By Julie Poppen of Education News Colorado Politicians descended on Denvers Lowry Elementary Monday to eat fresh veggies grown at school as part of a healthy lunch, tour the schools impressive gardens and even dance to the left with people half their size. It was all part of the U.S. Department of Educations third annual back-to-school bus tour, which featured the nations schools chief Arne Duncan joining forces with Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and other politicians to tout the importance of healthy school lunches and increased exercise during the school day. If kids are healthy, they…
News - Part 26
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon In the first case of its kind in Colorado, a former Jefferson County teacher has won an undisclosed cash settlement and concessions from the school where she said she lost her job for taking breaks to pump her breast milk. Under the 2008 Colorado Nursing Mothers Act, breastfeeding mothers in Colorado are entitled to take time in a private location to express milk at work. Colorado is one of 24 states with laws that support breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. The right to pump milk at work is also now guaranteed under the federal Affordable Care…
By Leia Larsen and Katharina Bucholz CU News Corps for I-News Colorados ballot initiative to legalize marijuana possession is billed by one leading local advocate as a grassroots effort here on the ground, but an examination of contributions to the campaign tell a different story. Contribution records from the Colorado Secretary of States office show that the four registered committees supporting legalization collected more than $1.4 million through Sept. 12, with more than $1.2 million coming from outside Colorado. They have an incredible amount of money, said Floyd Ciruli, analyst at the polling firm Ciruli Associates. It primarily came from…
By James O. Hill Every day we get inundated with information about what to eat, but unfortunately, that information is often confusing and conflicting. Eat a diet high in carbohydrate and low in fat. No wait. Eat a diet low in carbohydrate and high in fat. I dont blame the public for being confused. What is the best diet? You may be surprised to know that the best diet for you depends on whether you are an athlete or a couch potato. Being physically active keeps your metabolism working optimally and affects the way your body uses food for fuel….
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon and Kaiser Health News The number of Americans without health insurance fell to 48.6 million last year, or 15.7 percent of the population, the first drop since 2007, according to new U.S. Census numbers released today. At the same time, a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation has found that health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $15,745 this year. Thats up 4 percent over last year, but a more modest increase than in previous years when health costs far outpaced earnings. The average family pays nearly $4,500 a year for its share of…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Six students in crisis flooded the counseling center on the first day of school this fall at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Last year, the number of UCCS students who needed emergency or crisis counseling tripled over the year before. And the director of the campus counseling center says the number of students seeking care has been steadily rising along with the student population in recent years. In Boulder at CU, the number of students seeking counseling has been steadily climbing for eight years and last year the schools psychological and counseling services center treated…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has reversed decades of advice on circumcision and now says that the benefits of the procedure outweigh the risks. The first policy statement on circumcision since 1999 has triggered angry reactions from opponents who called on the influential group to immediately retract the policy recommendation. Since the 1970s, the AAP had said circumcisions were not medically necessary. Removing the foreskin of the penis from infant boys is an ancient Jewish and Islamic tradition, but circumcision rates have been declining in the U.S. and even in Israel. An increasing number of…
By Linda Gorman The selection of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romneys running mate holds out hope that people in public life are finally beginning to appreciate the fact that market-oriented health care reforms offer the best potential for finally giving elderly Americans the ability to get better medical care at a lower cost. They do this by giving people an incentive to use health care more wisely. Individuals and their physicians know more about the health care that they need and what adds value to it than any number of officials in Washington, D.C., and various state capitols workingon value-based…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon An unusual summer spike of whooping cough cases in Colorado has prompted health experts here to declare an epidemic and call for both children and adults to get immunized. A strong anti-vaccine movement in Colorado has meant that the state has lagged behind the rest of the country on many immunizations. Only about 85 percent of children and adults who should be protected from whooping cough are fully vaccinated. So far this year, Colorado health officials have tracked 715 cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis. That compares to an average of just 158 cases…