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Youth in the News

Volume 2, Number 7, April 16-30, 2007

Contents
State Watch
Research
Government

STATE WATCH

• Tobacco companies are investing less money on advertisements and more on price discounts which advocates claim lead to an increase in youth smoking.
• Drug prevention organizations in Bloomington, Illinois helps raise awareness of teen drinking and ‘alcopops’.
• The Covington, Ohio City Commission plans on forming a youth commission to engage youth in their community.
• The Philadelphia School District votes to recognize Gay and Lesbian History Month.
• A program in Michigan helps teach foster care youth how to be fiscally responsible.
• Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick wants to end state-sponsored, abstinence-only education.
• Adolescent medical professionals offer targeted care to teenagers.
• In Oklahoma, a program helps disabled youth gain independence by teaching them how to use the bus system.

RESEARCH

• Research shows voter turnout among college students is still below 50 percent while voters 45 and older have a 70 percent turnout.
• A recent survey finds that family disintegration and neighborhood violence are top concerns for California youth.
• The FCC advises Congress to regulate violent television programs.

GOVERNMENT

• New York’s Governor, Eliot Spitzer, calls for the banning of flavored cigarettes that may encourage youth to start smoking.
• The Florida Legislature passes bills funding a comprehensive, statewide tobacco education and prevention program.
• A bill protecting incarcerated LGBT youth passes a California senate committee.
• A youth lobbies congress to support Congressman John Conyers’ legislation that would allow the U.S. Attorney General to help local law enforcement investigate hate crimes. 
• In Texas, Senator Carlos Uresti introduces legislation that establishes the foster children’s bill of rights.
• Philadelphia’s City Council endorses a ballot initiative that would create the Philadelphia Youth Commission.
• California legislators are proposing to return juvenile offenders from state custody detention facilities to county facilities.
• Several states are prohibiting young drivers from using their cell phones while driving.

TOBACCO ADVERTISING
Tobacco companies spend less on ads, marketing; price discounts criticized
April 27, 2007
By Christopher S. Rugaber, AP
Delawareonline.com
After setting a record high in 2003, tobacco companies spent less money marketing and advertising their products in 2004 and 2005, a federal agency said Thursday.

Promotional spending by the five largest U.S. cigarette makers dropped to $14.15 billion in 2004, down from $15.15 billion in the previous year, and fell to $13.1 billion in 2005, according to a report issued by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC has monitored cigarette sales and marketing trends in regular reports since 1967.

Anti-tobacco activists said the companies' promotional spending is still double the amount spent in 1998, the year the major cigarette companies entered into a legal settlement with a group of U.S. states.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said aggressive tactics, including price discounts, contributed to a reversal in youth smoking trends. A recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of smoking by high school students found a slight increase in 2005, reversing several years of reductions in youth smoking rates.

"The small decline in tobacco marketing expenditures ... is a drop in the bucket compared to the massive increase between 1998 and 2003," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The tobacco industry spent $6.7 billion in marketing in 1998, the FTC report said.

Most of the tobacco companies' promotional spending is in the form of price discounts to cigarette retailers and wholesalers to reduce the price of cigarettes to consumers, the FTC report said, while advertising in newspapers, magazines and on billboards has dropped significantly in recent years.

The companies provided $10.9 billion in price discounts in 2004, equal to 77.3 percent of all marketing expenditures, and $9.8 billion, or 74.6 percent of promotional spending, in 2005, the report said.

Myers criticized the discounts for offsetting the price impact of recent sales tax increases by many states. The discounts "make cigarettes more affordable to children, the most price-sensitive customers, and undermine state efforts to reduce tobacco use by increasing tobacco taxes."

Brendan McCormick, a spokesman for Philip Morris USA, said the price discounts are intended to reach adult smokers. Michael Neese, another spokesman, said despite the discounts, the average retail price for Marlboro cigarettes increased 68 percent from 1998 to 2005.

ILLINOIS
Group helping raise awareness of teen drinking and 'alcopops'
April 29, 2007
By Paul Swiech, pantagraph.com
Heads up, mom and dad: Your teen's drink may look like soda pop but contain alcohol.

An increasing prevalence of "alcopops" has prompted state legislation and a statewide series of awareness-building forums, including one from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Monday at Normal Community High School.

"The goal of the forum is to educate parents about alcopops, so they can say to the alcohol industry, 'Keep your hands off our young people,'" said Kellie Rubbel-Henrichs, coordinator of prevention and education with Project Oz. Project Oz and Chestnut Health Systems are Bloomington-based drug prevention, education and treatment agencies that are sponsoring the forum.

"Alcopops have been strategically marketed to our age group," said Erica Kuchenmeister of Hudson, a senior at Normal Community West High School. Kuchenmeister is a member of the Heartland Coalition Youth Advisory Board, which advises Project Oz and Chestnut on teen issues.

"They are cheap, brightly colored and sweetened so they don't taste like alcohol," she said. They are advertised in magazines and on television programs watched by teens, she said. In addition, because they are malt-liquor based, they're classified as beer, meaning they are available in convenience stories in soda-style bottles.

Central Illinois teens - especially girls - are drinking alcopops such as Mike's Hard Lemonade and Bacardi Silver, said Kuchenmeister and Jordan Burns, also a Normal West senior and youth advisory board member. When some parties are discussed, "who's buying what and alcohol games" are part of the discussion, Burns said.

But Kuchenmeister emphasized, "we don't snitch. Our goal is to find prevention techniques and to promote responsibility in our age group."

Consequences of underage drinking are severe, including driving and making decisions about sex while under the influence of alcohol, Rubbel-Henrichs said.

A 2006 Illinois Youth Survey in McLean County indicated that, in the previous 30 days, 46 percent of high school seniors had used alcohol, including alcopops, Rubbel-Henrichs said.

Sara Moscato, chief executive officer of the Illinois Alcoholism & Drug Dependence Association, said response by parents at other forums around Illinois has been "overwhelming."

"Sadly, the reason is the horrifying number of teen deaths," Moscato said. Use of alcohol, including alcopops, contributed to a number of the tragedies, she said.

The youth panel, Project Oz, Chestnut and other groups are in favor of Senate Bill 1625, which passed the Illinois Senate on Tuesday. The bill would prohibit, among other things, alcopop sponsorship of youth athletic events and billboard advertisement within 500 feet of schools, parks, and places of worship.

OHIO
Youths to serve on city panel
April 24, 2007
By Luke E. Saladin, The Kentucky Post
High school students may soon get a taste of what it's like to serve on the Covington City Commission.

The city commission today is expected to approve formation of the Covington Youth Commission, which is being co-sponsored by the Center for Great Neighborhoods of Covington.

The purpose of the youth commission is to give Covington students a chance to develop leadership skills, as well as learn how city government works.

Students on the youth commission will plan and organize service projects, especially those that come out of the city's newly created strategic plan.

The commission will also receive input from city youth about issues facing the community and promote civic involvement.

The group will be able to apply for a grant of up to $500 to implement projects in which it is interested.

"The focus of our work on the Building Covington's Future strategic planning process was to get community input and involvement to make Covington the best it can be," said Covington Mayor Butch Callery.

"The Covington Youth Commission is a great way to encourage all of the youth to get involved in the community, too."

The youth commission will include 13 students in the ninth through 12th grade, each of whom will serve a two-year term.

Membership is open to any youth who live in the city of Covington, including those who are home schooled.

Other partners in the youth commission program include Northern Kentucky University's Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement, Covington Independent Schools and the Diocese of Covington Urban Schools.

Funding for the Youth Commission is provided by United Way of Greater Cincinnati.

PENNSYLVANIA
Protecting Our Youth
April 28, 2007
By Sharon Cole, Edgeboston.com
A little bit of history took place for our LGBT Youth within the past year. Interestingly, it happened in a city well known for history-more specifically, the U.S. Constitution. The Philadelphia School District voted to include Gay and Lesbian History Month, which is October, on its 2006-2007 academic calendar-a feat some deemed as one small step for gay acceptance, and just maybe a giant leap for the welfare of gay youth.

The decision did not go unchallenged, however. According to reports in The Philadelphia Inquirer, school district officials received a deluge of irate e-mails and were visited by a few incensed parents who threatened to pull their kids from Philly public schools. But the district stood firm in its final decision stating, "We have our policy that says the district is committed to foster knowledge and respect for all."

Though elated about the district’s inclusion, Carrie Jacobs, executive director and a founding member of the Attic Youth Center, an organization offering support and a safe haven for LGBT youth in center city Philadelphia, said the blatant intolerance of diversity displayed in response to the new calendar, of which 200,000 were distributed, made it all too clear just how far we are from true acceptance of gays and how desperately LGBT-identified youth need our support.

"There were people at the school commission reform who were so against gay history being printed on the calendars that it got to the point where some of them called other adults in the room faggots," said Jacobs. "I was shocked by incredibly mean spirited it all was."

