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Dropout rate could spell trouble
for state
June 21, 2010
By Gary Scharrer
Express-News
AUSTIN - The demographer who warned a decade ago about
Texas' unhappy mix of dismal education achievement and
high poverty is more concerned than ever. Actually ,
he's frightened. Also getting restless are growing
numbers of Texas business executives. Some don't see
much leadership from politicians or the private sector
in attacking the trend line that demographer Steve
Murdock says will result in three of very 10 workers not
having a high school education by 2040.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/dropout_rate_could_spell_trouble_for_state_economy_96773599.html
San Antonio is one of the worst cities for battling the
bulge
May 25, 2010
San Antonio Business Journal
San Antonio remains one of the lest fit cities in
America, according to the American College of Sports
Medicine's American Fitness Index.
The report, "Health and Community Fitness Status of the
50 Largest Metropolitan Areas," lists San Antonio as the
43rd most fit city. The index looks at preventative
health behaviors, levels of chronic disease conditions,
health care access and community resources that support
physical activity.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2010/05/24/daily15.html?ed=2010-05-26&ana=e_du_pub
St. Philip's child care center earns accreditation
May 24, 2010
San Antonio Business Journal
The St. Philip's College Child Development Center has
been re-accredited by the National Association for the
Education of Young Children. The association works to
promote early childhood education.
The local center's re-accreditation term is five years,
running from May 5, 2010 to June 1, 2015.
To earn the re-accreditation, the center had to meet
each of the association's 10 standards.
Mark Ginsberg, executive director of the National
Association for the Education of Young Children, says
the center's re-accreditation is a sign that the center
is a leader in a national effort to invest in
high-quality early childhood education designed to help
give all children a better start.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2010/05/24/daily5.html?ed=2010-05-24&ana=e_du_pub#ixzz0osvMfh32
Cuts to Child Care Subsidy Thwart More Job Seekers
May 23, 2010
by Peter S. Goodman
TUCSON - Able-bodied, outgoing and accustomed to
working, Alexandria Wallace wants to earn a paycheck.
But that requires someone to look after her 3-year-old
daughter, and Ms. Wallace, a 22-year-old single mother,
cannot afford childcare.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/business/economy/24childcare.html?pagewanted=1&th&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1274702630-1FNCCsvuM0C25CgiutGHoA
Study says more students struggling with reading at end
of pivotal third grade
May 18, 2010
by Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Nearly two-thirds of students in Virginia and Maryland
do not read proficiently by the time they finish third
grade, a pivotal milestone when material becomes more
complex and children are more likely to slip behind,
according to a national report released Tuesday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/17/AR2010051703879.html
Study finds that effects of low-quality child care last
into adolescence
May 14, 2010
by Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Low-quality care in the first few years of life can have
a small but long-lasting impact on a child's learning
and behavior, according to new results from the largest,
most authoritative assessment of child rearing in the
United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2010/05/14/ST2010051401954.html
Day care standards prompt tough
questions
April 20, 2010
by Veronica Flores-Paniagua
When it comes to child care, the questions of cost and
quality are never far from a parent's mind: What's
the best we can afford?
If you can't afford a full-time nanny, and most can't,
the best usually means a day care center with low
child-to-caregiver rations. The higher the cost, the
lower the ratio. The converse has been true for those on
the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Day_care_standards_prompt_tough_questions.html
Baby Fat May Not Be So Cute After
All
March 22, 2010
by Roni Caryn Rabin
Schools have banned cupcakes, issued obesity report
cards and cleared space in cafeterias for salad bars.
Just last month, Michelle Obama's campaign to end
childhood obesity promised to get young people
moving more and revamp school lunch, and beverage makers
said they had cut the sheer number of liquid calories
shipped to schools by almost 90 percent in the past five
years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/health/23obese.html?th&emc=th
CentroMed to receive shot in the arm in federal funding.
March 15, 2010
San Antonio Business Journal
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is
furnishing $31 million to El Centro del Barrio to help
fund its operations over the next five years.
El Centro del Barrio, also known as CentroMed, will
receive $6.2 million each year through 2015. The federal
funds will help support CentroMed's mission of providing
affordable medical, dental, behavioral health,
nutrition, parenting education, health education and
support services to low-income individuals and families.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2010/03/15/daily7.html?ed=2010-03-16&ana=e_du_pub
Striking number of obesity risks hit minority kids
March 1, 2010
Associated Press - Chicago
The odds of obesity appear stacked against black and
Hispanic children starting even before birth,
provocative new research suggests.
The findings help explain disproportionately high
obesity rates in minority children. Family income is
often a factor, but so are cultural customs and beliefs,
the study authors said.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/national/Striking_number_of_obesity_risks_hit_minority_kids.html
Castro: It's about school, kids
February 28, 2010
by Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
Express-News
Before City Hall, before Harvard Law School, before
Stanford University, Major Julian Castro was just
another Hispanic kid in the San Antonio Independent
School District.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/Castro_Its_about_school_kids.html
Sharp rise cited in Texas child abuse fatalities
February 25, 2010
by Vincent T. Davis and Peter J. Holley
Express-News
A statewide increase in child abuse and neglect-related
deaths resulted in 280 fatalities last fiscal year, a 31
percent increase compared to the previous fiscal year
and the highest since the Texas Department of Family and
Protective Services began keeping records in 1998.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Sharp_rise_cited_in_Texas_child_abuse_fatalities.html
In China, kindergarten costs more than college
February 23, 2010
by Peter Ford
Beijing
It costs more to send your child to kindergarten
in Beijing today than it does to put him or her through
college. As outsiders pour into the capital looking for
work, and parents try to give their offspring an
ever-earlier competitive advantage, scarce preschool
places are commanding record fees.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/0223/In-China-kindergarten-costs-more-than-college
Medicaid rate cuts will hurt poor
children
February 18, 2010
by Veronica Flores-Paniagua
What is it we tell children? Don't make a promise you
can't keep.
With a proposal to cut health care providers' Medicaid
reimbursement rates by at least 1 percent, that appears
to be exactly what Texas has done. The proposal
threatens to flout a 2007 federal court-approved plan
that requires enough doctors and dentists to serve the 3
million poor children who are enrolled in Medicaid.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/columnists/veronica_flores_paniagua/Medicaid_rate_cuts_will_hurt_poor_children.html
Bexar ranks low in urban health report
February 18, 2010
by Don Finley
Express-News
A new report comparing the health and well-being of
Texas counties ranks Bexar 78th in the overall health of
its residentsthe lowest among major urban counties.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/health/Bexar_ranks_low_in_urban_health_report.html
Almost 25% of children in Bexar live in poverty
February 13, 2010
by Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje
Express-News
Almost a quarter of the children in Bexar County
lived in poverty and lacked health insurance in 2008,
according to a new study on poverty in Texas.
And while the numbers dropped slightly compared with a
similar study the year before, this still means roughly
one in four children struggled with the by products of
poverty: poor school performance, health woes, hunger
and circumscribed futures.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Almost_25_of_children_in_Bexar_live_in_poverty.html
Postpartum Depression: Signaled During Pregnancy?
February 11, 2010
by Adi Narayan
Six years ago Jamie Nesi, a case manager for special-ed
children in Bellport, N.Y., was diagnosed with mild
depression. Her doctor prescribed a low dose of Prozac,
which eased her symptoms. In 2005, Nesi, then 33, got
pregnant, and at her gynecologist's recommendation she
discontinued the medication. For the first two
trimesters, things went smoothly. "It was my first
child, and everyone said I was having a perfect
pregnancy," said Nesi in a phone interview.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1962031,00.html
Problem of obese kids is put in spotlight
February 10, 2010
by Don Finley
Express-News
When it comes to helping his overweight young patients
lose weight, Dr. Jorge Gomez, a pediatrician, tries to
bring in all the family members to work together on
fixing the problem. Then he asks them what part of their
lives they're ready to change.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/health/Problem_of_obese_kids_is_put_in_spotlight.html
Childhood Obesity Battle Is Taken Up by First Lady
February 9, 2010
by Sheryl Gay Stolberg
WASHINGTON The White House, led by Michelle Obama,
announced a sweeping initiative on Tuesday aimed at
revamping the way American children eat and play
reshaping school lunches, playground and even medical
checkups with the goal of eliminating childhood
obesity within a generation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/health/nutrition/10obesity.html?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema3
A Federal Effort to Push Junk Food Out of Schools
February 7, 2010
by Gardner Harris
WASHINGTON The Obama administration will begin a drive
this week to expel Pepsi, French fries and Snickers bars
from the nation's schools in hopes of reducing the
number of children who get fat during their school
years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/health/nutrition/08junk.html?th&emc=th
W. Side clinic caring for uninsured workers
February 1, 2010
by Don Finley
Express-News
As the prospects for national health reform grow
dimmer, a low-cost, nonprofit clinic aimed strictly at
uninsured working people and their families has begun
operations on the West Side adding a few more strands
to the local safety net.
The Faith Family Clinic at 700 S. Zarzamora St. held its
grand opening ceremony Friday, but it has quietly seen
patients since November. Operating on a shoestring
budget with volunteer doctors, the clinic is the
brainchild of a health care executive in Nashville,
Tenn., who opened a similar clinic there a decade ago.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/W_Side_clinic_caring_for_uninsured_workers.html
A Determined Quest to Bring Adoptive Ties to Foster
Teenagers
January 30, 2010
by Erik Eckholm
ST. LOUIS After a day of knocking on doors chasing
fleeting leads, Carlos Lopez and his partner finally
heard welcome words: Yes, a resident confirmed, the man
they were seeking lived in this house and would be home
that evening.
Mr. Lopez, a former police detective, now does gumshoe
work for what he calls a more fulfilling cause: tracking
down long-lost relatives of teenagers languishing in
foster care, in desperate need of family ties and in
danger of becoming rootless adults. That recent day, h e
was hoping to find the f ather of a boy who had lived in
16 different foster homes since 1995. The boy did not
remember his mother, who had long since disappeared.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/us/31adopt.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th
After Long Decline, Teenage Pregnancy Rate Rises
January 27, 2010
by Tamar Lewin
After more than a decade of declining teenage pregnancy,
the pregnancy rate among girls ages 15 to 19 increased 3
percent from2005 to 2006 a turnaround likely to
intensify the debate over federal financing for
abstinence-only sex education
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/27teen.html?th&emc=th
Study: Youth now have more mental health issues
January 26, 2010
by Martha Irvine
Associated Press
CHICAGO A new study has found that five times as many
high school and college students are dealing with
anxiety and other mental health issues as youth of the
same age who were studied in the Great Depression era.
The findings, culled from responses to a popular
psychological questionnaire used as far back as 1938,
confirm what counselors on campuses nationwide have long
suspected as more students struggle with the stresses of
school and life in general.
http://www.helenair.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/article_98c11ee4-ff45-11de-86d3-001cc4c03286.html
Sons of teen dads more likely to become one too
January 20, 2010
by Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Sons born to teenage fathers
may end up following in their father's footsteps,
according to a new study.
Past research has shown that girls whose mothers gave
birth as teens are more likely than their peers to
become teenage mothers themselves. But comparatively
little has been know about the factors that matter in
teen fatherhood.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60J54720100120
Children Don't Have Strokes? Just Ask Jared
January 18, 2010
by Jonathan Dienst
My son Jared lay in a bed at New York-Presbyterian/Weill
Cornell hospital, limp and pale, his 7-year-old body
tethered to a tangle of tubes and monitor wires.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/health/19stroke.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th
Syphilis seen rising among local infants
January 4, 2010
by Don Finley
Express-News
Reaching to a worrisome rise in syphilis infections in
newborns, local health officials sent letters to Bexar
County doctors recently recommending they test all
pregnant women for the sexually transmitted disease
during their third trimester.
The advice is in keeping with state and federal
recommendations aimed at communities with high rates of
congenital syphilis. And Bexar County's rate is high.
Eleven babies were born infected here in 2008 two of
them stillborn.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Syphilis_seen_rising_among_local_infants.html
Legislators Work to Improve Lawson Runaways
January 3, 2010
by Ian Urbina
WASHINGTON State and federal lawmakers from around the
country are pressing a variety of new laws that would
make sweeping changes in the way runaways and
prostituted children are handled by police officers and
social workers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/us/04runaways.html?th&emc=th
Which Poverty-Fighting Policies Work? J-PAL Has the
Answer
December 1, 2009
by Ryan Blitstein
Every year, wealthy countries and donors ship billions
upon billions of dollars in aid to the developing world.
The money has not bought prosperity: Diarrhea still
kills 1.5 million children annually. More than 210
million kids work when they should be in a classroom.
Polio, which had once been eradicated in all but four
countries, is spreading across African again. Some 2.6
billion people have no access to modern toilets. And
more than 1 billion people don't have enough to eat in
2009, setting a new record.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/141/solve-for-why.html?page=0%2C0&partner=ethonomics_newsletter
For Forest Kindergartners, Class Is Back to Nature, Rain
or Shine
November 29, 2009
by Liz Leyden
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. Fat, cold droplets splashed
from the sky as the students struggled into their
uniforms: rain pants, boots, mittens and hats. Once
buttoned and bundled, they scattered toward favorite
spaces: a crab apple tree made for climbing, a cluster
of bushed forming a secret nook under a willow tree, a
sandbox growing muddier by the minute.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/nyregion/30forest.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1259586381-DTaYa2OjWfJl4NnGa7zsUA
Companies seeing payback from addressing child-care
issues
November 27, 2009
by Carol Schliesinger
San Antonio Business Journal
With more single parents in the workforce, and both
partners in married-couple households working outside
the home, child care has become a hot-button issue.
So, too, had the need for dependable and safe child care
an area not traditionally addressed by employers in
their benefits packages.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2009/11/30/story5.html?b=1259557200^2502991&ana=e_vert
Study: Kids in home-based day care watch more TV
November 24, 2009
by Emma Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Children who attend home-based day-care programs
are watching twice as much television per day as was
previously thought, according to a study released online
Monday and published in the December issue of
Pediatrics.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/23/AR2009112302606.html
Best Economic Development:
Investing in Kids?
October 28, 2009
Rapid City, SD - A top economist with the U.S. Federal
Reserve comes to South Dakota on Thursday (October 29),
with a unique perspective on the kinds of economic
development the state should consider.
Art Rolnick, with the Federal Reserve's Minneapolis
office, says most people think of such development as
bricks-and-mortar factories and businesses, but South
Dakota should not ignore the "returns" it can get from
investing in early childhood education.
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/11109-1
New Advisory Commission on Early Education Includes the
Voice of the Texas Early Childhood Education Coalition
Texas has invested over $100 million in early education
October 26, 2009
Austin, Texas - Governor Rick Perry recently named his
appointees to the newly formed Texas State Advisory
Council on Early Childhood Education and Care, a new
council mandated by the federal Improving Head Start for
School Readiness Act of 2007. The council will direct
spending on a pending 11.3 million dollar federal
stimulus grant and work towards developing a
comprehensive system of early childhood education and
care that ensures coordination and collaboration among
early childhood programs throughout Texas.
http://www.thecherokeean.com/news/2009-10-28/Schools/New_Advisory_Commission_on_Early_Education_Include.html
Recession Drives Surge in Youth Runaways
October 25, 2009
by Ian Urbina
MEDFORD, Ore. - Dressed in soaked green pajamas,
Betty Snyder, 14, huddled under a cold drizzle at the
city park as several older boys decided what to do with
her.
Betty said she had run away from home a week earlier
after a violent argument with her mother. Shivering and
sullen-faced, she vowed that she was not going to sleep
by herself again behind the hedges downtown, where older
homeless men and methamphetamine addicts might find her.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/us/26runaway.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
As aid shrinks, more 'stuck' for day care
October 23, 2009
by Marisol Bello
USA Today
For a month, Stephanie Torres has been phoning and
filing paperwork, trying to get state help to keep her
daughter in a Glendale, Ariz., day care center.
The single working mom says she can't foot the $115
weekly day care bill on her $14-an-hour part-time office
job.
Arizona has rejected her application, one of thousands
of denials as the state reduces day care subsidies for
low-income working parents.
"People like me, we're struggling," Torres says. "Take
something else away, not child care. It's so crucial."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-20-day-care-low-income-struggle_N.htm
Reforms don't cut child deaths
October 22, 2009
by Terri Langford
Houston Chronicle
Nearly half of all Texas children killed by abuse
belonged to families previously investigated by Texas
Child Protective Services - a statistic that has shown
no improvement since 2004 despite efforts to save more
children, records show.
Each year, about 200 children die of abuse or neglect in
Texas - at least 1,227 since 2004, according to records
obtained by the Houston Chronicle.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/Reforms_dont_cut_child_deaths.html
Health care reform tackled at UTHSC lecture
October 20, 2009
by Elizabeth Allen
Express-News
Health care leaders wrestled with the question of
reform Monday evening at the University of Texas Health
Science Center.
