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  • When too many people showed up, East Whiteland’s planning commission postponed a data center meeting

    When too many people showed up, East Whiteland’s planning commission postponed a data center meeting

    So many people packed into an East Whiteland Planning Commission meeting Wednesday in response to a data center project that the crowd exceeded capacity and forced township officials to reschedule the discussion.

    The meeting will be tentatively rescheduled for March 9 at a larger venue, township officials said.

    It was the second time this week that a strong public presence changed the course for local officials weighing data center projects. In North Coventry, the township supervisors took a vote Monday saying they would deny a data center project that had not yet been formally submitted after more than a hundred people packed into the meeting to object to it.

    In East Whiteland, the planning commission is weighing an amended application seeking to expand a previously approved data center project that sits on the border of the township and neighboring West Whiteland.

    The new plan would increase the size of the two data center buildings by roughly 61% from what was previously approved, to exceed 1.6 million square feet.

    The developers, Sentinel Data Centers and Green Fig Land LLC, said the changes would also update the project to modern technology, saying the approved 2024 plan was outdated. Those changes would include removing two microwave towers, antenna yards, and ground-mounted cooling towers. It would also redesign cooling equipment to use waterless chillers.

    Lou Colagreco, the attorney for the developer, told the board Wednesday construction would commence within the next couple of weeks, with groundwork underway, under the previously approved project. He urged the commission to recommend the amended plan to the township’s board of supervisors.

    “We think that a yes vote … approves, at the end of the day, a better plan,” Colagreco said.

    After some musical chairs — with the attendees scooting their chairs up to make more standing room at the back — the discussion came to a halt roughly a half hour into the meeting.

    “I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” planning commission chairwoman Deborah Abel said after a brief pause, “but we’ve just been told by the fire marshal that we cannot continue this meeting with this amount of people in the room.”

    Attendees exceeded the room’s capacity of 98, with an additional 30 people in the lobby. Township officials sought to whittle the numbers down, saying people could watch the livestream at home, or stand in the lobby.

    But residents chafed at the request, calling on the board to reschedule the meeting instead.

    It represents a growing trend of residents packing into municipal meetings in Chester County to decry data center projects. More than 100 residents showed up at the North Coventry meeting Monday, speaking for more than an hour against a project that had not formally been submitted to the township. It surprised the developer, who decided to scrap it. In East Vincent, after months of public participation, the planning commission recommended that the township’s board of supervisors reject a proposal for the historic Pennhurst site.

    The opposition from residents clashes with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has sought to draw more of this development to Pennsylvania. And while about 38% of Pennsylvanians said in a December survey they support data centers being built in the state, they were less likely to support data centers in their own backyards.

    “Thanks, everyone, for coming out,” Abel told residents as she ended the meeting. “Sorry for the waste of time.”

  • Intermittent fasting not more effective than conventional dieting, Rutgers researcher says

    Intermittent fasting not more effective than conventional dieting, Rutgers researcher says

    Intermittent fasting, one of America’s most popular diet trends, may be no more effective than simply cutting calories for weight loss, a new review of research shows.

    Researchers found little to no difference in the amount of weight loss across more than 20 studies comparing intermittent fasting, an eating pattern that cycles between periods of eating and fasting, with traditional dietary advice (which calls for restricting calories or the types of foods eaten).

    The findings were published this month in the Cochrane Library, home to evidence reviews that are considered the gold standard for evaluating health evidence.

    “From the results of this review, it doesn’t look like intermittent fasting is any better than regular dietary advice,” said Diane Rigassio Radler, a co-author on the study and a clinical nutrition professor at Rutgers School of Health Professions.

    The data came from 22 randomized controlled trials involving nearly 2,000 participants across Europe, North America, China, Australia, and South America. Interventions ranged from four weeks to six months long, and looked at participants’ outcomes up to a year later.

    In six of the trials, participants were picked at random to either practice intermittent fasting or do nothing. The difference in weight loss between the two groups was so small that it was not considered “clinically meaningful,” Radler said.

    People generally need to lose 5% of their body weight to see health benefits. When the research team pooled the results of studies, they found weight loss from intermittent fasting slightly exceeded that of the group that did nothing, but remained below the 5% threshold.

    “Anecdotally, people have told me that [intermittent fasting] might work for them, but the reasons for doing these systematic reviews is so that you can pull the evidence and make a stronger conclusion based on facts,” Radler said.

    The studies focused on people in the overweight or obese categories as measured by BMI, a calculation of a person’s body fat based on their height and weight. The relevance of the research findings to people in the healthy weight category remains unknown. (While widely used, BMI is often not a good predictor of an individual’s health, as people’s body types can vary widely depending on race, gender, and age.)

