Kathy Harms Credit: Mark Hancock “My cousin was a myth believer,” one student shared. “She believed that if it’s the first time you have sex, you couldn’t get pregnant. Yeah, she’s pregnant now.” It’s clear to Harms that more and better sex education is the most effective way to counter misinformation. “We teach car safety, […]
Rachel Curtis
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The gap
Rotunda of the state Capitol Credit: Shannon Cornman Despite rising income inequality in the U.S. — a growing gap spotlighted by last year’s presidential campaign and the Occupy Wall Street movement — some Oklahoma leaders have wanted to make the state’s already-regressive tax code even more so. Although the top 5 percent of the state’s […]
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Got milk?
Donor milk provides a critical resource to hospitals charged with keeping preterm and other vulnerable infants alive. Maintaining sufficient nutrition for a baby with an underdeveloped or compromised digestive system can be a delicate endeavor, and human milk has proven to be the safest and least disruptive source of nourishment. Premies, who often can’t coordinate […]
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Milking it
The Ban the Bags program calls on hospitals to cease distribution of formula gift bags to new mothers, which proponents call “pure marketing” that undermines efforts to promote breastfeeding as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization. “When a hospital hands out a name-brand formula, it’s considered an endorsement,” said […]
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A question of equality
Tamya Cox Photo: Mark Hancock Its proponents say the measure will advance equal opportunity. Authored by Sen. Rob Johnson, R-Kingfisher, State Question 759 would amend the state constitution to ban current policies requiring state agencies to submit annual affirmative action plans. Public offices would be prohibited from weighing inclusion or diversity when hiring. Although it […]
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Animal kingdom
Louisa McCune-Elmore Credit: Mark Hancock Oklahoma City’s Kirkpatrick Foundation is kicking off an ambitious initiative — to make Oklahoma the safest place to be an animal by 2032 — tonight by hosting worldrenowned philosopher and animal ethicist Bernard Rollin to lecture at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. His lecture will conclude a day of discussion […]
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‘Skin was falling off’
Laura Miller left her ex-husband only once before she learned another fact about domestic violence: Leaving an abuser increases the risk of homicide by 75 percent. George Rodriguez, Miller’s ex-husband and father to her three daughters, had been a jealous type but not violent during eight years of marriage in Albuquerque, N.M. “We scuffled for […]
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A heavy duty
Oklahoma isn’t one of them. Ranked seventh in obesity with a rate of 31.4 percent, Oklahoma dropped to 48th in overall health last year. In 2004, only five of Oklahoma’s 77 counties recorded obesity rates of 30 percent or more; four years later that number spiked to 66. Adult obesity will take a crushing financial […]