whereas Warnock scored higher than Biden and the Democratic Party.

Polls suggest Arizona’s Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly is poised to fend off a challenge from Republican Blake Masters, a venture capitalist backed by billionaire political activist Peter Thiel.

Masters, also backed by Trump, has struggled to gain a competitive footing in the swing state that Biden narrowly won in 2020. As a primary candidate, Masters echoed Trump’s false claims of a rigged 2020 election and took a vocal anti-abortion stance, but he has downplayed those views in the general election. He has sought to puncture Kelly’s moderate campaign messaging and tie him to Biden, who is unpopular in Arizona. 

The incumbent Sen. Kelly, a former astronaut and husband of retired Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, has labeled Masters a dangerous radical. Kelly has far outraised Masters: The incumbent’s campaign has taken in over $52 million and held nearly $25 million in cash on hand as of mid-July, while Masters’ campaign held about $1.5 million in late September, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets. 

Thiel, Masters’ largest outside donor who spent $15 million on the GOP candidate before the primary election, has not donated to the PAC backing Masters during the general.

Republican political scion Adam Laxalt is challenging freshman Democratic Sen. Cortez Masto, whose Nevada seat is considered one of the GOP’s best chances to flip a blue seat red.

Cortez Masto, the state’s first Latina senator, has outraised and outspent her opponent. She has also received more support from PACs and other outside groups. The Nevada election is the second-most-expensive Senate fight in the nation, trailing only the Georgia race, according to ad-tracker AdImpact.

But polling averages show Cortez Masto in a virtual dead heat with Laxalt, the former state attorney general backed by Trump. Laxalt has pushed a tough-on-crime campaign message and picked up endorsements from police organizations, while echoing Trump’s recent attacks on the FBI and his false claims about election fraud in 2020. Cortez Masto, who served two terms as Nevada AG before Laxalt, has also netted support from police groups.

The race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina hasn’t drummed up the same level of publicity –  or spending – as some of the flashier marquee Senate fights. But GOP Rep. Ted Budd and Democrat Cheri Beasley are locked in a tight contest that could shape the final Senate map.

Beasley, the first Black woman to serve as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, is taking on Budd, a Trump-backed three-term congressman with a staunchly conservative record. The two are running side-by-side in the polls. Still, some see the Tar Heel State, which has not elected a Democratic senator since 2008, as more favorable terrain for the Republican.

Budd’s record has skewed more conservative than his would-be Senate colleague, GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, on key issues such as gun reform and same-sex marriage. Beasley, meanwhile, has kept some distance between herself and Biden, saying at a recent debate that his administration could do more to fight inflation. The two candidates have also clashed over abortion rights.

Campaign finance records show Beasley’s campaign has outraised Budd’s. Her campaign reportedly raised a $13.3 million haul in the third quarter, nearly doubling its second-quarter fundraising. But the McConnell-linked Senate Leadership Fund PAC has spent more than $20 million opposing her. The Senate Majority PAC, aligned with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in mid-October that it will put $4 million more into the North Carolina race, bringing its total spending to $10.5 million.

Democrats see Republican Sen. Ron Johnson as a vulnerable incumbent. But the two-term Wisconsin senator nevertheless appears to be gaining momentum against his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.

The 67-year-old Johnson has scored negative approval ratings in recent polls. He has come under fire for repeatedly sowing doubts about Covid-19 vaccines, downplaying the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and being linked to an alleged “fake electors” scheme to challenge the 2020 election results, among other controversies.

Barnes, who at 35 is just over half Johnson’s age, would become Wisconsin’s first Black senator if elected. Johnson’s campaign has slammed his opponent as being too far left for the Badger State — especially on crime, a main feature of the GOP playbook. Barnes has espoused progressive views in office, but his Senate campaign has focused more on pocketbook issues such as inflation and taxes.

Johnson is the only Republican senator running for reelection in a state that Biden won in 2020. But polling averages as of late September show Johnson pulling ahead of Barnes.

Trump-backed Republican J.D. Vance appears locked in a tight Senate race against Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, despite running in a red-leaning state that Trump won handily in 2020.

Vance and Ryan, both Ohio natives, are competing for the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman. Ryan, who ran a failed presidential bid in the 2020, has campaigned on economic issues and touted his connections to the state, while tarring Vance as a “San Francisco fraud.” Ryan has also slammed Vance over his stance on abortion, a top concern among Democratic voters.

Vance, the author of the memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” has portrayed himself as a political outsider with a populist message. His campaign has sought to define Ryan as an extension of Biden and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Vance is also a venture capitalist linked to Peter Thiel. The billionaire conservative activist boost Vance’s winning primary campaign with $15 million in multiple donations to the super PAC Protect Ohio Values.

