On May 2, 1957, Elvis Presley recorded the song “Jailhouse Rock,” the title song to his next movie.
In 1960, singer Ben E. King left The Drifters to go solo.
In 1967, Capitol Records announced that The Beach Boys had abandoned their “Smile” album project.
In 1979, “Quadrophenia,” the film based on The Who’s album of the same name, opened in London. On the same day, The Who played its first concert with new drummer Kenney Jones, who replaced the late Keith Moon.
In 1980, the South African government banned the Pink Floyd song “Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two).” The song, which includes children chanting the chorus, “We don’t need no education,” had been adopted as the anthem for Black children who boycotted schools because of inferior education standards.
In 1982, Adam and the Ants disbanded after singer Stuart Goddard decided to go solo rather than find replacements for his departed bassist and drummer. Goddard then became known as Adam Ant.
In 2010, the stage at the Grand Ole Opry was submerged after record rains and flooding hit Nashville.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer Englebert Humperdinck is 88. Country singer R.C. Bannon is 79. Actor David Suchet (TV’s “Poirot”) is 78. Country singer Larry Gatlin is 76. Singer Lou Gramm of Foreigner is 74. Actor Christine Baranski is 72. Singer Angela Bofill is 70. Actor Brian Tochi (“Revenge of the Nerds,” ″Police Academy”) is 65. Actor Elizabeth Berridge (“The John Larroquette Show”) is 62. Country singer Ty Herndon is 62. Actor Mitzi Kapture (“The Young and the Restless,” “Baywatch”) is 62. TV commentator Mika Brzezinski is 57. Wrestler-actor Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) is 52. Singer Jeff Gutt of Stone Temple Pilots is 48. Actor Jenna Von Oy (“Blossom”) is 47. Actor Kumail Nanjiani (TV’s “Silicon Valley,” film’s “The Big Sick”) is 46. Actor Ellie Kemper (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” ″The Office”) is 44. Actor Robert Buckley (“One Tree Hill”) is 43. Actor Gaius Charles (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 41. Singer Lily Allen is 39. Guitarist Jim Almgren of Carolina Liar is 38. Actor Kay Panabaker (“No Ordinary Family,” ″Summerland”) is 34.
The annual Parade of Bands will be held in Litchfield on June 11th at 6 p.m. Ten bands from around the state and the Litchfield High School Marching Band will travel along Armstrong Avenue from 10th Street to 5th Street, then east on 5th Street to Gilman Avenue – back to 10th.
Heather Winkelman says several food vendors will be set up on 6th Street between Armstrong and Gilman Avenues on June 11th – starting at noon – so you can patronize them for lunch, and then return for supper – prior to the start of the parade. She says each band is given a $500 stipend.
Judy Hulterstrum says they try to raise close to $14,000 each year which helps cover the stipend for each band, along with costs for trophies, prizes and other expenses such as mini-biffs and garbage collection. She says donations towards the event are greatly appreciated, and checks made out to the Litchfield Visitors Bureau – Parade of Bands – may be dropped off at the Chamber office.
Hulterstrum says the Parade of Bands was started by the Visitors Bureau as a way to bring people to Litchfield. She says there is a committee that works hard to get the event coordinated each year.
WASHINGTON, May 2, 2024 — Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will join President Biden as he signs a proclamation expanding the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
Originally reported by the USDA.
Originally reported by the USDA.
Three of the nation's largest retailers have pulled weighted infant sleepwear from their shelves over mounting concerns that the products could be unsafe for babies.
The decisions by Amazon, Walmart and Target come amid repeated warnings from federal regulators, medical experts and safe-sleep advocates over the potential dangers of products such as swaddles and sleep sacks that contain added weight.
"This is a strong first step, and infants deserve more," Dr. Ben Hoffman, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement. "Exhausted parents shouldn't have to become part-time product safety regulators, but our current system forces them to by allowing infant products onto the market without evidence they are safe."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., also announced last week that he is calling for an investigation into two of the top weighted infant sleepwear companies in the U.S. — Dreamland Baby and Nested Bean — over allegations of deceptive marketing claims related to the safety of their products.
"The stakes are simply too high to allow weighted infant sleep products to be advertised as 'safe,' especially without a clear disclaimer explaining the lack of an agreed-upon standard for determining safety," Blumenthal wrote in an April 25 letter to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan.
Tara Williams, founder and CEO of Dreamland Baby, said that she believes her company's products are safe and that critics of weighted infant sleepwear lack any evidence proving otherwise.
