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News For May 07, 2010

What I Learned in Afghanistan – About the United States
By Dana Visalli
Do you want to spend your life paying for the death of people (executed by the US military) that you would probably have loved if you have met them? Do you want to spend your life paying for the arsenal of hydrogen bombs that could very well destroy most of the life on the planet. Continue

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The Downward Slope of Empire
Talking With Chalmers Johnson
By HARRY KREISLER
“Blowback” is a CIA term that means retaliation, or payback. It was first used in the after-action report on our first clandestine overthrow of a foreign government, the overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran in 1953. Continue

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Would You Put Up With What is Being Asked of the Greek People?
By Tony Bonsignore
Protestors argue that they are being made to pay for a crisis they did not cause, and which wealthy speculators are still profiting from. Continue

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15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America
By Gus Lubin
Real average earnings have not increased in 50 years. Continue

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Soldiers clash with Kashmir rebels, 7 killed: – Two Indian soldiers and five separatist guerrillas were killed in a fierce gun battle on Friday in Kashmir, an army spokesman said.

Gunmen kill 4 police at checkpoint in NW Pakistan: Authorities say gunmen have attacked a police checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, killing four officers.

India warns US against military aid to Pakistan: The warning came after the US in March said it would deliver unarmed drones to Pakistan and less than a month after it unveiled plans to transfer 600 million dollars to Islamabad to pay for anti-militant operations.

2 NATO occupation force troops, civilians killed in Afghanistan: It’s still unclear how many people died in the car traveling in Charkh district of Logar province. “We found shoes, a blue burqa and one mobile phone. We are using the phone to call relatives.”

One killed, 14 injured in two separate attacks in Iraq: One civilian was killed and three injured when an explosive device wrecked their car in Baghdad’s western district of Abu Ghraib.

Iraq’s two largest Shia blocs join to try to form government: The union forged between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law bloc and the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) has 159 seats in the 325 member assembly, four short of the majority required to form a government. But the Kurdish bloc, which partnered the Shias in the outgoing government, is expected to contribute its 43 seats to achieve a solid majority.

Head of Atomic Agency Asserts Right to Scrutinize Iran: The new chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday rejected Iran’s claim that international inspectors have no right to ask questions about research Tehran has conducted into missile technology and warheads.

Kremlin links Iran sanctions support with U.S. move: Russia expects the United States to lift bans on trade with four Russian companies if Moscow backs new sanctions against Iran, a senior Kremlin official said on Friday.

U.S. joins U.N. council at Iran dinner in New York: A council diplomat said the majority of the other 12 council members were sending their ambassadors to the dinner at the Iranian ambassador’s residence. Journalists saw Chinese Ambassador Li Baodong enter the building.

Ahmadinejad’s take on ties with US: Video "We are not afraid"

Iran’s PG naval drills in phase 2: The second phase of the exercise involved the detection and subsequent destruction of marine and submarine targets as well as conducting rescue drills for chemical, biological and nuclear strikes, the spokesman said.

War, this summer?: The Israelis are ready to go to war to prevent another axis from rising in the region. They fear that the Iran-Syria-Hizbullah axis may match Israel’s power and thus end its long-held sway over the region. For years the US made sure that Israel was the region’s top military power, and now this guarantee may be coming to an end.

New Israeli order allows for mass expulsion from West Bank : The "infiltrator" order could affect thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who were born in Gaza — or those who had their ID documents issued in Gaza — but moved years ago to live in the West Bank where they now have families and where their employment and educational facilities are based.

Why won’t Israel allow Gazans to import coriander?: The Defense Ministry is refusing – on security grounds, it says – to reveal why Israel prohibits the import into the Gaza Strip of items such as cilantro, sage, jam, chocolate, french fries, dried fruit, fabrics, notebooks empty flowerpots and toys, while allowing cinnamon, plastic buckets and combs.

General ‘tried to cover up truth about death of Rachel Corrie‘: Seven years after the American activist Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, evidence has emerged which appears to implicate Israel’s Gaza commander at the time, in an attempt to obstruct the official investigation into her death.

UK election results: New Labour RIP, 1992-2010: Since the Iraq invasion went wrong, New Labour was always living on borrowed time

George Galloway out of Westminster as he loses fight for seat : George Galloway has lost his battle to remain as an MP after coming third in the Poplar and Limehouse constituency.

Chalmers Johnson: Another battle of Okinawa: Despite protests, the U.S. insists on going ahead with plans for a new military base on the island.

Ecuador water law sparks protests: Police in Ecuador have used tear gas and batons in clashes with protesters trying to reach the national assembly in the capital, Quito.
Passenger surrenders after long siege on bus: Bomb report sparks N.H. police standoff: “The scariest part was seeing the police cruisers surround the bus, and they all had machine guns,’’ said Everett, who was on her way to Boston, where she had planned to catch a train to Plymouth. Her possessions, and everyone else’s, were left on the bus.
Times Square suspicious package contained only water bottles: New York police have determined that a suspicious package that prompted a midday evacuation Friday of three blocks in the heart of Times Square contained only water bottles.
Demonizing the Internet? US-born cleric inspired Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad: The ideological thrust may have come from an American cleric now on the CIA hit list. The bombmaking expertise and funding possibly came from the Pakistani Taliban or other extremist groups in Pakistan.
New U.S. Push to Regulate Internet Access: The decision, by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, is likely to trigger a vigorous lobbying battle, arraying big phone and cable companies and their allies on Capitol Hill against Silicon Valley giants and consumer advocates.
Radicalization of Times Square suspect was gradual, investigators say: The suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing appears to have been acting out of anger toward the United States that had accumulated over multiple trips to his native Pakistan, culminating in a lengthy recent stay in which he committed to the bombing plot while undergoing training with elements of the Pakistani Taliban, U.S. officials said Thursday.
Shahzad on U.S. Travel Security List Since 1999: Would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad appeared on a U.S government travel travel lookout list – Traveler Enforcement Compliance System (TECS) – between 1999 and 2008 because he brought approximately $80,000 cash or cash instruments into the United States.
Terror Watch List Counter: A Million Plus: Why are there so many names on the U.S. government’s terrorist list?
The backlash begins: A new state law has galvanised Latinos nationwide, and others too
Humor: Video: Daily Show Jason Jones profiles Arizona Tequila drinkers: Whenever this issue comes up I think how cool it would be for police to sweep the next Tea Party rally and demand proof of citizenship from all participants. I think we would soon find out what the guns are for! Cops!
Northern Arizona University to Monitor Students with Chipped ID cards: The larger issue being overlooked is the growing use of tracking devices in the U.S., and how willing most people are to be tagged and set loose in the “wild” where their movements and spending habits are monitored, recorded and filed away for someone’s future use.
New recycling bins with tracking chips coming to Alexandria: New larger recycling carts equipped with computer microchips, which will allow the city to keep tabs on its bins and track resident participation in the city’s recycling program.
Grand jury subpoena to Times reporter over book: The lawyer for Risen, Joel Kurtzberg, said that the Justice Department is seeking information regarding Risen’s sources about a CIA effort to disrupt Iranian nuclear research, according to a story on the subpoena dispute that appeared in Wednesday’s Times.
Romania braces for austerity: ROMANIA braced on Friday for a wave of protests after the president unveiled austerity cuts in public sector wages and pensions to meet a deficit target set by the IMF and avoid a Greek emergency scenario.
Plan for Congressional Audits of Fed Dies in Senate: Last-minute maneuvering in the Senate allowed the Federal Reserve to sidestep legislation that would have exposed its interest-rate decision-making to congressional auditors.
U.S. Food Prices ‘Spiraling Out of Control’: U.S. food prices jumped by 2.4 percent in March 2010 in the largest monthly leap in more than 26 years, and the sixth consecutive monthly increase.
Food-stamp tally nears 40 million, sets record: The Agriculture Department said 39.68 million people, or 1 in 8 Americans, were enrolled for food stamps during February, an increase of 260,000 from January. USDA updated its figures on Wednesday.
Unemployment rate rises to 9.9%: Some 800,000 workers reentered the job market last month. Many of them did not find jobs, so the unemployment rate increased from 9.7 to 9.9 percent.
Broader U-6 Unemployment Rate Increases to 17.1% in April: The U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.9% in April, the first increase in three months, but the government’s broader measure of unemployment ticked up for the third month in a row, rising 0.2 percentage point to 17.1%.
Unemployment insurance system is in crisis: A record 20 million Americans collected unemployment benefits last year, and twenty-six states have run out of funds and been forced to borrow from the federal government, raise taxes, or cut benefits.

