NightSide News Update

It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's Radio.

Yes, Nicole, I am here ready to take people all the way till Saturday morning, virtually about eleven fifty eight. Rob Brooks is back in the control room at the Big Socket, as we say, at Broadcast Central headquarters. I'll set to take your phone calls beginning after the nine o'clock news. We'll be talking tonight about the now three count of three teacher strikes going on north of Boston.

Sure, thanks Dan, first offer having me on. Bet Massachusetts is a site that provides sports betting news and analysis for people who are interested in the latest sports betting news. You know, news and analysis about the Bees, the Celts, even the Red Sox even though it's off season, or the Pats even though they look like they're tanking this year. You can get some get some good analysis on them.

So you're not you're not so. Bett Massachusetts is not a betting site per se, but it's a site about betting sites and related issues. Okay, very clear, Thank you, thank you very much. Okay. Ten topics to avoid this Thanksgiving. I think most of us can relate to them. Let's go through a few of them. We've always been talking, you know, not supposed to talk about politics or religion. So you got politics and religion right out there. Number

That's no, that that's exactly what what we're talking about there, obviously.

Uh.

And and I'm the and I'm the dad of a twenty year old, so I'm not quite there yet. But I've got an older brother who has kids a little older than my son, and obviously that's something that you know, you get a little older, you know. And it's not just moms and dads that ask a question either, it's uncles, it's cousins, grandparents, you know, hey, you know, you know, why don't I see a girl around?

You know?

You know, or when you're going to put a ring on her? You know, things like that and those you know, you know, relationships are difficult no matter what. Obviously, with the holidays being you know, adding to that stress, you know, anything that the family can do to kind of alleviate some of that stress or not add on to it would certainly be helpful from you know, from from you know, a single person saying, so then.

You talk about people should not talk about family drama. I think we can understand that. But then you got two or three here, which is kind of interesting. Uh, you're suggesting that this was a poll that you took, so this is this is not scientific, but it's a poll.

Uh.

And you say people should not be talking about gas prices, inflation or finances. I assume you mean family finances, personal finances, but gas prices inflation. I mean, I kind of imagine that at the Thanksgiving dinner table, people aren't gonna say, you know, what that turkey costs us this year compid to five years ago, or you know. I mean, that's one that I think is almost unavoidable.

Right, And and honestly, I think it also kind of ties into politics as well, because what what was one of the major talking points of the of the election, inflations exactly and how much groceries cost, you know, how much it costs you know, they're still up the car. And obviously, if you've got family that you know, you've got family that's you know, inside four ninety five, it's

Well, see what I'm thinking. The advice I've given to my listeners always is, look, it's like the elephant in the room, you know, because a lot of this is politics. It's like the elephant in the room. You know, if where your mega hat, where your Hillary Clinton button, your your Vice President Harris button, whatever, It's gonna be there. But why don't you tweet each other in a civil fashion? You know, don't start throwing drumsticks across the table, you know, just.

Exactly. I would recommend that families, you know, whether it's the wives, the mothers, whoever, you know, people get together ahead of time on the phone, through text, whatever and kind of create some kind of detente where Okay, you know, we know obviously the election, and the election was going to be controversial no matter who won, but you know that was going to be a divisive top topic whatsoever.

I think the fact that it was decisive, though, Steve, I think we caught a break there. I think that because it was decisive. Boy, can you imagine if it was like, uh, two cents, we three to whatever?

Right, but even then with it being one sided and somewhat shockingly one sided. Yeah, I mean, you know, you know, think about the if if the Red Sox were ever swept the Yankees in the Alcs or or the or the Bruins.

Can he be like maybe coming down from behind three games to none or something like that. Yeah, something like that that never happen, not in your life or.

Exactly well, and I'll be honest, but we've got to be adults.

See, I think we got to be adults and we got to say, look, you know, it is what it is. I mean, I wouldn't necessarily bring up something like the Ukrainian War because no, no, no.

And right, And that's why I'm saying, Dan, you know, if you know, if you can kind of establish some ground rules ahead of the game and just you know, reinforce them and you know, you know, make small talk, you know, talk about you know, how great you know, how great the Turkey is this year, or for our beating friends, how great the to Turkey is this year?

That tough you know, talk about I don't know, you know, the other thing that we should do. Here's we should do. Okay, Maybe here's the deal. Maybe what everybody should do is have a yellow flag in their pocket. Okay, and so if someone brings up a topic that makes anyone uncomfortable, you throw the yellow flag, you know, instead of a fifteen yard penalty five minutes in the living room by yourself. Maybe that's I don't know, Yeah, that would be fun.

This at home, exactly, exactly, leave the hot takes at home.

You got it, You got it right, break, bring the hot cakes, not the hot takes.

Thanks Steve, exactly.

