Big Brother May Have Your Baby's DNA

by Tom Henderson

The government may have your baby's DNA on file.

Newborns in the United States are regularly screened for various genetic diseases. These tests are mandated by the federal government.

As a result, children's DNA samples are often stored -- sometimes indefinitely.

Some parents are creeped out by the Orwellian image of the government keeping babies' DNA without their parents' knowledge or consent and they're filing lawsuits.  Read more...

FDA Fears Kids Will Like Dissolvable Tobacco

by Brett Singer
Remember candy cigarettes? You can still buy them, and odds are some kids still enjoy them, but they don't actually contain any tobacco; powdered sugar meant to look like smoke is as close as they come to real cigarettes.

Now the Food and Drug Administration is worried that kids will like dissolvable tobacco, which can be found in products that somewhat resemble breath mints, but contain tobacco and nicotine.

The Associated Press reports that Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) sent a letter on Feb. 1 to R.J. Reynolds expressing concern "that children and adolescents may find dissolvable tobacco products particularly appealing...  Read more...

Las Vegas Ranks Fourth in African American Homicides

A new study ranks Nevada the fourth worst in homicides involving African Americans.

Many black leaders in Las Vegas were not shocked by the report, but they say it's heartbreaking.

Three years ago, more than 120 valley families grieved the loss of a love one killed during a crime. More than a third of those victims were African American -- many of them young men like Darney Austin whose dreams of being a football star were cut short.

African American Children's Book Fair includes illustrators who plot life lessons

By CHRISTINE FISHER

The adage that a picture speaks a thousands words holds especially true in the world of children's books, where audiences link entire stories to illustrations.

Later this month, children's book illustrators along with authors and publishers will share their work with fans at the 18th annual African American Children's Book Fair held at the Community College of Philadelphia. Because of this weekend's threatening snowstorm, the fair which was originally scheduled for tomorrow, will take place on Feb. 27.

Event founder Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati said illustrators are the stars of the children's book industry.  Read more...

Anti-Abortion Ads Split Atlanta

By SHAILA DEWAN

Anti-abortion groups have erected scores of billboards here with an alarming message: “Black children are an endangered species.”

The groups responsible insist that they are not exaggerating, despite contrary federal data. The billboards, which show a close-up of a worried-looking African-American boy, are an effort to highlight data showing that black women get a disproportionate number of abortions, especially in Georgia, and that the number in Georgia is increasing.  Read more...

Comic: Black History Month time to reflect on sacrifices

BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA

"It's a month of reflection on a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and sacrifices made long before I was thought of. It reminds me I have a great deal of responsibility, not just during the month of February, but each day of my life as a black man, to do the best I can to instill good qualities in my children and make sure we don't forget.  Read more...

Lee to black youth: 'Wake up'

By JOE FERGUSON

"We have young black kids and some Hispanic kids -- smart kids -- who fail class on purpose or who act dumb on purpose. In their misguided minds, if you speak correct English ... you are acting white, you are a sell-out, you are an Oreo," Lee said. "But if you are on the corner, smoking a joint and drinking a 40 with you pants below your ass holding your privates -- you a gangster."

He contended that an entire generation has seemingly forgotten that slaves were either whipped, castrated or hanged for secretly learning how to read and teaching other slaves.  Read more...

John Legend's New Film Looks at What's Wrong With America's Schools

By Paul Shepard

Legend adds:

"They [the students] are in circumstances where they are surrounded by failing public schools, and they see the light, they see a few schools in their area that are succeeding. But you have to win a lottery to get in to these schools. ... When you think about someone's fate being decided by a lottery, the choice is usually ... `am I going to end up at a school with a super-high dropout rate and end up like a lot of those kids who drop out, in the criminal-justice system, working a low-wage job, or am I going to get a good education and go to college and make something of myself?'"

Legend wrote a song 'Shine' that plays in the closing credits of the film. 'Superman' debuted at the Sundance film festival this past weekend and has been picked up by Paramount Vantage for theatrical release.  Read more...

