Marijuana or a Gun? – The New York Times

Federal Law Requires a Choice: Marijuana or a Gun? – The New York Times

For Vera Cooper, the time had come to buy a gun.

In her mid-70s at the time and widowed several years earlier, she was already feeling vulnerable, living by herself. Then came the tipping point: The plumbing business that Ms. Cooper owns in the Florida Panhandle had to fire a worker, and he stormed out of the office, threatening vengeance.

At a nearby gun store, she settled on a .22 caliber pistol that “felt good in my hand.” Then came the problem. A question on the firearms transaction form she was required to complete asked whether she was an “unlawful user” of marijuana or any other drug categorized by the federal government as a controlled substance.

Ms. Cooper is registered in Florida’s medical marijuana program and relies on the drug to ease her chronic knee pain and sleeplessness. She answered the query accordingly, and was told that as long as she held a marijuana card, buying a gun was not possible.

For Health, More Nuts, Beans and Whole Grains In Your Diet – The New York Times

For Health, More Nuts, Beans and Whole Grains In Your Diet – The New York Times

An analysis published Wednesday in the journal BMC Medicine, drawing on data from 37 studies, adds to the evidence that eating fewer animal-based foods — especially processed meats — and replacing them with whole grains, legumes and nuts is linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.

The study is particularly useful because it details which dietary changes are most strongly linked to better health, said Qi Sun, an associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who was not involved with the study. For example, the study estimated that replacing one serving per day of processed meats, like hot dogs, sausage, deli meats or bacon, with a serving of whole grains, nuts or beans was associated with a 23 to 36 percent lower risk of cardiovascular issues, including stroke, heart attack and coronary heart disease.

The analysis combined the results from studies in the United States, Europe and Asia that asked participants detailed questions about the foods they typically ate. Researchers followed them for an average of 19 years and looked for correlations between their diets and health. They adjusted for other factors that can affect health, including calorie intake, physical activity, smoking and alcohol use.

These types of studies can’t determine if plant-based foods directly prevent cardiovascular disease or Type 2 diabetes — only that there is an association between eating more of such foods and a lower risk of developing these conditions, said Sabrina Schlesinger, an epidemiologist and nutrition scientist at the German Diabetes Center in D?sseldorf, Germany, and a lead author of the study. But the findings were consistent between studies, she said, and are supported by other research that points in the same direction.

Fed Officials Hint That Rate Increases Are Over, and Investors Celebrate – The New York Times

Fed Officials Hint That Rate Increases Are Over, and Investors Celebrate – The New York Times

Federal Reserve officials appear to be dialing back the chances of future interest rate increases, after months in which they have carefully kept the possibility of further policy changes alive for fear that inflation would prove stubborn.

Several Fed officials — including two who often push for higher interest rates — hinted on Tuesday that the central bank is making progress on inflation and may be done or close to done raising borrowing costs. Economic growth is cooling, reducing the urgency for additional moves.

Christopher Waller, a Fed governor and one of the central bank’s more inflation-focused members, gave a speech on Tuesday titled “Something Appears to Be Giving,” an update on a previous speech that he had titled “Something’s Got to Give.”

“I am encouraged by what we have learned in the past few weeks — something appears to be giving, and it’s the pace of the economy,” Mr. Waller said. “I am increasingly confident that policy is currently well positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2 percent.”