GPS Tracks High School Truants
February 22nd, 2011
TG Daily
By: Lydia Leavitt
Cutting class used to be all about dodging the hall monitor, but nowadays if students ditch too many times they will be asked to carry a GPS tracker in Anaheim, California. The GPS technology not only tells school officials where exactly the kids are, but asks them to enter a code at critical times in the day like lunch or a break, where they might be tempted to ditch.
Once the student enters a code like “1111,” which signifies all is good, it will send an email or text message to school administrators with the code and the student’s location.
The truancy plan doesn’t stop at GPS tracking but extends into personal coaching where adults can call a student’s phone to wake them up for school and make sure the student attends.
In recent years the size of GPS tracking units has gone down as well as the price.
School administrators say the handheld GPS units cost around $8 a day for a six-week program.
The approach is paid via a state grant and has been tried in Baltimore and San Antonio with much success.
Click here for the full report from TG Daily
Deadly Medical Errors Still Common in U.S. Hospitals
February 22nd, 2011
Natural News
By: David Gutierrez
In spite of a decade of efforts to improve patient safety, dangerous medical errors are still common in U.S. hospitals, according to a study conducted by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and published in the “New England Journal of Medicine.”
“Hospitals are places where medical errors are rampant; people are given the wrong drugs at the wrong doses, or undergo the wrong medical procedures with horrifying frequency,” writes Mike Adams in his book “Spam Filters for Your Brain.”
“Sometimes people even have the wrong limbs operated on or amputated, waking up wondering, ‘Where is my good arm?’ ”
The researchers examined admission records from 2,300 patients at 10 hospitals across North Carolina in 2007. The hospitals were randomly selected. The researchers found 588 incidents in which patients were harmed due to medical procedures or medications, representing no change in the rate of medical errors since 2002. Fully two-thirds of all errors were considered preventable.
“These harms are still very common, and there’s no evidence that they’re improving,” lead researcher Christopher Landrigan said.
According to the U.S. Office of the Inspector General, medical complications are responsible for 180,000 patient deaths and cost Medicare as much as $4.4 billion every year.
“The problem is that the methods that have been best proven to improve care have not been implemented across the nation,” Landrigan said.
Among methods proven successful, Landrigan cited computerized patient records, computerized prescription orders, limits on how long a doctor or nurse’s shift can be, and the use of checklists for medical procedures.
In Michigan hospitals using a Johns Hopkins University checklist designed to reduce hospital blood infections, Landrigan noted the rate of such infections has fallen to nearly zero in just three years.
Lucian Leape, a Harvard University health policy analyst, said that hospitals need to undergo a “cultural shift.”
“In order to change the way we do things, we have to work effectively as teams, and to become a good team is difficult in healthcare because that’s not how it’s set up, that’s not how we train our doctors,” Leape said.
Click here for the full report from Natural News
With US Running Out of Money, Obama Turns On Big Pharma
February 22, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
February 22, 2011
Natural News
By: Jonathan Benson
In an effort to ease the overall budgetary burden in 2012 and reduce the federal deficit, the Obama administration has targeted Big Pharma by going after a few drug industry darling laws for alteration or extinction. The 12-year market exclusivity for patented, brand-name drugs, for instance, could be reduced to seven years under new proposals. And the controversial “pay-for-delay” scheme where brand-name and generic drug makers settle patent disputes in a way that purposely blocks lower-cost rivals from entering the market, could also be eliminated.
During a time when nearly half of the U.S. states are going bankrupt, and the national debt nears $15 trillion, it only seems reasonable and appropriate to cut wasteful spending and reduce the size of government. And setting aside for a moment the fact that Obama’s near-trillion-dollar health care scheme will significantly swell the U.S. budget far more than cutting a few drug industry deals will shrink it, proposals to curb Big Pharma’s runaway monopoly on the health care industry are commendable.
The Obama administration believes cutting drug patent durations from 12 years to seven years will save $80 million starting in 2015, and up to $2.3 billion from 2012 to 2021. And ending the sweet deal “pay-for-delay” program that benefits only drug company interests will save $540 million beginning in fiscal year 2012, and nearly $8.8 billion through 2021.