Legacy of Neglected Youth

Shouting the term "faggots" is a pure example of the kind of verbal abuse anti-gay individuals impose upon others to cause fear, Jacobs said. Only when kids are the recipients, that fear can cause long-lasting damage. She explained that the name-calling causes oppression, and when that is coupled with a lack of education and awareness surrounding sexual orientation, social and emotional development can be stunted for LGBT youth.

"Many of our youth can’t identify or connect with their mainstream peers. They may not even really understand why, but they know they aren’t being themselves and that something’s just not right," said Jacobs. "We still live in a very anti-gay culture where negative messages are everywhere. Those messages oppress gays and prevent them from growing up naturally."

Statistics solidify the claim. According to the Phoenix chapter of Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG), LGBT and questioning kids have a greater chance of suffering abuse, neglect and discrimination, thus resulting in severe isolation, and overwhelming feelings of anxiety and fear. All of which contributes to an LGBT high school drop out rate of approximately 28 percent.

For Bridget Hughes, director of youth services, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, New York City, it isn’t unusual to witness thwarted growth among LGBT youth. She said that without being able to connect with peers, our kids are in danger of suffering a life of loneliness.

"Instead of learning how to be social human beings, many gay youth live in a closet and learn how to hide. That involves a huge skill set of interpersonal behaviors and vigilance built around secretiveness, which is hugely debilitating," she said. "It goes beyond depression. It leads to substance abuse, which often stretches into adulthood depriving them the opportunity to experience adolescence and key emotional development."

Hughes went onto say that neglected youth typically do not learn how to build relationships or families-a disability that is evident among gay and lesbian seniors who, in younger years, never met other people like them. Said Hughes, many of our seniors don’t have a large network of friends, they’re going it alone.

Another downfall of LGBT unawareness during adolescence is the desperate attempt to fit into mainstream. Jacobs said so many young gay people do what they believe they’re supposed to do, force themselves into heterosexual relationships, marry and have kids.

"This makes for some very unhappy people," she said. "Sadly, they can’t keep their feelings inside and wind up having to break up families during their 40s and 50s."

She added that others who experienced so much internalized homophobia during younger years might not come out until they are seniors. She referred to a 60-year-old man she met recently who just came out and has, in a sense, reverted back to childhood to experience all that he never had a chance to.

Fortunately, there is more support today than even 10 or 20 years ago. The Attic Youth Center began very small in 1993 with just a few programs and has grown to provide HIV prevention programming, testing, counseling, case management services, life skills character development, civic engagement and many support groups.

The same can be said for the gay center in New York. Its Youth Enrichment Services (YES) program began in 1989 with just two organizers. Today, 11 staff members and multiple volunteers are dedicated to its mission.

"We were a band of brothers back when we first started," said Hughes. "We connected with other programs like Hedrick Martin and a few other small groups with sensitivity toward LGBT youth. But in the beginning, there was no way to refer someone to crisis services, especially for gays who couldn’t pass. It was hard to find shelter and health care. I mean, we had HIV Positive youth with nowhere to turn."

Hughes said things were so desperate that it was not unheard of that staff persons would take in kids who were kicked out of their homes to sleep on their couches.

"Things are different today, but we still live in a culture where young people are taught to hate and be afraid of anything gay, lesbian, bi and trans. We live with lots of fear around people whose gender expression doesn’t match what is dictated," she said.

In addition to their many support and leadership programs, both YES and the Attic Youth Center focus efforts on creating awareness within schools and institutions to ensure youths are being treated fairly within the mainstream.

The Miracle of Love

For youth actually gaining support, the future is very bright. Hughes said transformations are quickly apparent once kids walk into a room full of people whom they connect with and who are, in fact, their allies.

"It makes a world of difference," she said. "Young people quickly go from being depressed, shy and awkward to who they really are. It’s amazing. You just can’t know yourself except through other people and without them you cease to exist," said Hughes.

Jacobs indicated that youth often progress through a series of stages when coming to terms with who they are, which, she said, is all about identity formation. "When youths first realize where they are happy, they immerse themselves completely in everything gay. That is the focus of who they are and I see it happening all the time," she said. "Once more confidence is built, they can branch out and be themselves in the mainstream."

When asked if there are signs indicating whether youth are LBGT or not, Jacobs said she couldn’t say for sure. "How do kids know they are not gay?" she said. "I think many of our youth know who they are attracted to and some people realize this very young while others do not."

Hughes doesn’t know that there are specific signs either. She said all young people going through adolescence are dealing with sexuality and gender. "That is what puberty is all about," she said. "We just want to make it OK for kids to talk about these issues. Some may argue that talking about lesbians and gays might put ideas into kids’ heads, but that is a myth. There was a time when people were afraid to talk about suicide for fear it would offer youths something they hadn’t thought of and would actually do, but mental health professionals disagree. They say we need to ask. Asking doesn’t make someone decide to commit suicide or to be gay."

Hughes went on to say that LGBT education and support does not only serve gay youth. It benefits all kids and, in fact, society at large.

"One thing we know is that many youth are at risk due to the predominantly anti-gay culture in which we live. Not just LGBT youth, but even kids who get harassed and feel different," said Hughes. "Some kids are called faggot even if not LGBT identified. They drop out of school at the same rate as our kids.

"Homophobia hurts everybody, so when our staff works to put an end to homophobia in schools, it makes a difference for everyone," she said. "Sexuality and gender are key issues for all human beings trying to figure out how to live in this world. The more we talk in a positive way about it and honor all different kinds of people, the more we are making the world a better place in which all individuals can grow."

Facing Reality

For folks who believe being gay is a choice, the Phoenix chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays has a strong response. On its Web site www.pflagphoenix.org. The organization provides a robust list of unfortunate statistics related to suicide, depression, rejection, homelessness and other serious afflictions experienced by LGBT youth. Here’s an abbreviated version:

• Over 30% of all reported teen suicides each year are committed by gay and lesbian youth.
• 50% of all gay and lesbian youth report that their parents reject them due to their sexual orientation.
• 26% of gay and lesbian youth are forced to leave home because of conflicts over their sexual orientation.
• In a study of 194 gay and lesbian youth, 25% were verbally abused by parents, and nearly 10% dealt with threatened or actual violence.
• Approximately 40% of homeless youth are identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual.
• In a study of male teenagers self-described as gay or bisexual, 27% moved away from home because of conflict with family members over sexual orientation. Almost half had run away from home at least once.
• Approximately 30% of both the lesbian and gay male populations have problems with alcohol.
• Approximately 28% of gay and lesbian youth drop out of high school because of discomfort (due to verbal and physical abuse) in the school environment.
• Academic failure, lack of student involvement and low commitment to school are profound for gay and lesbian youth because schools are neither safe, healthy nor productive places for them to learn.
• Teenage students (gay AND straight) say the worst harassment in school is being called ’gay’.
• Gay and lesbian youth live, work and attempt to learn in constant fear of physical harm at school.
• 27% of gay and lesbian youth have been physically hurt by another student.
• In a study of 5 metropolitan areas (including Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, and San Francisco), there were 1,833 [reported) incidents of anti-gay and anti-lesbian crimes, which was a 31% increase over the previous year.

MICHIGAN
Foster youth program hopes to promote fiscal responsibility
April 29, 2007
By Garret Ellison, The News Courier
It’s safe to say that Jillian Jones could use some extra cash.

The 18-year-old foster youth struggles to make ends meet while caring for her 4-year-old son, Alexander. She’s also planning to study nursing at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City.

So when she learned of a pilot incentive program offered by the local branch of the Michigan Youth Opportunities Initiative that gives matching funds to foster kids saving money for an asset like a car or college education, she jumped on it.

“It’s so beneficial,” she said.

She’s about to make the transition out of foster care, which is causing her some anxiety.

“I’m pretty nervous about it because I don’t have a job,” she said. “Manistee County is kind of ... wanting in jobs and my location makes it hard to find one, so it’s hard to support my son and myself.”

Alan VanderPaas, the northwest site coordinator for the MYOI, cooked up the Iditarod Challenge during the winter to stimulate savings behavior for area young adults “aging out” from under the state umbrella.

The MYOI was formerly known as the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, a national organization with a stated mission of supporting young people through the transition out of foster care. The state folded the Michigan Jim Casey sites into the Department of Human Services several years ago.

“I was driving down the road on a snowy day, thinking, ‘How are we going to get kids to save money when adults don’t even save money?’” VanderPaas said.

There are 136 registered foster youth involved with the initiative in the surrounding 10-county area, ages 14 to 23. Of those registered, 26 are taking part in the Iditarod Challenge.

It works like this: From March 1 to Aug. 31, eligible participants deposit personal income into a special account. Each chunk — up to $50 per month — will be equally matched at the challenge end.

Then, when that money — deposits and match — gets used to purchase an asset, the MYOI again pitches in an equal amount. So, a consecutive $50 monthly deposit would become $600 in August with the matching funds; and then $1,200 when used for a car, or college education, health insurance, etc.