Talking again. Appreciated very much. We come back when we talk about the wild West of weight loss drugs. Yeah, a lot of people out there figured out that this ozempic does more for them, including losing weight and people it's gonna be it's a little dangerous. We'll explain right after this on night Side. It is a Friday, heading toward the weekend. I am. I am relaxed, ready for a couple of days rest, and I hope you are as well. Be back on Nightside right after this.

Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.

Well, I think all of you know that with Awaken one to eighty weight loss loss, I lost thirty five pounds nine years ago the right way and I haven't put a pound back on now. Part of it is I learned how to eat a little better. I'm in the gym five six days a week and I'm doing okay. A lot of people, however, have been taking some drugs which are not for weight loss, but for example o zempic, and these drugs are being found to have some adverse

I'm great, Thank you so much for having me.

Yeah, this is an important topic here because obviously losing weight can be tough. But I got to tell you, I'm so glad I lost thirty five pounds nine years ago. And there are people out there trying to do it the easy way and explain to us what they're doing and why it's harmful in the long run.

Right.

Yeah, so people, it's the big fag right now to be taking GLP one agonists. So these are prescription medications also known as ozembic or wago v mondro. There are quite a different There are quite a few different branded medications out there right now. And see they are FDA approved for particular populations. So they are FDA approved for people who have a BMI of twenty seven plus other conditions.

Wait twenty but if I know a little bit about this, a BMI twenty seven plus that is not all that bad. I mean, so.

That's considered quote unquote overweight.

It's not considered obese.

It's not considered obese exactly. So that is one category. So if you have a BMI of twenty seven plus, any other chronic disease. And then the other subcategory that it is FDA approved for is if you have a BMI of over thirty, So this is specifically for Wgovigov and ozempic are the same active ingredient, but ozempic is actually only FDA approved for type two diabetes. So that's

Now is ozempic correct? You know, help me out here. Is ozempic prescription based or over the counter?

So ozembic and would go be all of these medications in this particular drug class of GLP one agnes, all of them are prescription medications.

Okay, So who are the docs that are writing these for people? Or are they writing them for people? How are the people getting these drugs if you have a condition that a doctor writes a prescription for. I have a lot of faith in physicians. I got to be honest with you. I'm assuming if a doctor writes a prescription, they understand the side effects, the consequences, and they believe that that drug is something that that person should have.

There's not actually a big black market, at least not for now. And the reason I say that is because physicians are the one So whether they're healthcare providers, physicians and ps pas, they are the ones writing the prescriptions for patients, and it is f to approved for specific use cases. Again, if you fall within those BMI ranges that you have type two diabetes, are looking to lose weight safely. However, a lot of the issue is actually

You, So why would a physician do that? I understand that occasionally there are drugs that can be used off labels.

Safely, So a position would considered yeah, doing that because they are trying to make the patient happy, and at the end of the day, they are weighing what we refer to as the risk versus benefit ratio, and to them, they don't see as much of a risk in contrast with the potential benefit to the patient.

Let me ask you a tougher question. When some physicians years ago were over prescribing certain type drugs which were highly addictive, you know, there has been some suggestion that those physicians were actually being rewarded for writing as many prescriptions as possible. There is ozembic. Are these type companies Are they in any way, shape or form encouraging physicians or inducing physicians to overprescribe these drugs.

I think they're not necessarily inducing or manipulating physicians. But that being said, you know when the physicians way back when when you were talking about these addictive medications, you know, we didn't know they were addictive initially, at least not in the in the initial stages of them being FDA approved because we didn't have the long term data. So

Well, I'll tell you it's it's the idea of losing weight is something that obviously is attractive, and it's it's this health benefits to it. But I hope that people listen to you on this subject. How did you get involved? You know, this seems to me to be an issue that you are very concerned about. What got you involved? Are concerned about this?

So what really got me concerned is just as a healthcare professional seeing the number of people on these medications but them not realizing that, you know, everyone is not the best fit for it and it's not going to be the magic bullet as I mentioned before. And then also that there aren't side effects. There are some really potentially big risks associated like gastrointestinal issues or stomach issues

Well, I've really enjoyed this conversation because I've read a lot about this. I know the a fraction of all that you know, and you have increased my knowledge on this, and I hopefully my audience as well. So, uh, doctor Swathy, but runasi dias. I hope I got fairly close to the pronunciation of your full name.

But doctor Swathy, Yes, yeah, And if patients are interested in learning more, I recommend you know a combina of nutritional intervention, so thinking about how you're eating healthy, high protein, high fiber diets, thinking.

About what sort of exercise that you're doing, so incorporating movement every single day, and then also in addition to how you're incorporating dietary supplements like omega three fatty acids or phortotropin.

