Private schools charging parents string of hidden charges as they battle recession

By Laura Clark

Private schools are increasingly sneaking extra charges on to parents' bills as they battle to stay afloat during the recession, it has emerged.

Parents have reported receiving bills with a string of extra charges automatically added - including four different types of insurance.

The charges are usually accompanied by small print explaining that parents must actively deduct the extras or the school will assume they accept them.  Read more...

Killing with kindness: Indulgent grandparents 'overfeed' kids and make them fat, scientists warn

By Jenny Hope

Children looked after by their grandparents are more likely to end up obese because they are being overfed, claim researchers.

Experts believe the older generation are prone to indulging their grandchildren and giving in to their demands for fatty and calorific treats, therefore storing up health problems for them ranging from heart disease to diabetes.

They found children who are regularly cared for by their grandparents are up to one-third more likely to be overweight.  Read more...

Seven-year-old Rio carnival queen bursts into tears

Julia Lira found the attention of photographers overwhelming

A seven-year-old has broken down crying as she took the controversial lead of a Rio de Janeiro carnival parade.

Julia Lira became the youngest drum corps queen in memory, but her role has sparked much debate in Brazil.
A judge had earlier over-ruled objections from a child rights agency that said it was inappropriate given the carnival's sexual focus.  Read more...



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Old focus of Black History Month frustrates

Today I find myself frustrated and brokenhearted realizing that we have all bought into the lie that the world is more appealing and morals are just something we put on -- on Sunday mornings. Once again as a little girl, I recall my mom saying that the most important foundation was God and the church. I resolved to set out and change the tragedy of Black History Month and unite the legacy back to the character of our forefathers, revive the foundation of the church and encourage the leadership of our youth. I extended an invitation to internship students to help me bring awareness to the legacy of African-Americans, but after phone calls to 10 African-American churches in Springfield requesting a $25 Wal-Mart gift certificate to be given to youth during African-American Heritage Month, there was only one church that was enthused about giving the gift card. Six other churches had to speak to the board and three have yet to respond.  Read more...

1st Black Astronaut Announces Free Camp

In this "Worth Your Time" segment, Dr. Bernard Harris marks his 15th anniversary of first being the African-American to walk in space by announcing a free summer science camps for more than 1,500 low-income Houston children.

Are You Ready for Mind Games?

by Emru Townsend

If you thought eye control was freaky, you'd better sit down: San Francisco startup Emotiv Systems has developed a controller (the pictured headset is the developer version) that use sensors to read your thoughts. No more fiddling with a d-pad; just think "frag that alien with my grenade launcher" and you're blowing up bug-eyed monsters before you know it.  Read more...

Also read: 

• Mind Control for Video Games 
• Are You Looking For MindFlex or Force Trainer?

Mind Control Game

Study: Charter Schools Increasing Racial Segregation in Classrooms

AMY GOODMAN: While the charter school movement is growing, some concerns are being raised about the system.
A new study by UCLA’s Civil Rights Project suggests charter school growth is increasing classroom segregation. Seven out of ten black charter school students attend schools with extremely low numbers of white students. Black students account for 32 percent of charter school enrollment nationwide, twice the percentage enrolled in public schools. The UCLA report is entitled “Charter Schools’ Political Success is a Civil Rights Failure.”

Gary Orfield joins us now on the telephone. He’s co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, author of many books including School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back? and Dismantling Desegregation: The Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of Education.

Gary Orfield, welcome to Democracy Now! Explain the results of your study.   Read transcript

Also read: 

• Study: Good Teachers Leave Black Students

Caribbean Series facing a youth movement

By Jesse Sanchez

Veteran stars no longer participating in tournament

It seems necessary for Puello and the confederation -- made up of the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela -- to focus on youth. The Major League stars are often prohibited by their teams from participating in the Caribbean Series and a full Winter League season, because the big league clubs want to protect their investment. In addition, the new Winter League agreement between Major League Baseball and the Caribbean Confederation adds restrictions to players to protect them from being overworked, and it could reduce the pool of players in the future.

