Monthly Archives: May 2022

The Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse have been working to restore the lighthouse and keepers' home since 2003. Now, they offer tours of the island.

The Maine coastline is famous for the lighthouses that dot the rugged shore, but keeping them in ship-shape condition is no small task.

On any given Tuesday, if the seas are obliging, volunteers fromThe Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse take a 20-minute boat ride from Biddeford Pool to Wood Island, where they've been working since 2003 to restore the lighthouse and keeper's home.

Technology has, in large part, replaced the need for lighthouse keepers. Where kerosene lamps used to burn, now LED lights are stacked. Volunteers may not be warning storm-tossed mariners of the jagged coastline. Currently, they are working to keep the history of Wood Island alive.

Volunteers offer toursof the newly-restored home and tower beginning in July and running through August.

The Coast Guard owns the property of Wood Island and maintains the light that shines 12 miles out to sea. But for the last two decades, The Friends of Wood Island have licensed the island, raised thousands of dollars, and restored the property to how it looked in 1906. Every detail has been accounted for from the furniture inside the home to the shingles on the outside.

"The history of [these] area lighthouses are emblematic of Maine," George Bruns, chair of the executive committee of Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse, said.

The first lighthouse on Wood Island was built of wood in 1808 and later replaced by the same tower that is still standing today in 1939. Several rescues happened on the island over the years, including the rescue of two-year-old Tammy Burnham.

On Nov. 29, 1960, the Burnhams were the lighthouse keepers when their daughter fell ill. Fearing she might be having appendicitis, the Burnhams radioed for help. With a fierce storm at sea, Fletcher's Neck Coast Guard boat, a "thirty footer," and its four-person crew left the docks at Biddeford Pool. The ship got as close to the island as possible before two 19-year-old seamen took a small skiff to the island, where Laurier Burnham reluctantly handed over his sick daughter.

Before long, the skiff had swamped, and the seamen needed rescuing. Eventually, Laurier Burnham was able to reach his daughter and the seamen. They had been in the water for 40 minutes. Tammy was taken to an area hospital, where she fully recuperated.

One story of Wood Island still haunts the island. In the 1890s, Thomas Henry Orcutt was the lighthouse keeper when a murder-suicide took place on the island. A tenant living on the island killed his landlord and then knocked on the keeper's home seeking advice. Orcutt is alleged to have told the man "to go back and turn himself in." He didn't.

"The lighthouse is supposedly haunted. Supposedly the ghost has said, 'I didn't mean to do it,'" Bruns shared.

Wood Island Lighthouse kept mariners safe for decades, and now volunteers are safeguarding its history and sharing it.

"If you live anywhere in this area, you become familiar with [the lighthouse], and you rely on it. It's somewhat like an old friend," volunteer David Adams said.

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Keeping the history of an isolated ME lighthouse alive - NewsCenterMaine.com WCSH-WLBZ

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) Caps and gowns are on, and its time for 2022 graduation photos.

Robert Morton of Cre8tive Visions

But behind these Wildcats celebratory smiles, there are stories of perseverance.

Dr. Shericka Smith is a member of the inaugural class of graduates from the University of Kentuckys Doctor of Social Work Program, or DSW.

I'm not really supposed to be here, she said. According to society, according to statistics, according to what everybody else thinks, you know what Black women are supposed to be or supposed to look like, or not supposed to be, or not supposed to look like. That's what makes me the most proud.

Dr. Smith is proud because she and her peers are members of a ground-breaking group. Within their class is the most Black doctors to ever graduate from a single discipline at UK.

We literally made history, said Dr. Sharrion Brown. And that's not something I'm used to. I'm the first person in my immediate family to graduate college, let alone get this far.

Dr. Brown and Dr. Smith joined some of their fellow graduates at the student center last week to talk to LEX 18 about their accomplishments. We met women like Dr. Marilyn Lucille Sails, Dr. Cerenity Leavell-Barker, Dr. Angela Williams, and Dr. Cynae Adams.

They all graduated from the online program in two years, meaning they went to school full-time while working. Many of them are also parents.

I have two children, so I hope one day they can see this and think they're proud their mother was a part of this, said Dr. Brittany Gentry.

According to UK, 23 of the programs 72 graduating doctorate students are Black, including three Black men. Its representation professors say will make a difference in a field thats historically made up of white women.

It's hard to become what you don't see, said Dr. Laura Escobar-Ratliff, the DSW program director. And we are providing opportunities for children to see themselves.

We deal with diverse communities, said Dr. Jay Miller, the dean of the College of Social Work. And it is extremely important practitioners reflect those communities.