Posted by Information Clearing House at 13:48 0 comments

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Thursday, 6 May 2010

News For May 06, 2010

A Timetable For War

By Philip Giraldi
Relying on a complaisant media that has fully embraced the fabricated narrative of fanatical Mullahs brandishing nuclear weapons shortly before handing them over to al-Qaeda, a majority of Americans now believes that Iran must be dealt with by force and that it already has a nuclear weapon.  Continue

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‘Real Men Go to Tehran!’
Loose Lips on Iran Can Sink America

By Ray McGovern
Think back seven years and recall the Blackwater-style bravado from the lips of neoconservatives like Donald Rumsfeld’s crony Kenneth Adelman — the fellow who assured us all that Iraq would be a “cakewalk.” Continue

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Voting In Britain For War. Take Your Pick
By John Pilger
All three party leaders are warmongers. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrats leader and darling of former Blair lovers, says that as prime minister he will “participate” in another invasion of a “failed state” provided there is “the right equipment, the right resources”. Continue

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Khadr Routinely Trussed Up In Cage, Hearing Told
By Paul Koring
Omar Khadr, then a gravely wounded 15-year-old, was routinely trussed up in a cage “in one of the worst places on Earth,” according to a hulking former military interrogator nicknamed Monster who says he felt sorry for the Canadian and brought him books and treats. Continue

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A New Low For US Politicians?
Candidate pulls no punches in new ads
Video
Watch three of Fanellie’s campaign ads from his website addressing homeland security, national defense, and racial profiling issues and see what you think. Continue

Information Clearing House

S&P-to-Gold Ratio: on Verge of 1.00 Breakdown

Greek Dog Squeeze Now Accepted at ECB

Bank of America Hit with Mark of the Beast Graffiti

Regulatory Capture Defined: Sheila Bair

Pro-Illegal Immigration Protester Threatens to Murder Police

Judge Orders Release of 9 Hutaree Milita

Census Workers Get Ready for Door-To-Door Count

Crews Race to Fix Break in Boston’s Water Supply

Former U.S. President Clinton Tries to Head a Dictatorship in Haiti

Christian Preacher Arrested for Saying Homosexuality Is a Sin

Bailout Bill Would Require Banks to Track and Report Personal Checking Accounts to Feds

Halliburton May Be Culprit in Oil Rig Explosion

Did DHS Pressure Teen to Get Abortion?

Pakistani US Citizen ‘Trying to Flee US’

Times Square Car Bomb: Police Investigate South Park Link

Pakistan Taliban Leader ‘Killed by CIA Drone’ Surfaces on Internet to Threaten U.S.

Pittsburgh Marathon Course Altered By Bomb Scare

Orwellian Big Brother Tax Collection Commercial Airs in Pennsylvania – video

The EMP Threat and Electronic Gun Vault Locks

‘Smart Dust’ Aims to Monitor Everything

German-Japanese Flight to Moon and Mars in 1945-46

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Times Square Cleared as Bomb Found in Parked SUV

NYPD Arrest Man Found in Subway with Sodium Cyanide

‘Suspicious’ Package Found on Red Line at 95th Just a Pipe

Steve Quayle’s World: It’s a Blast!

Jo Comerford
TomDispatch
Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:10 EDT

An Introduction by Tom Engelhardt:
If you’re an average American taxpayer, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have, since 2001, cost you personally $7,334, according to the "cost of war" counter created by the National Priorities Project (NPP). They have cost all Americans collectively more than $980,000,000,000. As a country, we’ll pass the trillion dollar mark soon. These are staggering figures and, despite the $72.3 billion that Congress has already ponied up for the Afghan War in 2010 ($136.8 billion if you add in Iraq), the administration is about to go back to Congress for more than $35 billion in outside-the-budget supplemental funds to cover the president’s military and civilian Afghan surges. When that passes, as it surely will, the cumulative cost of the Afghan War alone will hit $300 billion, and we’ll be heading for two trillion-dollar wars.
In the meantime, just so you know, that $300 billion, according to the NPP, could have paid for healthcare for 131,780,734 American children for a year, or for 53,872,201 students to receive Pell Grants of $5,550, or for the salaries and benefits of 4,911,552 elementary school teachers for that same year.
April 15th is almost upon us, and Jo Comerford, TomDispatch regular as well as the NPP’s executive director, decided to take a look at one restive American community under the gun (so to speak) as tax day rolls around again. Our wars seem — and are — so far away, so divorced from American lives. If someone you know well hasn’t been wounded or killed in one of them, it can be hard to grasp just how they are also wounding this society. Here’s one way.