Led by Dr. Kenneth Shine, executive vice chancellor for
health affairs for the University of Texas System,
panelists met for "Health care is broken: How do we fix
it?," the Health Science Center's seventh annual Frank
Bryant Jr., M.D., Memorial Lecture in Medical Ethics.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Health_care_reform_tackled_at_UT_Health_Science_Center_lecture.html
Bromley organizing $15 million ad
campaign to urge Latinos to stay in school
October 16, 2009
by Carol Schliesinger
San Antonio Business Journal
Advertising guru Ernest Bromley is worried. The
Hispanic market he worked in for decades, reports some
concerning trends: Although geared to be the largest
ethnic majority within the next 30 years, Latinos have
the least education, and as the group grows, its
education attainment levels remain stagnant.
What will San Antonio's future look like if the majority
of its population does not speed up its quest to attain
higher education standards?
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2009/10/19/focus3.html?b=1255924800^2280161&ana=e_vert
M.I.T. Economist Rebuts Insurance
Industry Report
October 13, 2009
by David M. Herszenhorn and Sheryl Gay Stolberg
After an insurance industry report said that
premiums would rise sharply with the passage of
comprehensive health care legislation, Jon Gruber, a
health care economist at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, said he evaluated the report on Monday at
the request of Senate Democrats and found it deeply
flawed.
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/mit-economist-finds-flaws-in-insurance-industry-report/?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema3
Number of homeless students
soaring
October 12, 2009
by Nancy Preyor-Johnson
Express-News
Public schools are used to dealing with children in
poverty, but this school year, San Antonio school
districts are seeing more children than ever from
families that have gone from struggling to put food on
the table to keeping a roof over their heads.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/Number_of_homeless_students_soaring.html
Governor Signs Simitian's
Education Data Bill, Ensuring Access to Federal Funds
October 13, 2009
SACRAMENTO - Sunday Governor Schwarzenegger signed into
law Senate Bill 19, by State Senator Joe Simitian
(D-Palo Alto), which ensures California's eligibility to
compete for $4.5 billion in federal school funding. The
bill puts to rest a controversy Simitian describes as "a
tempest in a teapot" over California's eligibility for
the federal "Race to the Top" funds.
http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/view/123682
Day care next frontier in fighting
kids' obesity
October 12, 2009
by Lauran Neergaard
AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Grilled chicken replaced the hot dogs.
Strawberries instead of cookies at snack time. No more
fruit juice - water or low-fat milk only. This is the
new menu at a Delaware day care center, part of a
fledgling movement to take the fight against obesity to
pudgy preschoolers.
http://www.newschannel10.com/Global/story.asp?S=11298953
Note to Bloomberg: Why Not Use
Charter Strategies for Pre-K?
October 7, 2009
by
Sara Mead
New York City Mayor Bloomberg's plan to increase the
number of charter schools in the Big Apple has generated
a lot of buzz since Bloomberg announced it last week.
Charter schools are independent public schools that are
publicly funded, publicly accountable, and free of
charge to students, but operated by independent
nonprofit boards, rather than school districts. In late
September, Harvard researchers released a study showing
that predominantly disadvantaged students who attend New
York City's public charter schools are making more
progress towards closing the achievement gap with their
suburban peers than a control group of NYC students who
remained in NYC public schools.
http://www.newamerica.net/blog/early-ed-watch/2009/note-bloomberg-why-not-use-charter-strategies-pre-k-15168
South Side center big on amenities
September 28, 2009
by Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje
Express-News
The kids at the Daughters of Charity Services' De
Paul Family Center may be playing on gravel today, But
come the end of October, they will scamper and climb on
a state-of-the-art playground featuring landscaped berms,
a sand pit, grassy knolls and an authentic Astro Turf
"fall zone."
That's not all that will be new by the end of the month.
The children will move into an 18,000-square-foot stucco
family center that cost $4.8 million to build and will
double the number of children who can attend, from 100
to 200.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/South_Side_center_big_on_amenities.html
Law opens info on abuse deaths
September 28, 2009
by Terri Langford
Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON - A state law that requires Texas Child
Protective Services to provide the public with more
information about children who die of alleged abuse
quietly went into effect this month.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Law_opens_info_on_abuse_deaths.html
Democrat Gilbert kicks off run for
governor by calling for education improvements
September 22, 2009
by Gromer Jeffers, Jr.
The Dallas Morning News
Hank Gilbert - East Texas rancher, former
schoolteacher and newly announced Democratic candidate
for governor - said Monday that improving public
education is critical to revitalizing the state's
economy.
"It's the only guaranteed way of bringing long-term
prosperity back to this state," Gilbert said while
kicking off his campaign at a Dallas union hall.
Dallas was the first stop in a 13-city tour that Gilbert
hopes will help him score the Democratic nomination next
year. Several other candidates have already thrown their
hats into the March primary.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/state/stories/DN-gilbert_22met.ART.State.Edition1.4bb7cc8.html
House calls for healthy babies
September 8, 2009
by Nancy Preyor-Johnson
Express-News
Fourteen-year-old Vanessa Regalado had a secret she
couldn't keep any longer. The school nurse knew she was
pregnant, and if Vanessa didn't tell her parents within
two weeks, she would. On the day of the deadline, as her
parents dropped her off at school, Vanessa came clean.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/House_calls_for_healthy_babies.html
Public zeroes in on city's tight budget
September 2, 2009
by Gilbert Garcia
Express-News
Even the tiniest budget cuts have human
consequences. That was one of the themes that emerged
Tuesday night from a City Council public hearing that
drew 100 people to discuss the proposed fiscal year 2010
budget. Another theme was the intensification of the
city's commitment to job training and early childhood
education.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/56676012.html
Study: Dropouts costing Texas billions
Texas A&M researchers say one class of dropouts could
have $10.7 billion price tag.
August
23, 2009
by Kate Alexander
American-Statesman Staff
No matter how high-school dropouts are counted,
Texas has a lot of them, and together they pack quite an
economic punch in the gut.
The students in the class of 2012 who will drop out of
school are projected to cost the state and its economy
$6 billion to $10.7 billion over their lifetimes, a new
study from the Texas A&M Bush School of Government and
Public Service found.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/2009/08/23/0823dropout.html
Your Baby Is Smarter Than You Think
August
15, 2009
by Alison Gopnik
Generations of psychologists and philosophers have
believed that babies and young children were basically
defective adults - irrational, egocentric and unable to
think logically. The philosopher John Locke saw a baby's
mind as a blank slate, and the psychologist William
James thought they lived in a "blooming, buzzing
confusion." Even today, a cursory look at babies and
young children leads many to conclude that there is not
much going on.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/opinion/16gopnik.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1
Workforce Solutions receives
stimulus funds to pay for child care
August
19, 2009
San Antonio Business Journal
San Antonio-area parents in need of child care as
they look for a job, go to school or seek job training
will have help from the federal government.
Workforce Solutions Alamo received $17 million
from the federal government as part of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund up to 22 months of
child care to single or low-income parents as they
either look for jobs or upgrade their skills to get
better jobs. Parents will pay a portion of the cost of
child care based on their income level and number of
children at home.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2009/08/17/daily20.html?ed=2009-08-19&ana=e_du_pub
Perry signs Uresti's Blue Ribbon Task Force bill
August
27, 2009
Special to the Southside Reporter
With Stet Sen. Carlos Uresti looking on, Gov. Rick
Perry signed the senator's statewide Blue Ribbon Task
Force bill that will launch a new, sustained effort to
combat child abuse and neglect in Texas.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/community/Perry_signs_Urestis_Blue_Ribbon_Task_Force_bill.html
Baby blues explained to moms
August
17, 2009
by Nancy Preyor-Johnson
San Antonio Express-News
As horrifying as the decapitation of 4-week-old
Baby Scotty was three weeks ago, Maria Zeitz knows it
could have been prevented.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/53361682.html
"Murdock's Prophesy"
August
13, 2009
by Senator Eliot Shapleigh
www.shapleigh.org
When Dr. Steve Murdock, Texas' former state
demographer, went to D.C. to head the Census Bureau, he
left behind an honest and startling picture of
Texas' future.
We can prevent tragedies from
postpartum illness
August
12, 2009
by Betsy Schwartz
Houston
Chronicle
Every new mother is expected to fee joyous at the
birth of a new child. After all, the creation of life is
supposed to be the height of a mother's life experience.
but if you're a mother living with postpartum mental
illness, that's not always the case.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6570606.html
Mentally Ill Offenders Strain
Juvenile System
August
9, 2009
by Solomon Moore
FRANKLIN FURNACE, Ohio - The teenager in the padded
smock sat in his solitary confinement cell here in this
state's most secure juvenile prision and screamed
obscenities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/us/10juvenile.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th
Scholar: Early Education Makes All The Difference
August
5, 2009
Michele Martin, host
University of Chicago professor James Heckman is one
of the nation's leading proponents of early childhood
education. Heckman bases his advocacy on the belief that
investing in children from birth through five years of
age is essential and pays enormous dividends. The
educator explains his theory and how he thinks schools
can help children build a healthy foundation for life.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111572288
A Canadian doctor diagnoses U.S.
healthcare
August 3, 2009
by Michael M. Rachlis
Universal health insurance is on the American policy
agenda for the fifth time since World War II. In the
1960s, the U.S. chose public coverage for only the
elderly and the very poor, while Canada opted for a
universal program for hospitals and physicians'
services. As a policy analyst, I know there are lessons
to be learned from studying the effect of different
approaches in similar jurisdictions. But, as a Canadian
with lots of American friends and relatives, I am
saddened that Americans seem incapable of learning them.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rachlis3-2009aug03,0,538126.story
Toddler Depression - Real or a Phase?
A Study of Toddlers With Depression
Says Problems May Continue in Grade School
August
3, 2009
by Lauren Cox
ABC News Medical Unit
Quieting a child's streaming tears on the playground
might seem far easier than dealing with a sobbing adult.
But what about a child who also doesn't enjoy playing
anymore, who suffers from chronic stomach aches, or even
threatens to kill herself?
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/Story?id=8241213&page=1
Study: Depression Seen in Children as
Young as 3
August
3, 2009
by The Associated Press
Chicago (AP) - Depression in children as young as 3
is real and not just a passing grumpy mood, according to
provocative new research.
The study is billed as the first to show major
depression can be chronic even in very young children,
contrary to the stereotype of the happy-go-lucky
preschooler.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/08/03/health/AP-US-MED-Preschoolers-Depression.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
Gaps in the mental health system
August
2, 2009
by
Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje -
Express-News
The call came at 3 a.m., waking Anne Holliday from a
deep sleep.
It was her son Micah, calling from his apartment,
panicked. He was standing in the middle of his living
room, naked because he thought his clothes were filthy.
He had suffered from severe obsessive-compulsive
disorder since he was 11, scrubbing his skin until it
was raw.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Gaps_in_the_mental_health_system.html
Defying Slump, 13 States Insure More
Children
July
28, 2009
by Kevin Sack
Despite budgets ravaged by the recession, at least
13 states have invested millions of dollars this year to
cover 250,000 more children with subsidized government
health insurance.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/us/19chip.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
The dawn of a new era: Investing in
early childhood helps America recover and grow
July 14, 2009
by
Joan Lombardi
The American Recovery and Reinvest-ment Plan provides an
important opportunity to help the United States get back
on its feet be creating new jobs and supporting programs
which provide essential services to young children and
their families, while contributing to the economy of the
country.
http://www.childcareexchange.com/resources/view_article.php?article_id=5018808&keyword_id=&page=1
In Prisoners' Wake, a Tide of
Troubled Kids
July 4, 2009
by Erik Eckholm
WASHINGTON - Herbert Rashad Scott, whose parents were in
and out of prison throughout his childhood, vowed to
break his family's cycle of self-destruction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/us/05prison.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
Growing Older in the Great Outdoors
June 2009
by Tyler Tapps, Ph.D. and Kevin Fink, M.S.
Parks & Recreation
Participation in nature-based or outdoor recreation
activities is often considered an important part of
leisure to enhance one's quality of life. However,
participation in outdoor recreation is limited or
nonexistent for many people today. Common belief seems
to be that children who are not exposed to the outdoors
will have less interest in parks and green spaces when
they reach adulthood. With the Baby Boomer generation
beginning to retire, we must question the impacts of
such a nature deficit in older adults.
http://nrpablog.typepad.com/prnow/june09/research.update.june09.pdf
John Young: Yee haw - Texas is last,
and dropping
June
4, 2009
Upon Senate passage of the state biennial budget,
the well-attired David Dewhurst was busting his buttons.
http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2009/06/04/06042009wacyoung.html?imw=Y
Just What the Doctor - and the
Economist - Ordered
May 2009
On January 30, 2009, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, at his
first press conference as governor, vowed to do
something about the gap between today's children and the
natural world. (His predecessor, Gov. Rod Blagojevich,
had closed seven parks in a budget-cutting move.) "I
recently read a book, "Quinn said, "It talked about
nature-deficit disorder where we should leave no child
inside."
http://nrpablog.typepad.com/prnow/may09/into.the.woods.richard.louv.may09.pdf
Guess what stimulus money is funding?
May
21, 2009
by Peggy Fikac
Express-News
AUSTIN - guess the federal government isn't telling
Texas what color to paint the Governor's Mansion.
Texas budget negotiators have set aside $11 million in
federal stimulus dollars to help repair the fire-ravaged
Governor's mansion - even as GOP Gov. Rick Perry rails
against the federal government for attaching strings to
$555 million in stimulus dollars for unemployment
insurance.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/45806277.html
Gingrich, Sharpton Finally Teammates:
Close Education Gap
May
17, 2009
by
Brigid Schulte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Politics often produces strange bedfellows. But
yesterday, on the 55th anniversary of the landmark
Brown v. Board of Education decision that integrated
the nation's schools, when former Republican House
speaker Newt Gingrich shared the stage at a boisterous
rally in front of the White House with the Rev. Al
Sharpton, even Gingrich called the two the "Original Odd
Couple."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/16/AR2009051602265.html
Arkansas Leads Country in Pre-K
April 8, 2009
Reported by Mallory Hardin
KARK 4 News
Arkansas has worked for years to make sure children are
prepared for school and Wednesday, a new report shows
the hard work is paying off. Four year olds at Chicot
Early Education Center are singing, playing, growing,
and learning, a curriculum that prepares them for
elementary school.
http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/?cid=209761
Recession Stalls State-Financed
Pre-Kindergarten, but Federal Money May Help
April 8, 2009
by Sam Dillon
One of the most drastic expansions of public education
in recent American history unfolded quietly in this
decade, as dozens of states added free pre-kindergarten
classes to their traditional kindergarten to high school
offerings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/education/08school.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
Over half the House signs on the PreK
bill
March 24, 2009
by Kate Alexander
A $300 million effort to move to full-day
prekindergarten for eligible children has already won
the support of more than half the Texas House of
Representatives.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/03/24/over_half_the_house_signs_on_t.html
San Antonio's Head Start program
getting new administrators
March 20, 2009
by Tamarind Phinisee
San Antonio Business Journal
The city of San Antonio's Head Start program will begin
this fall with four new education partners overseeing
the program.
The San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD),
local nonprofit Avance - San Antonio, Edgewood
Independent School District and the Education Service
Center Region 20 have been chosen by the city to serve
as the new program administrators starting in August.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2009/03/23/story10.html?b=1237780800^1796859
Education chief says stimulus money
coming soon
March 17, 2009
by Kelley Shannon
Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Education Commissioner Robert
Scott said Tuesday a plan for spending billions of
dollars in federal stimulus money on education would be
ready late this week or early next week.
Scott also said about two-thirds of a $3.9 billion chunk
of education stimulus money slated for Texas is set to
arrive by late March, and the rest is expected in the
fall. Of that pool of money, Gov. Rick Perry will get to
determine how to spend about $700 million, and
legislators and the education commissioner will weigh in
on how to spend about $3.2 billion, which can go toward
primary, secondary and higher education.
Legislators are trying to figure out how to work that
money into the state budget.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6317372.html
Fix the 9th Grade Problem in PreK
March 15, 2009
The achievement gap is a deep-seated, long-lasting,
hard-to-solve issue that isn't going away unless we use
a strategic approach to solve it, Vanderbilt University
Professor Joseph Murphy told ASCDers in his
session entitled "Leadership Lessons for Closing the
Achievement Gap." His recent research points to some
"big-picture conclusions," including that tackling the
problem in high school is often too late.
http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2009/03/fix-the-9th-grade-problem-in-prek.html
Author moves to cut cost of full-day
pre-K bill
March 12, 2009
by Ken Herman
The Senate sponsor of a measure providing state money
for school districts that want to offer full-day
pre-Kindergarten programs addressed by the bill's high
cost - and increased its chances of passage - by
delaying proposed implementation for a year.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/03/12/author_moves_to_cut_cost_of_fu.html
Failing Grades: States' Standards for
Child Care Centers
March 12, 2009
by Lisa Guernsey
Who's watching who's watching the children? The federal
government leaves this task to the states. But states
are failing to ensure that childcare centers are safe,
according to a report released today by the National
Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies.
