Spotlight

Tatiyana Lipinka, Brooklyn Child Care Inc., Brooklyn, NY

Poisoning is the #1 cause of injury death in the United States, and the number of children who die from poisoning has more than doubled since 1999. According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data System’s 2015 Annual Report, just under half of exposure cases managed by poison centers involved children younger than six.

President Trump submitted his FY 2018 budget request to Congress. As expected, the President maintained his commitment to reducing all non-defense, discretionary programs by a total of $54 billion. However, his proposal includes cutting all federal support for two programs that are vital to low-income and working class communities; the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) programs.

UPDATED post: Last Friday afternoon, the House of Representatives withdrew a scheduled vote on H.R. 1628, the "American Health Care Act (AHCA) of 2017," after it was very clear that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) did not have the votes for passage.  This came after a late-night deal of adding a provision to H.R. 1628 that would have cut $15 billion in mandatory care, as required under the Affordable Care Act of 2010, which would have impacted maternal and mental health coverage.

With daylight savings time here, you may think that flu season has passed; that is not necessarily the case. Although spring is near, colds and the flu can still affect all of us.