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Former President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he doesn’t “think” he’d run again for president in 2028 if he falls short in his bid to return to the White House in 2024. “No, I don’t. I think that will be, that will be it,” Trump said when journalist Sharyl Attkisson asked him if he’d run again. The comment was notable both because Trump seemed to rule out a fourth bid for the White House and because he rarely admits the possibility he could legitimately lose an election. Trump normally insists that could only happen if there were widespread cheating, a false allegation he made in 2020 and he’s preemptively made again during his 2024 presidential campaign. Trump would be 82 in 2028, a year older than President Joe Biden is now. Biden bowed out of the race in July following his disastrous debate performance and months of being hammered by Trump and other conservatives as being too old and erratic for the job. Attkisson interviewed Trump for her show “Full Measure.” Also during the 22-minute interview, Trump defended his record on the coronavirus pandemic. He took credit for the development of the COVID-19 vaccines developed during his presidency while also saying “they’re doing studies on the vaccines and we’re going to find out” if they are safe. Trump said Republicans have become skeptical about the vaccines even as Democrats trust them. The statement about 2028 came at the very end of the interview, which also included a question about how Trump stays in good health. “I try and eat properly,” the former president said, drawing an incredulous reaction from Attkisson, who noted that Trump has become infamous for his fondness for hamburgers. “Proper hamburgers,” Trump said.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — California is putting an end to the age-old question of "paper or plastic" at grocery stores. Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a new law banning all plastic shopping bags, effective starting in 2026. The state previously banned thin plastic bags, but shoppers could purchase thicker plastic bags marketed as reusable and recyclable. This new measure, approved by state lawmakers last month, eliminates this loophole, banning all plastic bags at grocery store checkout lines. Consumers who don't bring their own bags will be offered a paper bag alternative. State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a supporter of the bill, cites a state study indicating that the amount of plastic bags discarded per person increased from 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) per year in 2004 to 11 pounds (5 kilograms) per year in 2021, highlighting the failure of previous efforts to reduce plastic bag waste. Blakespear, a Democrat from Encinitas, emphasized that the previous bag ban, enacted a decade ago, did not effectively reduce plastic usage. “We are literally choking our planet with plastic waste,” she said in February. Oceana, a non-profit organization dedicated to environmental protection, has lauded Newsom for signing the bill, praising it as a step towards safeguarding California's coastline, marine life, and communities from the impact of single-use plastic bags. Christy Leavitt, Oceana’s plastics campaign director, stated on Sunday that the new ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery store checkouts "solidifies California as a leader in tackling the global plastic pollution crisis." According to Environment America Research & Policy Center, a leading environmental advocacy group, twelve states, including California, have implemented statewide plastic bag bans. Additionally, hundreds of cities across 28 states have their own plastic bag bans in place. The California Legislature first passed a statewide ban on plastic bags in 2014, which was later affirmed by voters in a 2016 referendum. The California Public Interest Research Group, a non-profit advocacy group, stated on Sunday that the new law finally achieves the intended purpose of the original bag ban. “Plastic bags create pollution in our environment and break into microplastics that contaminate our drinking water and threaten our health,” said the group’s director Jenn Engstrom. “Californians voted to ban plastic grocery bags in our state almost a decade ago, but the law clearly needed a redo. With the Governor’s signature, California has finally banned plastic bags in grocery checkout lanes once and for all.” In 2007, as mayor of San Francisco, Newsom signed the nation's first plastic bag ban.