    The Inquirer spoke with Radler, who is also a registered dietitian by training, about the findings of the study and its implications, in an interview that was lightly edited for length and clarity.

    What is the theory behind intermittent fasting?

    From a physiological perspective, there’s sound science in terms of why fasting might have an edge over just calorie restriction alone.

    Number one, it involves calorie restriction. It’s thought to increase fat metabolism. There’s some hormonal stuff going on. It may enhance insulin sensitivity. When you’re fasting, you’re going to be breaking down fatty acids, and those can produce a significant source of energy.

    But from the available studies we were able to evaluate, the findings are that intermittent fasting was not really different [in terms of weight loss].

    There’s the theoretical framework, and then there’s what happens when you put it into reality.

    Instead of intermittent fasting, what would you recommend?

    It’s individualized. It depends on where the patient’s at and what they feel that they want to do.

    The cardinal rule of thumb is you create a calorie deficit, and whether that’s with restricted eating or increased energy expenditure (such as through exercise), or a combination of both, you’re looking to achieve calorie restriction over time. Generally, you’re going to probably sustain that for at least 12 weeks, and then look at some outcomes.

    We found that people who work with a registered dietitian on a weekly or every other week basis have the most success in terms of achieving weight management.

    Your study found that intermittent fasting wouldn’t necessarily be effective. But would it be harmful for people to do?

    You have to look at people’s baseline and their other comorbidities if they have any. But generally, we didn’t find that there were adverse effects, according to the studies that measured that as an outcome.

    When you fast, there’s a risk of dehydration and risk of low blood sugar, but generally, the studies that measured the adverse effects didn’t find significant differences.

    Are there any gaps in the research that you think should be looked into further?

    There could be room for more research with a wider diversity of subjects, because most of the studies were in high-income countries. We have to look at some of the cultural differences.

    Also, research with longer durations. We were not able to find studies that went out beyond 12 months of outcomes.

  • A sixth YBC member was arrested overnight and will be charged with two killings

    A sixth YBC member was arrested overnight and will be charged with two killings

    A sixth person associated with the Young Bag Chasers was arrested overnight and is expected to be charged with two homicides, prosecutors said.

    Hamzah Curry, 25, was taken into custody Wednesday evening in Kansas City, Mo., after spending nearly a year on the run after the killing of a 36-year-old man in 2021.

    Curry was also newly wanted in connection with the killing of Qaadir Cheeks, a 20-year-old better known as “55Qua,” who was shot and killed near 55th Street and Baltimore Avenue in May 2024, said Assistant District Attorney Bill Fritze, supervisor of the Gun Violence Task Force in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.

    Curry is one of 19 people indicted by a grand jury as part of a sprawling investigation by Philadelphia police and prosecutors into years of retaliatory shootings between West Philadelphia gangs, Fritze said.

    He will be charged once he is extradited to Philadelphia, he said.

    Officials identified him as a member of Young Face Arrangers, or YFA, a younger subset of YBC. He is also the older brother of Arshad Curry, another YBC/YFA member, who is serving 42½ to 85 years in prison for killing three people in 2021.

    A warrant was issued for Hamzah Curry’s arrest last spring after detectives tied him to the killing of Stangely Bertrand on the 300 block of North Salford Street on July 16, 2021.

    Investigators believe Bertrand, who was shot in the head, was a bystander caught in the crossfire, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.

    Salahuddin Carter, 21, another YBC/YFA member known as “YFA4our,” was arrested and charged with Bertrand’s death in June.

    Carter was also charged Wednesday with two additional shootings — including the shooting of an 8-year-old near 13th and Oxford Streets in 2022 — as part of the indictment.

    Investigators tied Carter and Curry to Bertrand’s killing after Carter, who was 16 at the time, was shot twice in the stomach during the exchange of gunfire, and Curry drove him to the hospital, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Carter’s arrest.

    Inside Curry’s car, police found two 9mm handguns, blue latex gloves, and live rounds, the affidavit said. A ballistics report later showed that both guns were fired on Salford Street the night Bertrand was killed, the records say.

    And then, this month, Curry was also sought in the killing of Cheeks, whom YBC members shot more than a dozen times in West Philadelphia.

    Four others have been charged in that case: Stephen “Baby Yopp” Weddington, Jymir “Lil Mir” Burbage, Hasin Muse, and Tatiana Edwards.

    The Philadelphia Police Department’s homicide fugitive task force and U.S. marshals had been working to locate Curry since last year, and on Wednesday evening found him at a motel in Missouri, the source said.