Parents assume that is a child care center has obtained
a state license, it must meet some basic standards of
child safety and personnel training. But in many places,
the license means very little, said Linda K. Smith,
NACCRA's executive director.
http://www.newamerica.net/blog/early-ed-watch/2009/failing-grades-states-their-standards-child-care-centers-10598
Texas worst in U.S. for homeless kids, report says
March 10, 2009
by Linda Stewart Ball
Associated Press Writer
DALLAS - Larry Canady took his family to a homeless
shelter three weeks ago, no longer able to make ends
meet after he and his wife were laid off from their
jobs.
The family of five was already living
from paycheck-to-paycheck. They went from renting a
four-bedroom brick home in a south Dallas suburb to
sharing one room in a dormitory-like shelter.
http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1248366.html
Nurse Home Visits: A Boost for Low-Income Parents
March 2, 2009
by Maia Szalavitz
Nurse home visitor Tammy Ballard has had some memorable
experiences in close to a decade of helping new mothers
raising their children in poverty in Dayton, Ohio. Once,
she arrived at a new client's home to find a TV news
crew waiting outside; apparently, someone fleeing
gunfire had sought shelter there. Another time, she
knocked on a door only to hear shrieking in response,
but no one would let her in. Later, she learned it was
the family's parrots, which had been trained to squawk
at visitors.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1881950,00.html?imw=Y
Stimulus Plan Would Provide Flood of Aid to Education
January 27, 2009
by Sam Dillon
WASHINGTON - The economic stimulus plan that congress
has scheduled for a vote on Wednesday would shower the
nation's school districts, child care centers and
university campuses with $150 billion in new federal
spending, a vast two-year investment that would more
than double the Department of Education's current
budget.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/education/28educ.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
Rise in infant suffocation tied to bed-sharing
Rates have quadrupled in the past 20 years, government
researchers find
January 26, 2009
WASHINGTON - Rates of
sudden infant death from suffocation or strangulation
have quadrupled in the past 20 years in the United
States, most apparently from parents sleeping with their
babies, government researchers reported on Monday.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28857953/from/ET/
More Parents Face a Child Care Crisis
Families Turn to Relatives to Pick Up the Slack
January 23, 2009
by Annie Pleshette Murphy and Laura Lacy
The banking industry, the auto industry, the housing
industryit's no secret that these
businesses have been hit hard by the current economic
crisis.
Now the child care industry is suffering as well.
Parents facing layoffs and reduced hours often can't
afford child care costs, and child care centers are
closing because of the lack of business. That can leave
families and their children facing a heartbreaking
dilemmahow to cobble together adequate child care when
personal finances are increasingly tight.
Lawyer: Texas is violating Medicaid access order
State officials say Texas is complying with order.
January 13, 2009
by Corrie MacLaggan
American-Statesman Staff
The lead lawyer representing Texas children in a lawsuit
about health care access under Medicaid said the state
is violating the terms of a 2007 court order.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/13/0113frew.html
Nonprofit: 490,000 uninsured Texas kids could gain
health coverage under bill
January 15, 2009
by Corrie MacLaggan
In four and a half years, 490,000 uninsured Texas
children could gain health coverage through Medicaid or
the Children's Health Insurance Program under the CHIP
reauthorization bill that the U.S. House approved
Wednesday, according to a report released
today by Families USA, a national nonprofit.
There are about 1.4 million uninsured Texas
childrenmore than any other state.
"The expansion of
children's health coverage is a major victory for
America's families," said Ron Pollack, executive
director of Families USA, which advocates for quality,
affordable health care for all Americans. "The
legislation will help to ensure that children get the
health care they need when they need it, and it will
enable children to learn and become productive citizens.
The bill also represents a confidence-building down
payment toward meaningful health care reform.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/01/15/nonprofit_490000_uninsured_tex.html
Sunset agency recommends merging TYC, probation
agency
Panel's vote on Youth Commission now goes to
Legislature.
January 15, 2009
by Mark Ward
American-Statesman Staff
After almost two years of scandal and reforms at the
Texas Youth Commission, a state advisory panel
recommended late Wednesday that the youth agency be
merged with the smooth-running Juvenile Probation
Commission.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/01/15/0115tyc.html
Duncan: Smart Is Cooler Than Ever
January 13, 2009
by Sam Dillon
Arne Duncan, the Chicago schools chief, told the Senate
on Tuesday that he would work for "real and meaningful
change" in the nation's schools if confirmed as
education secretary, and he said he hoped
president-elect Barack Obama's own example as a model
student could inspire millions of American children.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/duncan-smart-is-cooler-than-ever/
Congress Takes Up Children's Health Program
Again
January 12, 2009
by Carl Hulse
The House will observe the last week of President Bush's
presidency by passing an expansion of the State
Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP
a measure Mr. Bush vetoed.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/congress-takes-up-childrens-health-program-again/?nl=pol&emc=pola2
Advocates press legislators to help children
January 7, 2009
by Nancy Martinez
Express-News
If an Austin-based child advocacy organization gets its
way, next week's legislative session will ooze
improvements for the state's struggling children.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/Advocates_press_legislators_to_help_children.html
How Does Early Education and Care in the U.S. Stack
up to Other Developed Countries?
January 6, 2009
by Sara Mead
New America
For obvious reasons, this blog focuses primarily on
early education policy issues in the United States, But
sometimes taking a step back and looking at early
education in other developed countries can offer a
useful perspective on our own early education
challenges.
http://www.newamerica.net/blog/early-ed-watch/2008/how-does-early-education-and-care-u-s-stack-other-developed-countries-9118
Major school funding repairs unlikely this session
Legislative leaders say 2011 is when they plan to tackle
system.
January 2, 2009
by Kate Alexander
American- Statesman
How Texas divvies up money for public schools has
created confusion among taxpayers and frustration for
school officials who say the system is unfair and
inflexible.
But lawmakers are unlikely to change the school finance
system substantially
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/01/02/0102schoolfinance.html
Texas lagging in early education
December 31, 2008
by Kara Johnson
Express-News
During the 2008 presidential campaign, voters heard a
good deal of promises, but one that struck a chord with
early education advocates was Barack Obama's promise
that federal funding for state-based early education
programs would be coming should he be elected.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/36902789.html
Children's Medicaid enrollment projected to drop by
72,000
December 18, 2008
by Corrie MacLaggan
In January, 72,000 fewer children could be enrolled in
Medicaid than in December, according to preliminary
numbers from the Health and Human Services Commission.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2008/12/18/childrens_medicaid_enrollment.html
Obama's $10 Billion Promise Stirs Hope in Early
Education
December 16, 2008
by Sam Dillon
New York Times
CHICAGO
It was the morning after the presidential election,
and Matthew Melmed, Executive director of Zero to Three,
a national organization devoted to early childhood
education, could barely contain his exultation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/us/politics/17early.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th
Schools Chief From Chicago Is Cabinet Pick
December 15, 2008
by Sam Dillon
New York Times
Arne Duncan, the Chicago schools superintendent know for
taking tough steps to improve schools while maintaining
respectful relations with teachers and their unions, is
President-elect Barack Obama's choice as secretary of
education, Democratic officials said Monday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/us/politics/16educ.html
Funding Pre-K programs may help workforce
December 5, 2008
by Jim Gallegos
Austin Business Journal
American economist and Nobel Laureate James Heckman
noted that early childhood education programs do a
better job of fostering human capital than job training
programs, tax incentives and other programs that focus
on adults.
http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2008/12/08/editorial2.html
Texas should in invest surplus in our future
December 3, 2008
by Jason Sabo
Special to the Express-News
President-elect Barack Obama is not the only elected
official confronted with a daunting and growing list of
pressing concerns. Texas legislators
both the Austin veterans and their
newly-elected colleagues
will be coming to the Texas Capitol in January prepared
for their own set of headaches. However, unlike the
federal government and most states, Texas is sitting the
in economic catbird seat at
least for the moment.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/35410614.html
Texas drops in health rankings
December 3, 2008
San Antonio Business Journal
The Lone Star State ranks 46th in the country in terms
of overall health of the population, according to the
2008 report from the Minnetonka, Minn.-based United
Health Foundation. That's down nine places from the 2007
report.
Among the issues hampering Texas are increases in
childhood poverty (up 14 percent in the last year),
prevalence of smoking (up 8 percent) and a high rate of
uninsured residents (roughly 25 percent of the
population).
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/12/01/daily26.html?f=et77&ana=e_du
No More Bandaids: Let's fix health care with
prevention
November 28, 2008
by George M. Rapier, M.D.
In the United States, health care is very expensive and
becoming more expensive. Coordination of care, quality
of care, and prevention in general are not emphasized or
reimbursed adequately. In fact, less than 5 percent of
health care spending is for prevention. Instead, the
focus is to spend money fixing problems and
complications that - in many instances - could be
prevented or significantly delayed. Data on cost and
quality are not readily available, and patients are not
in a position to or encouraged to make prudent medical
or cost decisions. Delivery of quality care is not
possible in a paper-based medical record model and
without clinical decision support tools (only 20 percent
of physicians currently use an electronic medical
record).
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/12/01/focus3.html?b=1228107600^1739885&ana=e_vert
Innovative Leaders Discuss Sustainability, Children
and Family Issues at Congress of Cities
November 23, 2008
by Cherie Duvall
Nation Cities Weekly
Introducing new programs at a time when budgets are
tight and focusing on issues even when they aren't on
the top of their cities' agendas, four innovative mayors
discussed how they lead the way in their communities
during a panel discussion earlier this month on the
Congress of Cities Exposition in Orlando, Fla.
http://www.nlc.org/articles/articleItems/NCW112408/MayorsPanelCoC.aspx
Tulsa billionaire believes early childhood education
stops poverty
November 21, 2008
by Robert Barron
Staff Writer
George Kaiser is a believer in early childhood education
as a way to stop poverty in America.
The Tulsa billionaire shared his thoughts Thursday at a
luncheon sponsored by Smart Start Northwest Oklahoma, an
initiative of Community Dev-elopment Support
Association, and Enid Public Schools.
http://www.enidnews.com/localnews/local_story_326003339.html?keyword=topstory
The Need for Socioeconomic Balance in PreK Classrooms
November 19, 2008
By Rep. Beth Bye (D-CT)
Barack Obama spoke of his support for investing in early
childhood education during the last presidential debate,
at a campaign moment when he was being very cautious: a
clear sigh that public opinion bout early childhood
education's value is solidified. But the actual
investment plan and implementation is less established,
as evidenced by David Wilson's article, "When Worlds
Collide: Universal preK brings new challenges for public
elementary schools: (HEL, November/December 20080. while
policymakers are willing to invest in universal preK,
they struggle with optimal implementation.
http://www.hepg.org/blog/5
No Fooling: Experts Bemoan Loss of Kids' Play Time
Serious Business: Childhood Experts Step Up Campaign For
More Free-wheeling Play Time
November 18, 2008
New York
(AP) In one classroom, a group of preschool teachers
squatted on the floor, pretending to be cave-dwelling
hunter-gatherers. Next Door, another group ended a
raucous musical game by placing their tambourines and
drums atop their heads.
Silly business, to be sure, but part of an agenda of
utmost seriousness: To spread the word that America's
children need more time for freewheeling play at home
and in their schools
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/18/ap/national/main4614833.shtml
Proposal for pre-K funding draws fire
Tier system would cut jobs, close centers, educators say
November 12, 2008
by Gary Scharrerm
Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
Austin - Proposed funding changes for pre-kindergarten
programs would reward failure and potentially cripple
successful classes for 4-year-old children, educators
told state officials Thursday.
The Texas Education Agency wants to create a three-tier
funding system with most of the available funding going
to areas that did not get state funding in the past and
whose third-grade students' test scores fall below the
state average.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6111651.html
Child Obesity Seen as Warning of Heart Disease
November 11, 2008
by Pam Belluck
New Orleans - A new study finds striking evidence that
children who are obese or have high cholesterol show
early warning signs of heart disease.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/health/12heart.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Obama Gets to Work on Transition
Sweeping Triumph May Lift Democrat's Agenda
November 7, 2008
by David J. Hoff
President-elect Barack Obama and his team started work
this week on a transition that includes searching for
the people who will bring to life his agenda of
expanding preschool, improving the quality of teachers,
and fixing the major federal law in K-13 education.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/11/07/12prez_ep.h28.html?tmp=2103913909
Paying for child care not hopeless
November 5, 2008
by Melissa Ludwig
Express-News
Finding good, affordable child care is a concern for
any working mom, but it's even tougher when wages don't
stretch far enough to pay the average bill of about $600
a month.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Paying_for_child_care_not_hopeless.html
Portland's voters give kids five more years of
services
the children's levy will pay for early education,
mentoring and child abuse prevention
November 5, 2008
by James Mayer
The Oregonian Staff
Portland voters overwhelmingly renewed a five-year
property tax levy that pays for grants to nonprofit
organizations that provide early-childhood education,
after-school care and mentoring programs. The levy also
will pay for services for foster children for the firs
time.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1225866323214760.xml&coll=7
Most uninsured Texas children have working parents
State still tops the nation in uninsured children.
October 30, 2008
by Corrie MacLaggan
American-Statesman Staff
Texas still has more uninsured children than any
other state, and a new analysis shows that those
children aren't who people may think.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/30/1030insurance.html
Learning About Learning
Brain Research May Produce Results in the Classroom
October 28, 2008
by Nelson Hernandez
Washington
Post Staff Writer
On her back in a dark tube, Blair Smith held still as a
scanner combed her brain with magnetic waves. Words
flashed by her eyes: tack, vase, hope, glow, vague, cade.
The 11-year-old had been told to press the button in her
right hand if the word was real, the button in her left
if it was nonsense. The answer itself was less important
than the map the scanner would make of which areas of
Blair's brain lighted up when she struggled with a word.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/24/AR2008102402987.html
Federal Reserve Bank Official, California Legislative
Leader Urge Los Angeles Area Business Leaders to Support
Investment in Early Childhood Education
October 15, 2008
Citing the proven benefits of preschool education, an
official from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
and the California Assembly's Judiciary Committee
Chairman urged Los Angeles area business leaders today
to support efforts to expand access to Early Childhood
Education throughout Los Angeles County.
http://www.forbes.com/businesswire/feeds/businesswire/2008/10/15/businesswire20081015006615r1.html
TYC out of conservatorship
October 15, 2008
by Mike Ward
American Statesman Staff
Nineteen
months after a sex abuse scandal at the Texas Youth
Commission triggered an official takeover, Gov. Rick
Perry on Tuesday removed the agency from conservatorship
and proclaimed that the problems mostly have been fixed.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/15/1015tyc.html
Innovative child welfare program short on resources
October 13, 2008
by Janet Elliott
Houston Chronicle
AUSTIN - They come to school dirty and stay at home
alone.
In 2007 there were 58,000 of them in Texas - neglected
children whose cases don't often make headlines. But
they account for 60 percent of confirmed allegations of
abuse and
neglect in the child welfare system. And poverty is a
key factor in many cases.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/Innovative_child_welfare_program_short_on_resources.html
Investing in the young
July, 7, 2008
by Rebecca Rimel and Robert Dugger
Washington Times
Joanna Selena was born five days after the building that
would have been her first home burned to the ground.
Her Parents lost almost everything
they owned in the five-alarm fire that ravaged Mount
Pleasant in late March. So business, community and city
leaders joined forces to make sure Joanna's basic needs
were met during her vulnerable first weeks. The
neighborhood organized a baby shower, catered by local
restaurants and hosted by the owner's of Pfeiffer's
Hardware.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/07/investing-in-the-young/
Texans: Start making yourselves heard
July 2, 2008
by Jason Sabo
Special to the Express-News
All across Texas, families and communities are preparing
to celebrate the most American of holidays -
Independence Day. The Fourth of July this year has a
special meaning as the presidential election has created
unprecedented enthusiasm across the political spectrum
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA.070308.OPED.sabocomment.1894d5db.html
Special-education students more likely to face
disciplinary action
One mother had years of meetings, problems involving her
daughter
June 22, 2008
by Terry Webster
Star-Telegram
Behavior problems for Germecia Thomas began in first
grade
She knocked pictures off a classroom wall, broke a
clock, locked herself in a bathroom and ran away from
her teachers as Souder Elementary School in Everman.
http://www.star-telegram.com
Report card on kids' healthcare gives Texas an F
May 28, 2008
by Maria M. Perotin
Star-Telegram staff writer
With a fifth of Texas children going without health
insurance, the state's child health system
ranks among the nation's worst.
http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/667353.html
Lead exposure in children linked to violent crime
May 28, 2008
byThomas H. Maugh II and Marla Cone
Los Angeles Times staff writers
A study finds that even low levels can permanently
damage the brain. The research also shows that exposure
is a continuing problem despite efforts to minimize it.