(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) — A shooting incident on Saturday night in Birmingham, Alabama, resulted in the deaths of four individuals and injuries to 17 others. Police have described the incident as a targeted "hit" directed at one of the deceased individuals, which occurred at a popular nightlife establishment. The shooting transpired shortly after 11 p.m. on Saturday in Five Points South, a district known for its entertainment venues, restaurants, and bars, which is often crowded on weekend evenings. This mass shooting, one among several that have occurred in the city this year, has caused concern among residents in the area, leading city officials to request assistance in resolving the crime and addressing the broader issue of gun violence. “The priority is to find these shooters and get them off our streets,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin stated at a Sunday press conference. The shooting took place outside Hush, a hookah and cigar lounge, located within the entertainment district. Evidence of blood stains was visible on the sidewalk outside the venue on Sunday morning. Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond indicated that authorities believe the shooting was targeted toward one of the individuals killed, possibly as a murder-for-hire. He explained that a vehicle pulled up, and "multiple shooters" exited the vehicle and began firing before fleeing the scene. “We believe that there was a ‘hit,’ if you will, on that particular person,” Thurmond stated. Police reported that approximately 100 shell casings were recovered from the scene. Thurmond indicated that law enforcement was working to identify the types of weapons used, but they believe some of the gunfire was "fully automatic." Investigators are also attempting to determine whether any individuals returned fire, leading to crossfire. Police reported finding two men and a woman on a sidewalk with gunshot wounds, who were pronounced dead at the scene. An additional male gunshot victim was pronounced dead at a hospital, according to police. By early Sunday, after victims began arriving at hospitals, police had identified 17 individuals with injuries, some of which were considered life-threatening. The area of Birmingham is popular among young adults due to its proximity to the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the abundance of nearby restaurants and bars. Geoffrey Boshell, a 22-year-old biomedical engineering student residing nearby, said he was working on a school project when he heard a burst of rapid pops that he described as sounding like automatic gunfire. “I heard it, looked out my window and immediately see people screaming, fleeing the scene,” Boshell said. The shooting in the bustling and popular area was disconcerting, he said. “I’m not sure scared is the right word. Just very disturbed that it was happening right outside where you are living.” Ashton Mills, 24, who resides in a nearby apartment complex, was on her way to work on Saturday night when she heard a "bunch of popping sounds.” “It’s scary, especially as a single woman walking around the city,” she said. “I’m definitely a lot more on guard.” Woodfin expressed frustration with what he described as an epidemic of gun violence in America. “We find ourselves in 2024, where gun violence is at an epidemic level, an epidemic crisis in our country. And the city of Birmingham, unfortunately finds itself at the tip of that spear,” he said. The Birmingham mayor also urged state and federal officials to provide cities with more tools to address gun violence. He gestured with his hands behind his back to illustrate the challenges faced by cities in combating crime. Alabama last year eliminated the requirement to obtain a permit for carrying a concealed handgun in public. Woodfun stated that there is an "element" in the city that is too comfortable carrying Glock switches — devices that convert semi-automatic handguns to deliver more rapid fire — and assault-style rifles with the intent of causing harm. “Elected officials locally, statewide and nationally have a duty to solve this American crisis, this American epidemic of gun violence,” the mayor said. ___ Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.

(JUNEAU, Alaska) — On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it. A rat. The alleged sighting would not have garnered attention in many parts of the world, but it caused a stir on St. Paul Island, part of the Pribilof Islands, a haven for birds sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” due to its diverse life. This is because rats that sneak onto vessels can quickly populate and overwhelm remote islands, decimating bird populations by consuming eggs, chicks, or even adults, disrupting once-thriving ecosystems. Shortly after receiving the resident's report in June, wildlife officials arrived at the apartment complex and scoured the nearby grasses, the building's perimeter, and the area beneath the porch, searching for tracks, bite marks, or droppings. They set peanut butter-baited traps and placed trail cameras to confirm the rat's existence but have found no evidence so far. “We know — because we’ve seen this on other islands and in other locations in Alaska and across the world — that rats absolutely decimate seabird colonies, so the threat is never one that the community would take lightly,” said Lauren Divine, director of the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island’s ecosystem conservation office. The anxiety on St. Paul Island is the latest development amidst ongoing efforts