Naturally, drug companies, particularly those who rely on such schemes to achieve billion-dollar profits from blockbuster drugs, are up in arms over the proposals. They warn, almost threateningly, that the proposals will stifle innovation and discourage research and development into new therapies. But proponents say the measure will lower the cost of drugs and increase competition.
Click here for the full report from Natural News
The Kevin Trudeau Show: 2-21-11
Today, Kevin delves deep into the obesity epidemic in America. Plus, find out how Kevin Trudeau would run The United States of America if he were president!
Self Help:
Loss Weight Right!
Emergency Preparedness
Trace Minerals
Health:
The Worst Food In America
Worker Dies at Cubicle, Found a Day Later
Light Bulbs Advertised as ‘Green’ Contain Arsenic and Lead
The Weight-Loss Industry Makes Huge Gains
111 Health Care Professionals Charged in $225 Million Medicare Scam
Wealth:
US Debt Clock
Danger! Falling Incomes!
First Premier Bank Removes Credit Card With 59.9% APR
Government:
Judge Found Guilty of Racketeering & Tax Fraud
TSA Screening Supervisor Admits to Stealing from Passengers
NWO:
Scientists Warn of Solar ‘Katrina’
Everything Kevin:
Become An Insider!
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Click Below to Watch the Kevin Trudeau Show LIVE!
Poor Childhood Diet Lowers Intelligence In Later Life
February 21st, 2011
Natural News
By: John Phillip
Most people understand the importance of a well balanced diet, including the minimum daily requirements of vitamins and minerals, to prevent chronic disease. These critical cofactors of life are repeatedly shown to promote health and prevent a myriad of chronic diseases from diabetes and dementia to heart disease and cancer. The impact of proper nutrition on a child`s developing brain is brought to light in a study published in the British Medical Journal. A processed food diet packed with sugar, fat and excess salt can lower IQ in early childhood, while eating a diet filled with healthy natural foods that provide a full compliment of vitamins and nutrients is shown to benefit cognitive development.
The study results were based on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children involving 14,000 children born in 1991 and 1992. Based on parent questionnaires, children were placed into one of three dietary groups based on eating patterns: `processed` including excessive fats, sugars and salt, `traditional` based on high quantities of meats and vegetables and `health-conscious` that stressed salads, fruits, vegetables, rice and pasta.
IQ was measured at the age of 8 1/2 using the standardized Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Researchers found that children eating the most processed food diet at age 3 scored 1.67 IQ points lower for each 1 point increase in dietary pattern score. Similarly, those eating the most healthful diet scored 1.2 IQ points higher for every 1 point improvement in dietary pattern score. Diet was found to have no effect on IQ score after the age of 4 years.
This study underscores the importance of proper diet on the developing brain. Prior research has shown an association between early childhood diet and later behavior and school performance. The research authors noted “This suggests that any cognitive/behavioral effects relating to eating habits in early childhood may well persist into later childhood, despite any subsequent changes (including improvements) to dietary intake”.
The brain is growing at an accelerated rate during the first three years of life, and scientists have observed that head growth during this time is linked to intellectual ability. Clearly a diet filled with processed and refined foods that have been stripped of most natural nutrients during these formative years stunts normal brain growth and the development of the critical neural network that are essential to higher brain function and learning.
Researchers concluded “It is possible that good nutrition during this period may encourage optimal brain growth.” Starting infants and children on a natural diet early in life is one of the most important lifestyle habits we can teach our children. The diet they become comfortable eating during these early years will help them to develop optimally and avoid the many diseases that plaque adults throughout life.
Click here for the full report from Natural News
Oklahoma Mom Gets 10 Years for Selling $31 of Marijuana
February 21st, 2011
AOL News
By: Dana Chivvis
An Oklahoma woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling $31 of marijuana.
Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow, a 25-year-old mother of four, and her mother, Delita Starr, 50, sold an $11 dime bag to a police informant in Oklahoma on Dec. 31, 2009. The informant returned two weeks later to buy $20 of marijuana. Spottedcrow, who worked in nursing homes before her arrest, told The Oklahoman she did it to get some extra money.
The women were charged with drug distribution and possession of a dangerous substance in the presence of a minor, because Spottedcrow’s children were in the house during the transaction. They were offered plea deals of two years in prison but decided to enter a guilty plea instead, a gamble they took because neither had prior convictions and because the amount of drugs sold was so small.
The gamble did not pay off. Spottedcrow was given sentences of 10 years in prison for distribution and two years for possession, to run concurrently. When she was picked up to be taken to prison, she had marijuana in her jacket pocket, which led to another two-year concurrent sentence and a fine of nearly $1,300.
Starr received a suspended sentence of 30 years with no incarceration and five years of drug and alcohol assessments.
Spottedcrow began her sentence at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center three days before Christmas.
Click here for the full report from AOL News
Made in the USA: The Weight-Loss Industry Makes Huge Gains
February 21st, 2011
AOL Small Business
By: Geoff Williams
Kim Benson’s epiphany came after she ordered a snack at a local fast-food joint: Two hot dogs with everything, two cheeseburgers with the works, two large fries, two German chocolate cake slices and two large diet sodas. “I wanted the drive-through person to think I was ordering for two people,” says Bensen, who weighed 347 pounds at the time and admits she was already thinking about what she was going to have for dinner.
That was in 2001. Not long after, Bensen joined Weight Watchers for the 10th time. But this time around, she managed to summon the willpower to finally start losing the weight — 212 pounds in all. Two years later, so many people were asking for advice and sending her e-mails that she began spending most of her time answering questions and sending low-fat recipes to friends, family and even strangers. Soon, she had penned a cookbook and she and her husband used $20,000 from their savings and an inheritance as seed money to start their own weight-loss company.
Today, Kim Bensen Enterprises has 10 full-time employees devoted to helping people lose weight. Her website offers everything from healthy foods to kitchen tools to premium memberships, which provide meal plans, online meetings and other advice and support tools. Her line of bagels, Kim’s Light Bagels, are also available in grocery stores across New England.
Bensen has become a part of America’s weight-loss factory, a thriving industry that has been around as long as the republic itself. But in an era of The Biggest Loser and I Used to Be Fat — not to mention record obesity and diabetes rates — the movement has taken on a more significant role, providing entrepreneurs like Bensen the opportunity make money while making a dent in the crisis.
As far back as 1829, a Presbyterian minister named Sylvester Graham started talking up fad diets. His Graham diet focused on caffeine-free drinks, vegetables and, conveniently, the product he was pushing, Dr. Graham’s Honey Biscuits. The diet may have not endured, but the product did — known to us as the Graham cracker.
There are plenty of other examples, of course. American history is replete with them, from Ladies’ Home Journal articles touting diets in the 19th century to the “Hollywood Eighteen Day Diet” during the 1920s, which was a 585-calorie diet that advised eating only grapefruit, oranges, Melba toast, green vegetables and hard boiled eggs. And in the midst of all these weight-loss fads, companies saw that there was money to be made. Some of the biggest in the industry, of course, include Weight Watchers, founded in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1963; Nutrisystem, started in Fort Washington, Pa., in 1972; and Jenny Craig, which began in Australia in 1983 and reached U.S. soil in 1985.
Click here for the full report from AOL Small Business
First Premier Bank Removes Credit Card With 59.9% APR
February 21st, 2011
CNNMoney.com
By: Blake Ellis
First Premier Bank yanked its fee-laden 59.9% APR MasterCard from its credit card offerings.
If you go to the company’s website, this message appears: “The credit card you have shown interest in is currently not available.”
Customers calling First Premier’s toll-free number to open an account are given this automated message: “The offer associated with this phone number is no longer available.”
A First Premier spokeswoman said the card has been so popular that the bank has reached its issuing limit for the month.