The first study to follow lead-exposed children from
before birth into adulthood has shown that even
relatively low levels of lead permanently damage the
brain and are linked to higher numbers of arrests,
particularly for violent crime.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-lead28-2008may28,0,6207472.story
Patient Voices: A.D.H.D.
May 21, 2008
by Karen Barrow
The New York Times
The challenges faced by those with A.D.H.D. -- weighing
the decision to take stimulant medication, facing those
who doubt your disorder and adapting to your symptoms --
are daunting and deeply personal. Here, in their own
words, are the stories of adults and children coping
with A.D.H.D.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/05/21/health/healthguide/TE_ADHD_CLIPS.html?th&emc=th
Food stamp recipients pinched by high food prices
May 19, 2008
by Don Babwin
Associated Press Writer
Chicago -- Danielle Brown stands outside a South Side
market at midnight, braving the spring chill for her
first chance to buy groceries since her food stamps ran
out nearly two weeks ago.
For days, Brown said, she has been turning cans of
"whatever we go in the cabinet" into breakfast, lunch
and dinner for her children, ages 1 and 3.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/National/Scrambling_for_Food.html
Project aims to give low-income Dallas toddlers an
educational boost
May 19, 2008
by Staci Hupp
The Dallas Morning News
Preschool is moving to the potty-training set.
Toddlers are shaping up to be the next generation of
preschoolers, a pattern fueled by fears that poor
children aren't ready to learn when their first school
bell rings.
http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/DN-learningtotschart_19met.ART.State.Edition1.462c547.html
City, state take aim at Bexar's high teen pregnancy
rate
May 8, 2008
by Michelle De La Rosa
Express Newsr
City and state officials on Wednesday -- National Day to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy -- announced their intentions to
come up with a comprehensive plan to combat Bexar
County's persistently high teen birth rate
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA050808.Teenpregnancy.EN.3c9bd77.html
Survey of youths in custody finds half have mental
health problems
May 8, 2008
by Sarah Viren
Houston Chronicle
Nearly 3,500 juveniles at the county detention center
were tested.
Nearly half of the youths locked up in the Harris County
Juvenile Detention Center suffer from mental health
problems -- far more than the estimated 20 percent with
mental disorders in the general youth population --
figures released Thursday show.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5766286.html
Forget Teacher Education Level, Pre-K Students
Benefit Most When Teachers are Supportive
May 15, 2008
Science Daily
States are investing considerable amounts of money
in pre-kindergarten programs for 4-year-olds. A new
study finds that the quality of interactions between
teachers and children plays a key role in accounting for
gains in children's development when compared to typical
quality indicators such as teachers' educatiohn, class
size, and child-to-teacher ratio.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080515073026.htm
Private firms cleared to help Texans applying for
food stamps
Provision was a response to Texas struggles with
contractors.
May 6, 2008
by Jason Embry
American Statesman Staff
Washington -- A move in congress to limit the role
of private firms in doling out food stamps is dead for
now, allowing Texas to move forward with its
privatization plans.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/06/0506foodstamps.html
Study: Restaurant tobacco bans influence teen smoking
May 6, 2008
by Steve LeBlanc
Associated Press
Boston -- A Massachusetts study suggests that restaurant
smoking bans might play a big role in persuading teens
not to become smokers.
Youths who lived in towns with strict bans were 40
percent less likely to become regular smokers than those
in communities with no bans or weak ones, the
researchers reported in the May issue of the Archives of
Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/05/06/0506smokingstudy.html
Texas health, environmental groups will unveil
asthma-fighting plan
May 5, 2008
San Antonio Business Journal
Texans spent more than $1.3 billion diagnosing
children and adults with asthma from 2000 to 2005,
according to figures released Monday by the Asthma
Coalition of Texas.
The dollar figure represents total charges for inpatient
hospital admissions for asthma-related visits. This
figure does not include losses due to missed days of
school and work in Texas.
Nationwide, some 11.8 million school days are missed
each year because of asthma.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/05/05/daily6.html?f=et77&ana=e_du
Twenty-Five Years Later, A Nation Still at Risk
April 26, 2008
by Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Wall Street Journal"
Today marks the 25th anniversary of "A Nation at
Risk," the influential Reagan-era report by a
blue-ribbon panel that alerted Americans to the weak
performance of our education system. The report warned
of a "rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very
future as a nation and a people.": That dire forecast
set off a quarter century of education reform that's
yielded worthy changes -- yet still not the achievement
gains we need to turn back the tide of mediocrity."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120916804732546311.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
Science, politics and preschool
Experts agree: Kids need early education programs. But
how early?
April 27, 2008
by Jeremy Manier
Chicago Tribune
A tide of recent research on early childhood
development is inspiring prominent scientists and
politician to argue for an unprecedented investment in
schooling that begins virtually at birth.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-earlybrain_bd27apr27,0,5759147.story
'Everything's gonna be new'
April 27, 2008
by Eric Dexheimer
American Statesman
Billy's World: Part 1
After serving 15 months at the Youth Commission's
Crockett State School, Austin teen has high hopes and
big plans."
"Byers!" the guard shouted on day in June. "Your
ride is here."
Billy Byers strolls around the low-ceilinged cinder
block room, muttering goodbyes, pulling friends in
guy-clinches and clapping backs.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/27/0427billysworld.html
Struggling on Parole
April 27, 2008
By Eric Dexheimer
American Statesman
Billy's World Part 2
Adjusting to life at home and as an adult, Billy tries
to fulfill the items on an ambitious to-do list.
The entire family accompanies Billy on his
first visit to the Texas Youth Commission's parole
office on East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It's in
a low, tan, unmarked building across the street from a
convenience store. The Nos. 23 and 18 busses run there.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/28/0428billysworld.html
A Constant Struggle
April 27, 2008
by Eric Dexheimer
American Statesman
Bily's World: Part 3
Billy tries to deal with disability, financial and
mental health issues.
Billy left Crockett State School in June with a
General Educational Development certificate and high
hopes, but by late July, he seems stalled. Concerned
that he is drifting back to his old habits, his parole
officer Virginia Martinez visits him at home.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/29/0429billysworld.html
In Trouble Again
April 27, 2008
by Eric Dexheimer
American Statesman
Billy's World: Part 4
Billy attempts to spend time with his daughter but soon
faces his first criminal charges as an adult.
"Oh, my God," Charlie, the mother of Billy's
daughter , said one day in the fall. "In three months,
I'll be 20, But I don't fee 20. I feel. . .13."
Aaliyah, now about 18 months old, grabs at a bowl of
bright orange macaroni and cheese, Charlie pulls it away
absently and jams a cookie into her daughter's hand.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/30/0430billysworld.html
A Man With a Record
April 27, 2008
by Eric Dexheimer
American Statesman Staff
Billy's World: Part 5
Billy pleads no contest to a theft charge and is
released after a month in prison.
In a 6-by4-foot cinder block room in the courthouse
basement divided by a glass security window -- jail on
one side, free world on the other -- Billy weighs his
options.
As is the case with many of his decisions, a teen-age
near-sightedness distorts his view of the horizon. He
must select between an immediate reward and a future
payoff that's hard to see -- particularly for a young
man who has spent the past month in jail and his entire
17th year in a juvenile lockup.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/01/0501billysworld.html
The Cost of Dropping Out
April 27, 200
by Eric Dexheimer
American Statesman
Billy's World: Part 6
Despite his struggles in school, Billy wants his brother
to stick with it; however, it may be too late.
Billy started skipping classes in middle school, He
recalls sharing a joint with friends as he strolled
around Fulmore Middle School. By seventh grade, he'd
miss school for weeks at a time. When he missed enough
school, he'd get suspended. By the time he returned,
he'd fallen further behind, making him feel lost,
leading to more absences.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/02/0502billysworld.html
'Not a bad kid'
April 27, 2008
By Eric Dexheimer
American Statesman
Billy's World: Part 7
Billy turns 19, with another baby on the way and another
arrest on his record.
On the day before Christmas, the waiting room of the
Del Valle jail is crowded with half-families. Most are
wives and girlfriends hauling
children in for a holiday visit with their fathers.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/03/0503billysworld.html
'You're not a bid kid'
April 27, 2008
by Eric Dexheimer
American Statesman
Billy's World
With the exception of the time he spent locked up in
various juvenile detention programs, Billy has spent his
entire life in government subsidized housing.
Both Oak Creek Village Apartments on Wilson Street in
South Austin and the Height on Congress near St.
Edward's University are owned by companies
that receive direct payments from the federal Housing and Urban
Development Department in exchange for agreeing to keep
rents low.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/03/0503billysworldside.html
Counting Dropouts
April, 27,
2008
by Eric Dexheimer
American Statesman
Billy's World
For kids like Billy, who left Travis High School in
ninth grade, dropping out represents more than a missed
opportunity to learn geography and many.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/02/0502billysworldside.html
S.A. Team Finds Mercury, Autism Link
April 24, 2008
by Anton Caputo
San Antonio Express News
A team of San Antonio Scientists has found a
correlation between autism rates in Texas school
districts and their
proximity to power plants or other large
industrial sources of mercury.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA042408.03B.autism.30df04a.html
Autism Help Expanding
April 23, 2008
by Don Finley
San Antonio Express News
In the wake of a new study that finds services for
autistic children in San Antonio sorely lacking, the
city could eventually have two new campuses providing
badly needed help for families.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA042308.01B.autism.386d066.html
County Task Force to Look at TYC Fallout
April 22, 2008
Bexar County Commissioners, anticipating a possible
legislative decision to abolish the Texas Youth
Commission, voted Tuesday to create a task force to
study the potential cost to taxpayers.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA042308.02B.newsroundutyc.8e3d889f.html
Public Forum to Address Safety Issues on Vaccines
April 11, 2008
By Gardiner Harris
The New York Times
WASHINGTON--In the midst of yet another controversy
about whether vaccines cause autism, the federal
government will hold its first ever public meeting on
Friday to discuss a government wide research agenda to
explore the safety of vaccines.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/health/policy/11vaccine.html?th&emc=th
Health care plan for low-income adults won't start
this year after all
Hawkins: Draft plan didn't give patients enough
choice
April 8, 2008
By Corrie MacLaggan
Austin American-Statesman
Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner is
backing off a plan to provide health care to thousands
of low-income, uninsured Texas adults by the fall.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/04/08/0408hop.html
Study: Infants who sleep less have greater risk
for obesity at age 3
TV viewing heightens the effect, researchers say.
April 8, 2008
By Carla K. Johnson
Associated Press
CHICAGO--When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.
And when babies sleep less, they might gain too much
weight.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/04/08/0408infantsleep.html
Philly School Effort Cuts Weight Gain
April 7, 2008
By Stephanie Nano
Associated Press Writer
New York (AP)--Five Philadelphia elementary schools
replaced sodas with fruit juice. They scaled back
snacks and banished candy. They handed out raffle
tickets for wise food choices. They spent hours
teaching kids, their parents and teachers about good
nutrition.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DIET_SCHOOL_FOODS?SITE=ALMON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Immobile leadership likely stalls solutions
April 7, 2008
By Michelle De La Rosa and Nancy Martinez
San Antonio Express-News
Mayor Phil Hardberger pushed through the
redevelopment of Main Plaza, and he's a strong backer of
May bond issues that would spend hundreds of millions of
dollars on the River Walk, performing arts, the AT&T
center and sports complexes.
He set things in motion for Haven for Hope, a new $70
million homeless campus.
But such determined attention by the city on large
projects falls short when it comes to dealing with teen
pregnancy, which many say is at the heart of San
Antonio's social ills.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA040708.01A.TeenMomSolution.38f0759.html
Foster children get electronic health "passport"
Part of new managed health care plan through Medicaid
April 6, 2008
By Corrie MacLaggan
Austin American-Statesman
Many Texans don't have neat records of their medical
history, but for foster children, that can make getting
proper health care especially difficult.
Because they tend to move around often--shifting among
foster homes after being taken from their parents
because of abuse or neglect--their medical history is
often a mystery.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/04/06/0406foster.html
Texas ranks low in child well-being, report says
Report by nonprofit evaluates states on 10 indicators
April 3, 2008
By Suzannah Gonzales
Austin American-Statesman
Texas ranks 46th among the states in terms of child
well-being, according to a report released Wednesday by
a nonprofit group that promotes adopting national
policies for children, youth and families.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/03/0403texaschild.html
Disadvantage cited in teacher bonuses
April 1, 2008
By Gary Scharrer
San Antonio Express-News Austin Bureau
AUSTIN--Forcing property poor school districts to
help pay for a state bonus program for superior teachers
"is illegal and inequitable," a state senator contends
in a letter to Education Commissioner Robert Scott.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA040208.01B.teacherbonuspay.385e068.html
U.S. to Require States to Use a Single School Dropout
Formula
April 1, 2008
By Sam Dillon
The New York Times
Moving to sweep away the tangle of inaccurate state
data that has obscured the severity of the nation's high
school dropout crisis, Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings will require all states to use one federal
formula to calculate graduation and dropout rates, Bush
administration officials said on Monday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/education/01child.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Sex ed in Bexar varies by district
March 31, 2008
By Michelle De La Rosa
San Antonio Express-News
Nationally, health-care professionals, educators and
advocacy groups are debating what school sex education
programs should include.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA033108.11A.TeenMomDay2sidebar.2b2748e.html
Mom has family's support
March 31, 2008
By Michelle De La Rosa
San Antonio Express-News
Second of two parts
Nicolette Perez plops down on the floor of her
closet shortly after 5:30 a.m. to begin the part of her
day she most enjoys.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA033108.01A.TEENMOMPART2.382320a.html
Teen mom has to grow up fast
March 30, 2008
By Nancy Martinez
San Antonio Express-News
First of two parts
Felicia Perez lay in a hospital bed, writhing
in pain.
Dr. Mohsin Kapasi checked to see how her labor had
progressed.
"How much longer?" Felicia begged.
"She's making good progress," Kapasi said to nurses and
others in the room. "She should have this baby by
happy hour."
"What time is happy hour?" Felicia asked.
She started to moan again, and began to cry softly.
The fetal heartbeat played on the monitor like
background music--whoosh thump-thump, whoosh
thump-thump.
"Oh, I want to push," she said. "Oh my God, I want
to push."
"Just blow, don't push," said her doula Suzanne de Leon,
whose nonprofit, San Antonio Birth Doulas, helps teen
mothers through labor.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA033008.01A.TEENMOM.38a7b89.html
Activists fear state's new low-income health plan
March 28, 2008
By Peggy Fikac
San Antonio Express-News
AUSTIN--As state officials work on a proposal they
say will give more low-income Texans health-care
coverage, community organizers want more
assurances that public hospitals already serving the
poor won't lose funds.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA032908.04B.healthcare.367ae7b.html
Editorial: Expanded and better preschool
necessary
March 20, 2008
San Antonio Express-News
The latest study out of Rutgers University confirms
what we have suspected for some time: 4-year-olds
in Texas are not getting the quality education they
deserve.
As Express-News education writer Lindsay Kastner
reported this week, Texas' public preschool programs
have a long way to go in terms of quality.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/stories/MYSA032108.01O.preschool1ed.2925e00.html
ABCs of pre-K could soon include XYZ
March 20, 2008
By Lindsay Kastner
San Antonio Express-News
Texas 4-year-olds have been skating by on just 10
alphabet letters for almost a decade now, but that could
change soon.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA032108.05B.PREK.3823c58.html
Report: Texas public preschool program has
quantity, not quality
March 18, 2008
By Lindsay Kastner
San Antonio Express-News
Texas' public preschool program serves more
4-year-olds than any state-funded program in the nation,
but it has a long way to go when it comes to quality.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/stories/MYSA031908.01B.PREK.37a0328.html
Methodist begins development of South Side Wesley
Health and Wellness Center
March 17, 2008
San Antonio Business Journal
Methodist Healthcare Ministries is set to begin
construction next week on a new $12 million health and
wellness center on San Antonio's South Side.
The new Wesley Health and Wellness Center will be
located in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. The
new center will replace the current Wesley Community
Center at Columbia Heights and Wesley Primary Care
Clinic.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/03/17/daily7.html?f=et77&ana=e_du
Jagged Little Pills. The Debate about Sex Ed in
Schools Continues
Latina Magazine, March 2008
By Shirley Velasquez
Article in the March issue of Latina Magazine about
teens and contraception does a good job about
highlighting the high rate of teen pregnancy among
Latinas and some important approaches to reducing this
rate.
http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/media/pdf/Latina_3_08.pdf
Perry adviser appointed TYC chief of staff
Alfonso Royal, four others named to top Youth Commission
spots.