to eliminate or prevent non-native rats from invading some of the most remote yet ecologically diverse islands in Alaska and across the globe. Rodents have been successfully removed from hundreds of islands worldwide — including one in Alaska’s Aleutian chain formerly known as “Rat Island,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But such efforts can take years and cost millions of dollars, so prevention is deemed the most effective defense. Around the developed areas of St. Paul, officials have deployed blocks of wax — “chew blocks” — designed to record any telltale incisor marks. Some of the blocks are made with ultraviolet material, which allow inspectors equipped with black lights to search for glowing droppings. They've also asked residents to keep an eye out for any rodents and are seeking permission to have the U.S. Department of Agriculture bring a dog to the island to sniff out any rats. Canines are otherwise prohibited from the Pribilofs to protect fur seals. There have been no traces of any rats since the reported sighting this summer, but the search and heightened state of vigilance are likely to continue for months. Divine compared the search to trying to find a needle in a haystack “and not knowing if a needle even exists.” The community of about 350 people — clustered on the southern tip of a treeless island characterized by rolling hills, rimmed by cliffs and battered by storms — has long had a rodent surveillance program that includes rat traps near the airport and at developed waterfront areas where vessels arrive, designed to detect or eliminate any rats that might appear. Still, it took nearly a year to capture the last known rat on St. Paul, which was believed to have hopped off a barge. It was found dead in 2019 after evading the community’s initial defenses. This highlights why even an unsubstantiated sighting is taken so seriously, Divine said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is planning an environmental review to analyze eradicating the potentially tens of thousands of rats on four uninhabited islands in the far-flung, volcano-pocked Aleutian chain, hundreds of miles southwest of St. Paul. More than 10 million seabirds of varying species nest in the Aleutians. The diversity and number of breeding birds on islands with established, non-native rat populations are noticeably low, the agency has stated. Carcasses of least auklets and crested auklets, known for their noisy nesting colonies in rocky areas, have been found in rat-food caches on Kiska Island, one of the four islands, where rat footprints have been spotted on the wet, sandy shoreline. If the agency proceeds, it might take five years for the first of the projects to be launched, and given the extensive planning, testing, and research required for each island, it could take decades to complete all of them, said Stacey Buckelew, an island invasive species biologist with Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. But such efforts are important steps to help seabirds already facing challenges including climate change, Buckelew said. The success of what was long called Rat Island, a tract in the Aleutians roughly half the size of Manhattan, shows how effective eradication programs can be. Rats are believed to have first arrived with a Japanese shipwreck in the late 18th century. Fur traders introduced arctic foxes there the following century. The foxes were eradicated in 1984, but it was nearly a quarter century later when wildlife agents and conservation groups eliminated the rats by dropping poison pellets from a helicopter. Those involved said that without nesting seabirds, the island was eerily silent compared to the cacophony of other, rat-free islands, and it even smelled different. Since the eradication of rats, researchers have observed native birds thriving, even documenting species thought to have been wiped out by rats. The island is once again known by the name originally bestowed by the Unangan people native to the Aleutians: Hawadax. Researchers have found tufted puffins, which dig burrows into cliff edges and are defenseless against rats or foxes, as well as eagle and falcon nests. During surveys before the eradication, researchers heard no song sparrows, but during a 2013 trip their sounds were almost incessant, Buckelew said at that time. Donald Lyons, director of conservation science with the National Audubon Society’s Seabird Institute, described being in the Pribilof Islands and watching clouds of auklets return to their colonies in the evening — “tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of birds in the air at a given time.” He said officials were correct to take the alleged sighting of a rat on St. Paul so seriously. He praised the largely Alaska Native communities in the Pribilofs for their efforts to keep invasive species out. “It’s just the abundance of wildlife that we hear stories or read historical accounts of, but really seldom see in kind of our modern age,” he said. “And so it really is a place where I’ve felt the wonder, the spectacle of nature.”