Tax Day and America’s Wars
What the Mayor of One Community Hard Hit by War Spending Is Doing
By Jo Comerford
Matt Ryan, the mayor of Binghamton, New York, is sick and tired of watching people in local communities "squabble over crumbs," as he puts it, while so much local money pours into the Pentagon’s coffers and into America’s wars. He’s so sick and tired of it, in fact, that, urged on by local residents, he’s decided to do something about it. He’s planning to be the first mayor in the United States to decorate the façade of City Hall with a large, digital "cost of war" counter, funded entirely by private contributions.
That counter will offer a constantly changing estimate of the total price Binghamton’s taxpayers have been paying for our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since October 2001. By September 30, 2010, the city’s "war tax" will reach $138.6 million — or even more if, as expected, Congress passes an Obama administration request for supplemental funds to cover the president’s "surge" in Afghanistan. Mayor Ryan wants, he says, to put the counter "where everyone can see it, so that my constituents are urged to have a much-needed conversation."
In doing so, he’s joining a growing chorus of mayors, including Chicago’s Richard Daley and Boston’s Thomas Menino, who are ever more insistently drawing attention to what Ryan calls the country’s "skewed national priorities," especially the local impact of military and war spending. With more than three years left in his current term, Ryan has decided to pull out all the stops to reach his neighbors and constituents, all 47,000 of them, especially the near quarter of the city’s inhabitants who currently live below the poverty line and the 9% who are officially unemployed.
A Hard Hit Rust-Belt City
Like so many post-industrial rust-belt communities, Binghamton was hard hit by the financial meltdown of 2008 and the Great Recession that followed, though it faired better than a number of similar cities, in part because Ryan, his administration, and the Binghamton City Council are a smart and scrappy crew. No doubt that’s why he earned the New York State Conference of Mayors Public Administration and Management award two years running.
These days, however, even the smartest and scrappiest of mayors still has to face grim reality. In July 2009, as the city began developing the 2010 budget, Ryan projected a $7 million shortfall. Contributing factors included a likely $700,000 decline in sales tax revenue, ever rising healthcare costs, increased pension contributions to replace funds lost in the market during the collapse of 2008-09, and a $500,000 drop in the return on the city’s investment portfolio.
With worse times ahead, thanks in part to the projected end of federal stimulus money and a city drained dry of reserves, Ryan has had to face a classically unpalatable choice: raise city sales taxes from 7% to an unheard of 24% or cut city jobs. He chose jobs, as have the vast majority of mayors and governors across the country, eliminating 39 of them. In the process, he sought greater program efficiencies and wrestled with ways to increase city revenues while cutting ever closer to Binghamton’s proverbial bone.
It was in the context of this kind of local pain that Ryan was stunned to discover just how much of Binghamton’s taxes were going to the military and to our distant wars, and how little was coming back to Binghamton in the form of aid and services. "When I first saw the cost of war numbers and made the connections," Ryan remarks, "I had to wonder if we’re ever going to get our priorities straight as a nation. It’s like we’re facing an attack on government. As a mayor, I can see so clearly what increased federal spending could do for the people of my city."
Ryan’s message doesn’t resonate with all of his constituents — some have walked out on his public appearances — but he’s used to controversy and convinced that Americans had better get their heads straight soon. "People are hurting so bad," he insists, "that, like it or not, we’re all going to have to look at things seriously if we want our situation to change."
Heads should swivel, he thinks, when faced with the $138.6 million Binghamton’s taxpayers are out of pocket since 2001 for the Iraq and Afghan wars. And that’s not even counting the city’s share of the supplemental funds Congress will undoubtedly agree to this spring to cover the Afghan "surge" or the city’s portion of the basic Pentagon budget for the same period.
For a small city with an annual budget of $81.1 million, $138.6 million would be a hefty sum, even in non-recessionary times. For the same amount of money, Ryan could fund the Binghamton city library for the next 60 years, or pay for a four-year education for 95% of the incoming freshman class at the State University of New York at Binghamton, or offer four years of quality health coverage for everyone in Binghamton 19 or younger, or secure renewable electricity for every home in the city for the next 11 years. If he was feeling really flush, he could fully fund one-third of New York State’s Head Start slots for one year.
For the same sum, Ryan could also authorize a $2,900 tax refund for every woman, man, and child in Binghamton or pay the salaries of all of Binghamton’s hard-hit public school teachers and staff for about two years.
For $138.6 million, Mayor Ryan could hire 2,765 public safety officers for a year, or simply refund the 12 police positions cut in the latest budget contraction and guarantee those salaries for the next 230 years. Ridiculous? These days, no one is laughing in Binghamton or other cities like it.
A Community Starved by War
As tax day looms on April 15th, Ryan increasingly thinks about where Binghamton’s tax dollars will be heading and dreams about a government system that would have the potential to raise and spend tax revenue in the service of social benefits like affordable healthcare.
He’s disturbed by how Binghamton’s tax dollars will be distributed and what they will — and won’t — buy for his city. Consider, for instance, where the 2009 taxes paid by a median income Binghamton household actually went. That year, such a household’s income hovered around $30,000 annually, while its members paid approximately $738 in federal income taxes.
According to the tax-day analysis of the National Priorities Project (NPP), an overwhelming 218 of those dollars went to pay for military expenditures and interest on military-related debt (generated, in part, by current war spending). The next highest amount — $137 — went to healthcare, including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
In 2009, $67, nearly 10 cents on every tax dollar, went to an aggregated category of spending NPP has titled "government," tripling it in a single year, largely thanks to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), otherwise known as the bank bailout, whose cost every community in America has had to shoulder. Fifty-eight dollars (8.5 cents on every income-tax dollar) went to increased unemployment insurance payments and job-training initiatives, also a rise from the previous year.
Not surprisingly, the $15 that went to elementary, secondary, higher, and vocational education in 2009 represented a drop from 2008, a loss of a penny on every tax dollar. There’s no way, of course, that Mayor Ryan’s dream of free, quality education from kindergarten to college is likely to happen on but 2% of every individual federal income tax dollar. Nor will we usher in the green techno-revolution that he and President Obama both support, by spending 2.5 cents on every dollar for the combined categories of the environment, energy, and science, and another 1.3 cents of every dollar on transportation.
"It’s a double whammy," Ryan says. "We have a revenue problem and a values and priorities problem in this nation."
Some desperate city leaders have suggested that the Mayor cut workers’ pensions to help close the city’s budget gap. Matt Ryan doesn’t see that as a solution to anything. "I have secretaries making $25,000 or $30,000. I’m not about to cut their net, such as it is. We have to think long haul. We have to look at fundamental changes if we’re going to make it as a country. We should all be talking about this — all the time."
A construction crew will soon arrive to install Binghamton’s "cost of war" counter which will overlook the city’s busiest intersection and spur conversation around tax day. During the three minutes local motorists wait at the nearby traffic light, they can join Mayor Ryan in waving good-bye to $100. And Binghamton as a whole can grapple with spending $49,650 in war costs every day of 2010.