March 5, 2008
Austin-American Statesman
A policy adviser in Gov. Rick Perry's office who was
criticized during a scandal at the Texas Youth
Commission last year has been named chief of staff of
the troubled agency.
The aide, Alfonso Royal, is among five new top
management appointments announced by Youth Commission
Conservator Richard Nedelkoff on Tuesday. The
chief of staff serves as a top aide to the conservator
and will be based at the Youth Commission office in
Austin.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/03/05/0305tyc.html
Record-High Ratio of Americans in Prison
February 29, 2008
By David Crary
AP National Writer
New York (AP)--For the first time in U.S. history, more
than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison,
according to a new report documenting America's rank as
the world's No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to
curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk
offenders behind bars.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PRISON_POPULATION?SITE=ALOPE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Clinton offers plan to cut child poverty in half in a
dozen years
February 29, 2008
By Mike Glover
Associated Press
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton offered a plan to
improve childhood nutrition and set a goal to reduce by
half the 12 million youngsters living in poverty over
the next dozen years.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8V3N7OG1.html
Colleges and Latinos have much work left
February 29, 2008
By Jeorge Zarazua
Express-News
The number of Latinos dropping out of high school has
been cut in half during the past 25 years, but great
disparity remains when it comes to their college
graduation rates, according to a study from the Pew
Hispanic Center.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA022908.01B.EducationStudy.1a276e5.html
TYC to close Sheffield Boot Camp
Closure of remote West Texas facility is first for
troubled agency.
February 28, 2008
By Mike Ward
Austin American-Statesman Staff
Texas Youth Commission officials plan to close the
Sheffield Boot Camp in remote West Texas, a facility
that has been plagued for months by staff shortages and
a dwindling count of incarcerated youths.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/29/0229tyc.html
Creative Play Makes for Kids in Control
February 28, 2008
By Alix Spiegel
It's playtime at the Geraldyn O. Foster Early Childhood
Center in Bridgeton, N.J., and in one corner of a busy
classroom, 4-year-olds Zee Logan and Emmy Hernandez want
to play bookstore.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=76838288&sc=emaf&sc=emaf
Children in Poverty: There Is No Excuse
February 22, 2008
To the Editor:
"Poverty is Poison, by Paul Krugman (column, Feb. 18),
echoes what members of Congress heard at a national
summit meeting about child development that Democrats
convened last year. Children who grow up in
poverty have a much lower chance of success in school
and in life, but investments in early childhood
development help to even the odds, offering hope and
opportunity where little existed before.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/opinion/lweb22krugman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
STEM program is grooming future math, science leaders
February 22, 2008
By Mike W. Thomas
San Antonio Business Journal
A new educational initiative geared toward encouraging
students to pursue science, technology, engineering and
math (STEM) careers has taken root in San Antonio and
promises big results in just a few years.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/02/25/story3.html?b=1203915600^1594697&page=1
Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills
February 21, 2008
By Alix Spiegel
On October 3, 1955, the Mickey Mouse Club debuted on
television. As we all now know, the show quickly
became a cultural icon, one of those phenomena that
helped define an era.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514
Texas food stamps applications being delayed under new
system
February 20, 2008
Associated Press
Texans seeking food stamps are waiting longer to have
their applications processed through an updated computer
system intended to modernize enrollment, state records
show.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8UTV4J80.html
Higher Education Gap May Slow Economic Mobility
By Erick Eckholm
February 20, 2008
New York Times
Economic mobility, the chance that children of the poor
or middle class will climb up the income ladder, has not
changed significantly over the last three decades, a
study being released on Wednesday says.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/us/20mobility.html?ex=1204174800&en=6f66cac2a0185c45&ei=5070
Saving kids with a surge
February 20, 2008
By Rick Casey
Houston Chronicle
With the capital murder indictment Tuesday of Travis
Mullis for allegedly killing his crying baby by stomping
on his head, Galveston prosecutors will decide between
spending $1 million or so to jump through the legal
hoops necessary to get the death penalty, or a similar
amount for putting Mullis away for life.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/5554280.html
Valero developing new child care center on corporate
campus
San Antonio Business Journal
Valero Energy Corp. officially began construction
Wednesday on a new child care center at the company's
corporate headquarters in Northwest San Antonio.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/02/18/daily22.html?f=et77&ana=e_du
Failed Follow-Up:
More than words are needed to support Head Start.
February 20, 2008
Washington Post
Last year's reauthorization of Head Start was cause for
celebration. Congress gave overwhelming,
bipartisan support to the successful preschool program,
and the president agreed that it should be renewed, even
strengthened. Sadly, the celebration was
short-lived. It has since become clear that
educating this country's poor children gets paid lip
service--not the money that's needed to do the job.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR2008021902391.html
Higher Education Gap May Slow Economic Mobility
February 20, 2008
By Erik Eckholm
The New York Times
Economic mobility, the chance that children of the poor
or middle class will climb up the income ladder, has not
changed significantly over the last three decades, a
study being released on Wednesday says.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/us/20mobility.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Poverty is Poison
February 18, 2008
By Paul Krugman
New York Times
"Poverty in early childhood poisons the brain."
That was the opening of an article in Saturday's
Financial Times, summarizing research presented last
week at the American Association for the Advancement of
Science.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/opinion/18krugman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Curriculum pitch sparks controversy
February 13, 2008
By Gary Scharrer
Austin Bureau
AUSTIN--Conservatives on the State Board of Education
are expected to make an 11th-hour move today to scrap
two years of work on a language arts curriculum revision
in favor of adopting an alternative curriculum rejected
more than a decade ago.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA021308.03B.English_rewrite.371cf2f.html
Ken Rodriguez: Impact of turnover within child
protection agency is 'immense'
February 12, 2008
Express-News
When caseworkers began to flee Child Protective Services
in staggering numbers, someone did an exit poll.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/columnists/krodriguez/stories/MYSA021308.01B.krod_0213.371c9d6.html
TYC acting executive director resigns under pressure
February 12, 2008
By Lisa Sandberg
Express-News Austin Bureau
Austin--The second in command at the scandal-ridden
Texas Youth Commission resigned under pressure Monday,
and the No. 1 man in charge came under fire for keeping
the matter under wraps.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA021208.01B.tyc__dimitria.359f401.html
TYC reforming but still target of complaints
February 10, 2008
By Jim Vertuno
Associated Press
When a sex abuse scandal turned a red-hot spotlight on
the Texas juvenile justice system in early 2007, state
officials vowed to tear down and rebuild an agency rife
with abuse, neglect and dangerous facilities.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8UN49LO0.html
Child Protective Services' issues 'worse now,' follow-up
reveals
February 8, 2008
By Elizabeth Allen
Express-News
Amid a high number of child deaths, and an even higher
turnover rate at the agency tasked with overseeing the
state's abused and neglected children, the local Child
Protective Services remains troubled, according to the
findings of a judicial report released Friday.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA020908.03B.CPS.355688e.html
TYC conservator resigns from private sector job
Nedelkoff says he wants to avoid appearance of
conflicts, focus full time on Texas job.
February 8, 2008
By Mike Ward
American-Statesman Staff
Under fire for possible conflicts of interest, Texas
Youth Conservator Richard Nedelkoff resigned Thursday
from his job as a top executive at a national youth
corrections firm "to avoid any appearance of
impropriety."
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/08/0208tyc.html
TYC head defends biz ties
February 7, 2008
By Lisa Sanberg
AUSTIN--In a clear sign that leadership woes continue to
plague the Texas Youth Commission, the agency's newly
appointed conservator, Richard Nedelkoff, was grilled by
a panel of lawmakers Wednesday over his business ties to
experts he has consulted with for his state job.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA020708.01B.tyc_money.371c160.html
Domestic Violence -- How can it affect Children?
February 6, 2008
By Efrain Gonzalez, M.A., L.P.C.
Domestic Violence seems to be growing in our community
daily as seen by current news reports. It is a big
issue that is not affecting just adults. When I
talk with children at the hospital they don't tell me
there is domestic violence at home, but instead they
tell me horrific stories of nightmares, being woken up
in the middle of the night by screams and yells and how
they hit a sibling because mommy and daddy fight like
that.
http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/smhc/2008/02/domestic_violence_how_can_it_a_1.html
Settlement demands safety at South Texas juvenile prison
February 5, 2008
Associated Press
To settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of
Justice, the Texas Youth Commission has agreed to make
changes to protect the safety of inmates at a South
Texas juvenile prison.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8UK2F180.html
Ten city clinics join county system
February 4, 2008
By Wendy Rigby
KENS 5 Eyewitness News
It's one of
the largest mergers of city-county business ever in San
Antonio. On Monday, 10 San Antonio Metropolitan
Health District clinics became University Health System
clinics.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA020408.medical.merger.KENS.8e44cbf5.html
Editorials: Good plan helps kids in drug users'
homes
February 4, 2008
San Antonio Express-News
Law enforcement and Child Protective Services officials
last month signed an agreement to work proactively to
help children whose parents are arrested in drug raids.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/stories/MYSA020508.01O.drugkids1ed.25e3417.html
Congress may throw wrench in Texas privatization plan
Proposal attempts to limit the role of private workers
in food stamp program.
February 4, 2008
By Jason Embry and Corrie MacLaggan
American-Statesman Staff
WASHINGTON--In a direct response to problems in Texas,
Congress is considering new limits on the role that
private companies can play in states' public assistance
programs.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/02/04/0204foodstamps.html
Bexar child death rate still high
February 3, 2008
By Nancy Martinez
Express-News
The rate at which Bexar County children died of abuse or
neglect continued essentially unabated--and above the
national average--for another year, according to state
Child Protective Services officials.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA020408.01A.ABUSEDEATHS.371c263.html
State senator wants CPS to do more to keep kids
connected
February 1, 2008
By Tamarind Phinisee
State Senator Leticia Van de Putte is pushing to change
Child Protective Services' (CPS) operating guidelines
that can sometimes prevent siblings who are placed in
separate permanent placement environments from
maintaining contact with each other.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/02/04/story10.html
Texas Watch report contends tort reform hurts health
care
February 1, 2008
By W. Scott Bailey
San Antonio Business Journal
Tort reform, especially as it relates to health care,
has been a polarizing issue for years.
Supporters claim tort reform has improved the overall
state of health care in Texas, benefiting patients,
physicians and providers. Critics claim those
reforms have had an opposite effect.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/02/04/story9.html?f=et166&b=1202101200^1585637&ana=e_vert
Dental students providing free care to children
February 1, 2008
By Wendy Rigby
KENS 5 Eyewitness News
Cavities are a huge problem for San Antonio children.
In fact, tooth decay is five times more common than
childhood asthma.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA020108.dental.KENS.7ec01af2.html
125 public health jobs, nine clinics moved to UHS
January 31, 2008
By Don Finley
Express-News Medical Writer
Promising that the transition will be "budget-neutral"
to taxpayers--at least in the city--the San Antonio City
Council on Thursday voted to transfer 125 public health
jobs and nine clinics to the tax-supported University
Health System.
The move of services from the Metropolitan Health
District, which has been under discussion for several
years as part of city-county consolidation efforts, came
with a recommendation that the city property tax rate be
reduced by 0.7 cent per $100 valuation, while the UHS
tax rate could rise by perhaps 1/2 cent to absorb
the costs--although they might be absorbed in some other
way, UHS officials said.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA020108.03B.health.35f729b.html
Haven for Hope to open one facility next month
January 30, 2008
By Wendy Rigby
KENS 5 Eyewitness News
San Antonio's new multimillion-dollar community for the
homeless will open its first building next month.
The detox center is a first for Bexar County.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA013008.homeless.KENS.748dc3ad.html
Head Start Group Decries Renewal's 'Broken Promises'
January 30, 2008
Just last month, Head Start supporters were celebrating
the passage of a five-year reauthorization bill they say
will strengthen the 43-year-old preschool program for
poor children.
Now, the same advocates are lamenting what they're
calling "broken promises" from the Bush administration
over funding for the program, and saying they've been
"saddled" with loads of new requirements in the
reauthorization.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/01/30/21fedfil.h27.html
Texas drafts bill of rights for foster children
Similar list of rights failed in 2007 legislative
session.
By Corrie MacLaggan
American-Statesman Staff
January 26, 2008
A proposed bill of rights for Texas' 17,000 foster
children died in the Texas House last year after a
contentious debate that one opponent said would have
children demanding designer jeans. But the head of
the state agency that oversees the foster care system
has been quietly working to make that list of rights a
reality.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/01/26/0126foster.html
Fewer children spending nights in CPS offices
January 25, 2008
AUSTIN--The number of abused or neglected children
forced to spend the night in Texas Child Protective
Services offices has decreased since reaching more than
100 in May, the agency said.
For each of the past three months, the number of
children who slept in a CPS office because there was
nowhere else to go was in the single digits.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/gen/ap/TX_Sleeping_in_Offices.html
Pay phones are coming to state's prison system
By Lisa Sandberg
Express-News
January 23, 2008
AUSTIN--An estimated 120,000 Texas inmates soon will be
able to reach out to family and friends on a regular
basis after the state agreed Wednesday to install pay
phones in prisons.
The board that oversees the prison system, without
discussion, unanimously approved policies that will
allow most well-behaved prisoners, almost regardless of
their original crime, to dial out for up to two hours a
month either by calling collect or by using prepaid
cards. Some 4,000 phones could be installed as
early as this year in the states' 105 prisons.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA012408.01A.inmate-phones.2bb9223.html
Kids endangered by drugs get 'new ally'
January 23, 2008
By Nancy Martinez
Express-News
It's a scene that has played out too often in San
Antonio: Children found in homes where drugs and
chaos thrive.
To protect the youngest victims of drug abuse, law
enforcement officials and child advocates announced
Wednesday a new policy that could lead to more
child-endangerment convictions.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA012408.03B.CPS.24aeb9f.html
AP IMPACT: lead found in folk medicines
January 23, 2008
HOUSTON (AP) -- Maria didn't mean to poison her
children. Quite the opposite.
Worried about her daughters' lack of appetite, the young
Houston mother was merely following her grandmother's
advice when she gave the two girls and a niece a dose of
"greta" - a Mexican folk medicine used to treat
children's stomach ailments.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DANGEROUS_REMEDIES?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
S.A. panel to tackle education reform
January 22, 2008
By Lindsay Kastner and Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
Express-News
A new education initiative will "change the face of San
Antonio," Mayor Phil Hardberger said Tuesday, although
he conceded that the recommendations
of a
group involved will be nonbinding.
Hardberger unveiled the P16Plus Council of Greater Bexar
County, which is designed to take a comprehensive look
at local education, from birth to early adulthood.
Similar initiatives have taken root across Texas and
around the country.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA012308.03B.HARDBERGER_ED_FORUM.28e9eb5.html
Child abuse cases taking a toll
January 19, 2008
By Nancy Martinez
Express-News
Stressed over the daily drumbeat of child death and
abuse cases, 75 percent of Bexar County's Child
Protective Services investigators quit last year--the
highest turnover in the state.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA011908.01A.Turnover0119.2a77285.html
Study says schools still slight poor kids
January 17, 2008
By Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
Express-News
The Texas schoolchildren who need the most help to
succeed in schools often get the least, according to a
national study that tracked local and state per-student
spending from 1999 to 2005.
The study, by the Washington D.C.-based advocacy
organization The Education Trust, cited Texas as one of
16 states where the gap in funding between high-poverty
and low-poverty school districts widened during those
six years, despite the state's share-the-wealth funding
system designed to guarantee equity.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA0118.01B.fundinggap.292558c.html
Children under 2 shouldn't get cold medicine, for fear
of side effects, FDA says
Government ruling comes after drugs were pulled by
companies, and after warnings from scientific advisers
Associated Press
January 17, 2008
WASHINGTON--Parents should not give babies and toddlers
over-the-counter cough and cold medicines, the
government plans to declare today.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/01/17/0117cold.html
Increased isolation of youths is assailed
January 15, 2008
By Lisa Sandberg
Express-News
AUSTIN--Contrary to its promises for reform, the Texas
Youth Commission has stepped up its policy of isolating
unruly inmates in solitary cells for days or weeks at a
time, sometimes violating its own rules in doing so, the
agency's independent watchdog said.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA011608.01B.tycsegregation.275f4f6.html
State senator from S. A. to answer Bush speech
January 15, 2008
By Gary Martin
Express-News
WASHINGTON--State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte was selected
Tuesday to deliver the Democratic response in Spanish to
President Bush's State of the Union speech later this
month.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA011608.04A.VandePutte.29e44b0.html
When Hospitals Kept Children from Parents
By Howard Markel, M.D.