As Climate Week NYC begins, global leaders in government, business, science, and philanthropy are gathering to strategize on the global fight against climate change. Since last year's event, the world has experienced 12 consecutive months that hit or exceeded 1.5C in average warming. This grim threshold, established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, highlights the urgency of the situation. With time running out to steer Earth toward a sustainable future, it's more crucial than ever for Indigenous Peoples to have a greater voice in decision-making. Indigenous Peoples are the world's most effective environmental protectors. Our lands are not just our homes but also our spiritual connection to the Earth, our ancestors, and our past, present, and future.   The territories of Indigenous Peoples are crucial for the future of our planet. Scientists say we cannot afford to lose these ecosystems, which are more effective at storing carbon than non-Indigenous lands. Our land also faces climate change, helping our global fight to reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere. For the Blackfoot People, our land stretches over thousands of miles across North America, from the Rocky Mountains to the Saskatchewan River. It's a breathtaking area of environmental preservation and spiritual wisdom.  When witnessing this landscape, it can be hard to comprehend the destruction our land and people have endured. Our prairies have been exploited by natural gas pollution, our sacred buffalo nearly wiped out, and our language and cultural identity severely diminished. Our tribe and centuries-old culture have been reduced, marginalized, and assimilated to the point of near disappearance. Today, we continue to face the repercussions of this trauma, including community fragmentation, drug abuse, alcoholism, and mental health issues. This is why we are dedicated to facilitating healing processes  Yet our tribe's struggle to preserve and restore our way of life is part of the broader global climate fight, in which greedy corporations and self-interested governments have spent decades setting the natural world on fire by prioritizing financial gain over clean air and fresh water.  As Blackfoot cultural leaders, we understand the importance of working for the greater good and long-term prosperity. Many with an individualistic mindset, focused solely on short-term monetary gain, may consider doing business with extractive companies, selling land, natural resources, water, and plants. However, as Indigenous Peoples, our ancestors taught us to always consider the long-term impact of our actions on future generations. We don't act as individuals pursuing personal benefit, but as a collective, with the responsibility to protect our planet and ensure we leave it in the best possible condition for those who will follow. This is because what unites Indigenous Peoples worldwide is that, even in the darkest times, we remain resilient. Despite our differences, Indigenous Peoples share experiences and trauma with colonialism, exploitation, and extraction, powerful forces that have both threatened our ways of life and laid the groundwork for the climate crisis the planet now faces. Yet we remain united in our commitment to protecting and restoring our lands, our cultures, and the natural world. This is who we are and who we have always been— a powerful collective force that thinks, feels, and acts guided by the wisdom of our ancestors, with a shared vision of leaving a lasting legacy for future generations. Nevertheless, as Indigenous Peoples, we are often overlooked when it comes to global climate solutions. From Climate Week NYC to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Indigenous perspectives are underrepresented in the decision-making spaces that determine the direction of our future. In discourse dominated by big money, big names, and technological innovation, we often don't even have a seat at the table. This is a grave mistake. Instead of selling off our land for profit and destroying our natural environment in the process, for centuries we have proactively found ways to sustain ourselves while protecting and restoring the environment around us. This includes Blackfoot's decades-long effort to bring back free-roaming buffalo, whose population used to number in the millions but were brought to the edge of extinction. We are proud to be the first sovereign Indigenous nation in U.S. history to have released a herd of free-roaming buffalo back into their natural habitat.  At the heart of our cultural preservation is our efforts to educate the Blackfoot youth and work towards building the next generation of Indigenous peoples warriors. By teaching them our traditional knowledge, our heritage and our language, Siksikáí’powahsin, we are building eco-knowledge in the younger generations and revitalizing our environmental work.  While we have made incredible progress in restoring our land, our fight never ends. Oil and gas corporations continue to seek our land for drilling, contaminating our water and disrupting our sacred sites. Each day we must stand our ground and do all we can to ensure environmental justice and protect our land from further destruction. It's not an easy fight, but it is one we are committed to as a people. By putting our voices forward, and leveraging thousands of years of experience, Indigenous Peoples play a central role in navigating the climate crisis and helping the world achieve greater ecological, social, and cultural harmony. We have overcome incredible obstacles to rebuild from the ground-up. Our worldview, along with our way of thinking and acting as stewards of a legacy, prioritizing the care of our Earth over financial gain, has been essential in bringing us to where we are today. If we want to combat climate change and protect our natural world from destruction, the same must be true on a global scale: we need to choose our collective future and well-being of all life on Earth and future generations over the short-term gains and profits of a few, and we must have Indigenous leaders at the table in order to do so. 

