The 20th National Youth Crime Prevention Conference and International Forum
April 19-22, 2009 in Orlando will brings youth and adults together to strengthen and explore new crime prevention skills.

Consumers Union says that when traces of melamine were discovered in cookies, chocolate and infant formula in the United States the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refused to recall the products and tried to keep quiet about its own findings. CU urges calls to Congress and the FDA to beef up FDA’s role in protecting food safety.

The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that while West Virginia's Medicaid program covers some dental care for children younger than age 19, the West Virginia Dental Association is asking to add additional services for infants and toddlers, to encourage early dental health.

The Washington Post reports that the Peanut Corporation of America sold 32 truckloads of roasted peanuts and peanut butter to the federal government for a free-lunch program for poor children even as the company's internal tests showed that its products were contaminated with salmonella bacteria. USDA has suspended its contract with the company.

A podcast is now available of the conference call on the Kaiser Family Foundations Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured series of new reports, including its annual 50-state survey examining changes in Medicaid/SCHIP eligibility and enrollment policies for children and parents.

Alaska’s native Americans suffered higher costs and reduced enrollment as a result of the 2006 federal requirement to families to provide citizenship documentation to enroll in Medicaid, according to this Commonwealth Fund survey of seven states. In contrast, Arizona’s budgeting for copying documents and staff assistance helped maintain Medicaid enrollments, though families did experience greater delays in coverage. In general the new documentation rules have made it more difficult for children and families to obtain and maintain health coverage.

Research published in this month's American Journal of Public Health finds that girls in the public mental health system were arrested at earlier ages more frequently and were charged with more serious offenses than girls in the general population. This provides strong evidence for the coordination between mental health and justice systems to provide rehabilitation.

The SCHIP reauthorization will extend health coverage to four million more children and end the five-year waiting period for health care required of legal immigrant children and pregnant women.

The answer apparently is yes, according to this report published in Pediatrics. Data from a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth indicate that teens exposed to high levels of television sexual content were twice as likely to become pregnant within the next 3 years, compared with those with lower levels of exposure.

In Tulare County, California, residents are breathing -- not to mention working, learning and playing -- a little easier after a coalition of concerned families pushed for regulations that create a quarter-mile buffer zone between pesticide spraying and schools, residential neighborhoods, preschools and farm labor camps. This Grassroots Snapshot from the Children's Advocate has the scoop on their success.