  • Voice of America is covering Iran’s protests, but not its best-known dissident

    Voice of America is covering Iran’s protests, but not its best-known dissident

    When Sahar Tahvili, a professor at a Swedish university, sat for an interview with Voice of America’s Persian service on Jan. 9, she discussed the security concerns for Iranian viewers using Starlink satellites to circumvent the government’s internet blackouts.

    But it was a greeting at the start of the interview that crossed a line with the company’s top brass. She thanked the network for having her before invoking the name of Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s deposed shah: “Let me first pass my greetings to our compatriots in Iran, a nation that, by standing on the right side of history and by responding in the millions to Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s call, is shaping historic days for the freedom of our country.”

    Later that day, Tahvili received a phone call from the VOA producer who arranged her interview, complaining that she had violated Voice of America’s new policy barring mentions of Pahlavi’s name — which she said she didn’t know about.

    “He called me in a very angry way and said, ‘Why did you mention his name?’” Tahvili, adjunct associate professor of AI industrial systems at Sweden’s Mälardalen University, said in an interview. “No one is allowed to mention Pahlavi’s name.” Because she had mentioned him, Tahvili said she was told her interview, which aired live, would not be reposted to social media and she would no longer be welcome on the network.

    Critics including Tahvili allege that since the mass protests broke out in the final days of last year, the U.S. government has systematically censored the best-known Iranian opposition figure by banning his name from its broadcasts. They also claim that, in the process, U.S. Agency for Global Media Deputy CEO Kari Lake and the new head of the Persian service, Ali Javanmardi, have exerted control over a government broadcaster that’s long been editorially independent of the U.S. government.

    In a January interview with Reuters, President Donald Trump questioned whether Pahlavi has enough support to take over in Iran, but said “that would be fine with me” if he wins over the majority of Iranians. “He seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country,” Trump said.

    In the same interview, he remained noncommittal about efforts to pressure regime change in Iran either, saying, “Whether or not it falls or not, it’s going to be an interesting period of time.”

    The push to excise Pahlavi’s name was first reported by the Hill.

    Lake and Javanmardi, a former VOA contractor recently brought in to run the Persian service, have defended their new rules, saying that they are simply clamping down on an effort by VOA employees eager to see one opposition group prevail over another at a time when Iran’s regime under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is on shaky ground. They say it applies to all opposition leaders, not just Pahlavi.

    “We are not in the business of selecting Iran’s political leadership,” Lake said in a statement. “That decision belongs solely to Iran’s 93 million citizens, who have a right to self-determination. Right now, the story should be about them, not the numerous opposition groups outside Iran. Elevating external opposition figures over voices inside the country risks externalizing the conflict in ways that would only benefit the cruel regime and undermine protesters on the ground.”

    In a separate statement, Lake called Javanmardi “a respected and fearless journalist” with deep experience reporting on Iran and the region. “His commitment is to journalistic responsibility, truth, and ensuring coverage that aligns with American policy interests and centers the voices of the Iranian people in support of their right to freedom and self-determination.”

    The spokesperson did not make Javanmardi available for an interview.

    Javanmardi has voiced opinions, however, about Pahlavi on-air, saying in a recent VOA appearance, “The United States government is not going to replace a dictator inside Iran with another totalitarian one who has threatened all his opponents even before coming to power with death and elimination.” In recent months he has also described other media as engaging in “propaganda engineering” and “artificial magnification” of issues in Iran.

    Javanmardi has also called out Iranians for not participating in the recent protests. “We should all participate in identifying the mercenaries who did not join the people and are involved in suppressing the people,” he said in one broadcast. “Let’s participate so that they do not have immunity, both inside and outside Iran.”

    Under Lake, Voice of America has undergone massive staff cuts. The broadcaster, first set up in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda abroad, suspended most of its programming after Trump issued an executive order in March. Then, Lake cut hundreds of contractors and placed hundreds of full-time staffers on paid administration leave. A federal judge blocked Lake from firing the employees and instructed the agency to uphold its statutory obligations for broadcasting. As a result, Lake brought back broadcasting in a few languages mandated by law, including Farsi.

    In January, Congress rejected requests from Lake and the White House to zero out the agency’s budget, approving a $653 million budget. Lake said she was “disappointed” at the move.

    VOA’s Persian service, once among its largest divisions, has maintained a skeleton crew since this summer, when Lake briefly ordered staff back and called for some broadcasts amid escalating military tensions between Iran and Israel. Many of those recalled staffers were put back on administrative leave when the conflict simmered.

