**Children, Youth & Families
Children are naturally
prone to be empathic and moral
Children between the ages
of seven and 12 appear to be naturally inclined to feel empathy for others
in pain, according to researchers who used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
scans to study responses in children.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/children-are-na.php
Non-parental care of
infants tied to unfavorable feeding practices
With more new mothers in
the workplace than ever before, there has been a corresponding increase in
the number of child care facilities in the United States. At the same time, data from a variety
of sources point to a growing prevalence of overweight infants and toddlers.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/nonparental-car.php
**************************************************************************
Have a Website? Place HandsNet Headlines
on your site – visit http://www.handsnet.org/addheadl.htm
************************************************************************
Cost of raising a child
with special needs: Where does your state rank?
In a new study found that
families with similar demographics and nature of their children's special
needs have different out-of-pocket health expenditures depending on the state
in which they live.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/cost-of-raising.php
Let's talk about sex
- helping parents raise sexually healthy young people
Parenting programs in the
workplace can significantly improve parents' ability to talk with their children
about sexual health and may provide a unique way of promoting healthy adolescent
sexual behavior, concludes a study published on BMJ.com.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/lets-talk-about.php
Learning to Talk to Teens
about Sex -- While at Work; Worksite Program Teaches Parents How to Broach
Touchy Topics
Sex is one of the most difficult
topics a parent can bring up with an adolescent, but a new study finds that
parents who are taught specific communication skills can more readily tackle
these conversations and sustain them over time.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/learning-to-tal.php
**Community Development
Mexico feels sting of U.S. housing crisis
New data on remittance flows---the
earnings migrant workers send home to their families---confirm that the rest
of the world is far from immune to the weakening U.S. economy.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/mexico-feels-st.php
SARASOTA HOUSING AUTHORITY RETURNED TO LOCAL
CONTROL AFTER THREE YEARS UNDER FEDERAL RECEIVERSHIP
HUD's receivership team
corrected SHA's financial and management deficiencies
and addressed the poor housing conditions. SHA's
operations were streamlined to make unit repairs quickly to get apartments
on-line faster, as well as provided SHA staff extensive training.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/sarasota-housin.php
HUD ANNOUNCES DISASTER
ASSISTANCE FOR SOUTH DAKOTA STORM VICTIMS
The U.S. Housing and Urban
Development Department announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance
to 27 storm-ravaged counties in South Dakota and provide support to homeowners
and low-income renters forced from their homes following severe storms and
flooding.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/hud-announces-d-5.php
HUD ANNOUNCES DISASTER
ASSISTANCE FOR KANSAS STORM VICTIMS
The U.S. Housing and Urban
Development Department announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance
to 46 storm-ravaged counties in Kansas and provide support to homeowners
and low-income renters forced from their homes following tornadoes, severe
storms and flooding.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/hud-announces-d-4.php
HUD ANNOUNCES DISASTER
ASSISTANCE FOR OKLAHOMA STORM VICTIMS
The U.S. Housing and Urban
Development Department announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance
to 24 storm-ravaged counties in Oklahoma and provide support to homeowners
and low-income renters forced from their homes following severe storms and
flooding.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/hud-announces-d-3.php
HUD CHARGES PUERTO RICO HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION WITH DISCRIMINATING AGAINST DISABLED
HOMEOWNER
The U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development announced that it charged a homeowner association in
Puerto Rico with housing discrimination for refusing to permit a disabled
man to have support railings in the front of his home.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/hud-charges-pue.php
**Economic Security
Pew Partners with State
and City Officials to Help Low- And Moderate- Income Households Secure Bank
Accounts
The new programs, called
"Bank On" initiatives, connect the "unbanked" ---households without bank accounts---to appropriate
accounts that help lower their financial transaction costs and put them on
the path to building savings and assets.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/pew-partners-wi.php
Fairness Initiative on
Low-Wage Work: Help for Low-Wage Workers
A recently released report
by the Brookings Institution suggests that the federal government can expand
and modernize the EITC to help low-wage families struggling to pay for housing,
transportation, child care and other necessities.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/fairness-initia.php
Weekly paychecks take
hit as job market deteriorates
The U.S. job market continues to weaken, as
payroll contracted for the sixth straight month and unemployment remained
at 5.5%, according to today's jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Weekly paychecks for most workers over the past year are up only 2.8%, well
below the growth of inflation.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/weekly-paycheck.php
**Education
State Profiles: 2006
Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) Data
Data include information
on programs, participants, families, and staff for all Head Start programs
in each state, including preschool, Early Head Start, American Indian and
Alaskan Native, and Migrant Head Start.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/state-profiles.php
Reading, math scores up for 4th and 8th graders
The nation's fourth and
eighth graders scored higher in reading and mathematics than they did during
their last national assessment, according to the federal government's latest
annual statistical report on the well-being of the nation's children.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/reading-math-sc.php
PA Governor Signs Education
Budget Benefiting Children and Taxpayers
The Governor said the education
budget will lay the foundation for academic success for all students by providing
the largest increase in basic education funding in at least two decades, while
also introducing a needs-based school funding formula that invests in proven
programs that reap results for children.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/governor-rendel-1.php
Study reveals potential
reasons for school absenteeism
The research links truancy
and school fear to life events, parental behavior and school environment.