“It’s awesome,” said program participant Bill Schramm.

The 21-year-old is taking full advantage of the opportunity. He said a down payment on a home in the Traverse City area for him and wife Laura is the plan.

Schramm is aged out of foster care, but previously drew on MYOI support to start his own disc jockey service. He is studying business administration at NMC full-time.

“The initiative has been a phenomenal amount of assistance for me in changing my life around,” he said. “I used to do a lot of negative things and now I’m a successful person. I’m married. I’ve got my own business. I’m full-time in college, I went back and got my GED because I dropped out of school. The initiative has helped me out with all these things.”

VanderPaas said that data shows youth in transition out of foster care are at a higher risk for dropping out of high school, becoming homeless, going to jail and having children at a young age. All this comes from not having a stable parental atmosphere.

“Perhaps they’ve moved a lot during their term in foster care,” he said. “With every move comes a loss of education, a loss of experience and a lack of love and understanding. That’s the kind of thing that builds up in mainstream youth that kids in foster care are lacking.”

VanderPaas said he will be evaluating savings behavior six months prior and six months after the challenge. If there are measurable improvements, the program could spread to other MYOI sites in the state.

The match funding comes from a Jim Casey grant backed by the Annie E. Casey and the Marguerite Casey Foundations. VanderPaas said the local site staff are paid with a blended fund from Jim Casey and the DHS.

Currently the youth in the program can get money from participating in MYOI events like youth board and other outreach programs. But the idea is for them to deposit earned income, not grant money.

“If we do our job right, we’re going to demonstrate that these kids have saved money of their own making, whether it’s washing cars, or at McDonald’s — whatever their job is,” he said.

MASSACHUSETTS
Patrick seeks to forgo grant, end classes on sex abstinence
But leaders in House back funding
April 24, 2007
By Lisa Wangsness, Boston Globe
Governor Deval Patrick wants to end state-sponsored , abstinence-only sex education in Massachusetts, a year after Governor Mitt Romney ordered the Department of Public Health to redirect a long-standing federal abstinence grant to classes that focus exclusively on encouraging teenagers to avoid sexual encounters.

Patrick proposed forgoing the $700,000 grant, which the state has received since 1998, joining at least six other states in rebelling against increasingly restrictive federal mandates about how the money can be used.

The Patrick administration points to the federal government's study of abstinence-education programs, released this month, which found that students in programs focusing solely on abstinence are just as likely to have sex as those not in such programs. At the same time, health officials say, the programs' emphasis on the failure rate of condoms and other birth control, without providing instruction about their benefits, may confuse young people and discourage them from using protection.

"We don't believe that the science of public health is pointing in the direction of very specific and narrowly defined behavioral approaches like the one that is mandated by this funding," said John Auerbach, the state commissioner of public health.

Patrick's policy change, proposed in his budget, has met resistance in the House, where Democratic leaders restored the funding in the budget plan that came to the floor yesterday at the start of a week-long debate.

They included a provision, as they did last year, requiring schools offering the abstinence program to also provide comprehensive sex education classes. Under federal rules, comprehensive sex education must be taught separately because abstinence grant money cannot support programs that also promote the use of birth control.

Defending the change, Jim Eisenberg, a spokesman for the House Ways and Means Committee, said, "It enunciates a policy, and the policy is that federal funds for school-based abstinence education should be accessed, so long as abstinence is always taught as part of a comprehensive sexuality education curriculum."

But even if the House prevails, a spokesman for the Department of Public Health said the state will not apply for the money.

The grant program that funds abstinence education was created by Congress in 1996 as part of welfare law changes, with the aim of discouraging teenagers from having sex outside marriage. Most states took the money and at first were allowed wide flexibility in how they used the funds. Until 2003, Massachusetts used the money for public service announcements encouraging teenagers to wait for marriage before having sex. The state then began spending the money on supplementary educational materials promoting abstinence.

In late 2005, Romney -- then a potential presidential candidate who was trying to establish credentials as a social conservative -- announced that he would channel the money directly into expanding abstinence education programs in schools. During the remainder of his administration, Massachusetts funneled more than $800,000 to Healthy Futures, a group that had been running abstinence education programs in more than three dozen middle schools.

The state's new focus on abstinence-only education coincided with increasingly strict rules from the federal government, which dictated that programs receiving the money must deliver a detailed, eight-point message. That includes teaching that sexual activity outside marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects and that it is important to be financially self-sufficient before engaging in sexual activity.

States began to stop reapplying for the money on the grounds that the restrictions were too much. According to the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States, the states of New Jersey, Wisconsin, Ohio, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Montana have decided not to reapply for the funds this year, and a dozen more are considering dropping out. California and Maine had previously decided not to participate in the program.

Rebecca Ray, director of Healthy Futures, said the funding from the state has helped the program to expand from 5,000 students to more than 11,000, mostly within the schools it already served.

Healthy Futures is a subsidiary of a Christian, anti abortion group called A Woman's Concern, but Ray said the curriculum is not religious and does not tell students what to think about abortion.

Rather, she said, the focus is on helping students make the choice to wait to have sex until they are in a healthy, lifelong relationship. She said the only information the program disseminates about condoms and other birth control is to explain that they are not 100 percent effective in preventing sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.

"In a typical program, abstinence is mostly dismissed as unrealistic," she said. ". . . We don't come in with the assumption that teens are going to be sexually active. We tell them abstinence is a realistic option, something they can choose if they want it, and we give them the tools to make and sustain that choice."

The Patrick administration and other opponents of abstinence-only education argue that abstinence education should be part of a comprehensive sex education class and that the strict limitations on the federal funding mean the Healthy Futures classes are not integrated with a regular sex education program.

"These programs are prohibited by federal regulation from discussing the prevention benefits of birth control, other than to emphasize the failure rate," said Angus McQuilken, vice president for public relations and governmental affairs for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. "That is a dangerously unrealistic and irresponsible approach."

Last year, the House stripped authorization for the grant out of the budget, but the Senate objected; a compromise was reached in a conference committee that included the caveat requiring the provision that the abstinence programs could only be taught if accompanied by a separate comprehensive sex education class. This year, after the governor stripped out the authorization, the House put it back in with the same condition.

Last year and this year, Raymond B. Ruddy -- president of the Gerard Health Foundation, which has given millions to antiabortion and abstinence groups -- hired lobbyist John Bartley to persuade lawmakers to include the funding in the budget for the program. Ruddy paid Bartley nearly $50,000 last year for his work on this single issue.

The battle over the abstinence grants could resurface this week during the House debate of its $26.7 million budget. Representative Ruth Balser, a Democrat from Newton, put in an amendment that would eliminate the grant and have the health department study the efficacy of abstinence education. Public Health Department budget amendments are expected to be taken up today.

The House began the budget debate by rejecting several Republican ideas about tax changes, including proposals to raise revenue through a tax amnesty program and to waive the 21-cent-per-gallon gas tax for municipalities. The House rejected a plan to lift the 5 percent sales tax on purchases of Energy Star light bulbs.

ADOLSCENT HEALTH
Treating the Awkward Years
April 24, 2007
By Jan Hoffman, NYtimes.com
Robert T. Brown’s patients may be obese or anorexic; sexual innocents or infected with chlamydia; male or female; jocks or goths; abusers of alcohol, Ecstasy or over-the-counter drugs; tattooed, pierced, pimpled; surly and stressed; or just mortified by their molting, rebelling bodies.

Diverse and challenging, they share at least one common factor, which brings them to the attention of Dr. Brown and his colleagues. They are all adolescents.

“We do dermatology, sports medicine, psychology, gynecology, orthopedic issues, psychosocial issues, substance abuse and address problems of developing sexuality,” said Dr. Brown, a specialist in adolescent medicine who is chairman of pediatrics at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, Pa.

“We’re highly trained generalists for a specific population — like gerontologists,” he said. “But either we’ve done a poor job of marketing ourselves or there is something about the field.”

Adolescent medicine might be expected to be booming. The nation has about 40 million people ages 10 to 19, a patient population that experts say is vulnerable to a growing array of behavior-related health problems.

But a decade after adolescent medicine became board certified as a subspecialty, it is in little demand by doctors seeking to advance their careers. Small wonder the public is generally unaware of the field: according to the American Board of Medical Specialties, only 466 certificates in adolescent medicine were issued from 1996 to 2005. In the same period, 2,839 were issued in geriatric medicine.

Most major teaching hospitals have adolescent clinics: pediatric residents have to spend a month in an adolescent rotation. A few health maintenance organizations have stand-alone adolescent clinics. Occasionally, a pediatrician in a group practice or in a community may have a special affinity for teenagers, and be the go-to doctor for them.

But the availability of doctors and nurse practitioners dedicated exclusively to adolescent care is still the exception. Their numbers are so limited that many cannot take on adolescents as primary-care patients; the patients see them on a temporary referral basis. Of those teenagers who are insured and who continue to see a primary-care doctor, a vast majority remain with the pediatricians or family doctors who have cared for them since diaperhood.

