Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's Radio.
Speaker 2: Yes, Nicole, I am here ready to take people all
Speaker 2: the way till Saturday morning, virtually about eleven fifty eight.
Speaker 2: Rob Brooks is back in the control room at the
Speaker 2: Big Socket, as we say, at Broadcast Central headquarters. I'll
Speaker 2: set to take your phone calls beginning after the nine
Speaker 2: o'clock news. We'll be talking tonight about the now three
Speaker 2: count of three teacher strikes going on north of Boston.
Speaker 2: We'll also talk about some questions about the Democratic Party
Speaker 2: and do they need to actually reassess themselves after the
Speaker 2: tough night they had Tuesday night this week. I think
Speaker 2: all of us know what then those numbers are. And
Speaker 2: by the way, for you, Nicole Davis Fans, Nicole is
Speaker 2: going to be making a return appearance here at eight
Speaker 2: thirty tonight, and we're going to talk about the teacher
Speaker 2: strikes up in the three communities now north of Boston.
Speaker 2: And we've got a great show lined up for you,
Speaker 2: and I think in the eleven o'clock hour tonight, I'd
Speaker 2: like to give people an opportunity to talk about Veterans
Speaker 2: Day and fewer Americans have ever served in the armed forces,
Speaker 2: and many of us have parents who served during World
Speaker 2: War One, not World War one, World War two Korea
Speaker 2: have family members Vietnam Era, or people who served in
Speaker 2: the Middle East, either in the nineteen nineties or during
Speaker 2: the long twenty year war that begin as a result
Speaker 2: of nine to eleven. And tonight, let's remember some of
Speaker 2: those names, either people who are passed on or who
Speaker 2: are still with us. We should never forget the sacrifice
Speaker 2: that those men and women made so that we as
Speaker 2: a country can actually have free and fear and open
Speaker 2: elections as we have had in this country now for
Speaker 2: nearly two hundred and fifty years. So they say, my
Speaker 2: name is Dan Ray, host of the show here on Nightside,
Speaker 2: and we're going to start off tonight. It's Novama, and
Speaker 2: of course the election is over. What's the next big
Speaker 2: date on the calendar? For most people, it's Thanksgiving? So
Speaker 2: the question now has become kind of an annual question,
Speaker 2: what topics are Americans preparing to avoid at the dinner
Speaker 2: table this Thanksgiving? With us? Is Steve Bittenbender. He's a
Speaker 2: writer for Bett Massachusetts. I got an idea with Bette Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: Is Steve, But why don't you tell us what bet
Speaker 2: Massachusetts actually is, and then we'll get to the topic
Speaker 2: at hand.
Speaker 3: Sure, thanks Dan, first offer having me on. Bet Massachusetts
Speaker 3: is a site that provides sports betting news and analysis
Speaker 3: for people who are interested in the latest sports betting news.
Speaker 3: You know, news and analysis about the Bees, the Celts,
Speaker 3: even the Red Sox even though it's off season, or
Speaker 3: the Pats even though they look like they're tanking this year.
Speaker 3: You can get some get some good analysis on them.
Speaker 3: And then also you can you can also get reviews
Speaker 3: of the various legal sports books that are in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: So you're not you're not so. Bett Massachusetts is not
Speaker 2: a betting site per se, but it's a site about
Speaker 2: betting sites and related issues. Okay, very clear, Thank you,
Speaker 2: thank you very much. Okay. Ten topics to avoid this Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: I think most of us can relate to them. Let's
Speaker 2: go through a few of them. We've always been talking,
Speaker 2: you know, not supposed to talk about politics or religion.
Speaker 2: So you got politics and religion right out there. Number
Speaker 2: three relationship statuses. I guess that's why you're not supposed
Speaker 2: to ask when is Elizabeth going to get married? Anyway?
Speaker 2: Isn't she almost thirty? Five. Now, is that what we're
Speaker 2: talking about there, or what what's relationship statuses should we avoid?
Speaker 3: That's no, that that's exactly what what we're talking about there, obviously.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: And and I'm the and I'm the dad of a
Speaker 3: twenty year old, so I'm not quite there yet. But
Speaker 3: I've got an older brother who has kids a little
Speaker 3: older than my son, and obviously that's something that you know,
Speaker 3: you get a little older, you know. And it's not
Speaker 3: just moms and dads that ask a question either, it's uncles,
Speaker 3: it's cousins, grandparents, you know, hey, you know, you know,
Speaker 3: why don't I see a girl around?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: You know, or when you're going to put a ring
Speaker 3: on her? You know, things like that and those you know,
Speaker 3: you know, relationships are difficult no matter what. Obviously, with
Speaker 3: the holidays being you know, adding to that stress, you know,
Speaker 3: anything that the family can do to kind of alleviate
Speaker 3: some of that stress or not add on to it
Speaker 3: would certainly be helpful from you know, from from you know,
Speaker 3: a single person saying, so then.
Speaker 2: You talk about people should not talk about family drama.
