Igloos built by migrants warm hearts in Italian Alps village

San Simone, a tiny village in the Italian Alps, once had a thriving ski trade. But financial issues kept the lifts closed this winter. The local hotel now houses about 80 African asylum-seekers who were assigned to live there when they arrived in Italy.

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, Omar Kanteh, of Gambia, carries a block of ice as he builds an igloo at an igloo village in San Simone di Valleve, near Bergamo, northern Italy. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, Moussa Sissoko, of Mali, left, helps build an igloo with Davide Midali, owner of an igloo village in San Simone di Valleve, near Bergamo, northern Italy.  (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

But restaurant owner Davide Midali saw promise in both his village and its new residents. To lure tourists back, he set out to build igloos that could be rented overnight, like ones he had seen in Sweden. That's how a handful of immigrants unaccustomed to the cold picked up the art of igloo-making.

"When some of them saw me creating these blocks of snow, they voluntarily decided to give a hand to reach a common goal," Midali said.

Working with a small crew of volunteers, Midali built six igloos, each taking four or five days to complete. Omar Kanteh, a Gambian citizen who has been in Italy for nine months, is among the newcomers who embraced the construction project, as well as its friendly foreman.

This photo taken on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, shows children playing with sledges behind an igloo village, built in San Simone di Valleve, near Bergamo, northern Italy. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, Omar Kanteh, of Gambia, with red fleece at center, and Moussa Sissoki, of Mali, holding a shovel at center right, are surrounded by children as they build igloos in San Simone di Valleve, near Bergamo, northern Italy.  (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

"God made snow, but this time, man made igloos," Kanteh said. "It was very strange to me, so I am very excited. This is a new talent in my life."

The igloos, which were set up as a mini-village, sleep 18 altogether and have been fully booked on weekends since mid-January. Curious people stop by to snap photographs or for a peek inside the snow domes. Schools in Milan and Bergamo have brought children up for fieldtrips.

For 100 euros ($123) per person, a couple can dine at Midali's restaurant, sleep in an igloo and eat an organic breakfast before embarking on a guided snowshoe excursion in the Valle Brembana mountains.

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, tourists Elena Rota and Giovanni di Giovanni prepare beds for the night inside an igloo, at an igloo village in San Simone di Valleve, near Bergamo, northern Italy. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, tourists relax on sun chairs next to an igloo village in San Simone di Valleve, near Bergamo, northern Italy. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Midali thinks the project has allowed him and the migrants to understand each other a little better, maybe even to serve as an example for others in San Simone.

In that way, the connection forged with tools and snow is a small counterpoint to the pre-election campaigning in Italy that has featured right-wing parties pledging to expel thousands of migrants.

"You learn to know these young men, where they are from and their background, and they also learn about our background and life here," Midali said.

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, tourists take a selfie outside an igloo in an igloo village in San Simone di Valleve, near Bergamo, northern Italy. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, tourists walk after sunset in an igloo village in San Simone di Valleve, near Bergamo, northern Italy.  (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Praising Midali's courage and open-mindedness, Kanteh said he would like to settle in San Simone if his application for Italian asylum is approved.

"He loves me for who I am, and I also love him for who he is," he said. "It's not about me being from Africa and him from Europe. We are all from one race."

Cristian Palazzi, president of the local tourism board, said the igloo undertaking project was "a small step to give life to a small community."

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, Omar Kanteh, of Gambia, left, stands next to a fire with Davide Midali, owner and manager of an igloo village in San Simone di Valleve, near Bergamo, northern Italy. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, Omar Kanteh, of Gambia, lights a candle after sunset, at an igloo village in San Simone di Valleve, near Bergamo, northern Italy.  (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

"I cannot guarantee whether this is enough, but for sure this has been a great idea because without it, today San Simone would be dead."

Most teenagers don’t use drugs. There’s data to show that because of a 50-year-old government survey that may now be in jeopardy.

The entire 17-member U.S. government team responsible for the National Survey on Drug Use and Health received layoff notices Tuesday, as part of the overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

It's not clear whether there is an alternative plan to analyze the data, which local and state governments use to develop prevention measures and treatment services. The federal government distributes grant money to fight the opioid addiction crisis based on it. Researchers use it to study trends in depression, alcoholism and tobacco use.

HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said the survey, mandated by Congress, will continue “as a vital contribution to the advancement of America’s behavioral health.” He said the department's reorganization will make it “better positioned to execute on Congress’s statutory intent.”

The nationally representative survey is conducted in person by an independent research group with about 70,000 people each year. It provides a more complete picture than trends in overdose deaths, which capture only a small segment of the problem, said Lindsey Vuolo of the Partnership to End Addiction.

“We use its findings on a near daily basis in our research, educational programming and resources, and communication materials,” Vuolo said of the survey.

Before the layoffs, the government team was preparing to analyze 2024 data, the first year where trends would be reliable again since the pandemic disrupted data collection, said Jennifer Hoenig, the laid-off director of the Office of Population Surveys.

The data could now sit on the shelf without experienced analysts to untangle it, she said.

“Every person working on it was let go,” Hoenig said. The office is part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which would be absorbed into a new Administration for a Healthy America under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s plan.

“My team and I care so much about this data that we want people to understand what is being lost in our country if we don’t have it,” Hoenig said.

In recent years, the survey has found:

— Seven out of 10 adolescents did not use illicit drugs or drink alcohol in 2023.

— Men 60 and older were more likely than women in the same age group to have a substance use disorder, but women were more likely than men to have had a major depressive episode in 2021 and 2022.

— Lesbian, gay and bisexual young people were about twice as likely as straight young people to have had a substance use disorder in 2023.

— People who report using cannabis in the past year nearly doubled over two decades, from 11% in 2002 to 21.9% in 2022.

“In attempting to solve any public health problem, data is critical," said Andrew Kessler of Slingshot Solutions, a consulting firm that specializes in addiction and mental health issues. “It allows us to advocate for and establish policies that fill very large gaps in treatment, thus saving lives in the process."

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - A protester gathers containers that look like OxyContin bottles at an anti-opioid demonstration in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington on April 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

FILE - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services building is seen, April 5, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)