    But when popular uprising broke out in late December, Lake once again ramped up its staffing, bringing back a few dozen employees and contractors.

    She also tapped Javanmardi, who years earlier worked as a VOA correspondent based in Irbil, Iraq, to lead the charge. He quickly became a divisive figure among staffers and viewers because of his close control over broadcasts. So far, more than 58,000 people signed a Change.org petition to have him removed, saying, “Ali Javanmardi’s biased approach silences the Iranian struggle and betrays the trust of those who depend on honest journalism.”

    In an email, a U.S. Agency for Global Media spokesman defended the new policy regarding opposition figures. “Mr. Reza Pahlavi himself, as well as the leaders of other political groups, have been invited to speak on the Voice of America,” he said.

    Despite the invitation, Pahlavi has not appeared on the network. Pahlavi did not respond to a request for comment.

    Several VOA staffers working on the broadcasts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said that Javanmardi appeared to target Pahlavi. The staffers said he personally approves all guests before they appear on air and has instructed staff not to book anyone who sympathizes or promotes Pahlavi.

    “He completely censors his name, his activity and everything,” one staffer said, noting that Javanmardi has refused to play audio of protesters in Iran shouting Pahlavi’s name. “All the people chanting in Iran — nothing. He censors everything.”

    Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute who writes a Substack newsletter called “The Iranist,” said that many Iranians have indeed chanted Pahlavi’s name during the protests. “While this may seem surprising to outside observers, nostalgia for the pre-1979 era has grown in recent years,” she said. “Many Iranians — particularly Gen Zers who weren’t alive during that period — perceive life before the revolution as a better time.”

    She added that omitting this detail “erases a key element of the uprising — including the motivations of some of the protesters who have risked, and in some cases lost, their lives in the name of freedom.”

    Another staffer said that no pro-Pahlavi content can appear on the network. “If anything ever has been published or broadcast, it’s because we missed it,” the staffer said.

    Another employee said that the approach has hampered reporting, such as when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) met with Pahlavi and Javanmardi instructed the staff not to cover it.

    However, one VOA staffer defended the policy, saying that without it, the service and the United States could be labeled having interfered in Iran’s internal affairs.

    And Arash Azizi, a lecturer at Yale University who writes about Iran for different publications, also said he is “at least partially favorable” to VOA’s approach because Pahlavi leads “one political faction” of the opposition.

    “No country in the world should recognize Mr. Pahlavi as the leader of the Iranian opposition because he has absolutely no legitimacy for that position,” Azizi said. “I think it’s good for VOA to have effectively pulled the brake and say, look, you’re nobody’s leader. You can’t just appoint yourself the leader and then expect us to treat you as one.”

    Navid Mohebbi, a former political prisoner in Iran now advising the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), which supports Pahlavi, said in a statement that VOA is effectively the “only major Persian-language diaspora outlet” that has avoided covering Pahlavi’s calls for demonstrations in Iran and protesters shouting pro-Pahlavi slogans.

    “This level of censorship is striking, particularly when even Iranian regime media and outlets hostile to the United States acknowledged the existence of these slogans,” he said.

    For Tahvili, who grew up watching VOA in Iran, the experience of being banned from the network was painful.

    “For us, for my generation, we grew up with the Voice of America,” she said. “It was the only channel, the only Persian-language news source that we had at that time. Freedom of speech. Professional journalism. It really hurts to see how it changed from that to this.”

  • This year’s One Book, One Philadelphia pick was released in 2022 but is uncannily resonant of today’s times

    This year’s One Book, One Philadelphia pick was released in 2022 but is uncannily resonant of today’s times

    Celeste Ng’s 2022 New York Times bestseller, Our Missing Hearts, is the 2026 One Book, One Philadelphia pick. The dystopian novel is about a 12-year-old biracial Chinese American boy and his quest to be reunited with his mother in an authoritarian America.

    “I’m thrilled and honored,” Ng said Wednesday, speaking from her Boston study a few hours before she hopped on a plane to Philadelphia for Thursday’s announcement.

    Ng’s 2017 novel Little Fires Everywhere was adapted into the 2020 Hulu miniseries of the same name, starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon.

    “I love community reads programs,” Ng said. “I relish in this idea that readers will have a shared experience, that they will be able to talk to each other, get to examine the world they are living in, ask if this is the world they want to live in, and figure out what they are going to do about it.”

    “Our Missing Hearts,” by Celeste Ng. (Penguin Press/TNS)

    In Ng’s 335-page paperback, a future America is living under the Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act, where books are banned, voices are censored, and citizens are forbidden to criticize a government for its wrongdoings, especially its unfair treatment of people of color. People of Asian descent are particularly mistreated, considered scapegoats for a severe economic crisis.