That job has become more time-consuming and complex. “Adolescents are not big children and they’re also not little adults,” said Dr. Walter D. Rosenfeld, an adolescent medicine specialist and chairman of pediatrics at the Goryeb Children’s Hospital in Morristown, N.J.

They are not just a bridge population, he and many others maintain, but their own stop in the road. During adolescence, people need to learn how to take responsibility for their health and, eventually, to become health care consumers, independent of their parents.

At programs that are sensitive to adolescents, this changing dynamic is negotiated deftly but firmly. Recently, at an eating disorder clinic at the Goryeb Children’s Center at Overlook Hospital in Summit, N.J., a nutritionist beckoned to a teenager in the waiting area. The girl’s mother stood to follow. But after the girl slipped into the exam room, the nutritionist closed the door.

“Oh, I thought I was going in with her,” the mother said to no one in particular. “Guess not,” she added with a small laugh of embarrassment.

Organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society for Adolescent Medicine recommend that primary-care physicians monitor teenagers for drug and alcohol use, smoking, sexual activity (including disease prevention and use of birth control), physical activity, nutrition, depression, school behavior and social pressures. Yet various studies have shown that many pediatricians feel inadequately prepared to address most of these issues.

A father in Indianapolis, who did not want to identify himself to protect the privacy of his shy 12-year-old daughter, said: “Our pediatrician is a great guy around everyday things, but he’s not adolescent-focused. He won’t ask her about sex or alcohol or drugs. It’s just not in his repertoire. He’s a baby doctor, oriented toward the quickie office visit.”

Because teenagers seek out doctors infrequently, pediatricians have to grab at any opportunity to reach them, said Dr. Susan R. Brill, director of adolescent medicine at the Children’s Hospital at St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J.

“I could see a boy with strep throat and he’ll grunt at me and we’ll be done in five minutes,” she said. “Or I could take a little more time to talk to him — I might find out about sexuality issues that way. If a kid is coming in for bronchitis, I’ll get the parent out of the room and ask the kid if he’s smoking. If a kid is on a sports team and comes in with an injury, is the pediatrician talking about weight and eating and steroid abuse?”

With so many doctors feeling underprepared to treat teenagers and the need so critical, why no rush to those advanced degrees?

In conventional terms, the explanations for adolescent medicine’s remaining the wallflower at the subspecialty ball are sensible enough. The fellowship is demanding: two years of additional study for internists and family practitioners, three for pediatricians.

Yet after completing the adolescent fellowship, a doctor’s income does not markedly improve. Insurance companies still view teenagers as large children. Though the annual checkup of a 16-year-old should take at least twice as long as that of a 6-year-old, doctors say, the typical reimbursement is about the same.

 Moreover, the field does not get much respect, at least from other doctors (parents can be weepy with gratitude). In the thriving world of high-tech medicine, doctors who treat adolescents are determinedly low-tech. They listen. They observe. They do some subtle teaching, a fair amount of diagnosing and, on the good days, intervention, amelioration, even outright prevention.

And then there are the patients themselves.

“American society is not particularly fond of its teenagers,” said Dr. John Santelli, a professor of pediatrics and public health at Columbia University. “The 2-year-olds, everyone fawns over them. But the guy with the pin through his nose is not cute.”

A 1999 American Academy of Pediatrics study revealed that while 22 percent of the patients seen by pediatricians were ages 12 to 18, 75 percent of the doctors surveyed did not want more adolescents in their practice.

The meager reimbursement rates directly affect pediatricians and family doctors. Dr. Elizabeth Panzner, a pediatrician in Union, N.J., who speaks joyfully about watching a patient grow over many years, said adolescents were nonetheless a challenge for a busy practice.

“Say there’s a gynecological issue,” she said. “Putting the time factor aside, there’s a financial burden which the pediatrician would never recoup because gynecological visits are bundled into a general pediatric office visit.”

A relatively tiny, hardy, occasionally eccentric and fervent group, adolescent medicine specialists understand that theirs will probably never become a much-sought-after position. Many have come to see their mission not only in taking care of patients, but also in researching public policy questions that affect adolescents.

And because many choose to become affiliated with hospital programs rather than setting up fee-for-service practices, they also teach pediatric residents and local practitioners how to exchange critical information with teenage patients.

“We can’t do it alone,” Dr. Rosenfeld, the specialist in Morristown, said. “We need to deputize pediatricians and family practitioners, and make them our partners.”

Since October, specialists in adolescent medicine in his department have given a half-dozen lectures, including one for the professionals at a local pediatric practice, as well as those for pediatric residents on dating violence and eating disorders.

They have also tried direct outreach to adolescents: last year, their blunt Web site, www.teenhealthfx.com, which has an advisory board of teenagers, averaged nearly a quarter-million hits a month.

Dr. Kenneth R. Ginsburg, an adolescent medicine specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who trains doctors in treating teenagers, said that when the child is 11 to 13, the doctor should explain to both patient and parent that the visit will change: the doctor will now spend some of it alone with the patient.

Parents need to be assured, Dr. Ginsburg said, that although they will now be left in the dark about some of what is said in the exam room, the doctor’s goal is still the health and well-being of their child.

The challenge, then, he and other experts say, is how to speak with teenage patients using language that is nonjudgmental and does not make them feel ashamed.

Dr. Leslie Sanders, an adolescent medicine specialist at Overlook, recently gave a lecture to pediatric residents about interviewing teenage boys. “Many pediatricians know they should be asking, but don’t know how,” she said. “They might say, ‘You know how to put on a condom, don’t you?’ or ‘After you drink, you don’t get behind the wheel, right?’ ”

When Dr. Ginsburg sits down with teenagers, he lays out the deal: “They’ll have a choice: they can say they don’t want to talk about this subject. They can lie to me, but if they do, I can’t help them. Then I emphasize the importance of honesty.

“When the young person tells me something I wish they weren’t doing, like drugs,” Dr. Ginsburg said, “I won’t praise the behavior but I’ll respect the fact that they’re talking to me and looking for guidance. The kid needs to know that my office is a place where they can get out of trouble, but not in trouble.”

Doctors who choose to treat teenagers exclusively have a special affection for them. Dr. Ginsburg’s patients include the children of intellectuals and the privileged as well as those living in shelters and foster homes. In a recent phone interview, he spoke so glowingly that his speech ramped up and his words rushed out. “I get so excited about this work,” he said. “I’m standing on my desk now.”

 For many of these doctors, the work has both a tinge of personal identification and a call to social conscience. Dr. Santelli, who is also a family planning expert, remarked: “We all have our adolescence to live down. It was an important time to me, personally. So I resonate when I talk to teenagers.”

“Adolescence is at the intersection of fundamental issues for society: if you make it through successfully, you’re set up for life,” Dr. Santelli said. “If you don’t, you could go to prison or end up in the underclass.”

These doctors are also clear-eyed about their patients. This is, after all, a patient population whose three leading causes of death — accidents, homicide and suicide — are often related to psychosocial problems, rather than traditional medical diagnoses.

That is why a doctor-patient relationship with the teenager based on trust and confidentiality is so crucial, Dr. Ginsburg said.

“Adolescents are incredibly thoughtful, creative and absolutely challenging,” he said. “They get when you’re insincere really quickly. The tough kids are not used to adults not fearing them. But if you just love being with them, they melt. The attitude goes away because it’s just a pained, defensive posture.”

Becky Hirsch, a 15-year-old high school sophomore in Montclair, N.J., was mystified and embarrassed by her changing body. She dreaded the annual checkup with her pediatrician this fall. The sounds of crying, vaccinated infants, the sight of toddler chairs, and the doctor’s hurried manner as she barreled through a due-diligence list that included sex and alcohol made Becky so uncomfortable that she just shut down.

“It was the talking part,” she recalled later. “I’d rather put off telling her stuff than say something.”

But Becky was lucky. Her pediatrician took stock of the impasse and referred her to an adolescent medicine clinic.

Becky and her mother, Deborah, went to Girl Street — “The name is so stupid!” Becky moaned — a program at Overlook Hospital with adolescent medicine doctors, nutritionists and a therapist. Visits with new patients last at least an hour.

The waiting area was lined with adult-size chairs. Teenage patients were busily text-messaging while their mothers smiled tentatively at one another, as if seeking solidarity.

“I was really nervous, but then the nurse kept telling me how much she liked my shoes,” Becky said, after a recent follow-up visit. “Here, they know you’re uncomfortable so they make it so you’re not.

“The doctor didn’t talk about scientific stuff,” Becky added. “She asked me about myself, which was really nice — about school, my family, my friends. I was surprised, because I thought we were just going to talk about body stuff. So I told her everything. It took a while. I was crying a lot.