January 1, 2008
Early one morning, I visited my daughter's 5-year-old
friend Eddie, who was laid up in the hospital the night
after an emergency appendectomy. Understandably ,
Eddie looked miserable. Just as understandably, so
did his parents, who were still in their pajamas in a
fold-out cot next to his bed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/health/01visi.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Searching for Similar Diagnosis Through DNA
By Amy Harmon
December 28, 2007
The girls had never met, but they looked like sisters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/health/research/28dna.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th&adxnnlx=1198854946-N1dgyT6gz2EikX/9rLzwNw
Study says foster care benefits brains
By Lauran Neergaard
AP Medical Writer
December 20, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Toddlers rescued from orphanages and
placed in good foster homes score dramatically higher on
IA tests years later than children who were left behind,
concludes a one-of-a-kind project in Romania that has
profound implications for child welfare around the
globe.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071221/ap_on_he_me/orphanage_brain_development;_ylt=AtOWzMryOiSSvus_cYa9TfhI2ocA
Senate confirms Texas demographer as Census director
December 20, 2007
Associated Press
The Senate has confirmed a Texas demographer to head the
Census Bureau as it steps up preparations for the 2010
national county. The Senate, on a voice vote
Wednesday, confirmed Steven Murdock, the state
demographer of Texas, as the new census director.
Lawmakers praised Murdock as an accomplished academic.
They said they expect him to lead the government's
primary collector of economic and demographic statistics
without political interference from the White House.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8TL9KG00.html
Governor appoints juvenile justice veteran as youth
agency conservator
Richard Nedelkoff says he wants to provide long-term
direction for troubled Texas Youth Commission.
By Mark Lisheron
American-Statesman Staff
December 20, 2007
Richard Nedelkoff wants to be the conservator to deliver
the Texas Youth Commission out of conservatorship.
To do that, he said, he will have to moderate and
participate in a high-stakes political debate over
whether the state's most serious youth offenders and
delinquents can ever be properly dealt with in the
current system of far-flung prisons.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/12/20/1220tyc.html
New Study Shows Decline in Teen Drug Use
By Deb Riechmann
Associated Press Writer
December 11, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Illicit drug use by teens continued to
gradually decline overall this year, but the use of
prescription painkillers remains popular among young
people, according to a federally financed study released
Tuesday at the White House.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/US_President_And_White_House_Advisers/Teen_Drug_Use.html
I
Pay Childcare Launches First Childcare Financing
Initiative for Families
Program helps families pay for quality childcare
December 11, 2007
Dallas, TX -- I Pay
Childcare has launched the country's first childcare
financing initiative for families with children enrolled
in childcare and preschool programs. I Pay Child
Care and Citibank are working together in a pilot
program for I Pay Childcare's Educate Early loan
program, which is designed to help parents afford
quality childcare and preschool programs for their
children.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/12/prweb575757.htm
S.A. schools work to treat students
Web Posted: 12/10/2007 11:15 PM CST
By Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
Express-News
Diane Rhodes, a respiratory therapist who works for the
North East Independent School District, saw the problem
when she looked at the numbers.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA121107.01A.ASTHMA.2934bd4.html
School
food healthier but junk's still there
Web Posted:
12/09/2007 11:41 PM CST
By Michelle De La Rosa
Express News
Audri Gavina loves Dr Pepper: She gulps three or
four 20-ounce bottles every day. After her school
district removed all sodas from student vending machines
this year, the Southside High School senior started
sneaking into the teachers' lounge to get her fill.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA121007.01A.School_Junk_Food.29344bf.html
National Head Start Association Seeks New Leadership
Reuters
December 7, 2007
WASHINGTON -- After waging a successful multi-year fight
to reauthorize Head Start, the National Head Start
Association (NHSA) announced today that it will bring in
new leadership to deal with the "major challenges and
opportunities" of the post-reauthorization period.
NHSA is the national voice of the parents, children and
educators involved in Head Start, which is America's
premier preschool program.
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS193998+07-Dec-2007+PRN20071207
Texas' Medicaid reform would help poor buy health
insurance
Plan has looser income limits than Medicaid, possibly
leaner benefits
By Robert T. Garrett
AUSTIN -- The state
submitted a plan to the federal government Wednesday
that would increase health coverage for low-income
adults, though with benefits perhaps less generous than
what Medicaid offers.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1171203/texas_medicaid_reform_would_help_poor_buy_health_insurance_plan/index.html?source=r_health
First Rise in U.S. Teen Births Since '91
By Mike Stobbe
AP Medical Writer
December 5, 2007
ATLANTA -- In a troubling reversal, the nation's teen
birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years,
surprising government health officials who had no
immediate explanation.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/Health_Medical/Teen_Births.html
Mothers Scrimp as States Take Child Support
Erik Eckholm
December 1, 2007
MILWAUKEE -- The collection of child support from absent
fathers is failing to help many of the poorest families,
in part because the government uses fathers' payments
largely to recoup welfare costs rather than passing on
the money to mothers and children.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/us/01child.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Bill
to Expand Head Start, Bolster Its Teacher Qualifications
Is Approved
By
Maria
Glod
Washington Post Staff
Writer
Thursday, November 15, 2007; Page A08
With two overwhelming
votes, Congress approved a bill yesterday that would
boost teacher qualifications in federally funded Head
Start preschools, expand access to the program for
children from low-income families and scrap a
controversial system for testing 4-year-olds.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/14/AR2007111401478.html
Congress Passes 5-Year Head Start Bill
All Associated Press news
November 14, 2007 5:22 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress on Wednesday passed and sent
to President Bush a five-year Head Start bill that opens
up the popular preschool program to more children while
taking steps to see that the program is well-run and
that its teachers are better qualified.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&date=20071114&id=7816216
EPISD considers offering pre-K to all
By Darren Meritz
El Paso Times
November 14, 2007
Pre-kindergarten may soon be offered to all El Paso
Independent School District children--regardless of
need--but it will come at a cost of at least $5 million.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_7455423
Over 35.5 million found hungry in 2006
By Hope Yen
Associated Press Writer
November 14, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP)-- More than 35.5 million people in
this country went hungry in 2006 as they struggled to
find jobs that can support them, a figure that was
virtually unchanged from the previous year, the
Agriculture Department said Wednesday.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HUNGER?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-11-14-17-31-03
Income gap between families grows
By Stephen Ohlemacher
Associated Press Writer
November 13, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Decades after the civil rights
movement, the income gap between black and white
families has grown, says a new study that tracked the
incomes of some 2,300 families for more than 30 years.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INCOME_GAP?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-11-13-07-04-31
Bad Behavior Does
Not Doom Pupils, Studies Say
By Benedict Carey
November 13, 2007
New York Times
Educators and psychologists have long feared that
children entering school with behavior problems were
doomed to fall behind in the upper grades. But two
new studies suggest that those fears are exaggerated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/health/13kids.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=us&adxnnlx=1194982380-kjKv0uydFs2oXMH4MOOC1g
Cisneros stresses education's vitality
Web
Posted: 11/12/2007 10:36 PM CST
Gary Scharrer
Express-News
AUSTIN
Even during the darkest day in American history when
brother fought against brother in the Civil War,
Congress passed legislation creating land-grant
universities to help teach the illiterate masses, Henry
Cisneros told the Hispanic Scholarship Consortium on
Monday.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA111307.03B.cisnerosspeech.339dfa7.html
Invest early to get more kids in
college, experts say
Funding early education is the key to
increasing the number of college grads, a think tank
says, and the investment promises large returns for the
state.
By
James Walsh
Star Tribune
Last update: November 12, 2007 9:47
PM
Fewer than 2 percent of Minnesota's
4-year-olds were in pre-K programs last year. That
number will have to dramatically increase if the state
hopes to boost the number of young people attaining a
college degree by 2020, said researchers and analysts
gathered at a forum Monday.
http://www.startribune.com/10242/story/1546195.html
Slower brain maturity seen in ADHD kids
By Randolph E. Schmid
AP
Science Writer
Nov 12,
9:21 PM EST
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Crucial parts of brains of children with
attention deficit disorder develop more slowly than
other youngsters' brains, a phenomenon that earlier
brain-imaging research missed, a new study says.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ADHD_BRAIN?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-11-12-21-21-51
Families learn basics of camping, more fun from the
world outside
Web
Posted: 11/12/2007 11:53 AM CST
By Elaine Ayo
Express-News Staff Writer
Holding
their yellow Global Positioning System receivers out in
front of them, the Smith family zeroed in on their prize
at Braunig Lake Park on Sunday afternoon.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA111207.03B.workshop.2e69853.html
Report: Let adoptees see birth
info
By David Crary
AP
National Writer
Nov 12,
8:38 AM EST
NEW YORK
(AP) -- It's among the most divisive questions in the
realm of adoption: Should adult adoptees have access to
their birth records, and thus be able to learn the
identity of their birth parents?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ADOPTION_BIRTH_RECORDS?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Expert at conference urges early
screening for autism
Web
Posted: 11/10/2007 09:16 PM CST
By Jerry Needham
Express-News
Early
screening of all children for autism should lead to the
critical early therapy that can lessen the severity of
the symptoms for those afflicted with the condition, an
expert on the disease told attendees at a San Antonio
symposium Saturday.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA111107.05B.AutismConference.2ecfa63.html
Births of preemies hit a startling
high
Web
Posted: 11/10/2007 12:13 AM CST
By Don Finley
Express-News
The
percentage of Bexar County women receiving late or no
prenatal care before giving birth soared to 28 percent
last year, up from only 11 percent four years earlier
and despite the fact that half of all local births now
are covered by Medicaid, according to a new report
released Friday.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA111007.01A.healthreport.35cbd84.html
Bexar drug courts strongly invest in users'
rehabilitation
Web
Posted: 11/09/2007 10:31 PM CST
By Elizabeth Allen
Express-News
The
drug court in Bexar County isn't so much a court as it
is an extra set of parents watching your every move.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA111007.02B.DrugCourt.3337b93.html
Who Needs
Preschool?
By Anna Kuchment
Nov 3, 2007 11:09 AM
Newsweek -
Nov. 12, 2007 issue
Allegra and Eric Lowitt toured several preschools and
child-care centers in 2006 before finding the right
match for their daughter, Dana, now almost 3. The
Lowitts, who live outside Boston, settled on Needhams
Chestnut Childrens Center (from $4,500 per year for
part-time preschool to $22,000 for full-time, year-round
care), where the teachers are certified in
early-childhood education and toddlers follow themed
curricula that introduce such skills as letter
recognition through games, field trips and other
activities. Each day, Danas teacher gives the Lowitts a
printed summary of their daughters activities, from
what she ate to whom she played with. Itll say, Dana
loved making pumpkin muffins, and she held hands with
Anna on the playground, says Allegra. Its nice to
get a feel for what her day is like.
http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/tipsheet/archive/2007/11/03/who-needs-preschool.aspx
The
Preschool Investment Really Pays Off Says Study
New America Media, Q&A,
Posted: Nov 08, 2007
By Mary Ambrose
Listen to David Kirp discuss preschools with Mary
Ambrose
What is the effect of really only one year of preschool
on society at large?
Its really
crucial in the development of children, and not just
four-year-olds. We start with four-year-olds and
preschool because thats an important developmental
place and a place where you can start talking about kids
getting ready for school. But its also important to
think about education earlier. Its not as if the
learning process begins magically with a half day of
high quality instruction. Forty-five minutes after
theyre born kids are tracking the movements of people.
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=af13a05aca7ad006c16ebdebbd3dbf26
Lack
of sleep may lead to fatter kids
Nov 5,
7:46 AM EST
By Carla K. Johnson
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO
(AP) -- Here's another reason to get the kids to bed
early: More sleep may lower their risk of becoming
obese. Researchers have found that every additional hour
per night a third-grader spends sleeping reduces the
child's chances of being obese in sixth grade by 40
percent.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DIET_KIDS_SLEEP?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-11-05-07-46-02
Study: Educational TV for toddlers OK
Nov 5,
12:57 AM EST
By Lindsey Tanner
AP Medical Writer
CHICAGO
(AP) -- "Arthur" and "Barney" are OK for toddler
TV-watching. But not "Rugrats" and certainly not "Power
Rangers," reports a new study of early TV-watching and
future attention problems
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TV_CHILDREN?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-11-05-00-57-05
Youngest felons locked up longer
Web Posted: 10/31/2007 11:39 PM CDT
By Lisa Sandberg
Express-News
MART--At 12, a boy we'll call Jake is barely old enough
for summer camp. But convicted of burglary, he'll
serve his nine-month sentence away from his family at a
Texas Youth Commission facility. There's no
guarantee, though, he'll be released on time.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA110107.01A.youngestoffenders.3488bb4.html
High
school dropouts cost Texas billions in lost wages
San Antonio Business Journal
October 30, 2007
The Texas economy could have benefited from an
additional $32 billion in wages if students would not
have dropped out of high school in 2007, according to a
new report.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2007/10/29/daily12.html?f=et77&ana=e_du
Texas has 185 high schools labeled 'dropout
factories'
Web Posted: 10/30/2007 10:55 PM CDT
By Gary Scharrer and Jenny LaCoste Caputo
Express-News
AUSTIN -- Texas has 185 high schools that are
hemorrhaging students fast enough to be called "dropout
factories" in a new national report. San Antonio
has 15 of them.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA103107.01A.schooldropouts.3405088.html
More young adults on
cholesterol drugs
By Linda A. Johnson
AP Business Writer
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Use of cholesterol and blood
pressure medicines by young adults appears to be rising
rapidly - at a faster pace than among senior citizens,
according to an industry report being released Tuesday.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/Y/YOUNG_HEARTS?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION-HEALTH&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
School reaches out
to young readers
Web Posted: 10/29/2007 10:13 PM CDT
By Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
Express-News
It looked as if a mini-carnival had set up on the
grounds of the Woodhill apartment complex Monday
afternoon.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA103007.01B.lockehill.325c27b.html
Pediatricians Urge Autism Screening
By Lindsey Tanner
AP Medical Writer
October 29, 2007
CHICAGO - The country's
leading pediatricians group is making its strongest push
yet to have all children screened for autism twice by
age 2, warning of symptoms such as babies who don't
babble at 9 months and 1-year-olds who don't point to
toys.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-autism-screening,0,750162.story
Fight over child health care
persists
Oct 26, 2007 - 7:19 AM EDT
By David Espo
AP
Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate is the next stop for
legislation to expand children's health coverage,
revised by Democrats but rejected by President Bush as
little changed from their earlier offering.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHILDRENS_HEALTH?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=HEALTH&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Senate reverses Bush's
cuts to education, health in passing spending bill
Veto battle looms for
this and other appropriations measures.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate on Tuesday reversed
President Bush's cuts to education, health research and
grants for local communities as Democrats girded for
Bush's first veto of a regular appropriations bill.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/10/24/1024budget.html
Bexar County accepts mental health award
Web
Posted: 10/24/2007 12:12 AM CDT
KENS 5 Eyewitness News
Bexar County is working hard to keep the mentally ill
out of the jail system, and get patients the treatment
they need.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA102307.MENTALHEALTH.kens.19e58249e.html
Mental health care expanded for county workers,
offenders
Officials see the initiatives as wise investments.
Web
Posted: 10/23/2007 10:41 PM CDT
By Tracy Idell Hamilton
Express-News
Bexar County has ramped up its commitment to mental
health with initiatives that will help both county
employees and mentally ill offenders.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA102407.06B.CountyHealth.32efc8d.html
Advocacy groups claim
Youth Commission isn't following court order on pepper
spray use
Agency agreed in
September to rescind order widening use of pepper spray
against incarcerated youths
By
Mike Ward
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday,
October 23, 2007
Less than
a month after agreeing to follow a court order
regulating the use of pepper spray against incarcerated
youths, officials at the Texas Youth Commission have
failed to comply with it, two advocacy groups claimed in
a court filing Monday.
Advocacy Inc. and Texas Appleseed, which sued the
troubled youth corrections agency Sept. 13 over its
increased use of pepper spray, are asking a Travis
County state court to force the agency to comply with
the Sept. 28 court order.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/23/1023tyc.html
Hutchison votes for
children's health insurance bill
Move could help with
gubernatorial run, analysts say.
By
Suzanne Gamboa
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Monday, October 22,
2007
WASHINGTON Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
of Texas consistently voted for a children's health
insurance bill President Bush opposed. But only after
voting for a bill GOP leaders favored.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/22/1022hutchison.html
Report: Conditions at North Texas youth lockup are
dismal
Youth Commission head tells lawmakers she has not seen
ombudsman's report but disagrees with findings.
By
Mike Ward
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday,
October 18, 2007
The
September inspection report about a Texas Youth
Commission lockup in North Texas paints a grim picture.
The buildings are "structurally suffering, dangerous and
unclean," states the confidential assessment by
Ombudsman Will Harrell, who ranked the Victory Field
Correctional Academy in Vernon as "the least adequate"
of any he'd visited since he took the job in May.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/18/1018tyc.html
Support, Data Seen Key
to Pre-K Teacher Effectiveness
Early research results
show value regardless of teachers educational levels.
