Rewrite: The Vaping Plague

A new pandemic is sweeping the nation, and its targeting one certain group. Vapers. 

CNNreports that there are six dead and 450 sick with mysterious cases of lung illnesses across 33 states since June. All have been linked to vaping. 

Doctors are still unsure of the causes of these illnesses New York Times Sheila Kaplan reports that in the past few years there have also been seven similar cases of lung infections. 

The first death linked to vaping was reported August 23rdCNN reports that the most recent death linked to vaping occurred on September 10th to a woman over the age of 50. This woman had a history of health problems that worsened when she began using e-cigarettes. 

Most cases have been people in their late teens, early twenties Vox reported. The New York Timesreports that lung scans are reported to look like patients have viral or bacterial pneumonia but further testing shows no infection. These inconclusive tests are further confusing doctors and experts. 

 All patients reportedly used e-cigarette products, but Vox’s Julia Belluz reports that experts are unable to pin down what ingredient or device is causing these sicknesses.In all cases, e-cigarettes were in use, and according to Salon 80% of patients used products containing THC, 61% contain nicotine, and 7% contain CBD. Salonreports, of patients using one or the other e-cigarette products and not both. 

According to the New York Times, nicotine and THC are mixed with solvents that should dissolve with the vapor, but it is very possible that some of the oil could be being left behind to be inhaled which will cause serious inflammation.

Vox’sBelluz reports the CDC knows that these cases are related because they hold similar symptoms. In most cases, symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, and difficulty breathing. Some cases have also reported nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, fever, and weight loss. In severe cases, patients are relying on oxygen support, or a ventilator to survive.

According to the New York Times,the CDC issued a statement that warns people of purchasing “bootleg” or street cannabis and e-cig products. Experts are stressing that the use of vaping should not be used by adolescences and only by people who are trying to quit smoking and are using vaping to wean themselves off.

Vox reports that experts do know the effects of nicotine after long term use, but have no clue what it will look like with vaping in the mix. Research concludes that nicotine can induce seizures, raise blood pressure, speed up heart rate, and cause arteries to narrow. After doing tests on rats and human airway cells experts have concluded that vaping does seem to trigger COPD. Little is known about the long-term effects of vaping, especially on this new generation already addicted to nicotine. 

The Trump Impeachment

This article titled “Impeachment standoff: Trump sees ‘hoax’, Dems a stonewall” covers the recent Impeachment inquiry of President Trump. At a recent press conference with the president of Finland, Trump declined to answer whether or not he would cooperate with the House to produce requested documents. Trump also accused a reporter of being corrupt after pressing him with questions about Ukraine.

The article comes from the Associated Press, a news site that generally remains politically neutral and unbiased. Over all this article showed little no no bias and had the facts speak for themselves. President Trump is a very prominent person in the news, especially at this time during the current impeachment inquiry. Again, the impeachment inquiry is a fairly new development, so this article is extremely timely in covering the presidents thoughts on these proceedings.

https://apnews.com/b0c0b700b58048838a70906979f93b83

Alex Watters to DC and Back

Everyone at Morningside knows who Alex Watters, who is often seen zooming through campus smiling and saying hi to students. Currently Watters is serving on the city council where he is elected though 2021. But who was Alex Watters before he became one of Morningside’s favorite faculty members? 

After graduating from Morningside in 2009 Watters moved to DC after he was selected by the American Association with People with Disabilities to work with the US Department of Education. In DC Watters got to work with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Michelle Obama on the “Lets Read, Lets Move” campaign. Watters talked about the various celebrities he met while working on this project, like when he met Kareem Abdul Jabbar in the bathroom “his head was above the stall” said Watters. 

After his time in DC he moved back to Sioux City to be the field organizer for the Obama Campaign. Although Watters himself was unable to knock on the doors his told him that Watters’ was there to “inspire people to knock on doors.” Watters’ team even knocked on the most doors in the region for the Obama campaign at one point. 

A lot of people underestimate Watters’ ability to get things done. “I would be doing this if I was an able body, why wouldn’t I be doing this now,” said Watters’. Watters has come out to endorse Kamala Harris’ campaign. Harris’ campaign has reached out to Watters about disability policies. “That was powerful to me,” said Watters. Watters has remarked about the glass ceiling that comes with having a disability, that tries to prohibit people from achieving their dreams. 

Watters has never let his disability get in the way of his passions. Watters’ is a huge advocate for health care, and has even remarked that Iowa’s health care system is broken. Watters is critical of the current Medicaid policies because it is all for profit. “You need to know the impact of your policy,” said Watters’. 