"We're a small business, and at this point it's the United States government against Dreamland Baby and Nested Bean," said Williams. "This is not a new product category. It's been out for over 10 years. There's over 3.5 million [products] sold with no pattern of hazard."
Dreamland Baby has sold more than 1 million weighted sleepwear products, while Nested Bean has sold more than 2.5 million items.
Manasi Gangan, founder and president of Nested Bean, said her company is offering is a "safe, effective sleep tool" that has helped millions of babies.
"Any claims to the contrary are false," she said. "We look forward to working with the FTC and Senator Blumenthal and getting back to what we love: helping families get a great night's rest."
Weighted infant sleepwear companies say their products can help comfort young babies and soothe them into a restful sleep, similar to how weighted blankets work for older children and adults.
But critics argue that weighted infant sleepwear could harm babies' developing bodies and impede their ability to breathe and pump blood. They warn that the garments may also prevent infants from moving around or waking themselves up if they get into a position that makes them unable to breathe. Skeptics say more research is needed to prove that weighted infant sleepwear is safe.
"It is imperative that products specifically designed for infants undergo rigorous safety testing and meet the most stringent standards prior to being made available in the market," Michelle Barry, founder of the nonprofit Safe Infant Sleep, said in a statement.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health have all warned against the use of weighted infant sleepwear.
There has been little scientific research into the safety of weighted infant sleep products. One safety study published in the journal “Advances in Neonatal Care” in 2020 reported "no adverse events" among babies who slept under a weighted blanket, but their heart rates slowed and sessions lasted only 30 minutes at most.
In a safety study conducted on behalf of Nested Bean, researchers found that a 1-ounce weight applied to an infant's chest did "not present clear indications for or against" potential breathing hazards, but that 3- and 9.5-ounce weights "may increase potential hazard and subsequent risk" due to lower breathing rates and faster pulses.
Williams said Dreamland Baby is currently conducting a safety study involving its products with researchers from Indiana University.
Richard Trumka, a commissioner with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said he wrote letters to several retailers alerting them to "multiple infant deaths" from weighted sleep products. CPSC spokesperson Patty Davis said the commission was aware of one death from a weighted infant sleep product.
Williams said she knew of two fatalities involving weighted infant sleep products, but that the autopsy reports for both deaths mentioned unsafe sleep practices and one doesn't mention a weighted product at all.
Gangan said the coroner's report in one death cites "a tragic combination of multiple proven-unsafe sleep practices. It does not mention a weighted product nor a Nested Bean product."
She said she believes Trumka's letters "inaccurately attributed multiple infant deaths" to weighted infant sleep products.
"The death of a child is an unfathomable tragedy, yet such an incident does not give public officials license to spread unsupported claims, particularly when they result in endangering a small, minority female-owned business," Gangan said.
Amazon, Target, Walmart and the website Babylist have all confirmed to NPR that they no longer sell weighted infant sleep products.
An Amazon spokesperson said it told sellers in early April that they would no longer be able to offer weighted infant sleep products for sale, a policy change the company said it made "with customer safety in mind."
Natalie Gordon, founder and CEO of Babylist, said in a statement that the company values "doing what is best for growing families and keeping a pulse on the newest industry guidance, which is why we have stopped selling these products."
In a post on X, Trumka said the retailers' actions "could save lives, and I'm grateful for their cooperation."
Trumka also said Nordstrom had stopped selling weighted infant sleepwear, but the company did not immediately reply to an email seeking confirmation.
Williams said she had not heard from any of the retailers that stopped selling weighted infant sleepwear and that Dreamland Baby hadn't had any incidents with any of the companies.
In his letter to the FTC, Blumenthal said the two manufacturers claim their products are safe, even though there is no standard for weighted infant sleepwear and the American Academy of Pediatrics has said the products are unsafe.
"I believe that there is sufficient evidence of potential harm to warrant an investigation. That is the minimum that this federal agency should do," he told NPR. Referring to past marketing claims by the companies, he added, "other agencies should join in demanding that these companies tell the truth."
The FTC declined to comment.
Blumenthal said he became interested in the topic after hearing parents' anxieties and fears about weighted infant sleepwear. "And the more I learned, the more troubled I became and the more questions I asked that have gone unanswered," he added.
For example, Blumenthal said Dreamland Baby's marketing claim on its website that its products "[exceeded] all Consumer Product Safety Commission standards" was misleading because there is no standard for weighted infant sleepwear.
Williams said that language referred to existing CPSC standards for things like flammability and lead requirements. She added that although Dreamland Baby's staff didn't believe the claim was misleading, the company removed it so as not to confuse customers.