    Ng wrote Our Missing Hearts in 2020 during the pandemic when AAPI hate was at an all-time high. Years on, Ng’s PACT mirrors present-day America, where under President Trump’s executive order to “restore truth and sanity to American history,” historic panels honoring George Washington’s enslaved staff were removed from Independence Hall National Park last month.

    (On Feb. 17, a federal judge ordered the panels to be restored, but the Trump administration appealed the decision and the return of the plaques to the park has been halted.)

    “I sort of hoped the book would get further way from reality as the years went by, but that’s not the case so far,” said Ng, who stressed she’s not a psychic, just aware of history. “We are in a world where we just aren’t going to mention George Washington had enslaved people and we are taking down the gay pride [flag] at Stonewall, trying to pretend that none of this happened.”

    Bird is the 12-year-old in the center of Ng’s book. His Chinese mother criticizes America through her poetry and art. She leaves Bird with his white dad, and continues to make public art that unites Americans and encourages them to speak out.

    Celeste Ng attends Hulu Little Fires Everywhere Press Brunch at ROSS HOUSE on Feb. 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Erik Voake/Getty Images for Hulu/TNS)

    “I feel like Philly is a living example of that,” said Ng, who was born in Pittsburgh and periodically visits Philadelphia. The Mütter Museum is one of her favorite places to visit. She’s keeping an eye on how the museum handles its collection of human remains.

    “Philadelphians get to walk past history daily. There is art all around you, reminding you of the stories that form you and are a part of your lives. Philly is a space that can start connection through all of the beautiful sculptures and murals reminding us that change is possible.”

    Our Missing Hearts is the Free Library’s 24th One Book, One Philadelphia pick. Last year’s choice was Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter’s 2023 memoir, The Upcycled Self.

    The annual program urges Philadelphians to read the same book, fostering literacy and civic dialogue. The kick-off event is April 7. Ng will return to Philadelphia that day for a book signing and celebration. One Book ends May 28.

    A series of events at Parkway Central and the 54 branch libraries will take place throughout the year.

    “I hope the conversation will get people thinking, what do we lose when stories disappear,” Ng said. “What do we do if stories never get told? What happens when we intimidate people out of talking about the past and learning from it? I’m really grateful to the Free Library of Philadelphia for starting these conversations in this moment.”

  • US filings for jobless aid rise modestly to 212,000 as layoffs remain at historically healthy levels

    US filings for jobless aid rise modestly to 212,000 as layoffs remain at historically healthy levels

    WASHINGTON — Slightly more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs remain at relatively healthy levels.

    The number of Americans filing for jobless aid for the week ending Feb. 21 rose by 4,000 to 212,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s in line with the forecasts of analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

    Filings for unemployment benefits are viewed as representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

    Earlier this month, the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers added a surprisingly strong 130,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3% from 4.4%. However, government revisions cut 2024-2025 U.S. payrolls by hundreds of thousands, reducing the number of jobs created last year to just 181,000. That’s about one-third of the previously reported 584,000 and the weakest since the pandemic year of 2020.

    While weekly layoffs have remained in a historically low range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years, a number of high-profile companies have announced job cuts recently, including UPS, Amazon, Dow and the Washington Post in recent weeks.

    The Labor Department also recently reported that job openings fell in December to the lowest level in more than five years.

    For now, the U.S. job market appears stuck in what economists call a “low-hire, low-fire” state that has kept the unemployment rate historically low, but has left those out of work struggling to find a new job.

    Data over the past year has broadly revealed a labor market in which hiring has clearly slowed, hobbled by uncertainty stoked by President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of the high interest rates the Fed engineered in 2022 and 2023 to tamp down a spike of pandemic-induced inflation.

    Economists are conflicted about whether the stronger-than-expected January job gains are a one-off or possibly the first sign of a recovering labor market, which could lead the Fed to further delay more cuts to its key interest rate.

    The government issues it February jobs report next week.

    Some Fed officials have specifically argued that last year’s weak hiring shows that borrowing costs are weighing on growth and discouraging companies from expanding. A sustained pickup in hiring could undercut that theory.

    The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which balances some of the week-to-week volatility, ticked up by 750 to 220,250.

    The total number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the previous week ending Feb. 14 fell by 31,000 to 1.83 million, the government said.