More reasons to hate Facebook

This article coming from ProPublica called “Employers Used Facebook to Keep Women and Older Workers From Seeing Job Ads. The Federal Government Thinks That’s Illegal.” by Ariana Tobin shares the scandal of companies posting not only age discriminating job ad, but gender discriminating ones too. You don’t have to be an expert to know that this sounds wrong, and the federal government agrees. It illegal. A new ruling by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission concluded that these employers were violating civil rights when they excluded both women and older people from seeing the ads. These companies include Nebraska Furniture Mart, Capital One, Edward Jones, and some other fairly known companies.

ProPublica is a non profit website that features investigative journalism in the public interest. They claim to fight the abuses of power. I liked this article, and I think its important to note that companies are still being discriminatory especially in this day and age. I think this story holds quite a bit of prominence especially with huge companies like Capital One being involved in this scandal. I also think that this article holds quite a bit of timeliness since these court rulings just occurred.

https://www.propublica.org/article/employers-used-facebook-to-keep-women-and-older-workers-from-seeing-job-ads-the-federal-government-thinks-thats-illegal

Carrot and Pirouline

With a sweet snap when you bite much like the popping of your finger. As you chew the sweet, healthy flavor begins to fill your mouth. A natural orange much like that of a traffic cone it color sticks out in the bag of vegetables calling you to eat it.

The Pirouline smells like the dog biscuits I give my golden retriever. The flaky, brittle outside breaks in your mouth like a fall leave in your hand. The chocolate inside is absolutely nauseating the stench attacking my nose as a take a bite. The pirouline looks like the twenty year old sweets that are still in my grandmothers cabinet. Absolutely awful.

A Warm Iowa Fall

I recently talked to several mornings students about their current thoughts on the strange Iowa weather.

Gladys Mayo is from California where its always sunny and warm. “The weather is very bipolar,” she said. Mayo was not the only one sick of this bipolar weather, Charity Muller said “Today is fine but the flipping back and forth from 80 is driving me crazy thats for sure.” Others were also not so sure about this mid fall heat wave like Sydney Garrigan who longs for the cold, “I want sweatshirt weather,”

Other Mustang’s can’t get enough of this unseasonably warm weather like Joel Jauer who said “Its beautiful,” he also remarked on how different this fall is from other years, “Heck no, its never this warm.”

Charity Muller (Left) Sydney Garrigan (center)

Joel Jauer (left)
Gladys Mayo (left)

A Visitor To Our Solar System

According to the Atlantic’s Marina Karen, astronomers are watching an interstellar comet that is hurtling through our solar system. This is the second time in less than a few years that there has been a foreign object from another star in our solar system. The first was discovered in 2017 and was named ‘Oumuamua. ‘Oumuamua is very mysterious and unique due to its shape and speed in which it is coming through our solar system. So interesting that some astronomers even considered whether this came from an “advanced alien civilization”.

This article titled ‘This Is Clearly Coming From Outside the Solar System’ was very interesting although slightly difficult to read. I definitely think that the audience of this article is aimed more to people who have an interest in astronomy because I had to read the article twice to understand it. In class we have talked about using easier language that readers can understand, this article definitely is not using that easier language. Due to the fact that this article is very scientific I feel that it lacks bias and is overall objective. I find it interesting how difficult of a read this article was because it comes from The Atlantic, which is normally not a very scientific news site. The Atlantic normally covers stories aimed at a young liberal audience.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/09/interstellar-comet-oumuamua/598204/

Final: A New Type of Pandemic

A new pandemic is sweeping the nation, and its targeting one certain group. Vapers. 

CNN reports that there are six dead and 450 sick with mysterious cases of lung illnesses across 33 states associated with vaping since June. Doctors are still unsure of the causes of these illnesses (CNN). New York Times Sheila Kaplan reports that in the past few years there have also been seven similar cases of lung infections (NYT).

 All patients reportedly used e-cigarette products, but Vox’sJulia Belluz reports that experts are unable to pin down what ingredient or device is causing these sicknesses (Vox). In all cases, e-cigarettes were in use, and according to Salon 80% of patients used products containing THC, 61% contain nicotine, and 7% contain CBD. In many cases, there are reports of patients using one or the other e-cigarette products and not both (Salon). According to the New York Times, nicotine and THC are mixed with solvents that should dissolve with the vapor, but it is very possible that some of the oil could be being left behind to be inhaled which will cause serious inflammation (New York Times). 

Vox’s Belluz reports that doctors and experts from the CDC know that these cases are related because they hold similar symptoms. In most cases, symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, and difficulty breathing. Some cases have also reported nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, fever, and weight loss. In severe cases, patients are relying on oxygen support, or a ventilator to survive (Vox). 

