Friday Roundup

Here is a listing of articles published in the last 7-10 days that may be of interest:

Health
1. Texas and Mass. still at health coverage extremes in U.S., Gallup, September 6, 2011
Brief Introduction: Texas residents continue to be the most likely in the United States to lack health coverage, with 27.2% reporting being uninsured in the first half of 2011. At the other end of the spectrum is Massachusetts, where health insurance is required and 5.3% of residents lack coverage.

Education
1. Census data: Schools have cut thousands of jobs, September 2, 2011
Brief Introduction: Arizona school districts cut more than 10,000 employees – including 6,640 instructors – from March 2009 to March 2010, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

2. New York Times and WNYC launch SchoolBook to foster education community, Mashable.com, September 7, 2011
Brief Introduction: On Wednesday, The New York Times and public radio station WNYC launched SchoolBook, a website to provide news, data and discussion about New York City schools. The site aims to increase communication and understanding among parents, teachers, administrators and students.

Race
1. Report shows young workers, minorities hit hardest by recession job losses, Tribuna, September 7, 2011
Brief Introduction: While Connecticut lost over 11 9,000 jobs during the Great Recession, its impact was not borne evenly as young workers and ethnic minorities suffered disproportionately high unemployment rates, according to a new labor report issued Thursday by a New Haven-based public policy research group.

2. Hispanic Birthrate dips in Arizona, AZ Central.com, September, 1, 2011
Brief Introduction: Hispanic women in Arizona are having children at a significantly lower rate than in past decades, which could slow overall population growth if the trend continues, according to new state and federal data.

Friday Roundup

Here is a listing of articles of interest that have been published within the last 7-10 days:

Health

1. Walgreens, U.S. join to offer flu shot vouchers to uninsured, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 17, 2010:

Brief Intro: "The Obama administration and Walgreens on Friday announced a partnership to provide free flu shot vouchers to 350,000 uninsured Americans and others with inadequate health benefits."

2. Depression during pregnancy might affect baby, HealthDay, Dec. 14, 2010:

Brief Intro:"Babies born to mothers who are depressed during pregnancy have higher levels of stress hormones, decreased muscle tone and other neurological and behavioral differences, a new study finds."

3. Thousands on HIV drugs desperate amid budget woes, Associated Press, Dec. 16, 2010:

Brief Intro: Cash-strapped states are cutting back on a program that provides free medicine to people with HIV, leaving thousands of patients to wonder where their drugs will come from and stirring fears of a return to the days..."

Education

1. Unease grows about future of financing for Pell grants, NYT.com, Dec. 17, 2010:

Brief Intro:"With the lame-duck Congress winding down and a $5.7 billion gap in financing looming for next year’s Pell grants — and a further $8 billion gap for the following year — there is growing uncertainty about the future of the grants, the nation’s most significant financial-aid program for college students."

2. Los Angeles schools to seek sponsors, NYT.com, Dec. 15, 2010:

Brief Intro:"Facing another potential round of huge budget cuts, the Los Angeles school board unanimously approved a plan on Tuesday night to allow the district to seek corporate sponsorships as a way to get money to the schools.

The district is not the first to look for private dollars as a way to close public budget gaps — districts in Sheboygan, Wis., and Midland, Tex., for example, have offered up naming rights for their stadiums for years. But the Los Angeles school district is by far the largest to do so, and officials say the plan could generate as much as $18 million for the schools."

Friday Roundup

These stories have been published in the last 7-10 days and have been categorized under subjects of interest.

Poverty
1. Recession raises poverty rate to a 15 year high, NYT.com, September 16, 2010

Brief Intro:"With the country in its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, four million additional Americans found themselves in poverty in 2009, with the total reaching 44 million, or one in seven residents. Millions more were surviving only because of expanded unemployment insurance and other assistance."

2. Census: 1 in 7 Americans lives in poverty, Yahoo News, September 16, 2010

Brief Intro:" The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office."

Health
1. Teaching doctors about nutrition and diet, NYT.com, September 16, 2010

Brief Intro: "Research has increasingly pointed to a link between the nutritional status of Americans and the chronic diseases that plague them. Between the growing list of diet-related diseases and a burgeoning obesity epidemic, the most important public health measure for any of us to take may well be watching what we eat.

But few doctors are prepared to effectively spearhead or even help in those efforts. In the mid-1980s, the National Academy of Sciences published a landmark report highlighting the lack of adequate nutrition education in medical schools; the writers recommended a minimum of 25 hours of nutrition instruction. Now, in a study published this month, it appears that even two and a half decades later a vast majority of medical schools still fail to meet the minimum recommended 25 hours of instruction."

2. Can exercise make kids smarter?, NYT.com, September 15, 2010

Brief Intro:"Previous studies found that fitter kids generally scored better on such tests. And in this case, too, those children performed better on the tests. But the M.R.I.’s provided a clearer picture of how it might work. They showed that fit children had significantly larger basal ganglia, a key part of the brain that aids in maintaining attention and “executive control,” or the ability to coordinate actions and thoughts crisply. Since both groups of children had similar socioeconomic backgrounds, body mass index and other variables, the researchers concluded that being fit had enlarged that portion of their brains."

3. Number of insured drops for first time, CNN.com, September 16, 2010

Brief Intro:"The number of people with health insurance in the United States dropped for the first time in 23 years, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday.

There were 253.6 million people with health insurance in 2009, the latest data available, down from 255.1 million a year earlier."

Documentary of Interest: Uninsured in the Mississippi Delta

This short Media That Matters documentary takes a look at the uninsured in the Mississippi Delta. The Delta region is one of the most impoverished and uninsured areas in the nation. The film focuses on those people who are working but are making too much for Medicare, but too little to buy their own insurance. Greenville, MS, has the highest rate of uninsured households in the country with 34% of households lacking coverage. Those who lack coverage usually wait until the condition becomes serious before seeking aid as they can't afford the doctor's visit to resolve the issue at the very beginning.

This film is highly recommended for those who want to learn more about the obstacles to health care that the working poor face today.