Well, that's great. Is there a website that people could be in touch with you on. I don't want to have you give out a website and have twenty five people contacting you unnecessarily. Is there a book that you may have written recently? A lot of folks come on the program and they're trying to get the word out in some form of fashion. Is there any other way that did you'd like to people that have access to you other than our interview.

Yes?

Absolutely so. I'm most active on LinkedIn. You can just search my name and you'll be able to find it there. I conduct webinars for everyone that are free on longevity and muscle health. And also you can find studies and different information about preserving muscle when you're using GLP ones at maos MD dot com. So that's m yo SMD dot com.

And is that your website?

That is not my website, but I am a scientific advisor at the company. It's a supplement company.

Mayos MD dot com. Yes, thank you so much for your time tonight, and hope you have a great weekend.

Thank you very much, Artie, thank you so much for shing you the same. Bybye.

It's a little bit after eight thirty, so we get the news, and of course the top news story here in Massachusetts tonight, or one of the lead stories tonight, is the teachers strike, three of them now ongoing which include Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead, and we're going to be talking with WBZ news anchor Nicole Davis will join us on the other side of the news break at the bottom of the hour.

It's night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.

Boy you just heard Nicole filing the news at the bottom of the hour. And now through the magic of radio and unlo capable media in which people are able to move from studio to studio so.

Quickly, boyar, my arm's tired.

Well, this has been kind of interesting. I did not see this coming, and we're going to talk about this with listeners at nine o'clock, particularly folks who live up in the north show. So we have three school departments, Beverly, Gloucester and now Marblehead joining this strike. I find it kind of interesting that the three of them kind of a close geographic proximity. Looks like there's a little bit

I mean I don't obviously know the ins and outs of what the unions have been doing. I know that all three of these unions have been working to get contracts in place. I can't be surprised if you know, geographically they're so close, they've probably been talking and and also sharing information and sharing maybe strategy. Again, I don't want to speak to that cause I just don't.

Oh no, no, I totally, I totally understand that it was funny. I remember last winter there was the big strike in Newton last winter, and the mayor there was quite upset Ruth Anne Fuller. If I recall correctly, that strike was in January, in early January, and it lasted I think about three weeks. I mean, that was a huge, huge block of time. I don't know if those students

And childcare and all that. And the teacher the school committees have been talking about that as part of their argument, saying, look, you know, we need to have places for these children. And the teachers on the other hand, say, well, you know, let's come to a deal and then we won't have

So that's Glocester.

So that's Marblehead.

Well, I'm sorry, Marvel.

I know it's a lot. There's somebody moving forward.

Right Marvelhead. Is the late is the late one the latest? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, it's the strategy here is interesting. The other thing which I've never understood, and I've covered when I was in TV, I covered these teacher strikes or threats of teacher strikes for a long time. It always seems that they always happen just when the school year starts, and now it's the middle of the school year. I don't understand why

Yeah, they're all without contracts. I believe at least six months for all of them. And you know in this new letter from Gloucester they said, look, we tried to bargain over the summer. The union didn't want to bargain. I don't have the time right now, to look up and see if that's actually true or see the union side on that. But you know, with all of these different unions, their arguments are, look, we've been at this

Yeah, again my sense and probably the union will not happy when I say this, but I feel like the kids are the pawns in the middle of this. The teacher it's generally it's about money, which most union negotiations are going to be about money, but it's always shrouded in the in the conversation about you know, we want to do this to protect the children. And I get all of that, but it's it's tough. I've never been

I was slightly darker.

No no, no, no, no, no, you were lighter. Yeah. We didn't have electricity or anything like that.

I just had to luck my water uphill both ways with the bags on my feet in the snowstorm. Yes, of course, you know what. I what I was interesting to me though. I'm reading through a statement that we got today from Marblehead from the Union here, and what a big sticking point for them is salaries for para professionals.

That was a big part of the strike in Newton because the Newton teachers were averaging about ninety two thousand dollars a year. That's the average, Okay, so obviously a younger teacher might have been in sixty or seventy, and a more experienced teacher could be well over one hundred. Sure, the Department of Education actually has a website where they post the salaries and the salary structure of every public school you know in Massachusetts, and I relied on that

Year, right, which is in this economy, in this state, one of the highest cost of livings anywhere in the country.

No question, no question. Yeah, but I've yet to harry you have a union say well, our teachers have played paid close to six figures. They're okay, we're going to go on strike just to boost the pair of legals. Because what happens is generally the increase goes across the board and the pair of leaguers get a little bit of a jump, and the teachers get a pretty good size jump. So I know the teachers unions will not be happy with what I'm going to talk about at nine o'clock.

That's between you and the teachers.

I know. That's that's why I didn't want to drag you in on this. But I thank you for bringing that information to of course always and I hope you have a great weekend, okay.

