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  • Drawn to Purpose Online Exhibition: Women Illustrators and Cartoonists at the Library of Congress

      Anita Kunz, Tugged

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Online Exhibition

    Anita Kunz (b. 1956). Tugged, 2001. Published in Working Woman, October, 2001. Watercolor, gouache over graphite. Gift of the artist, 2003. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress  © Anita Kunz

    Spanning the late 1800s to the present, selected works highlight the gradual broadening in both the private and public spheres, of women’s roles and interests, addressing such themes as evolving ideals of feminine beauty, new opportunities emerging for women in society, changes in gender relations, and issues of human welfare. From the nineteenth century into the early decades of the twentieth century, women made incremental progress as professional cartoonists and illustrators, with occasional, notable leaps forward by particular creators. In the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries — as educational and professional opportunities expanded — women have become leaders, producing best-selling work, winning top prizes, and receiving high acclaim from their peers in the field. This is a far cry from when women struggled to get their work published or join the very organizations that would later honor them with major awards. Featuring works from the Print and Photographs Division, Drawn to Purpose demonstrates that women once constrained by social conditions and convention have gained immense new opportunities for self-expression and discovery to share with growing, appreciative audiences.

    Themes

    Themes and Genres

    Golden Age of Illustration

    Early Comics

    New Narratives, New Voices

    Editorial Illustrators

    Magazine Covers and Cartoons

    Political Cartoonists

  • More Than One-Third of People with Traditional Medicare Spent at Least 20 Percent of Their Total Income on Health Care in 2013

    Health Costs Are Projected to Consume Half of Average Per Social Security Income by 2030

    Health care costs are a substantial and growing burden for many people on Medicare and are projected to consume a larger share of total income over time, according to a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation.Figure 1

    The study, Medicare Beneficiaries’ Out-of-Pocket Health Care Spending as a Share of Income Now and Projections for the Future, finds that more one-third of people with traditional Medicare spent at least 20 percent of their total income on out-of-pocket health care costs in 2013. That included premiums, deductibles and cost sharing for Medicare-covered services, as well as spending on services not covered by Medicare, such as dental and long-term care. The analysis of spending as a share of total income does not include enrollees in Medicare Advantage plans, who account for 19 million of the 59 million people with Medicare. Income is measured on a per person basis, which for married couples is income for the couple divided in half.

    While some people with Medicare face relatively low out-of-pocket costs, the financial burden can be especially large for beneficiaries with modest incomes and significant medical needs. For instance, among beneficiaries in traditional Medicare, just over half with incomes below $20,000 and those ages 85 and overspent at least 20 percent of their total income on health expenditures in 2013, along with more than 4 in 10 beneficiaries in fair or poor health status.

    revisedmedicare.png

    Among all Medicare beneficiaries, out-of-pocket costs consumed 41 percent of beneficiaries’ per person Social Security income in 2013, on average. Older women and beneficiaries ages 85 and older tended to have higher average out-of-pocket spending as a share of average Social Security income than others, according to the analysis.

    The analysis projects that the health care spending burden among Medicare beneficiaries will rise over time. By 2030, the study projects that under current policies 42 percent of people with traditional Medicare will spend 20 percent of their total income or more on health care costs.  Among all people with Medicare, out-of-pocket costs are projected to consume half of the average per person Social Security benefit by 2030.

    With rising health care costs representing a growing challenge to the financial security of older adults, these findings have implications for policies that could shift costs on to beneficiaries as part of a broader effort to reduce federal spending on Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.

    Read the Report 

    Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Menlo Park, California.

    Medicare helps pay for the health care needs of 59 million people, including adults ages 65 and over and younger adults with permanent disabilities. Even so, many people on Medicare incur relatively high out-of-pocket costs for their health care, including premiums, deductibles, cost sharing for Medicare-covered services, as well as spending on services not covered by Medicare, such as long-term services and supports and dental care. The financial burden of health care can be especially large for some beneficiaries, particularly those with modest incomes and significant medical needs. Understanding the magnitude of beneficiaries’ current spending burden, and the extent to which it can be expected to grow over time, relative to income, provides useful context for assessing the implications of potential changes to Medicare or Medicaid that could shift additional costs onto older adults and younger people with Medicare.

