NEW YORK — Taco Bell is debuting a vegetarian section on its newly redesigned menu, which also includes two new items.

Beginning Thursday, the fast food chain will offer two new vegetarian items: a Black Bean Crunchwrap Supreme and a Black Bean Quesarito. Those are in addition to its two other existing vegetarian options that will be displayed prominently in a new “Vegetarian Favorites” menu.

With customers becoming more health conscious, the changes makes it easier for vegetarians to see their options, the Yum Brands-owned company previously explained

The nationwide expansion of the new menu items to Taco Bell’s 7,000 US restaurants comes after a test earlier this year. It’s also planning a new advertising campaign to promote the new section.

In total, there are more than a dozen vegetarian items on Taco Bell’s menu. They will feature a new green emblem that shows off Taco Bell’s American Vegetarian Association certification. It be came the first and only quick service chain to receive the certification in 2015.

Taco Bell emphasized that non-vegetarian items can be made vegetarian by substituting beans for meat. The chain said that its menu items “can be customized more than 8 million ways” to fit a vegetarian diet.

Noticeably absent from the menu are any products featuring alternative meats from Impossible or Beyond Meat. KFC, which is also owned by Yum Brands, tested out a Beyond Meat’s new plant-based chicken in Georgia.

Plant-based meat alternatives have grown popular in supermarkets and restaurants across the world, as people search for environmentally friendly and healthier foods to eat. Taco Bell said in a release said it plans to “further innovate in this growing space.”

Other companies are trying to capitalize on diet-based resolutions. Chipotle launched “lifestyle bowls,” a new collection of meals that fit into paleo, ketogenic and Whole30 diets.

Burger King began selling the Impossible Whopper, featuring a meatless patty, nationwide in August. Perhaps encroaching on Taco Bell’s territory, Burger King is also selling $1 tacos.

via: https://pix11.com/2019/09/11/taco-bell-now-has-a-vegetarian-menu/

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Adam Hergenreder’s vaping habit almost killed him.

Late last month, the 18-year-old student athlete in Gurnee, Illinois, was hospitalized after using e-cigarettes for more than a year and a half. Now his lungs are similar to those of a 70-year-old adult, doctors told him.

“It was scary to think about that — that little device did that to my lungs,” Adam said, remembering the news from his doctors about his lung health.

Adam is among the hundreds of e-cigarette users in the United States who have been sickened with mysterious vaping-related lung illnesses, many of them young people. Investigators haven’t yet identified the cause of the illnesses.

Amid calls for more regulation, the Trump administration now plans to remove flavored e-cigarettes — except tobacco flavor — from the marketplace.

“Why is that important? We are seeing an absolute surge in high school and middle school kids using these flavored products,” US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a video statement on Wednesday. “Mint, menthol, fruit flavor, alcohol flavor, bubble gum.”

The US Food and Drug Administration announced on Wednesday that more than a quarter of high school students this year have reported using e-cigarettes and the “overwhelming majority” reference using popular fruit and menthol or mint flavors, according to preliminary data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey.

Adam said he isn’t sure his lungs will ever be back at 100% — and he worries whether he will ever be able to wrestle again.

“I was a varsity wrestler before this and I might not ever be able to wrestle because that’s a very physical sport and my lungs might not be able to hold that exertion. … It’s sad,” Adam said.

‘We must act swiftly’
There are more than 450 possible cases of lung illness associated with using e-cigarettes across the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has called this an “outbreak.”

Health officials have also confirmed six deaths — in California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Oregon and Kansas — in connection to vaping-related lung illnesses.

While the illnesses and deaths have occurred in both young people and older adults, experts have warned of a rise in vaping among youth.

“We must act swiftly against flavored e-cigarette products that are especially attractive to children,” Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Ned Sharpless said in the announcement, adding that the FDA will take additional steps to address youth use of tobacco-flavored products still on the market, if young people begin to use them.

“The tremendous progress we’ve made in reducing youth tobacco use in the US is jeopardized by this onslaught of e-cigarette use. Nobody wants to see children becoming addicted to nicotine, and we will continue to use the full scope of our regulatory authority thoughtfully and thoroughly to tackle this mounting public health crisis.”

Separate surveys also suggest that most teens think e-cigarettes are safe.

Adam certainly thought vaping was safe when he started using e-cigarettes, he said. One of his favorite flavors was mango.

‘It tasted good and it gave a little head high’
“I first started vaping just to fit in, because everyone else was doing it,” Adam said, adding that the flavors appealed to him, especially mango.

“It didn’t taste like a cigarette,” he said. “It tasted good,” and provided a little buzz due to the nicotine.

