From the Task and Purpose website
The Air Force has finalized the terms of a groundbreaking study sought by former fighter pilots to determine whether military aviators are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer.
For more than a year, retired Air Force fighter pilots have pressed the service to look at the number of aviators who have either died from, or are fighting various types of cancers, and to look for potential causes.
From the Everyday Health website
As the novel coronavirus continues to wreak havoc around the world, causing an unprecedented public health crisis, experts caution about another threat: the rapid spread of misinformation.
With U.S. cases peaking in many parts of the country, fact-checking organizations are finding a tremendous number of falsehoods about the pandemic in politics, news organizations, and social media, while psychologists are trying to understand why people are inclined to share the inaccuracies, according to a study published March 17 in PsyArXiv PrePrints.
Everyday Health spoke with medical experts about the most common misconceptions, half-truths, conspiracy theories, and myths about the coronavirus, with the goal of better understanding how the virus spreads and what preventive measures people can take to avoid infection.
A second wave of the coronavirus is expected to hit the United States next winter and could strike much harder than the first because it would likely arrive at the start of influenza season, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Tuesday.
“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” CDC Director Robert Redfield told the Washington Post in an interview.
From the Frolic Hawaii website
For me, growing up in Aiea, Rainbow’s has always had kinda that townie mystique. All da kids who lived townside would talk about Rainbow’s. One of da dishes dey talked about da most wuz da chili dog plate. But I never bothered for try ’em, cuz I already had my favorite. I grew up fully loving Zippy’s chili!
In recent years Rainbow’s has started its westward expansion. Since get one Rainbow’s at Pearlridge now, I decided for give ’em one chance and try sample their chili dog plate for see if theirs is one chili contender or one chili pretender. Will it be able for compete against Zips?
From the Hawaii Tribune Herald website
Hawaii National Guard takes delivery of 200,000 surgical masks donated by Every1Hawaii. The masks will be distributed island wide to our vulnerable and resource-limited population. Mahalo plenty to Every1Hawaii, Vibrant Hawaii, National Guard and HPM, which is providing storage.
The CDC recommends that everyone — sick or healthy — wear a cloth face mask in places where it can be hard to stay 6 feet away from others, like grocery stores. That’s because studies show that people can spread coronavirus even if they don’t have symptoms (called asymptomatic) or before they have symptoms (called presymptomatic). In fact, you might be the most contagious just before symptoms begin.
Before you buy or make a mask, learn which type is best and how to wear it.
From the Associated Press website
The financial condition of the government’s two biggest benefit programs remains shaky, with Medicare expected to become insolvent in just six years, while Social Security will be unable to pay full benefits starting in 2035, the government said Wednesday.
And that’s before factoring what officials acknowledge will be a substantial hit to both programs from the coronavirus pandemic, which has shut down large parts of the U.S. economy and put millions of people out of work.
Attached is today’s COVID-19 Daily News Update issued by Hawaii State Department of Health.
There is a large amount of speculation regarding COVID-19, please rely on OFFICIAL sources for accurate information. We added a long term post on the maroon bar above titled “COVID-19 Information.” The post includes links to the Hawaii Department of Health, the CDC and the FEMA websites.
Off the Hawaii Air National Guard Facebook page
Airmen from the 15th Wing and the Hawaii Air National Guard’s 154th Wing taxied out of Honolulu International Airport as a routine training schedule on April 21, 2020. Given the low traffic at the airport due to COVID-19 mitigation efforts, the units seized an opportunity to document the operation.
The morning training schedule consisted of eight F-22 Raptors, one KC-135R Stratotanker, and one C-17 Globemaster III. Following the departure, the aircraft dispersed into the airspace around Hawaii to execute training required to maintain readiness.
Off the Department of Public Safety Facebook feed
The FBI recently put out a warning to the public about an increase in online extortion scams during the current “stay at home” orders due to the COVID-19 crisis.
According to the FBI public service announcement: online extortion schemes vary, but there are a few common indicators of the scam.
– The online extortion attempt comes as an e-mail from an unknown party and, many times, will be written in broken English with grammatical errors.
