Red light therapy has been rising in popularity, but with a lot of posts about it on social media, it's hard to know if what's being promised is backed by science. Physician and board-certified anesthesiologist Dr. Azza Halim, who works at the Sanctuary Medical Center, says red light therapy isn't new.

"Because of social media, TikTok, more people are trying it, getting on that bandwagon," Dr. Halim said.

An article published on NASA explains research funded by NASA used red light therapy to grow plants in space in the mid-1990s. Pretty soon, NASA scientists working under the lights discovered that abrasions on their hands were healing faster than normal. Dr. Rich Joseph is a chief medical officer for Restore Hyper Wellness, which offers red light therapy at more than 125 locations nationwide.

"Red light, in particular, we're learning, might have more advantageous properties for healing because of its ability to penetrate the skin because of its longer wavelengths," Dr. Joseph said.

Both he and Dr. Halim say there are a few medical studies regarding red light therapy.

One study suggests an increase in collagen density. Collagen provides structure and strength to your skin, muscles, bones and connective tissues. Another study suggests there are potential psychological benefits for people facing depression and anxiety.

However, Dr. Joseph cautions someone facing mental health issues should also seek out treatment from mainstream medicine like the use of anti-depressants. Dr. Halim says red light therapy should always be considered as an addition to your wellness practice.

"It needs to be used in conjunction with other therapies because there's been controversy with people trying to upsell red light therapy," Dr. Halim said.

Dr. Joseph says more clinical trials are needed to confirm its effectiveness as a treatment. What he can confirm is that red light therapy is safe because it won't cause skin damage like UV rays from the sun. Before you decide to spend your money on this growing trend, Dr. Halim suggests you talk with your physician to see what makes the most sense for you.

 

Veteran CNN investigative journalist Drew Griffin has died after a long battle with cancer, according to his family and CNN.

Griffin was 60-years-old.

CNN CEO Chris Licht said in a message to staff, “Drew’s death is a devastating loss to CNN and our entire profession.”

Licht said, “A highly acclaimed investigative journalist, Drew’s work had incredible impact and embodied the mission of this organization in every way.”

Griffin worked at CNN for nearly 20 years covering hundreds of stories and working on multiple documentaries.

CNN said he kept his illness private and reported up until the day he died.

Michael Bass, CNN’s Executive Vice President of Programming, said, “Fearless and artful at the same time, he knew how to push a story forward to its limits, but also tell it in a way that would make everyone understand.”

Bass said, “How many times has he chased an unwilling interviewee? How many times has he spoken truth to power? How many times has he made a difference on something important … It was an honor to be his colleague and to be witness to his work and the ways it changed the world.”

Patricia DiCarlo, Executive Producer of CNN’s investigative unit said, “You know when a Drew Griffin story starts, it’s going to be great.”

“His way with words set him apart,” she said.

Griffin was a Chicago native and began his career as a reporter for WICD-TV in Illinois.

He worked for stations in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington.

He was an investigative reporter at KIRO-TV in Seattle.

In January 1994 he joined CBS 2 in Los Angeles as a reporter and anchor.

He leaves behind his three children and wife Margot.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — In the basement of retired journalist Sally Kestin’s house, lies a collection of just about every industry accolade you can think of.

It's not a museum of a past career but the hub of a new project, a fortress of solitude if you will, where she and others like her are fighting to protect democracy the best way they know how.

"Somebody called us the Gray Hair Justice League," she laughed.

The town where she's settled is no Gotham, but it happened to be the place of retirement of a handful of other well-decorated journalists.

Being natural observers, they noticed that the local news media outlets have suffered the fate of so many smaller operations across the country – budget cuts and slimmed-down newsrooms.

"They cut expenses and one of the first places they do that is the newsroom. The paper here had gone from a staff of about roughly 70 editorial employees down to about a dozen," said Kestin.

"I think they all do a wonderful job with the resources that they have, but we were all concerned. We know what happens when there is not a strong, robust local press," she continued.

According to research done by the University of North Carolina, 1,800 newspapers have shuttered since 2004, creating what has been dubbed “news deserts," or communities left without any local journalism.

Despite being bombarded with local and international news constantly on social media, the concern with news deserts is that people in these areas are being left in the dark when it comes to local issues that impact their day to day – budgets, school board decisions, politics, etc.

During the pandemic, according to Poynter, at least 100 local newspapers, some of which were more than a century old, folded, accelerating the trend.

"Having retired here, the choice was, what's more important? Playing golf and pickleball or, or actually pitching in to do something to support the local infrastructure?" said Peter Lewis, a fellow retired journalist and managing editor of The Asheville Watchdog.

Co-founded by Kestin, the Asheville Watchdog is a non-profit news website dedicated to in-depth, investigative journalism.

"I think people recognize that the kind of watchdog journalism that we do is critical to have a functioning democracy," said Lewis.

The team takes no paycheck from the work at the Watchdog, relying on donations from the community.