Speaker 2: I think we can understand that. But then you got
Speaker 2: two or three here, which is kind of interesting. Uh,
Speaker 2: you're suggesting that this was a poll that you took,
Speaker 2: so this is this is not scientific, but it's a poll.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: And you say people should not be talking about gas prices,
Speaker 2: inflation or finances. I assume you mean family finances, personal finances,
Speaker 2: but gas prices inflation. I mean, I kind of imagine
Speaker 2: that at the Thanksgiving dinner table, people aren't gonna say,
Speaker 2: you know, what that turkey costs us this year compid
Speaker 2: to five years ago, or you know. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: one that I think is almost unavoidable.
Speaker 3: Right, And and honestly, I think it also kind of
Speaker 3: ties into politics as well, because what what was one
Speaker 3: of the major talking points of the of the election,
Speaker 3: inflations exactly and how much groceries cost, you know, how
Speaker 3: much it costs you know, they're still up the car.
Speaker 3: And obviously, if you've got family that you know, you've
Speaker 3: got family that's you know, inside four ninety five, it's
Speaker 3: probably not that much of an issue. But if you've
Speaker 3: got people coming, you know, from down to Turnpike or
Speaker 3: from you know, across states, you know, it's probably not
Speaker 3: going it's probably going to happen that you know, Man,
Speaker 3: I can't believe I paid, you know, for something a
Speaker 3: gallon or you know, or I can't believe, you know,
Speaker 3: the holidays, the holiday spike, you know, made me spend
Speaker 3: sixty bucks or whatever for a fill up.
Speaker 2: Well, see what I'm thinking. The advice I've given to
Speaker 2: my listeners always is, look, it's like the elephant in
Speaker 2: the room, you know, because a lot of this is politics.
Speaker 2: It's like the elephant in the room. You know, if
Speaker 2: where your mega hat, where your Hillary Clinton button, your
Speaker 2: your Vice President Harris button, whatever, It's gonna be there.
Speaker 2: But why don't you tweet each other in a civil fashion?
Speaker 2: You know, don't start throwing drumsticks across the table, you know, just.
Speaker 3: Exactly. I would recommend that families, you know, whether it's
Speaker 3: the wives, the mothers, whoever, you know, people get together
Speaker 3: ahead of time on the phone, through text, whatever and
Speaker 3: kind of create some kind of detente where Okay, you know,
Speaker 3: we know obviously the election, and the election was going
Speaker 3: to be controversial no matter who won, but you know
Speaker 3: that was going to be a divisive top topic whatsoever.
Speaker 2: I think the fact that it was decisive, though, Steve, I
Speaker 2: think we caught a break there. I think that because
Speaker 2: it was decisive. Boy, can you imagine if it was like, uh,
Speaker 2: two cents, we three to whatever?
Speaker 3: Right, but even then with it being one sided and
Speaker 3: somewhat shockingly one sided. Yeah, I mean, you know, you know,
Speaker 3: think about the if if the Red Sox were ever
Speaker 3: swept the Yankees in the Alcs or or the or
Speaker 3: the Bruins.
Speaker 2: Can he be like maybe coming down from behind three
Speaker 2: games to none or something like that. Yeah, something like
Speaker 2: that that never happen, not in your life or.
Speaker 3: Exactly well, and I'll be honest, but we've got to
Speaker 3: be adults.
Speaker 2: See, I think we got to be adults and we
Speaker 2: got to say, look, you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 2: I mean, I wouldn't necessarily bring up something like the
Speaker 2: Ukrainian War because no, no, no.
Speaker 3: And right, And that's why I'm saying, Dan, you know,
Speaker 3: if you know, if you can kind of establish some
Speaker 3: ground rules ahead of the game and just you know,
Speaker 3: reinforce them and you know, you know, make small talk,
Speaker 3: you know, talk about you know, how great you know,
Speaker 3: how great the Turkey is this year, or for our
Speaker 3: beating friends, how great the to Turkey is this year?
Speaker 2: That tough you know, talk about I don't know, you know,
Speaker 2: the other thing that we should do. Here's we should do. Okay,
Speaker 2: Maybe here's the deal. Maybe what everybody should do is
Speaker 2: have a yellow flag in their pocket. Okay, and so
Speaker 2: if someone brings up a topic that makes anyone uncomfortable,
Speaker 2: you throw the yellow flag, you know, instead of a
Speaker 2: fifteen yard penalty five minutes in the living room by yourself.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's I don't know, Yeah, that would be fun.
Speaker 2: There you go, Steve Bittenbender, Turkey Day topics you should
Speaker 2: avoid from the website, Bett, Massachusetts. Steve, thanks very much.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you taking the time as a fun conversation.
Speaker 2: You and I. If we had turkey dinner Thanksgiving Day,
Speaker 2: we could have fun with this. But again, it's kind
Speaker 2: of one of those things where I think you've got
Speaker 2: to be broadcast professionals before you try to don't try.
Speaker 3: This at home, exactly, exactly, leave the hot takes at home.
Speaker 2: You got it, You got it right, break, bring the
Speaker 2: hot cakes, not the hot takes.
Speaker 3: Thanks Steve, exactly.
