Life spans up, death rates down

The 2009 age-adjusted death rate was the lowest in U.S. history, with just 741 deaths per 100,000 population, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) says in its preliminary death report released Wednesday. The 2009 rate was 2.3 percent lower than the 2008 rate of 758.7 deaths per 100,000 people.

Researchers said they were surprised and heartened to see declines in mortality rates in 10 of the 15 leading causes of death. Death rates fell for heart disease, cancer, stroke, accidents, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, influenza/pneumonia, septicemia, homicide and chronic lower respiratory diseases, such as emphysema and bronchitis.

Mortality rates for leading disease fell so much that suicide cracked the top 10 for the first time in a decade among the leading causes of death for Americans, according to the report.

Loan Study on Students Goes Beyond Default Rates

For each student who defaults on a loan, at least two more fall behind in payments on their student debt, a new study has found.

The Institute for Higher Education Policy, a nonprofit organization, said in a report that two out of five student loan borrowers were delinquent at some point in the first five years after they started repaying their loans.

Almost a quarter of the borrowers used an option to postpone payments to avoid delinquency.

With tuition rising more rapidly than inflation or family incomes, student borrowing has been growing. College seniors who graduated in 2009 had an average of $24,000 in student loan debt, up 6 percent from 2008, according to an annual report from the Project on Student Debt.

Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of Finaid.org and Fastweb.com, estimates total student debt at about $896 billion — more than the nation’s credit-card debt.

Meanwhile, default rates have been rising, to 7 percent, for the 2008 fiscal year, the latest period for which data is available, from 5.2 percent in the 2006 fiscal year.

Students who did not graduate were more likely to become deliquent or default.

The new numbers are likely to be used in the Congressional debate over for-profit colleges. Those colleges’ students make up about 12 percent of the nation’s college enrollment, and get a quarter of all federal student aid — but they account for almost half of all students who default.

States change laws, send fewer juveniles to adult court

Fewer kids in trouble are being sent to adult court because of a five-year trend of states changing laws to keep young offenders away from adult prison, according to a report out today from the Campaign for Youth Justice, a Washington, D.C., organization that focuses on the issu

About 250,000 youths under 18 are prosecuted in adult court annually, according to the report. Nearly 3,000 were held in adult prisons in 2009, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Florida prisons to no longer allow inmate smoking

The Department of Corrections is banning smoking in a bid to cut health care costs to inmates.

Buss said inmates hospitalized for smoking-related illnesses have cost Florida taxpayers nearly $9 million.

Obama Defends Detention Conditions for Soldier Accused in WikiLeaks Case

President Obama has defended conditions in a Marine Corps jail for Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, who is accused of leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks. The president said Friday that he had been assured that such measures as forcing Private Manning to sleep without clothing were justified and for his own safety.

“With respect to Private Manning, I have actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference. “They assure me that they are.”

“I can’t go into details about some of their concerns,” he added, “but some of this has to do with Private Manning’s safety as well.” He appeared to be referring to fears that Private Manning might harm himself, though the private, his friends and his lawyer have all denied that he is suicidal.

Study says Florida mentoring programs a mixed bag

A legislative study shows two of Florida's six state-funded child mentoring programs are doing well, but results are mixed for the others.

The report released Friday by the Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability says the Best Buddies and Take Stock in Children programs outperformed comparison groups of similar students in three or more performance areas.

The Boys and Girls Club, Teen Trendsetters and YMCA Reads! did so in only two areas. Participants in Bigs in Schools had similar or lower performances than their peers.

The state spends $10 million a year on the programs intended to help children from kindergarten through high school enhance their social, life and/or academic skills.

20% Rise Seen in Number of Survivors of Cancer

About one in every 20 adults in the United States has survived cancer, including nearly one-fifth of all people over 65, according to new federal data.

The numbers, released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute, indicated that the number of cancer survivors increased by about 20 percent in just six years, to 11.7 million in 2007, the latest year for which figures were analyzed, from 9.8 million in 2001. In 1971, the number of cancer survivors was three million.

About 65 percent of cancer survivors have lived at least five years since receiving their diagnosis, 40 percent have lived 10 years or more, and nearly 10 percent have lived 25 years or longer.

Household wealth jumps $2.1 trillion in last quarter

Household wealth rose by $2.1 trillion in the fourth quarter and their debt contracted at the slowest pace since 2008 as consumers stepped up spending and boosted the fragile economic recovery.

Gains made in investments such as mutual funds boosted overall household wealth to $56.8 trillion even as the value of real estate fell, data released by the Federal Reserve showed on Thursday.

Businesses were holding $1.9 trillion in liquid assets in the last quarter of 2010, fueling hopes that companies would use their stockpiles of cash to step up investments.

The government's debt expanded 14.6 percent on an annual rate in the fourth quarter, down from 16 percent in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, state and local government debt expanded 7.9 percent on an annual basis after expanding 5.4 percent in the previous quarter.

