Iowa students bring their message to Washington: “The White House is our house! Please let us visit!”

By Jonathan Karl & Jordyn Phelps | Power Players – 11 hrs ago

 

Politics Confidential

When a group of 6th graders from Iowa started planning their class trip to Washington, one of the most anticipated highlights was a tour of the White House. That is, until the White House cancelled all tours following the across-the-board budget cuts known as "the sequester."
After hearing the news that their long-planned White House tour had been cancelled, the disappointed students from St. Paul's Lutheran School sought to make their voices heard, shouting “The White House is our house! Please let us visit!” in a web video. The students' message spread, growing into online lobbying campaign to restore the tours.
"It's really amazing," one student told Politics Confidential. "We could have never have thought it would get this far."
The students, who arrived in Washington Friday, were enjoying a tour of the Capitol building when Politics Confidential met up with them. "Wow!" the students said in unison when asked about their first impressions of the Capitol.
Karen Thalacker, a parent chaperone along for the trip, admits that it's been "pretty overwhelming" how fast and far the kids' message spread, but says it's been a a great lesson in leadership for the students.
"I think they're showing our President and Congress a great example of how things can work and I think people were so inspired by their spontaneous display of patriotism and that is what has moved people," Thalacker says. "These kids aren't Democrats, they're not Republicans, they're American kids who want to see the White House, and everybody should be let in regardless of who's living there."
While it doesn't look like the kids are going going to get their tour of the White House, their campaign has made a difference for future student groups. President Obama told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos last week that the administration is working to find a way to accommodate student tours.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on a White House tour, Thalacker says the kids have handled the situation well.
"The kids have a great attitude about it, and they will be thrilled when the White House tours get reopened as soon as possible," Thalacker says.
To hear more about the St. Paul Lutheran School's trip to Washington and their campaign to get White House tours back up and running, check out this episode of Politics Confidential.
ABC's Eric Wray and Mary Bruce contributed to this episode.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/iowa-students-bring-message-washington-white-house-house-112818822.html

Girl Scouts Hoaxed on 6,000-Box Cookie Order

By CHRISTINA NG | Good Morning America – Sun, Mar 17, 2013 6:36 PM EDT

 

Two Oregon Girl Scout troops say they were hoaxed into believing they had made a huge corporate cookie sale for $24,000, or 6,000 boxes of cookies.

But the troops aren't letting the scam keep them down and already have a plan for triumphing over the trick.
The Girl Scouts were thrilled with the order that appeared to come from a woman who worked at a local company. Two troops put aside boxes for the massive order.
The problem came when they called the company for the payment.
"I contacted the ... company and they said, 'We have no idea what's going on,'" scout mother Jennifer Reed said on "Good Morning America" today.
The Girl Scouts realized they had been duped, but it was too late. They had already put the order through and received the cookies. They found themselves with 500 cases of cookies and no sales money for their summer camp and the homeless shelter they had committed to helping.
"They placed a fake order on us and they didn't know that it hurt our feelings a lot," Girl Scout Erin Donnelly, 8, said.
But they didn't let the trick keep them down for too long. They held an emergency sale at the Portland Girl Scouts headquarters on Saturday and hundreds of supporters lined up to buy the cookies.
By the end of the day, they had sold about half of the cookies and recovered $12,000. They also learned some valuable life lessons.
"For every one person that has bad intentions, there are hundreds more with good intentions and good hearts that are here to help you," said Sarah Miller, director of communication for Girls Scouts of Oregon and Washington.

 http://gma.yahoo.com/girl-scouts-hoaxed-6-000-box-cookie-order-223603524--abc-news-topstories.html

6 Surprising Foods That Put You to Sleep

There’s an easier way to fall asleep fast and sleep straight through the night than popping a sleeping pill or downing a glass of vino: Just eat something.
Well, okay, not just anything—chow down on the wrong stuff and you’ll be up all night. For example, a University of Cambridge study found that eating protein-rich foods fires up the cells in your brain (called orexin cells) that make you alert and energetic. And if you drink before bed, 4 hours into sleep the alcohol wears off, leaving you in a more activated state, says Men’s Health advisor Christopher Winter, M.D., medical director of the sleep medicine center of Martha Jefferson Hospital.
But the right bedtime snacks can put you in prime position for a stress-free evening—one with hours and hours of sleep ahead.
So where do you start? Here are six surprising sleep-inducing foods to add to your grocery list today.