Speaker 2: Talking again. Appreciated very much. We come back when we
Speaker 2: talk about the wild West of weight loss drugs. Yeah,
Speaker 2: a lot of people out there figured out that this
Speaker 2: ozempic does more for them, including losing weight and people
Speaker 2: it's gonna be it's a little dangerous. We'll explain right
Speaker 2: after this on night Side. It is a Friday, heading
Speaker 2: toward the weekend. I am. I am relaxed, ready for
Speaker 2: a couple of days rest, and I hope you are
Speaker 2: as well. Be back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, I think all of you know that with Awaken
Speaker 2: one to eighty weight loss loss, I lost thirty five
Speaker 2: pounds nine years ago the right way and I haven't
Speaker 2: put a pound back on now. Part of it is
Speaker 2: I learned how to eat a little better. I'm in
Speaker 2: the gym five six days a week and I'm doing okay.
Speaker 2: A lot of people, however, have been taking some drugs
Speaker 2: which are not for weight loss, but for example o zempic,
Speaker 2: and these drugs are being found to have some adverse
Speaker 2: side effects. With us, we're delighted to be welcomed, but
Speaker 2: we had delighted to welcome. I should say my guest
Speaker 2: doctor Swathi varunas Dias, Doctor Swathy, I'll keep it still.
Speaker 2: They tell me if that's okay with you, Yeah, that perfect.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Nightside. How are you.
Speaker 4: I'm great, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is an important topic here because obviously losing
Speaker 2: weight can be tough. But I got to tell you,
Speaker 2: I'm so glad I lost thirty five pounds nine years ago.
Speaker 2: And there are people out there trying to do it
Speaker 2: the easy way and explain to us what they're doing
Speaker 2: and why it's harmful in the long run.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so people, it's the big fag right now to
Speaker 4: be taking GLP one agonists. So these are prescription medications
Speaker 4: also known as ozembic or wago v mondro. There are
Speaker 4: quite a different There are quite a few different branded
Speaker 4: medications out there right now. And see they are FDA
Speaker 4: approved for particular populations. So they are FDA approved for
Speaker 4: people who have a BMI of twenty seven plus other conditions.
Speaker 2: Wait twenty but if I know a little bit about this,
Speaker 2: a BMI twenty seven plus that is not all that bad.
Speaker 2: I mean, so.
Speaker 4: That's considered quote unquote overweight.
Speaker 2: It's not considered obese.
Speaker 4: It's not considered obese exactly. So that is one category.
Speaker 4: So if you have a BMI of twenty seven plus,
Speaker 4: any other chronic disease. And then the other subcategory that
Speaker 4: it is FDA approved for is if you have a
Speaker 4: BMI of over thirty, So this is specifically for Wgovigov
Speaker 4: and ozempic are the same active ingredient, but ozempic is
Speaker 4: actually only FDA approved for type two diabetes. So that's
Speaker 4: a little bit about GLP one agonist themselves. And I
Speaker 4: think when it comes to you know, the use of them,
Speaker 4: you know, people think that they're a magic bullet, that
Speaker 4: they're the right fit for everyone, which as we know,
Speaker 4: is not correct. And you know that everyone thinks that
Speaker 4: you know, I'm just gonna take you then not going
Speaker 4: to have any side effects.
Speaker 2: Now is ozempic correct? You know, help me out here.
Speaker 2: Is ozempic prescription based or over the counter?
Speaker 4: So ozembic and would go be all of these medications
Speaker 4: in this particular drug class of GLP one agnes, all
Speaker 4: of them are prescription medications.
Speaker 2: Okay, So who are the docs that are writing these
Speaker 2: for people? Or are they writing them for people? How
Speaker 2: are the people getting these drugs if you have a
Speaker 2: condition that a doctor writes a prescription for. I have
Speaker 2: a lot of faith in physicians. I got to be
Speaker 2: honest with you. I'm assuming if a doctor writes a prescription,
Speaker 2: they understand the side effects, the consequences, and they believe
Speaker 2: that that drug is something that that person should have.
Speaker 2: Who are the people who are popa nozempics? And are
Speaker 2: really who's writing the prescriptions for people who are over
Speaker 2: who are poping ozempics? Is it doctors or are they
Speaker 2: getting you some pills on the side from their friends?
Speaker 2: Is there a black market here on this? What's going on? So?
Speaker 4: There's not actually a big black market, at least not
Speaker 4: for now. And the reason I say that is because
Speaker 4: physicians are the one So whether they're healthcare providers, physicians
Speaker 4: and ps pas, they are the ones writing the prescriptions
Speaker 4: for patients, and it is f to approved for specific
Speaker 4: use cases. Again, if you fall within those BMI ranges
Speaker 4: that you have type two diabetes, are looking to lose
Speaker 4: weight safely. However, a lot of the issue is actually
Speaker 4: with this off label use. Off label use means that
Speaker 4: you know you don't fall within those populations, but your
Speaker 4: physician is still writing that you know, that prescription for.
Speaker 2: You, So why would a physician do that? I understand
Speaker 2: that occasionally there are drugs that can be used off labels.
Speaker 4: Safely, So a position would considered yeah, doing that because
Speaker 4: they are trying to make the patient happy, and at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, they are weighing what we
Speaker 4: refer to as the risk versus benefit ratio, and to them,
Speaker 4: they don't see as much of a risk in contrast
Speaker 4: with the potential benefit to the patient.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you a tougher question. When some physicians
Speaker 2: years ago were over prescribing certain type drugs which were
Speaker 2: highly addictive, you know, there has been some suggestion that
Speaker 2: those physicians were actually being rewarded for writing as many
Speaker 2: prescriptions as possible. There is ozembic. Are these type companies
Speaker 2: Are they in any way, shape or form encouraging physicians
Speaker 2: or inducing physicians to overprescribe these drugs.