Published Online: October 4, 2007
Education Week
Published in Print: October 10, 2007
By
Linda Jacobson
A yet-to-be published study of
preschool sites in four states shows that giving
prekindergarten teachers access to mentors and to
immediate data on childrens pre-reading skills can have
a positive effect on student performance, regardless of
the teachers own education levels.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/10/10/07prek.h27.html?tmp=18653123
First Lady announces
program to connect kids, nature
Bush in
Austin for National Park Foundation summit; honors
Lady Bird Johnson.
By
Patrick George
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday,
October 16, 2007
Following
the legacy of beautification that made Lady Bird Johnson
a noteworthy figure, first lady Laura Bush announced a
new program that was designed to connect young people to
national parks.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/16/1016bush.html
Failing
Schools Strain to Meet U.S. Standard
By
Diana
Jean Schemo
Published: October 16, 2007
The New York Times
LOS ANGELES As the
director of high schools in the gang-infested
neighborhoods of the East Side of Los Angeles, Guadalupe
Paramo struggles every day with educational dysfunction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/education/16child.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1192530626-aLCScgNsbuxlb31Yq0QTyg
Texas
Youth Commission conservator backs agency's leadership
but wants out
Owens
says he hopes to be replaced by week's end
By
Mike Ward
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday,
October 16, 2007
In his
first report, Gov. Rick Perry's top overseer at the
Texas Youth Commission defends the leadership at the
troubled agency and says it needs to come out of
conservatorship to complete its turnaround.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/10/16/1016tyc.html
Troubles Mount
Within Texas Youth Detention Agency
By
Solomon Moore
Published: October 16, 2007
The New York Times
AUSTIN, Tex. Juvenile
detainees as young as 13 years old slept on filthy mats
in dormitories with broken, overflowing toilets and
feces smeared on the walls. Denied outside recreation
for weeks at a time, they ate bug-infested food, did
school work that consisted of little more than crossword
puzzles and defecated in bags.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/us/16juvenile.html?th&emc=th
Bush veto of child insurance bill likely to stick
With election year looming, issue has become political
hot topic, but GOP not budging.
By David Espo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
WASHINGTON Shrugging off a barrage of political
attacks, House Republicans are on track to hand
President Bush a victory this week by upholding his veto
of legislation to expand children's health coverage.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/10/16/1016schip.html
Democrats: Children Will Get Insurance
By Hope Yen
Associated Press Writer
5:09 PM EDT, October 14, 2007
WASHINGTON - House
Democratic leaders said Sunday they were working to
gather votes to override a veto on a popular children's
health program, but pledged to find a way to cover
millions without insurance should their effort fail.
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-childrens-health,0,2312672.story
Study: Teasing Adds to Weight Problems
By Amy Forliti
Associated Press Writer
2:37 PM EDT, October 14, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS - For
parents concerned about their overweight teens, new
research suggests the best tactic might be to just relax
and cook a healthy Sunday dinner.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-diet-overweight-teens,0,4377680.story
San Antonio's Witte
chosen for national science museum tour
San Antonio Business Journal
Thursday, October 11, 2007 - 3:26 PM CDT
The
Universe Within Touring
Co.
LLC and
American Exhibitions Inc.
have selected the Witte Museum to bring
their popular Our Body: The Universe Within exhibit to
San Antonio.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2007/10/08/daily30.html?f=et77&ana=e_edu
Prosecutors to stop offering deferred adjudication
Web
Posted: 10/12/2007 01:28 AM CDT
John Tedesco and Karisa King
Express-News
Starting today, Bexar County prosecutors will stop
recommending a form of probation for defendants accused
of harming or endangering children. The move could lead
to more trials and fewer plea bargains.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA101207.01A.NZChildAbuseTrials.347bf72.html
Study: Kids Get Inadequate Health Care
By Linda A. Johnson
Associated Press Writer
5:04 PM EDT, October 10, 2007
As Washington debates
children's health insurance, a startling study finds
that kids who regularly see doctors get the right care
less than half the time -- whether it's preschool shots
or chlamydia tests for teen girls.
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ats-ap_health13oct10,0,3760933.story
Intervening in Preschool Years Can
Prevent Juvenile Delinquency
Tuesday, October 9,
2007; 12:00 AM
MONDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay
News) -- Parental action can alter a preschoolers'
biological response to stress, lowering the chance that
even a high-risk child will become a juvenile
delinquent, U.S. researchers report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/08/AR2007100801027.html
Leavitt Seeks Deal on Children's Health
By Hope
Yen
Associated Press Writer
Oct 8, 1:38 AM EDT
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- President Bush's health secretary said Sunday he
does not expect Congress to override a veto on
children's insurance and warned that the popular program
could be at risk unless Democrats restrain spending.
Bush considers
compromise on child health program
After veto, president
says he's willing to spend more
THE LOS
ANGELES TIMES
Sunday, October 07, 2007
WASHINGTON President Bush indicated Saturday that he
would be willing to accept a larger increase for a
children's health insurance program than the one he has
proposed but defended his veto of the expansion of
coverage approved by Congress
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/10/07/1007schip.html
Garden offers youths a place to heal
Web
Posted: 10/07/2007 10:40 PM CDT
By
Vincent T. Davis
Express-News
At a
lush garden west of Lackland AFB, healing blooms.
Many children, seeking calm and quiet, have walked the
gravel path beyond a black steel gate.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA100807.01B.Healinggarden.318ecde.html
Schoolhouses
or warehouses?
Friday, October 5, 2007
Austin
Business Journal
By
Jason Sabo
Contributing writer
Thousands of
Texas children have
entered school for the very first time as
pre-kindergarteners. It's an exciting time for these
kids and their families. Families eligible for
prekindergarten are those of soldiers and Marines, the
working poor and -- thanks to a new law passed this year
by the Legislature -- adoptive families caring for
abused and neglected children
UTHSC
secures $33.7 million contract for nationwide study
Web
Posted: 10/05/2007 12:39 AM CDT
Don Finley
Express-News
One
thousand San Antonio children would be followed from the
womb and in some cases, from conception to their
21st birthday as part of the biggest and most ambitious
study ever to look at children's health and well-being,
federal health officials announced Thursday.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA100507.State.childrenshealth.34c306f.html
SWAT-like inspections
of juvenile facilities ordered
Texas
Youth Commission want on-site visits of 17 other
contract-care programs
By Mike
Ward
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday,
October
05, 2007
Burned by
substandard conditions at a privately run West Texas
youth prison, Texas Youth Commission officials on
Thursday ordered a special inspection of 17 other
contract-care programs the second such SWAT-like sweep
of agency sites to curb potential abuse in seven months.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/10/05/1005tyc.html
Preschool offers sign language classes
By Marcia Freidenreich | Special Correspondent
South Florida
Sun-Sentinel
September 30, 2007
On a recent morning at the Phylis J. Green Early
Childhood Center in Parkland, preschoolers learned to
use American Sign Language for the words sit and stand.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flsignlanguage0930nwsep30,0,1329539,full.story
Municipalities meet in S.A.
to swap ideas
Web
Posted: 09/30/2007 10:33 PM CDT
Tracy Idell Hamilton
Express-News Staff Writer
Local elected officials and municipal staff from all
over the country descended on San Antonio on Sunday to
learn from each other how best to support families and
their children who are vulnerable to poverty in their
respective cities.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA100107.02B.city_convention.32132bf.html
San Antonio steps up efforts to fight obesity in
children
San Antonio Business Journal
2:10 PM CDT, September 24, 2007
A new alliance will be unveiled Wednesday to combat San
Antonio's rising childhood obesity rate. Some of
the members will include the American Heart Association,
Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas, the San Antonio
Public Library and the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2007/09/24/daily5.html?f=et77&ana=e_du
Buy a Laptop for a
Child, Get Another Laptop Free
September 24, 2007
By Steve Lohr
One Laptop Per Child, an ambitious project to bring
computing to the developing world's children, has
considerable momentum. Years of work by engineers
and scientists have paid off in a pioneering low-cost
machine that is light, rugged and surprisingly
versatile. The early reviews have been glowing,
and mass production is set to start next month.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/worldbusiness/24laptop.html?_r=1&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/L/Lohr,%20Steve&oref=slogin
300 attend meeting of
child advocates
Web Posted: 09/21/2007 11:10 PM CDT
San Antonio Express News
More than 300 local child advocates attended the ninth
annual Congress for Children Friday, a record for the
conference.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA092207.02B.MEETING.f9538a4f.html
Local leaders join clamor for CHIP
Web Posted: 09/21/2007 11:14 PM CDT
By Nicole Foy
Express-News Medical Writer
Local health and political leaders joined forces Friday
to urge President Bush and Congress to reauthorize and
expand a public health care program for millions of
children that is set to expire in just over a week.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA092207.04B.chip_reauthorization.33e8bee.html
State trying to entice
Hispanics to visit and enjoy great outdoors
Web Posted: 09/18/2007 02:08 AM CDT
By Gary Scharrer
Express-News Austin Bureau
Austin -- Too few Hispanic families are
taking advantage of state parks, so an effort is under
way to acquaint urban Hispanics with the natural world
outside their cities.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA091807.08B.HispanicsParks.31bb9a7.html
Cancer society ads push health reform
September 16, 1:51 PM EDT
By Mike Stobbe
AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA (AP) -- The American Cancer Society
this week will take its biggest step ever into the
politics of health care reform, spending $15 million in
advertising on behalf of Americans with too little
health insurance or none at all.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CANCER_SOCIETY_CAMPAIGN?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Juvenile justice advocates critical of new TYC
leadership
09/16/2007
Associated Press
Reform advocates and some Texas lawmakers are concerned
by what they say is a lack of juvenile justice expertise
among the new leaders of the troubled Texas Youth
Commission.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8RML93G3.html
Hard-to-place foster
kids stuck with beds in offices
Web Posted: 09/14/2007 11:34 PM CDT
By Jane Elliott
Austin Bureau
AUSTIN -- Plans to open new shelters by December
for difficult-to-place foster children are on hold after
private providers declined to participate, meaning some
abused and neglected children will continue to sleep in
state offices.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA091507.05B.Foster_kids.3212e60.html
Experts Question Study on Youth Suicide Rates
September 14, 2007
By Alex Berenson and Benedict Carey
New York Times
Last week, leading psychiatric researchers linked a 2004
increase in the suicide rate for children and
adolescents to a warning by the Food and Drug
Administration about the use of antidepressants in
minors. The F.D.A. warning, the researchers
suggested, might have resulted in severely depressed
teenagers going without needed treatment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/14/us/14suicide.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
TYC pepper spraying decried
Web Posted: 09/13/2007 11:18 PM CDT
By Lisa Sandberg
Express-News Austin Bureau
AUSTIN -- A recently enacted directive by
the Texas Youth Commission authorizing the broader use
of pepper spray to subdue unruly offenders came under
fire Thursday by three groups of child welfare
advocates.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA091407.1B.tyc.suit.33bc23a.html
Child Mortality at
Record Low
Further Drop Seen
September 13, 2007
By Donald G. NcNeil Jr.
New York Times
For the first time since record keeping began in 1960,
the number of deaths of young children around the world
has fallen below 10 million a year, according to figures
from the United Nations Children's Fund being released
today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/world/13child.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Big flu shot cut looms
Web Posted: 09/12/2007 10:05 PM CDT
By Don Finley
Express-News Medical Writer
City-sponsored flu shot clinics, which have drawn
thousands each year to malls and meeting halls, could be
a thing of the past. Faced with less money for
vaccine and a Solomon-like decision, city health
officials plan on giving far fewer influenza shots this
fall, choosing instead to direct their efforts toward
childhood immunizations.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA091307.01B.flu.2ff46b3.html
Parents who are grand
Web Posted: 09/12/2007 10:14 PM CDT
By Amanda Reimherr Buckert
Express-News
On purple construction paper, Bernardo Obregon slowly
moved his pencil around a stencil of a cross. He
carefully made his last mark, and took a deep breath.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA091307.01B.grandfamilies.2ff4655.html
Texas falling behind
in immunization
Web Posted: 09/11/2007 12:38 AM CDT
By Janet Elliott
Express-News Austin Bureau
AUSTIN -- Texas fell from 24th to 34th last year in a
national childhood immunization survey, reversing an
upward trend and concerning physicians.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA091107.3B.immunization.3204aaa.html
Not Autistic or
Hyperactive.
Just Seeing Double at Times.
By Laura Novak
New York Times
September 11, 2007
As an infant, Raea Gragg was withdrawn and could not
make eye contact. By preschool she needed to smell
and squeeze every object she saw.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/health/11visi.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Teacher group says
schools should ease up on testing
Educators say they feel the pressure of ratings system.
By Jason Embry
American-Statesman Staff
September 11, 2007
The third week of school is underway. In other
words, it's time to start testing. In the Austin
school district, some teachers must start giving
benchmark tests, which measures students' strengths and
weaknesses heading into the new year.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/09/11/0911testing.html
Study finds lower immunization rate for Texas Children
Associated Press
September 11, 2007
The vaccination rate among young Texas children fell 2.1
percent last year, dropping the state from 24th to 34th
nationally, according to a survey by the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8RJ4V7O0.html
'There's clearly a desperate need for this.'
By Andrea Ball
American-Statesman Staff
September 9, 2007
Central Texas parents traumatized by premature birth
have few places to turn when they need it the most:
after their babies come home.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/archive/0909preemieside.html
Twins' premature
arrival tests couples' stamina
Resources scarce for parents of preemies
By Andrea Ball
American-Statesman Staff
September 9, 2007
Adrienne Nash leans over her squirming infant in a
sleep-deprived fog, changing a diaper and glancing at
the clock.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/archive/0909preemies.html
Homeless face challenges at school
Web Posted: 09/09/2007 11:11 PM CDT
By Nancy Martinez
Express-News
The smile on the monkey's face on Heather Edwards' white
T-shirt was faded, but it matched her vivid grin.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA091007.1A.homeless.students.3529ecb.html
University Hospital's
emergency room is in crisis
Web Posted: 09/09/2007 12:19 AM CDT
By Nicole Foy
Express-News Medical Writer
Greg Rufe scans University Hospital's emergency room.
The 74 seats in the waiting area are full, with seven or
eight people stretched out sleeping on two chairs each.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA090907.01A.ercrisis.348910e.html
Really Leaving No Child
Behind
Published: September 7, 2007
New York Times
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 set ambitious new
goals when it required the states to improve public
schooling for all students--and to educate poor children
up to the same standards as their affluent
counterparts--in exchange for federal aid. The
country still has a long way to go to reach those goals.
And they will never be met if Congress, which must now
reauthorize the law, backs away from provisions that
hold schools accountable for how well and how much
children learn.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/07/opinion/07fri1.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Uninsured problem is now at code red
Local leaders say new Census report is eye opener
San Antonio Business Jou;rnal
September 7, 2007
By W. Scott Bailey
San Antonio officials continue to work to position the
Alamo City as an emerging destination for health care
excellence and landmark biomedical research.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2007/09/10/story1.html?f=et162&b=1189396800^1517670&ana=e_vert
S.A. to host national youth obesity research
Web Posted: 09/06/2007 08:39 PM CDT
By Don Finley
Express-News Medical Writer
A national research effort to understand and perhaps
intervene in the rising incidence of childhood obesity
in Hispanics will be headquartered in San Antonio.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA090707.03B.big_kids.2bc7d5d.html
CDC: Suicide Rate Among U.S. Girls Soars
By Greg Bluestein
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA -- The suicide rate among preteen and young teen
girls spiked 76 percent, a disturbing sign that federal
health officials say they can't fully explain.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/Health_Medical/Teen_Suicides.html
The School Cafeteria,
on a Diet
By Andrew Martin
September 5, 2007
As students return to school this week, some are finding
unusual entries on the list of class rules: fewer
fried foods, smaller servings and no cupcakes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/business/05junkfood.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1188993749-P+O+iiLA8wLgd/N2fH40JQ
States investing more in Pre-K education
By Julia Silverman
Associated Press Writer
September 5, 2007
HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) -- With school starting at
Head Start centers in this fast-growing Portland suburb,
so many 3-and-4-year-olds are trooping into classrooms
that administrators are holding separate morning and
afternoon sessions.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PRE_K_BOOM?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Unaccompanied immigrant
minors face major consequences
Web Posted: 09/04/07 02:23 PM CDT
By Hernan Rozemberg
Express-News Immigration Writer
LOS FRESNOS -- Gustavo spent his last hours as a
17-year-old playing checkers with friends, followed by a
hearty dinner: chicken enchiladas, rice, refried
beans, salad, apple juice and a blueberry muffin.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA090207.01A.Immigrant_kids.3a416eb.html
Bipolar Illness Soars as a Diagnosis for the Young
September 4, 2007
By Benedict Carey
The number of American children and adolescents
treated for bipolar disorder increased 40-fold from 1994
to 2003, researchers report today in the most
comprehensive study of the controversial diagnosis.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/health/04psych.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1188908107-ZK/SJQueoAPpTH78mG05tA
Babies learn sign
language before they speak
Mother in Temple says it has reduced screaming, crying
September 4, 2007
By Michelle West
Temple Daily Telegram
Temple -- Eight-month-old Maggie might not be an adept
interpreter for the speechless world, but at least her
mother can understand her a little better. And she
screams less, said her mother, Leslie Searls.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/09/04/0904babysigning.html
Obesity in toddlers linked to iron deficiency, study
shows
Hispanic youngsters are more affected than other groups,
a new study finds.
