Author: Paul E.

HILLSBORO, Ore. — The Portland State women’s soccer team fought back in the closing stages of a game against Utah Tech on Friday afternoon at Hillsboro Stadium, scoring late in the game to tie the Trail Blazers 1-1. The tie was the Vikings’ first of the season, bringing their record to 1 win, 5 losses and 1 tie, while Utah Tech’s fourth tie of the year brought their record to 3 wins, 2 losses and 4 ties. The Vikings and Trail Blazers faced off for the second time in a scoreless first half with both teams creating multiple chances. The…

CNN — A third close contact of a patient hospitalized in Missouri with H5N1 avian influenza has also reported developing symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday. The health care worker was not tested because his symptoms subsided before the illness investigation began, according to the CDC. This is the second health care worker to report symptoms after coming into contact with a patient, and the CDC said the first was tested for influenza, which came back negative. The agency says the risk of H5N1 to the general public remains low. Healthcare workers are typically the…

Founded in 1965, Gold’s Gym began as a small gym in Venice Beach, California, but has since expanded and now has locations all over the world. “Famous athletes such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno and Franco Columbu have trained at Gold’s Gym in Venice, also known as the home of bodybuilding,” a Gold’s Gym representative told PS. “They have inspired generations of future athletes at both the professional and individual levels.” With such a celebrity clientele, you might think Gold’s Gym would charge a lot of money. But not all Gold’s Gym locations are so pricey. In fact, many locations…

Shohei Ohtani did it.The Los Angeles Dodgers star completed an unprecedented 50-50 season, hitting 50 home runs and stealing 50 bases in the same season — and he did it with nine games to go.He then went on to post a 51-51 record in the same stretch, helping the team clinch the first playoff berth of his career.And Ohtani did it with the greatest offensive output in MLB history: 6-for-6 with three home runs, two stolen bases, two doubles, four runs scored and 10 RBIs. His 50th home run also broke the Dodgers’ all-time home run record, set by Shawn…

CNN — Donald Trump believes he can win Nebraska’s four electoral votes but is increasingly nervous about a fifth, leading him and his Republican allies to launch a last-ditch effort to change the state’s election laws just weeks before Election Day. Trump held a brief phone call with Nebraska Republican lawmakers this week as they met with Republican Gov. Jim Pillen to discuss the feasibility of overturning a 30-year-old law that allocates electoral votes by district rather than a statewide winner-take-all system. Attempts to change the law have failed this year and in past years, but Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham…

The FDA has paved the way for flu vaccines that can be given at home. A self-administered version of pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca’s FluMist was approved by regulators on Friday for home administration to patients aged between 2 and 49. The spray, available through doctor’s appointments since 2003, is roughly as effective as the injected vaccine. “The approval of self-administration of FluMist is an important step forward in making our vaccine more accessible to combat the significant annual burden of influenza,” AstraZeneca executive Iskra Raik said in a statement. According to the CDC, while confidence in the flu vaccine is higher…

Elida Middle School eighth grader Willow Shaner practices drawing blood on a replica arm in Elida Middle School’s new career exploration lab. ELIDA — In Elida Middle School’s new Career Exploration Lab, students are drawing blood from replica arms, designing key chains on 3D printers and making videos in front of a green screen. The intensive course is available to seventh and eighth graders and involves students rotating through 16 stations that mimic popular careers such as paramedicine, welding, cosmetology and drone technology. Each station begins with research and then students experience something as close to the everyday life of…

image: Dr. Matthew Lee Smith Show more Credit: Steven Arnold/Texas A&M University School of Public Health Texas A&M University School of Public Health and USAging have received the 2024 Immunization Regional Champion Award from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Adult and Influenza Vaccination Summit. Matthew Lee Smith, PhD, professor in the School of Public Health, leads the school’s efforts as a founding member of USAging’s Elderly and Disabled Vaccination Collaborative (ADVC). The honor, announced as respiratory disease season is in full swing in the United States, recognizes Smith’s work in supporting ADVC’s efforts to increase the…

CNN — The number of whooping cough cases in the United States is skyrocketing, up fivefold from the same period last year, according to preliminary data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s the highest number of whooping cough cases since 2014 and “shows no signs of abating,” said Dr. Susan Hariri of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, who presented the data Friday at a meeting of experts who advise the Food and Drug Administration on vaccine decisions. The surge in cases this year suggests the disease, also known as whooping…

New coronavirus variant XEC may spread more easily than previous variantsJarun Ontakrai/Shutterstock A new COVID-19 variant called XEC has begun to spread around the world, primarily in Europe. Early evidence suggests that this variant may be more easily transmitted than past variants, but public health experts say this new variant is very similar to past ones and available vaccines are effective. Here’s what we know so far about XEC. What is the new covid-19 XEC variant? XEC is a combination of two other SARS-CoV-2 variants, known as KP.3.3 and KS.1.1, that formed when the two variants infected the same organism,…