Speaker 4: I think they're not necessarily inducing or manipulating physicians. But
Speaker 4: that being said, you know when the physicians way back
Speaker 4: when when you were talking about these addictive medications, you know,
Speaker 4: we didn't know they were addictive initially, at least not
Speaker 4: in the in the initial stages of them being FDA
Speaker 4: approved because we didn't have the long term data. So
Speaker 4: the same is the case for these medications. For these
Speaker 4: GLP one agonises we don't have the long term data
Speaker 4: to really know are the addictive what are the long
Speaker 4: term implications for them?
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you it's it's the idea of losing
Speaker 2: weight is something that obviously is attractive, and it's it's
Speaker 2: this health benefits to it. But I hope that people
Speaker 2: listen to you on this subject. How did you get involved?
Speaker 2: You know, this seems to me to be an issue
Speaker 2: that you are very concerned about. What got you involved?
Speaker 2: Are concerned about this?
Speaker 4: So what really got me concerned is just as a
Speaker 4: healthcare professional seeing the number of people on these medications
Speaker 4: but them not realizing that, you know, everyone is not
Speaker 4: the best fit for it and it's not going to
Speaker 4: be the magic bullet as I mentioned before. And then
Speaker 4: also that there aren't side effects. There are some really
Speaker 4: potentially big risks associated like gastrointestinal issues or stomach issues
Speaker 4: like nausea and vomiting, constipation, diarrhea. There's also potential issues
Speaker 4: with you know, mental help, so things like mood swings
Speaker 4: or excess a fatigue. And then also as people are
Speaker 4: losing weight, what's not discussed often enough in my opinion,
Speaker 4: is that people are losing weight. Yes, of course, but
Speaker 4: they are losing fat and losing muscle. So this accelerated
Speaker 4: muscle loss, which muscle is so linked to longevity and aging,
Speaker 4: well that that can really get in the way of
Speaker 4: the long term outcomes of a patient.
Speaker 2: Well, I've really enjoyed this conversation because I've read a
Speaker 2: lot about this. I know the a fraction of all
Speaker 2: that you know, and you have increased my knowledge on this,
Speaker 2: and I hopefully my audience as well. So, uh, doctor Swathy,
Speaker 2: but runasi dias. I hope I got fairly close to
Speaker 2: the pronunciation of your full name.
Speaker 5: But doctor Swathy, Yes, yeah, And if patients are interested
Speaker 5: in learning more, I recommend you know a combina of
Speaker 5: nutritional intervention, so thinking about how you're eating healthy, high protein,
Speaker 5: high fiber diets, thinking.
Speaker 4: About what sort of exercise that you're doing, so incorporating
Speaker 4: movement every single day, and then also in addition to
Speaker 4: how you're incorporating dietary supplements like omega three fatty acids
Speaker 4: or phortotropin.
Speaker 2: Well, that's great. Is there a website that people could
Speaker 2: be in touch with you on. I don't want to
Speaker 2: have you give out a website and have twenty five
Speaker 2: people contacting you unnecessarily. Is there a book that you
Speaker 2: may have written recently? A lot of folks come on
Speaker 2: the program and they're trying to get the word out
Speaker 2: in some form of fashion. Is there any other way
Speaker 2: that did you'd like to people that have access to
Speaker 2: you other than our interview.
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 4: Absolutely so. I'm most active on LinkedIn. You can just
Speaker 4: search my name and you'll be able to find it there.
Speaker 4: I conduct webinars for everyone that are free on longevity
Speaker 4: and muscle health. And also you can find studies and
Speaker 4: different information about preserving muscle when you're using GLP ones
Speaker 4: at maos MD dot com. So that's m yo SMD
Speaker 4: dot com.
Speaker 2: And is that your website?
Speaker 4: That is not my website, but I am a scientific
Speaker 4: advisor at the company. It's a supplement company.
Speaker 2: Mayos MD dot com. Yes, thank you so much for
Speaker 2: your time tonight, and hope you have a great weekend.
Speaker 4: Thank you very much, Artie, thank you so much for
Speaker 4: shing you the same. Bybye.
Speaker 2: It's a little bit after eight thirty, so we get
Speaker 2: the news, and of course the top news story here
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts tonight, or one of the lead stories tonight,
Speaker 2: is the teachers strike, three of them now ongoing which
Speaker 2: include Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead, and we're going to be
Speaker 2: talking with WBZ news anchor Nicole Davis will join us
Speaker 2: on the other side of the news break at the
Speaker 2: bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: It's night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Boy you just heard Nicole filing the news at the
Speaker 2: bottom of the hour. And now through the magic of
Speaker 2: radio and unlo capable media in which people are able
Speaker 2: to move from studio to studio so.
Speaker 6: Quickly, boyar, my arm's tired.