As of August 23rd, the first death has been linked to this vaping pandemic, an Illinois woman in her 30’s. CNN reports that the most recent death linked to vaping occurred on September 10th to a woman over the age of 50. This woman had a history of health problems that worsened when she began using e-cigarettes (CNN). Most cases have been people in their late teens, early twenties Vox reported (Vox). The New York Times reports that lung scans are reported to look like they have viral or bacterial pneumonia but further testing shows no infection. These inconclusive tests are further confusing doctors and experts (NYT).

According to the New York Times, the CDC issued a statement that warns people of purchasing “bootleg” or street cannabis and e-cig products. Experts are stressing that the use of vaping should not be used by adolescences and only by people who are trying to quit smoking and are using vaping to wean themselves off (NYT).

Voxreports that experts do know the effects of nicotine after long term use, however, but have no clue what it will look like with vaping in the mix. There has been a lot of research that concludes that nicotine can induce seizures, raise blood pressure, speed up heart rate, and cause arteries to narrow. After doing tests on rats and human airway cells experts have concluded that vaping does seem to trigger COPD. (Vox) Little is known about the long-term effects of vaping, especially on this new generation already addicted to nicotine. 

The Los Angeles Times reports that President Trump’s administration plans to ban vaping products with a fruity flavor that may attract today’s youth to try vaping.  In many states, like California, there are plans to take immediate action against vaping. Plans like passing new legislation, marketing campaigns, and increasing fines to anyone selling tobacco products for those under the age of 21(LA Times). 

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-09-16/california-governor-gavin-newsom-executive-action-vaping-e-cigarettes

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/10/health/vaping-outbreak-2019-explainer/index.html

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/9/3/20847219/vaping-health-risks-2019-lung-damage-death

https://www.salon.com/2019/09/08/as-teen-vaping-reaches-epidemic-proportions-experts-worry-over-future-social-costs/

The New York Times

The Russian Mole

In this article titled “Will the CIA’s Former Top Spy Fall Prey to Putin’s Murderous Mole Hunt?” reports about the recent leaked name of a CIA source. This article is from The Daily Beast, a news, and opinion website that focuses on politics. It is reported that a Russian newspaper published the name and biography of the CIA informant now living in DC. There is a lot of concern that the Russian newspaper may have put this informants life in danger.

Overall, I do feel that this piece is fairly objective despite coming from the Daily Beast. The Daily Beast is known to be heavily opinionated and leans toward the right. This article also shows a fair amount of prominence especially with Vladmir Putin’s name being dropped several times. Along with prominence, this article also shows human interest because many people will find it interesting that this CIA informant’s name as leaked to the Russian people.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/will-the-cias-former-top-spy-fall-prey-to-putins-murderous-mole-hunt?ref=scroll

The Vaping Plague

A new pandemic is sweeping the nation, and its targeting one certain group. Vapers. According to Salon, an online newspaper, there have been 450 cases around the nation in 33 states since June including the Virgin Islands. In the past there have also been seven cases of lung infections in previous years (NYT). All patients reportedly used e cigarette products, but experts are unable to pin down what ingredient or device is causing these sicknesses (Vox). In all cases e cigarettes were in use, and according to salon 80% of patients used products containing THC, 61% contain nicotine, and 7% contain CBD. Also, a lot of cases report using one or the other and not both. According to the New York times, in these e cigarettes nicotine and THC is mixed with solvents that should dissolve with the vapor, but it is very possible that some of the oil could be being left behind to be inhaled which will cause serious inflammation. 

Experts know that these cases are related because they hold similar symptoms. According to Vox, symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, and difficulty breathing in most cases. Some cases have also reported nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, fever, and weight loss. And in severe cases patients are relying on oxygen support, or a ventilator to survive. As of August 23rd,the first death has been linked to this vaping pandemic, an Illinois woman in her 30’s. Most cases have been people in their late teens, early twenties. (Vox)

Various experts have various theories as to why so many people are ending up in the ICU. According to the New York Times, the CDC issued a statement that warns people of purchasing “bootleg” or street cannabis and e cig products. The belief that these sicknesses could be cause by black market products is a common one. On lung scans it is reported that they look like they have viral or bacterial pneumonia but further testing shows no infection. 

Experts do know the effects of nicotine after long term use, but have no clue what it will look like with vaping in the mix. There has been a lot of research that concludes that nicotine can induce seizures, raise blood pressure, speed up heartrate, and cause arteries to narrow. And after doing some tests on rats and human airway cells experts have concluded that vaping does seem to trigger COPD. (VOX) Little is known about the long-term effects of vaping, especially on this new generation already addicted to nicotine. But experts are stressing that the use of vaping should not be used by adolescences and only by people who are trying to quit smoking and are using vaping to wean themselves off.