    In this report, we assess the current and projected out-of-pocket health care spending burden among Medicare beneficiaries using two approaches. First, we analyze average total per capita out-of-pocket health care spending as a share of average per capita Social Security income, building upon the analysis conducted annually by the Medicare Trustees. Second, we estimate the median ratio of total per capita out-of-pocket spending to per capita total income, an approach that addresses the distortion of average estimates by outlier values for spending and income. Under both approaches, we use a broad measure of Medicare beneficiaries’ total out-of-pocket spending that includes spending on health insurance premiums, cost sharing for Medicare-covered services, and costs for services not covered by Medicare, such as dental and long-term care. We present estimates of the out-of-pocket spending burden for Medicare beneficiaries overall, and by demographic, socioeconomic, and health status measures, for 2013 and projections for 2030, in constant 2016 dollars.

    KEY FINDINGS

    • In 2013, Medicare beneficiaries’ average out-of-pocket health care spending was 41 percent of average per capita Social Security income; the share increased with age and was higher for women than men, especially among people ages 85 and over.
    • Medicare beneficiaries’ average out-of-pocket health care spending is projected to rise as a share of average per capita Social Security income, from 41 percent in 2013 to 50 percent in 2030 .

  • Beware the Fashion Flim-Flammers

    distressed jeans

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    by Rose Madeline Mula

    Warning!

    A band of malicious practical jokers has insidiously infiltrated the halls of high fashion. That’s the only possible explanation for what has been happening the last few years.

    ‘Distressed denim’ (right); Wikimedia Commons, Winliu21

    Don’t you think it’s strange that so many women are wearing jeans with gaping, ragged holes and frayed hems?  Stranger still, they are buying them in that condition from high-end boutiques. Marketed as “distressed,” these garments command much higher prices than their pristine, unstressed/well-adjusted cousins.  Furthermore, women are being brainwashed into buying their jeans at least two sizes too small, requiring enough pulling and tugging to get into so as to distress them even more.

    Also sneaking onto the market are pants with ground-in dirt stains.  Those don’t seem to have made a serious inroad yet, but it won’t be long.  I saw a pair advertised in a chi-chi catalog yesterday at a price that would cover my groceries for two months — and at the organics-only store in the ritzy next town, not at my cut-rate supermarket.      

    And who is brainwashing women to risk arrest for indecent exposure by wearing those crotch-high, skin-tight skirts and dresses that bind the torso in wrinkles and make sitting down as challenging as climbing the Matterhorn in six-inch stilettoes — speaking of which, how have so many women have been coerced into cramming their feet into such fiendish footwear?  Even professional models tottering on those tootsie-torturing stilts can’t negotiate a catwalk without lurching… staggering … even falling, as documented in Facebook videos.  It isn’t pretty.  And painful though those feet may be today, it’s nothing compared to the agony they will cause after a decade or two of mistreatment.  I predict a run on wheelchairs in the not-too-distant future; and enough hammertoes, corns, and bunions to guaranty every podiatrist affluence beyond their wildest dreams.

    Remember when bare bosoms were visible only in strip clubs, XXX-rated movies, and the pages of “Playboy” and “National Geographic”?  Not anymore. Now bouncing boobies seem to be perfectly acceptable everywhere; and if in rare cases they are constrained by underwear, bra straps no longer must be hidden.

    Most mystifying of all, however, is the sudden prominence of derrieres. As far back as I can remember, our goal had always been to make them invisible, or at least as flat and unobtrusive as possible.  If a woman asked her mate, “Does this dress make my rear end look fat” and the answer was “Yes,” the dress would immediately be dispatched to Goodwill and the unfortunately truthful mate banished to the dog house.  Today a “No” response to that question would trigger tears and cosmetic surgical butt enhancement.