Speaker 2: Well, this has been kind of interesting. I did not
Speaker 2: see this coming, and we're going to talk about this
Speaker 2: with listeners at nine o'clock, particularly folks who live up
Speaker 2: in the north show. So we have three school departments, Beverly,
Speaker 2: Gloucester and now Marblehead joining this strike. I find it
Speaker 2: kind of interesting that the three of them kind of
Speaker 2: a close geographic proximity. Looks like there's a little bit
Speaker 2: of coordination going on. I'm sure there's no proof of that,
Speaker 2: but are you surprised that we have these three that
Speaker 2: all of a sudden are on the picket line in
Speaker 2: advance by the way of a long weekend holiday weekend yeah.
Speaker 6: I mean I don't obviously know the ins and outs
Speaker 6: of what the unions have been doing. I know that
Speaker 6: all three of these unions have been working to get
Speaker 6: contracts in place. I can't be surprised if you know,
Speaker 6: geographically they're so close, they've probably been talking and and
Speaker 6: also sharing information and sharing maybe strategy. Again, I don't
Speaker 6: want to speak to that cause I just don't.
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, I totally, I totally understand that it
Speaker 2: was funny. I remember last winter there was the big
Speaker 2: strike in Newton last winter, and the mayor there was
Speaker 2: quite upset Ruth Anne Fuller. If I recall correctly, that
Speaker 2: strike was in January, in early January, and it lasted
Speaker 2: I think about three weeks. I mean, that was a huge,
Speaker 2: huge block of time. I don't know if those students
Speaker 2: ever made up the time or not. But as I
Speaker 2: think we all know, both you and I acknowledged that
Speaker 2: the teacher unions, just as police and fire unions, are
Speaker 2: not supposed to strike here in Massachusetts. I think it
Speaker 2: was pretty costly for the Newton Teachers Association, but very much. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I guess there's judges involved, at least in a couple
Speaker 2: of these strikes. Maybe not in the Marblehead one that
Speaker 2: happened late today. It's an interesting dynamic, you know, one
Speaker 2: of those stories that that we're gonna have to follow.
Speaker 2: It also comes on the heel of the ballot question,
Speaker 2: ballot question two, which removed the MCST test as a
Speaker 2: qualification for graduation. Yeah, that's right, and the teachers' unions
Speaker 2: were the Mass Teachers Association was very much involved in that. Uh,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about it. People don't think sometimes
Speaker 2: about the secondary impact. Come Tuesday morning. Moms and dads
Speaker 2: and you know, single parents are going to have to
Speaker 2: figure out, you know, if the strikes, these strikes continue,
Speaker 2: what do they do with their kids.
Speaker 6: And childcare and all that. And the teacher the school
Speaker 6: committees have been talking about that as part of their argument, saying, look,
Speaker 6: you know, we need to have places for these children.
Speaker 6: And the teachers on the other hand, say, well, you know,
Speaker 6: let's come to a deal and then we won't have
Speaker 6: to worry about this. I did want to give you
Speaker 6: an update that we just got a couple of minutes
Speaker 6: ago here in the newsroom, just heard from I'm the
Speaker 6: Glocester School Committee and they I'm reading this letter essentially
Speaker 6: write as I'm talking with you. They essentially said that
Speaker 6: the State Labor Board last night told both sides directed
Speaker 6: them to participate in mediation with the state appointed mediator,
Speaker 6: and that started up this afternoon. So at least in
Speaker 6: Gloucester they're working with a state appointed mediator to try
Speaker 6: to make their way through this process. But as you
Speaker 6: had mentioned, you know the judge tonight saying essentially to
Speaker 6: the Beverly and the Gloucester unions, you cannot do this.
Speaker 6: You have until Monday, I believe it, excuse me ten
Speaker 6: am to essentially stop the strike, and then Tuesday to
Speaker 6: file with the state that you have stopped this strike.
Speaker 6: It's different from Marblehead because again, they just voted to
Speaker 6: get this going. They just approved this. Ninety nine percent
Speaker 6: of the teachers in the union approve this today and
Speaker 6: they say they're not going to start their strike until Tuesday.
Speaker 6: But there's a caveat to that. They say, if we
Speaker 6: can come to a deal on Monday night, we're just
Speaker 6: gonna go back to work. And you know, nothing's happened.
Speaker 6: So they are saying, look, you've got the weekend, we're
Speaker 6: going to bargain. We're here, we're ready. So let's see
Speaker 6: what we can do by Tuesday.
Speaker 2: So that's Glocester.
Speaker 6: So that's Marblehead.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sorry, Marvel.
Speaker 6: I know it's a lot. There's somebody moving forward.
Speaker 2: Right Marvelhead. Is the late is the late one the latest? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's the strategy here is interesting. The other thing which
Speaker 2: I've never understood, and I've covered when I was in TV,
Speaker 2: I covered these teacher strikes or threats of teacher strikes
Speaker 2: for a long time. It always seems that they always
Speaker 2: happen just when the school year starts, and now it's
Speaker 2: the middle of the school year. I don't understand why
Speaker 2: all this stuff isn't ironed out. I don't understand why
Speaker 2: they get to a point where there's no contract resolution
Speaker 2: that I don't know. Do you know offhand if any
Speaker 2: of these school districts have been working without a contract.
Speaker 2: I assume they're currently all without contract.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they're all without contracts. I believe at least six
Speaker 6: months for all of them. And you know in this
Speaker 6: new letter from Gloucester they said, look, we tried to
Speaker 6: bargain over the summer. The union didn't want to bargain.
