More people are struggling with loneliness than diabetes, US surgeon general says
MIAMI — The link between loneliness and public health may not be readily apparent to many, but it is to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who visited his Miami hometown Friday with a broad agenda — meeting with health care workers about pandemic-relatedburnout, speaking with LGBTQ students about mental health concerns, and preparing to deliver the commencement address to graduating students of Miami Dade College on Saturday.
Murthy, a 1994 graduate of Miami Palmetto Senior High School, said in his roles as a private physician and the country’s top doctor he had come to realize, through conversations with patients and everyday Americans, that loneliness and isolation are pervasive among kids, young parents and others whose lives appear to be filled with the presence of others.
“That opened up my mind to the fact that this is a broader crisis,” Murthy said in a meeting with the Miami Herald’s editorial board at Miami Dade College Medical Campus. “As I dug into the research and the data on it, I came to realize that we have more people who struggle with loneliness in our country than have diabetes.”
Murthy, 44, said research has shown that loneliness is associated with an increased risk of both physical and mental health illnesses, from anxiety and depression to premature death, dementia and heart disease.
“Yet we don’t really think of it as a public health concern,” he said. “We think about loneliness as just a bad feeling we’ve got to figure out or put up with. The reality is it’s much more than that. It’s a warning signal that’s similar to hunger or thirst that tells us when something we need that’s critical for our survival is missing, and in this case it’s social connection.”
—Miami Herald
During eulogy for Patrick Lyoya, the Rev. Al Sharpton demands federal probe into shooting
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Rev. Al Sharpton has been here before. So has Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney.
On Friday, they attended yet another funeral for a Black man killed by a police officer.
But this was a new experience for Peter and Dorcas Lyoya. The person being buried was their 26-year-old son. Patrick Lyoya was fatally shot April 4 by a Grand Rapids officer during a traffic stop.
The Lyoyas have joined a fraternity nobody wants to belong to, Sharpton said during the Friday funeral.
“(Lyoya) ran into an America that we know too well,” he said during a fiery speech. “Enough is enough.”
The two-hour service at Renaissance Church of God in Christ featured joy and sadness, dancing and weeping, and heartbreak in two languages.
With chanting and rousing speeches, it sometimes seemed more like a political rally than a funeral. Little was said about Lyoya’s personal life. None of the speakers knew him, but they were well aware of his plight.
“We believe the whole world is watching Grand Rapids, Michigan,” Crump said after the funeral.
One person who did know Lyoya was Fred Bozile. The two men were acquaintances in the Congo and continued their friendship after they moved to Grand Rapids.
Before the beginning of the funeral, Bozile, 48, talked to a photo of Lyoya on a banner at a table distributing memorial T-shirts.
“I love you so much,” said Bozile, tears streaming down his cheeks. “God bless you. Rest in peace. Rest in peace. Rest in peace.”
Sharpton demanded the U.S. Justice Department investigate the shooting, which is being handled now by the Michigan State Police.
—The Detroit News
4 wounded in DC shooting, police seek ‘person of interest’
WASHINGTON — Four people were shot in northwest Washington, D.C., on Friday afternoon with the suspect or suspects still at large, according to the Metropolitan Police.
Hours later, Assistant Police Chief Stuart Emerman said “we are seeking a person of interest that we would like to speak with,” whom he identified as Raymond Spencer, 23, of Fairfax, Virginia.
“We’d like to speak to Mr. Spencer,” Emerman added, saying that investigators began focusing on him after finding his name on social media. He did not elaborate.
The police initially said three people had been shot in the busy residential neighborhood that includes two university campuses,two private schools, apartment houses, restaurants and a Metro station. Some of the schools went into lockdown and police advised residents to shelter in place.
A 54-year-old man, a 12-year-old girl and a woman in her 30s were in stable condition at area hospitals, district officials said. At a second news conference, Emerman said a fourth victim, a woman in her 60s who suffered a graze wound, had come forward.
“We are very focused on getting people help and stopping gun violence,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser, who appeared at both news conferences. “Unfortunately, I had to look in parents’ eyes tonight who were terrified. And they were terrified thinking of what might happen to their children. We have experienced this too much in our country, the epidemic of gun violence, the easy access to weapons, has got to stop.”
The shootings come as multiple U.S. cities grapple with heightened anxieties about rising crime and violence.
—Bloomberg News
Macron is closing in on second term as Marine Le Pen falters
Emmanuel Macron is closer to winning another term at the helm of Europe’s second-largest economy as nationalist leader Marine Le Pen runs out of time to narrow the gap between them before the presidential runoff ballot on Sunday.
Both candidates are holding their last rallies in areas where they came out on top in the first round two weeks ago — Le Pen chose the northern Hauts-de-France region. Macron is in the southern town of Figeac.
In an interview with France Inter radio on Friday, Macron pledged “to try to find a path where we rediscover together the reasons that make us live as a united nation.” He said he hasn’t succeeded “in giving the prospect of progress and security to the French middle and working classes.”
The gap between the two of them has widened since April 10 to around 11 percentage points, according to a polling average on Friday, as Le Pen’s weaknesses on the economy became more apparent and politicians on the left and right rallied around Macron. He is also benefiting from his stature of experienced statesman amid Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Le Pen needed to land a major blow in the presidential debate Wednesday night to catch up, but failed to do so. The much-hyped head-to-head was ultimately uneventful and didn’t appear to help either candidate win over new voters, or cost them many. A snap survey published afterward suggested viewers found Macron somewhat more convincing. Markets were reassured.
—Bloomberg News