  • SEPTA trolleys will use AI cameras to catch drivers breaking no-parking rules in Philly

    SEPTA trolleys will use AI cameras to catch drivers breaking no-parking rules in Philly

    Beginning Monday, people who illegally park in SEPTA trolley lanes and stops could be caught in the act by automated enforcement cameras, the Philadelphia Parking Authority announced Thursday.

    Plans call for installing AI-camera systems on 30 trolleys across the six lines in the city to identify and ticket the owners of vehicles obstructing the streetcars or making it hard for passengers to board by blocking stops.

    Violations will carry a $51 fine as of April 1. Before then, warnings will be mailed instead of tickets.

    Parking violations are the enemies of surface transit, slowing buses and trolleys, making them less reliable and putting riders in danger.

    Already, 152 SEPTA buses have been using cameras mounted in their windshields to enforce parking rules; ticketing began last year.

    SEPTA, PPA, and the Philadelphia Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems are collaborating on the effort. It uses camera systems made installed and maintained by Hayden AI, a San Francisco-based tech company.

    “A single illegally parked vehicle can disrupt service for thousands of riders and create unsafe boarding conditions that force passengers into moving traffic,” PPA executive director Rich Lazer said in a statement.

    “This is more than a minor inconvenience,” he said.

    Legislation sponsored by Councilmember Mark Squilla and enacted in 2023 authorized using cameras mounted on buses and trolleys to enforce no-parking rules in Philadelphia.

    “One of the most annoying things about this city is people stopping their cars wherever they want to stop them, in bus lanes, double parking. It just screws everything up,” then-Mayor Jim Kenney said at a news conference.

    According to a 2019 study SEPTA commissioned from Econsult Solutions, Center City congestion causes 1.7 million hours of passenger delays per year, adding $15.4 million to yearly operating costs.

    And then there is the almost incalculable cost to people who depend on buses and trolleys.

    “In a city where 42% of Black residents and 50% of impoverished households do not own a car, efficient public transit is paramount to creating a strong transportation network that better provides economic opportunity for all,” said Christopher Puchalsky, director of policy and strategic initiatives for OTIS.

    In a 70-day trial in the spring of 2023, windshield-mounted video cameras recorded 36,392 instances of illegally parked vehicles blocking Center City bus-only lanes and bus stops in West Philadelphia and Upper Darby.

    In some situations, SEPTA bus operators can steer around parked cars. Trolleys, running on fixed rails, don’t have any real flexibility when they are boxed out of their lanes.

    SEPTA officials say bus speeds have improved on routes using the cameras. An average of about 14,746 violations are issued each month, according to PPA.

    The cameras use artificial intelligence to determine if a car is stopped or parked to obstruct transit lanes and stops. Then, the systems transmit the vehicle’s license plate number and precise location to the Philadelphia Parking Authority using cloud technology.

    “Keeping trolley zones clear isn’t just about enforcing parking rules — it’s about keeping Philadelphia moving,” said Marty Beard, CEO of Hayden AI. He added that Philadelphia will be the first city to deploy the cameras on trolleys.

  • How malbec became a wine-world phenomenon

    How malbec became a wine-world phenomenon

    Most of the wine regions located outside of Europe grow the same roster of famous French grapes, because those were in greatest demand when their vineyards first began trying to compete with the classics on quality. That’s why the top grapes of Burgundy and Bordeaux are so ubiquitous; almost every country of the Americas and southern hemisphere offers mostly chardonnay and sauvignon blanc for white wines and cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and pinot noir for reds. However, there are some exceptions, as with the singular case of Argentina, whose signature malbec grape is rarely grown anywhere else, and was chosen for that role the old-fashioned way.

    All fine wine grapes belong to one single species and most European regions make wine from their own local “varieties.” These varieties reflect natural genetic variation, but in Europe, those that became dominant in any given place are those that have proven themselves over time to be well-suited to that region’s terrain, climate, and soil types.

    While most New World wine regions simply adopted the most successful European varieties, one man in Argentina — a French agronomist — was determined to figure out first what grapes would perform best. Michel Aimé Pouget brought in cuttings of many European vines in the 1850s and established the country’s most influential wine institution. Malbec was then an obscure grape that was in decline in its native France but proved itself in trials to be ideally suited to the sun-drenched slopes of the Mendoza region. From that point forward, malbec was relentlessly promoted to growers as the safest bet for vineyard plantings, resulting in malbec becoming Argentina’s gift to the wine world. Bursting with flavors of black cherries and blackberry jam, this example features malbec’s distinctive purple color, velvety mouthfeel, and faintly floral scent of candied violets.