“I didn’t know much about a woman’s body before and she told me about some S.T.D.’s and why I needed that new vaccine,” Becky continued, referring to a vaccine approved for girls as young as 9 to prevent a cervical cancer linked to a sexually transmitted disease. “The doctor isn’t warm and fuzzy, but she makes you feel really normal. And she takes everything seriously.”

A few days later Becky called the clinic about another problem. To her amazement, she said, “The doctor called me back on my cellphone!”

OKLAHOMA
Youth find transportation a quality of life issue
April 16, 2007
By Tony Pennington, The Norman Transcript
The frosty morning chill was given teeth by the gusting, slightly swirling early April wind.

Some students of Marcie Stickney’s class clung tightly to their clipboards and assignment sheets as the light, sparse and near invisible precipitation touched down. Others avoided the elements and sought the warmth of the heater in the van that brought them to a parking near the intersection of Stubbeman Ave. and Robinson Street.

It was unclear who first spotted the $350,000 white passenger bus, but it’s appearance sparked a mad dash to the appointed stop. It was Friday, an important step to help these secondary students from Norman Public Schools transition into their adult lives and independence.

For the past six years Stickney’s students have utilized the Cleveland Area Raid Transit bus system as a necessary tool in their life skills training. It’s part of the Students Participating in Community Employment that provides disabled secondary students insights into their community and explore employment opportunities.

Each Friday the group boards a CART bus with an assignment, and their punch passes ready. And each week, after the transfers and final stops, the students move closer to self-sufficiency.

“CART provides a fabulous service and it’s a great learning tools for our students,” said Stickney, transition specialist for NPS. “The bus touches all aspects of their lives. It teaches them independence so they can get to their jobs, the doctor’s office, buy groceries or got to the movies.”

At the start of each school year, Stickney rides with her students to get them acclimated to the process. Soon after they ride by themselves as Stickney and her assistants follow in vans.

“It helps reinforce the necessity of public transportation for them,” Stickney said. “They learn how to get places, and they also identify stops that might be of some interests to them.”

Norman North High School junior Brian Waddle, 17, already has noted two stops.

“I like riding the bus because I get to see the OU campus and the football field,” he said. “I like the Sooners.”

It took fellow Timberwolf James Kinchen awhile to get adjusted to CART.

“At first I thought it was going to be difficult, and I was nervous,” he said. “I’ve never been on the bus before this year.”

Nearly a school year later, Kinchen has changed his mind.

“I’m so used to my parents driving me places,” he explained. “If I didn’t have my parents, I’d be stuck at home. Now, I know how to ride the bus. I’m more independent.”

Those are the stories CART representative likes to hear. He said it was vital for CART to reach out to the needs of each of its estimated 1 million passengers a year.

VOTER TURNOUT
Political Participation
College students lag behind in number of votes cast
April 27, 2007
Stefanie Toth, The Post
Political motivation is high among today’s youth, yet those who actually submit their vote remain a small number.

Nationally, the turnout in the 2004 presidential election for voters ages 18 to 24 was less than half, or about 47 percent, according to the Census Bureau — an increase from about 36 percent in 2000. Voters 45-years-old and older had a 70 percent turnout.

In 2004, 56 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds in Ohio showed up to vote in the presidential election, which was an increase from 42 percent in 2000, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, or CIRCLE.

Statistics are even lower for turnout of young voters in the primary elections, which are coming up on May 8.

Not a primary concern

While the vote of young people in presidential elections is increasing, the primary election brings much fewer voters.

Only 9 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds eligible to vote in Ohio cast their ballots in the 2004 primary election, according to CIRCLE. This age range composes 20 percent of the population in Ohio. Nationally, about 10 percent of youth across America voted in the primary, a figure that remained virtually unchanged from the 2000 primaries.

Senior Jordan Carr, president of the OU College Republicans, said the primaries are not widely publicized, which causes low turnout rates among not only young voters but also the US population as a whole.

Civic disengagement

Voter turnout for the 18-to-24 age range has risen steadily because of an increase in motivation, according to the Associated Press. But a lack of civic engagement for that same age range is still a cause of absence at the polls, according to the CIRCLE study.

Civic engagement has been a problem among the youth of America and in particular, college students. According to CIRCLE, about 81 percent of young Americans have never contacted a public official.

Some students neglect to vote at college because of the absentee ballot process. “College students are too lazy to get an absentee ballot,” said freshman Jillian Roholt, an undecided major.

Roholt also added that voter turnout might be larger if places to register were more accessible. Voter registration rate in the United States for ages 18 to 24 is 58 percent, while voter registration for those 65 and older is 79 percent, according the Census Bureau.

Jerry Miller, an Ohio University associate professor in the School of Communication Studies, attributes disinterest among youth and politics to a difference in values.

“Politics is still one of those topics you don’t talk about that much, like religion,” he said.

Carr commented that the majority of young voters base their views of candidates on “hearsay and big media campaigns.”

‘No good excuse’

With a new generation of youth becoming eligible to vote, many candidates are trying different methods of reaching the demographic.

Republican John McCain created McCainSpace, a social network on his Web site at www.johnmccain.com dedicated to drawing in young voters. Facebook allows account holders to form groups for president hopefuls.

President of the OU College Democrats and junior Rob Dorans said that the media helps the youth of this current generation gain information about candidates.

“Young voters at this time are savvier to sorting through the propaganda over previous generations,” Dorans said. “They have access to different avenues of information which will help them become informed.”

Jessica Castle, a sophomore journalism major, said she goes online to look up large candidates, such as presidents and senators, to become more knowledgeable about their platforms.

Justin Kendrick, a sophomore creative writing student, said he uses a combination of television and the Internet to stay informed.

“I try to watch CNN from time to time when they’re not covering someone’s famous baby,” he said. “When it gets closer to election I’ll go online and check out their stances on the big issues.”

Kendrick said that the convenience of the Internet gives young people the ability to find out information about candidates or issues with the click of a mouse.

“We as young voters can use our opinions on those issues and make an informed decision on which person we’d rather have in a position of high power,” he said. “There’s no good excuse for voting the party line anymore.”

CALIFORNIA
What’s On The Minds Of Youth
April 25, 2007
Ilene Lelchuk, Amr Emam, San Francisco Chronicle
Family disintegration and neighborhood violence are more distressing to California's teens and young adults than global warming or war, according to a new poll that aimed to take the pulse of Generation Next.

The survey of 600 California residents ages 16 to 22 commissioned by New America Media is one of the first to track down youths -- notoriously difficult survey targets -- solely by cell phone. It found that they are inwardly focused -- on their future marriages, parenthood, homeownership, education and communities.

Asked what they consider the most pressing issue facing their generation, 24 percent of those surveyed last fall said "family breakdown," 22 percent cited neighborhood violence, 17 percent named poverty and 14 percent named global warming. Just 3 percent cited war and violence throughout the world.

"This is a segment of the population that we think of as growing up to be like us. But in truth, they are who we're becoming," said Sandy Close, executive director of New America Media. Her Bay Area-based association of more than 700 ethnic media outlets nationwide also includes youth publications and Web logs.

In interviews Tuesday, young people who responded to the survey expressed more complex concerns than those captured by pollsters.

"The biggest challenge that faces my generation is for people to do the right thing," said Eric Beltran, a 19-year-old warehouse worker who lives in Livermore. "Most people take the wrong path. This happens because people get influenced by other people. That's why they end up taking drugs, selling drugs, robbing and even killing people."

"What jumped out at me in this poll," Close said, "is this yearning for traditional support structures. It's the ways people connect to each other, like family, like parenthood, like religion. I've found over the years their deepest fear is winding up alone."

Family psychotherapist and author Isolina Ricci of Tiburon, who specializes in guiding parents and children through divorce, was not surprised that family disintegration was a top concern considering that divorce, remarriage, cohabitation, domestic violence and addiction affect many modern families at some point.

"It also may be that some young people are concerned about the fast pace of life, that it is bleeding away opportunities for closeness," Ricci said. "There is hardly any family time."

It's not all bad. Nationally, the divorce rate is leveling off, and 67 percent of children younger than 18 live with married parents or stepparents. The survey reflects those happier realities: 89 percent of the respondents said they were very or somewhat likely to get married or have a life partner and have children some day.

"Marriage is a good thing," said survey respondent Edmond Ho, 21, a student in San Diego. "But with the very high rate of divorce these days, it is turning into a very bad thing. I think people need to know each other better before they get married."

When the poll results were broken down by race, they showed that African American and Latino youths were more worried about community violence than family problems.

"It all depends on who you are talking to," said Gwendolyn Smith with Literacy for Environmental Justice, a youth empowerment and environmental health group working with urban school kids in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point, where about one-third of the city's African Americans live.

"Here we are talking about low-income kids, and they have bigger issues (than global warming) -- such as eating every day, being shot up, harassed by cops, toxic waste dumps," Smith said.

