Health

US Navy veteran beats cancer with experimental treatment and reliance on faith

Feb. 17, 2025

After facing the threat of active war, many veterans also wage battles with cancer. One of those is John Ryan of Aldie, Virginia – a U.S. Navy veteran who was diagnosed with lung cancer after serving in the military for 30 years. Since he enlisted in October 1962, much of the commander’s military service has been "shrouded in secrecy," according to a November 2024 report from the Cancer Research Institute (CRI).

Health

Bird flu vaccine gets ‘conditional license’ from USDA, company announces

Feb. 17, 2025

A New Jersey pharmaceutical company has received a "conditional license" for its bird flu vaccine for use in chickens. The vaccine, developed by Zoetis, targets the H5N2 subtype of avian influenza, which has been found in both poultry and humans, according to a press release from the company. The license was granted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB), the same source stated.

Health

Flu cases are highest in these US states: See the map

Feb. 17, 2025

The U.S. is in peak flu season, as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says "seasonal influenza activity remains elevated and continues to increase across the country." Case counts vary by state, however. Each week, the CDC releases a map of influenza activity across the country. The color-coded map indicates each state’s activity level, ranging from minimal to very high. The most current map reflects data from the week ending Feb 8, 2025.

Health

New Netflix series highlights the gaps in the modern medical system

Feb. 17, 2025

The show is a dramatization of the story of Belle Gibson, a convicted Australian scammer who claimed she had terminal brain cancer who is played by Kaitlyn Dever, and the impact she had by selling books and an app that claimed clean eating made her well again. Also featured is a fictionalized representation of one of the people Gibson impacted named Lucy. In the show, her character stops her cancer treatments in hopes that Gibson’s method will cure her in a more compassionate way than the hospital system. Show creator Samantha Strauss said the character of Lucy was important to depict what a lot of people feel when fighting a disease: not listened to, not in control and not acknowledged as a full person. “So, it makes sense we want to put our faith in the hands of someone (likely beautiful) on the internet,” Straus said in an email. “We know they’re selling us something, but when you’re terrified that you’re sick and dying, or that someone you love is sick and dying, you can’t put a price on hope.” The problems depicted in the show are not just a work of fiction. There is a real need for more widespread preventative and lifestyle treatment in the US medical system, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University in Massachusetts. “There are many patients who are suffering from auto immune diseases, chronic pain diseases, other chronic diseases where their regular medical system has failed them,” he said. “It’s basically just doing kind of Band-Aid fixes to get them past their symptoms.”

Entertainment

What to stream: ‘1923' returns, Tate McRae, ‘Reacher,’ Baldwins’ reality show and a ‘Suits’ spin-off

Feb. 17, 2025

A modern reimagining of the graphic novel “The Crow” starring Bill Skarsgård plus Canadian pop musician Tate McRae offering her third album are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: NBC has a new “Suits” spin-off series, Robert De Niro stars in a limited series for Netflix called “Zero Day” and there’s a full production of “Hamlet” inside the violent, bloody, video game world of “Grand Theft Auto.”

Entertainment

Belinda isn’t the only returning character in ‘White Lotus’ Season 3

Feb. 17, 2025

Fellow travelers, it’s time for another stay at the White Lotus. What could go wrong, right? As we’ve seen in two sprawling seasons, the answer is so, so much. And this season promises to be no different, since right at the outset, things start off with a bang. Or, more of a distant clack-clack, actually, a sound that Zion Lindsey (Nicholas Duvernay) – the visiting son of returning character Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) – recognizes as gunfire. His zen meditation on a gorgeous veranda surrounded by water and lily pads brought to a screeching halt, Zion is soon in the water, quietly pleading with a statue of Buddha for the safety of his mother as more gunshots are heard and people are seen running for shelter. Just then – as in the openings of the previous two seasons – evidence of a dead body enters the frame.

Entertainment

The best moments from ‘SNL’s’ 50th anniversary special

Feb. 17, 2025

One of the most famous stages in New York was the place to be on Sunday night. Alums, former hosts and seemingly everyone who’s ever entered “SNL’s” orbit was on hand to celebrate the show’s 50th Anniversary. “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” was part reflection, part reunion and a culmination of festivities that began on Friday with a concert.

Entertainment

The charming story of Miskel Spillman, the 80-year-old grandmother who once hosted ‘SNL’

Feb. 17, 2025

An unemployed Oregonian, a divorced mother of three, a freshman college student, the governor of South Dakota and an 80-year-old grandmother from New Orleans all wanted the same thing: to host “Saturday Night Live.” On November 19, 1977, the five finalists of the show’s first — and, ultimately, only — Anyone Can Host contest took the stage in Studio 8H alongside the evening’s host, actor and screenwriter Buck Henry, and introduced themselves to America. They were vying for a chance to guest host the Christmas episode two weeks later.

Business

Washington Post opted not to publish anti-Musk ad campaign after initially being open

Feb. 17, 2025

The Washington Post scrapped an upcoming print ad from a pair of advocacy groups calling for the firing of Elon Musk as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. The nixed wrap ad — one of two ads purchased for $115,000 by Common Cause and the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund that were slated to run on Tuesday — shows the White House superimposed over Musk with a bright red backdrop and the caption “Who’s running this country: Donald Trump or Elon Musk?” The wrap adds that Musk has “created chaos and confusion” and “is accountable to no one by himself.”

Health

Wyoming woman hospitalized with bird flu

Feb. 17, 2025

An older woman in southeast Wyoming is hospitalized with bird flu, state health department officials said Friday. It’s the state’s first human case of Type A H5N1 influenza, which is spreading through animals and some people. Nearly 70 people in the U.S. have been reported infected with bird flu in the last year, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though researchers and studies suggest that’s likely an undercount.