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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Santa Barbara Humane returned to your News Channel this morning, this time with the sweetest boy around – meet Chocolate!

The name is all-too fitting for the three-month-old pup. Chief operating officer, Dory Villalon, says the young pup is quiet, affectionate, and eager to learn, and encourages anyone interested in adopting Chocolate – or any puppy – to enroll them in training classes.

"He is ready to get right into puppy manners class, which is what we hope every puppy adopter does so they take advantage of this time when these pups are young to get them well socialized and get started on their training," Villalon says.

To help remove any stress or obstacles that may be holding back adopters from signing up for training classes, SB Humane now offers intermediate manners classes – on top of their puppy class and basic obedience class.

"We've just launched online dog training classes. Which is so cool you maybe don't have the time to come to campus or there's transportation concerns, you just wanna train from the comfort of your own home. It's live Zoom training with a certified trainer you can ask all the questions you need, and your dog actually doesn't have all the distractions so it can be a really quality time there."

In a few months SB Humane will be throwing their Wild West Fest! The fundraising event helps support the organization and all those sweet animals they take in, just like Chocolate.

You can learn about SB Humane, their training classes, and the Wild West Fest by clicking here.

The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.

The post SB Humane Returns with a Sweet Treat, 3-Month-Old Chocolate! appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Brenda Goodman, CNN

(CNN) — Flu is making people miserable from coast to coast, thanks in large part to a new strain called subclade K.

That’s why infectious disease experts are telling people to run, not walk, to get this season’s flu shot if they haven’t yet.

But you may be wondering whether getting a flu vaccine will still help or even if getting the vaccine might be riskier than getting sick. It can help, and the flu is far riskier — but misinformation about vaccines is almost as rampant as the germs they protect against, and it can be hard to know what to believe.

Here are some of the most common myths about flu vaccines and what the science shows.

Myth: The flu shot doesn’t work.

The reality is that people who get a flu shot are less likely to become severely ill, be hospitalized or die.

In a social media post Tuesday, Jim O’Neill, acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that a review by the US Department of Health and Human Services “found no randomized controlled trials demonstrating reduction of community transmission, hospitalizations, or mortality in children from the pediatric [flu] vaccine.”

He’s right, says Dr. Mark Loeb, a flu researcher at McMaster University in Ontario – but that’s because randomized controlled trials aren’t the right tool for measuring severe outcomes of the flu.

“For randomized controlled trials, most of them are underpowered to detect outcomes like even hospitalizations or deaths,” Loeb said, meaning they don’t have enough people in them to accurately detect differences in these outcomes, which are less common than infections.

Loeb published a meta-analysis, or study of studies, in October in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection that included 165 observational studies with “test-negative designs,” which look at all the people who are treated for the same set of symptoms in an emergency room or clinic and then compare the vaccination status of those who tested positive for the flu against those who tested negative.

If a vaccine is effective, there will be fewer vaccinated people in the group that tests positive for the flu compared with those with the same symptoms who tested negative.

Test-negative studies are powerful because they eliminate an important type of bias in observational studies: that people who go to the doctor may be generally more concerned about their health and more likely to get vaccinated than those who don’t go to the doctor.

Together, the studies included more than 600,000 participants. They found that vaccines provide protection against severe flu complications at any age and regardless of how well the shots match the circulating flu strains.

The analysis found that, on average, flu vaccines cut the risk of hospitalization or intensive care admission for children by about half and the risk of pneumonia by 70%. For adults up to 65, vaccination reduced the odds of hospitalization or pneumonia by 40%. Those over 65 saw a roughly 30% reduction in the risk of hospitalization, a 45% reduction in the risk of pneumonia and a 53% drop in the odds of needing intensive care.

“I think it is particularly important year for people to get a flu shot, given the increased

By Morgan Rimmer, CNN

(CNN) — GOP Sen. Thom Tillis strongly criticized White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s recent comments suggesting the US should take control of Greenland, calling the remarks “amateurish” and “absurd,” and urging President Donald Trump to fire people who give that kind of advice.

“I’m sick of stupid,” the retiring North Carolina senator said during a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday. “I want good advice for this president, because I want this president to have a good legacy. And this nonsense on what’s going on with Greenland is a distraction from the good work he’s doing, and the amateurs who said it was a good idea should lose their jobs.”

On Monday, Miller asserted during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” that the formal position of the Trump administration is that “Greenland should be part of the United States.”

Miller also questioned Denmark’s claim over the Arctic territory. “What is the basis of their territorial claim? What is their basis of having Greenland as a colony of Denmark?” he said.

Tillis, who serves as the top Republican in the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group, said that Miller’s position in the White House does not give him the right to speak for the entire US government.

“He doesn’t speak for the US government,” Tillis said.

“Mr. Miller said that the US government – obviously Greenland should be part of the US. That is absurd,” he said.

Tillis also warned that Miller’s comments distracted from the Trump administration’s military operation in Venezuela.

“What makes me cranky? Stupid. What makes me cranky is when people don’t do their homework. What makes me cranky is when we tarnish the extraordinary execution of a mission I fully support in Venezuela by turning around and making insane comments about how it is our right to have territory owned by the Kingdom of Denmark,” Tillis declared.

“Folks, amateur hour is over. You don’t speak on behalf of this US senator or the Congress,” he continued.

The North Carolina senator also emphasized the value of the NATO alliance, and Denmark’s role in it. He pointed out Denmark’s “disproportionately high” contribution to the NATO response after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US, noting that they lost 43 soldiers in Afghanistan, out of a national population of 6 million.

“You want to get me back to thanking the president for all the good things he’s doing? Then give him good advice,” said Tillis.

Tillis’ speech comes after he issued a joint statement with the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, criticizing the administration’s approach to Greenland. Tillis and Shaheen are co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group.

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