Speaker 6: I don't have the time right now, to look up
Speaker 6: and see if that's actually true or see the union
Speaker 6: side on that. But you know, with all of these
Speaker 6: different unions, their arguments are, look, we've been at this
Speaker 6: for months. They all claim that the argument or that
Speaker 6: the talks are essentially stalled out, and they say, look,
Speaker 6: this is kind of like our last ditch effort to
Speaker 6: get you to come to the table and work with
Speaker 6: us here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, again my sense and probably the union will not
Speaker 2: happy when I say this, but I feel like the
Speaker 2: kids are the pawns in the middle of this. The
Speaker 2: teacher it's generally it's about money, which most union negotiations
Speaker 2: are going to be about money, but it's always shrouded
Speaker 2: in the in the conversation about you know, we want
Speaker 2: to do this to protect the children. And I get
Speaker 2: all of that, but it's it's tough. I've never been
Speaker 2: a teacher, so I've never been in their shoes. But
Speaker 2: I'm more sympathetic to the plight of the parents, particularly
Speaker 2: when all of a sudden they got a screen and
Speaker 2: you know, the back in the good old days, as
Speaker 2: we used to say, Nicole, you'd have you know, odds
Speaker 2: living down the street or a grand mile of an
Speaker 2: upstairs and everything. You know that that nuclear family was
Speaker 2: always pretty close. It's a little different today, and I
Speaker 2: think it's tougher on young parents, parents who have kids
Speaker 2: these days than it might have been when you and
Speaker 2: I back in the Dark Ages. Well at least I
Speaker 2: was in the Dark Ages.
Speaker 6: I was slightly darker.
Speaker 2: No no, no, no, no, no, you were lighter. Yeah.
Speaker 2: We didn't have electricity or anything like that.
Speaker 6: I just had to luck my water uphill both ways
Speaker 6: with the bags on my feet in the snowstorm. Yes,
Speaker 6: of course, you know what. I what I was interesting
Speaker 6: to me though. I'm reading through a statement that we
Speaker 6: got today from Marblehead from the Union here, and what
Speaker 6: a big sticking point for them is salaries for para professionals.
Speaker 6: These are the people who work with the kids who
Speaker 6: have i epes, And they say the starting salary for
Speaker 6: kindergarten para professionals in marble Head is eighteen three hundred
Speaker 6: and thirty eight dollars, and tutors only earned twenty seven
Speaker 6: thousand dollars a year. So that's their big thing. They say, look,
Speaker 6: we are not making enough money to live and as
Speaker 6: teachers and paras who have all these different hands and
Speaker 6: all these different classes and working with all these different kids.
Speaker 6: That's their big thing right now in Marblehead.
Speaker 2: That was a big part of the strike in Newton
Speaker 2: because the Newton teachers were averaging about ninety two thousand
Speaker 2: dollars a year. That's the average, Okay, so obviously a
Speaker 2: younger teacher might have been in sixty or seventy, and
Speaker 2: a more experienced teacher could be well over one hundred. Sure,
Speaker 2: the Department of Education actually has a website where they
Speaker 2: post the salaries and the salary structure of every public
Speaker 2: school you know in Massachusetts, and I relied on that
Speaker 2: quite heavily. It was the Department of Education website, all
Speaker 2: public record. And the union was white upset because they say, well,
Speaker 2: you're saying that the average teacher makes ninety five thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: I'm a second year teacher and I'm only making seventy
Speaker 2: four thousand dollars. Well that's what average is about, exactly.
Speaker 2: And there was a lot it was well, we're not
Speaker 2: concerned about us, We're concerned about the pair of professionals.
Speaker 2: But the negotiations always involves not only the pair of
Speaker 2: professionals who clearly are underpaid. You're making eighteen or twenty
Speaker 2: thousand dollars a.
Speaker 6: Year, right, which is in this economy, in this state,
Speaker 6: one of the highest cost of livings anywhere in the country.
Speaker 2: No question, no question. Yeah, but I've yet to harry
Speaker 2: you have a union say well, our teachers have played
Speaker 2: paid close to six figures. They're okay, we're going to
Speaker 2: go on strike just to boost the pair of legals.
Speaker 2: Because what happens is generally the increase goes across the
Speaker 2: board and the pair of leaguers get a little bit
Speaker 2: of a jump, and the teachers get a pretty good
Speaker 2: size jump. So I know the teachers unions will not
Speaker 2: be happy with what I'm going to talk about at
Speaker 2: nine o'clock.
Speaker 6: That's between you and the teachers.
Speaker 2: I know. That's that's why I didn't want to drag
Speaker 2: you in on this. But I thank you for bringing
Speaker 2: that information to of course always and I hope you
Speaker 2: have a great weekend, okay.
Speaker 6: You as well. I hope you enjoy your time and
Speaker 6: bundle up. It's actually going to feel like fall, believe.
Speaker 2: Well, that's what I heard. Yeah, it's going to feel
Speaker 2: like early now. I think I think we can handle
Speaker 2: it at this point.
Speaker 6: And so yeah, I think we're good, don't worry.
Speaker 2: Would some of us probably be looking for a little
Speaker 2: bit of a taste of November before we get past.
