Three Things for September 1
Atlanta kids in crucial year to learn to read, New York law restricts the
purchase of whipped cream and FDA expected to release new COVID19 booster
this week — Here are your three things for today!
Three Things for September 1
1. Atlanta kids in crucial year to learn to read
Students in Chelsea Grant’s third grade class are reading below their grade level, many displaying different levels of aptitude.
As they begin third grade, many students who learned online as first-graders are still struggling to master reading. If they don’t do so this year, research suggests, they risk school failure. https://t.co/UnN5M4QzFL
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 31, 2022
Some of Grant’s students, “her babies” as she calls them, can read as though they were performing plays, while others struggle over basic words. These students were in first grade during the first year of the pandemic, interrupting the learning process of reading during that year.
Associated Press reports the current school year is crucial to the schooling of these students, as studies have shown students who do not master reading risk school failure. After third grade, all schooling requires reading comprehension to succeed.
“Those students are very vulnerable,” said John King Jr., former U.S. Secretary of Education and president of the Education Trust, a Washington, D.C. think tank that advocates for improving access to high-quality education for low-income students and students of color. “You just worry, are kids going to get all they need? If not, there’s the risk of a lost generation of students.”
For more information, click here.
2. FDA expected to release new COVID-19 booster this week
The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve the first COVID-19 booster, since the pandemic began, this week.
This new booster, “bivalent,” is a combination of Phiser-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines targeting the original COVID-19 strand and the omicron variant. NPR states that the booster is meant to improve peoples’ immunity and strengthen their protection against the virus.
"This is a really important moment in this pandemic," Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator told NPR. "This is the first major upgrade of the vaccines — first major change in the vaccines — in the last two and a half years."
The FDA is not testing this booster in humans, instead they are doing so in mice to save time.
For more information, click here.
The FDA is expected to authorize the first updated versions of the COVID-19 boosters since the pandemic began.
— NPR (@NPR) August 31, 2022
They're known as "bivalent" vaccines because they are designed to protect against the original strain and the highly contagious omicron variant.https://t.co/B70je43Pv0
3. New York law restricts the purchase of whipped cream
A New York state law has restricted the consumption of nitrous oxide by teenagers, resulting in the restrictions of whipped cream at some stores.
No, you don’t need an ID to buy whipped cream in New York.
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 31, 2022
The new requirement to be 21 or older only applies to standalone “whippet” chargers containing nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, the sponsor of the state law said. https://t.co/S5RcmML12e
Stewart’s Shop, a New York ice cream shop, has asked for clarification over the law’s restrictions.
The New York Times states the nitrous oxide chargers can be a whipping agent, used in whipped cream canisters; however, there are concerns the small containers provide an easy, legal way to get high.
“There hasn’t been any guidance from the state on the true intent of the law,” said Mike Durant, the president of the Food Industry Alliance of New York State.
On the first offense, a $250 fine may be attributed, and subsequent fines may require a $500 fine.
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