While they realize that not every community will have a group with the resources to start their own news organizations, they hope to inspire not only others to think about how to revive journalism in their own backyards, but to reinforce how important keeping tabs on local government and holding the powerful accountable is.

They say it's important for informing the public as well as reducing division.

"By providing that kind of coverage, we can do our little part to try and lessen this polarization that is sort of tearing communities apart, all across the country," said Lewis.

It’s not easy and they’re hoping to garner more donations to make the operation bigger, possibly hire some full-time reporters, but to them, this kind of challenge is all in a day’s work.

"We're able to do what we do best and do it in our beloved community and, and make a difference," said Kestin.

For journalists covering the Beijing Winter Olympics, China's strict pandemic measures are creating a surreal and somewhat frustrating experience.

China requires electronic confirmation of the health status of those participating in, or covering the Olympic games. That has kept some journalists on edge during their journey from various countries traveling to Beijing. One Associated Press photographer reported on the strict measures, as members of the media were asked to download an app upon arrival in Beijing, and reported that the presence of health workers in biohazard suits signaled that restrictions would keep them inside the bubble requiring competitors, officials, staff and journalists to stay isolated from the general public.

During last year's Summer Olympics in Tokyo, participants had to stay inside of a COVID-19 bubble but were allowed outside of it after two weeks. As the Associated Press reports, China has so far been requiring multiple negative COVID-19 tests into their app, which has already been problematic for some.

As the South China Morning Post reported, the Chinese government sealed up the bubble in early January to prepare for the Winter Games and it has been called the strictest mass sporting event since the pandemic began. China and the city of Beijing are preparing for how they will handle around 3,000 international athletes and media from around the globe.

Those in the bubble must be fully vaccinated, or face a government-imposed 21-day quarantine as soon as they arrive in the country, according to the South China Morning Post. Face masks will be required at all times, and everyone in the bubble will be tested daily.

Netflix is raising prices for its video streaming customers in the U.S. and Canada, less than a year and a half after its last price increase.

The move comes as competition from other streaming services ramps up.

The company said Friday that prices are going up depending on the plan. The "standard" plan that most people subscribe to is increasing by $1.50, to $15.50. The Canadian version is going up by the same amount in their local currency, to $16.50 Canadian dollars.

Price increases are becoming more of a regular feature at Netflix, which is facing saturation in the U.S. market. Of Netflix's 213.5 million subscribers, some 74 million are in the U.S. and Canada.

Netflix received an influx of global subscribers early in the pandemic, but is investing in video games as it looks beyond movies and TV for growth.

In the U.S., Netflix's most expensive plan is increasing and the platform's basic plan is up too. The plans vary based on options like the number of screens users can watch Netflix on at the same time and the number of phones or tablets that can download content.

The company still mails out DVDs in a service that requires a separate plan.

Netflix will tell customers by email and inside the Netflix app before the new price is applied to them. Customers in New York, Alabama and Louisiana also got hit with a new local sales tax bill, which Netflix says was because of the addition of video games to the service.

Raising prices carries the risk that people will cancel. Netflix remains the dominant U.S. streaming service, but others, such as HBO Max and Disney+, have increased in popularity.

This story was originally published by Dave Briggs of Newsy, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — Two Fox News Channel contributors have quit, saying “irresponsible” voices have drowned out the responsible on the network.

Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes, who put out a newsletter called The Dispatch, have both been occasional analysts at Fox since 2009.

They cited Tucker Carlson's “Patriot Purge” documentary on the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol as the last straw for them.

They said some of Fox's opinion hosts have “amplified the false claims and bizarre narratives” of former President Donald Trump and offered some of their own.

Fox did not have any comment on their claims.

Carlson told The New York Times that their departure was great news.

CHICAGO, Ill. — On the west side of Chicago, Damon Lamar Reed shows off a portion of his "Still Searching" portrait project.

"I was kind of oblivious to this stuff, and when I started doing research and finding out things, it was really shocking," he said. "I just wanted to do something."

He’s using his talent to draw more eyes to the dozens and dozens of unsolved cases of missing and murdered Black women that have plagued the south and west sides of Chicago for decades. It's an issue many may not have heard of outside of those neighborhoods.

"We're one of the biggest cities in the United States. Not only should this be a priority for our police department, but this should be national, international news," said Nikki Patin.

Patin is the community director for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, one of the local organizations that have been sounding the alarm about what’s happening in the city.

Since 2001, at least 75 women, ages 15 to 58, mostly Black, who were missing were eventually found murdered in similar ways: most died of strangulation. Their bodies were found in alleys, dumpsters and abandoned buildings around the south and west sides of Chicago. Fifty- one of those murders are unsolved.

"The problem is that in most places, I think that would trigger somebody saying, 'Hmm, there's a pattern,'" said Patin, "but as far as I know, on like a major media level, there's not been a lot of discussion."

Advocates like Patin say the reason so many of these women and their families haven’t received justice is because of the color of their skin and the neighborhoods they come from. She says instead of seeing someone who needs to be found, many assume that Black women and girls who go missing led dangerous lives and put themselves in harm's way.

