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You May Not Know the Term, but Latinas Know the Responsibilities: KinkeepingKinkeeping is the labor of building family ties and keeping people connected. It is relationship-based, difficult-to-quantify, essential work, yet it hardly gets recognized. It can be mentally exhausting and a big stressor around the holidays, particularly for Latina women who are taught that it is their responsibility from an early age, Luz Media explains.The types of labor that fall under kinkeeping include cooking, sharing recipes, teaching stories, leading crafts and activities, checking in on family members, organizing events, and anything else involved in maintaining family relationships, all of which have come to be known as the burden of  emotional labor.This care work takes up 12.5 billion unpaid hours every day, yet Latina women are also pressured to bring in income. If those kinkeeping hours were paid at minimum wage, they would add at least $10.8 trillion to the global economy a year — triple the size of the tech industry, Luz Media reports.Keeping kin can be rewarding, especially in Latino culture, where close family bonds are highly valued. Still, many women carry the stress, guilt, and expectation with them throughout their lives, and may even give up personal chances for growth as a result. Learn more →

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Minnesota communities are done waiting on the FDA, taking the commercial tobacco fight to the local levelVadnais Heights, Minn., has become the 12th city in the state to prohibit selling flavored tobacco. The city council’s unanimous vote bans the sale of such products, including menthol, as well as strengthens retail license limits and violation penalties. Curbing access to tobacco is a top priority for local advocates, as the industry disproportionately targets and harms young people, Black, LGBTQ+, and Native American communities, Sahan Journal reports.“Commercial tobacco control cannot wait for the FDA. We need to take the fight to each community individually,” said Molly Schmidtke, policy and technical assistance manager at Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota. More from Sahan Journal →

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Studies show racial disparities in cancer mortality and infant survivalA pair of studies published this year underscore how social determinants of health are fueling racial and ethnic disparities in California across two health issues: colorectal cancer mortality, and survival rates for infants with low birth weights but no major disease. In the first study, researchers found that Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic Black, and Southeast Asian adults all had higher colorectal cancer mortality rates than non-Hispanic White adults, AsAmNews reports.In the second, researchers found that infant survival rates had improved between 2008 and 2021 but had tapered off since, with the changes revealing further inequities among racial groups, particularly in neonatal intensive care units.More from AsAmNews →

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By 2030, a fourth of California will be over 60 years old, and most caregivers are already middle aged themselves. Delnita Brown, 55, who cares intimately for her younger sister with cerebral palsy, is one of them — but she worries about continuing care as she ages, she tells Black Voice News. →Credit: Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local