You as well. I hope you enjoy your time and bundle up. It's actually going to feel like fall, believe.

Well, that's what I heard. Yeah, it's going to feel like early now. I think I think we can handle it at this point.

And so yeah, I think we're good, don't worry.

Would some of us probably be looking for a little bit of a taste of November before we get past.

I just want like a little fall before we get snacked with like February gray snow.

Do you remember, just just getting off topic, and because I mentioned this, Yeah, about ten years ago, we had a huge snowstorm, snowstorm, yes, do you remember that? I didn't imagine it right.

I think it's the winter of twenty fifteen when we had the famed Marty Walsh Loon Mountain quote, when we were getting like what a foot of snow every Monday. I think that was for about ten or twelve weeks.

You remember that, that that one. I know very well that that.

Was the same year, wasn't it.

No, no, no, no, no no. I guarantee you that because that year of twenty fourteen to twenty fifteen, there was no snow all throughout November. You know, we don't get much snow in November anyway, nothing in December, and there was virtually now there might have been something in the mountains, but nothing. And then it started to snow about January twentieth, and it didn't stop for about seven or eight weeks and we ended up with about one hundred and twenty inches of snow in that five or

All that's all right. I'd forgotten about that. It all kind of blends.

After saying it does blend.

I'll never forget twenty fifteen when I could have jumped out my window like Loon Mountain, but I didn't.

Let me tell you what I did when I jumped out my window onto my we have a flat roof, yeah, a porch. I was up. I got out, I went out. I wanted to clear the snow. Sure, I was up to my chest and snow wow. And at that point I started to shovel and there was really nowhere to push it, and I thought, if I fall over here, they're not going to find me till June.

I'd like that back of the no dial that was the seaport. You remember how it didn't melt till literally June or July that year. Yes, it would have found you eventually.

Well, thank you so much. We will talk soon. Okay, thank you for the best.

Of course, you too, have a good weekend.

All right, coming back here on Nightside, we have one more guest to talk with and then we will move on to UH to give you an opportunity to talk about some of these issues. We're going to talk about a serious issue, and that is early signs of dementia sadly show up in people's finances. So you may want to take a look at your parents' checkbooks and their bills they taking care of business, because that can be

Right after this, Now back to Dan way live from the Window World to night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.

We are delighted to welcome doctor Laurence Nicholas. She is the lead author of a study at the John Hopkins School of Public Health that found that older adults with dementia exhibit financial symptoms up to six years before diagnosis. This is a frightening study but so critically important. Doctor Nicholas, Welcome to Nightside. Thank you so much for joining us.

Thanks for having me so I don't know.

How this study evolved, but tell us a little bit of the background. Someone must have said, Hey, how did you get to get to even investigating this a very novel approach to early signs of dementia.

Well, I think we started with the same motivation you mentioned, sort of hearing these very frightening stories where family members were finding out that one of their loved ones had dementia because one of these catastrophic financial events had happened.

And how do children adult children who might be concerned about mom or dad, how did they I guess, ask this question or pry maybe it's a question that they're uncomfortable asking. How did they say, Hey, how you doing? Are you keeping up the data on your bills? How do you bring that up to find out if there's some early indications of a problem.

Yeah, I think it's a very sensitive topic and can be a difficult conversation to have. So we've heard some stories of you know, adult children actually see bills getting sent to the home with that, say like final notice overdue payments. This is getting harder to do as more and more of us receive all our bills electronically and you don't get those telltale signs. There are services that you can sign up for that will help do some

Ourself scams. You know, we used to we used to laugh about the the prince who is who was looking for money? But it's it's not a laughing matter anymore because they're much more sophisticated the scams that are recurring these days. And I look where all of us can be impacted either by our parents. If we're lucky enough to have our parents around, we have to kind of look out for them. The role reversal occurs where they used to look out for us, now we have to

Yes, our study was funded by the National Institute on Aging and so they make the research available free of charge. And we can send you a link so that it's easiest to find on your website.

Sure the link, I'll copy you down. What's the link?

Oh gosh, have it?

Okay? Yeah, okay, send that to my producer. Have your folks send that, Lind to my producer and I can mention it perhaps Monday night so people have access to it. I didn't mean to catch you unaware there, but thank you for all your information, doctor Laura and Nicholas. You've certainly given people a lot to think about and talk about maybe this weekend or this Thanksgiving over the dinner tables. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time so much.

Yes, thanks so much for calling attention to this important issue and hopefully, like you said, giving everyone someplace talk to you over the things giving table.

I think you're absolutely right. Thanks, doctor Nicholas, appreciate it. When we get back, we're going to talk about the teacher this spate of teacher strikes that now have popped up here like a I'm not even sure what sort of flowers come up in the fall, but boom. We got three teacher strikes going on, maybe there'll be some more.