Month: February 2021

Health Action Council, UnitedHealthcare use white paper to explore health disparities

Jessica Wong 6 days ago

As employers consider and implement education and wellness programs to help control employee health care costs, it’s important to consider the varied and nuanced factors that impact health.

That’s the overarching message behind a recent white paper by UnitedHealthcare and Health Action Council (HAC), a nonprofit coalition representing midsize to large employers that aims to enhance human and economic health.

When analyzing health data, averages can hide a lot, said Craig Kurtzweil, vice president of the UnitedHealthcare Center for Advanced Analytics.

“You need to look underneath that; you need to look at some of the variability,” he said. “And then

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Airbnb Reveals Top Pet-Friendly Stays Around The World

Jessica Wong 6 days ago

From an elegantly restored riad in Marrakesh to a treehouse in Tuscany, your next pet-friendly getaway has never looked better.

We now find ourselves in the midst of a major pet-adoption boom here in the U.S, and as travelers continue to bookmark and plan for their post-pandemic getaway, ‘pet-friendly’ accommodations have become more of a priority than ever.

According to recently released data by the home-sharing site AirBnb, searches utilizing the ‘allows pets’ filter has increased 65% since January 2021 compared to the

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An Upcountry Maui Road Trip Through the Heart of the Island

Jessica Wong 6 days ago

Malu Manu is arguably Maui’s most magnificent lookout. At this 1920s log cabin rental, set 4,000 feet up on the west-facing slopes of the Haleakala volcano, guests can gaze down upon the island’s northern and western coasts, as well as the craggy ridges of the West Maui Mountains. On my first night there, the weather was chilly enough to warrant putting on a puffy jacket and throwing kiawe wood in the cabin’s stone fireplace. That evening, a welcome book revealed that the name, malu manu, means “sanctuary of birds” in the Hawaiian language. The moniker rang true the next morning

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The Recorder – State commission will explore ways to support local journalism

Jessica Wong 6 days ago

The growth of “news deserts” in Massachusetts and the possible solutions to improving local journalism in underserved communities will be the focus of a commission approved in the final hours of the last legislative session.

The initiative by state Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, and state Sen. Brendan Crighton, D-Lynn, was part of the massive economic development bill approved by lawmakers and sent to Gov. Charlie Baker in January. It will examine the sustainability of local press business models and the sufficiency of news coverage in municipalities across the state.

“Local journalists tell the community stories that bind us together,” Ehrlich

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Hawaii Considering a Uniform Travel Rule Across All Islands

Jessica Wong 6 days ago

As diligent as the state of Hawaii has been with its travel rules and restrictions, visitors have nonetheless been confused about which island has which rules.

Hawaii’s seven main islands – Oahu, Maui, Hawaii, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai and Niihau – all have different rules of entry for tourists regarding quarantines against the coronavirus.

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But that might soon become a thing of the past.

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Hawaii lawmakers are considering a bill that would standardize the state’s pandemic travel restrictions across the islands, a departure from the current system that allows individual counties to create their own modified safety measures,

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