    I recently read that back in the day when women wore skirts and dresses almost exclusively, the wardrobe supervisor on the old Dick Van Dyke Show made a radical proposal that Mary Tyler Moore wear slacks in one scene.  After hours of argument, the producers finally acquiesced — but only on one condition:  The pants could not “cup under.”  Today, pants not only cup under, they also cup over, around, and in between.  In addition, they have extended into a whole new dimension, protruding alarmingly and making the rear end look like a well-upholstered end table.  Nowadays, if a woman’s derriere doesn’t stick out enough to allow her partner to rest his cocktail glass on it while he reaches for an hors-d’oeuvre, he will dump her in a heartbeat for the nearest Kim Kardashian body double.   

    It seems that the only fashion rule today is that one look as insanely ridiculous as possible. What’s next?  Maybe bulging bellies. That would be great!  I’d finally be in the forefront of a high-fashion trend!  

    And I wouldn’t even need padding. 

    ©2018 Rose Madeline Mula for SeniorWomen.com

    Editor’s Note:  Rose Mula’s most recent book is Confessions of a Domestically-Challenged Homemaker &  Other Tall Tales, available at Amazon.com and other online booksellers.  Grandmother Goose: Rhymes for a Second Childhood is available as an e-book on Amazon.com for the Kindle and at BarnesandNoble.com for the Nook at $2.99; the paperback edition is available for $9.95.   Her website is rosemadelinemula.com.  

     

     


  • 30 States Have Adopted Sentencing and Corrections Reforms: Incarceration and Crime Rates Keep Falling

    Pentonville prison, England
  • By Adam Gelb and Jacob Denney,  Public Safety Performance Project; Isometrical perspective of Pentonville Prison, 1840-42, engineer Joshua Jebb. Report of the Surveyor-General of Prisons, Wikipedia

    • The Pew Charitable Trusts  Research & Analysis  

     

    After peaking in 2008, the nation’s imprisonment rate fell 11 percent over eight years, reaching its lowest level since 1997, according to an analysis of new federal statisticsby The Pew Charitable Trusts. The decline from 2015-16 was 2 percent, much of which was due to a drop in the number of federal prisoners. The rate at which black adults are imprisoned fell 4 percent from 2015-16 and has declined 29 percent over the past decade. The ongoing decrease in imprisonment has occurred alongside long-term reductions in crime. Since 2008, the combined national violent and property crime rate dropped 23 percent, Pew’s analysis shows.

    Also since that 2008 peak, 36 states reduced their imprisonment rates, including declines of 15 percent or more in 20 states from diverse regions of the country, such as Alaska, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Connecticut. During the same period, almost every state recorded a decrease in crime with no apparent correlation to imprisonment (see Figure 1). The latest data, released Jan. 9 by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, show that trends in crime and imprisonment continue to be unrelated:

    • Across the 45 states with crime declines from 2008-16, imprisonment rate changes ranged from a 35 percent decrease to a 14 percent increase.
    • 35 states cut crime and imprisonment rates simultaneously.
    • 21 states posted double-digit declines in both rates.
    • The average crime decline across the 10 states with the greatest declines in imprisonment was 19 percent, and across the 10 states with the largest imprisonment growth it was 11 percent. 

  • Restoring the Armada Portrait of An Icon, Queen Elizabeth – Shopping for Sextants, Prime Meridian Cufflinks, Dollond Quarter Size Sundial, Clockwork Pendant Necklace

     

    Recently saved for the British nation, the iconic Armada portrait of Elizabeth I commemorates the most famous conflict of her reign — the failed invasion of England by the Spanish Armada in summer 1588. The conservators of the Royal Museums, Greenwich, England have undertaken essential work to preserve the portrait’s fragile painted surfaces which are over 400 years old.

    The painting is now on permanent public display as part of the national collection in the Queen’s Presence Chamber in the Queen’s House,* on the site of the original Greenwich Palace, which was the birthplace of Elizabeth I. The Armada Portrait is an outstanding historical document, summarizing the hopes and aspirations of the state as an imperial power, at a watershed moment in history. But the Armada Portrait transcends this specific moment in time. Scholars have described it as a definitive representation of the English Renaissance, encapsulating the creativity, ideals, and ambitions of the Elizabethan ‘Golden Age’.

