Philly schools to get $45M to ease money crisis

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Philadelphia schools learned Wednesday they will get an extra $45 million from the state as the district struggles with its worst financial crisis in memory and questions about a student's death after an apparent asthma attack at a school without a nurse on site.

Gov. Tom Corbett announced the state aid to Pennsylvania's largest school district at an unrelated news conference in his Capitol offices and did not take questions afterward. However, he said his decision came a day after a letter from the Philadelphia school superintendent, William Hite, convinced him that district officials had made enough progress toward the governor's educational and financial goals for improvements in the 134,000-student district.

Corbett also said he and his wife sent their sympathies to the family of 12-year-old Laporshia Massey, although a spokesman for Corbett later said the release of the money and the girl's death were not connected.

Still, Corbett's acting education secretary, Carolyn Dumaresq, said Wednesday her department will review the circumstances of Massey's death and will try to determine whether she had an inhaler with her the day she died and whether she was able to self-administer it. Dumaresq also said her department would review the district's emergency plans and staffing, and correct any problems it finds.

Dumaresq said it is not unusual for a smaller public school to be without a nurse on site each day because the state requires that the caseload of school nurses must not exceed 1,500 students per nurse. Sometimes one nurse covers two buildings, Dumaresq said.

Because of the funding problems, the district cut its nursing staff district-wide two years ago; the smaller school that Massey attended had a nurse on duty two days a week.

Hite said Wednesday the money would allow the state-controlled district to restore sports and music for the full year and rehire about 400 people, including guidance counselors, assistant principals and teachers. However, he said he did not plan to rehire any nurses, as union officials and a parent's organization urged, because the district has met the state's caseload standard.

Holding six weeks of classes without the money has been "detrimental," he said.

The district approved a budget of nearly $2.4 billion, and the extra money helps close the gap from the prior year's nearly $2.7 billion budget.

The state Legislature had approved the money in July, although it gave the secretary of education the power to first demand improvements to fiscal stability, educational improvement and operational control.

Initially, Corbett, a Republican, had sought significant concessions from the teachers union, but Corbett's budget secretary, Charles Zogby, said Hite's letter summarizing steps taken, such as managing teacher assignments and closing schools, were satisfactory, even though negotiations with the teachers' union continue without a contract.

Layoff notices that went out in June to nearly 4,000 employees wiped out 20 percent of the district's employees. A pledge by Mayor Michael Nutter to borrow $50 million against future sales tax receipts prompted the rehiring of some laid-off staff and encouraged Hite to back off a threat not to open the schools Sept. 9.

Philadelphia officials had been harshly critical of the administration's decision to withhold the money, and the death of Massey, a sixth-grader at Bryant Elementary, renewed an outcry over conditions in the district. A parents' group, Parents United for Public Education, said the district's lack of money is "dangerous and it is unsustainable. It has put children and families directly in harm's way."

Massey died Sept. 25 after initially reporting that she was unable to breathe at school, her father's lawyer, Ronald S. Pollack, said. Some details remain unclear, but she did not come home from school with her inhaler, Pollack said. She died later at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, he said.

School nurse Eileen Duffey, who was helping to organize a Thursday vigil in Laporshia's honor, said there's no guarantee that Laporshia would be alive had there been a nurse in the building

"But I do know that school nurses, such as myself, we are trained to assess children," Duffey said.

___

Associated Press writer Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia contributed to this report. Matheson reported from Philadelphia.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-16-Philadelphia%20Schools/id-fca91ea82f654c398e114487a2a765d7
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Could Oreos Be as Addictive as Cocaine?

Can't put down the box of Oreos? There might be a compelling biological reason for that.

New research suggests that sugary, fatty treats can elicit the same reaction and activate the brain in a similar manner as cocaine and morphine, at least in lab rats.

Joseph Schroeder, an assistant professor of psychology and director of the Behavioral Neuroscience Center at Connecticut College, is expected to present the study, which has not yet been published, next month at the Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego, Calif.

Oreos weren't specifically singled out for their ability to trigger a snack attack, they were just a handy device to get enough fat and sugar in the rat's habitat, Schroeder said.

A spokeswoman for Mondelez International, which owns Nabisco, the maker of the iconic sandwich cookie, cautioned people against associating Oreo with the findings since the cookies were used as "a proxy for a non-specific 'sweet' variable."

"While it may seem simple to bucket foods as 'good' or 'bad,' the reality is that foods are complex, and encouraging people to enjoy a balanced diet paired with physical activity is most important," the spokeswoman said in a statement.