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on a school in northern Gaza on Saturday killed at least 22 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The Israeli army said it targeted a Hamas command center in what used to be a school. Another 30 were wounded in the strike on the school in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City, the ministry said in a statement. Most of the casualties were women and children, it said. It wasn’t immediately clear which hospital the dead and injured were taken to. Video taken by The Associated Press showed dozens of people including children digging through the rubble of the building — its ceilings caved in, walls knocked out and a mess of wires and metal rods visible. Outside, others gathered around shrouded bodies. Some covered their faces as they wept for relatives killed in the strike. “A missile, a missile from the plane hit us, and another missile,” said Ferial Deloul, who is displaced. “We saw the whole world covered with smoke and stones and we saw people and children cut up. … What should we do? What is our fault for this to happen to us?” The Israeli army said earlier Saturday that it struck Hamas’ “command and control center, which was embedded inside a compound that previously served” as a school. It said steps were taken to limit harming civilians, including using precise munitions and aerial surveillance. Also on Saturday, the Gaza Health Ministry said five of its workers were killed and five others wounded by Israeli fire that struck the ministry’s warehouses in the southern Musbah area. Contesting narratives over the use of schools and hospitals Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, the Israeli army has struck several schools, packed with tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli offensives and evacuation orders. The conflict has left 90% of Palestinians in Gaza displaced, according to figures from the United Nations. The military has continually accused Hamas of operating from within civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including schools, U.N. facilities and hospitals. The contesting narratives over the use of schools and hospitals go to the heart of the nearly yearlong conflict. Earlier this month, an Israeli strike hit a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 14, according to Palestinian medical officials. The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas militants planning attacks from inside the school. In July, Israeli airstrikes hit a girls’ school in Deir al-Balah, killing at least 30 people sheltering inside. Israel’s military said it targeted a Hamas command center used to direct attacks against its troops and store “large quantities of weapons.” The war began when Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between fighters and civilians. Escalating tensions in the region Tensions soared in the region on Friday after an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb in Lebanon killed dozens of people, including civilians and Ibrahim Akil, who was in charge of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force. Also killed was Ahmed Wahbi, another senior commander in the group’s military wing. The strike came hours after Hezbollah launched one of its most intense bombardments of northern Israel in nearly a year of fighting. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted most of the rockets. Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israel had struck more than 400 rocket launchers in Lebanon on Saturday. Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated on Saturday night in Tel Aviv and at several smaller protests across the country, demanding a cease-fire and the return of the roughly 100 hostages still being held in Gaza. The protests, which happen every Saturday night, attracted a similar crowd compared to previous weeks despite the tense security situation on Israel’s northern border.

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Friday that nearly 98,000 people whose citizenship documents hadn't been confirmed can vote in state and local elections. This is a significant decision that could influence ballot measures and tight legislative races. The court's decision comes after officials discovered a database error that mistakenly designated these voters as having access to the full ballot for two decades. These voters were already entitled to vote in federal elections, including for president and Congress, regardless of the court's ruling. Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, and Stephen Richer, the Republican Maricopa County recorder, had disagreed on the voting status of these individuals. Richer asked the high court to intervene, arguing that Fontes had disregarded state law by advising county officials to allow the affected voters to cast full ballots. Fontes argued that prohibiting these voters, who believed they had met the voting requirements, from accessing the full ballot would raise concerns about equal protection and due process. The high court, which has a Republican lean, sided with Fontes. It stated that county officials lacked the authority to alter the voting status of these individuals because they had registered long ago and had attested under oath to their citizenship. The justices also emphasized that the voters were not responsible for the database error and highlighted the limited time remaining before the November 5 general election. “We are unwilling on these facts to disenfranchise voters en masse from participating in state contests,” Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer wrote in the ruling. Out of the nearly 98,000 affected voters, most reside in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. They are long-term state residents ranging in age from 45 to 60. Approximately 37% of them are registered Republicans, about 27% are registered Democrats, and the rest are independents or affiliated with minor parties. Arizona stands out among states in requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship to participate in local and state elections. Voters can demonstrate their citizenship by presenting a driver's license or tribal ID number, or they can attach a copy of a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization documents. Arizona considers driver's licenses issued after October 1996 as valid proof of citizenship. However, a system coding error incorrectly labeled nearly 98,000 voters who obtained licenses before 1996 — roughly 2.5% of all registered voters — as full-ballot voters, according to state officials. The error between the state's voter registration database and the Motor Vehicle Division has been resolved. This significant number of votes could influence the outcome of closely contested races for the state Legislature, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority in both chambers. Voters are also making decisions on the constitutional right to abortion and on a state law that would criminalize noncitizens for entering Arizona through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry. While Richer and Fontes disagreed on the status of these voters, both welcomed the court's ruling. “Thank God,” Richer said on the social platform X. He told The Associated Press on Thursday that maintaining voters' statuses would be easier from an administrative perspective. Fontes, in a news release, called the ruling a “significant victory for those whose fundamental right to vote was under scrutiny.” He indicated that election officials will contact voters who need to update their proof of citizenship after the election. John Groseclose, one of the voters whose citizenship was in question, expressed relief at not having to spend more time resolving the issue. Earlier this week, he mentioned waiting for an hour and a half at a motor vehicle office in Tempe only to find that the employee assisting him was unaware of the issue and didn't know how to update his voter registration, despite his providing an official birth certificate and a new passport. “I’m glad that none of us are going to be disenfranchised over an error generated by the MVD 20 some-odd years ago,” Groseclose told the AP.