A 2017 survey from the National Association of Social Workers found nearly 70% of social workers are white. Dr. Gentry says those disparities are part of the reason she enrolled in the program.

The need for people of color as therapists, as mentors, as case managers, has increased significantly, she told LEX 18.

To many of the graduates, the title of Dr. still feels surreal. But they hope the two letters on the front of their names inspire future students who also want to make a difference.

We see things on TV, about, Oh this is history-making, people make history. And to actually be a part of making history, it's once in a lifetime, Dr. Smith said.

Read more here:

Meet the social work graduates making history at the University of Kentucky - LEX 18 News - Lexington, KY

New research suggested the overall rates of key safety events were similar between cohorts with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) receiving long-term ustekinumab or placebo.

These findings may be reassuring among the patient population with a history of prior biologic failure, study investigators said.

The long-term safety profile of ustekinumab in IBD patients with a history of biologic failure was favorable and consistent with the overall IBD population and the well-established, long-term, cumulative safety profile of ustekinumab across approved disease indications, wrote study author Edward V. Loftus, MD, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.

Loftus presented these data at the 2022 Digestive Disease Week Meeting in San Diego, California.

A significant number of patients may not respond to or lose response to, or are intolerant to, biologic agents and may require switching to a different biologic. The current integrated analysis incorporated ustekinumab phase 2/3 long-term safety data from IBD studies for up to 5 years in Crohns Disease (CD) and 2 years in UC in patients with a history of prior biologic failure.

The data from 5 phase 2/3 UST IBD studies were pooled, according to investigators. In phase 3, patients were given a single intravenous placebo or UST (130 mg or 6 mg/kg) induction dose and followed by a subcutaneous maintenance dose of placebo or ustekinumab (90 mg q8w or q12w).

All patients who received 1 dose of ustekinumab and were identified as having a history of prior biologic failure were included in the data analysis. Investigators noted concomitant immunomodulators and corticosteroids were permitted. In the pooled IBD group, safety outcomes are presented as events per 100 patient-years of follow-up and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

For up to 5 years, a total of 847 IBD patients with a history of prior biologic failure received placebo (473 patient-years) and 1596 patients received ustekinumab (1970 patient-years). The average duration of follow-up was 2-fold longer for ustekinumab compared to placebo (64.18 weeks vs 29.06 weeks).

Data show the rates per 100 patient-years were similar between placebo and ustekinumab through up to 5 years for:

Overall, rates of non-melanoma skin cancer and malignancies were reported infrequently in ustekinumab patients with IBD, with similar rates between ustekinumab and placebo. Notably, the average duration of follow-up through 5 years was 2-fold longer for ustekinumab versus placebo (64.18 vs 29.06 weeks).

The overall rates of adverse events were similar between ustekinumab and placebo for individual events. Data show the most frequently reported adverse event was nasopharyngitis, while the most frequently reported infection was nasopharyngitis and upper respiratory tract infection.

Moreover, a total of 6 deaths were reported through up to 5 years in patients with a history of prior biologic failure treated with ustekinumab (0.3 per 100 patient-years). However, all were considered to have no relation to the study agent, according to investigators.

The study, Long-Term Safety of Ustekinumab in IBD Patients with A History of Biologic Failure: Pooled Safety Analysis Through 5 Years in Crohns Disease and 2 Years in Ulcerative Colitis, was presented at DDW 2022.

More:

Safety Profile of Ustekinumab Favorable in Patients with IBD, History of BIologic Failure - MD Magazine

A defendant with a juvenile criminal history of sex crimes was in 5th District Court court Thursday on two recent cases involving rape and other charges filed last year in St. George.

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

ST. GEORGE A defendant with a juvenile criminal history of sex crimes was in court on two recent cases involving rape and other charges filed last year in St. George, a hearing conducted to determine if the defendant, who has the highest risk rating, should remain free pending trial.

The Thursday hearing involved the case of 20-year-old Avery Jared Anderson, who faces one first-degree felony rape and two second-degree felony charges sexual exploitation of a minor and aggravated assault. He also faces unlawful sexual activity with a minor more than four years younger charges that were filed in two separate cases.

The proceeding was to rule on whether to revoke Anderson's pretrial release, a motion submitted by Washington County Prosecutor Jim Weeks.

During oral arguments before District Judge Keith C. Barnes, Weeks said Anderson "is a danger to the community," while defense attorney Ricky Bonewell countered, saying, "I don't see that he's any type of a danger."

Read the full article at St. George News.

Cody Blowers is a reporter for St. George News. A graduate of Colorado Technical University, Cody earned her bachelors degree in criminal justice with a minor in paralegal studies.

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Man with extensive history of sex crimes appears in court on new cases in St. George - KSL.com