Hockey is one of the hardest-hitting professional sports in the United States. It often feels like something is missing if a hockey game reaches its conclusion without at least one fight between opposing teams or someone in the penalty box for upending a rival player. Despite specialized padding and safety equipment, head injuries can be prevalent on the ice. How common are head injuries in the NHL, and what is the league doing to protect their athletes?

A Culture of Violence

While ice hockey isn’t the most dangerous sport when it comes to concussion frequency — that honor belongs to rugby and American football — it’s among the top five. Bare-knuckle boxing is part of the game’s culture, with enforcers from one team picking fights with enforcers from the other to energize their teammates and put on a show audiences will remember for years to come. You could make a name for yourself, like St. Louis Blues forward Todd Ewen did in one of his first games in 1987, by knocking an opposing enforcer out cold on the ice with a single punch.

Concussions are part of the game and an unfortunate result of full-contact sports, but they also may be part of the problem.

The Danger of CTE

CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disorder researchers believe to result from repeated head trauma. Concussions damage a protein in the brain called tau. This damage kills the surrounding neurons, causing memory problems, changes in behavior and other neurological conditions.

Most of the research surrounding CTE focuses on football players. Research published in 2018 found that a whopping 110 out of the 111 former NFL players studied had CTE. All of these diagnoses come from brains donated to science after the player’s death. While concussions are nearly as common in hockey as they are in football, there aren’t enough brains to study to demonstrate a definitive connection between the sport and this sort of neurodegeneration.

Suppressing Important Research

In 2013, former NHL players filed a class-action lawsuit against the organization for failing to protect players from injuries that could lead to CTE, and not warning them of the potential dangers. The NHL settled the case for $19 billion in 2018. However, last year, the widow of former NHL enforcer Ewen, who committed suicide in 2015, sued the NHL, accusing them of dismissing the risks and ignoring the dangers of CTE.

Ewen is one of many diagnosed posthumously with CTE, but the NHL isn’t only ignoring the problem — they’re also actively working to pretend it doesn’t exist. During the case, the NHL brought in 19 highly paid expert witnesses to repeat under oath that there’s no link between head trauma and CTE — and even, in some cases, that CTE isn’t a genuine medical concern. The league’s lawyers argued that since Ewen killed himself, linking his death with CTE would scare other players into committing suicide out of fear. The NHL — and athletic culture overall — are going out of their way to suppress concussion research.

Preventing Head Injuries

The NHL and other professional sports aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, so what can players do to protect themselves and prevent head injuries while on the ice? When it comes to avoiding hockey-related concussions, it’s all about rules and equipment. Start by ensuring each player has a well-fitting helmet that’s in good condition. If it starts to wear out, it needs repairs or replacing

Make it a point to limit player contact during practices and scrimmages, and ensure everyone follows the rules and demonstrates good sportsmanship. The most significant changes must come from the top down. The NHL needs to start supporting its players and taking steps to prevent these severe head injuries. Instead of suppressing research into CTE in hockey players, the organization needs to fund studies and look after athletes to prevent these injuries from adversely affecting people who work all their lives to reach their sport’s highest levels.

The Future of the NHL

It’s too early to tell how these lawsuits will affect the NHL, but our guess is that not much will change. The league must advocate for player safety, protecting athletes from head injuries and offering support when those injuries inevitably become something more.

In early 2020, Covid-19 changed our lives forever. For the first time in history, a global pandemic caused businesses, schools, and stores to close to protect public safety and leaving us to question; how do we survive,

Meet Lora D. Williams,  a Registered Nurse with an innovative edge. During COVID she felt that it is important to continue to educate, cultivate, and equipped the next generation of health care professionals. More specifically Nursing Assistant. She recently launched an online CNA platform that Career school owners can utilize for their lecture and a didactic portion of their program. 

Tell us about your desire to help others start a medical career?

