National CPS News Archive

18 Reasons Why Doctors and Lawyers Homeschool Their Children

by Kathleen Berchelmann, M.D.

I'm going public today with a secret I've kept for a year-my husband and I are homeschooling our children. I never dreamed we would become homeschoolers. I wanted my kids integrated and socialized.

We can't afford private education. Even on a doctor's salary, private education has become unaffordable, especially for larger families. Which choice would you make: save for college, save for retirement, or pay private school tuition? Few families can afford for all three, and most can only afford one. As educational debts loom larger for each successive generation, this financial crunch will only get worse.

childrensmd.org

March 25, 2013

Proposals Aimed At Raising Money For National Parks Include Higher User Fees

by Kurt Repanshek

During a breakfast seminar in Washington, D.C., this morning, 16 proposals (attached below) for raising money for the parks are being discussed at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The program, cosponsored by the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Park Hospitality Association, is intended to spur a national dialogue to identify non-appropriated funding strategies that can generate bipartisan support for the National Park System. Some of the ideas propose tapping existing federal revenue streams, others would have park visitors pay more for a variety of park experiences, Among the 16 ideas: * Jigger the fee structure for visiting national parks. Recommendations within this proposal vary greatly, from boosting the $10 lifetime pass for seniors 62 and over to $80 and lowering the age of free admission for youth from 16 to 12, to charging international visitors more than U.S. citizens and changing entrance fees to a daily, not weekly, fee.

nationalparkstraveler.com

March 20, 2013

Organic Baby Food Might Not Be More Nutritious, But I'm Still Buying It

by Nicole Fabian-Weber

Some experts are saying that organic baby food may not be more nutritious for your little one -- just more expensive. Okay, be that as it may, it can't hurt to buy organic, can it? And why does everyone hate organic food all of a sudden?

I'm certainly not going to argue with a person who holds the title of "Director of Pediatric Nutrition", and I definitely think that feeding children a wide variety of foods from the start isn't just the healthy thing to do, it's the smart thing -- of course we all want kids who are willing to try different things! But when it comes to my baby, I'm sticking to organic, because that's what I think is best for her.

thestir.cafemom.com

March 20, 2013

Grocery Chains Pledge Not to Sell Modified Salmon

by Andrew Pollack

Several supermarket chains have pledged not to sell what could become the first genetically modified animal to reach the nation's dinner plates - a salmon engineered to grow about twice as fast as normal.

Several supermarket chains have pledged not to sell what could become the first genetically modified animal to reach the nation's dinner plates - a salmon engineered to grow about twice as fast as normal. Under existing F.D.A. policies, the salmon, if approved, would probably not be labeled as genetically engineered. The agency has said that use of genetic engineering per se does not change a food materially.

nytimes.com

March 20, 2013

Teenager Wendy Broadbent's inside story on foster care

by Sheradyn Holderhead

WENDY Broadbent knows all too well the difficulties children in foster care face: being removed from their family and then being placed with another.

After entering foster care at age 12, the remarkable young woman is now studying at university to be a child protection worker and is today launching a book she wrote called Just a Kid.

adelaidenow.com.au

March 18, 2013

Park ranger: Supervisors pushed sequester cuts that visitors would see

by Judson Berger

A U.S. park ranger, who did not wish to be identified, told FoxNews.com that supervisors within the National Park Service overruled plans to deal with the budget cuts in a way that would have had minimal impact on the public.

Instead, the source said, park staff were told to cancel special events and cut "interpretation services" -- the talks, tours and other education services provided by local park rangers. Nonetheless, memos have surfaced from National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis appearing to show the agency put a priority on telling the public how the cuts would affect them.

Fox News

March 10, 2013

DOJ seeks deportation of family persecuted in Germany for homeschooling

by William Jacobson

The Romeikes are devout Christians from Germany who wanted to homeschool their children because of what they perceived as the secularist agenda in German public schools.

