New West Blog News

Flu News and Blues

As flu pandemics go, H1N1 sometimes seems hard to compute, given all the information flooding our way. Is it a panic? An impending storm? A party theme?

Yes, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that some people are hosting “swine flu parties” where people who know someone with H1N1 purposely hang out and try to get infected. Their goal is to get a mild case and gain natural immunity, so they won’t catch a more dangerous version later on. Health officials, not surprisingly, say this doesn’t work and isn’t smart. “While the disease ... has been mild for many people, it has been severe and even fatal for others,” the federal health agency says. “There is no way to predict with certainty what the outcome will be for an individual or, equally important, for others to whom the intentionally infected person may spread the virus.”

Meanwhile, as news about the flu continues to spread at viral speed, a Montana health official offers a few facts to help put things in perspective. Elton Mosher is the influenza surveillance coordinator and an infectious disease expert with the Department of Public Health and Human Services. Here’s his view of the flu, plus statistics from the World Health Organization and CDC:

[more]

National Journal Online

Senate Majority Leader Reid released an $849 billion healthcare overhaul bill Wednesday that includes a public option and will extend coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans, though a few Democrats are still on the fence over whether they will vote to proceed to the bill.

The bill would extend insurance to 94 percent of eligible Americans.

The measure, which would reduce the deficit $127 billion over a decade, creates an insurance exchange where people can compare and purchase coverage; allows insurance co-ops to be formed; expands Medicaid to those earning 133 percent of the federal poverty level; and offers federal subsidies to help those without employer-sponsored coverage purchase insurance.

The public option would allow states to opt out if they choose. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., shepherded a more comprehensive public option through the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee but called the opt-out version a strong public option.

The overhaul also includes an individual mandate with penalties reaching $750 per person for noncompliance by 2016. Employers that do not offer coverage will pay a fine for each of their employees who receive federal subsidies to purchase insurance in the exchange of as much as $750 per employee at the company, a senior Democratic aide said.

[more]

Congress

It can be scary for adults to change careers, but the recession has handed many American workers no choice. Enrollment at trade schools, community colleges and specialized private colleges has increased all over the U.S.  But whether or not graduates of these programs find work in their new area of competence varies based on the quality of the training, the choice of skills to learn, and whether or not the training suits an industry with hiring needs.

Rep. Walt Minnick, D-ID, has announced his new bill, H.R. 4072 or the American Manufacturing Efficiency and Retraining Investment Collaboration (AMERICA) Works Act. Minnick has spent eight months developing and writing the bill, which is co-sponsored by three Democratic House Members: Frank Kratovil of Maryland, Debbie Halvorson of Illinois, and Bobby Bright of Alabama.

“Thanks to the diverse coalition behind the bill, there will be more co-sponsors of both parties signing on,” said John Foster, Minnick’s spokesperson. That coalition includes the National Association of Manufacturers, Northwest Carpenters, and community colleges and trade organizations.

“American workers are the best in the world,” said Minnick. “They are resilient, innovative and hardworking, as is made so clear by the success of many great companies in my home state of Idaho. We need to make sure that those American workers, many of whom are retraining, are given every opportunity to achieve certifications, degrees and qualifications for the jobs American industry needs to fill.”

[more]

Western Book Roundup

The Denver Post reported this weekend that Denver writer Mark Obmascik‘s Halfway to Heaven: My White Knuckled and Knuckleheaded-Quest for the Rocky Mountain High won this year’s outdoor literature prize from the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation: “The book is about climbing Colorado’s 14,000-plus foot mountains, all 54 of them, in one summer. The problem, though, as Obmascik points out in this humorous work, is that he’s completely out of shape.” Obmasik was the lead writer for the Denver Post team that won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Columbine shootings. He will discuss his book at the REI in Boulder on November 30 (7 p.m.).

• John Jurgensen’s insightful interview with Cormac McCarthy ran in the Wall Street Journal last week in advance of the opening of the film version of The Road.  Their discussion ranges all over the place in subject matter, from the movie versions of McCarthy’s films, to fatherhood, to his writing process.  Jurgensen writes, “McCarthy shuns interviews, but he relishes conversation.” One subject that McCarthy cycles back to several times is the apocalypse, something that he frequently discusses with his friends at the Santa Fe Institute.

Also in the Roundup: Missoula’s Fact and Fiction adjusts to ebooks, Moscow, Idaho’s Joan Opyr celebrates her new novel with leftover turkey, and Denver’s Printed Page Bookshop offers free books in exchange for food donations for the needy.

[more]

Where to go? What to do?

It’s no secret there are a number of Oregonians who enjoy smoking marijuana. And while that may be the case, there are millions in the West who don’t enjoy having their water polluted to produce the plant.

An estimated 200,000 marijuana plants were discovered in raids during the Oregon growing and harvest season this year, according to state and federal documents.

And while that number may be staggering, pools filled with chemical fertilizers to grow the plants are a main nerve of concern among state officials and environmentalists. 

[more]

Kids Count 2009

Every year, the Annie E. Casey Foundation supports an amazingly comprehensive and important look at the well-being of the nation’s children, taking into account, state-by-state, the factors that help or hinder children’s welfare. The foundation’s “Kids Counts” reports look at leading indicators like poverty rates, the availability of daycare, school performance, the number of children without health insurance, median household incomes, obesity rates, and neighborhood safety, and then rank the states to show which are doing the best (and worst) jobs.

So how does Montana add up? As in most years, there’s reason to celebrate—and to worry.

[more]