Bob Shull

Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

A study of nearly 300,000 people published today in the New England Journal of Medicine found “that last season’s 2024–2025 mRNA COVID vaccines reduced people’s risk of emergency department visits by 29 percent, their risk of hospitalizations by 39 percent and their risk of death by 64 percent.”

Frontiers | Occupational hazards and bladder cancer—An umbrella review of the risk in workers exposed over the past 30 years BackgroundOccupational exposure accounts for the second preventable risk factor for bladder cancer (BC), after smoking.ObjectiveThis study aimed to extract e...

STUDY: Clinicians seeing possible bladder cancer cases should, as a matter of protocol, explore job history, given 30 years of evidence linking bladder cancer w/certain jobs, incl. firefighters, hairdressers & painters.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/pub...

NHTSA closed their year+ investigation of Waymo. Waymo's 2 recalls re to this investigation were for crashing into a utility pole and roadway barriers. Evidently, robots repeatedly driving on the wrong side of the road into traffic and disobeying traffic control devices is ok in USA. Scale that.

Too Old to Keep Working, Not Enough Money to Stop As the senior workforce grows, more older Americans are staying in physically demanding jobs, often risking their health.

Older Americans are having to continue working, often without enough retirement savings to step away.

By 2030, more than 1 in 5 U.S. residents will be 65+, underscoring the growing need to advance worker protections and programs for older Americans.

@capitalandmain.bsky.social: bit.ly/4gT3RuI

In extreme heat, water, rest, and shade aren’t luxuries— they keep workers safe and healthy.

Studies show heat safety rules don’t just prevent illness— they also cut down injuries on the job. t.co/bTA6YxY416

A nationwide analysis of heat and workplace injuries in the United States - Environmental Health Background Exposure to heat leads to physiological and cognitive impairments that increase the risk of workplace injuries. This study estimates the number and proportion of work injuries reported to the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that can be attributed to heat exposure. These estimates contribute to the calculation of the benefits of standards, policies, and programs that reduce workplace exposure to extreme heat. Methods We analyzed all 2023 injury cases reported to OSHA's Injury Tracking Application by establishments with 100 or more employees, primarily in high-hazard industries. Each injury was geocoded and matched with high-resolution weather data for the specific injury date. Using a case-crossover design, we compared heat index on each injury day (case) with matched non-injury control days for the same worker. Conditional logistic regression was applied separately for summer-only and year-round periods with a non-linear term for heat index to estimate the odds ratios for injury occurrence. We additionally examined heat-injury patterns by industry sectors and in states with/without workplace heat standards. Results The odds of work injury increased non-linearly with a rising heat index: the pooled national estimate showed a clear upward trend starting around 85°F and accelerating above 90°F. Our results were consistent across nearly all industry sectors, including those that are predominantly indoors. Using a heat index of 80°F as reference, odds ratios (OR) of injuries at or above 90°F, 100°F and 110°F were 1.03 (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 1.02, 1.04), 1.10 (1.07, 1.13), and 1.20 (1.13, 1.26), respectively. At a heat index of 110°F or higher, the odds increased by 22% in states without occupational heat rules (OR=1.22; 1.15,1.29) versus 9% in states with rules (OR=1.09; 0.84, 1.41), suggesting a protective effect, although confidence intervals overlapped. Overall, we estimate 1.18% (95% empirical CI: 0.92%, 1.45%) of all injuries were attributable to heat exposure on days exceeding a heat index of 70°F. Conclusion Heat exposure increases the overall risk of work injury, an effect consistent across nearly all major industries.

Extreme heat at work strains the body and the mind.

We geocoded 845,000 work injuries reported by employers and found that injury risk increases with heat.

But these injuries are preventable! Risk is lower in the 5 states (CA, CO, MN, OR, WA) with OSHA heat standards. 1/2
tinyurl.com/8x2j66cj

Let it never again be said that a woman with no real reporting experience who fell for a Twitter account called "Official Antifa" cannot be the head of a huge news organization

Anyhow, seems it should be possible for Dem politicians to call attention to real gains that they can honestly take credit for while still committing to make things better, as in lower childcare and healthcare costs, and more affordable housing.

Nothing; he would block you.

Uber-Backed Group Opposes Bill to Protect Drivers From Unfair Deactivations - Documented The Uber Funded Independent Drivers Guild is at odds with the New York Taxi Workers Alliance over proposed driver protections.