Jo Comerford is the executive director of the National Priorities Project. Previously, she served as director of programs at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and directed the American Friends Service Committee’s justice and peace-related community organizing efforts in western Massachusetts.

 

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/206594-Tax-Day-and-America-s-Wars-What-the-Mayor-of-One-Community-Hard-Hit-by-War-Spending-is-Doing

Best of the Web: Confirmed: Obama authorizes assassination of U.S. citizen

Glenn Greenwald
Salon.com
Wed, 07 Apr 2010 04:08 EDT

© Wikipedia
Anwar al-Awlaki

In late January, I wrote about the Obama administration’s "presidential assassination program," whereby American citizens are targeted for killings far away from any battlefield, based exclusively on unchecked accusations by the Executive Branch that they’re involved in Terrorism. At the time, The Washington Post‘s Dana Priest had noted deep in a long article that Obama had continued Bush’s policy (which Bush never actually implemented) of having the Joint Chiefs of Staff compile "hit lists" of Americans, and Priest suggested that the American-born Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was on that list. The following week, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, Adm. Dennis Blair, acknowledged in Congressional testimony that the administration reserves the "right" to carry out such assassinations.
Today, both The New York Times and The Washington Post confirm that the Obama White House has now expressly authorized the CIA to kill al-Alwaki no matter where he is found, no matter his distance from a battlefield. I wrote at length about the extreme dangers and lawlessness of allowing the Executive Branch the power to murder U.S. citizens far away from a battlefield (i.e., while they’re sleeping, at home, with their children, etc.) and with no due process of any kind. I won’t repeat those arguments — they’re here and here — but I do want to highlight how unbelievably Orwellian and tyrannical this is in light of these new articles today.

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Best of the Web: Cops Abuse Paraplegic Man In Wheelchair, Then Laugh About It

Eclipp TV
Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:57 EDT

Read More…

SOTT Focus: How We Can Make Mass Global Enlightenment Happen For Real

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:44 EDT

© Sott.net

A rather funny thing happened at the beginning of this month that involved a fictitious article penned by the little known but much loved Igantious O’Reilly for publication on April Fool’s Day. The article, Sudden Mass American Enlightenment Puzzles Congress and Causes National Security Alert, very quickly became a hugely popular editorial that was picked up by thousands of alternative news websites, forums and discussion groups around the world.
What was it about this article that resonated with so many people?
In times such as these, the powers that be seem to be getting even more desperate to hold onto control and keep the wool pulled over our eyes. A message of hope that the world CAN change is a powerful one, provided that as many of us as possible wake up to the reality of the lies we have been told. We CAN collaborate by sharing our knowledge and joining together to form new communities that no longer feed the greedy, power-hungry ambitions of the psychopaths who are world leaders, financial oligarchs, and run or own multinational conglomerates.
To protect ourselves, what needs to be done is to wake up as many other people as possible. Only when a sufficient number of people are awake will they be able to awaken those around them. Then, and only then, will it be possible to form a united movement to simply remove all support from the psychopaths that have taken over our world and begin planning for the future of OUR children – rather than the offspring of the ruling psychopaths.

Read More…

SOTT Focus: Connecting the Dots: Zionist Melodrama, Domestic Terrorism, Papal Bull

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Mon, 05 Apr 2010 10:01 EDT

© SOTT.net

As the northern hemisphere struggles to shake off one of its coldest winters in living memory, controversy in Zion is heating up the race for global supremacy. Has a rupture of potentially seismic proportions set the US and Israel on a collision course with global consequences? Or are we witnessing a scripted drama that’s just the latest move on the grand chessboard? The Secret Team hopes to load the dice in its favor whatever the outcome.
Can the waters of 9/11 Truth be held back much longer? After 9 years of successful containment, is it finally breaching the information wall? We’ll examine the recent string of blatant attempts to frame Americans for "domestic terrorism" against the background moves to implement full lockdown before 9/11 Truth goes viral. The metro bombings in Moscow bore all the hallmarks of a War of Terror™ false-flag terror attack, replete with premature forensics, the official story contradicting eyewitness accounts and a Bin Laden-style video message. The first question to always ask is, Qui bono?
The Pope hasn’t a prayer of coming out of this month unscathed. It’s a measure of the visibly pathological state of the Catholic Church that it’s hierarchy should invoke the most despicable slur available to stave off its day of reckoning, and in doing so, firmly align itself with that other death cult which invokes "religion" to justify its toxic existence in Palestine. Climategate firmly knocked The Church of Anthropogenic Global Warming out of its pulpit; the only water rising there is denial, with much of the herd still adamant that bovine excrement is causing climate change and must urgently be capped with the help of ‘green debt’ in the form of Carbon Default Swaps.
We can assure you that there are no real anti-Semites or "Islamo-fascists" out there worth losing any sleep over, but there is a strong whiff of fascism with a distinctly Christian-Zionist odor bubbling up from below like methane from the ocean floor. We’ll chart the rise of the Pathocracy’s Uruk-hai footsoldiers and note the gains made by far-right parties across Europe in March. Countering the rising fascist tides are hopeful signs of people power and resistance to the entropic trend.
Join us as we connect the dots in March…

Read More…

Read More SOTT Focus / Read More Best of the Web

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• People Power! A Community’s action saves bankers from themselves
• Soros: It’s Not Easy Being God
• Ireland: Bailout has turned us from citizens into serfs

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The Living Planet

• Cold, Even by Siberian Standards
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• The Science Fiction Of Global Warming
• Etna showing signs of new eruptions?
• Brazil: 200 Feared Dead as New Mudslide Hits Rio Slum
• Cosmic Climate Change: Psychedelic dragon trail left behind by Discovery
• High-speed solar wind stream blowing around Earth sparks some of the strongest geomagnetic storms and brightest auroras in years
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Health & Wellness

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• Scientists Link Chemical in Baby Products to Birth Defects and Cancer
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Science & Technology

• Discovery that quasars don’t show time dilation mystifies astronomers
• New Moon Rock is Fit for a King
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• Scientists discover ‘missing link between man and apes’
• Secrecy in Science is Corrosive
• Hubble snaps heavyweight of the Leo Triplet
• Researchers Shed Light on Ancient Assyrian Tablets
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Our Haunted Planet

• US: Four large triangle-shaped UFOs hover over San Diego, California
• Canada: Gift from the Heavens
• Animal mutilations prompt (not so) wild conspiracy theories
• US: Orbs over Las Vegas split into three triangle shapes
• US: ‘Huge triangle of light’ moves over Oakland, California
• US: Silent UFO hovers 300 feet over Oklahoma field along turnpike
• US: Multiple witnesses watch ‘bright objects’ maneuver over Los Angeles, California
• UK: Fighter Jets Chase UFO Down the M5 Freeway
• England: Several witnesses see three orange objects in a triangle-shaped formation (video)
• England: Witness sees a bright orange pyramid-shaped object in the night sky

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Don’t Panic! Lighten Up!