I started as a Certified Nursing Assistant (C.N.A.) at the age of 16 in San Marcos Texas. My grandparents raised me and I wanted to ensure that I was equipped with the skills and education needed to provide care if they ever required my support. I didn’t have the privilege to be able to sow into their lives in that way but my desire to be prepared to care for them led me to enroll in a C.N.A. program at Gary Job Corp in San Marcos Texas.

My experience at Gary Job Corp was pivotal to who I have become today.  I had an amazing C.N.A. instructor named Mrs. Welch. She operated beyond her role as an educator to ensure that I understood my potential and my purpose. Her words pierced my heart in such a way that I shifted my childish viewpoints and became determined to excel.

Obtaining my C.N.A. certificate was tangible proof that I was capable to be more and it ignited a passion to serve the elderly.

I have a desire to help others start a medical career and other service-based careers because I understand what it means to not know your full potential. I have seen the impact accomplishing a goal can have for individuals who may have failed in other aspects of their lives. Like me, they may have hopelessness in response to the circumstances through which they have had to walk. An opportunity like this provides direction to those who were undecided on their path, and it can spark purpose within some who weren’t aware they have the capacity to impact others.

Why are you starting a school in the middle of a pandemic?

My husband Cedric and I wrote out the vision for Williams Career School of Excellence in 2011. It is providence that we’re officially starting both an online and brick and mortar school for service professionals in the middle of a pandemic.

We understand the importance of adult education with workforce skills. Accomplishing our certification in our respective industries opened doors of opportunity that would ultimately enable us to thrive and overcome cycles of poverty. Our vision is to equip individuals and their families with the tools and skills that can lift them out of poverty and position them to seek out further career development opportunities throughout their lives.

As a nurse who has led assisted living, memory care, and long term care facilities, I understand how staffing shortages can impact the quality of care that is given to seniors. My husband and I are resolved to establish a new culture and standard of care in the senior living industry by training and developing healthcare professionals who understand their purpose, their gifts and talents, and their opportunities to encourage others to do the same.

What programs will your school have starting off?

We have a big vision for the first five years of operation of our school. Initially, we have set out to offer the following courses: Nurse Aide, Medication Aide, Patient Care Technician, Phlebotomy, HVAC, and a computer literacy program for seniors.

How can people sign up?

Prospective students can go to https://mywcse.com/ and complete an interest form to be notified of our announcements and upcoming info sessions.

How can we stay connected with you?

You can reach me on the following social media outlets and via email [email protected]

Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/lora.williams3

Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/loradwilliamsrn/

Linkedin- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lora-williams-rn-0b6ab05/

Sunset Ridge School, Northfield, Illinois

Yes, that sounds harsh. But how else to describe the rule that parents read in a message sent to parents and guardians from Sunset Ridge School District 29 Superintendent Edward Strange:

Students that are required to quarantine for travel-related reasons (i.e. travel to high risk area), will not be permitted to access remote learning during the [14-day] quarantine period.

It might take a moment for this astonishing rule to sink in. If a student has traveled to a state that has been defined as “high risk,” he or she must quarantine for 14 days before returning to school. That means not only staying out of the school buildings, but also not participating in remote learning.

As if the student could infect other students and staff virtually by being on a computer. Nobody can be that stupid.

Apparently, kicking a kid off remote learning is designed to be a disincentive to travel. By my count, Illinois has declared 15 states, including adjacent Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, to be “high risk.” I can think of numerous examples where a family might be required to travel there, such as a relative’s illness or funeral. I can only presume that the school would grant an exception to the rule and allow such a student to return to remote learning. Although I can’t be sure that the high-handed bunch running the Sunset Ridge schools would be that accommodating.

Here’s the thing: What law allows schools to make travel verboten, or simply to discourage it? Is there even a law or regulation that allows schools to forbid remote learning for any reason? In effect, it amounts to a two-week suspension; is discouraging travel by suspension covered under any existing regulations?

For me, the greater offense is school officials getting it into their heads that they have the right or the obligation to get involved in the details of any family’s life. It is beyond arrogance to deny a child an education–even if it is the second-rate remote kind–as a club to push a family around.