Bananas

A little sugar counters the effects of your orexin cells, says Dr. Winter. Try a banana before bed—it will give you just enough sugar to calm your orexin cells, plus magnesium and potassium to help to relax your muscles.

Passionfruit Tea

An Australian study found that when people drank a cup of either passionfruit or parsley tea, the passionfruit drinkers slept more soundly. Researchers believe chemicals called harman alkaloids—high levels of which are unique to the passionfruit flower—act on your nervous system to make you sleepy. (From white to green and everything in between, discover the 9 Healthiest Teas.)
DID YOU KNOW? Red wine contains some of the world’s best medicine—and you don’t have to go broke to reap the benefits! Try one of these 10 Best Wines Under $15.

Hummus

While L-tryptophan—the amino acid that supposedly makes you crash after Thanksgiving dinner—does make you sleepy, there are better sources than turkey. Consider elk instead, says Christine J. Jones, sleep researcher at Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine. At 746 milligrams (mg) a portion, it far surpasses turkey (333 mg). Game meats not your thing? Sesame seeds (120 mg) and hummus (usually about 600 mg) are packed with L-tryptophan too.
FIX IT WITH FOOD: Check out our list of the 40 Foods with Superpowers—foods that, even in moderation, can strengthen your heart, fortify your bones, and boost your metabolism.

Dates

L-tryprophan works best when combined with carbs. Carbs trigger your body to secrete insulin, which uses up other amino acids in your bloodstream first, leaving more L-tryptophan to sedate, says Dr. Winter. The best foods for the job? Carbs that raise your blood sugar levels fast, since slow-acting carbs don’t produce the same kind of insulin response. Go for a healthy handful of dates—they’re high in carbs and have a fair amount of L-tryptophan. Fruit and air-popped popcorn are other healthy fast-acting carbohydrates.
Which snacks are actually good for you? We read the labels so you don’t have to! Find out the 125 Best Foods for Men.

Chinese Food

GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) is an inhibitory neurotransmitter in your body—in other words, it’s your brain’s brakes to calm the party down. It plays a role in regulating the excitability of neurons throughout your nervous system. The only problem: “It’s not found in food, so you can’t really eat GABA-rich products,” says Dr. Winter. Instead, you can eat foods high in glutamic acid—a precursor to GABA that turns into the neurotransmitter in your body. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the salt of glutamic acid, and it’s usually added to Chinese food.
While MSG sometimes gets a bad reputation because it makes food “addictively” good tasting, the FDA has declared it a safe food additive. MSG can be made simply enough by putting salt on a tomato, Dr. Winter says. Other natural options: raw seaweed/spirulina (6,648 mg glutamic acid), Chinese cabbage (6,232 mg), or low-fat cottage cheese (7,455 mg). Still, if you experience the symptoms often associated with MSG, you should avoid it.

Cherries

Recent research in the European Journal of Nutrition found that drinking an ounce of cherry juice twice a day—once in the morning and once at night—for a week helped people sleep an extra 25 minutes. Why? It’s laced with L-tryptophan, which can convert into serotonin, and eventually melatonin—the compound that influences your sleep cycle, says Jason Ellis, Ph.D., the director of the Northumbria Centre for Sleep Research. Increase the melatonin circulating in your body, and you’ll increase the chances of a good night’s sleep, too. Try an ounce of juice or a cup of cherries before bed. Since there are no foods high in melatonin, you want to look for foods that can produce it, says Dr. Winter. A few to keep in mind: milk, yogurt, oats, eggs, and peanuts.
Sleep more soundly and wake up easier with the Top 10 Apps and Gadgets for Better Sleep.