The experiment was actually conceived by Schroder's neuroscience student, Jamie Honohan, to examine the effects of high-fat and high-sugar foods on the brain. Honohan said she is interested in examining the effects of high concentrations of fatty and sugary foods in lower-income areas where there tend to be higher rates of obesity.

Double Stuf Oreos Not All They're Stuffed Up to Be?

"My research interests stemmed from a curiosity for studying human behavior and our motivations when it comes to food," said Honohan. "We chose Oreos not only because they are America's favorite cookie, and highly palatable to rats, but also because products containing high amounts of fat and sugar are heavily marketed in communities with lower socioeconomic statuses."

To examine how "addictive" high-fat, high-sugar foods could be, the rats were put into a habitat with two rooms. In one they were given an Oreo and in the other a rice cracker. Schroder and Honohan then measured the time they spent in each room to see their preference for the Oreo versus rice cake.

"Just like humans, rats don't seem to get much pleasure out of eating" rice cakes, Schroeder said.

The experiment was then repeated with other groups of rats being offered injections of cocaine or morphine in one room and saline in the other. According to Schroder, the researchers found that the rats had an "equivalent preference" for a room when it contained an Oreo as when they were given injections of morphine and cocaine.

Further examination of the rats' brains found that they had higher cellular activity in the "pleasure center" of their brain after eating an Oreo versus being injected with one of the drugs.

"That's the novel finding that applies to us," said Schroder. "We found that the high-fat or high-sugar food activated the brain to a greater extent than the cocaine or morphine."

A 2009 study by researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida found the pleasure centers in the brains of rats that were fed high-fat, high-calorie food became less responsive over time -- a signal that the rats were becoming addicted. The rats started to eat more and more. They even went for the junk food when they had to endure an electric shock to get it.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/oreos-addictive-cocaine/story?id=20590182
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Red Sox lead ALCS after 1-0 win over Tigers

DETROIT (AP) — John Lackey figured there would be no margin for error.

So when Justin Verlander began overpowering the Boston lineup, Lackey did his best to match him, out for out.

"I knew I was going to have to pitch pretty good today," Lackey said. "He's having a great career, great season, great postseason. The guys came through."

Lackey edged Verlander in the latest duel of these pitching-rich playoffs, and Boston's bullpen shut down Detroit's big boppers with the game on the line to lift the Red Sox over the Tigers 1-0 Tuesday for a 2-1 advantage in the American League championship series.

Mike Napoli homered off Verlander in the seventh inning, and Detroit's best chance to rally fell short in the eighth when Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder struck out with runners at the corners.

"The runs are pretty stingy," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "This is what it's about in postseason, is good pitching."

Despite three straight gems by their starters, the Tigers suddenly trail in a best-of-seven series they initially appeared to control. Game 4 is Wednesday night at Comerica Park, with Jake Peavy scheduled to start for the Red Sox against Doug Fister.

Peavy set the tone Tuesday during a pregame news conference, when he sounded miffed that so much of the attention was focused on Verlander before Game 3.

"It's been funny for me to watch all the coverage of the game coming in," Peavy said. "Almost like we didn't have a starter going today. Our starter is pretty good, too."

So the Tigers aren't the only team in this ALCS with good starting pitching. That was evident after Lackey allowed four hits in 6 2-3 innings, striking out eight without a walk in a game that was delayed 17 minutes in the second inning because lights on the stadium towers went out.

It was the second 1-0 game in this matchup between the highest-scoring teams in the majors. Dominant pitching has been a running theme throughout these playoffs, which have included four 1-0 scores and seven shutouts.

The Red Sox are now two wins from an American League pennant after overcoming each of Detroit's biggest stars. Max Scherzer started Game 2 for the Tigers and was terrific, but Boston rallied from a five-run deficit against the Detroit bullpen to even the series.

Then on Tuesday, Boston came away with a win in Detroit against Verlander, and when Cabrera and Fielder came up in the eighth, the Red Sox held on.

Cabrera, who failed to reach base for the first time in 32 postseason games for the Tigers, never looked comfortable against Junichi Tazawa, swinging and missing at the first two offerings and eventually chasing an outside pitch for strike three.

"To me, I (got) myself out. I was swinging at a lot of balls out of the strike zone," said Cabrera, who has been banged up for a couple of months but homered in Game 2. "When you swing at balls, you're not able to have success."

Fielder looked even more overmatched against Koji Uehara, striking out on three pitches.

