Teen Forced to Undergo Chemotherapy, Denied Visit with Mom by Court [+video]

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cassandrac_featuredA Connecticut teen, who was forced by a court to submit to chemotherapy because she has cancer, will not be allowed to see her mother, per a recent court order.

The teen, identified only as “Cassandra C.,” suffers from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is a cancer that strikes the lymphatic system.

Cassandra C. has been undergoing treatment at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) since December 2014, but has not been allowed to leave.

A Connecticut Superior Court judge ruled this week that Cassandra C. must remain at the hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, and that her mother, Jackie Fortin, could not visit her.

Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) has custody of Cassandra C. until she finishes the court-mandated chemotherapy. (Read more from “Teen Forced to Undergo Chemotherapy, Denied Visit with Mom by Court [+video]” HERE)

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Brownback Signs Bill That Allows Permit-Free Concealed Carry of Guns in Kansas

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BrownbackKansans soon can carry concealed weapons without permits or training under a bill signed by Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday.

The new law, which kicks in July 1, makes Kansas the sixth state to allow “constitutional carry.” It will allow Kansans 21 and older to carry concealed firearms regardless of whether they have obtained a permit.

Training still will be required for anyone who wants to carry a concealed gun in the 36 states that accept Kansas permits.

Brownback touted the importance of training, explaining that his youngest son took a hunter safety course this past week.

“It was an excellent course. He got a lot out of it. I got a lot out of it. And I want to urge people to take advantage of that,” said Brownback, who was flanked by Republican lawmakers and representatives from the National Rifle Association and Kansas State Rifle Association. (Read more from “Brownback Signs Bill That Allows Permit-Free Concealed Carry of Guns in Kansas” HERE)

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Obama’s Sordid Employment Numbers Set Several All-Time Records; Americans Not in Labor Force Exceed 93 Million for First Time

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Ali Meyer. The number of Americans 16 years and older who did not participate in the labor force–meaning they neither had a job nor actively sought one in the last four weeks–rose from 92,898,000 in February to 93,175,000 in March, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That is the first time the number of Americans out of the labor force has exceeded 93 million.

Also from February to March, the labor force participation rate dropped from 62.8 percent to 62.7 percent, matching a 37-year low.

Five times in the last twelve months, the participation rate has been as low as 62.8 percent; but March’s 62.7 percent, which matches the participation rate seen in September and December of 2014, is the lowest since February of 1978. (Read more from “Americans Not in Labor Force Exceed 93 Million for First Time” HERE)

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56,131,000 Women Aren’t in Labor Force

By Caroline May. Corresponding with the national increase in Americans not in the workforce the number of women, African Americans, and Asians not in the workforce also experienced an increase in March.

According to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 56,131,000 million women were not in the labor force last month, an increase of more than 100,000 from February when 56,023,000 women were not in the workforce.

The level is a record high, and the labor force participation for the month of March at 56.6 percent is a 27-year low, according to CNS News. In February that rate for women was 56.7 percent.

People not in the labor force are defined as those 16 years and older who are not employed and have not “made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week.”

The unemployment rate for women did decline, from 5.4 percent to 5.3 percent. (Read more from this story HERE)

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12-Year-Old Boy Acted out Scenes from Fifty Shades of Grey with Girl in Local Park

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FILM TITLE: FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (2015) .... HANDOUT ...A leading therapist said a 12-year-old client has confessed to acting out scenes from 50 Shades of Grey with a girl in his local park.

Addiction psychotherapist Steve Pope spoke on BBC Radio Five Live on Tuesday and said in the last 24 hours he had been “amazed” by a discussion with one of his young clients.

Talking to presenter Rachel Burden, Dr Pope described the destructive nature of pornography, particularly in regards to children and their exposure to it.

Dr Pope said: “To be blunt, we have had nightmares over the effects of 50 Shades of Grey and what children now think is normal adult sexual behaviour.

“Within the last 24 hours I have worked with a young man, a 12-year-old, who thought that 50 Shades of Grey was a normal part of sexual behaviour with a young girl.” (Read more from “12-Year-Old Boy Acted out Scenes from Fifty Shades of Grey with Girl in Local Park” HERE)

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The World Is Becoming More Religious and You Will Never Guess Which Religion Is Growing the Fastest

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muslim-prayerMuslims and Christians are expected make up nearly equal shares of the global population by 2050 for the first time.

Atheists, agnostics and other people who don’t affiliate with a religion will make up a smaller fraction of the world’s population in 2050, according to a new study.

The Pew Research Center study released Thursday found that the growth of major religious groups will outpace the rise in the unaffiliated population despite trends in the United States and other Western countries, where the proportion of religiously unaffiliated people is expected to grow. By 2050, the total global population is expected to rise to 9.3 billion from 6.9 billion today.

Islam will expand [much] faster than any other major religion, according to the report. . .(Read more from “The World Is Becoming More Religious and You Will Never Guess Which Religion Is Growing the Fastest” HERE)

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Which State Is Still Waiting for a Visit from Obama?

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Utah, check. One more state to go for President Barack Obama: South Dakota.

Utah was the 49th state visited by Obama and the latest stop on his recent tour of Republican “red” states.