Quotes for the week to think about 

 

“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”

― Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

 

“In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra. ”

― Fran Lebowitz

 

“[Kids] don't remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.”

― Jim Henson, It's Not Easy Being Green: And Other Things to Consider

 

Chicago public schools will start sex education in kindergarten

The Daily Caller – Fri, Mar 1, 2013

The dismally low graduation rate for students who attend Chicago Public Schools is barely over 60 percent – substantially lower than the national rate of roughly 75 percent. Nevertheless, citizens of the Second City will surely take heart, because the Chicago Board of Education just passed a new policy that requires sex education to begin in kindergarten.

The new policy, which was passed on Wednesday, according to ABC News, is part of a broader makeover of the school district’s sexual health program,
Sometime within the next two years, students in every grade, including kindergarten, will be required to spend a certain amount of time on the birds and the bees.

Mandated sex-ed for Chicago kindergartners will include instruction about male and female anatomy and reproduction. It’s not clear exactly how much detail five- and six-year-olds will be taught concerning the more sophisticated uses for their genitals.

By the time students get to third and fourth grade, the focus will include appropriate and inappropriate touching, as well as puberty and HIV/AIDS.
Coursework from fifth grade to 12th grades will concentrate on sexually-transmitted diseases and contraception. Abstinence will reportedly be presented as a possible method of birth control. Sexual orientation, gender identity and bullying related to those things will also be part of the curriculum at some point from fifth grade to 12th grade, as well.
One of the stated goals of the policy is to bring the Chicago Public Schools into accord with the national HIV/AIDS strategy of the Obama administration, notes ABC.
“It is important that we provide students of all ages with accurate and appropriate information so they can make healthy choices in regards to their social interactions, behaviors and relationships,” Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said in a statement.
Response from parents who have children in the Chicago Public Schools was mixed, reports Fox News.
“I don’t think its age-appropriate,” parent Melissa Diebold told MyFoxChicago.com. “They have no concept of anything like that at that stage in life.”
Mikkel Nance, another parent, is more optimistic.
“[T]he only concern is how they implement it, and if they involved parents in that process and if they do so they’ll make that transition smoothly,” Nance told the local Fox affiliate.

Parents can remove their children from the sexual health education program if they want, but the apparent default is for kindergartners to learn about sex.

Chicago’s public school system is the nation’s third-largest school district, with approximately 431,000 students.

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 http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-public-schools-start-sex-education-kindergarten-073943468.html

1 of nation's oldest teachers retires in LA at 94

By CHRISTINA HOAG | Associated Press – Fri, Mar 1, 2013

• 
  Associated Press/Damian Dovarganes, file - FILE - This Feb. 6, 2007 file photo shows Octogenarian teacher Rose Gilbert, 88, in her Advance Placement English Literature class at the Pacific Palisades High School …more 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rose Gilbert wanted to be a schoolteacher since she was in the first grade and was inspired by the teacher who taught her to read and write.

Gilbert carried out that childhood dream with a rare commitment — she retired last week at the age of 94 after a 63-year teaching career in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

"I'm going to be 95. I looked in the mirror and said, 'I better do it now before I get too old,'" she joked. "I didn't want to leave, but I didn't want to be carried out on a stretcher."
It's unclear if Gilbert is the oldest fulltime classroom teacher among the nation's teaching corps of more than 3 million, but she certainly ranks among the most senior. She started teaching in the 1940s, took a break and then returned to the classroom in 1956.

In 1961, she joined the staff at the brand new high school opening in the well-heeled Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles and remained there until Feb. 22, passing along her passion for poetry and literature to generations of students. Some of her former students are now teachers at Palisades Charter High School, who say she'll be sorely missed.