    The Armada Portrait was designed to be a spectacle of female power and majesty, carefully calculated to inspire awe and wonder. Like many Tudor portraits, it is packed with meaning and metaphor. Elizabeth’s upright posture, open arms and clear gaze speak of vitality and strength. She is draped in pearls — symbols of chastity and the Moon. Numerous suns are embroidered in gold on her skirt and sleeves, to signify power and enlightenment. She rests her hand on a globe, with her fingers over the New World, and above can be seen a covered imperial crown: both signal her potency as a ruler, not just of England but also as a monarch with overseas ambitions.

    Armada portrait of Queen Elizabeth

    The painting is also particularly unusual in representing Elizabeth in a naval and maritime context. In the background, two maritime scenes show the English fleet engaging the Armada in the Channel and Spanish ships being wrecked on the Irish Coast during their stormy passage home, while the mermaid on the queen’s chair of state symbolizes sailors lured to their destruction. Intriguingly, both views are very early 18th-century repaintings over late-16th-century originals.

    The portrait may have been owned or even commissioned by Sir Francis Drake, who was second in command of the English fleet against the Spanish.

     

    *Queen’s House History:

    Inigo Jones and Classical architecture

    The famous architect Inigo Jones was commissioned to design the building in 1616 by King James I’s wife, Anne of Denmark – supposedly a gift from the king to apologise for swearing in front of her after she had accidentally killed one of his favourite dogs during a hunt.

    Anne of Denmark never lived to see Inigo Jones’s progressive Classical design realised, dying in 1619 with only the first floor completed. It was not until 1629, when James’s son Charles I gave Greenwich to his wife Henrietta Maria, that work on it resumed.

    The Queen’s House was completed around 1636 and is considered remarkable for its break with the traditional, red-brick Tudor style of building, and for its elegant proportions and the high quality of its interiors. It was the first fully Classical building in England.

    Used by the Royal family

    The start of the Civil War in 1642 meant that Henrietta Maria had little time to enjoy it – she went into exile, her husband was executed and his property seized by the state, although she did eventually return after the restoration in 1660.

    It was used by members of the royal family until 1805, when George III granted the Queen’s House to a charity for the orphans of seamen, called the Royal Naval Asylum. This remained until 1933, when the school moved to Suffolk. It was taken over by the National Maritime Museum in 1934.

    The Queen’s House today

    The Queen’s House is famous today for its extraordinary art collection including works by Great Masters such as Gainsborough, Reynolds, Turner and Hogarth. Its connection with artists goes all the way back to 1673, when two Dutch maritime painters the van de Veldes were given studio space by Charles II. 

    Don’t forget a unique collection of gifts from the Royal Museums of Greenwich, such as clocks, watches, pocket watches,  telescopes, longitude items, timekeepers, ship plans and prints, maritime history and books, piracy, jewelry

    The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I was acquired with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, Art Fund, Linbury Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, Headley Trust and other major donors, together with contributions from over 8000 members of the public following a joint appeal with Art Fund.

  • Ferida Wolff’s Backyard: Geese and Growth

    Geese and Growth

    It’s another winter, another year. So many things in nature shift with the seasons. Geese remind us of the coming cold as they honk their way south. The geese have moved to warmer climates by now, which is a good thing. We have had some record cold temps lately. I know they’ll be back in spring but as I watched them take off, I kind of missed them already.

    People respond to the change in seasons as well. Someone I know says she is not a winter person. She hunkers inside during the winter weather and waits for the warm summer’s embrace. Another friend relishes the snow and cold and looks forward to getting out her skis. I kind of like the snow myself, even when I have to shovel. We each try to adjust in our own way to what Mother Nature brings.
     
    As I looked at the geese honking their way south, I thought about this past year. It hasn’t been an easy time for me but, like the geese instinctively know, I sense it is time to move on. Come the spring the geese will return to familiar surroundings with a new perspective. It sounds like a plan for me, too.
     
    As I watched the geese fly off, I wished them well and knew I would look forward to their return.
     
    And now I wish everyone a healthy and happy — and rejuvenated — 2018!