Speaker 6: I just want like a little fall before we get
Speaker 6: snacked with like February gray snow.
Speaker 2: Do you remember, just just getting off topic, and because
Speaker 2: I mentioned this, Yeah, about ten years ago, we had
Speaker 2: a huge snowstorm, snowstorm, yes, do you remember that? I
Speaker 2: didn't imagine it right.
Speaker 6: I think it's the winter of twenty fifteen when we
Speaker 6: had the famed Marty Walsh Loon Mountain quote, when we
Speaker 6: were getting like what a foot of snow every Monday.
Speaker 6: I think that was for about ten or twelve weeks.
Speaker 2: You remember that, that that one. I know very well
Speaker 2: that that.
Speaker 6: Was the same year, wasn't it.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no no. I guarantee you that
Speaker 2: because that year of twenty fourteen to twenty fifteen, there
Speaker 2: was no snow all throughout November. You know, we don't
Speaker 2: get much snow in November anyway, nothing in December, and
Speaker 2: there was virtually now there might have been something in
Speaker 2: the mountains, but nothing. And then it started to snow
Speaker 2: about January twentieth, and it didn't stop for about seven
Speaker 2: or eight weeks and we ended up with about one
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty inches of snow in that five or
Speaker 2: six week period, which was extraordinary. But there was a year,
Speaker 2: and I think it was a few years before that,
Speaker 2: where we had a big snowstorm on Halloween, I mean
Speaker 2: a real big snowstorm, accumulation and all that, and we
Speaker 2: never had another bit of snow for the rest of
Speaker 2: the winter. It was the weird one of the It
Speaker 2: was as weird as that, And it might have been
Speaker 2: the winter before, because the winter before we were croaked
Speaker 2: with snow. The winter of twenty fourteen and into twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2: The winter before that, which would have been twenty thirteen
Speaker 2: and twenty fourteen the Atlantic region Maryland, Virginia, we didn't
Speaker 2: get much snow and they got snow.
Speaker 6: All that's all right. I'd forgotten about that. It all
Speaker 6: kind of blends.
Speaker 2: After saying it does blend.
Speaker 6: I'll never forget twenty fifteen when I could have jumped
Speaker 6: out my window like Loon Mountain, but I didn't.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you what I did when I jumped
Speaker 2: out my window onto my we have a flat roof, yeah,
Speaker 2: a porch. I was up. I got out, I went out.
Speaker 2: I wanted to clear the snow. Sure, I was up
Speaker 2: to my chest and snow wow. And at that point
Speaker 2: I started to shovel and there was really nowhere to
Speaker 2: push it, and I thought, if I fall over here,
Speaker 2: they're not going to find me till June.
Speaker 6: I'd like that back of the no dial that was
Speaker 6: the seaport. You remember how it didn't melt till literally
Speaker 6: June or July that year. Yes, it would have found
Speaker 6: you eventually.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much. We will talk soon. Okay,
Speaker 2: thank you for the best.
Speaker 6: Of course, you too, have a good weekend.
Speaker 2: All right, coming back here on Nightside, we have one
Speaker 2: more guest to talk with and then we will move
Speaker 2: on to UH to give you an opportunity to talk
Speaker 2: about some of these issues. We're going to talk about
Speaker 2: a serious issue, and that is early signs of dementia
Speaker 2: sadly show up in people's finances. So you may want
Speaker 2: to take a look at your parents' checkbooks and their
Speaker 2: bills they taking care of business, because that can be
Speaker 2: an early sign. We'll talk with a lead author of
Speaker 2: this study out of John Hopkins School of Public Health,
Speaker 2: a study back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Right after this, Now back to Dan way live from
Speaker 1: the Window World to night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: We are delighted to welcome doctor Laurence Nicholas. She is
Speaker 2: the lead author of a study at the John Hopkins
Speaker 2: School of Public Health that found that older adults with
Speaker 2: dementia exhibit financial symptoms up to six years before diagnosis.
Speaker 2: This is a frightening study but so critically important. Doctor Nicholas,
Speaker 2: Welcome to Nightside. Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 7: Thanks for having me so I don't know.
Speaker 2: How this study evolved, but tell us a little bit
Speaker 2: of the background. Someone must have said, Hey, how did
Speaker 2: you get to get to even investigating this a very
Speaker 2: novel approach to early signs of dementia.
Speaker 7: Well, I think we started with the same motivation you mentioned,
Speaker 7: sort of hearing these very frightening stories where family members
Speaker 7: were finding out that one of their loved ones had
Speaker 7: dementia because one of these catastrophic financial events had happened.
Speaker 7: So things like a person would stop paying their mortgage
Speaker 7: in the house would be foreclosed on, and family members
Speaker 7: would find out that the forgetting to pay the mortgage
Speaker 7: was some of the signs of impaired financial capacity that
Speaker 7: we know our early warning signs of dementia, and so,
Speaker 7: you know, you hear some of these scary stories, and
Speaker 7: it got us thinking, you know, how common is that actually,
Speaker 7: and could we see it in some large data sets
Speaker 7: that might give us better avenues of doing better detection
Speaker 7: down the line. And so we put together a large
Speaker 7: data set that included information from credit reports, which are
Speaker 7: basically measures of whether you're paying back money that you're owed,
Speaker 7: things like mortgages and credit card bills, and that allowed
Speaker 7: we matched that with healthcare data so that we were
Speaker 7: able to sort of plot out what happens to people's
Speaker 7: financial trajectories as they get closer to a dementia diagnosis.