"That's why you choose to live in a civil society, right? Because you are paying into a system that hopefully has your best interests at heart, and I think that, especially in the cases of missing and murdered Black women, it's heartbreakingly clear that, that is not applied to all of us," she said.

Last year, 250,000 women went missing and 100,000 were women of color. On average, African Americans remain missing four times longer than white Americans. The highly-publicized Gabby Petito case threw into the spotlight the disparities in media coverage that missing women of color receive compared to missing white women. It's a statistic that Gabby’s father even brought up to the media himself.

"There's something wrong. and it's an American tragedy, " said Rev. Robin Hood.

Rev. Hood is a pastor in Chicago’s west side. As an ambassador for his own community, he’s been working with the families of many missing and murdered women. Recently, he’s been helping the family of Shawteiya Smith, who was murdered four years ago. It was recently found that DNA evidence from her case vanished in the hands of detectives.

"We have to protect all our women, all our girls, all our children, we have to protect and we have to demand this from a public official and law enforcement."

Natalie Wilson is the founder of Black and Missing Foundation. With her public relations background, she works with families whose loved ones don't get media coverage. She hopes that both reporters and folks from white communities help in the search for missing women everywhere.

"Media coverage is so vital because it alerts the community that someone is missing and it can greater the chance of the recovery, but it also puts pressure on law enforcement to add resources to the case," said Wilson.

Advocates in Chicago are doing what they can, but to find as many women as possible they say they need everyone – media, law enforcement and the public – to join their efforts.

"This is not a problem that Black women and girls are going to solve by themselves, nor should they," said Nikki Patin. "This should be, you know, of all efforts, this should be a group effort."

As COVID-19 misinformation continues to spread, experts say many people who are sharing it don’t realize the harm they could be doing to others.

It’s not always easy to differentiate between what’s true and what’s not, especially on social media.

It’s exactly what Sally Baalbaki-Yassine teaches her students: to pause before believing everything you see online, because there are algorithms in place specifically directing that information at you.

“My biggest thing is teaching them to always be skeptical of what they see on social media. You just can’t trust everything. To be able to go past this overconfidence bias that we all have," Baalbaki-Yassine said. “We’ve given them permission to do that, right? Where we have agreed to all of these things that we don’t necessarily read that say they can track everything we do on the social media platform and they are using algorithms from like Siri, for example, listening to what we say.”

Unlike disinformation, misinformation isn’t intended to mislead others, but it still can.

“So, if you’re already getting controversial information on other forms, that’s an easy way for a social media platform to be like, 'OK, this person is already absorbing this kind of information, let's give them more of this information,'" Baalbaki-Yassine said.

Anything that you see on social media has been purposely generated to get in front of your eyes.

“What you’re researching, even on Facebook, and who you’re following on Facebook will affect what kind of information you see in your news feed and then if you like certain things that your friends put on Facebook, then you’ll start getting that kind of information to show up as well," Baalbaki-Yassine said.

Experts say when you’re hungry for certainty and clarity, you can become more vulnerable to misinformation.

Jennifer Reich is a professor of sociology and explains it’s only natural for humans to want to feel the information they are getting is a guaranteed safety net. But that’s not the case with science, because there are always new discoveries.

“It’s important noting that when people lack official information that’s clear and trustworthy, they go to informal information. And it’s not exceptional. Most of us listen to our friends, our family, people we think reflect our values and lifestyle, the people we trust," Reich said. “And so that level of uncertainty that surrounds us feels scary and it feels like it’s not trustworthy, and the challenge is that just because we don’t know everything, it doesn’t mean we don’t know anything. You know, science is constantly refining and learning and we’ve seen this with vaccines in the past.”

Researchers with the World Health Organization say there were at least 800 global deaths due to misinformation related to COVID-19 within the first three months of 2020.

“So, there’s a constant process of learning and refining, but living through that process can be really anxiety-provoking and those are the opportunities where official information can feel uncertain and people look for other kinds of information," Reich said. “One of the traits with misinformation is it’s often stated with great certainty and that’s kind of a flag when there is no room to say from what we know now, as we’re learning, right? The kind of things we would expect a scientific process to unfold.”

Reich says that’s why so much misinformation has come out surrounding COVID-19 and the vaccine. As things are discovered, original information can be changed and more people become skeptical.

“And it’s not that it’s all true or untrue, but often it’s competing information. So, there might be something that was shown to be true, and then it’s evolved in a way that doesn’t work scientifically and we’ve learned new things, but that becomes hard to challenge, hard to kill in a lot of ways and it’s still shared," Reich said.

Baalbaki-Yassine and Reich say self-educating is one of the best favors you can do for yourself, but sharing, on the other hand, has larger implications than you may realize.

“So, educating them and helping them understand, giving them digital literacy of it’s not the end all be all, and you should be always skeptical, do your research and don’t share it," Baalbaki-Yassine said.