    Ferida Wolff is the author of 20 children’s books and three essay books, her latest being The Story Blanket (Peachtree Publishers) and Is a Worry Worrying You? (Tanglewood Books)>

    ©2018 Ferida Wolff for SeniorWomen.com 

    Editor’s Note: We found a website that cites geese as literary symbols: “Wild migrating geese are mentioned casually twice by Homer, and once he likens a warrior among enemies to a vulture among geese (Iliad 17.460). Domestic barnyard geese, however, play a significant symbolic part in the Odyssey. While visiting Menelaus and Helen, Telemachus sees a mountain eagle carrying a white goose from a yard; Helen interprets the omen to mean that Odysseus will return home and take revenge on the suitors (15.160–78). The same meanings are elaborated in Penelope’s dream, in which twenty tame geese are killed by a mountain eagle, who then speaks, telling her he is her husband and the geese her suitors (19.535–53). The suitors have been fattening themselves idly in Odysseus’ house; they will be no match for the eagle.”

  • The Naturalization Application Fee has Increased From $35 (or $80.25 in 2017 dollars) in 1985 to $725 in 2017

    Immigrants take the oath of citizenship during a ceremony on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. (Image credit: Michael Quinn/National Park Service)

    Immigrants take the oath of citizenship during a ceremony on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. (Image credit: Michael Quinn/National Park Service)

    By Alex Shashkevich

    Immigrants who want to become US citizens face barriers from the high cost of the naturalization application, according to a new Stanford study.  The work suggests that lowering the federal application fees or creating local programs to provide financial assistance to cover them, could help more people gain the benefits of citizenship, including the right to vote and participate in democracy.

    The findings came from studying low-income immigrants in New York who registered for a lottery to receive vouchers that cover the fee to apply for US citizenship, which is now $725.

    The research team, led by Stanford’s Immigration Policy Lab (IPL), partnered with the New York State Office for New Americans and two foundations, Robin Hood and the New York Community Trust, to develop a first-of-its-kind public-private naturalization program calledNaturalizeNY. The program was launched in 2016 by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Editor’s Note: Last iteration of NaturalizeNY  program news: “Naturalize New York is now closed.” 

    The researchers showed that naturalization application rates jumped by 41 percent among the immigrants who got the vouchers compared to those who did not.

    “This study provides critical evidence that high fees are an important barrier to citizenship for low-income immigrants,” said Jens Hainmueller, a professor of political science at Stanford and a lead author on the research paper, published Jan. 15 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “More importantly, IPL has co-developed a program model to address this barrier, a solution that can be rolled out in communities across the country.”

    Based on their findings, the researchers suggest increasing naturalization by introducing a multi-tiered fee structure in which wealthier applicants pay higher fees. They also encourage local communities to establish public-private funding to support low-income immigrants in paying for naturalization fees.

    Naturalization provides immigrants with virtually the same rights and benefits as native-born citizens, including the right to vote, access to federal jobs and protection from deportation. A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences found that having more naturalized immigrants is good for the national income and increases political participation and integration of those immigrants within American society.

    Surveys show that most US immigrants want to become citizens. But compared to other similar countries, like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, the United States has a lower naturalization rate, which has been decreasing over recent decades. In 1970, 64 percent of legal foreign-born residents had become citizens, and that proportion dropped to 56 percent in 2011. At the same time, the naturalization application fee has increased from $35 (or $80.25 in 2017 dollars) in 1985 to $725 in 2017.

    Previous research on barriers to naturalization relied on data from censuses and surveys and focused on individual characteristics of the immigrants, such as language skills, resources and country of origin. This new study provides the first causal data to reveal the magnitude of the financial barrier immigrants face, while also providing a model approach for communities to help low-income immigrants naturalize. The Immigration Policy Lab conducts workshops with government agencies and immigration service providers to create a research agenda that spurs policy innovation. 

    “The initial idea of providing financial assistance for application fees to low-income immigrants struck us as an exciting opportunity, and through a collaborative effort, we were able to create an innovative statewide program coupled with rigorous evaluation,” said Duncan Lawrence, executive director of the Immigration Policy Lab and a co-author of the study. 

    As a result of the program’s lottery, 336 immigrants received fee vouchers while 527 did not. The vouchers roughly doubled the naturalization application rate, from 37 percent among those without a voucher to 78 percent among recipients.