By Carla K. Johnson
ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 4, 2007
CHICAGO -- Pudgy toddlers have an alarmingly high rate
of iron deficiency, and Hispanic youngsters are more
affected than other groups, a new study finds. The
study is the first to discover a link between obesity
and low iron levels in preschoolers. Iron
deficiency can cause mental and behavior delays, so the
findings underscore the importance of healthy eating
habits in children ages 1 to 3.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/09/04/0904toddlers.html
Area's poor face housing
woes
Web Posted: 09/02/2007
11:07 PM
CDT
By Ron Wilson
San Antonio Express-News
Though San Antonio has experienced a housing boom in
recent years, the growth has been lopsided to the
disadvantage of poor and working families, according to
a nationwide study of affordable housing.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA090307.01B.AffordableHousing.34312d4.html
Texas
tops nation in percentage without health coverage
August 29, 2007 - 2:41 a.m.
CDT
DALLAS
Texas led all states in the percentage of residents
without health insurance, according to a U.S. Census
Bureau report.
Texas had an uninsured rate of 24 percent for the years
2004-2006, the report said. The report attributed the
high rate to the state's growing population of
Hispanics. The Census Bureau deemed Texas a
majority-minority state two years ago.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/gen/ap/TX_Texas_Uninsured.html
Poverty pinches South Texas
Web Posted: 08/29/2007 12:03 AM CDT
By Nancy Martinez
San Antonio Express-News
While the nation's poverty rate declined for the first
time in 10 years, new census figures released Tuesday
reinforced what many here have known for years:
Residents in Texas, especially South Texas, are among
the country's poorest.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA082907.01A.poverty.3489337.html
Learning to become students:
Kindergartners adapt to school
Web Posted: 08/28/2007 11:17 PM CDT
By Sarah Chacko
Staff Writer
"I'm an alien," Braedon Stanley announced to his
kindergarten teacher at Ginnings Elementary School on
Tuesday.
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_Firstday_8-29.7dc37582.html
Waco
ISD unveils new transportation system for pre-k students
Updated: Aug 28, 2007 6:33pm
Tens
of thousands of students from numerous school districts
in Central Texas headed back for the first day of
school. The Waco School District also began a new
busing system for some of its youngest students.
http://www.kcentv.com/news/c-article.php?cid=1&nid=13872
Medicare cuts could affect local clinics, patients
Web Posted: 08/28/2007 08:08 PM CDT
By Wendy Rigby
KENS 5 Eyewitness News
Congress is trying to balance the Medicare budget,
and some painful cuts they're having to make affect
patients in San Antonio.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA082807.medicare.cuts.KENS.7d153274.html
Domestic violence policy is praised
Web Posted: 08/28/2007 01:31 AM CDT
By Lomi Kriel
San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio police are arresting domestic violence
suspects faster than in the past because of a policy
that now allows officers to secure immediate arrest
warrants for alleged abusers, Police Chief William
McManus said Monday.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA082807.1B.domestic.violence.3a165fa.html
Couples learn give-and-take skills to strengthen
families
Web Posted: 08/27/2007 9:25 PM CDT
By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje
Express-News
Staff Writer
The couples in the classroom at the Neighborhood
Place, a sprawling former school on the West Side where
Family Service Association of San Antonio operates a
host of programs, load their plates with carne guisada
and beans.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/salife/family/stories/MYSA082807.01P.marriage.220d92d.html
Texas ranks 12th in adult obesity
Ten of America's 15 fattest state populations are in the
South.
Washington Bureau
August 28, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Hold the chicken-fried steak and the cream
gravy, ya'll. Ten of America's 15 fattest state
populations are in Dixie, including Texas, which ranks
12th in the adult rate of obesity and sixth for youths
ages 10 through 17, according to a health report
released today.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/08/28/828obesity.html
Comment: Time for an
investment in the future
Web Posted: 08/27/2007 12:09 AM CDT
By Ernesto Nieto and Michael Soto
San Antonio Express-News
For most San Antonio 5-year-olds, this week marks
the beginning of kindergarten and the start of an
academic career in the Texas public school system.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/opinion/stoires/MYSA082707.02O.sotocomment.245773a.html
New test for special education
students is making schools nervous
Teachers still don't know what will be on tests or how
they'll affect accountability ratings
August 27, 2007
By Melissa Mixon
American-Statesman Staff
As students return to class today, schools across
the state are bracing for a change that will force some
in special education to take a tougher test than they've
been required to in years past.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/08/27/0827taksm.html
Medicaid rate increase may
boost kids' dental care
Reimbursements will go up Sept. 1
August 25, 2007
By Corrie MacLaggan
American-Statesman Staff
It may get easier for low-income Texas children to
see a dentist. Less than half of Texas children in
Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for
the poor, got a dental checkup last year. In
Central Texas, less than a third did.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/08/25/0825dentists.html
Editorial: New school finance law is not
working
Web Posted: 08/25/2007 12:01 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
The school finance legislation approved by state
lawmakers last summer seemed like a workable solution
for everyone.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/stories/MYSA082607.02H.schooltax1ed.25329b1.html
State creates ratings for early childhood centers
Texas first in nation to assess how well
pre-kindergarten programs teach kids
Web Posted: 08/24/2007 5:36 AM CDT
By Staci Hupp
The Dallas Morning News
Texas has become the first state to rate preschools,
day-care centers and Head Start programs on how well
they prepare children for kindergarten.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/082407dnmetprekratings.37af961.html
Study: Many kids have high blood pressure
The Associated Press
August 23, 2007
More than 1 million U.S. youngsters have undiagnosed
high blood pressure, leaving them at risk for developing
organ damage down the road, a study suggests.
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hsblood0823,0,4720810.story
The Preschool Question: Who gets to Go?
Va. Expansion Efforts Highlight Debate
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
The children in Carrie Hamilton's preschool class
yesterday drew wobbly hearts with wobbly letters
underneath. They tapped the buttons on a toy cash
register and raced cars over roads built of wooden
tracks. Hidden in the games and giggles were
lessons on the building blocks of reading and math.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/21/AR2007082102112.html?sub=AR
New Rules May Limit Health Care
Program Aiding Children
August 21, 2007
By Robert Pear
The Bush administration, continuing its fight to
stop states from expanding the popular Children's Health
Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would
make it much more difficult for New York, California and
others to extend coverage to children in middle-income
families.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/washington/21health.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Benefits of Early-Childhood Program Flow Into
Adulthood, study finds
Education Week
Young children who took part in an intervention
program run by the Chicago public schools continue to
benefit from the services well into adulthood, a
study released today shows. At age 24, the
adults had acquired more education and were less likely
to commit crimes than those who did not receive the same
level of service.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/08/06/45child_web.h26.html?print=1
Texas CHIP changes coming Sept. 1
Children will be able to stay longer in the health
insurance program
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
By Corrie MacLaggan
American-Statesman Staff
Starting Sept. 1, Texas families will be able to stay in
the Children's Health Insurance Program for a full year
rather than having to reapply every six months, and, in
most cases, they won't have to wait 90 days to enroll.
These changes, which are expected to expand enrollment,
come as debate in Washington continues on federal
funding of the State Children's Health Insurance
Program. In Texas, families will be able to deduct
child care expenses when determining eligibility, and
they can have more valuable cars and other assets and
still qualify.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/08/07/0807newchip.html
Preschoolers prefer anything in McDonald's wrapper,
researchers find
Restaurant packaging sways taste test; marketing tricks
tots' taste buds.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
By Lindsey Tanner
Associated Press
CHICAGO -- Anything made by McDonald's tastes better,
preschoolers said in a study that powerfully
demonstrates how advertising can trick the taste buds of
young children. Even carrots, milk and apple juice
tasted better to the kids when they were wrapped in the
familiar packaging of the Golden Arches.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/08/07/0807mcdonalds.html
Obesity increases risk of birth defects
Web Posted: 08/06/2007 11:07 PM CDT
By Don Finley
Express-News Medical Writer
Being obese puts women at somewhat higher risk of having
babies with birth defects, from faulty hearts to missing
limbs, suggests a new study of births in Texas and seven
other states.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA080707.01A.birth_defects.346bc34.html
Health illiteracy posing a problem
Web Posted: 08/04/2007 12:45 AM CDT
By Nicole Foy
Express-News
From her busy perch at the University Health System
downtown clinic, pharmacist Oralia Bazaldua noticed a
worrisome trend. Patients left with properly
labeled medications, yet they'd often return, having
misunderstood the directions. Bazaldua began
asking questions and realized many of the lapses weren't
intentional. They were because patients had little
or no ability to read.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA080407.01B.low_health_literacy.3172305.html
How Baby Babbles Become Talking Tsunami
By Lauran Neergaard
AP Medical Writer
August 2, 2007 2:06 PM EDT
WASHINGTON -- It's called the "word spurt," that magical
time when a toddler's vocabulary explodes, seemingly
overnight. New research offers a decidedly
un-magical explanation: Babies start really
jabbering after they've mastered enough easy words to
tackle more of the harder ones. It's essentially a
snowball effect.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TODDLER_TALK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
House passes expansion of state-run health program
aimed at poor children
By Bob Dart
Washington Bureau
August 2, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives voted
Wednesday to extend and expand federal funding for a
state-run program that provides health insurance for
more than 300,000 poor children in Texas.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/08/02/0802schip.html
Mixed results in S.A. school ratings
Web posted: 08/01/2007 10:44 PM CDT
Michelle De La Rosa
Express-News
The state's annual report card on public schools,
released Wednesday, held good and bad news: More
schools than ever earned the top rating of "exemplary,"
even as hundreds of schools slipped to the lowest
rating, "academically unacceptable."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA080207.1B.school.ratings.31ac8fb.html
Study: Obesity spreads socially
Washington Post
Jul. 25, 2007 11:53 AM
WASHINGTON -- Obesity can spread from one person to
another like the flu or a fad, researchers reported
today in a first-of-its-kind study that helps explain -
and could help fight - one of the nation's biggest
public health problems.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0725obesity-social0725-ON.html
Fewer Texas kids dropping out
But new report shows state teen birth rate, infant
mortality remain high
By Jason Embry
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
July 25, 2007
Texas teenagers are increasingly staying in school or
working, but teen girls here are still more likely than
those in other states to have children, according to a
national report being released today.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/07/25/0725kids.html
District seeks 4-day school week
Lancaster schools trying to save money
ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 25, 2007
DALLAS -- The Lancaster school district has asked the
Texas Education Agency for clearance to implement a
four-day schedule for upcoming school year.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/07/25/0725shortweek.html
Jaime Castillo: A generation grows up and
brings with it a surge in crime
Web Posted: 07/25/07 01:43 AM CDT
Express-News
The recent spate of apparent gang-related shootings
brought back memories of 1996. In that year, a
youngish reporter for this newspaper wrote a story about
how San Antonio was "poised to experience on of its
least-bloody years in 20 years."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/columnists/jcastillo/stories/MYSA072507.1B.Castillo.387bca7.html
House Democrats offer child health plan
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press Writer
July 24, 2007, 7:51 PM
WASHINGTON -- House Democrats would rely less on tobacco
taxes than the Senate would and more on cuts to Medicare
Insurers to pay for a proposed $50 billion expansion of
a children's health insurance program.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/4996097.html
Study: New Rules Led to Medicaid Decline
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press Writer
July 24, 2007, 15:03 PDT
WASHINGTON -- Medicaid rolls declined in many states
after Congress imposed new documentation requirements,
but most of the drop-off appears to be among people
eligible for coverage -- not illegal immigrants.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/24/national/w111213D99.DTL&hw=medicaid&sn=001&sc=1000
UT study: Obese girls less
likely to attend college
Researcher says schools should reach out to obese girls
at risk of dropping out.
By Huong Le
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
July 24, 2007
A study being released today by a University of Texas
researcher shows that obese girls are half as likely to
attend college as peers with healthier weights.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/07/24/0724obesity.html
What you don't understand could
kill you
By LINDSEY TANNER
AP Medical Writer
July 23, 2007 Web Posted: 6:18 PM EDT
CHICAGO (AP) -- Plenty of evidence suggests that having
trouble understanding medical information is bad for
your health. Now new research says it could even
be deadly. A study of patients 65 and older found
that those who couldn't understand basic written medical
instructions were much more likely to die within six
years than those who had no problems grasping the
information.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEADLY_ILLITERACY?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-07-23-18-18-15
EDITORIAL: Vetoing Children's Health
Published: July 22, 2007
President Bush is threatening to veto any substantial
increase in spending for a highly successful children's
health program on the bizarre theory that expanding it
would be the "beginning salvo" in establishing a
government-run health care system. His
shortsighted ideological opposition would leave millions
of children without health insurance at a time when
medical costs are soaring.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/opinion/22sun1.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Sex Ed for Kindergartners?
Romney-Obama Debate Heats Up
By TEDDY DAVIS and LINDSEY ELLERSON
July 20, 2007
When Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama
reaffirmed to Planned Parenthood this week that he
believes elements of sex education should begin in
kindergarten, Republican Mitt Romney saw an opening --
and he pounced.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=3395856&page=1
Education, Health Cited for Budget Boost
Friday July 20, 2007 12:46 AM
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A bill filled with money for job
training, health and education faces a veto from
President Bush, who complains that Democratic add-ons
have made it too expensive.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6792305,00.html
Throwing fits just may be good for tots
Web posted: 07/20/2007 12:00 AM CDT
Nicole Foy
Express-News Medical Writer
When Anastasia Bernal's triplet boys were about 2, the
tantrums began -- firestorms of angry defiance over
everything from what they would and would not eat to
what toys they liked and when they wanted to go to bed.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/salife/family/stories/MYSA072007.01B.kids_defiance.3372cce.html
Bush Threatens to Veto Insurance Measure
By Deb Riechmann
Associated Press Writer
July 18, 2007
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) -- President Bush on Wednesday
reiterated his threat to veto Senate legislation that
would substantially increase funds for children's health
insurance by levying a 61-cent-a-pack increase in the
federal excise tax on cigarettes.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/18/national/w154523D70.DTL&type=politics
Health merger plan corrals more support
Web Posted: 07/18/2007 01:46 AM CDT
Nicole Foy
Express-News Medical Writer
The board of Bexar County's tax-supported hospital
district on Tuesday formally endorsed a move toward a
more "high-performing health system" through a partial
merger with San Antonio's health department.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA071807.3B.uhc.2d52f5b.html
Limiting
Ads of Junk Food to
Children
By Brooks Barnes
Published: July 18, 2007
Trix are no longer for kids--at least not on children's
television shows. But Cocoa Puffs are another
matter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/business/18food.html?th&emc=th
Abstinence Education Faces
an Uncertain Future
By Laura Beil
Published: July 18, 2007
HALLSVILLE, Tex. -- When Jami Waite graduated from high
school this year in this northeastern Texas town, her
parents sat damp-eyed in the metal bleachers of Bobcat
Stadium, proud in every way possible. Their
youngest daughter was leaving childhood an honor
graduate, a band member, a true friend, a head
cheerleader -- and a steadfast virgin.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/education/18abstain.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1184761783-lFBjXl2lg8sCmylyYB9YPQ
Much of Learning Gap Blamed on
Summer
Rich-poor reading divide in Baltimore linked to what
happens over break.
Published Online: July 16, 2007
Published in Print: July 18, 2007
Update: July 17, 2007
By Scott J. Cech
It's been a truism for decades that students' learning
slips during the summer, and that low-income children
fall farther behind than their classmates, but no one
had connected the longitudinal data dots to show just
what the cumulative consequences of the summer slide
might be. Until now.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/07/18/43summer.h26.html?tmp=2041766527
Editorial: Take long view on healthcare for
kids
Web Posted: 07/17/2007 06:36 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
The 10-year-old federal Children's Health Insurance
Program is set to expire on Sept. 30. The program
provides states with funding to help subsidize
healthcare for needy children who do not qualify for
Medicaid. It has provided $40 billion over the
last decade for that purpose.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/stories/MYSA071807.01O.CHIP1ed.1e545c1.html
Editorial: Agencies join forces to protect
children
Web Posted: 07/16/2007 06:10 AM CDT
San Antonio
Express-News
These were no ordinary obituaries. These were
items about two children, tiny, innocent
creatures--works in progress with futures that should
have been longer, much longer, than their pasts.
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