Uehara also worked the ninth for a save, ensuring that Lackey's fine performance wouldn't go to waste.

Lackey pitched poorly his first two seasons in Boston after signing an $82.5 million, five-year contract in December 2009. Then he missed all of 2012 following elbow ligament-replacement surgery.

He's been better this season, and he kept the defending AL champions off balance Tuesday by effectively changing speeds.

Napoli's first at-bat in the majors was against Verlander on May 4, 2006, at Comerica Park. He homered then, too.

"He's tough. He was on his game tonight. He was keeping all of us off balance," said Napoli, who rubbed his bat on teammate Jonny Gomes' beard before going up to the plate. "I got to a 3-2 count and put a good swing on a pitch, was able to drive it."

Detroit's three starters in the ALCS — Verlander, Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez — have combined to allow two runs and six hits with 35 strikeouts in 21 innings. Still, the Tigers have fallen behind because their bullpen blew a four-run lead late in Game 2 and the offense came up empty at home on Tuesday.

Detroit stranded runners on first and third in the first, then wasted Jhonny Peralta's leadoff double in the fifth. Peralta reached third with one out, but an overanxious Omar Infante struck out and Andy Dirks grounded out.

Napoli's homer was the first run allowed by Verlander since Sept. 18 — he pitched six scoreless innings in each of his last two starts in the regular season before blanking the opposition for 21 innings in the playoffs.

"We won a game with four hits tonight. It says a lot about this team," Gomes said.

NOTES: DTE Energy said the lighting outage was because of a cable failure in the area near the stadium. ... The last time there were four 1-0 games in one postseason was 1991, according to STATS. There were three in the NLCS and another when Minnesota beat Atlanta in Game 7 of the World Series.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/red-sox-lead-alcs-1-0-win-over-073005136--spt.html
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House GOP floats counter to Senate debt plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — House GOP leaders Tuesday floated a plan to fellow Republicans to counter an emerging Senate deal to reopen the government and forestall an economy-rattling default on U.S. obligations. But the plan got mixed reviews from the rank and file and it was not clear whether it could pass the chamber.

The measure would suspend a new tax on medical devices for two years and take away the federal government's health care contributions to lawmakers and top administration officials. It would also fund the government through Jan. 15 and give Treasury the ability to borrow normally through Feb. 7.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he's "trying to find a path forward" but that "there have been no decisions about exactly what we will do." He told a news conference, "There are a lot of opinions about what direction to go."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., involved in negotiations with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, blasted the House plan as a blatant attack on bipartisanship.

"It can't pass the Senate and it won't pass the Senate," Reid said. That sparked an angry response from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who accused Reid of "piling on" and urged him to consider the House effort as a good-faith offer.

"We know you have the upper hand," McCain said. "Isn't it time that we find a way out of this?"

The developments came as a partial shutdown entered its third week and less than two days before the Treasury Department says it will be unable to borrow and will rely on a this cash cushion to pay the country's bills.

The House GOP plan wouldn't win nearly as many concessions from President Barack Obama as Republicans had sought but it would set up another battle with the White House early next year.

Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., said he was not sure he could vote for the plan because it did not address the debt. "I have to know a lot more than I know now," he said.

The House move comes after conservative lawmakers rebelled at the outlines of an emerging Senate plan by Reid and GOP leader McConnell. Those two hoped to seal an agreement on Tuesday, just two days before the Treasury Department says it will run out of borrowing capacity.

The White House and Democrats quickly came out against the Republican plan. Obama planned to meet with House Democratic leaders Tuesday afternoon as negotiations continue.

"The latest proposal from House Republicans does just that in a partisan attempt to appease a small group of tea party Republicans who forced the government shutdown in the first place," said White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage. "Democrats and Republicans in the Senate have been working in a bipartisan, good-faith effort .... With only a couple days remaining until the United States exhausts its borrowing authority, it's time for the House to do the same."

Political pressure is building on Republicans to reopen the government and GOP leaders are clearly fearful of failing to act to avert a default on U.S. obligations.

Republicans are in a difficult spot, relinquishing many of their core demands as they take a beating in the polls. As the Republicans met privately to discuss the latest plan, Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Fla., led them in several verses of "Amazing Grace."

"We have to stick together now," said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas.

Like the House GOP bill, the emerging Senate measure — though not finalized — would reopen the government through Jan. 15 and permit the Treasury to borrow normally until early to mid-February, easing dual crises that have sapped confidence in the economy and taken a sledgehammer to the GOP's poll numbers.