In the United States, the right to homeschool ones' own children is accepted, although frequently mocked by the left. The homeschoool movement is thriving in the United States, but in Germany it is illegal, a holdover from Nazi-era law. The Romeikes fled to the United States in 2008 after they faced mounting fines and the potential of imprisonment.

powerlineblog.com

February 27, 2013

Facing the Screen Dilemma: Young Children, Technology and Early Education

Did you know: that on any given day, 64% of babies between 1 and 2 watch TV and videos for an average of slightly over 2 hours; that in 2011 there were 3 million downloads just of Fisher Price apps for infants and toddlers.

Research tells us that developing children thrive when they are talked to, read to, played with and given time for creative play, physically active play, and interactions with other children and adults. And there's no research showing the benefits of introducing children to new technologies in the first years of life. Yet educators face increasing pressure to increase the amount of time children spend with digital technologies in early childhood settings, taking valuable time and resources away from activities proven to benefit learning and development.

commercialfreechildhood.org

February 21, 2013

Child Welfare Law Sparks Fears Among Parents

by Natalya Krainova

A bill redefining the conditions under which children can be seized from so-called "socially vulnerable families" has provoked fear among critics that more minors could be taken into state care due to petty infractions.

Amid a renewed push by authorities to decrease the number of children in state care, 84 percent of whose parents are still alive, the bill's opponents are concerned that it could have the opposite effect. Critics also say it follows a Western model that they say allows the government to overstep its rightful authority, and that it could breed corruption at social services agencies, whose funding depends on the number of children in their care.

themoscowtimes.com

February 18, 2013

Fewer Bees in US a Threat to World's Almond Supply

by Gosia Wozniacka

In an almond orchard in California's Central Valley, bee inspector Neil Trent pried open a buzzing hive and pulled out a frame to see if it was at least two-thirds covered with bees.

The number of bees needed is expected to increase as almond demand grows and orchards continue to expand. Already, more than half of the country's honeybees are brought to California at the end of February for almond pollination, which requires about 1.5 million hives from out of state, and another 500,000 from elsewhere in the state. Honeybees are preferred for commercial-scale pollination, because they are social, build larger colonies than other bees, and their hives can easily be moved.

abcnews.go.com

February 16, 2013

Farmer's use of patented seeds Yields Supreme Court tussle

by Robert Barnes

Farmer Hugh Bowman hardly looks the part of a revolutionary who stands in the way of promising new biotech discoveries and threatens Monsanto's pursuit of new products it says will "feed the world."

"Hell's fire," said the 75-year-old self-described "eccentric old bachelor," who farms 300 acres of land passed down from his father. Bowman rested in a recliner, boots off, the tag that once held his Foster Grant reading glasses to a drugstore rack still attached, a Monsanto gimme cap perched ironically on his balding head.

journalgazette.net

February 11, 2013

Soda, candy out under USDA's proposed school snack rules

by Elise Viebeck

The Obama administration proposed regulations Friday that would prohibit U.S. schools from selling unhealthy snacks. The 160-page regulation from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) would enact nutrition standards for "competitive" foods.

In practice, the proposed rules would replace traditional potato chips with baked versions and candy with granola. Regular soda is out, though high-schoolers may have access to diet versions. "Although nutrition standards for foods sold at school alone may not be a determining factor in children's overall diets, they are critical to providing children with healthy food options throughout the entire school day," the proposed rule states.

thehill.com

February 4, 2013

ID Theft: 2013 Top Trends

by Tracy Kitten

ID theft is a growing global problem. Eva Velasquez, head of the ITRC, outlines how public and private organizations in 2013 can update approaches to ID theft prevention.

The ITRC is trying to build awareness, she says. "More than 25 percent of our calls in 2012 were from victims of some type of government ID theft, meaning that their personal information was used either to secure government benefits, to apply for a tax return, or even to apply for job and work or to collect unemployment."

bankinfosecurity.com

January 28, 2013