Obamas decry bullying to help vulnerable children

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on Thursday used their roles as national parents and policymakers to ask Americans to stand against the heartbreak of bullying.

“As adults, we all remember what it was like to see kids picked on in the hallways or in the schoolyard,” Mr. Obama said to a packed audience in the East Room, who gathered for the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention.

“And I have to say, with big ears and the name that I have, I wasn’t immune. I didn’t emerge unscathed,” he said to laughter.

Public-sector unions claim outsized share of U.S. pension assets

More than a third of the nation’s $9.3 trillion in pension assets belong to state and local government employees, even though they make up only 15 percent of the U.S. work force, a study shows.

Research by the Spectrum investment group found that public-sector employees, primarily through powerful unions, have accumulated by far the most generous retirement programs in the country. Meanwhile, many private-sector workers have had their retirement plans cut back and have had to delay retirement.

Even with $3.4 trillion set aside to pay public pensions, dozens of strapped state and local governments are struggling to make payments. Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida are calling on state employees for the first time to contribute to their retirement plans the way workers do in the private sector.

Panel: Child welfare system failed dead Fla. girl

A panel investigating the death of a 10-year-old Florida girl whose body was found in the back of her adoptive father's truck said a lack of commonsense and communication among child welfare officials played a role in the tragedy.

"A child has died, and a child didn't need to die," said panelist David Lawrence, a former Miami Herald publisher. "We could have done a hell of a lot better than we did."

The three-person panel recommended that the state Department of Children and Families immediately review the qualifications of case managers, child protective investigators and psychologists contracting with the state, warning in the 14-page report "there is no substitute for critical thinking." The panel also suggested that the state establish a more concise and immediate information-sharing system and review its state abuse hotline procedures.

The investigation revealed that child welfare officials repeatedly missed signs that the girl, Nubia Docter, and her twin brother Victor were being abused by their adoptive parents.

A child protective investigator visited the home on Feb. 10, one day before Nubia's death, after the state received a call to its abuse hotline that the twins were being bound and locked in a bathroom. She never saw the twins, but marked on a safety questionnaire they weren't likely "in immediate danger or serious harm," even though she didn't know where they were. She spent four days looking for the twins but never called police.

Many of the panel's recommendations match the findings of other commissions in Florida foster-child deaths in recent years. Case workers didn't talk to teachers and medical professionals. Critical information was missing from case files. Abuse allegations were treated with little sense of urgency. In short - no one was ultimately responsible for Nubia and Victor.

Jacksonville unemployment rises to 11.5%

Metro Jacksonville’s unemployment rate rose to 11.5 percent in January from an adjusted figure of 11.1 percent in December 2010.

Florida’s comparable, not seasonally adjusted, rate was 11.8 percent in January, up from an adjusted figure of 11.7 percent in December, and the national rate was 9.8 percent, up from 9.1 percent.

Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was 11.9 percent, down from 12 percent in December. The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation reported this morning that the state lost 12,900 jobs (-0.2 percent) from December.

State imposes stricter clemency rules

With uncommon speed that infuriated opponents, Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet imposed strict new barriers Wednesday on felons who want to regain the right to vote, including a five-year waiting period to apply for clemency.

At House E.P.A. Hearing, Both Sides Claim Science

Science and politics rarely play nicely together, and a House hearing Tuesday on a bill to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions proved no exception.

In an effort to support the E.P.A.’s regulatory power, committee Democrats rounded up five eminent academic climatologists who defended the scientific consensus that the planet is warming and that human activities like the burning of fossil fuels are largely responsible. The professors called for swift and concerted action to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, although they did not endorse any particular policy means for achieving them.

The Republicans countered with two scientific witnesses who said that while there was strong evidence of a rise in global surface temperatures, the reasons were murky and any response could have adverse unintended effects. Another scientist said that the E.P.A.’s decision to ban the pesticide DDT 40 years ago had led to a huge increase in death and disease in the developing world.

Representative Jay Inslee, Democrat of Washington, is one of Congress’s most ardent advocates of strong action to combat global warming. Mr. Inslee brought to the hearing a two-foot-high stack of books and scientific reports, which he placed on his desk as a sort of totem of the robust science behind climate-change theory.

He used his question time largely to criticize Republicans as suffering from what he called an “allergy to science and scientists.” He said he was embarrassed that a country that sent a man to the moon and mapped the human genome could be on the verge of enacting a law that overturns a scientific finding based on the testimony of a few scientists who question the extent of human responsibility for altering the climate.

“If Copernicus, Galileo, Newton and Einstein were testifying today,” Mr. Inslee said, “the Republicans would not accept their views until all the Arctic ice has melted and hell has frozen over, whichever comes first.”

Jacksonville City Council action

A look at some of the issues the Jacksonville City Council considered in its meeting Tuesday:

Issue: Historical Society growth.

What it means: The Jacksonville Historical Society asked the city for $250,000 to help it buy the Old St. Luke’s Hospital and Florida Casket Co. on Palmetto Street near the downtown sports complex. The buildings would be used to store and display its archives. Buying them will cost $575,000 and restoring them could cost more than $1 million. Bill No. 2011-87.

Action: Approved

Issue: Anti-terrorism equipment.

What it means: The council was asked to let the city accept a $252,000 federal grant to buy police equipment for handling chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive hazards. Bill No. 2011-75.

Action: Approved

Issue: Fire museum board.

What it means: The council was asked to approve appointments of five people to an advisory board for the city’s fire museum near the downtown riverfront. The appointments of Carol Alexander, John Bracey, Wayne Doolittle, Christina Leonard and Wayne Wood are part of an effort to revitalize a board that had not been active recently. Bill Nos. 2011-121 and 2011-123 through 2011-126.

Action: Approved

Text: Gov. Rick Scott's State of the State

Click on the title to read the full text.

Scott wants Department of Community Affairs dismantled

Six weeks after he took office, Florida’s new governor, Rick Scott, visited the state’s Department of Community Affairs. Scott told the employees gathered in the lobby that they were doing a great job. Then he told them to stop.

Scott wants to gut the DCA. He contends the agency in charge of managing Florida’s growth is a red-tape-crazy job-killer standing in the way of economic recovery. As an example, he cited a development in Collier County that needed “75 or 78 permits, just for the land.”

When Scott talked to the DCA employees, he told them he’s looking forward to all but abolishing their agency. He wants to cut the DCA’s 358 employees to 40, slash the budget from $779 million a year to just $110 million and combine it with the DEP.

Still, in the past four years the DCA approved local plan amendments covering 950,000 acres of land, enough for 600,000 new homes and 1.5 billion square feet of commercial projects, he said. That’s far more approved development than can possibly be built for years.

Mayoral candidates call for closing Jacksonville Skyway, but lack power to do it

Mike Hogan and Rick Mullaney have advocated getting rid of the Skyway, or at least shutting it down, in recent campaign appearances. But the 2.5-mile downtown people-mover, long derided for not going anywhere, is controlled by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, not by City Hall.

Despite its name, JTA is a state agency that doesn't have to do what the city says. Money to operate the Skyway comes primarily from sales and gas tax revenue, federal funding and a small amount of fare money.

"It is true," said JTA Executive Director Michael Blaylock, "that the city has nothing to do with the Skyway."

By almost any measure, the Skyway has been a disaster. When it was built 20 years ago, JTA promised 100,000 riders per month but, in 2010, ridership was a third of that.

The system is also a huge money-loser. In 2010, it cost $5 million to operate it, but fares and parking revenue generated only $345,452.

Shutting down the Skyway could also have other financial implications. JTA said it would have to reimburse the federal government around $90 million if the Skyway is torn down because it paid the majority of costs to build it.

High court rules for inmate who wants DNA testing

The Supreme Court on Monday gave a glimmer of hope to a death row inmate in Texas who wants to test crime-scene evidence that he says may show he is innocent.

The court’s narrow, 6-3 ruling means that Hank Skinner, who was about an hour away from execution when the Supreme Court intervened last year, will not be put to death soon while his legal case continues.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the majority, said prison inmates may use a federal civil rights law to seek DNA testing that was not performed before their conviction. Lower federal courts had dismissed Skinner’s claims at an early stage, although other federal judges have allowed similar lawsuits to go forward in other parts of the country.

Justice Ginsburg said it is by no means clear that Skinner can prevail in his lawsuit and actually gain access to the evidence for testing. Even if he does win in court, she said, testing the evidence “may prove exculpatory, inculpatory or inconclusive.”

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Anthony M. Kennedy, said Skinner’s legal claims should have been cut off.

Skinner, 48, was convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two adult sons on New Year’s Eve 1993.

Police found him hiding in a closet in the home of a woman he knew, about three hours after the bodies were discovered. He was splattered with the blood of at least two of the victims. A trail of blood led police from the bodies to his hiding place, a few blocks away. He acknowledged being inside the house in the Texas Panhandle where the killings took place.

But other evidence was not tested at the time of Skinner’s trial, on the advice of his lawyer. The untested material includes vaginal swabs taken from the girlfriend, Twila Jean Busby, at the time of her autopsy, fingernail clippings, a knife found on the porch of Busby’s house and a second knife found in a plastic bag in the house, a towel with the second knife and a jacket next to Busby’s body,

Obama restarts Guantanamo trials

President Obama approved Monday the resumption of military trials for detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ending a two-year ban.

It was the latest acknowledgement that the detention facility Mr. Obama had vowed to shut down within a year of taking office will remain open for some time to come.

“I strongly believe that the American system of justice is a key part of our arsenal in the war against al Qaeda and its affiliates, and we will continue to draw on all aspects of our justice system — including Article III courts — to ensure that our security and our values are strengthened,” the president said in a statement. Article III courts are civilian federal courts.

Under Mr. Obama’s order, Defense Secretary Robert Gates will rescind his January 2009 ban against bringing new cases against the terror suspects at the detention facility.