Nearly half the survey respondents were immigrants or the children of immigrants. About 37 percent of the youth polled identified as Latino, 37 percent white, 10 percent Asian, 5 percent African American and 1 percent American Indian.

Even though global warming wasn't a top concern of today's young Californians, Denis Hayes, who coordinated the first Earth Day in 1970, said he was pleased the problem at least made it into their top four. The environmental movement needs them, he said. Historically, young people have led the most sweeping social changes, he said.

"But my impression is, by and large this tends to be a generation that is distrustful of politics and, much more likely than my generation, will go out and pitch in and build a house for Habitat for Humanity or build a park for Earth Day than work for the passage of a Clean Air act or for a politician," said Hayes, who now works with an organization in Seattle dedicated to renewable energy. "They tend to be really focused on the things that they can do that have an immediate consequence. It's a wonderful thing, but we also have some national issues that need to be resolved."

Poll respondent Melissa Redmond, 20, of Kensington, who attends Contra Costa College, said she really cares about global warming as well as the war in Iraq. "But things seem to be heading for the worst. It is very depressing."

New America Media's poll mirrors findings of other youth polls, including a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released earlier this year that found 18- to 25-year-olds were generally happy with their lives and optimistic about their futures. Both Pew and New America Media conducted their surveys last fall.

The survey results being released today found that, despite California's high housing prices and growing college tuition costs, young people believe they'll go to college and have a higher standard of living than their parents.

"I do not think my generation faces any challenges. Nothing is impossible," said Chris Chong, 19, a student at East Los Angeles College who answered the survey. "If you choose to overcome any difficulty, you will do it."

"I think I will be richer than my parents because I have a better job. I grew up in the States and I have more benefits," said Beltran, whose mother grew up in Mexico.

Young people have very modern views on diversity, Close said. Just 1 percent listed racism or discrimination as the most pressing issue facing their generation. More than half the white and Asian youths, and just under half of the Latino and African American respondents said most of their friends are a different race or ethnicity. And 87 percent of all respondents said they would marry or enter a life partnership with someone of a different race.

The concerns of California youths

What do you think causes young people like you the most stress?

School, 33 percent; money, 22 percent; personal relationships, 12 percent; peer pressure, 11 percent; parents, 6 percent; drugs or alcohol, 5 percent; loneliness, 2 percent; work, 2 percent; other, 7 percent.

Which of these is the most important characteristic that defines your identity?

Race or ethnicity, 29 percent; music or fashion preference, 27 percent; religion, 16 percent; personality, 10 percent; sexual orientation, 3 percent; intelligence or education, 2 percent; family or friends, 1 percent; other, 3 percent.

Note: Respondents were given multiple choices to answer each question and could choose only one.

FCC
FCC Urges Congress to Restrict TV Violence
April 26, 2007
By Wendy Cloyd, citizenlink.com
Report concludes it's harmful to children.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) advised Congress today to impose limits on when broadcasters can air violent programs – similar to restrictions on indecency. The FCC report also said cable companies should allow families to choose the channels entering their homes.

In 2004, Congress asked the FCC for a report addressing three topics: the negative effects on children of viewing excessively violent programming; the constitutional limits on the government's ability to restrict broadcasters; and whether it's in the public interest for the government to define just what "excessively violent programming that is harmful to children" means.

Penny Nance, special adviser for the FCC's Office of Strategic Planning, said the commission reviewed material from the Federal Trade Commission, the Surgeon General's Report on Youth Violence and health professionals.

"(The FCC) concluded that viewing excessively violent programming can increase aggression in children – and that something should be done about it," Nance told CitizenLink.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said by the time the average child is 18 years old, he or she will have watched between 10,000 and 15,000 hours of television – and much of it includes violent content.

"Congress could provide parents more tools to limit their children's exposure to violent programming in a constitutional way," he said.

The report makes a number of suggestions for lawmakers and broadcasters. It suggests that violent programming be limited from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. – when children are most likely to be watching. It asks cable and satellite companies to offer customers the option of either refusing to pay for unwanted programming in bundled packages or choosing to receive only the channels they want – commonly known as "cable choice."

"Now, if none of this happens, and the trends continue," Nance said, "then the report also says that, constitutionally, Congress can require that violent programming not be shown during the times when children tend to be watching."

She added that Congress could require satellite and cable operators to offer cable choice.

Deborah Tate, an FCC commissioner, said the report also documented the need to define "excessively violent programming" to aid broadcasters and Congress in protecting children.

"I am convinced that something must be done," she said, "to help parents minimize the pernicious effects of violent programming on their children."

Daniel Weiss, senior analyst for media and sexuality for Focus on the Family Action, said he hopes Congress will consider calling the entertainment industry to account.

"The industry has a lot of answering to do as to the kind of entertainment it's putting out," he said. "They are using public airwaves, but they are not serving the public interest with violent, profane and sexually explicit programming."

Broadcasters have an obligation and responsibility to provide more wholesome content, he said. And families need more control over what programming comes into their living rooms via cable or satellite.

"Parents are weary of shielding the eyes of their children from programming that they would choose not to pay for, if they only could," Weiss added. "Cable choice is an idea whose time has come, and it's time for Congress to take action."

NEW YORK
Spitzer behind effort to curb youth smoking
Plan would end the sale of 'starter' cigarettes; allegations that they are marketed to children are denied
April 21, 2007
By James T. Madore, Newsday.com

As part of a plan to improve children's health, Gov. Eliot Spitzer Friday called for banning flavored or "starter" cigarettes that allegedly encourage youths to take up smoking.

The move comes six months after Spitzer, as state attorney general, helped to negotiate a nationwide agreement with R.J. Reynolds, in which the tobacco giant voluntarily agreed to stop identifying cigarettes with candy, fruit, desserts or alcoholic beverage names such as "Twista Lime" and "Winter Warm Toffee."

The company, however, denied marketing to children.

"We got them to agree not to market and label in a way that was designed to target kids but they are still doing it," Spitzer said in Manhattan, referring to cigarette-makers in general.

Smoking has been linked to cancer. Spitzer, a Democrat, estimated 700,000 children begin smoking each year, with 220,000 expected to die prematurely.

"This is a crisis. We must take aggressive action to reduce these numbers," he told the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.

Details of the proposed ban weren't available. But sources said Spitzer wasn't targeting R.J. Reynolds but other cigarette companies selling to kids.

R.J. Reynolds spokesman David Howard emphasized the company only targets "adults who understand the risks and have decided they want to smoke." He also questioned why Spitzer was pursuing an outright ban of flavored cigarettes rather than voluntary agreements such as the one he hammered out with R.J. Reynolds in October.

The anti-smoking bill is part of the freshman governor's so-called "children's agenda," which also calls for restricting the sale of violent video games to minors, and serving nutritious food in schools.

State lawmakers also are touting measures to aid youth.

Earlier this week, the Republican-controlled Senate revived its task force on video game violence. And Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) is pushing a bill to replace soda and candy in schools with nutritious alternatives such as fruit.

FLORIDA
Restore state's anti-smoking program to save lives
April 17, 2007
Palmbeachpost.com
In Florida, nearly 29,000 deaths are attributable annually to tobacco use. More than 35,900 children under the age of 18 adopt a daily smoking habit each year, and about one third of those eventually will lose their lives to this addiction.

In November, voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 4 - a citizen initiative that requires the Legislature to once again annually pay for a comprehensive, statewide tobacco education and prevention program.

Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Port St. Lucie, chairwoman of the House Committee on Health Quality, demonstrated great leadership by allowing health groups and concerned citizens unprecedented access to participate in the implementation of this citizen initiative. The result is an implementing bill voters can be confident will carry out their will to protect young people from the dangers of tobacco addiction.

In February, Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, a doctor and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services Appropriations, addressed a crowd of American Cancer Society volunteers about their No. 1 legislative priority - the implementation of Amendment 4. Sen. Peaden said, "This is probably the most important project and the most important issue we'll address this year." And he's right.

On Thursday, both chambers passed their respective bills appropriating full financing for the state's tobacco education and prevention program. The House bill features a strong accountability component while the Senate version would reinstate a strong enforcement component, which was a part of the original program. While there is still work to be done to roll the best of both bills into one final product, Rep. Harrell and Sen. Peaden should be commended.

Florida's youth tobacco prevention program was a model for the nation. Now, it can be again.

It is estimated that 296,900 kids under the age of 18 living in Florida today will die prematurely from smoking. Restoring funding for youth tobacco education will save lives. What could be more important than that?

JOHN CHAPERON, Chairman

Floridians for Youth Tobacco Education

CALIFORNIA
Calif. Gay Juvie Bill Moves Forward
April 25, 2007
By 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Legislation to better protect incarcerated LGBT juveniles in California has won the approval of a key Senate committee.

The bill has passed the Senate Public Safety Committee by a 3-2 vote following a public hearing.

Danielle Thompson, a 21-year-old youth advocate for foster care and juvenile justice issues, told committee members that the bill would help prevent the isolation she experienced as a former detainee at Fresno County Juvenile Hall.

