Science Blog – Growing up in bad neighborhoods has a devastating impact
Growing up in a poor neighborhood significantly reduces the chances that a child will graduate from high school, according to a study published in the October issue of the American Sociological Review. And, the longer a child lives in that kind of neighborhood, the more harmful the impact.
Injury Board – Deficit Reduction Plan Would Impose Penalties on Nursing Homes
A little noticed provision in the plan would penalize nursing homes for sending patients to the hospital when they lack the staff to care for patients or have caused the patient to be admitted. In addition, as part of the broad deficit reduction plan, the plan would cut more than $300 billion from projected Medicare and Medicaid spending, including cuts in general payments to nursing homes, home health agencies, other providers, and drug companies.
CBS News – CDC: Self-reported drunk driving is down
Drunken driving incidents have fallen 30 percent in the last five years, and last year were at their lowest mark in nearly two decades, according to a new federal report.
NPR – The Thinnest State Loosens Its Belt
But all the jogging and healthy eating doesn’t mean Colorado is immune from the obesity crisis plaguing the rest of the nation. Buried behind all the glossy brochures of bronzed athletes scaling peaks is the fact that even in the thinnest state, one out of every five Coloradans is obese. That’s more than a million people.
USAToday – ‘Fed Up with Lunch’ exposes worst school meals
Wu is drawing attention to one of the hottest topics in child nutrition: the quality of school lunches. Many consumer advocates, parents and others have been fighting for years for healthier school meals in part because of the current childhood obesity epidemic: A third of children in the USA are overweight or obese.
LATimes – Fat tax in Denmark: Why they have it; could it happen in U.S.? [Updated]
The Food Police have stormed Denmark, where it is now a little more expensive to eat fattening food. The country’s so-called “fat tax” went into effect on Saturday. The tax rate is 16 Danish kroner per kilogram of saturated fat in a food — in terms Americans can understand, that’s about $1.29 per pound of saturated fat – and it kicks in when the saturated fat content of a food item exceeds 2.3%.