"With us really trying to work with anybody involved — CPSC, AAP — we want to make this abundantly clear: This is what the product is. This is what it does. Here are your expected results," she said.
Gangan said representatives from Nested Bean shared the research behind their marketing claims with Blumenthal's staff and later changed a few of those claims to make them more specific.
"Calling for a federal investigation of two woman-owned small businesses may not uncover any more than what has been openly and earnestly shared, only burdening our resources and harming our ability to help families achieve safe sleep," Gangan added.
Blumenthal said he was "considering legislative steps if the federal agencies fail to use their existing power."
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
Luis Escarraman says he is nostalgic for the Trump economy.
The 41-year-old Republican owns his own truck and hauls freight from New Jersey to California. Maintenance, parts, diesel fuel — it has all become so pricey, he said.
"I can do my living, but compared to what I used to have, I need to work extra to get what I used to have before," Escarraman said.
He is not alone. Poll after poll show voters trust the presumptive Republican 2024 nominee more on the economy than the incumbent, President Biden. It's an important factor as voters look ahead to Election Day in November — but it's far from the only one.
Escarraman said he is weighing a variety of factors in whom he supports politically. Right now, he is concerned about the increase in migration and the money the U.S. government is spending on conflicts overseas, as well as the high cost of living.
But he also remembers that life under former President Donald Trump was at times alarming. "I know it was a lot of fights in the country," he said. "It was kind of like a civil war, but financially, it was better."
Heading into the 2024 election, inflation is one of Biden's biggest and most persistent political challenges.
In the summer of 2021, when the cost of living began ticking up, NPR traveled to Northampton County, Pa., to hear how voters were feeling about the president and his economic agenda ahead of what was expected to be a bruising 2022 midterm election cycle.
Northampton is one of only 25 "boomerang" counties in the U.S., meaning people there voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, then opted for Trump in 2016 and then most recently in 2020 chose Joe Biden.
It's the type of county that Republicans hope to win back to give Trump a shot at picking up the key swing state of Pennsylvania in November.
Back in 2021, voters in this county and across the nation were concerned about prices for gas, groceries, rent and insurance. But even though the economy dominated the headlines, Democrats did a lot better than expected in midterm races in 2022, including in Northampton County, where Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., held her seat.
Outside grocery stories and polling sites last week in Northampton County, hardly anyone NPR spoke with during more than a dozen interviews felt upbeat about the economy, regardless of their politics.
"When Trump was in office, it was sad, but my 401(k) was just going up and up and up. I mean, it was wonderful to watch it," said Ruthann Arris, 69, a Democrat who is retired.
In Trump's first three years in office, the S&P 500 index rose 46%. Comparatively, during Biden's first three years in office, the S&P 500 index rose 26%.
Like a lot of voters, Arris doesn't mention 2020, Trump's last year in office, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the economy to a near standstill.
She's frustrated with what she's currently seeing in the grocery store: high prices and smaller packages for the same products she has always bought.
But she said she still intends to vote for Biden this November. "I think he comes across as much better than the alternative," she said. "You have a more stable USA. And it's not worth the short-term gain of a 401(k) going up."
Polling shows many voters are like Arris: worried about the economy, but looking at other issues as they make their decisions.
A survey from NBC News in April found that voters said inflation was the No. 1 concern facing the country, and they gave Trump a double-digit advantage on the issue. But when it came to identifying an issue that is "so important that you would vote for or against a candidate solely on that basis," voters pointed to democracy, abortion or immigration/border security, depending on their politics.
And that is akin to what NPR found in Northampton County: Many people were frustrated with inflation and the high cost of housing in a region that has seen an influx of transplants from the New York City metro area, but they also pointed to other priorities this election cycle.
"People want to complain about the economy and everything like that," said Greg Poff, 49, a Republican who said he is concerned about border security. "If you can control the flow of people into the country and get the people that aren't supposed to be here out, everything else will fall like dominoes."
Biden has made the economy a central part of his message on the campaign trail, pointing to the strong jobs market and the growth in the infrastructure and semiconductor sectors thanks to legislation he has signed.
He also spends a lot of time talking about his efforts to curb housing and prescription drug costs and eliminate junk fees.
One challenge is that many people are still using pre-pandemic prices as their benchmark, so any other economic message the president is trying to send isn't breaking through.
"I think it's hard because people don't like things to cost more than they did before. And until that adjusts for everyone in their minds, it's going to be hard to convince people perhaps otherwise," said Julie Smith, an economist at Lafayette College in Northampton County.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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