The study not only allows the assessment of the frequency of fear and truancy
but also allows a clinically meaningful differentiation of these two forms
of absenteeism by behavioral and psychosocial characteristics".
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/study-reveals-p.php
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
Helps 46 Community College Stars Transfer to Top Four-Year Institutions
A highly motivated, exceptionally
promising group of community college students from lower-income backgrounds
is pushing the doors open to some of the nation's top four-year universities,
transferring to such institutions as Stanford, Cornell, and the University
of Pennsylvania with the help of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, a nonprofit
champion of high-achieving lower-income students.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/even-as-harvard.php
U.S. Department of Education Announces
25 Teachers Selected For Teaching Ambassador Fellowships
More than one thousand teachers
across the U.S. applied for the Fellowships, which
offer highly motivated, innovative public school teachers the opportunity
to contribute their knowledge and experience to the national dialogue on public
education.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/secretary-spell-15.php
**Health
A Way to Improve Coordination
of Children's Health Care?
As pediatric practices strengthen
their role as medical homes for their patients, they need either to provide
expanded services or enhance their capacity to coordinate that care. One
option for enhancing the existing capacity of pediatric practices is colocation
with other providers and services in the same setting.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/colocating-heal.php
Spending on Medical Care:
More Is Better?
The study revealed that
Medicare beneficiaries in regions with greater health spending levels were
not necessarily more satisfied with their care---a finding that confirms previous
research showing little correlation between health spending and clinical outcomes
across the United States.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/spending-on-med.php
Talking Health: New Webcast
Series for Health Journalists
A recent study by Commonwealth
Fund researchers found that the number of underinsured adults rose by 60 percent
between 2003 and 2007, from 16 million to more than 25 million, with the rate
nearly tripling for those with moderate or higher incomes.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/talking-health.php
Higher education associated
with greater gains in mortality reduction from common cancers
A study published in the
July 8 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute shows
that more highly educated individuals had mortality reductions in nearly all
of these cancers, while less educated individuals had a mortality reduction
in only one of the cancer types.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/higher-educatio.php
**Nutrition and Healthy
Living
The Internet, alcohol
and sleep
A new study soon to be published
in The Journal of Pediatrics analyzes the effect of Internet usage, sleep,
and alcohol and coffee consumption on weight gain in adolescent girls.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/the-internet-al.php
**Substance Abuse
Genetic variations put
youth at higher risk for lifetime of tobacco addiction
Common genetic variations
affecting nicotine receptors in the nervous system can significantly increase
the chance that European Americans who begin smoking by age 17 will struggle
with lifelong nicotine addiction, according to researchers at the University of Utah and their colleagues at University
of Wisconsin-Madison.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/genetic-variati.php
Binge drinking tied to
conditions in the college environment
The researchers conclude
that heavy drinking behavior of students was more common in college environments
that have a strong drinking culture, few alcohol control policies on campus
or in the surrounding community, weak enforcement of existing policies, and
alcohol made easily accessible through low prices, heavy marketing and special
promotions.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/07/binge-drinking-1.php
