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I'm Mark Sudall. Welcome back to Power and Politics. I have two guests joining me now, Greenwich First selectman Fred Camillo and Barbara Hertz. Welcome to you both. Good to be back. They are here to talk about Doctor Saul Hertz, who devised the medical uses of radioactive iodine. There's a proclamation. For him in Greenwich, and Fred, you've sent letters to Senator Richard Blumenthal and Governor Lamott to get him recognized. Fred, what did he mean to medicine? Why have you been trying to get him recognized? Well, he, he, uh, Doctor Hertz was instrumental in in basically saving untold amounts of lives in the last, uh, 70, 80 years, and, um, it's really, you know. Our country honors a lot of worthy people and um. When you look at some of the more recent ones, you know, there's a case to be made for everyone, but I mean this is really, it's hard to top what Doctor Hertz did, um, and it's, it's an amazing story which Barbara can fill in, but he, everybody should really, it's not just people who have had cancer that should be grateful for what he did, but lots of people because his, the advances in medicine. Sometimes comes from things that had nothing to do with those particular afflictions. So, uh, I'm hoping at some point that we'll get somebody in Washington to really focus on this and, and give him his due because, you know, we all, there's, you know, probably millions of people that are in this country and around the world that, uh, owe their lives to him. And Barbara, you were only 3 when your dad passed, but what have you learned about him since? Well, thanks to my mother, um, saving all his work for many decades in the house where I grew up, um, I discovered that he conceived of this idea. Uh, solely because he had been working on using, um, X-rays and iodine in trying to teach, treat a goiter, which is a growth on your thyroid, and at the time in the 1930s people did not have insurance. They had no money. Um, the stock market had crashed in 1929. And it was dangerous because antibiotics weren't being used, so he posed the question at a luncheon meeting over at Harvard Medical School to the president of MIT and he asked, could iodine be made radioactive artificially? Fast forward just 5 years without a computer, right, right, think about that. And he was able to have funding from a foundation in New York, the Mary and John Marco Foundation. They built a cyclotron, a special machine to make the radioactive iodine, as they called it in the day. And he took this in his car over the Charles River Bridge and asked the first patient, Would you please drink radiation? And she said, Yes. And this is at Mass General in Boston, at Mass General in Boston. And from, and from there, the radioiodine concept of targeting a particularly targeting cancer, um. Evolved. Now, now sadly, Doctor Hertz passed away at a young age, only 45 years old in 1950. Fred, just imagine what else he could have accomplished, right? What could have been, yeah, I mean, certainly his legacy is already cemented. I mean, it's, it's, it's there, but, uh, yeah, it, it, it, it's, uh, but thank God, I think we have to be grateful for what he did. In such a short period of time, right, and Barbara, uh, you said to me this week in an email that there is power in politics in the medical world. What did you mean by that? Well, um, you can see currently that technology is fostering this. Approach this targeted approach, um, however, the research funds have been dramatically cut. People are not coming to our fine universities like Yale in, uh, Connecticut and other fine universities from afar and in previous years, um, people have come to the United States to study and they stay here and they produce untold. Qual quality work and become part of our culture. And this, uh, I'm gonna hold this up here. This is the, uh, the proclamation, uh, that you helped put together, right? um. What did that mean to be able to give back to Barbara and what he meant to her and her family? Well, Barbara has been, you know, obviously her dad's biggest champion, but I think that, uh, many of us, and myself included, who have benefited from the work that he did many, many years ago. Um, it, this is a small little thing. I mean, I wish I could do more, um, but you know, I'm very happy to do my little small part to, uh, bring awareness to what, uh, Doctor Hertz did and for everyone else to, to take a look back at. You know what happened many, many years ago and which as Barbara will tell you which uh is being advanced upon now. I mean there's 11, you know, discovery, one, initiative leads to another and, um, we've seen that now with, with, um, cure rates, uh, getting some have been cured, but a lot, um, have fairly advanced. I, I always talk about childhood leukemia. Uh, when my sister Donna Marie had it in 1968 as an 11 year old child, there was no cure. Uh, today there's a 90% cure rate, so we're almost there. We're almost there in that particular one, but there's still a long way to go with certain things. But, uh, there's, we're very, very hopeful with, um. You know, the modern advances, but again, it all starts with people like Doctor Hertz, and we hope you hear back from all the folks you've reached out to as well. Yes, we're gonna keep on it. It's, it's worth pursuing definitely, and I, I thank you both for the time. This is really, uh, a nice thing that you're doing to, to recognize your father and all his accomplishments. We appreciate everything that he did. We appreciate you having us on. Yeah, thank you both. Thank you. Next, should people be allowed to sleep in public and even in their cars? It's a heated debate in Hartford when we return.

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Now to the latest on the conflict overseas. The US, Israel, and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire. The agreement is dependent on Iran opening the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world's oil is taken. Shortly after it was announced, missile alerts were still sounding across the Middle East. Israel claims it will continue in its war against Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Connecticut Democratic Congressman John Larson says he has filed articles of impeachment to remove President Trump from office. Larson saying Trump is a risk to the lives and safety and security of the American people. He also says members of the president's cabinet have an obligation to put patriotism over politics and should invoke the 25th Amendment. At the state capitol, lawmakers are moving forward with controversial legislation letting people sleep in their cars. This week, a key committee advanced a bill that allowed people to sleep or eat in public spaces and sleep in their car. Panhandling would also be allowed, so would accessing medical care unless there is a danger to public health or safety. You have to worry about cops, law enforcement, city officials, and everybody else kind of, um, judge you in that aspect. It's a, it's a frustration when you are trying to get on the highway and you have folks panhandling and I, I'm very sympathetic. I feel bad for, for people and and their circumstances, but it's a safety issue. Now supporters say the legislation is a work in progress. Protections for schools and restrictions on outdoor encampments are likely to be added. Senator Richard Blumenthal says the WNBA illegally forced the sale and relocation of the Connecticut Sun to Houston. He says the $300 million deal is $25 million less than offers that would have moved the team to either Boston or Hartford, but the WNBA blocked those. I'm calling for an investigation by the Department of Justice into the anti-competitive potential violations of our antitrust law by the WNBA because it forced Connecticut's son to leave Connecticut, much to the detriment and disappointment of fans and Local business and economy. And the team will move next year. It'll be sad to see them go. That's all our time. I'm Mark Sudall. Thanks for watching.

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Democratic Candidate for the 28th Senate District Rob Blanchard, Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo and the daughter of the late Dr. Saul Hertz, Barbara Hertz, join the program this week.

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