    Ceibo Malbec

    Ceibo Malbec

    Mendoza, Argentina; 14% ABV

    PLCB Item #100034251 — on sale for $11.99 through March 1 (regularly $13.99)

    No alternate retail locations within 50 miles of Philadelphia according to Wine-Searcher.com.

  • Why can’t this teen stay awake during his classes? | Medical Mystery

    Why can’t this teen stay awake during his classes? | Medical Mystery

    A 14-year-old boy and his mother went to his pediatrician because the teen had just been placed on a three-day suspension. The reason? His loud snoring was disrupting his classes.

    His doctor asked many questions to understand what was going on, and learned his patient had been frequently falling asleep in class over the last several months. He told the doctor that no matter how much he tried to stay awake, he couldn’t help dozing off. Previously he had received As and Bs in his classes, but since he was missing so much in class, lately he had been getting more Cs and even a D. He and his mother were both worried about this. He was also embarrassed over his loud snoring making him the center of attention in class.

    His sleepiness was also causing problems at home. He and his mother agreed that waking up in the morning was a nightmare because he kept falling back asleep after his alarm sounded. His mother said that it often took up to an hour to get him out of bed.

    The doctor reviewed his medical history and saw that he was a generally healthy teen who didn’t have any chronic conditions or take any daily medications. He had his tonsils and adenoids removed eight years prior for a reason his mother did not remember. His pediatrician noted that he had gained a significant amount of weight over the last two years and his body mass index (a ratio of weight to height) was now in the obese range.

    His doctor then asked more questions about his sleep. Generally, he went to bed at 10 p.m. and woke up around 6:30 a.m. for school. He had already tried measures to improve his “sleep hygiene” which are the habits around sleep. He left his phone charging outside his room in the hallway so he wouldn’t be tempted to scroll all night long. He tried to pick a consistent sleep and wake up time, even on weekends.

    He didn’t typically have problems falling asleep, and he didn’t wake up at night. He denied having restless legs that interrupted sleep. His mother told the doctor that he snored loudly enough that she could hear it outside the door. One or two times she had also noticed that he paused in breathing during sleep for a few seconds, without waking up. The doctor asked if the teen ever had muscle weakness when having a strong emotion. Both he and his mother were amused by the question but didn’t think this had ever occurred; the doctor explained that she was describing “cataplexy,” which can be seen in people with a neurological problem with sleep called narcolepsy.

    The doctor then asked to speak with the teen one-on-one. She was worried that his sleepiness issues might be indicative of a problem like depression, anxiety, or drug use. The teen denied symptoms like a loss of pleasure in doing things or feeling worthless. He told her that his favorite thing to do was play in the band, where he played five different band instruments. Unfortunately, he had been kicked out of his band due to his declining grades and his suspension. He wasn’t someone who was easily anxious and he didn’t have anxious thoughts at night keeping him up. He had never tried alcohol, vaping, marijuana, or other substances.

    The doctor invited the teen’s mother back in the room for the physical examination. She assessed his blood pressure, heart, thyroid, lungs, abdomen, and neurological system and did not find anything abnormal.

    Answer:

    The doctor referred the teen to a pulmonologist, or lung specialist for a sleep study to see whether the teen may have narcolepsy or obstructive sleep apnea. For the sleep study, also called polysomnography, the teen slept overnight in the hospital while his oxygen saturation, breathing patterns, and brain activity were monitored.

    Due to many episodes of apnea (pauses in breathing during sleep) and hypopnea (partial decrease in air flow during sleep), he was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a condition where the throat becomes closed or narrowed during sleep, causing pauses or decreases in air flow, which can cause oxygen levels in the body to drop.

    This causes the body to wake up, even if the person doesn’t notice it. If this happens throughout the night, the person cannot get restful sleep and can be very tired during the day. Risk factors for OSA include male sex, obesity, and having large adenoids and/or tonsils.

    The teen was grateful to understand that his sleepiness was not his fault or a sign of laziness. He started treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) overnight to help keep his airway open. Once his daytime sleepiness improved, he was able to do more physical activity during the day. The best part was that his school let him back into the band, and he decided to challenge himself to learn another instrument.

    Take home points

    1. Teens generally need 8 to 10 hours of sleep to best support their health.
    2. Daytime sleepiness is common in adolescents and can affect their schoolwork, relationships with peers and family, and daily activities.
    3. Common methods to improve sleep hygiene include a consistent schedule of going to bed and waking up (even on weekends), avoiding screens in the bedroom, having a consistent bedtime routine, and being active daily but avoiding heavy exercise for at least an hour before bed.
    4. In some cases excessive daytime sleepiness may be an indicator of an underlying health condition, such as obstructive sleep apnea. Be sure to talk to your child’s doctor if you have these concerns — OSA is becoming more common in children due to obesity, though it can have other causes as well.

