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☂️Foggy gray day with a chance of showers and highs in the 40s. Sunset is at 4:30 p.m.
What should you make of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new nutrition guidelines, released this week? GBH’s Marilyn Schairer spoke with Dr. Teresa Fung, a registered dietitian who served on a committee that reviewed scientific research for the guidelines. Fung said she supports a push to reduce highly processed foods, but that the final recommendations (which she did not write) left out the committee’s work on health equity.
“What the committee meant for health equity is to make sure that every segment of the population is being taken care of, and trying to make an even playing ground and even opportunity for everybody to obtain good nutrition,” Fung said.
“Calls to try and eat less sugar and more produce make sense,” said Dr. Deirdre Tobias of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who also worked on the report. But she said she would have liked to see more focus on plant-based proteins (such as beans), not just animal sources, because saturated fats can increase the risk of heart disease.
“If folks were to follow that, and have more protein coming from meat sources, it really puts them at risk of exceeding the limit for saturated fat,” Tobias said.
Four Things to Know
1. We’re less than six months away from World Cup games kicking off in Massachusetts and across North America. Some details of coordinating events — such as showcases designed to draw tourists to Boston — are still being worked out.
“In addition to funding complexities, there are several key locations yet to be identified before all planning and mitigation strategies can be outlined. With the games just six months away, our state is well positioned for a successful event, but more needs to be done to optimize execution,” state officials wrote in a report.
2. The number of new medications developed by companies based in Massachusetts grew 14% last year — more than double the national rate — according to industry group MassBIO. Still, venture capital funding in the industry fell to its lowest level since 2019, dropping to $6.8 billion.
“Massachusetts remains the best place in the world for early stage research,” MassBIO’s Ben Bradford told GBH’s Diane Adame. “We just have to find a way to fund that research so that it can advance through the clinic and get to patients.”
3. The U.S. House voted 230-196 yesterday to pass a measure to extend health care subsidies for Americans who get their insurance through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. U.S. Rep. Richard Neal said he was cautiously hopeful the measure would pass.
“Then there will be an opportunity...to encourage the Senate to accept a minimum of three years in terms of extending these tax credits for the American family and, during that period of time, we can continue to debate how to improve the Affordable Care act,” Neal said.
4. There’s a new most-popular license plate on Massachusetts roads: a navy blue specialty plate created to mark 250 years since the American Revolution. It features the year 1776 encircled by 13 stars (representing the 13 original colonies) and the words “250 years of independence” across the bottom. The state’s Registry of Motor Vehicles reports it has issued about 46,000 of these plates since they were released in May, surpassing the Cape and Islands plates, which come in second place at 32,000 plates.
“It is absolutely wildly popular,” said Registrar of Motor Vehicles Colleen Ogilvie. “It’s a wonderful way to celebrate Massachusetts history. We get about 1,500 to 1,800 requests a week for a plate.” Each America 250 plate costs $40 in addition to the regular $60 plate fee. The money goes to the state’s general fund.
Scenes from Boston area ICE protests
Hundreds of Boston-area residents gathered to protest a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shooting and killing a woman in Minneapolis this week. Many carried signs with the name and photo of the woman, Renee Good.
In Waltham, a group of elementary school teachers told GBH’s Liz Neisloss how they’ve seen mass deportation affect their students’ families.
“It’s a presence in the community that we feel at school and this recent killing by an ICE officer just feels like it’s completely unacceptable and important to be here to show that we support these communities and support people who are defending their neighbors,” Hilary Sugg said.
Near the Boston Common, Bob Lydon told GBH’s Diane Adame the shooting drove him to join his first protest.
“When the government is killing people in the street something has to happen,” Lydon said. “It’s just really important that the whole country comes out and shows that we’re not going to accept this.”
See more photos from the protests here.
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