– The recipient’s personal information is noted in the e-mail or letter to add a higher degree of intimidation to the scam. For example, the recipient’s user name or password is provided at the beginning of the e-mail or letter.
From the U.S. News & World Report website
The average tax refund was $2,729 for tax-year 2018, according to the IRS. If you’re expecting some money back from the government this year, there are many ways to use it.
“Before deciding what to do with your tax refund, it is important to think about what your tax refund is and what it is not,” says Vicki Bogan, associate professor at Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at the SC Johnson College of Business. A tax refund is not free money or a bonus. It is an amount that you have overpaid in taxes. If your employer withheld $10,000 from your paycheck during 2019 for taxes, and you find you owe the IRS just $7,000, you can expect a tax refund of $3,000 this year.
Here’s how your tax refund can help you prepare for retirement:
Updated April 24 at 4:00 p.m. ET
COVID-19 has affected the entire country, but each state has its own measures in place to try to slow the spread and repair the damage.
While the White House announced federal guidelines for a phased reopening of the country on April 16, President Trump has acknowledged that “each state is very different.” Governors have responded to the guidelines largely along party lines, and many have since unveiled their own frameworks for reopening their states’ economies safely and gradually. Some have even announced regional partnerships to coordinate the easing of restrictions.
Trump has said that some states may choose to begin reopening even before May 1. Many states have already extended stay-at-home orders, prolonged school closures, and delayed elections until after that date. Others are set to reevaluate and perhaps lift certain restrictions by the end of April. Several have heard calls from protesters to do so.
Each day brings changes. NPR is tracking developments in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia so you can see what’s changed and how states compare. To stay on top of the latest updates, scroll down or click on the state’s name from the list below.
Please join me in congratulating Colonel Joseph R. Harris on his promotion to Brigadier General effective April 24, 2020. Brig Gen Harris will be serving as Assistant Adjutant General – Air (ATAG-Air) for the Hawaii Air National Guard (HIANG) upon his promotion and assume duties as HIANG Commander on 1 May 2020. He previously served as the Commander, 154 Maintenance Group and most recently as HIANG Director of Plans & Programs.
Please also join me in thanking Brigadier General Ryan Okahara for his outstanding service as HIANG Commander and Chief of Staff for nearly six years. Brig Gen Okahara was recently selected as the ANG Assistant to the Commander, Space Operations Command under the newly formed U.S. Space Force and will assume that position effective May 1, 2020. He will relinquish command of the HIANG and his Dual Hat role as ANG Assistant to the Commander, 14AF & Combined Force Space Component Command and fly between Hawaii and Peterson AFB, Colorado to perform his newly assigned M-day duties.
Please also join me in welcoming back Colonel Duke Ota to the HIANG. Col Ota spent the last several years as 1st Air Force Director of Logistics (1AF/A4) and is returning to Hawaii to assume the HIANG Chief of Staff position as a Brigadier General once he retires from the Technician program in the coming month or so. Until that time, Col Ota will serve as the HIANG Director of Staff from May 13, 2020 until his promotion.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to celebrate en masse because of COVID-19 and the current stay-at-home and other social distancing restrictions. Let’s stay focused on the mission of keeping the people of Hawaii safe and someday in the future I look forward to appropriately recognizing these three superb leaders.
Mahalo for what you do for our country and our state.
Aloha,
MG Hara
Major General Kenneth S. Hara
Adjutant General
State of Hawaii, Department of Defense
The Kiplinger Letter is forecasting that the 2021 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment will be below 1%. The COLA, which will be officially set in October 2020, is down from the 1.6% COLA increase retirees and other beneficiaries received at the start of 2020. That was itself a drop from 2019, when the COLA increase was 2.8%.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is required by law to prevent inflation from eroding the buying power of the benefits paid out to nearly 69 million Americans. It uses a Social Security COLA formula based on the consumer price index to adjust payouts every January. Since prices typically rise, payouts typically rise also. If prices ever fell, payouts would stay unchanged until prices catch back up again.
Retiree News 