    Of people who applied for the lottery, 1,760 immigrants were identified as likely to be eligible for a federal fee waiver and were notified of the federal program. The researchers then randomly encouraged groups of registrants to apply for the waiver — with emails, phone calls, letters and even a $10 metro card to cover transportation costs. But none of that additional encouragement increased application rates.

    “It’s clear that we have more to learn about what sorts of cost-effective nudges may or may not work,” Lawrence said. “Raising awareness of the fee waiver itself may be an important piece of the puzzle.” The group hopes to continue studying the barriers low-income immigrants face in applying for citizenship. They will also track the lives of the immigrants who naturalized as a result of the program and those who did not.

    “Ultimately we want to look at how naturalization affects the lives of immigrants and communities,” said Michael Hotard, a study co-author and IPL program manager who coordinates the multi-year study.

  • Get Ready, Drivers: New Higher Tolls For 2018

    By Elaine S. Povich, Stateline, Pew TrustsFlorida Highway Sign

    Get ready, drivers. With gas tax revenue stagnant and transportation funds scarce, states are turning to toll roads in 2018 to fill treasuries and manage traffic — despite outrage from motorists and questions about the efficiency of tolls.

    The full list of new tolls is hard to track, but at least a half-dozen states from Florida to Colorado are slapping tolls on roads that used to be free or building toll-only lanes this year, and many more are expected to do so next year. It all shows how, despite the nation’s relatively robust economy, even the most basic state services — providing roadways, bridges and tunnels — are still being squeezed.

    With infrastructure crumbling, budgets teetering on the edge of being in the red in many states, and the growing popularity of fuel-efficient cars, which means gas taxes generate less revenue than they used to, officials are looking to tolls. Giving a boost to the efforts, President Donald Trump’s initial infrastructure proposal also called for widespread use of tolling on interstate highways, which now are limited by federal regulations to certain stretches of road.

    Bill Cramer of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association said the lack of funding from gas taxes is “100 percent” of the reason tolls are being imposed or going up. “Local governments are seeing this as a viable and useful option,” Cramer said. “It pays for the road, provides a steady stream of revenue to maintain that road at high quality and safety. And they have been very reluctant to raise the gas tax that would fund those roads.”

    Nineteen states have waited a decade or more since last increasing their gas tax rates. Another 13 states have gone at least two decades, and three states — Alaska, Oklahoma and Mississippi — have not increased their gas tax rates since the 1980s, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive think tank that keeps track of fuel taxes. The 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gas tax, which also helps pay for roads, has not been raised since 1993.

    “The money for the roads has to come from somewhere,” said Carl Davis, the research director for the institute. “In some cases, tolls are the path of least resistance.”

    And for states that have chosen to raise fuel taxes in the past few years, it’s arguably harder for lawmakers to go back to that well again so soon, again making tolls attractive. Even the higher gas taxes in many states are insufficient to address infrastructure needs.

    Florida, for example, indexes its gas tax to inflation, so it goes up a minuscule amount every year. Last year it went up one-tenth of one percent, to 36.59 cents a gallon, including local taxes. The last general gas tax increase there was enacted in 1990.

    This year, the state will open two new toll roads in the Jacksonville area: express lanes along I-295, and State Road 23, known as the First Coast Expressway, which will extend south from Jacksonville into suburban Clay County.

    The hit may be especially painful to some Jacksonville commuters — 70 percent of workers in Clay County — who are used to taking State Road 23 toll-free. Come spring, motorists will be charged anywhere from 20 cents for the cheapest leg of the trip to $2.20 if they drive all five exits (about 17 miles).

    Hampton Ray, public information officer for the Florida Department of Transportation, said using the toll road will cut commutes by 10 to 15 minutes.

    Florida state Sen. Dennis Baxley, a Republican member of the transportation committee, said that in his state “we need to look at all the tools in the toolbox” for highway funds, including tolls. Baxley, who has been in the Legislature since 2000, said there has been no impetus for a general gas tax hike in that time, and that tolling is one way to gain revenue.

    He said that particularly in Florida, a state with a lot of tourists, tolls “allow our visitors to help us pay for the roads they need while they are here.” Baxley represents a district just north of Orlando, a tourist mecca, where toll roads are also used.