The vaping began about a year and a half ago, he said, and he would pick up e-cigarette products, such as those of the Juul brand, from his neighborhood gas station.

“They didn’t card me,” he said.

“He would wake up in the morning and would puff on that Juul and then cough,” said Adam’s mother, Polly Hergenreder.

“He would hit it several times throughout the day. My son was going through a pod and a half every other day, or a day and a half.”

Experts say that one Juul pod — a cartridge of nicotine-rich liquid that users plug into the dominant e-cig brand — delivers the same amount of nicotine to the body as a pack of cigarettes. “That’s smoking a lot of cigarettes,” Polly said.

Eventually, Adam said that he went from vaping over-the-counter e-liquids to vaping THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the main psychoactive component of marijuana. Adam would get the THC from “a friend” or dealer.

Over time, Adam said that he developed shivers and couldn’t control them. Then, the vomiting began.

“I was just nonstop throwing up every day for three days,” he said. “Finally I went to the pediatrician.”

At first, doctors did not connect Adam’s symptoms to his vaping. He was given anti-nausea medication, but he said that his vomiting did not stop. After visiting various physicians, he finally saw someone who asked if he was “Juul-ing” and using THC.

“I answered honestly,” Adam said. “I said I was.”

The team overseeing Adam’s care performed a CT scan of his stomach and noticed something unusual about the lower portion of his lungs. The doctors then took an X-ray of his lungs.

“That’s when they saw the full damage,” Adam said.

“If I had known what it was doing to my body, I would have never even touched it, but I didn’t know,” he said about vaping. “I wasn’t educated.”

‘If we did not bring Adam in … his lungs would have collapsed’
Adam was admitted to the hospital in late August.

“If his mom had not brought him to the hospital within the next two to three days, his breathing could have worsened to the point that he could have died if he didn’t seek medical care,” said Dr. Stephen Amesbury, a pulmonologist and critical care physician at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Illinois, who was one of the doctors who saw Adam.

“It was severe lung disease, especially for a young person. He was short of breath, he was breathing heavily,” Amesbury said. “It was very concerning that he would have significant lung damage and possibly some residual changes after he heals from this.”

Adam’s mother Polly spent the following six days in the hospital with her son, who was connected to IVs and was provided oxygen through nasal tubes.

“The doctors did tell us that if we did not bring Adam in when we brought him in, his lungs would have collapsed and he would have died,” Polly said.

Yet, she added, “you should always try to find the silver lining,” and for her family, that is to use Adam’s experience to educate others about the risks of vaping.

Adam is now home from the hospital and “it’s still difficult to even do normal activities, like going upstairs. I still get winded from that,” he said.

Even though he is still recovering — including doing breathing treatments — Adam has focused on sharing his story. Through his advocacy, he said that he has even convinced some of his friends to stop vaping.

“I’m getting better each day,” he said. “I don’t want to see anybody in my situation. I don’t want to see anybody in the hospital for as long as I was.”

The federal investigation into the link between vaping and severe lung illnesses is ongoing and has not identified a cause, but all reported cases have indicated the use of e-cigarette products and some patients have reported using e-cigarettes containing cannabinoid products, such as THC.

There are also separate investigations being conducted in separate states.

New York health officials said last week that extremely high levels of the chemical vitamin E acetate were found in nearly all cannabis-containing vaping products that were analyzed as part of the investigation. At least one vape product containing this chemical has been linked to each person who fell ill and submitted a product for testing in the state.

Laboratory tests conducted at the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center in Albany showed “very high levels” of vitamin E acetate in the cannabis-containing samples, the state health department announced.

Vitamin E acetate is now “a key focus” of the state’s investigation into the illnesses, the New York Department of Health said. Some of the products that have been found to contain vitamin E acetate are candy-flavored vapes.

‘There really isn’t enough vaping history to say what’s going to happen’
Juul has maintained that its products are intended to convert adult smokers to what it described in the past as a less-harmful alternative. In other communications, the company says it cannot make claims its products are safer, in line with FDA regulations.

Scientists point out that they are still learning about the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes. One study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in May found that e-cigarette flavors can damage the cells that line your blood vessels and perhaps your heart health down the line.

Another study, published in the journal Radiology in August, foud that vaping temporarily impacts blood vessel function in healthy people. Using MRI scans, it found, for example, changes in blood flow within the femoral artery in the leg after just one use. The researchers couldn’t determine which chemical might be responsible for the changes they observed.

There are many questions that remain to be answered, according to Amesbury.

