need2know-afternoon-edition-011223

And let's get right to today's need to know headlines. Starting with some of really promising news this morning. The cancer death rate in the U. S. Dropped 33% in the past three decades. That's according to a new report from the American Cancer society. The report cites advances in treatment, early detection and a decrease in smoking as reasons for the lower death rate. Experts also say HPV. HPV vaccination is connected to a reduction in cancer cases and deaths. This report says roughly 3.8 million deaths were prevented and skies are looking a little calmer in California but it won't last for long. More atmospheric river storms are forecast for this weekend. Now people who call the Monterey peninsula home, they could soon be living on an island. The flooding is so bad it may soon cut them off from the rest of California. More than 100 National Guard troops are searching for five year old Kyle Doohan. He's the boy who was in an suv with his mom when strong currents swept him away. At least 18 people have died in these storms. Now all this rain is helping ease the state's drought. Less than 1% of California is now under extreme drought down from about one third of the state. Still more than 95% of California faces some form of drought designation and thousands of new york city nurses are back at work today because of two of the city's biggest hospitals agreed to add staff and improve their working conditions. We've said it before and we'll say it again, nurses care for our communities. This historic contract, deliver respect for our nurses and our patients. The nurses were on strike for the past three days. It ended this morning after Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai came to a tentative agreement with the nurses union that also includes pay raises. Now, the new york state nurses association said staffing levels were a key concern. Meanwhile, the hospitals say they had a nursing shortage and that the coronavirus pandemic made matters worse. If you or someone you know is dealing with symptoms of long covid, there is hope. A new study out of Israel finds most people who got a mild case of covid saw their long term symptoms resolved within the first year. Long covid symptoms may include brain fog, loss of smell and taste eating problems, dizziness, heart palpitations and strep throat. Researchers found most of those problems they just went away after 12 months. However, this only applied to mild cases. Many us doctors are saying they are still seeing the impacts of long covid. Well after the 12 month mark And drug overdose deaths are still high, but now they are trending down. They fell slightly for the fifth straight month. New CDC data shows an estimated 107,000 people died of drug overdoses in the US during the 12-month period that ended August 2022. This chart shows how quick quickly these totals grew as the pandemic and lockdowns took shape in March 2020. We hit our peak 12 month total in March, synthetic opioids like fentaNYL continue to be involved in more than two thirds of those overdose deaths. But it's encouraging to see this number finally moving in the right direction. More than a dozen states have now banned substances known as Forever chemicals. These P. F. A. S. Chemicals are found in everything from carpets to fast food wrappers and even sky wax. Now they've been linked to serious health problems. The E. P. A. Says the chemicals tend to accumulate in the human body, resulting in some cancers, thyroid disease and high cholesterol. It's not just states. Companies like Mcdonald's Starbucks are also pledging to phase out the chemicals from their packaging and Russia is planning to launch a rescue mission to the international space station next month. They're going to try to be bring home three crew members who are stuck in orbit. Apparently a meteoroid hit their original capsule that docked Soyuz capsule sprang a major leak last month. It was spraying radio or coolant all into space. Russia's space agency said there was no immediate threat to the space station's crew, but the leak did raise concerns about whether everyone on the I. S. S. Could return to Earth in an emergency now that the Soyuz is out of commission. There is only one escape pod left docked at the I. S. S. And that is a SpaceX crew Dragon spacecraft. Right now there are seven people on board the space station, But here's the thing. The Space X capsule only has four seats.