    Baxley said, however, that non-toll roads should be available for “working people for whom this will be a sizable cost.”

    Rhode Island increased gas taxes by a penny, up to 34 cents a gallon, three years ago, and will impose new truck tolls in the spring. In Texas, a state that hasn’t raised gas taxes for a quarter-century, the North Texas Tollway Authority in the Dallas region will begin operation of the 360 Tollway, a 9.7-mile toll road. It will have four lanes, two in each direction.

     

  • First Scientific Study to Test the Premise of Facial Exercise Improving Appearance

    Facial Exercises

    Editor’s Note: My father taught me — and our daughters — exercises of this kind decades ago; he strongly believed in their efficacy.

    A 30-minute daily or alternate-day facial exercise program sustained over 20 weeks improved the facial appearance of middle-aged women, resulting in a younger appearance with fuller upper and lower cheeks, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. This is the first scientific study to test the premise of facial exercise improving appearance.

    “Now there is some evidence that facial exercises may improve facial appearance and reduce some visible signs of aging,” said lead author Dr. Murad Alam, vice chair and professor of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine dermatologist. “The exercises enlarge and strengthen the facial muscles, so the face becomes firmer and more toned and shaped like a younger face.

    “Assuming the findings are confirmed in a larger study, individuals now have a low-cost, non-toxic way for looking younger or to augment other cosmetic or anti-aging treatments they may be seeking,” Alam said.  The study was published Jan. 3 in the journal JAMA Dermatology.

    As the face ages, skin loses elasticity and fat pads between the muscle and skin become thinner. The fat pads, which fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, give the face much of its shape. As skin becomes saggy, the thinning fat pads atrophy and slide, causing the face to “fall down.”  

    “But if muscle underneath becomes bigger, the skin has more stuffing underneath it and the firmer muscle appears to make the shape of the face more full,” said senior study author Emily Poon, an assistant research professor in dermatology at Feinberg. “Muscle growth is increasing the facial volume and counteracting the effects of age-related fat thinning and skin loosening.” 

    Study participants, middle-aged women 40 to 65 years old, underwent two sets of face-to-face 90-minute training sessions from a facial exercise instructor. At home, they continued to do these exercises for a total of 20 weeks. For the first eight weeks, they did the exercises daily for 30 minutes. From nine to 20 weeks, they did the same exercises every other day for 30 minutes a session. The facial exercises were developed and provided by Gary Sikorski of Happy Face Yoga, who is a coauthor on the study.

    “Facial exercises that may be beneficial include those that entail puckering and squeezing the cheeks,” Alam said. “There are many muscles that collectively allow movement of the cheeks, and our study showed that building these up makes the upper and lower cheeks look fuller.”

    Participants learned and performed 32 distinct facial exercises, each one for about a minute. One is  The Cheek Lifter: Open mouth and form O, position upper lip over teeth, smile to lift cheek muscles up, put fingers lightly on top part of cheek, release check muscles to lower them, and lift back up. Repeat by lowering and lifting the cheeks.

    Another exercise is The Happy Cheeks Sculpting: Smile without showing teeth, purse lips together, smile forcing cheek muscles up, place fingers on corners of the mouth and slide them up to the top of the cheeks, hold for 20 seconds.

    Of the 27 participants initially recruited, 16 did all the exercises for the entire duration of the study. Limitations of the study were the small sample size and that the participants were all middle-aged women. It remains to be seen if the results are generalizable to other populations, the authors said.

    The primary outcome measure was an assessment of standardized photographs before facial exercise compared to photographs after facial exercise by two blinded dermatologists. They assessed the photos by using a standardized facial aging scale (Merz-Carruthers Facial Aging Photoscales). The dermatologist raters looked separately at 19 features of the face and rated all of those at three different time points: at the beginning, at week eight and at week 20.

    Also, they rated each participant’s age at the beginning, at eight weeks and at week 20. Lastly they asked how happy participants were with the results.

    The raters found that upper cheek and lower cheek fullness, in particular, was significantly enhanced as a result of the exercises. In addition, the raters estimated average patient age decreased over the course of the study. It started at 50.8 years, dropped to 49.6 years at eight weeks and then to 48.1 years at 20 weeks.