• Women arrested in UK for taking corpse onto plane
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• Satire: UK General Election 2010: first reality TV game show next week
• It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Russia’s "flying saucer"
• Satire: World Bank official says change "Trillion" to "Trololo" to Hide Extent of US National Debt
• Jordanian paper’s April Fool’s UFOs spark panic
• Men are indeed pigs, book affirms
• Pennsylvania: Lottery Pays $7.77 Million After 7-7-7-7 Hits

— More Recent News —

 

 

Alabama

(1) Jefferson County Department of Health, Alabama $13.3 Million (Obesity $6.3 Million, Tobacco $7 Million)
Alabama ranks as the third unhealthiest state and the second most obese state in the nation. The Jefferson County project is committed to changing environments where residents live, work, learn, and play to ensure that the healthy choice is the easy choice to make for all generations. Focused interventions include improving options for safe physical activity by supporting mixed-use land development; developing greenways to increase everyday movement and access to physical activity hot spots; improving access to healthy food and beverage options in “food deserts”; establishing neighborhood walking groups in low-income communities; promoting exercise as medicine through employer-sponsored flexible spending accounts; and disseminating health information through mass media and targeted radio dramas.

Jefferson County’s tobacco use prevention and cessation initiative will promote changes in policies to reduce smoking opportunities and reduce access to tobacco products. The county will encourage coverage of cessation services and products through worksite insurance and health policies. The county will also continue its efforts to highlight the negative aspects of tobacco use via an aggressive educational campaign including social networking sites.

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Arizona

(1) Pima County, Arizona $15.8 Million
Pima County Health Department will work with Activate Tucson and other partners in a variety of activities that will increase physical activity and improve nutrition in Pima County by ensuring that residents have convenient and affordable access to safe, high-quality parks and recreation facilities; residents have improved access to affordable, healthy, locally produced food through the fostering of private and community gardens, composting cooperatives, farmers markets, and food cooperatives; schools serve as centers of wellness for students, staff, and the surrounding neighborhoods; wellness education and health promotion practices are incorporated into workplaces, health and human services organizations, and faith-based settings; and residents enjoy restaurants that provide them with information that helps them make healthy food choices. To help realize this vision, the health department will also coordinate a culturally relevant public education campaign that includes television, radio, and outdoor advertising and communications tailored to neighborhoods, schools, worksites, health and human services agencies, and faith-based organizations serving Pima County.

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California

(1) County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, California $32.1 Million (Obesity $15.9 Million, Tobacco $16.2 Million)
The Department of Public Health will launch a new initiative, Renew Environments for Nutrition, Exercise & Wellness in Los Angeles County (Renew LAC), to reduce the obesity epidemic in this populous region. In the area of nutrition, the initiative will implement a targeted public education campaign in an effort to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and promote healthy eating. To target physical activity, the initiative will increase capacity to implement physical education policies in schools.

The Tobacco Control & Prevention Program will implement Project TRUST, which aims to further reduce smoking prevalence and decrease exposure to secondhand smoke, especially in disadvantaged communities. Activities include producing a multifaceted educational campaign and encouraging comprehensive smoke-free outdoor air policies.

(2) County of San Diego Health & Human Services Agency, California $16.1 Million
To promote improved nutrition, the County of San Diego will address regional food systems and the establishment of a San Diego-based food distribution center, link local food demand to supply, and increase access to healthy foods, especially in high-need areas. To increase physical activity, interventions will improve the built environment through integrating public health in transportation and land use planning policies.  To promote healthy school environments, the county will enhance and implement school wellness and before- and after-school physical activity policies to create environments that promote nutrition, physical activity, and overall student wellness.

(3) County of Santa Clara Public Health Department, California $6.9 Million
Santa Clara County’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program will use media and other educational strategies to counter pro-tobacco influences, support the establishment of local tobacco retail licensing requirements, limit tobacco advertising near schools, support evidence-based pricing strategies to deter tobacco use, and build greater capacity for smoking cession services. The program also will include focused efforts on populations that smoke in disproportionately high numbers and suffer disproportionately from the burdens of chronic disease.

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Colorado

(1) Tri-County Health Department, Colorado $10.5 Million
The Tri-County Health Department, the largest local health department in Colorado which serves more than a million residents of Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas Counties, will partner with schools to enhance school wellness policies and support Safe Routes to School activities. The Department will also conduct an educational campaign to raise awareness of the many benefits of healthy eating and physical activity; advise municipalities in their city planning, zoning, and transportation efforts to promote physical activity and access to healthy foods; increase signage for healthy menu items in restaurants; establish community gardens to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables and physical activity; and support community  partners in advancing additional policy, systems, and environmental changes to promote healthy eating and physical activity.

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District of Columbia

(1) District of Columbia Department of Health, District of Columbia, $4.9 Million
The District of Columbia will implement Live Well DC, a comprehensive wellness campaign to cultivate a culture of wellness where people live, work, learn, and play. Live Well DC will use media for public education, explore limiting tobacco access through zoning/license restrictions, restrict point-of-purchase advertising of tobacco products, support the elimination of price discounts, and provide social support through quitline and other cessation services.

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Florida

(1) Miami-Dade County Health Department, Florida $14.7 Million
The Miami-Dade County Health Department will increase the availability of healthy foods and beverages by revising procurement policies and practices at schools, worksites, hospitals, and other community institutions. Miami-Dade hopes to reduce sodium consumption in Miami-Dade County through labeling initiatives and restaurant standards. These efforts will be complemented by a media campaign to promote healthy food and drink choices and increased physical activity. The department plans to enhance signage for bike lanes, boulevards, and walkable neighborhoods to encourage physical activity such as biking and walking. The Department will also work with child care facilities to increase the amount of physical activity.

(2) Orange County Health Department, Florida $6.6 Million
Orange County will implement tobacco prevention and control policy changes that will expand the smoke-free environment to all Orange County and municipal parks, reduce youth access to tobacco, and implement Ask, Advise, Refer as part of tobacco use assessments by health care providers. To accomplish these goals, Orange County will educate policy makers about the impact of usage bans (100% smoke-free policies or 100% tobacco-free policies) and zoning restrictions; increase labeling, signage, and placement to discourage consumption of tobacco; support evidence-based pricing strategies that discourage tobacco use; and implement quitline and other cessation services. Policy, systems, and environmental interventions will be implemented in schools, parks, health care provider offices, and neighborhoods to support behavior change among residents of all ages.

