Friday, February 13, 2009

Live-Blog: Dismantling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline

Reported live on Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Children’s Defense Fund’s New York chapter is holding a one-day summit in Central Brooklyn called “Connecting the Neighborhood Dots: Promoting Solutions to Dismantle the Pipeline to Prison.” Hosted by CUNY’s Medgar Evers College in partnership with the Casey Family Programs, the day has been scheduled full of panel discussions and presentations by leaders in the children’s advocacy and juvenile justice organizations.

I will be chronicling the start of the conference and the back-to-back morning sessions that focus on the disproportionate impact of prison and the criminal justice system on specific communities in New York City, mainly in the Bronx and Central Brooklyn, and how community-based strategies can promote healthy children, families and neighborhoods.

Read and watch the full coverage here.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

COMMENTARY: Link between HRT and breast cancer rates?

After reading this news article about research touting a link between hormone-replacement therapy and increased breast cancer rates, I can't help but doubt the veracity of this study (not uncommon with research studies. Always read with caution.) Before jumping on the blame-HRT bandwagon, why don't the researchers account for the possibility that the severe menopause symptoms could be linked to the increased risk and rates of breast cancer? This, rather than HRT being the cause of the cancer? The two issues - severe menopause symptoms and breast cancer rates - may not have separate factors.