Since Republicans took control of both houses of Congress in January, Obama has traveled to 10 GOP states: Arizona, Tennessee, Idaho, Kansas, Indiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Utah, all of which voted for Obama rival Mitt Romney in 2012. Obama also has visited nine states that voted for his re-election.

The White House says there is no concerted effort to put the president in Republican states. “”There are really important, substantive reasons that explain the places we go,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.

After spending the night in Salt Lake City, Obama appeared on Friday at Hill Air Force Base near Ogden to announce new steps to support military veterans by training them for solar industry jobs. “A lot of our men and women in uniform at some point are going to transition into civilian life and we want to make sure that after they’ve fought for our freedom that they’ve got jobs to come home to,” the president said. (Read more from “Which State Is Still Waiting for a Visit from Obama?” HERE)

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White House Declares War on Three Antibiotic-Resistant ‘Superbugs’

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CDIFF CDCTrying to avert what some clinicians are calling “the post-antibiotic era,” the White House has declared war on three antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.”

Drug-resistant bacteria have caused 23,000 deaths and more than 2 million illnesses in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Last Friday, President Obama released his National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, with the ambitious goal of reducing “inappropriate antibiotic use by 50 percent in outpatient settings and by 20 percent in inpatient settings” over the next five years.

Under the National Action Plan, all acute-care hospitals in the nation will be required to improve their infection control rates while simultaneously reducing the use of commonly prescribed antibiotics whose overuse is blamed for the rise of drug-resistant strains.

By 2020, the White House hopes to slash in half the infection rate of three superbugs currently listed by the CDC as “urgent threats” to public health. (Read more from “White House Declares War on Three Antibiotic-Resistant ‘Superbugs’” HERE)

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Rubio Chooses Miami’s Freedom Tower to Announce 2016 Plans

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rUBIOSen. Marco Rubio on Thursday told The Miami Herald that he plans to announce his 2016 intentions at a downtown landmark that was often the first stop for exiles fleeing Cuba, but the Florida Republican declined to disclose what political office he would be seeking.

Rubio, a first-generation Cuban-American, has scheduled an April 13 rally at Freedom Tower, the 11-story tower that, for more than a decade, was where refugees first met with U.S. government officials after leaving the island off the Florida coast.

“To me, it’s a place that’s symbolic of the promise of America,” Rubio said in an interview with his hometown newspaper.

Rubio earlier in the week announced the date of his announcement during an appearance on Fox News. Thursday’s interview disclosed the location, and aides said he would not reveal his 2016 plans before the event at Freedom Tower. (Read more from “Rubio Chooses Miami’s Freedom Tower to Announce 2016 Plans” HERE)

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Weather Reports Could Soon Be Read by ROBOTS: Computers Learn to Mimic Humans When Compiling Forecasts

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BBResearchers from London and Edinburgh are developing a computer that can collate meteorological information and then produce forecasts as if they were written by a human.

Useing a process known as ‘natural language generation’ (NLG), it has the potential to one day be used in humanoid robots on our TV screens . . .

Typically, the program starts with statistics and figures, or any information that isn’t written in language. This includes tables of numerical data or a collection of entries in a database.

Alternatively, NLG will rephrase a block of text to make it easier to read and understand.

It is often referred to as a translator that converts computer speak into natural language, which is tricky for computers due to variances in tone and grammar. (Read more from “Weather Reports Could Soon Be Read by ROBOTS: Computers Learn to Mimic Humans When Compiling Forecasts” HERE)

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Drones Could Carry Blood to Critically Injured Patients

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bloodstickerBlood supplies, especially platelets and plasma, are vital for taking care of injured people. But blood comes with an expiration date. Certain parts of it, like platelets and plasma, survive for less than a week after they’ve been donated, and even red blood cells only last up to six weeks in storage. In the future, drones could help transport vital blood supplies to where they need to be, saving time and lives, according to a post by the Mayo Clinic.

Delivery drones, while still a nascent field, are at their best when carrying small cargoes across short distances. There are the obvious rescue situations, where drones launched from a base camp could get supplies to injured hikers more easily than a helicopter. But there’s also the logistical benefit to delivery drones. In December of 2013, shipping company DHL used a drone to carry medical supplies across the Rhine River. While very much a publicity stunt, it demonstrates one task drones can do very well: carry supplies on routes that cars simply can’t take, thus shortening the time, perhaps, between a hospital with enough platelets and one running low. This is where the Mayo Clinic sees drones playing a role in the future:

Large regional hospitals receive daily shipments of blood. Smaller hospitals receive blood weekly and count on larger centers or regional blood banks to restock their supply between shipments. Instead of courier services or the highway patrol transporting blood to a hospital that needs it, a UAV could deliver the blood in advance, taking off as soon as the EMS call comes in.

Drones could also deliver expensive and rarely used drugs, such as antivenin for snake bites, as well as help meet the demand for blood products in the prehospital setting quickly and inexpensively.

“Our advanced transport team makes about 2,000 [helicopter] flights a year and in 2013 they transfused 200 units of packed red blood cells and 200 units of plasma to critically injured and ill patients during transport,” [surgeon Cornelius]Thiels says. “How to best manage critically ill patients in the prehospital environment is a field we are actively researching. UAVs could potentially play a role in improving outcomes for these patients in the future.”

(Read more from “Drones Could Carry Blood to Critically Injured Patients” HERE)

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