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Georgia

(1) DeKalb County Board of Health, Georgia $3.2 Million
The DeKalb County Initiative aims to create a healthier, tobacco-free community by implementing evidence-based intervention strategies to increase awareness of the health consequences of tobacco use, decrease exposure to secondhand smoke, increase efforts to restrict youth access to tobacco products, support pricing strategies to decrease tobacco use, increase access to cessation resources, and increase social support for residents ready to quit using tobacco. Proposed interventions include establishing tobacco-free parks and college campuses and conducting a multi-ethnic educational campaign to ensure that tobacco-free messages span the spectrum of DeKalb’s population.

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Hawaii

Hawaii Department of Health $3.4 Million
(1) Kauai
Kauai will increase residents’ awareness and knowledge of healthy eating and active living through multiple media venues; increase physical activity and improve nutrition through social support, culturally appropriate education, and behavior change; increase access to and consumption of local produce including links to restaurants and grocery stores; restrict the availability of unhealthy foods in schools; promote healthy foods in grocery stores; and improve active transport and public transportation infrastructure.

(2) Maui
Maui will work to prevent obesity by educating residents, increasing knowledge, and raising awareness about healthy eating and active living through multiple media venues; increasing physical activity and improving nutrition through social support, culturally appropriate education and behavior change; increasing access to and consumption of local produce; restricting the availability of unhealthy foods in schools; promoting healthy foods in grocery stores; and improving active transport and public transportation infrastructure.

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Illinois

(1) Cook County (Cook County Department of Public Health/Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago), Illinois $15.9 Million
The Cook County initiative will include two principal components: informing state and local decision makers about evidence- and practice-based pricing and access strategies to improve nutrition and physical activity outcomes, and facilitating and empowering local-level change by providing financial and technical resources to local governments, community-based organizations, and other institutions participating in a proposed Model Communities and Model Schools program.

(2) City of Chicago (Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago), Illinois $11.6 Million
Chicago’s Tobacco Prevention Project will implement citywide policy strategies designed to decrease tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke, with concentrated efforts aimed at high-burden population groups. Population-based strategies include public education and policies to prohibit vending and restrict tobacco advertising in retail outlets and in the community. The project will increase the availability of cessation services by enhancing insurance coverage and creating health care and community systems that support tobacco control initiatives through engaging diverse communities.

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Indiana

Indiana State Department of Health $5.4 Million
(1) Bartholomew County, Indiana
Bartholomew County will promote healthy nutrition by decreasing the cost of healthy foods relative to unhealthy foods and increasing the number of organizations adopting healthy meeting guidelines. The county will promote increased physical activity by reducing screen time in after-school programs, supporting daily physical activity in after-school programs, and increasing point-of-decision health prompts at stairwells and elevators in public venues.

(2) Vanderburgh County, Indiana
Vanderburgh County will expand the reach of its HEROES healthy schools initiative, based on CDC’s Coordinated School Health Model, by adding more schools within the public system and introducing the initiative within several of the Catholic Diocese schools. On the broader community level, the Move•ment initiative will negotiate healthy vending options, post signage in walkable areas and point-of-decision prompts in high-traffic areas, support breastfeeding in the workplace, and develop a Safe Routes to School plan.

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Iowa

Iowa Department of Public Health $3.3 Million
(1) Linn County, Iowa
Linn County Department of Public Health and its community partners will work to increase the number of Linn County businesses with 100% tobacco-free policies, inform local policy makers about evidence- and practice-based pricing and access strategies, and provide tobacco cessation counseling, referral, and nicotine replacement therapy to clients of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program.

(2) Ringgold County, Iowa
Ringgold County will mobilize local resources and strengthen capacity to expand the use of evidence-based strategies and programs to decrease the health effects of tobacco in the low-income, rural community. Policy changes will promote cessation services, reduce smoking in homes and vehicles, and support the elimination of free tobacco sampling on the property of the county fairground.

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Kentucky

(1) Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, Kentucky $7.9 Million
Community-wide strategies include releasing a “Food Fight” educational campaign and creating an initiative to enhance infrastructure to support bicycling and walking.  School-based strategies will increase student input in food and beverage choices and use student-grown produce. The project will also implement strategies that focus on neighborhoods in need by improving community policing to create safe places to walk, connecting neighborhoods to walking trails, and implementing  “Healthy in a Hurry” corner stores to increase the availability of healthy foods in undeserved neighborhoods.

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Maine

Maine Department of Health and Human Services $4.3 Million
(1) Healthy Portland, City of Portland Health and Human Services Department, Public Health Division
The Power up Portland initiative will increase access to healthy foods and promote physical activity by establishing farm-to-school food systems; sponsoring a public education campaign to promote healthy foods and beverages; providing support for required daily structured physical activity in after-school/child care settings; taking actions designed to increase the number of safe, attractive, and accessible places for activity; increasing physical activity opportunities and signage in walkable/mixed-use neighborhoods and public transportation (e.g., through bike lanes/boulevards); facilitating increased use of parks and facilities through subsidization of membership; and facilitating increased physical activity through Safe Routes to School programs.

(2) Healthy Lakes, Communities Promoting Health Coalition, People’s Regional Opportunity Program
The Healthy Lakes, Healthy Lives initiative will work with schools and community institutions in the Lakes Region to increase knowledge of and access to nutritious locally grown food.  The community will increase options for physical activity in elementary schools and after-school programs; for older youth, it will create outing clubs at each middle and high school, offering opportunities to students not interested in traditional school sports to become engaged in less competitive ways of getting physically fit. To encourage increased physical activity by adults, the community will increase signage for public trails and will work with Lakes Region recreation departments, adult education centers, and private fitness facilities to offer subsidized memberships.  The community also will conduct public education campaigns promoting healthy foods, healthy beverages, and physical activity opportunities.

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Massachusetts

(1) Boston Public Health Commission, Massachusetts $12.5 Million (Obesity $6.4 Million, Tobacco $6.1 Million)
The Commission’s nutrition/physical activity initiative will support 1) decreased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages; 2) increased active transit through a new bike share program and implementation of Complete Streets policies; 3) improved neighborhood-based food production and distribution through environmental changes for additional community/backyard gardening and land use policies; and 4) enhanced integration of high-quality and frequent physical activity and education into the school day.

The Commission’s tobacco prevention effort will engage youth and community members in policy efforts to reduce youth tobacco use and exposure, including reducing exposure of youth and communities of color to tobacco industry marketing. A smoke-free homes initiative will result in 1,000 new units of smoke-free housing in Boston. Finally, the initiative will ensure the availability of multilingual smoking cessation services to Boston residents and build public awareness to utilize services. To ensure sustainability, the project will embed smoking cessation referral systems in electronic health records and provide training and technical assistance to health care professionals in accessing health insurance reimbursement for smoking cessation services.