    “That’s almost a three-year decrease in age appearance over a 20-week period,” Alam said.

    Participants also reported being highly satisfied with the results and noticed an improvement on nearly all the facial areas that were rated.

    Facial exercises

     

  • New State Department Travel Advisories for US Travelers; Homeland Security TSA Identification Requirements

    Interior of Armstrong Airport, New Orleans, Jazz Mural

    Inside terminal of Louis Armstrong International Airport, New Orleans, showing mural depicting jazz greats. Photo  by Infrogmation; Wikipedia

    Editor’s Note: For Ways to Locate your Loved One in a Crisis Abroad, see page 2*

    Fact Sheet, Office of the Spokesperson, US Department of State
    Washington, DC, January 10, 2018

    On January 10, 2018, the Department of State launched improvements to how we share information with U.S. travelers. These improvements will provide U.S. citizens with clear, timely, and reliable safety and security information worldwide. Under the new system, every country will have a Travel Advisory, providing levels of advice ranging from 1 to 4:

    • Level 1 – Exercise Normal Precautions: This is the lowest advisory level for safety and security risk. There is some risk in any international travel. Conditions in other countries may differ from those in the United States and may change at any time.
    • Level 2 – Exercise Increased Caution: Be aware of heightened risks to safety and security. The Department of State provides additional advice for travelers in these areas in the Travel Advisory. Conditions in any country may change at any time.
    • Level 3 – Reconsider Travel: Avoid travel due to serious risks to safety and security. The Department of State provides additional advice for travelers in these areas in the Travel Advisory. Conditions in any country may change at any time.
    • Level 4 – Do Not Travel: This is the highest advisory level due to greater likelihood of life-threatening risks. During an emergency, the U.S. government may have very limited ability to provide assistance. The Department of State advises that U.S. citizens not travel to the country or leave as soon as it is safe to do so. The Department of State provides additional advice for travelers in these areas in the Travel Advisory. Conditions in any country may change at any time.

    The Travel Advisories for each country replace previous Travel Warnings and Travel Alerts. While we will issue an overall Travel Advisory level for every country, levels of advice may vary for specific locations or areas within a country. For instance, we may advise U.S. citizens to “Exercise Increased Caution” (Level 2) in a country, but to “Reconsider Travel” (Level 3) to a particular area within the country. 

    Our detailed Travel Advisories will also will provide clear reasons for the level assigned, using established risk indicators, and offer specific advice to U.S. citizens who choose to travel there:

    • C – Crime: Widespread violent or organized crime is present in areas of the country. Local law enforcement may have limited ability to respond to serious crimes.
    • T – Terrorism: Terrorist attacks have occurred and/or specific threats against civilians, groups, or other targets may exist.
    • U – Civil Unrest: Political, economic, religious, and/or ethnic instability exists and may cause violence, major disruptions, and/or safety risks.
    • H – Health: Health risks, including current disease outbreaks or a crisis that disrupts a country’s medical infrastructure, are present. The issuance of a Centers for Disease Control Travel Notice may be a factor.
    • N – Natural Disaster: A natural disaster, or its aftermath, poses danger.
    • E – Time-limited Event: A short-term event, such as an election, sporting event, or other incident that may pose a safety risk.
    • O – Other: There are potential risks not covered by previous risk indicators. Read the country’s Travel Advisory for details.

    We will review and update each Travel Advisory as needed, based on changes to security and safety information. Additionally, U.S. embassies and consulates will now issue Alerts to replace the current Emergency Messages and Security Messages. Alerts will inform U.S. citizens of specific safety and security concerns in a country, such as demonstrations, crime trends, and weather events.

    The Department’s newly-redesigned hub for traveler information, travel.state.gov, will host all Travel Advisories, recent Alerts issued for each country, and an interactive map in mobile-friendly formats. Country pages on the site will continue to include all travel information currently available, including details about entry/exit requirements, local laws and customs, health conditions, transportation, and other relevant topics.

    To receive security and other important updates while traveling, U.S. citizens can enroll their travel plans in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (step.state.gov), and follow us on Twitter (@travelgov) and Facebook (facebook.com/travelgov).