"Being discriminated against and experiencing segregation because I am a lesbian made me feel less of a person," she told the committee. "If this law is implemented, other youth wouldn't have to experience what I did."

"This legislation addresses the widespread harassment still reported by many youth, and will ensure that every young person in the system is protected from unlawful discrimination and other rights violations," said Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco).

"Young people in juvenile facilities have the constitutional right to a safe and secure environment."

Advocates for youth and representatives from LGBT civlil rights groups also testified about the need to protect young people in juvenile justice facilities.

"The U.S. Constitution guarantees all youth in juvenile justice facilities the right to safety and fair treatment," said Jody Marksamer, a staff attorney and youth project director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

"California is currently failing our LGBT youth in this respect. This bill will require all California juvenile justice facilities to change their policies and practices in order to ensure that the constitutional rights of LGBT youth are realized."

"The abuse of LGBT youth in our juvenile justice facilities is a serious crisis that needs our urgent attention," said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors.

"Our young people still face a lack of acceptance in society, making them more likely to suffer from homelessness and engage in activities that put them at-risk for entering the juvenile justice system. Once there, they often face the horrors of physical and verbal abuse, unnecessary confinement, and harassment."

The Juvenile Justice Safety and Protection Act would create a Youth Bill of Rights for young people residing in state and county juvenile justice facilities.

It requires that youth be informed of the services available to them for addressing discrimination, harassment or other rights violations.

The legislation also would enact a comprehensive nondiscrimination policy in juvenile justice settings prohibiting bias based on actual or perceived race, ethnic group identification, ancestry, national origin, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental or physical disability or HIV status.

Additionally, the measure would require that correctional officers and facility staff be property trained to implement such policies.

The bill is similar to a bill of rights code established within California's foster care system.

Lawmakers in other states, including Michigan and New York, have proposed similar measures to protect youth from discrimination.

HATE CRIMES
Brutalized youth lobbies for hate crime bill
April 17, 2007
By Suzanne Gamboa, AP
The Dallas Morning News
A Mexican American youth who was brutally attacked at a party outside Houston last year put his name to his horror story before Congress on Tuesday, saying he hoped it would help other victims of hate crimes.

"My name is David Ritcheson and I appear before you as a survivor of one of the most despicable and shocking acts of hate violence this country has seen in a decade," Ritcheson told a House panel considering a federal hate crime bill.

Ritcheson, 18, briefly testified on how he was beaten, sodomized and left for dead last April by two other youths who shouted anti-Hispanic slurs during the attack at a house in Spring, north of Houston. His identity has been kept out of media reports because he was a minor and a victim of a sexual assault.

Ritcheson told the panel that the FBI and Justice Department were not able to assist in investigating and prosecuting his attack "because the crime did not fit the hate crime laws" of the state or federal government.

"I was fortunate to live in a town where police have the resources, the ability and the will to effectively invest and prosecute the hate crime, the hate violence directed on me. But other bias crime victims may not live with those choices," he told the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security.

Ritcheson testified how his attackers — one of them a skinhead who had attacked two other Hispanics, almost killing one — tried to scrawl swastikas on his chest, stripped him naked, kicked and beat him and burned him with cigarettes.

Ritcheson did not discuss with members of Congress that the attackers, Keith Turner and David Henry Tuck, also sodomized him with the plastic pole of a patio umbrella.

Ritcheson said he required 30 surgeries, most to save his life, some to return what would be considered normal body functions.

Turner was sentenced to 90 years in prison for the assault that began as Ritcheson arrived at a friend's house in Spring, Texas. Tuck was sentenced to life in prison last November.

After his testimony, Ritcheson said he believes his best days are ahead of him.

He told lawmakers "it has been a blessing to know that the most terrible day of my life may help put another human face on the campaign to enact a much needed law." He pledged to do whatever he could "to make our country, the United States of America, a hate-free place."

The legislation sponsored by Rep. John Conyers, the committee's chairman, allows the U.S. Attorney General to help local law enforcement investigate hate crimes. The act defines such crimes as those motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim or is a violation of the state, local, or tribal hate crime laws.

The House passed the bill last year, but some critics say it would take jurisdiction from states and lessens the seriousness of crimes not motivated by prejudice. Others oppose the inclusion of sexual orientation in the definition.

Conyers said the bill would not remove jurisdiction from local officials and defers to them.

"It complements some very important support that frequently is needed in some areas for these crimes to be prosecuted," said Conyers, D-Mich.

Some of the strongest resistance to the bill came from Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, ranking Republican on the subcommittee. He said the law could lead to a transsexual who is a victim of a crime being treated differently than a heterosexual.

He also said it would send a message to victims like those killed and wounded in Monday's shootings at Virginia Tech that they are not as important as transvestites or gender crime victims.

The bill is HR 1592.

TEXAS
Bill would inform foster children of legal rights
Measure passed in Senate awaits committee's OK
April 30, 2007
By Alysha N. Hernandez, Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Marie Garcia's life as a foster child was heartbreak at its finest.

The young San Antonio woman was taken from her home by Child Protective Services when she was 4 because her parents were neglecting medical care for Garcia, who has cerebral palsy, and her brother.

"I went through so many struggles, but I'm a strong person," she said, adding that she was sexually abused by one of her first foster parents and had bouts of depression and self-mutilation. "What helped me get through it is my strong faith in God."

Over the years, Garcia lived in four foster homes and one group home. When she complained about abuse, Garcia said, her caseworker didn't believe her. She was prescribed medications for depression and anxiety that made her feel like a zombie.

Throughout her foster life she had inadequate knowledge about her legal rights, which included the right to consent to some or all of her medical care once she was 16 years old. Had she known about her rights, she said she would have refused some of the drugs.

"I knew I had an attorney, but I wasn't told that I could contact her at any time, and I didn't even know how to contact her," Garcia said. "Plus she didn't really know me, she just knew my name on paper."

'Respect and hope'

Senate Bill 805, which passed the Senate earlier this month and sits in the House Human Services Committee, empowers foster youth by educating them about their rights.

The bill, by Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, establishes the foster children's bill of rights.

"All children have a bill of rights, but foster kids are special kids," Uresti said. "They are the children of Texas, and Texas is responsible for them."

In 2006, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services estimated that more than 34,000 foster children passed through the system.

Uresti's bill compiles 50 existing statutory rights and rolls them into one comprehensive laundry list. The bill then mandates that a simplified version of this list be clearly explained, printed and given to each foster child. It would be translated if necessary, or communicated in any way necessary for a child with a disability.

"A lot of the kids in foster care have gone through an awful lot. Their parents may be incarcerated, deceased, on drugs or may have had rights terminated," Uresti said. "We just want to give them respect and hope."

Careful structure urged

The legislation asserts a foster child's right to a safe, healthy and comfortable home that's free of abuse, discrimination or harassment. It would mean a foster child has the right to adequate amounts of healthy food and appropriate medical care. The bill allows children to attend religious services of their choice, gives them certain rights to privacy and allows participation in extracurricular activities.

"There is very little stability for (foster kids). They may bounce from parent to parent, home to home, school to school, from one set of rules to another. What is OK or even emphasized in one environment may be forbidden in the next," Rodriguez said via e-mail. "I feel this foster children's bill of rights could bring some normalcy to the lives of Texas foster children while at the same time providing them with the ability to advocate for their rights."

However, Conni Barker, director of government affairs at DePelchin Children's Center in Houston, urged a carefully structured bill that would deter rebellious foster children. She said she is concerned that some rebellious youths would stretch the meaning of some of the rights or abuse the privileges.

"We want to teach healthy boundaries," she said. "We want these foster kids to grow up to be healthy adults."

Independent life

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Garcia is overjoyed about the bill's success so far.

"I feel the Legislature needs to listen to us because all the children in our society need to have the best care," Garcia said.

Since leaving foster care, she has transitioned to a life on her own. Garcia has her own apartment and plans to graduate from San Antonio College with an associate's degree in early childhood development this fall. She acknowledges that she is just one face in a sea of many foster children, but hopes that this legislation educates foster youth about their rights.

"If I had known my rights," she said, "I would have had them on paper, as backup."

PHILADELPHIA
Vote yes on youth commission
April 27, 2007
By Ben Waxman, philly.com
From a soaring crime rate to troubled public schools, Philadelphia faces a wide variety of challenges. To confront these problems successfully, elected officials must seek input from a wide variety of perspectives.

On May 15, voters have a chance to help young people have a formal voice in the process. Philadelphians should vote yes on creating a citywide youth commission.

Sponsored by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown and endorsed unanimously by City Council, this proposal would amend the City Charter to create a body called the Philadelphia Youth Commission.

Its 21 members will be responsible for assessing the impact of public policy on young people and informing elected officials of their findings. It will ensure that the needs of youth are less likely to be overlooked by lawmakers.

It's a very important ballot initiative and should be supported by the voters on Primary Day.