    Samantha Starkey is a third-year pediatric resident and Hayley Goldner is a pediatrician in the adolescent medicine department at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware

  • AI can offer patients a starting point | Expert Opinion

    AI can offer patients a starting point | Expert Opinion

    A friend’s medical odyssey recently prompted me to ask whether AI could have helped. As an experienced primary care doctor, I was surprised to discover how much potential a chatbot has to serve as your true partner navigating the healthcare maze.

    My friend, a middle-aged woman, was experiencing numbness and tingling in her hands and torso. A week went by, with no relief — occasionally the symptoms caused her to lose hand grip strength. She sought an evaluation at a busy urgent care clinic, which showed only a borderline elevated blood sugar. She was bewildered to receive a preliminary diagnosis of nerve inflammation from diabetes, since she was diligent about regular checkups and had no history of diabetes.

    She decided to schedule both primary care and endocrinology visits. The specialist could see her first and ordered extensive blood testing which showed only prediabetes unlikely to cause nerve injury. She left with a follow-up plan to prevent her from developing overt diabetes, but no diagnosis for her symptoms. She was encouraged to pursue nerve testing and meet with her primary care physician (PCP).

    It took her an agonizing three weeks to get an appointment to see her PCP, who reviewed the prior tests and agreed she should see a neurologist. By now, she had already self-scheduled the specialist appointment. Her symptoms resolved by the time she saw the neurologist, who was concerned that this may have been a sign of a chronic condition such as multiple sclerosis. For a third time, she left a medical appointment without a clear diagnosis.

    My friend’s story shows how difficult it can be to get a timely and accurate medical evaluation when new symptoms arise. Access to primary care is constrained, and self-referral to specialists can sometimes land you in a rabbit hole of testing.

    I was curious to see how an AI chatbot might have helped in my friend’s scenario, so I logged onto Microsoft Copilot and typed in the following prompt:

    I have had numbness and tingling in my hands and torso for 1 week and occasional loss of grip strength. What could be wrong with me?

    I received a warning that the chatbot could not formally diagnose me, followed by a list of possible diagnoses that were stunningly relevant. Next, the chatbot generated a list of warning signs that would require emergency care, and some tests that a clinician would likely order to zero in on the diagnosis.

    As a doctor, I know it is still important to avoid trying to diagnose yourself. My advice is to continue to view your PCP as the best starting point when you have new symptoms that aren’t an emergency. Your PCP can perform an initial assessment and guide you toward appropriate specialty care. Your primary care office is also the medical “home” you can always return to if you encounter a follow-up problem, or develop new or worsening symptoms. But AI chatbots can help you along the way by proposing questions to ask and giving you a sense of what your doctor may be concerned about. It is important to be open with your doctor about your AI query, so you can have a thorough discussion together about the diagnostic possibilities and why some of these may require further evaluation while others do not.

    Physicians today expect patients to use technology to advocate for themselves, so your AI findings should be received with curiosity and concern, especially from a doctor with whom you have a well-established trusting relationship. If you are met with dismissal or defensiveness, this may be a sign of a nonideal physician-patient partnership. A few months ago, I wrote about my first office encounter with a patient who openly discussed her use of an AI chatbot as a health advocate. That patient visit left me with cautious optimism about the role of AI in clinical care, with a caveat that these tools are designed to profit in a rapidly changing healthcare marketplace, not necessarily to keep you well. But they can still help you get there.

    Some health systems, like the one where I work, are developing plans for personalized chatbots built into the electronic health record. Patients might interact with a bot in preparation for a visit, following prompts to answer questions about their health history or current symptoms. These advances may help with way-finding within the system, continuity of care, and tee up a more useful clinic appointment.

    Doctors themselves use AI platforms like OpenEvidence, which helps us to quickly parse the latest medical research, to enhance their own diagnostic skills. AI tools like ambient listening are even being woven into medical school curricula to help students develop clinical reasoning and communication skills. The hope is that instead of spending time memorizing and re-memorizing facts, energy can be shifted to active listening and thoughtful problem solving.

    The collaboration between patients, doctors, and AI is a new frontier with great potential to improve clinical care. It may have saved my friend a lot of time and angst searching for the right specialist, even as she continues to search for a diagnosis. But the promise of AI in patient care still hinges on effective communication, trust, and human connection. Sir William Osler’s famous adage will always remain our true north: “A good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.”

    Jeffrey Millstein is an internist and regional medical director for Penn Primary and Specialty Care.