Insight News

Cautionary Tale Uncovers Another Reason to Avoid Mexico

Daniel & Ana

I don’t know anybody who’s considering Mexico as a vacation destination anymore, given the kidnappings of the rich for ransom, the mass murders in resort areas like Acapulco, the ever-escalating body count in the drug wars and the recent employment of bombings as a terrorist tactic. If, in spite of all of the above, you’re still thinking of venturing South of the Border, you might want to check out Daniel & Ana, a cautionary tale blowing the covers off another problem plaguing the troubled region.

Radiation exposure from CT scans

Dear EarthTalk: Should I fear radiation exposure associated with medical scans such as CT scans, mammograms and the like? -- Shelly Johansen, Fairbanks, AK

The short answer is…maybe. Critics of the health care industry postulate that our society’s quickness to test for disease may in fact be causing more of it, especially in the case of medical scans. To wit, the radiation dose from a typical CT scan (short for computed tomography and commonly known as a “cat scan”) is 600 times more powerful than the average chest x-ray.

A 2007 study by Dr. Amy Berrington de González of the National Cancer Institute projected that the 72 million CT scans conducted yearly in the U.S. (not including scans conducted after a cancer diagnosis or performed at the end of life) will likely cause some 29,000 cancers resulting in 15,000 deaths two to three decades later. Scans of the abdomen, pelvis, chest and head were deemed most likely to cause cancer, and patients aged 35 to 54 were more likely to develop cancer as a result of CT scans than other age group.

MicroGrants: Giving a bump up the ladder

Did you get a chance to read my article on the Project for Pride in Living? My piece talked about an organization that has been compassionately making provisions of necessity for low-income individuals in the community. I was blessed to have had the opportunity to sit down with the Executive Director, Steve Cramer, and just recently, that blessing became a gift when I met the retired founder of the Project for Pride in Living, Joe Selvaggio.

I didn’t know what to expect as I sat and waited in the backyard gazebo, the birds’ serenade keeping me company. Selvaggio entered. His swagger was calm and gracious, and when our hands and eyes locked, I felt an instant connection – internal notification that this was an assignment I would enjoy immensely. Although now inactive with the PPL, Selvaggio still dabbles in the business of helping low-income people, and why wouldn’t he? In his forty-year career, he has pursued multiple avenues of servitude, including Catholic priest, founder of Project for Pride in Living, and founder of the One Percent Club, a philanthropic organization for people of means.

What happens in Vegas…Can be pretty cheap

While my husband and I are not into casino gambling --it goes against our laws of penny-pinching-- we do, however, really like to snag a deal wherever it may be found. This time we happened to find one we could not pass up in Vegas. We just returned from our first official family vacation and had a wonderful time. To be honest, it was not our intention to head west, but it turns out that this was the best online deal out there (and not that much more expensive than heading up to Brainerd and other popular Minnesota vacation destinations). So if you are looking for a family-friendly getaway that is relatively easy on the wallet, then Viva Las Vegas!

This was supposed to be a big summer for us. Our original plan was to go to Europe, but when our plans fell through we were scrambling to come up with a vacation-plan B, to console our disappointed kids (and their even more disappointed parents). Not wanting to spend oodles of cash-still planning to do Europe next year-we began looking online at cool places in Minnesota that we could reach by car. We were quite surprised at the cost of many of these Minnesota hot spots, and even more surprised to find a lot of them booked solid! That’s when we made the crucial decision to expand our search.

Camden Bridge restoration complete, opens to traffic

The Camden Bridge, closed since April 12 for extensive rehabilitation work, recently opened to traffic, re-connecting traffic routes between North and Northeast Minneapolis. The bridge work, made possible through $10 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, included improvements that drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians will all enjoy.

“We’ve created a better bridge for this critical crossing of the Mississippi River,” said City Council President Barbara Johnson, who represents the Fourth Ward, on the west end of the bridge. “Thousands of commuters were inconvenienced by this construction over the past four-and-a-half months. They’ll see that it was worth the wait to get the bridge we have now. The new Camden Bridge will do a better job serving our drivers, cyclists and walkers for decades to come.”