“Due to the high demand for this credit card, we have reached our monthly volume requirements and are not currently offering this product,” she said. “Individuals are being asked to consider another offer at this time or they can check back with us next month.”
Taking the place of the 59.9% card is a secured credit card with a 19.9% APR. With secured cards, payments are reported to credit bureaus just like with credit cards, allowing consumers to build their credit. But customers have to deposit their own money into an account, so they are technically charging against their own cash. If they don’t make payments, the bank keeps their money.
The 8 least evil banks
The 59.9% card, which had nearly 300,000 active customers as of early February, charged more than $100 in fees per year and typically extended a credit line of about $300.
The bank originally offered the credit card with an even higher rate of 79.9%. But the company found that too many consumers ran up their bill and then didn’t pay, First Premier CEO Miles Beacom told CNNMoney last month.
Beacom said the card serves a growing need for customers with less than perfect credit.
Click here for the full report from CNNMoney.com
Danger! Falling Incomes!
February 21st, 2011
CNNMoney.com
Incomes for 90% of Americans barely budging since the ’80s, and fallen over the last few years. Here are some who have seen their earnings drop.
Gay Pinder
During the recession, I was let go from my job at a non-profit in Washington, DC. After being out of work for 19 months, I got a job as a media relations specialist for my alma mater, Towson University. Now, I make $15,000 a year less.
I like this job much better than the one that paid more, but that said, there are trade offs. The “American Dream” of being a homeowner has become the quintessential American struggle. I’m a single woman and I own my home. But it was purchased with a certain salary, and I still have to pay the mortgage.
My savings are gone, my retirement I’ve gone through. I took part-time jobs over the Christmas season, working at Macy’s for $7 an hour.
I consider myself lucky to have a job at all, but come on, this is ridiculous. I have a master’s degree. I’m an experienced worker. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.
John Riley
I worked for a large technology firm for about 10 years, but then the recession hit and a lot of our contracts dried up. I was laid off last year, and luckily, I found a job a few days later.
While the salary was the same, decreasing benefits reduced my discretionary income by about 10% to 15%. I suddenly had no 401(k) matching, a frozen pension and rising health care premiums.
One of the biggest questions my wife and I have had is, do we continue to contribute to retirement? Or do we steal from the future in order to make ends meet today?
Over the last 10 years, I’ve seen a lot of the tech jobs shipped overseas to India, and even Austria and Ukraine now. I think there’s a definite impact on our wages here because of it.
Click here for the full report from CNNMoney.com
Worker Dies at Cubicle, Found a Day Later
February 21st, 2011
AOL News
By: Mara Gay
A California woman died at her office cubicle but wasn’t found until the following day, authorities said.
Rebecca Wells, 51, was found dead at her desk Saturday afternoon at the Los Angeles County Department of Internal Services. Her co-workers say the county worker was last seen alive Friday at 5 p.m. and didn’t appear to be ill.
“Rebecca was fine, in good spirits, didn’t look sick or anything,” Linda Estrada, one of Wells’ managers, told AOL News today. “She was sending e-mails throughout the day.”
The next day, however, a security guard found Wells dead, slumped over her desk at the office.
Estrada said Wells wasn’t in her usual office that day and was working amid a row of empty cubicles in a large government building, possibly explaining why it took so long to find her body.
Estrada said Wells, a compliance auditor, had worked for the county for 11 years and had recently become a grandmother.
“We’re very sad,” Estrada said. “She was a fantastic person, and everybody liked working with her. She was an excellent mom, and she had just became a grandmother. She was excited about that.”
The coroner’s report has not yet been released, and it remains unclear exactly how Wells died or how long she was at her desk before she was found. Police said they were still waiting for the coroner’s report, but said there were no signs of foul play.
“All preliminary indications seem that it was natural,” Sgt. Alex Irizabal of the Downey Police Department told AOL News today. Los Angeles County Coroner chief investigator Craig Harvey said in a phone interview today that a final report on Wells’ death wasn’t expected for at least 6 weeks.
Click here for the full report from AOL News