But his campaign’s fundraising efforts have lagged behind Ryan’s. The Democrat has $21.5 million versus Vance’s $3.6 million, according to the most recent data from OpenSecrets.

While New Hampshire has voted for Democrats in every presidential race since 2000, it is considered a purple state that has recently elected Republican senators and could do so again in November. 

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan’s approval ratings have fallen, including among unaffiliated voters who make up a major chunk of the state’s electorate.

But she holds advantages over her Republican opponent, Don Bolduc, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general who has garnered praise from Trump. Bolduc had echoed Trump’s false claims of a rigged 2020 election, but reversed himself right after his primary win, saying he had concluded that the election was not stolen after “a lot of research.”

The New Hampshire primary was held Sept. 13, making it one of the latest nominating contests in the country. The late election gave Hassan, who was all but guaranteed to win the Democratic nomination, a significant head start. 

Hassan’s campaign fundraising has dwarfed Bolduc’s. Polls show the incumbent has a sizable lead over her GOP challenger.

Former Orlando police chief and Democratic Rep. Val Demings aims to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. 

Polls put Rubio ahead of Demings, and forecaster Cook Political Report has given the race a “Lean Republican” rating.

Demings’ credentials have served to counter the soft-on-crime accusations common in Republican campaigns. She has distanced herself from Biden as she competes to serve Trump’s home state.

But it may not be enough to win over the Sunshine State, which voted for Trump in 2020.

Democrats are favored to prevail in Colorado, where incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet has held a steady lead over his Republican challenger Joe O’Dea, who runs a construction company. The state’s voter registration trends in recent years have also skewed in Democrats’ favor, a shift that resulted in Biden beating Trump by almost 14 percentage points in 2020.

But O’Dea’s willingness to break with the GOP on some key issues, including abortion, has helped him project a more moderate look than many of his Trump-backed equivalents in other Senate races.

It was O’Dea’s primary win that pushed Colorado onto the list of midterm races to watch. Democrats wanted state Rep. Ron Hanks, an abortion hard-liner and Trump ally, to win the GOP primary. A Schumer-aligned PAC even spent money aimed at boosting Hanks over O’Dea.

— Graphics created by CNBC’s Gabriel Cortes.

XPO Logistics (XPO) releases preliminary 3Q outcomes

The XPO Logistics Inc. logo on a truck leaving the company’s distribution center in Barcelona, ​​Spain on Thursday, May 12, 2022.

Angel Garcia | Bloomberg | Getty Images

carrier XPO logistics on Monday said it expects third-quarter sales to come in below analysts’ expectations.

But XPO also said it expects its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to come in higher than the company had anticipated.

“Our Adjusted EBITDA will be in the range of $348 million to $352 million, which is above the high end of our guidance,” new CEO Mario Harik told CNBC on Monday. “Today’s numbers reflect that we’re going into spin from a position of strength.”

XPO announced Monday that it is expected to report $3.04 billion when it releases its quarterly earnings report on Oct. 31. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected $3.09 billion.

The partial earnings release comes ahead of the first investor day under new CEO Harik on Tuesday and the Nov. 1 spin-off of its high-tech truck brokerage business into a new public company called RXO.

Shares of XPO have fallen 19% since the spin-off announcement in March, compared to the S&P 500’s 12% decline over that timeframe. During an interview on Squawk Box in March, Brad Jacobs, XPO’s chairman and former CEO, said he hopes that by transforming the company into a pure-play trucker, the so-called “conglomerate discount” on XPO stock would be eliminated.

For the truck brokerage segment, which will become RXO, the company expects revenue to fall 2% year over year and volume to rise 9%. Truck Brokerage connects truckers with customers in the on-demand spot market. According to the latest data from Evercore ISI, these rates were down 22% year over year in October, but still remain 20% higher than in pre-pandemic October 2019.

XPO, which has a market cap of about $5.6 billion, competes with FedEx freight and Old rule. His customers include Caterpillar and tractor supply.

XPO has also issued targets for XPO and RXO to be achieved by fiscal year 2027. The company expects the trucking operation to generate revenue growth averaging 6% to 8% per year, and it sees annualized adjusted EBIDTA growth of 11% to 13%. .

The brokerage firm is expected to post Adjusted EBITDA of $475 million to $525 million by then, with annualized expenses at about 1% of revenue.

“The long-term guidance we have issued shows that we expect continued strong performance for both XPO and RXO,” said Harik.