"There are productive negotiations going on with the Republican leader," Reid said as he opened the Senate Tuesday. "I'm confident we'll be able to reach a comprehensive agreement this week in time to avert a catastrophic default."

On Wall Street, stocks were down slightly at midday, as early optimism over a quick deal faded.

The competing House and Senate plans are a far cry from the assault on "Obamacare" that tea party Republicans originally demanded as a condition for a short-term funding bill to keep the government fully operational. It lacks the budget cuts demanded by Republicans in exchange for increasing the government's $16.7 trillion borrowing cap.

Neither the House or Senate frameworks contain any of a secondary set of House GOP demands, like a one-year delay in the health law's mandate that individuals buy insurance.

Another difference between the Democrats and Republicans involves a Democratic move to repeal a $63 fee that companies must pay for each person they cover under the big health care overhaul beginning in 2014. Unions oppose the fee and Senate Democrats are pressing to repeal it, but House Republicans are positioning to block them and Senate Republicans are adamantly opposed as well.

Democrats were standing against a GOP-backed proposal to suspend a medical device tax that was enacted as part of the health care law, but might not be able to win a floor vote since many Democrats oppose the tax too.

Democratic and Republican aides described the outlines of the potential agreement on condition of anonymity because the discussions were ongoing.

But with GOP poll numbers plummeting and the country growing weary of a shutdown entering its third week, Senate Republicans in particular were eager to end the shutdown — and avoid an even greater crisis if the government were to default later this month.

"We're willing to get the government open. We want to get the government open," Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said. "Hopefully they get something done that addresses the spending issue."

In addition to approving legislation to fund the government until late this year and avert a possible debt crisis later this week or month, the potential pact would set up broader budget negotiations between the GOP-controlled House and Democratic-led Senate. One goal of those talks would be to ease automatic spending cuts that began in March and could deepen in January, when about $20 billion in further cuts are set to slam the Pentagon.

Democrats also were seeking to preserve the Treasury Department's ability to use extraordinary accounting measures to buy additional time after the government reaches any extended debt ceiling. Such measures have permitted Treasury to avert a default for almost five months since the government officially hit the debt limit in mid-May, but wouldn't buy anywhere near that kind of time next year, experts said.

The House GOP plan would repeal the extraordinary measures, which would make the Feb 7 date a hard deadline to revisit the fight.

___

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata, David Espo, Henry C. Jackson, Julie Pace and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-gop-floats-counter-senate-debt-plan-163236505--finance.html
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Russian opposition politician risks jail in key hearing

Kirov (Russia) (AFP) - Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny Wednesday faced a court hearing that could halt his soaring political career or even see him led away to serve up to five years in a penal colony.

A regional court in the northern city of Kirov began hearing his appeal against a five-year sentence in a disputed fraud case, with a nervous-looking Navalny present in court along with his co-accused Pyotr Ofitserov.

Despite his conviction in July on embezzlement charges he says were ordered by the Kremlin for his daring to challenge President Vladimir Putin, Navalny attended the hearing a free man as he was released pending the appeal.

Wearing his trademark uniform of tie-less shirt with sleeves rolled up, Navalny sat on the defendants' bench typing into an Apple laptop with a "Putin - thief" sticker on the back.

The charismatic 37-year-old lawyer won 27 percent in Moscow mayoral polls last month, a surprisingly strong result that put him in second place behind pro-Kremlin incumbent Sergei Sobyanin.

His populist campaign played on anti-migrant moods and weariness with widespread corruption under President Vladimir Putin.

The court could issue a shorter sentence or even a suspended one that would still bar Navalny -- who has openly declared presidential ambitions -- from standing for office in the foreseeable future.

In the worst case scenario, the father-of-two could spend the next five years doing manual labour in one of Russia's far-flung penal colonies.

In July, Kirov's Lenin district court found Navalny and his business associate Ofitserov guilty of embezzlement over a 2009 timber deal and they were immediately arrested.

But in a surprise decision, Kirov's regional court freed them the next day, arguing they should remain free pending their appeal. This unprecedented concession allowed Navalny to stand for mayor.

Few are willing to predict the outcome in a case rich in dramatic twists. The appeal hearing was initially set for last week then postponed at the last moment to allow Navalny to attend a separate hearing in Moscow.

Russian law enforcers have opened a stream of criminal cases against Navalny in what looks like an attempt to neutralise an opposition figure seen as a potential national force.

Navalny rose to political stardom at mass protests in the winter of 2011/2012 against Putin's return to the Kremlin for a third term.

