I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
First Lady Michelle Obama launch her campaign against child obesity, Let’s Move, Tuesday morning. The program aims to improve kids’ health by improving school lunches, increasing the number of farmers markets in the country and revamping the tried and true food pyramid. It also focuses on physical activity by partnering with professional athletes to encourage at least an hour of play away from TV’s computers and video games that take up an average of 7.5 hours of kids’ days.
Obama announced the initiative Monday at a press conference; President Obama also signed a memorandum to create a task force on childhood obesity, embedded here:
According to a press release from the White House, the FDA will be launching new labeling that is more consumer friendly and offers parents better access to nutrition information, including labels on beverages of up to 20 ounces that include the total calories in a bottle, rather than calories in a small serving size.
The White House communique also announced a Healthy Food Financing Initiative, part of the President’s proposed 2011 budget, “a partnership between the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Agriculture and Health and Human Services that will invest $400 million a year to help bring grocery stores to underserved areas and help places such as convenience stores and bodegas carry healthier food options.”
Much of the discussion at the White House press conference focused on access to organic foods, community gardens and farmers markets, ideas that are moving away from the fringe and into the mainstream.
According to the White House, Americans spend $147 billion in medical costs each year due to obesity related illnesses. Let’s Move aims to take that money out of the back-end and move it toward the prevention of disease and the health of American children.
Here is Michelle Obama explaining her initiative:
