CBS News
Longtime Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader Krystal Anderson dies after giving birth
A longtime Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader who was passionate about women’s health died after giving birth.
Krystal Lakeshia Anderson died shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Charlotte Willow, who was stillborn, according to an obituary.
A GoFundMe established to cover Anderson’s medical expenses, memorial services and establish a “legacy fund” said that Anderson, 40, had been diagnosed with sepsis during her pregnancy. According to the GoFundMe, Anderson “sought out hospitalization during her 21st week of pregnancy.” After delivering her daughter, Anderson experienced organ failure and was placed on life support. She underwent three surgeries “but the source of infection remained elusive,” the GoFundMe said. Anderson died on March 20.
Anderson is survived by her husband, Clayton William Anderson, her parents, and several other family members, according to the obituary. She was preceded in death by her infant son, James Charles.
Anderson cheered for the Chiefs for the 2006-2011 seasons, and again for the 2013-2016 seasons, the cheerleading team said in a social media post. The squad said that she attended the Pro Bowl in 2015 and visited troops in the U.S., Iraq and Kuwait. Anderson also served the team in an alumni role even after she left the cheerleading team.
“She was loved and adored by her teammates, fans, and strangers who were never strangers for long,” the team said on social media.
Anderson also worked at Oracle Health as a software engineer, where she made “significant contributions to improving healthcare,” according to the obituary. She was awarded a patent for developing software that assesses the risk of postpartum hemorrhage. Anderson also advocated for Black women in STEM and for women’s health.
Anderson’s obituary said she “radiated joy and laughter” and described her passion for philanthropy.
Sepsis is a condition that occurs when the body does not respond to an infection properly and the organs begin to work poorly, according to Mayo Clinic. Maternal sepsis is the second leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths, according to University of New Mexico Health. The odds of developing the condition can be increased by things like prolonged labor, C-section birth, and exposure to someone with an infection, according to UNM Health.
In the last two decades, maternal deaths in the U.S. have more than doubled.
Black mothers are at the highest risk of dying in childbirth, as CBS News previously reported. A 2020 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black women in the U.S. was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births — roughly 2.9 times the rate among non-Hispanic White women.
Dr. Henning Tiemeier, the director of Harvard’s Maternal Health Task Force, called the high rate of maternal mortality among Black women “essentially one of the biggest challenges of public health.”
“We see that as a top of the iceberg of poor health in women and poor health in Black women,” Tiemeier said in an interview on “Face the Nation” in 2022. “And there are several reasons, there seems to [be], from poverty to discrimination to poor care for this group of women.”
In May 2023, Olympic champion sprinter Tori Bowie died from complications of childbirth at age 32.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
United said it will now text customers live radar maps when delays occur due to weather events, to keep them apprised of factors affecting their flight’s status.
The airline wants to keep customers in the loop in the event of delays and provide them with as much information as it can, perhaps to temper passenger frustration when their travel plans are interrupted due to circumstances out of the company’s control.
“United’s latest innovation — real-time radar maps — can help customers understand how inclement weather in one part of the country can impact a flight elsewhere,” United said in a statement announcing the effort.
The company is using generative AI tools to power these and other messages to customers. Previously, United personnel generated flight-related messages sent to customers, announcing things like gate changes or new departure times. The new effort comes just ahead of the busy July 4 holiday travel period, with airports preparing for record-setting numbers of passengers. About 5.74 million people are expected to take to the skies to celebrate Independence Day, up almost 7% from the same period last year, according to AAA.
“With more people traveling this summer than ever, we wanted to give our customers an easier way to stay connected to real-time information about their flight — and texting was the simplest solution,” United’s Chief Information Officer Jason Birnbaum said in a statement Wednesday. “We know customers appreciate transparency — and by combining innovative, technology-enabled tools with people-power, we can give more people even more in-the-moment details about their flight.”
Airline customer service and flight operations team members will assist the AI in generating a customer update “that tells the complete story of a flight change.”
During weather-related disruptions, updates will include links to real-time, local radar maps that help illustrate “how weather in one part of the country can impact a flight elsewhere,” United said.
United has long leveraged technology to communicate with customers, including by providing automatic rebooking assistance so passengers don’t have to stand in a line to talk to an agent in person, and by sending customers real-time flight updates.
Sutipond Somnam / Getty Images
You may be looking for ways to cut your interest costs on your credit card debt. With average interest rates on these accounts currently over 20%, carrying balances from month to month can get expensive. But, cutting your interest rate could result in lower monthly payments and a lower overall cost to pay your debts off.
Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) are one effective way to do so.
HELOCs are financial products that can give you access to the funding you need while using your home as security against what you borrow. With your home as collateral, financial institutions typically charge significantly lower interest rates on these products than on unsecured credit lines like credit cards. And, there are multiple reasons to consider using a HELOC to pay your credit card debt off in today’s economic environment.
Pay your high-interest debt off with a HELOC now.
3 reasons to use a HELOC to pay your credit cards off right now
If you want to save money on your credit card debt and get out of debt faster, consider opening a HELOC. Here are a few reasons why you should use a HELOC to pay off your credit card debt right now:
HELOC interest rates are usually lower than credit card rates
“It would make sense to utilize a HELOC to pay off high-interest debt in today’s environment if the math worked,” explains John Jones, investment advisor representative at the financial planning firm, Heritage Financial. “It may make sense to use a HELOC at a lower interest rate to pay off the higher interest debt.”
Credit card rates are substantially higher than the average HELOC interest rate, which currently sit at 9.17%. So, you could cut your rate by over 10% by paying your credit card debt off with a HELOC. And, that means you could realize significant savings both in what you pay monthly and over time.
Take advantage of today’s competitive HELOC interest rates now.
HELOCs come with variable interest rates
While HELOCs typically offer lower interest rates than credit cards, their interest rates are variable – as is usually the case on credit card accounts. But, that could be a good thing in today’s economic environment.
Inflation is slowing down, and it may continue doing so. If that proves to be the case, the Federal Reserve may cut its federal funds rate soon – which could be followed by reductions in the interest rates consumers pay to borrow money. So, your HELOC’s interest rate could fall if overall rates start to come down.
Most homeowners have plenty of equity to work with
If you own your home, you probably have all the equity you need to pay your credit cards off. While the average American has $7,951 in credit card debt, if they own their homes, they have an average of $206,000 in tappable equity available now. So, even if you owe substantially more than the average American does to credit card companies, you may have plenty of equity in your home to pay your debts off – and save money in the process.
Use your equity to get out of debt today.
The bottom line
If you have high-interest credit card debt that you make monthly payments on, and own your home, you could cut the cost of your debt. Simply open a HELOC and use the credit line to pay your credit card debt off. Not only should you have plenty of equity to use, HELOCs typically come with lower interest rates than credit cards. And, with variable rates, the cost of your HELOC could drop over time. That’s especially true when you consider the current state of the economy. Compare your HELOC options today to pay off your high-interest credit card debt.
