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Parental Involvement Can
Help Prevent Underage Drinking
According to a recent study
by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center parents play an important role in their children's
underage drinking. The study, published
this month in the Journal of Adolescent Health, shows that teens are more
likely to binge drink if their parents or friends' parents provide alcohol at
their home for a party. It appears that
parents who model responsible drinking behaviors have the potential to teach
their children the same.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-09/wfub-pic093004.php
Statement of RWJ on the
Release of Institute of Medicine's Childhood Obesity Report
The Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation (RWJF) supports the Institute of Medicine's Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance report, which
focuses attention and proposes action on the nation's childhood obesity
epidemic. This independent, expert report is the most comprehensive analysis to
date about this terrible threat to our children's health. RWJF applauds the IOM
Committee for providing far-reaching recommendations and a valuable blueprint
for action, outlining key steps that public officials, industry leaders, schools,
health care providers, parents, community groups and others can take to stem
the tide of childhood obesity.
http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/spew4th.pl?ascribeid=20040930.091843&time=09%2057%20PDT&year=2004&public=1
Kidnetic.com Answers IOM
Call for Childhood Obesity Prevention
In the National Academies'
Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, "Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health
in the Balance," the committee experts identified three settings in which
physical activity and healthy eating can be promoted to children:
community-based organizations, schools, and the home. Kidnetic.com -- http://kidnetic.com
-- is an innovative website designed to promote physical activity and healthy
eating to kids and parents in these same settings. To make this resource
accessible to community programs, the Kidnetic.com Leader's Guide to Healthy
Eating & Active Living for Kids & Families -- http://ific.org/kidnetic -- was released
earlier this year to assist health professionals, educators, and community
youth organizations in teaching healthy lifestyles to kids and families.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=37229
**Civic Engagement
Young Voters Are the 'Wild
Card' In the 2004 Presidential Race
Researchers at Duke's Terry
Sanford Institute for Public Policy, report that the new generation of voters
could decide the next presidential election, but it's unclear which way these
voters might lean. Right now young
voters are registering to vote in record numbers. Will they show up at the polls? Will they
split evenly down the middle for the Republicans and Democrats as they did in
2000, or is the momentum more toward one side?"
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/news/wildcard_0904.html
**Community Development
HUD Backs Down From
Much-Maligned Plan
The Department of Housing and
Urban Development has backed away from a proposal that critics said would have
forced many of the 2 million poor, elderly or disabled families who use
government housing vouchers to foot more of the rent on their own or find
substandard apartments.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http:/story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040927/ap_on_go_ot/housing_vouchers
**Economic Security
To Build your
Credit, Pay the Rent
A new service offers people
with no credit history a chance to establish creditworthiness. Pay Rent, Build Credit Inc. (PRBC) tracks how
well participants pay their expenses - everything from rent and utilities to
day care and insurance. It's free for individuals to sign up, and once there's
a critical mass of data, lenders will be able to use the scores in addition to,
or instead of, traditional credit scores.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0927/p16s01-wmgn.html
**Education
New Study Identifies
Trilogy Necessary to Increase Student Success in Science and Math
A new report, funded by the
GE Foundation, suggests ways to increase the number and diversity of those
pursuing education and careers in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics. "Engagement, Capacity
and Continuity: A Trilogy For Student Success," analyzes why successful
individual reform efforts have not led to broader increases in students
achieving at high levels nor entering science and math oriented careers. http://www.smm.org/ecc/
New Study Finds State
Textbook Adoption Leaves Kids Behind
According to a new study by
the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, today's public school textbooks serve the
interests of state bureaucrats, special interests, and multinational publishing
conglomerates, but not those of students or teachers. The problem arises from the dysfunctional,
archaic textbook adoption procedures of 21 states. The study explains how and why the state
adoption process hurts students and teachers, kowtows to special interests,
stifles innovative approaches to education, discourages competition, and
enriches the four giant publishers that dominate the $4.3 billion K-12 textbook
market.
http://www.edexcellence.net/institute/publication/publication.cfm?id=335
Carnegie Mellon Receives
Multi-Million Dollar Grant to Train the Next Generation of Education
Researchers
The U.S. Department of
Education has awarded Carnegie Mellon University a five-year, $5 million grant
to train doctoral students from several disciplines - including psychology,
computer science, philosophy and statistics - to conduct applied educational
research. The students will earn a Ph.D. in their chosen field while performing
research aimed at improving instruction in schools. The grant is part of a series of initiatives
by the Education Department and its Institute for Education Sciences (IES) to
develop research-based education programs and teaching strategies that will
help K-12 schools improve student achievement.
http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/spew4th.pl?ascribeid=20040930.072659&time=08%2038%20PDT&year=2004&public=1
GOP
Plan Would Shut Down Excess Subsidies, Use Funds to Help Teachers and Poor
Schools
The chairmen of the Senate
and House education committees, announced that they will offer legislation that
would cut off excess subsidies to student loan providers and use the money to
expand incentives for highly qualified teachers to teach key subjects in high
poverty K-12 schools, where they are badly needed.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=37231
**Health
EPA
and National Urban League Join Forces to Protect Children from Environmental
Health Risks
The Environmental Protection
Administration has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Urban
League to work together on protecting children in socioeconomically
disadvantaged communities from environmental health risks.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=146-09292004&site=rss
Report Shows Health Care
Is Far Less Affordable Than Four Years Ago
According to a report
released by Families USA in 35 states, workers' health care premiums rose at
least three times faster than their earnings, despite reductions in coverage. Nationally, workers' premium costs rose, on
average, by 35.9 percent, while their average earnings over the same period
rose by only 12.4 percent. These comparatively large premium increases occurred
despite erosions in health care coverage, with employer-provided insurance
packages covering fewer health services and workers paying more in deductibles
and co-payments.
http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/spew4th.pl?ascribeid=20040927.095941&time=06%2000%20PDT&year=2004&public=1
Weight Loss Surgery May
Soon Be Paid by Medicare
At a meeting in November,
Medicare's advisers will assess the safety, efficacy and cost of one
increasingly popular method of weight loss - surgery - as a first step in a new
policy that could lead to the use of federal money to cover a range of other
obesity treatments. Yet, at a time when
coverage by Medicare and other insurers may increase, the evidence suggests
that few obese people can lose significant amounts of weight in the long term.
And some obesity researchers are also questioning the fundamental idea that
losing weight improves health. Are weight loss programs, they ask, unnecessary
medicine?
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/30/business/30obese.html?ex=1254283200&en=c5aca0e3f3ecf788&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt
HHS Works with Grassroots to Help Medicare Beneficiaries See Savings
With Drug Cards
The
Department of Health and Human Services has launched a public-private outreach
effort with hundreds of community organizations all across the nation to help
millions of eligible seniors and people with a disability begin saving on their
prescription drugs right away. More than
100 community-based organizations and coalitions representing nearly 700
individual organizations will receive a total of $3.95 million from the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Administration on Aging (AoA).
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=37224
**Homelessness
HHS
Awards 34 Grants Totaling $67.6 Million to Provide Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services for Homeless People
The Department of Health and
Human Services announced 34 grants totaling $67.6 million over five years to
provide substance abuse and mental health services to homeless individuals.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=159-09292004&site=rss
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