Will this craziness infect other school districts? Has it already?

Note to the board and staff of the K-8 District 29: Parents are in charge of their children. They decide what’s best, not you. What you have demonstrated is an affliction that is gripping too many Americans in authority who have used a pandemic to shape other people’s lives in a way that you have decided is best. Let go of it. Please.

Yesterday was a huge news day as the Big Ten announced the football season’s return on October 23 and October 24. It was a long day of wordy public statements and protracted Zoom calls with the media. There is a wide range of thoughts and feelings one could have about this decision, but if you’re not conflicted and ambivalent, you’re just not paying attention.

Or you don’t want to, because you’re in the “yey! wave the flag!” camp on one extreme, or the “COVID-19 is going to get somebody killed!” opposite extreme. Sadly, society rewards, via the of lavishing attention upon, those two polarities while ignoring the analysis that contains nuance and contradiction. The Big Ten is taking a huge risk, albeit a very carefully calculated one. 

First off, this is all about money first, and immediately laugh anyone who claims otherwise. It’s not just the billions of dollars at stake for the league and their immediate business partners. You have all the ancillary businesses, starting with now legal sports gaming. Like the sports betting at 888sport, a lot of related businesses received great news yesterday. Like restaurants near the stadium: Mustard’s Last Stand in the parking lot of Northwestern’s Ryan Field, or apparel and merchandise, like Let’s Tailgate right now down the street. 

It’s also huge for bars in campus towns, as the management of Kam’s and Legends in Champaign, home of the University of Illinois, will tell you. But this is a huge gamble, much like wagering on football itself can be. Except the stakes are much higher, because you’re assessing the risk/reward with public health during a once-in-a-century pandemic.

Michigan State University just announced a massive coronavirus on campus, only three days before the Big Ten announcement on Wednesday.

Still, if you look at the Big Ten’s protocols and precautions, it’s very impressive. They came up with a plan, and an adjacent business plan. Because make no mistake about it, this is not “amateur athletics.” This is big business.

The Big Ten will require student-athletes, coaches, trainers and other individuals that are on the field for all practices and games to undergo daily antigen testing.

Test results must be completed and recorded prior to each practice or game. Student-athletes who test positive for the coronavirus through point of contact (POC) daily testing would require a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to confirm the result of the POC test.

Northwestern athletic director Dr. Jim Phillips, head football coach Pat Fitzgerald and team physician Dr. Jeff Mjaanes met with the media via Zoom on Wednesday afternoon.

“For us, the game changer was that there were significant advancements in testing, primarily antigen testing,” said Dr. Mjaanes in regards to testing protocol.

“Antigen testing detects certain proteins in the virus and can actually detect a level of virus that is thought to be the below the level of infectivity. You’re basically catching a positive before it’s contagious. That’s a huge breakthrough. We can identify people before they are infectious, maintaining the health and sanctity of the team.”

Dr. Mjaanes also addressed the related pressing issue of myocarditis:

“We had a couple of Big Ten institutions which struggled to get cardiac MRI, which is one of the mainstays of the evaluation in order to truly rule out the possibility of myocarditis in an athlete. Now with the fact that we’ve been able to secure some workarounds where every institution could have access to cardiac MRI, that’s a game changer.

“We’ve already been doing some cardiac MRIs on our student-athletes, and the plan is to do those through Northwestern Medicine. We’ll get it done close to home.”

Leaders from the primary Big Ten athletics program in the state met with the media yesterday as well. Said University of Illinis Athletic Director Josh Whitman: “As a society, we have to learn how to live in this environment. I think sports can provide one model or example of how to do that.”

U of I Chancellor Robert Jones summed it up best: “It was scientific data and information that led us to make one of the most difficult decisions” in my four decades in higher education.”

“That decision was driven by good science and the data that we have at the time. It was a difficult decision.”

Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

Deep Flavors: A Celebration of Recipes for Foodies in a Kosher Style

It’s a strange year, and the large family celebration that’s a long standing High Holiday tradition for “Deep Flavors’” author Ken Horwitz and his wife Bobbi, will, instead, be a dinner for two. Even so, the basic menu will include all of the traditional favorites.

“You have to have matzo ball soup, sliced apples with honey, brisket and potato kugel,” Horwitz, who lives in Dallas, observes. “That’s what our parents’ generation served, and that’s what we serve.”

While the menu is familiar, the recipes have been kicked up a notch or two to enhance the flavor of the finished dish.The potato kugel, for example, calls for schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) in lieu of vegetable oil or olive oil.

“For those who turn up their noses at the thought of rendered chicken fat, remember that for calories, fat is fat,” the author writes. “This small amount (2 tablespoons) of fat adds a desirable flavor. Since a tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons, and the recipe makes at least 10 servings, each serving will have less than1/2 teaspoon of fat-far less than a pat of butter.”

Horwitz, a CPA by profession, says his cooking is “kosher style,” as opposed to kosher. In short, he eschews pork, shellfish, and fish without fins or scales (think catfish) and never mixes milk products with meat or poultry. Still, his palate is eclectic, and he includes recipes for culinary classics like jambalaya, quesadillas, and tagine, in addition to the dishes sourced from the culinary traditions of Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews.

Asked to sum up his approach, Horwitz says, “When I’m working on a recipe, flavor comes first. The finished dish has to be delicious.”

Horwitz’ style is as personal as his recipes. While the ingredients are listed in the usual way, the directions for cooking are more like a conversation with a chef whose recipe you’re using for the first time. 

Orange Fudge Pudding Cake

Orange Fudge Pudding Cake

Ingredients

This recipe is for an 8-inch square pan. If you double the recipe, use a 9×13-inch pan. I use Pyrex and not metal for this recipe.

2/3 cup dutch-process cocoa, sifted, split use

1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed well

1 cup white cane sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 ounces dark semisweet or bittersweet (not milk) chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup unbleached flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup milk (not skim)

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 cups orange juice

1 teaspoon orange extract

no more than 1 teaspoon orange oil

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F

Butter or spray the pan. In  a small bowl, whisk together 1/3 cup of sifted cocoa, all of the brown sugar, and 1/3 cup of white cane sugar.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler (or microwave), being careful to just melt the chocolate so that it does not burn and whisk till smooth. Whisk in the remaining 1/3 cup of cocoa. Cool slightly.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the remaining 2/3 cup of white cane sugar, vanilla, and milk until dissolved and combined. Whisk in the egg yolk. Add the melted chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. Add the flour mixture and stir until evenly moistened. Pour the mixture into the baking tray (pan) and spread evenly. Sprinkle the dry cocoa mixture evenly over the batter so that it covers the entire surface of the tray.

Now comes what will seem to be a very strange process. Mix together the orange juice, orange extract, and orange oil; then gently pour it over the chocolate mixture. Put the pan in the oven. Bake until the cake is puffed and bubbling and just beginning to pull away from the sides of the baking dish (about 45 minutes). Do not overbake. Cool the cake in the dish for 25-30 minutes before serving. The cake will have a wonderful orangey, fudgy, saucy bottom with a cake topping-a most strange result, but delicious.

“Deep Flavors, A Celebration of Recipes for Foodies in a Kosher Style” by Kenneth M. Horwitz (Inspire On Purpose Publishing, Irving Texas $39.95). The book is available from Amazon

You might get the idea from watching places like Portland that there’s no way to end the rioting. Not so. Lancaster, Pennsylvania did it quickly when rioting started after police shot a knife-wielding man who attacked an officer.

Here’s how, according to Matt Walsh, writing in the Daily Wire, “Lancaster Solved Its Rioting Problem In One Day. Here’s How They Did It”.