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Minnesota

Minnesota Department of Health $5.9 Million
(1) Minneapolis, Minnesota
To reduce obesity by improving nutrition and increasing physical activity, Minneapolis will improve park safety; increase youth access to transportation; improve mobility/access plans; improve the biking and walking environment and access to locally grown foods in underserved neighborhoods; provide structured family recreational opportunities in school buildings; support access to farmer’s markets; and enhance Safe Routes to School.

(2) Olmsted County, Minnesota
To reduce the burden of obesity, Olmsted County will implement way-finding signage, and promote Olmsted County as a destination for recreational trails; decrease the relative costs of healthy foods and beverages in community vending machines; and enhance Safe Routes to School.

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Missouri

(1) St. Louis County, Missouri $7.6 Million
The St. Louis County Department of Health will engage in a variety of interventions to decrease secondhand smoke exposure, increase smoking cessation, and reduce smoking initiation. Strategies include mounting an educational campaign to promote comprehensive tobacco control, implementing voluntary retailer advertising policies, increasing use of the quitline, increasing employer-sponsored cessation coverage, and implementing a system of tobacco use screening and counseling. Changing Tobacco Norms in St. Louis County is a collaborative effort that will promote 100% smoke-free workplaces and public venues for county residents, workers, and visitors.

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Nebraska

(1) Douglas County Health Department, Nebraska $5.7 Million
The Douglas County Health Department, through the Live Well Omaha community partnership, will implement community-wide and targeted communication strategies to promote physical activity and healthy eating messages and to invite organizational commitment to policy change. The project will also focus on enhancing signage for community trails, parks, and green spaces; adding opportunities for alternate modes of transportation; expanding Safe Routes to School to include connections to public spaces such as libraries; and adding physical activity standards and limiting sweetened beverages in after-school programs. In addition, the project will increase the number of healthy food options in the community by introducing Healthy Stores—a program employing product placement and pricing strategies along with community education—and a Farm to School program centered around school gardens.  

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Nevada

(1) Southern Nevada Health District, Nevada $14.6 Million
Located in Clark County, the project will be managed by the Southern Nevada Health District Tobacco Control Program. Specific strategies will include supporting the elimination of tobacco industry sponsorships and implementing restrictions related to minors’ possessing, using, and purchasing cigarettes. These changes are intended to support residents in making choices to abstain from using tobacco products and to limit exposure to secondhand smoke. The program’s interventions and strategies will impact all age groups in multiple sectors (i.e., schools, worksites, places of faith, communities). Practice- and evidence-based strategies will include social support in the schools and communities to reinforce the behaviors being promoted by the proposed policy and environmental changes.

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New Mexico

(1) Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico $0.9 million
The Pueblo of Jemez Health and Human Services Department will hire health educators to design and implement education initiatives in schools and to coordinate wellness activities for adults in the community to promote increased physical activity, promote healthy food and beverage choices, and support the local growers’ market.  These and related interventions will focus on increasing the availability of healthy foods for children and the community and decreasing the availability of unhealthy foods. The Pueblo will work with local growers to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables for all ages. Physical activity interventions will focus both on increasing physical education classes for all grades and on expanding physical activity opportunities for all members of the community.

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New York

(1) New York City (Fund for Public Health in New York, Inc.), New York $31.1 Million (Obesity $15.5 Million, Tobacco $15.6 Million)
New York City will use multiple strategies to prevent obesity and improve health. To encourage consumption of healthy foods, the city will increase the availability of fresh produce, promote venues (e.g. farmers’ markets, mobile vendors, local bodegas) where fruits and vegetables are sold, and make produce and tap water more accessible in schools. At the same time, the city will sponsor major awareness campaigns to discourage consumption of unhealthy foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, and oversized portions. NYC will also work to set policies and create environments that reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and overly salted foods. And to get New Yorkers moving, the city will train thousands of teachers in physical education and promote “active design” by planners and architects. It will also use communication campaigns to encourage people to improve their health and protect the environment by biking, walking, and using the stairs instead of elevators.

New York City will also expand and enhance its comprehensive tobacco control program. Proposed activities include expanding the department’s campaign to educate the public and policy makers about the adverse impacts of tobacco; enhancing the city’s nicotine patch and gum program to better support smokers trying to quit; and supporting interventions to benefit groups with disproportionately high rates of smoking, including individuals with mental health and substance abuse disorders, low-income residents, and young adults.

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Ohio

(1) Hamilton County General Health District, Ohio $6.7 Million
Project strategies will include an educational campaign to promote healthy eating and physical activity, improved access to healthy options through implementation of school-based vending policies and community garden development, improved access to safe spaces for physical activity through school-to-community shared-use agreements, and policies to support 30 minutes of daily physical activity in after-school programs. The project also plans to expand the use of existing subsidies for community recreation, use geographic information systems (GIS) mapping to document and promote healthy eating and physical activity resources, and expand infrastructure for faith-based health ministries to provide social support for change.

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Oklahoma

(1) Cherokee Nation Health Service Group, Oklahoma $2.1 Million (Obesity $1 Million, Tobacco $1.1 Million)
To tackle the burden of obesity, the Cherokee Nation will develop local media strategies to promote healthy food and beverage choices; limit unhealthy food and beverage availability in schools; implement farm-to-school programs; adopt quality physical education in schools; increase safe, attractive, and accessible places for physical activity; adopt procurement and purchasing policies to reduce the price of healthy foods; develop prompts for healthy food and beverage items and implement menu labeling; reduce the cost of recreation services; and expand activity groups in workplaces, community gathering places, parks, and neighborhoods.

The Cherokee Nation will address the burden of tobacco use by implementing 24/7 tobacco-free policies in various sectors of the community; developing product placement guidelines for Cherokee Nation businesses and a voluntary product placement program for other merchants not operated by the Cherokee Nation; supporting the elimination of free samples of tobacco and price discounts at Cherokee Nation businesses and events; and increasing access to cessation services for students and for patients of Cherokee Nation Health Services and area Indian Health Services.

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Oregon

(1) Multnomah County Health Department, Oregon $7.5 Million
To promote healthy eating, the Chronic Disease Prevention Program (CDPP) will create a Healthy Active Schools Network to work collaboratively with school districts and community partners to reduce the availability of unhealthy foods and beverages and increase the availability of healthy foods and beverages. To promote physical activity, CDPP will work to increase the proportion of bike, pedestrian, public transit, and other active transportation projects rather than road-widening and expansion projects.

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Pennsylvania

(1) Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Pennsylvania $25.4 Million (Obesity $15 Million, Tobacco $10.4 Million)
In the area of nutrition and physical activity, Philadelphia will make healthy foods more available and affordable by dramatically expanding the number of farmers’ markets in low-income neighborhoods and by creating 1,000 healthy corner stores that sell fresh produce and water. Unhealthy foods will be removed from school stores and fundraisers, and a citywide pedestrian and bike plan will be completed.

