Archive for the ‘bank’ tag
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“Van Jones, Patriot,” - Washington Post
It makes me sad and a little sick that Van Jones, the White House Green Jobs Czar, was forced to resign after being targeted by a vicious smear campaign. The Obama administration lost a brilliant mind who worked day and night to, as Van would say, “get the greenest solutions to the poorest people”. Indeed, Van did as much as anyone to put the concept of the Green Collar Economy on the map, including publishing a best-selling book with that title. More than that, he was one of the nation’s most pragmatic environmental visionaries, someone who was always thinking up practical, pattern-changing solutions to massive climate problems.
Van grew up in a small town in Tennessee, went to a provincial college, and wound up graduating from Yale Law School, launching a number of important nonprofit organizations, and winning way too many awards to count, including being named to Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list. He’s a remarkable American success story, eloquently captured in Elizabeth Kolbert’s New Yorker profile.
“The Social Side of Obesity: You Are Who You Eat With,” - NEWSWEEK
Sending your kids back to lunch-lady land this fall? Careful, your child’s dining mates may be upping his chances of packing on the pounds. A study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds that how much tweens and teens eat can be influenced by how much their friends weigh.
In the study, 130 kids ages 9 to 15 were allowed to snack as much as they wanted while hanging out with a friend or with a peer they did not know. All the kids ate more when they were with a friend than with a stranger. But the overweight children ate the most when paired with an overweight friend - an average of 300 more calories than when they spent time with leaner friends. The research also found that friendship itself makes the appetite grow stronger: when overweight kids ate with similar-weight kids who were already their pals, they threw back an extra 250 calories than when they ate with chubby kids they had just met.
“‘24 hours in the ER’ shows challenges of health system,” - USA TODAY
Dr. Robert O’Connor had taken charge of the emergency room only minutes earlier when the cellphone in his pocket rang: The Western Albemarle Rescue Squad was on its way with a 14-month-old girl who had suffered a possible seizure.
Ten minutes later, Tyler McNeely climbed out of the ambulance, her face frantic and her pale, subdued baby in her arms. Shana Crabtree, a third-year resident in green scrubs, waited for them at the University of Virginia Medical Center. EMT Andrew Todhunter delivered a staccato summary of Clara’s vital signs.
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“Stars Aligning on School Lunches,” - The New York Times
ANN COOPER has made a career out of hammering on the poor quality of public school food. The School Nutrition Association, with 55,000 members, represents the people who prepare it.
Imagine Ms. Cooper’s surprise when she was invited to the association’s upcoming conference to discuss the Lunch Box, a system she developed to help school districts wean themselves from packaged, heavily processed food and begin cooking mostly local food from scratch.
”Inmates grow, gather crops to feed the hungry,” - Times-Picayune (AP)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The nation’s food banks, struggling to meet demand in hard times, are turning to prison inmates for free labor to help feed the hungry.
Several states are sending inmates into already harvested fields to scavenge millions of pounds of leftover potatoes, berries and other crops that otherwise would go to waste. Others are using prisoners to plant and harvest vegetables.
“The next healthcare battle: cutting Medicare Advantage,” - Los Angeles Times
President Obama, struggling to discredit bogus charges that his healthcare overhaul would create “death panels,” soon could face another emotionally charged obstacle — a plan to trim the federal subsidy for a program used by nearly a quarter of Medicare beneficiaries.
The program, known as Medicare Advantage, pays insurance companies a hefty premium to enroll senior citizens and provide their medical services through managed-care networks.
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“Tips can help the poor bridge grocery gap,” - The Fresno Bee
Ways to make life’s staples affordable
Maria Valencia of Strathmore stands in a long line twice a month to get free fruits and vegetables. Then she packs them in a baby stroller and rolls them to her home several blocks away.
The produce giveaway by FoodLink, a nonprofit food bank in Tulare County, is one of the ways organizations are trying to bridge the grocery gap for thousands of low-income people in the central San Joaquin Valley.
“Cost of treating obese patients soars to $147 billion,” - USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Obese Americans — those who are 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight — cost the country an estimated $147 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2008, double what it was a decade ago, a new study shows.
Overall, an obese patient has $4,871 in medical bills a year compared with $3,442 for a patient at a healthy weight.
”House OKs money for rail, infrastructure bank,” - Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - High-speed rail projects would receive a $2 billion boost under a bill passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday that also lays the groundwork for a national infrastructure bank.
By a vote of 256-168, the House approved $68.8 billion for transportation and housing projects for the fiscal year starting October 1, a 25 percent increase over 2009 funding levels.