1. “The Lancaster Police Department released the body cam footage of the incident within hours,” to combat the false narative.
2. “The police showed up in force on the first night of the protests.” And they didn’t take a lot of crap. One rioter got a rubber bullet in the balls. 
3. “Police aggressively pursued those who committed crimes throughout the night.” The criminals didn’t just re-start their damage in a new neighborhood.
4. “Here is perhaps the most important part. The arrested rioters were charged with multiple felonies and kept in jail on bails set at up to 1 million dollars. As of Wednesday, at least seven of the accused arsonists and vandals are still in jail, unable to pay the hefty bond.”

Cheers.

I get it, Joe Biden is white bread.  Plain vanilla ice cream.  A tuna melt in a world of much sexier entrees, but ask yourself, What’s wrong with tuna melt?

My wife serves a terrific tuna melt and it makes for a great lunch.  Maybe even a dinner or two.

A tuna melt can be a very satisfying and nutritious meal, but there is one thing about it that beats the hell of the alternative:  It won’t kill you.

Joe Biden’s a good guy and a decent guy.  He’s demonstrated his ability to feel the pain of others, possibly because of the pain he’s experienced in his own life.

Biden wants to protect your health care, the Social Security for which you paid and the planet on which your grandchildren will hopefully thrive.  If all that isn’t enough, he’s not even a socialist.

The rat poison mentioned in the title is Donald Trump.  During the 2016 campaign, Trump often asked African-Americans, What do you have to lose?

The answer is, Our very lives.

Racist attitudes engendered by Trump have led to some of the most egregious and criminal deaths of unarmed Black Americans since lynching was outlawed.

That doesn’t let the rest of our White, privileged asses off the hook, though.  COVID-19 doesn’t seem to respect our privilege.

We lost a friend named Rod to it and he was one of the whitest, Bible thumping Trumpsters you’d ever want to meet.

We still liked him, though.

Rod got COVID in early March, about the same time I did, but diabetes may have been the underlying condition that made him so much more vulnerable.

We got sick about a month AFTER Donald Trump told Bob Woodward that this new coronavirus was airborne and five times more deadly than influenza.

It was six weeks AFTER the World Health Organization proclaimed it to be a world health emergency.

Rod and I were both going about our lives without realizing that we were putting ourselves in danger.

Wouldn’t it have been great if we had a president who, armed with the knowledge of the threat of this pandemic would have used his position to enlighten us, to allow us to take precautions necessary to keep ourselves safe?

Trump told a voter on ABC’s town hall that he didn’t downplay the virus, he “up-played” it.  Did he make up that word or did he make it down?

Either way, he’s lying.

We’ll be speculating for years about how many American lives could have been saved if Trump had compassion for his fellow Americans instead of an obsession with reelection and ultimately, dictatorship.

Most estimates say at least 100,000 Americans died needlessly, but Trump has other ways to kill you, too.

If his justice department wins their case to get rid of Obamacare, you might lose your health insurance.  Or you might become uninsured for ongoing treatment of cancer, cystic fibrosis, pneumonia, brain injury, Alzheimer’s or a relapse of COVID-19.

And no, he does NOT have a plan to replace Obamacare with something beautiful or strong.

I can only wonder what Rod would have for lunch now.  Would he order the tuna melt or would he still vote for rat poison?

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Actor/singer TC Carson is more than “Kyle” from the hit 1990s sitcom” Living Single”, yet that’s what he’s known as to many of his fans. Today, he appeared on Nekia Nichelle’s IG Live and dropped some words of wisdom about creating your own media opportunities. It was a “virtual” homecoming for Carson, a proud Chicago native. Despite the pandemic, he still has big projects forthcoming including a cooking show.

Actor/Singer TC Carson

I’M NOT WAITING ON YOU

After being asked about a “Living Single” reboot for the umpteenth time, Mr. Carson offered some additional insight about how networks and studios operate. He explained that it’s important to look within and create your own opportunities. For him,  “I’m not waiting on you” is in reference to production companies; he would rather be proactive and have his own.

Check out the clip below:
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