Here's something else to consider: Sometimes star players do not want to play. The winter is vacation time for some established players, and some players want to work out on their own.  Read more...

Protecting Youth in Prisons From Violence and Abuse

Our current juvenile justice system often dispatches children to
detention centers with virtually no protection but their own defenses.
When no one is guarding their safety and well-being, youth in custody
are easy prey to sexual victimization and rape.

As Mr. Kristof
says, ending the criminal abuse of youthful offenders is essential to
their rehabilitation. When minors in custody cannot trust adults in
whose care they are placed, the resilience of youth that helps them
resist negative peer pressure, and develop a positive sense of their
own potential and future, is broken.   Read more...

Editorial - Boy Scouts a steady influence for millions of youth

The Boy Scouts are 100 years old today. That’s 100 years of helping boys grow into responsible, compassionate men. One hundred years of molding future leaders, of teaching boys that they are capable of far more than they may realize.

Ceremonies are scheduled today around the nation and here in the Cape Fear region, honoring an organization that has had a profound impact on generations of young men and their families. A hundred years is quite a milestone, but even more impressive is how many boys have at one time or another worn the Scouting uniform.  Read more...

Survey shows today's kids are making better decisions about life

More kids doing right thing, survey says


"(The survey) paints an encouraging picture about a generation of youth responsible to themselves and others, who value diversity, acceptance and community involvement," the researchers said in their report. "(It) also shows that young people today are in many ways more committed to these values than were their predecessors 20 years ago."

For example, on the issue of diversity, the researchers say a girl from Austin, Texas, told them, "I would like to be an accepting person - a person who is open to all kinds of ideas and accepts people for who they are. They shouldn't have to hide any part of themselves around me."

In addition, 59% of the kids surveyed said being around people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds is important to them.

Among 7th through 12th graders, the researchers say they also found that:

79% of the kids said they'd volunteer in their communities.
76% said they'd give to charity. Read more...

Girl, 7, gets OK to be samba queen in Rio Carnival

  By BRADLEY BROOKS

A family court judge ruled Wednesday that a 7-year-old girl should be allowed to samba before a crowd of thousands as a Carnival drum corps queen, a coveted role normally reserved for sultry models.

Little Julia Lira is scheduled to perform for the packed Sambadrome stadium — and for millions more around the country via live television — early Monday morning when the Viradouro samba group parades.  Read more…

Report: Hundreds forced into labor, sex in Ohio

By MATT LEINGANG
About 1,000 American-born children are forced into the sex trade in Ohio every year and about 800 immigrants are sexually exploited and pushed into sweatshop-type jobs, a new report on human trafficking in the state said Wednesday.
Ohio's weak laws on human trafficking, its growing demand for cheap labor and its proximity to the Canadian border are key contributors to the illegal activity, according to a report by the Trafficking in Persons Study Commission.  Read more…

Scientists find first genes linked to stuttering

 By STEPHANIE NANO

Why people stutter has long been a medical mystery, with the condition blamed over the years on emotional problems, overbearing parents and browbeating teachers. Now, for the first time, scientists have found genes that could explain some cases of stuttering.

"In terms of mythbusters, this is really an important step forward," said Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation.

Researchers taking part in a government-funded study discovered mutations in three genes that appear to cause the speech problem in some people. Stuttering tends to run in families, and previous research suggested a genetic connection. But until now, researchers had not been able to pinpoint any culprit genes.  Read more…

Stuttering Foundation: http://www.stutteringhelp.org

Childhood obesity linked to early death: US study

Being obese as a child increases the risk of dying before you reach 55, says a study published Wednesday, a day after US First Lady Michelle Obama launched a program to fight childhood obesity amid warnings it is shortening lives.

Out of 4,857 non-diabetic Native American children aged five to 20 who took part in the study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 166 died before they reached the age of 55 of disease or self-inflicted injury such as alcohol intoxication or drug use -- called "endogenous causes".  Read more...