Young people have a unique voice that can help find real solutions to the problems facing Philadelphia. Often, the political process is so dominated by petty concerns that common sense goes out the window. The Youth Commission could provide a breath of fresh air to municipal affairs. A shot of youthful energy might be exactly what Philadelphia's government needs.

Members of the commission will be drawn from young people who are ages 12 to 23. They will be selected from community organizations, student government associations and youth-focused activist groups. Each member of City Council will have one appointment and four will be appointed by the mayor. Young people can also apply directly.

Some might claim that too many young people are apathetic and therefore this commission will be useless. This is not borne out by the facts. Youth are engaged in our communities in a variety of ways.

According to a study from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Engagement, the highest level of volunteerism occurs among people aged 18-25. Many high school and college students across Philadelphia are working to make the city a better place to live. Their voices should be heard by our elected officials.

Another concern is that some young people are not mature enough to wield this kind of political power. I don't necessarily agree with the premise of that argument, but it should not be a concern.

The Philadelphia Youth Commission will only act in an advisory role.

Members of the commission will not be able to vote on or introduce legislation. Commissioners can only see their ideas turned into legislation if a member of Council sponsors the bill.

Sometimes I think the biggest problem in Philadelphia politics is cynicism.

It seems that too many politicians, pundits and members of the public have come to believe that nothing will ever change.

They believe that our city will always have a soaring murder rate, thousands of people in poverty and crumbling schools. The Philadelphia Youth Commission could be a way to shake things up a bit and provide some new perspectives.

Perhaps, more than all the fancy reforms, Philadelphia needs to rediscover a sense of idealism and hope. We need more imagination in government.

Creating this commission will make certain that lawmakers have access to a unique and important perspective.

CALIFORNIA
Bill to close youth prisons gaining attention, criticism
April 26, 2007
By Scott Smith
Sending the state's youth inmates back to their home counties may be the only way to deal with a dysfunctional and ineffective juvenile detention system, according to a state lawmaker.

A proposal by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-San Jose, would over the next two years close down youth prisons across the state, including the N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility outside Stockton, and send wards to county-operated detention and treatment facilities.

The bill, which was passed by the Assembly Public Safety Committee earlier this week on a 5-2 vote, is not the first such proposal to send committed youth offenders closer to home and families, but it is gaining attention - and criticism.

Lieber said Wednesday that the $216,081 it will cost this year to house each of the state's juvenile offenders would be better spent by the counties, rather than continuing to fund the youth prisons widely recognized as failing.

"Over and over, the system has proven its inability to reform itself," Lieber said. "It's really time to take advantage of the opportunity and close what's proven to be a dysfunctional and disreputable system."

Now is the time to act, Lieber said, because the number of youth inmates has hit a historic low. There are now 2,600 youth inmates, down from the all-time high of 10,000 in 1996. Fewer than 46 wards from San Joaquin County are in Division of Juvenile Justice facilities.

While violence at Chaderjian has dramatically declined in the past year, the youth prison garnered wide attention in recent years for gang fights, a suicide and one unexplained death.

A report last month by the state's Office of the Inspector General criticized the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino for failing to educate wards and rid the youth prison of contraband and weapons.

Lieber's is not the only such proposal that calls for sending wards to the counties.

Correctional officials under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger propose sending about half of the state's youthful committed offenders to their home counties, yet would maintain juvenile detention facilities for the toughest youth.

"You have an extreme bill that shuts everything down, and then you have a modest proposal," Bernard Warner, the state's Division of Juvenile Justice chief, said in comparing Lieber's and Schwarzenegger's plans.

Under the administration's plan, the state would pay counties $94,000 to house each ward who would have gone to the state. Lieber agreed that the counties could probably do the job for that amount per ward.

The governor's budget proposes spending $53.3 million next year. Some wards need to stay in the state juvenile detention system, Warner said.

"There is a population in the state that is very high risk, very high need," he said.

Chris Hope, San Joaquin County's chief probation officer in charge of juvenile detention, said the county is ready to help ease the state's corrections woes, but it comes down to money.

"The state generally has not been forthcoming when it has forced its problems down to the local level," Hope said. "We're hoping that this can be different."

Hope said the San Joaquin County juvenile detention center does not have enough beds for more youths and for years there has been a dire lack of programs to treat mental health and substance abuse problems in juveniles.

Top corrections officials and the governor have visited San Joaquin County in the past couple of months to bring county officials on board, Hope said.

"There's a whole lot of discussion, and nobody has a real solid answer to all the issues," he said. "It's going to take a lot of dollars."

Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, said he opposes any plan to empty the state's youth prisons. The correctional officers, whose jobs are at stake, have taken the blame for failures in state corrections, he said.

"The idea of completely dissolving it is not only premature, it's a bad decision," Corcoran said.

The Oakland-based civil rights organization Books Not Bars has been at the forefront of calls to close the youth prisons. Using community centers, juveniles can be closer to their families, said Jakada Imani, a spokesman for the organization.

Imani said Lieber's bill is a sign that people are finally beginning to listen. The counties may not be equipped right now to take back wards from the state, but money from the state eventually would improve local services, he said.

The state youth prison system has gotten worse amid efforts to bring reform, Imani said.

"It's hard to reform a dragon," Imani said. "You have to slay a dragon, and the Division of Juvenile Justice is a dragon."

CELLULAR PHONES
States want teens to hang up and drive - safely
April 30, 2007
By Raju Chebium, Gannett News Service
Becky Okorie knows not to use her cell phone while driving. Especially not when the 16-year-old is learning to drive.

The 11th grader's mother, Scholar Okorie, has threatened to confiscate Becky's cell phone if she uses it while driving. Her driving instructor, Fontengwan John Abeh, says automobiles could become "mobile coffins" if the driver is distracted, and he requires his students to turn off their phones when they take the wheel.

The District of Columbia, where Becky lives, has reinforced those messages through recent legislation that prohibits cell phone use by drivers with learner's permits. Twenty-eight other states have either adopted or are considering similar measures.

Becky says such laws are necessary to force stubborn novice drivers to get off their phones. Though such laws are difficult to enforce and statistics specifically linking accidents to cell phone use by youngsters are hard to collect, advocates say the measures are meant to drive home the point that all motorists, especially inexperienced ones, should devote their full attention to the road.

About 7,000 teenagers die each year in traffic accidents nationwide. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, teenagers are more likely than drivers of any other age group to be involved in crashes because of "immaturity," reflected in risky behavior such as speeding and tailgating, as well as driving inexperience.

Additionally, drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 are more likely than those in any other age group to talk on a cell phone while driving, according to a 2005 survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"I could be talking on the phone and driving and not paying attention to something on the road. I could crash into somebody," says Becky, who plans to take the driver's exam in May. "A phone is a distraction."

In the past five years, 14 states and the District of Columbia have approved cell phone restrictions for teenagers who hold learner's permits, which allow them to practice driving, and provisional licenses, which carry restrictions such as barring teens from carrying passengers or driving at night. Fourteen other states are considering similar legislation this year and more states are likely to follow suit, says Matt Sundeen, a transportation analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures' Denver office.

The measures explicitly prohibit teenagers from talking on the phone when driving. States are now discussing bans on text messaging, a popular communication mode among cell-phone-wielding youngsters.

Sundeen says the impetus for state measures came from a 2003 report by the National Transportation Safety Board. That federal agency recommended that states should consider restricting cell phone use by youngsters in so-called graduated licensing programs, which introduce teenagers to driving step by step by allowing them to first obtain learner's permits and then provisional licenses before they become eligible for restriction-free adult licenses.

"There's a lot of consensus and very few people are in opposition to these bills," Sundeen says. "It's not like the teenage lobby is going to the state legislatures and lobbying against this issue."

However, advocates readily acknowledge that enforcement is lax. For instance, New Jersey authorities issued just 19 citations last year, according to Pam Fischer, the state's highway safety director.

And, states haven't yet collected reliable data to see if such laws are effective in curbing accidents caused by young drivers.

Advocates say the laws aren't meant to punish teens as much as educate them and reinforce parental warnings that driving and cell phone use can be a fatal combination.

"The laws are more important because they are guidance to parents. Cell phone laws are difficult to enforce for any driver," says Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association. "It's really intended to get teens to change their behavior. ... The message is, 'Don't do things that will distract you from the driving task."'

Critics say such laws mean well but are unnecessary. To teach good driving skills, lawmakers should instead boost driver education and stiffen penalties for traffic violations to deter people from endangering themselves and others on the road, says Ted Balaker, a transportation scholar at the Reason Foundation.

"Drivers are distracted by any number of things. ... If we just focus solely on the bugaboo of the day - cell phones - we're not seeing the big picture," he says. "Maybe we should take radios out (of automobiles). Maybe we should take CD players out. If we go down that road, there's no end."

"Our first impulse is to see something and ban it," Balaker adds. "We don't see the unintended consequences."