Independent pollsters Levada this month found that 51 percent of Russians had heard of Navalny, taking him far beyond his initial audience of Internet-savvy middle class Russian in Moscow.

Navalny told the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily on Monday that he thought it was unlikely he would be jailed immediately.

"You can't rule it out, but it is all the same an unlikely scenario," he said.

But he revealed that he would be taking a bag packed with prison essentials such as trainers with Velcro fasteners into court.

"Of course I'll be going with my stuff, because if it does suddenly finish in a day, I wouldn't want to end up in a detention centre without food or my things."

"All the things that I bought for detention in summer are still lying there."

Ofitserov, wrote on Facebook that "there could be one (hearing) that ends either with a penal colony or home. Or there could be 10... no one knows for sure."

"My lawyer told me to go with a bag so I will walk in with a bundle."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-opposition-politician-risks-jail-key-hearing-051146537.html
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Random Bedtimes Breed Bad Behavior In Kids

Play now, pay later: consistency matters when it comes to kids and sleep.

iStockphoto.com

Parents learn the hard way that late bedtimes make for cranky kids the next day. But inconsistent bedtimes may have a greater effect on children's behavior, a study says.

Kids who didn't go to bed on a regular schedule had more behavior problems at home and at school. When those children were put to bed at the same time each night, their behavior improved.

That data came from an ongoing study of 10,230 British schoolchildren. Mothers were asked if their child had a regular bedtime during the school week. That information was collected when the children were ages 3, 5 and 7.

The mothers were also asked to complete a standardized test that measures behavior, including conduct problems, hyperactivity, emotional symptoms, problems with peers and positive behavior.

Children who went to bed after 9 p.m. were rated as having more behavior problems than children who went to bed earlier. That's no surprise; there's abundant evidence on the effects of lack of sleep on children's school performance and behavior.

But irregular bedtimes actually caused worse behavior than short sleep.

Teachers were asked to rate some of the children's behavior at age 7. They too reported more behavior problems in children with irregular bedtimes.

The good news is that the behavior problems improved when children were shifted to a more regular schedule. The scientists call that a "clear dose-response pattern." And behavior deteriorated in children who had regular bedtimes at age 5 and were on a more random plan by age 7, the parents said.

The sleep issues could affect behavior in two ways, according to the researchers at University College London. It could mess up children's circadian rhythms, which are slow to change. And it could affect maturing brain regions involved in regulation of behavior.

Pediatricians should ask about irregular bedtimes, the researchers say, not just how many hours a kid is logging.

This study has shortcomings. It doesn't report how much the children actually slept, but rather how much their mothers said they slept. And it could be that the families with random bedtimes had other problems that affected the child's behavior.

Lack of sleep causes health problems in children and adults, including weight gain and insulin resistance.

And regular bedtimes are recommended for adults too, because maintaining a regular circadian rhythm makes it easier to fall asleep and wake up on time. No word if it makes grownups less cranky. But it probably couldn't hurt.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/10/15/234683175/random-bedtimes-breed-bad-behavior-in-kids?ft=1&f=1030
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Big gains on tap for small Royal Mail shareholders

LONDON (AP) — Small shareholders in Royal Mail on Tuesday had their first opportunity to cash in on the stock's spectacular stock market debut.

Royal Mail shares first soared on Friday, when trading began, though only for big institutions and investors who bought through brokers. On Tuesday, trading was opened to the general public. That allowed small shareholders who bought stock through the government to sell their shares — and pocket a near 50 percent windfall.

At the close, Royal Mail shares were 3 percent higher at 489 pence ($7.82). That's around 48 percent higher than the 330 pence at which the government initially priced the shares.

"With the short term return so strong, it's understandable smaller investors are looking to take some money off the table," said David White, a trader at Spreadex.

The sharp rise has led some to argue that the government sold the near 500-year-old company too cheaply.

"The Royal Mail share price has soared further, bringing more proof that the company was undervalued by the government's City mates," said Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, or CWU, which has balloted around 115,000 of its members for industrial action over issues linked to the sell-off, including pay and pensions.

A strike by postal workers could threaten disruption to mail deliveries in the busy weeks before Christmas. The result of the ballot is expected over the next day.

Investment bank Lazard is also set to be questioned next month by British lawmakers over the pricing of Royal Mail and concerns that institutional investors were allowed to buy into the company too cheaply.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/big-gains-tap-small-royal-mail-shareholders-094155300--finance.html
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