This is why an org that claims to represent workers’ interests cannot take money from the employer. Because they…won’t represent workers’ interests. The IDG is so shameless.

documentedny.com/2025/09/30/u...

"at least a quarter of the investigations originated from people with no relationship to the schools in question. For example, a single right-wing journalist has instigated at least 15 such inquests." 🤯

DOL Child Labor Work Strained as Violations Rose, Report Says Federal enforcement of child labor laws faced a shortage of resources as violations spiked nationwide in 2023, the Labor Department’s internal auditor said in a new report.

Shocker: inadequately funding DOL while child labor violations spiked made it harder for DOL to stamp out child labor.

DOL Child Labor Work Strained as Violations Rose, Report Says news.bloomberglaw.com/employee-ben...

Uber Not Responsible for Sex Assault, Jury Finds, as More Cases Follow The company is facing similar lawsuits in federal and state courts from people who claim their drivers sexually assaulted or harassed them.

A California jury has found Uber not responsible for the sexual assault that a woman said she experienced during a ride in 2016, an early outcome for the company as it battles thousands of similar lawsuits across the country.

⚡️Must watch:
Netanyahu reveals to Hebrew audiences after the press event where Trump revealed the 20-point plan to end the war on Gaza, that he has no intention of withdrawing Israeli troops from Gaza – “No way, that’s not happening.”

He said:
“This is a historic visit. Instead of Hamas…

For those following along at home, we've now reached the "DOJ is losing unopposed motions at the DC Circuit" level.

yeah they're just murdering random people on these boats

Labor Department Ditches Proposal to Change Child Labor Hours The US Labor Department has scrapped an effort to update child labor restrictions.

Rare good news.

Labor Department Ditches Proposal to Change Child Labor Hours news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-...

DOGE was a failure because its entire premise was flawed, and, on top of that, the people who ran and implemented it were both arrogant and ignorant.

losing track of 1,800 people is kind of a big deal. That's more people than Hamas killed on October 7th. We know Noem and her team are pretty damn incompetent, but this is hard to believe.

THAT'S the cover for Last Summer in the Hamptons?!?

📽️ WATCH: Epidemiologist Erin McCanlies spent much of the past 20 years studying how parents’ exposure to toxic chemicals affects the chances that they will have an autistic child.

RFK Jr. cut her entire division — yet promises to identify the causes of autism by September: https://propub.li/4nhXQua

It's a weird timeline now, that's all I can say.

Remembering how the Reagan administration worked so hard to ignore the tie between aspirin and Reye's Syndrome. (Not because I was following the news way back then, but because I was one of the kids who was hospitalized and nearly died of Reye's.)

This is so very dumb and misguided.

The Relationship between Occupation and Lung Cancer Incidence in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study Background. Lung cancer remains the foremost cause of cancer mortality among US women, with a notable proportion arising in never-smokers. While occupational exposures contribute to lung cancer risk, ...

Study: Higher lung cancer risks in women employed in mgmt, sales, food svc, & personal care, plus some less common jobs, incl life sciences, museum-related tech roles, farming, construction, & production. www.sciltp.com/journals/wah...

Regarding “tough on crime” here is a reminder that wage theft is the largest form of property crime in the U.S. AND with recent cuts the DOL Wage and Hour Division is at its lowest headcount in 50 years.

"Fifteen international doctors [said] that during their work in hospitals in Gaza, they saw [at least 114] children aged 15 years and younger with gunshot wounds to the head or chest."

"Eyewitnesses told the doctors that the bullets mostly came from Israeli . snipers or drones"

Heard a woman describing Sinners to her friends at the bar. “It’s kind of about, like, race relations” I would say that is spot-on Mackenzie

Oxidative damage, genetic and epigenetic alterations in hexavalent chromium exposed workers - A cross-sectional study within the SafeChrom project Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is a lung cancer carcinogen. However, the genotoxic and mutagenic effects of Cr(VI) in humans at low-to-moderate occupati…

STUDY: Low/mod occ exposure to hexavalent chromium associated with markers of increased lung cancer risk.

The median inhalable Cr(VI) concentration among the exposed workers was 0.11 μg/m3. OSHA's PEL, unfortunately, is 5 μg/m3. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...