Speaker 2: And how do children adult children who might be concerned
Speaker 2: about mom or dad, how did they I guess, ask
Speaker 2: this question or pry maybe it's a question that they're
Speaker 2: uncomfortable asking. How did they say, Hey, how you doing?
Speaker 2: Are you keeping up the data on your bills? How
Speaker 2: do you bring that up to find out if there's
Speaker 2: some early indications of a problem.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it's a very sensitive topic and can
Speaker 7: be a difficult conversation to have. So we've heard some
Speaker 7: stories of you know, adult children actually see bills getting
Speaker 7: sent to the home with that, say like final notice
Speaker 7: overdue payments. This is getting harder to do as more
Speaker 7: and more of us receive all our bills electronically and
Speaker 7: you don't get those telltale signs. There are services that
Speaker 7: you can sign up for that will help do some
Speaker 7: of this monitoring for you. Also, policy changes have required
Speaker 7: all banks to give everyone the opportunity to put a
Speaker 7: Trusted Content Act onto their account. Who would be contacted
Speaker 7: if you know, there's a suspicious transaction request or your
Speaker 7: suddenly missing payments. But it does sort of put the
Speaker 7: responsibility on the person who may become cognitively impaired in
Speaker 7: the future. And I have to say, you know, the
Speaker 7: longer we do this research and we've you know, seen
Speaker 7: similar patterns looking at wealth data as well, where these
Speaker 7: financial losses just happen years and years before any of
Speaker 7: the other cognitive signs of dementia. I'm increasingly thinking about
Speaker 7: it as you know, if we if we live long enough,
Speaker 7: this is almost certainly in any of our futures, and
Speaker 7: so putting some plans in place in advance to sort
Speaker 7: of protect us.
Speaker 2: Ourself scams. You know, we used to we used to
Speaker 2: laugh about the the prince who is who was looking
Speaker 2: for money? But it's it's not a laughing matter anymore
Speaker 2: because they're much more sophisticated the scams that are recurring
Speaker 2: these days. And I look where all of us can
Speaker 2: be impacted either by our parents. If we're lucky enough
Speaker 2: to have our parents around, we have to kind of
Speaker 2: look out for them. The role reversal occurs where they
Speaker 2: used to look out for us, now we have to
Speaker 2: look out for them. And of course, as we ourselves age,
Speaker 2: we have to be willing to allow our children to
Speaker 2: kind of take if they're willing to take a look
Speaker 2: at how we're handling our finances. It's a it's a
Speaker 2: frightening it's a frightening part of getting older. And everyone
Speaker 2: wants to live along in a full life. But those
Speaker 2: those so called golden years oftentimes aren't as golden as
Speaker 2: people think they as they're told they're going to be.
Speaker 2: Let's put it like that, doctor, I so appreciate you're
Speaker 2: doing this stuff. Can people get access to a copy
Speaker 2: of the Reporter? Is there an article maybe that that
Speaker 2: is publicly available that you could refer my listeners to
Speaker 2: if they want to follow up and read it more
Speaker 2: In depth.
Speaker 7: Yes, our study was funded by the National Institute on
Speaker 7: Aging and so they make the research available free of charge.
Speaker 7: And we can send you a link so that it's
Speaker 7: easiest to find on your website.
Speaker 2: Sure the link, I'll copy you down. What's the link?
Speaker 7: Oh gosh, have it?
Speaker 2: Okay? Yeah, okay, send that to my producer. Have your
Speaker 2: folks send that, Lind to my producer and I can
Speaker 2: mention it perhaps Monday night so people have access to it.
Speaker 2: I didn't mean to catch you unaware there, but thank
Speaker 2: you for all your information, doctor Laura and Nicholas. You've
Speaker 2: certainly given people a lot to think about and talk
Speaker 2: about maybe this weekend or this Thanksgiving over the dinner tables.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I appreciate your time so much.
Speaker 7: Yes, thanks so much for calling attention to this important
Speaker 7: issue and hopefully, like you said, giving everyone someplace talk
Speaker 7: to you over the things giving table.
Speaker 2: I think you're absolutely right. Thanks, doctor Nicholas, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: When we get back, we're going to talk about the
Speaker 2: teacher this spate of teacher strikes that now have popped
Speaker 2: up here like a I'm not even sure what sort
Speaker 2: of flowers come up in the fall, but boom. We
Speaker 2: got three teacher strikes going on, maybe there'll be some more.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about it on the other side
Speaker 2: of the nine o'clock news here on a Friday night
Speaker 2: edition of Nightside, and later on we'll talk about some
Speaker 2: comments that Congressman Seth Molten made which has created a
Speaker 2: bit of a firestorm within the Democratic Party. That'll be
Speaker 2: at ten o'clock, and then at eleven tonight we'll give
Speaker 2: you a chance to do a tribute to someone in
Speaker 2: your family or some friend of yours who served in
Speaker 2: the military and we can acknowledge their service. We'll be
Speaker 2: back on Nightside right after this quick newscast at the
Speaker 2: top of the hour.