Philadelphia’s tobacco initiative will utilize public education campaigns and policies to promote an anti-smoking, pro-cessation climate in a city where nearly three in ten adults smoke regularly. Smokers will be encouraged to quit with assistance from the state quitline, large-scale giveaways of nicotine replacement products, and comprehensive cessation benefits through employers and insurers. Philadelphia will also seek to limit access to and marketing of tobacco products to minors.

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Rhode Island

Rhode Island Department of Health $3.3 Million
(1) Providence, Rhode Island
The Providence Putting Prevention to Work, Tobacco-Free Campaign is a state-coordinated, small-city partnership led by the Rhode Island Department of Health and the City of Providence.  The project will work to curtail tobacco vendor marketing and point-of-sale practices, restrict tobacco advertising within 1,000 feet of schools, create a new city registration requirement for tobacco vendors, enhance tobacco vendor training and support to ensure compliance with new tobacco laws, pilot a smoke-free policy in a Providence Housing Authority complex for possible expansion to other units, implement a tobacco cessation program for uninsured Providence smokers who want to quit, initiate a Providence Public School-based policy change creating smoke-free campuses and restricting tobacco sponsorship, and launch a city-wide public education campaign.

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South Carolina

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control $6 Million
(1) Florence County, South Carolina
The Florence County Community Coalition for Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Abuse Prevention Community in Florence County will implement a campaign to educate the public about the dangers of secondhand smoke exposure; support 100% smoke-free policies, tobacco-free worksites, and tobacco-free public/technical school campuses; reduce tobacco advertising in retail markets to discourage tobacco consumption at the point of purchase; promote adoption of the Clinical Practice Guideline among healthcare providers; and expand referrals of tobacco users to South Carolina’s tobacco quitline with nicotine replacement therapy and other community cessation support services.

(2) Horry County, South Carolina
The BREATHE Coalition in Horry County will address the health burden of tobacco by implementing educational campaigns supporting 100% smoke-free policies, tobacco-free worksites, and tobacco-free school campuses; reducing tobacco advertising in retail markets to discourage tobacco consumption at the point of purchase; promoting the adoption of the Clinical Practice Guideline among healthcare providers; and expanding referrals to the South Carolina tobacco quitline with nicotine replacement therapy and other community cessation support services.

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Tennessee

(1) Nashville/Davidson County Metro Public Health Department, Tennessee $7.5 Million
Nashville/Davidson County will support healthier urban design that promotes physical activity and work to increase access to other safe opportunities for physical activity.  The project also will work to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables in schools and targeted neighborhoods as well as promote increased policy, environmental, and social support for breastfeeding.

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Texas

(1) San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, Texas $15.6 Million
To improve opportunities for physical activity, nutrition, and active living, the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District will work with community partners to expand the number of public facilities, including schools that are available for after-hours use for physical activity. San Antonio also will encourage city development projects to improve protection for vulnerable users, in accordance with Complete Streets recommendations. The project also will implement voluntary healthy food and beverage guidelines for local restaurants and will conduct trainings for education leaders to improve physical activity and the availability of healthy foods in schools.

(2) Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department, Texas $7.5 Million
Austin /Travis County will prevent and reduce tobacco use by working with community partners in schools, worksites, health care settings, faith-based organizations, retail settings, and the media. Key activities include assisting major health care providers and substance abuse facilities in referring clients to telephone quitlines and other local community cessation services; reducing youth access to tobacco products and marketing; implementing educational campaigns to promote a tobacco-free lifestyle and counteract tobacco industry promotions; and promote tobacco-free environments in worksites and other community settings.

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Washington

(1) Seattle & King County Department of Public Health, Washington $25.5 Million (Obesity $15.5 Million, Tobacco $10 Million)
King County, including its principal city of Seattle, will implement multiple interventions to prevent obesity. Healthy eating strategies include increasing access to healthy foods in schools and childcare settings and supporting the development of healthy corner stores. To increase active living, King County and its cities will include elements in master plans that promote walking and biking, increase access to safe and accessible places for activity in schools and parks, and increase opportunities for physical activity in schools by instituting daily quality physical education and recess in grades K–8.

In the area of tobacco prevention, funds will be used in the seven sectors best positioned in King County to advance tobacco control: media, schools, community organizations, worksites, housing, local government, and community health clinics. The strategies include instituting 100% smoke-free housing, parks, schools, and college campuses and further restricting advertising of tobacco products. Educational campaigns addressing tobacco and unhealthy foods will support these interventions.

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West Virginia

West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources $4.5 Million
(1) Mid-Ohio Valley, West Virginia
The Mid-Ohio Valley will work to encourage increased physical activity among youth and adults, increase healthy food options during school events held outside the instructional day, increase the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by elementary school students and families, reduce the consumption of less healthy foods and beverages while increasing the consumption of healthier items when food is eaten away from home, and increase the proportion of babies who are breastfed for sufficient duration.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin Department of Health Services $6 Million
(1) La Crosse County, Wisconsin
La Crosse County will achieve increases in the following markers for health: awareness of the importance of healthy eating and physical activity, number of school districts adopting farm-to-school policies, number of 500 (calories) Club’s healthy dining programs offered in restaurants, purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables in grocery stores, number of Wellness Warriors healthy vending food sites, number of adults biking to work, number of children walking and biking to school with Safe Routes to School, and number of seniors who participate in the Strong Seniors physical activity program.

(2) Wood County, Wisconsin
Located rurally in the geographic center of the state of Wisconsin, Wood County will tackle the issue of obesity by achieving increases in the following markers for health: number of students who limit screen time to less than two hours per day, number of after-school and regulated child care programs that require daily physical activity, adult physical activity levels, access to local fruits and vegetables, number of restaurants that provide nutritional content of food on their menus, and the availability and accessibility of affordable healthy food.

(3) Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, Wisconsin $1 Million
The Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council is a consortium of 12 federally recognized Indian tribes in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. The Council will bring tobacco abuse prevention and control activities to five Indian tribes in Wisconsin through radio and television public service announcements; develop an educational kit on traditional tobacco use; host educational community gatherings; restrict tobacco sales to minors; support 100% smoke-free workplaces, including casinos; distribute educational posters at all retail outlets on reservations and encourage retailers to place tobacco products out of sight; support the elimination of free tobacco product samples; encourage tribes to use tobacco tax rebates for tobacco abuse prevention programs; support no rebates on tobacco sales to tribal members; host a Youth Retreat and Cultural Cessation Camp; and provide nicotine replacement therapies to tribal clinics.

Also see, Awards by Program

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Communities Putting Prevention to Work Grantees by State