(TOKYO) — If you're trying to lose weight and are looking for a new way to do it, stair-climbing as a regular exercise — or just adding a few flights a day — might be for you. It's readily available, and research shows it's more effective than walking on flat ground. “Overall, it is a fact that stair-climbing gets you fit faster and burns more calories,” said Lauri van Houten, vice president of the International Skyrunning Federation, which oversees a wide range of disciplines that involve vertical climbing. This includes disciplines like mountain running above 2,000 meters (about 6,500 feet) or events like the Stairclimbing World Championships. These competitions are for the very fit, but we're talking here about adding a few minutes of stair-climbing as a daily routine and raising awareness about its effectiveness  “How many calories will I burn is the question everyone wants to know,” van Houten said. “Here’s the good news: The overall energy expenditure of the exercise depends on your weight. Therefore, the more you weigh, the more you burn.” Stair-climbing burns calories — fast Research shows you burn about 20 times more calories going up stairs than walking on flat ground. Even going down stairs you burn roughly five times more, the muscles being worked to slow the body’s descent. That might be all you need to know if you are trying to lose weight. Dr. Alberto Minetti, a physiologist and biomechanist at the University of Milan, has done extensive research of human locomotion — including stair-climbing. “It is an exercise everybody can do,” Minetti told The Associated Press. “You always have stairs nearby you — free of charge compared to a gym.” Minetti did the math to explain why going up stairs is so effective for burning calories in a short amount of time. “To move 1 kilogram of body mass over 1 horizontal meter, you expend 0.5 calories,” he said. “If you move 1 kilogram of body mass vertically on stairs it’s 10 calories. So it’s 20 times the calories moving vertically rather than horizontally.” Trained as a physician, Minetti has spent his career in research rather than treating patients. He suggested “watching your speed” for the not-so-young and beginners. He does his own stair-climbing at his third-floor residence in Milan. He said he often takes a few deep breaths before ascending, which makes him feel fresher at the top. , Minetti makes the point that using the arms in stair-climbing adds extra power. Handrails offer safety, too. The journal notes that handrails are available in most stairwells in skyscrapers, which maximizes “the muscle mass involved and, consequently, the mechanical/metabolic power of the ascent” by getting the arms involved. “They are relatively small muscles in the arms, but better than nothing,” Minetti said. Stairs are everywhere If stair-climbing was an Olympic sport, Suzy Walsham would own a handful of gold medals. She’s won 10 races up New York’s Empire State Building — officially 1,576 stairs. She’s claimed titles in more than 100 international stair races, and was once regarded as the No. 1 woman in the discipline. Five times, the Australian has won climbs up the Eiffel Tower. This was all too easy, apparently. When she was living in Singapore, Walsham climbed up her 29-story building — 37 consecutive times. It took over four hours, riding the elevator down each time after reaching the top with short breaks for coffee or water. She covered a vertical distance of 3,200 meters (10,500 feet). But let’s get grounded. What are the advantages of stair-climbing as a regular exercise routine for the rest of us? “You get a lot of bang for your buck,” Walsham told the AP. “Many people struggle to run as they age. The impact of running gets harder on the joints. But stair training is a great alternative.” Stairs are everywhere — one flight, two flights at home, inside skyscrapers, in stadiums and arenas, at work, in shopping malls, in the subway. One giant advantage of stair-climbing is it doesn’t take much time. It’s easy to build up, adding a few flights of stairs every day or week, and it improves balance. On the down side, it’s not very scenic, particularly in the stairways of towering skyscrapers. Stair-climbing can be worked into your daily routine Yuri Yoshizumi won last year’s women’s division of the Stairclimbing World Championships in her native Osaka, Japan, a 285-meter (935 feet) climb — 1,610 stairs — that she finished in 10 minutes, 20.06 seconds. “Stair-climbing is an easy sport for beginners and the general public to get into,” Yoshizumi told the AP in an email. “Elite athletes push themselves pretty hard, so it’s pretty tough. But it’s good for you to strengthen your muscles and your cardiovascular system in a short amount of time.” She added another advantage, particularly living in a large metropolis like Osaka. “It’s possible to do it in the city,” she said. “Just using the stairs instead of the escalators at (subway) stations and department stores is a good way to get some exercise.”