School Matters: Students' 'Core Needs' Not Being Met

New America Media, Interview, Carolyn Goossen

According to your recent report titled, “Educational Opportunities in Hard Times: The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Public Schools and Working Families,” the recession and budget cuts have disproportionately affected educational opportunities for the poorest kids in the state. Why are they hit the hardest?

Because of budget cuts, schools across the state have had many of their programs eroded or depleted, and many of these were geared towards low-income kids.  Read more...

Teen pregnancy, abortion rates rise

By Sharon Jayson

The teen pregnancy rate in the USA rose 3% in 2006, the first increase in more than a decade, according to data out today. The data also show higher rates of births and abortions among girls 15-19.

The numbers, calculated by the Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit group that studies reproductive and sexual health, show a clear reversal from the downward trend that began in the 1990s.

About 7% of teen girls got pregnant in 2006, a rate of 71.5 pregnancies per 1,000 teens. That's up slightly from 69.5 in 2005, Guttmacher says. In 1990, when rates peaked, about 12% got pregnant.  Read more...

Related articles from USA Today

• ABSTINENCE: Faith groups take the lead

• ARCHIVES: Teen births state by state

• ADULT TV: A link to teen sex?

Listen to YO! Youth Outlook take on the story

Study finds focus on abstinence in sex-ed classes can delay sexual activity

By Rob Stein

Sex education classes that focus on encouraging children to remain abstinent can convince a significant proportion to delay sexual activity, researchers reported Monday in a landmark study that could have major implications for the nation's embattled efforts to protect young people against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

In the first carefully designed study to evaluate the controversial approach to sex ed, researchers found that only about a third of 6th and 7th graders who went through sessions focused on abstinence started having sex in the next two years. In contrast, nearly half of students who got other classes, including those that included information about contraception, became sexually active.  Read more...

Who Will Feed Our Children?

By Billy Wharton

Children were particularly at risk, as nearly 200,000 more households with children slipped into the food insecure category since 2007. Unemployment, low wage jobs, declines in food pantry supplies and cuts in state and local food programs, all produced negative outcomes for children. As the economic downturn moves from crisis to permanent reality, a frightening question emerges. Who will feed our children?

Food insecurity has become a fact of life in America. A grinding economic recession coupled with sharp cutbacks in local and state government spending has resulted in a dramatic crisis in the most necessary of acts - eating. According to a Nov. 2009 report by the US Department of Agriculture, 50 million or 1 in 6 Americans, struggled to feed themselves and their children in 2008. This is the highest number of people facing food insecurity since the first study of its kind was conducted in 1995 and an increase of 3.5% from 2007. Food deprivation is not, as in many parts of the underdeveloped world, chronic, but those impacted face periodic cutbacks and shortages of essential food.  Read more...

Kids Face Felony Sexting Charges

A pair of Indiana middle school students are the latest minors to face felony charges for allegedly "sexting" naked photos to each other. The students--a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy--were charged in connection with an incident last week at Ben Franklin Middle School in Valparaiso. The students are each facing felony child exploitation and possession of child pornography charges...  Read more...

Record number of young Americans jobless

The U.S. economic recession has taken a particularly heavy toll on young Americans, with a record one out five black men aged 20 to 24 neither working nor in school, according to research released on Tuesday.

Teenagers have found it significantly harder to get a job since the recession began in late 2007, with black youths and young people from low-income families faring the worst, wrote Andrew Sum of Northeastern University in Boston, a employment researcher commissioned by the Chicago Urban League and the Alternative Schools Network.

"Low-income and minority youth, who depended on part-time jobs as a significant stepping stone to future employment, have been forced out of the job market and economically marginalized," Herman Brewer of the Chicago Urban League said in a statement.  Read more...

Trafficking probe key to Americans' fate in Haiti

By MICHELLE FAUL and FRANK BAJAK

Haitian and U.S. officials are considering a trial in the United States for 10 Americans who were arrested while trying to bus children out of Haiti without documents or permission.

The aborted Baptist "rescue mission" has become a major distraction for a crippled government trying to provide basic life support to millions of earthquake survivors. Haiti's courts and justice ministry were destroyed in the disaster, which also killed many judicial officials.

But the government insisted Monday that the Americans _ however well-intentioned _ must be prosecuted to send a strong message against child trafficking.  Read more...