“We’re very early in the stages of finding out what problems may come up from vaping,” he said. “We’re finding these acute, severe illnesses now, but there really isn’t enough vaping history to say what’s going to happen 10, 20, 30 years down the road.”

via: https://pix11.com/2019/09/11/teen-now-has-lungs-like-a-70-year-olds-after-vaping-related-illness/

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SOUTH OZONE PARK, Queens — The search is on for a man wanted for questioning in connection to a robbery that took place in South Ozone Park on Friday.

The report came it around 6;10 p.m. A 29-year-old woman was holding her 1-year-old niece and walking into a residence near 135th Place and Sutter Avenue. An unidentified man approached showing a firearm and demanding property.

The woman refused and the man proceeded to point the firearm at the child. The woman complied and the male fled in a dark colored vehicle and a purse containing $7,000.

Anyone with information in regard to the identity of this male is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at, on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.

via: https://pix11.com/2019/09/10/man-accused-of-pointing-a-gun-at-a-1-year-old-girl-during-a-robbery-police/

Photo Credit: pix11.com

Joan Johnson, who helped create one of the nation’s largest black-owned companies, has died.

Johnson, 89, co-founded Johnson Products Company, the pioneering black hair care company which made iconic products such as Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen. She died Friday in Chicago after a long illness.

She started Johnson Products Company in Chicago in 1954 with her husband, George Johnson. They took a $250 investment and turned it into a multi-million dollar company which became the first black-owned company to be traded on the American Stock Exchange (now known as NYSE American).

“When I think about pioneers, the real pioneers are the people who are able to make a path where none exists,” her son Eric G. Johnson told CNN. “Johnson Products in many ways was that company. She and my father had no provided path. They created a path where there was none.”

Eric Johnson said his mother was the true matriarch of the family.

Her company helped another icon

“(Joan was) someone I always admired,” publicist Dori Wilson told CNN. Wilson had known Johnson since about 1970 and said Johnson and her husband were role models for many.

“The Johnsons were the first successful family we in the African American communities read about,” she said. “She was perceived as a shrewd and smart businesswoman. I can’t remember any other product that was really synonymous with the African American community.”

The company also helped the growth of another American icon which got its start in Chicago: “Soul Train.” In the early 1970s Johnson Products became a sponsor of the groundbreaking TV dance and musical variety program, which went on to run in national syndication for almost four decades.

ohnson’s family described her as an advocate for women. She was a trustee at Spelman College, the black women’s college in Atlanta, according to her obituary, and her family plans to continue her legacy by supporting the school with an annual scholarship.

She was also known for her sense of style and was a sponsor and organizer of the Congressional Black Caucus Fashion Show.

“She truly was a grande dame in every sense of the work,” said Linda Johnson Rice, CEO of Johnson Publishing Company, which formerly published Ebony and Jet magazines. “Dignified, smart, sharp-witted and fun. I have many fond memories of my conversations with her…dispensing life advice. Her life is one to be celebrated.”

Services for Johnson will be held Friday in Chicago.

via: https://www.kmov.com/news/joan-johnson-who-co-founded-the-black-hair-company-that/article_474abce1-0c8f-5dc4-993c-38af58e57f16.html

Photo Credit: family photo

ST. LOUIS — A North St. Louis woman is paying it forward one day at a time, feeding hundreds of kids just by opening her front door. Champale Anderson is on a mission to feed kids in her community who live in poverty.

Anderson says a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread will go a very long way putting smiles on the faces of many kids in her community and warming their hearts and filling their bellies.

She is a healthcare provider and mother of six. She has been feeding kids in her St. Louis neighborhood for five years.

Anderson said she has an open-door policy on school days for kids in the community. Kids can knock on her door before and after school and she will hand them a snack for breakfast and lunch.

“I noticed the kids they are always hungry. They get off the bus and they take off running and they never know what I will have in the bag. I switch up and have special treats for my special babies,” said Anderson.

The bags are filled with goodies that many kids love to eat. Some of the items include peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cookies, fruit, vegetables, juice, snacks and a few surprises helping many kids in need.

“It makes me proud. My goal is to go to different neighborhoods and give out bags,” said Anderson.

Residents say what makes this act of kindness so impressive she makes about 100 bags a day and pours so much love into the bags to make it possible.

Outside her home stands a sign that reads Champ Tears Drops free snack anytime and donations welcome. Inside her home, a cross sits in the center of her table where she prepares the snacks.

Anderson says she lives by a quote by Mother Teresa, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

To donate you can call 314-346-3451, or head to the GoFundMe page.

via: http:// https://pix11.com/2019/09/10/st-louis-mom-makes-meals-for-dozens-of-hungry-children-on-school-days-my-special-babies/

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