Social Issues
Internet Changing Face of State Government
Ever wanted to tour the New Hampshire State House? Rather stroll through the Colorado governor’s mansion instead? Perhaps you’d like to hear the cry of a loon as it glides over Minnesota’s lakes region? Or maybe you’re thinking of making a movie in Mississippi and would like to investigate the area and its resources? Until […]
UPDATE: More States Decriminalize Safe Baby Abandonment
Connecticut parents looking for someplace to turn when they cannot care for a newborn will have one more option this October. That’s when a new law designed to give distraught parents a safe place to leave an unwanted baby without fear of prosecution takes effect, making Connecticut the sixth state to adopt the policy this […]
Experts Encouraged By Decline in Child Abuse
The tidal wave of child abuse and neglect that has cascaded across the United States over the past 15 years is ebbing and because states are now taking a more aggressive approach to the problem, there is reason to hope the declines will continue, experts say. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports […]
States Slowly Erasing Word ‘Squaw’ From Maps
Detailed maps of the United States like those produced by the U.S. Geological Survey show more than 1,000 different geographical features from towns to mountains to creeks and reservoirs that have “Squaw” in their names. But by January 2001 there will be about 25 fewer with the word for woman that Native Americans find offensive, […]
States Get New Funds To Care For Poor With HIV-AIDS
More financial help is on the way for poor and uninsured Americans with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. As of this month, states are eligible for $794 million in new federal grants to improve primary care and access to medicine for low-income, underinsured and uninsured HIV-positive people. The grants, announced by Health and Human […]
Births to Teenagers Drop in Every State
Teen birth rates continued to decline in 1998 and have hit their lowest level since 1986. Births to women age 15-19 fell significantly in every state and the District of Columbia, the Centers for Disease Control reported Tuesday. In 1998, the latest year for which data are available, births to teenagers dropped another two percent […]
States Giving Anti-Growth Measures High Priority
Evidence of sprawl, and its repercussions, are everywhere. As in strip malls that multiply like kudzu, skyrocketing homeowners fees and assessments and water cooler gripes about hour-plus commutes from hell. Voters exercised over sprawl-related issues are bending the ears of their state representatives, pushing once low-priority land-use legislation near the top of many states’ political […]
States Addressing Abandoned Newborn Problem
Bills that would reduce or remove the threat of criminal prosecution against parents who leave their newborn infants safely in the hands of designated caregivers are a new trend in state legislation. Born of a mixture of horror and compassion, such legislation is typically authored by lawmakers moved by stories of desperate parents abandoning or […]
Newborn Hearing Tests A Growing State Trend
New York is the latest of a growing number of states requiring hospitals to screen newborn babies for hearing impairment. Gov. George Pataki signed the bill into law December 22 in a move that coincided with the launch of a national campaign urging all states to have such tests. Research indicates that when a baby […]
Vermont Gov Skirts Gay Rights in State of State Speech
Amid beefed up security at the State House, Gov. Howard Dean delivered his yearly “state of the state” address to the Vermont General Assembly Tuesday and appeared to downplay one of the most controversial issues of the coming session — gay rights. But he repeatedly expressed his commitment to state sponsored health care programs. Dean […]
States Show No Improvement In Curbing Out-of-Wedlock Births
Four states and the District of Columbia have cut their rates of illegitimate births to such an extent they will receive bonuses of $20 million from the federal government. But the declines in those states and seven others were completely offset by increases in births to single mothers in 39 other states. For the nation […]
Telemedicine Spans States, But Policy Slow To Follow Suit
A 21st Century doctor’s house call might consist of a “virtual” consultation between you and your physician via computer or videoconference. Instruments that already exist such as digital gloves or electronic stethoscopes could transmit data electronically, so that medical conditions could be diagnosed without ever setting foot in a doctor’s office. But the practice of […]