The spin-off of RXO follows an earlier spin-off of XPO’s contract logistics business GXOwhich started trading last year.

Read the full publication here.

Listening to aids are actually obtainable over-the-counter at Walgreens, CVS and Finest Purchase

Jennifer Nealon, marketing director at Hear Again America, holds hearing aids they sell October 19, 2021 in Boca Raton, Florida.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Millions of Americans with hearing loss can now purchase hearing aids without a prescription or medical exam Walgreens, CV and best buy so the companies.

Walgreens began selling over-the-counter hearing aids online and in its stores nationwide Monday for $799 a pair. For comparison, the average cost of a pair of prescription hearing aids ranges from $2,000 to $8,000, according to the company.

CVS sells over-the-counter devices on its website ranging in price from $199 to $999. The drugstore chain will also be offering them at selected pharmacy locations from November.

According to the company, Best Buy offers 20 different over-the-counter hearing aids online ranging in price from $200 to $3,000. The electronics retailer will offer the devices in 300 stores across the country later this month.

And Hy-Vee, a supermarket chain, will offer four different hearing aids online and at 34 locations in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin this week. Prices range from $499 to $999. The devices should be available in 100 branches by the end of the year.

The Food and Drug Administration in August enacted a rule allowing the over-the-counter sale of hearing aids to adults ages 18 and older with mild to moderate hearing loss. People with severe hearing loss and children still need prescriptions for the devices.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order in 2021 directing the Departments of Health and Human Services and the FDA to develop a rule allowing over-the-counter sales of hearing aids. The White House announced the availability of the hearing aids on Monday.

About 30 million people in the US have hearing loss, but only about a fifth of those people have and use hearing aids, according to the FDA. Many people who could benefit from the devices either don’t have access to them due to cost concerns, while other people don’t use them due to perceived stigma, the agency said.

The FDA, in an analysis, estimated that over-the-counter hearing aids could save consumers about $1,438 because they are not bundled with costly professional services.

CNBC Health & Science

Read CNBC’s latest global health coverage:

Learn the way a lot cash YouTuber Carter Sharer has ever spent on a automotive

Everyone has a hobby, and for YouTube star Carter sharerit collects cool cars.

Building a collection of more than 10 vehicles requires a lot of dedication, not to mention a lot of cash. During a fast-paced Q&A on the latest episode of E! News’ digital series DRIVE! the YouTuber revealed the surprising amount he has ever spent on one of his cars.

“$500,000,” Carter told the host Austin J Mills while cruising around in his pink Porsche Macan S, which is also the very first car he’s ever bought. As for the smallest amount he’s ever spent on a car? “Maybe like $10,000,” he said, before correcting himself and saying, “Actually $5,000.”

Although he didn’t reveal which of his cars commanded the enormous price tag, Carter gave Austin an overview of his collection – or at least the cars he can remember, as he confessed he had “lost” his vehicles.

“I have [a] Lamborghini Aventador, Lamborghini Countach, Hummer H1, this Porsche Macan S, Lincoln Navigator, Volkswagen Dune Buggy from 1964,” the 28-year-old shared with having a sedan.”

Brittney Griner’s legal professional releases particulars of her detention

Brittney Griner’s lawyer has spoken candidly about her living conditions in a Russian prison, which is heartbreaking. In a recent interview with the New York Post, her attorney, Alexandr D. Boykov, explained that the NBA player, who has been behind bars for nine years, “wasn’t in as good a shape as I might find her at times.” He explained that Ms. Griner is allowed outside once a day. During this time, she walks for an hour in a small yard of a penal colony outside Moscow.

He added that she spends the rest of her time in a small cell with two cellmates, sitting and sleeping on a specially lengthened bed to accommodate her 6ft 9 frame. Brittney has been incarcerated for nine months and is increasingly worried about her chances of being released on a prisoner exchange and is struggling emotionally, one of her lawyers said.

Although Brittney has scheduled an appeal hearing on her conviction for Oct. 25, the basketball star isn’t optimistic about coming home. “She’s not quite convinced that America can bring her home,” Alexandr said. The lawyer added that he spoke to his client and said: “She is very concerned about what the price will be and she is afraid that she will have to serve the entire sentence here in Russia.”

Alexandr hopes Brittney’s nine-year sentence, which he described as an “unprecedented sentence” for marijuana possession, would be reduced. He said, “Maybe the verdict will be changed somehow and the sentence maybe reduced because the first court’s decision is very different from legal practice,” he said. “Taking into account all the circumstances, taking into account the personality traits of my client and her admission of guilt, such a judgment should be absolutely impossible.”

Roommates, we’ll keep you posted as the hearing nears!