"She is utterly unique," said English teacher Holly Korbonski, who had Gilbert as her English teacher in 1978. "We're all sort of bereft, honestly."

Korbonski remembers Gilbert customizing reading lists for each student. She assigned Korbonski to read "The Great Gatsby," among other works. The F. Scott Fitzgerald novel is now Korbonski's specialty.
"She was prophetic," Korbonski said. "Her gifts to students continue to grow and magnify through life."
Some of Gilbert's fondest memories date from the 1960s, when a spirit of rebellion was rife at high school and college campuses across the country. In one protest she recalled, students and teachers declared a strike and walked out to protest U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
Another demonstration occurred over a reason that was another sign of those heady times: the length of boys' hair.
"We had a very strict principal and he said all the boys had to cut their hair or be suspended," she recalled. "All of them were suspended, and we all walked out — students and teachers."
Today's kids are more self-centered, noted Gilbert, whose students call her "Mama G." She calls her students her "bubbelahs."
"It's the entitlement generation," she observed. "'I'm entitled to an A, I'm entitled to go to Harvard.' I think it emanates from their parents."
Still, it was the love of children that kept Gilbert teaching through the years, even when her wealthy developer husband died in 1987 and left her a fortune.
Sam Gilbert was an unbridled devotee of the UCLA men's basketball program whose influence on players caused the NCAA to order the team to disassociate from him in 1981. He died four days before he was indicted on federal racketeering and money-laundering charges in connection with his business activities.

Rose Gilbert has plowed much money back into education. She funds scholarships for high school and college students and has donated a pool complex, auditorium and small theater to the high school.

Her retirement promises to be as active — she's volunteering at a health clinic and a domestic violence shelter, and plans to keep her hand in education by interviewing high school and college students for scholarships and honors programs.
"I have loads of energy," Gilbert said. "I want to devote it to good causes."
___
Contact the reporter at http://twitter.com/ChristinaHoag .

 http://news.yahoo.com/1-nations-oldest-teachers-retires-la-94-192923918.html

Tuesday, March 5, 2013 10:57am PST

Scientists tag 2,000-pound great white shark near Florida surf spot

By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com

Florida surfers who ride waves at Mayport Poles might find this news a little unsettling, but scientists sure were delighted to have tagged and released a large great white shark Sunday afternoon immediately beyond the popular surf spot, in only 25 feet of water.

It's the first time a great white has been tagged in the Jacksonville area, Chris Fisher, founder of Ocearch, told the Florida Times-Union. Mayport Poles is named after the nearby Mayport Naval Station.

The shark measured 14 feet, 6 inches, and weighed 2,000 pounds. It was given the name Lydia and, after its tag was fitted and tissue samples and a blood work were taken, the shark was lowered from the research vessel's tagging cradle and turned loose.

Ocearch stated on its Facebok page: "After days of relentless determination, the OCEARCH team was able to successfully tag and release the first great white shark off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. Meet Lydia, weighing in at approx. 2,000 lbs at 14 ft, 6 in!"

The same researchers tagged a much larger great white, weighing nearly 3,500 pounds, last September off Cape Cod. That shark, named Mary Lee, appeared close to the Jacksonville coast last January and is presently much farther offshore, southwest of Bermuda.

It's hoped that the long-term tracking study will enable scientists to learn more about the movements of white sharks off the East Coast.

Of Lydia's close proximity to shore Sunday, Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries told the Times-Union: "These sharks have probably been doing this for eons."

Skomal, who is part of the Ocearch effort, added that despite the great white's fearsome reputation, "the sharks have been pretty much going undetected."

People can check on the movements of sharks tagged by Ocearch via its website, and receive updates via its Facebook page. They can read more about the capture of Lydia via the expedition blog.

--Images showing the shark during Sunday's tagging process are courtesy of Ocearch

--Find Pete Thomas on Facebook


 http://www.grindtv.com/surf/blog/51221/scientists+tag+2000-pound+great+white+shark+near+florida+surf+spot/