- Lead paint: Despite progress, hundreds of Maryland children still poisoned, By Timothy B. Wheeler and Luke Broadwater, December 5, 2015, Baltimore Sun: “There’s a huge hole in the kitchen ceiling of the rowhouse Olivia Griffin rents in West Baltimore. Rain leaks in through the roof, the lights in a bedroom don’t work, and standing water fills one end of the basement. The 27-year-old mother’s biggest worry, though, is the flaking, peeling paint inside and out — and the dangerously high level of lead in the blood of her 1-year-old daughter, Lyric. Two of her other three children have lower but still potentially harmful levels in their blood as well. Lead poisoning, once epidemic among Baltimore’s poor, is much less common than it used to be, with the number of new city cases dropping by 86 percent since 2002. But it is still claiming young victims years after authorities vowed to eradicate it. At least 4,900 Maryland children have been poisoned by lead in the past decade, their brains exposed to a contaminant that causes lasting learning and behavioral problems. There are likely more victims, because not all children are tested…”
- In Flint and beyond, lead remains irreversible scourge among Michigan’s children, By Mike Wilkinson, December 13, 2015, MLive.com: “Across Michigan, in cities large and small, lead poisoning continues to plague children, limiting them in school and on the playground. Although much of the state’s focus has been on lead-poisoned water in Flint, the metal continues to turn up annually in the bodies of thousands of children across the state, at percentages well above the numbers that raised red flags in Flint…”
Tag: Maryland
Teenage Pregnancy – Baltimore, MD
Teen pregnancies in Baltimore drop by a third, By Meredith Cohn and Andrea K. McDaniels, February 24, 2015, Baltimore Sun: “Baltimore’s teen pregnancy rate dropped by nearly a third from 2009 to 2013, far surpassing the city’s goal for reducing the rate, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake plans to announce today. While public health officials cheered the reduction, the city’s rate remains twice as high as the state’s and significantly higher than the national average, which experienced a similar drop, according to government statistics. It’s a particular problem in black and Hispanic communities…”
Minimum Wage – Maryland
Maryland businesses among many grappling with a higher minimum wage, By J.D. Harrison, January 5, 2015, Washington Post: “Maryland’s minimum wage was one of many that increased at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, in the first of a series of raises that will eventually push the state’s pay floor above $10 an hour. Under legislation approved last summer, Maryland’s minimum hourly rate increased from $7.25 to $8.00 on the first of the year, and it will increase again to $8.25 in July. The minimum will tick up several more times over the next three years, reaching $10.10 in 2018…”