They killed an African-American man – just because he was Black

Two Kansas City men will spend the rest of their lives in prison for killing a man who was on his way to work – just because he was Black. A federal judge ruled that Gary Eye  and Steven Sandstrom, whose lives were spared by jurors for the March 2005 murder of William McCay, should never be free again. “I’m innocent of all these charges,” Sandstrom said. “This was not a hate crime. Not even close to it, your honor.” But Eye opted not to say anything during his sentencing hearing. Yvonne McCay, the victim’s mother, said she is now ready to move forward. “Justice has been served,” McCay said. “None of this will bring him back, but I pray constantly to God to remove this malice from my heart for these individuals.”

Jordin Sparks is to be praise, and criticized for her stand on abstinence. Jordin Sparks made a bold statement when she stood up at MTV’s Video Music Awards on Monday for the Jonas Brothers’ right to wear promise rings, a symbol of their pledge to abstain from sex until marriage. But she also unwittingly chastised any teenager who happens to be sexually active. How? Vital Signs has the details. 

New York City shows largest decline in infant deaths. New York City has made the biggest improvement of all major cities in lowering its infant death rate, according to new numbers from the city’s Health Department. New York’s infant mortality rate fell again in 2007, reaching the lowest level ever recorded. The 2007 rate – 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, down from 5.9 in 2006 – marked the sharpest one-year decline since 2001, when the city’s rate dropped to 6.1 from 6.7 per 1,000 live births. Of the 128,961 babies born in New York City in 2007, 697 died before reaching a year old, 43 fewer than in 2006. The city’s infant mortality rate remained significantly lower than that of the nation, which was 6.7 deaths per 1,00 live births in 2006, the most recent year on record. The number of local births surged by 3,455 during 2007, and births to Asian women accounted for half of the increase. News reports suggest that many Chinese couples timed their pregnancies to coincide with the Year of the Golden Pig, a particularly auspicious year in the Chinese lunar calendar. Here’s how the numbers break down by ethnic group: The infant mortality rate was 9.8 per 1,000 live births among Blacks, 6.3 among Puerto Ricans, 4.3 among other Hispanics, 3.9 among Whites, and 3.1 among Asian/Pacific Islanders. “We are heading in the right direction, but substantial disparities remain,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City health commissioner. “Infant death rates remain unacceptably high among Blacks and Puerto Ricans and in low-income neighborhoods. We need to expand services for these groups and communities, and we also need to work to reduce inequities that persist in income, education, health care, safe neighborhoods and access to healthy affordable food and regular physical activity.” How did the city improve its numbers? Health officials say the department has been working on many fronts to help women stay as healthy as possible before pregnancy, obtain quality health care during pregnancy, and provide the care and support their babies need to thrive. Its key initiatives include breastfeeding education, safe-sleep education, cribs for families that can’t afford them, and nurse home-visiting during pregnancy and early childhood.

HIV  increase in New York is three times the national rate. The virus that causes AIDS is spreading in New York City at three times the national rate, according to a study released on Wednesday by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The study, reports The New York Times, shows that in New York there are 72 new cases of HIV infections for every 100,000 people, compared with 23 per 100,000 nationally. The findings, based on a new formula developed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimated that 4,762 New Yorkers contracted HIV in 2006, the most precise estimate the city has ever offered. But city officials stress that because the method of estimating infections was new, it could not be said definitively whether the number of new infections in the city had increased or decreased from previous years. Blacks, and men who have sex with other men, are the groups at greatest risk of contracting HIV, the study found. Blacks made up 46 percent of the newly infected; Hispanics, 32 percent; and Whites, 21 percent. Men accounted for 76 percent of new HIV infections and women for 25 percent. (The figures exceed 100 percent because of rounding.) Sex between men was the main cause in 50 percent of new infections; high-risk heterosexual sex in 22 percent; intravenous drug use in 8 percent; and unknown or uncertain causes in 18 percent. Over all, the study found some interesting differences between national and local rates of new HIV infections. Nearly two-thirds of the city’s new infections occurred in people 30 to 50 years old. Nationally, people under 30 accounted for 41 percent of new infections, compared with 28 percent in New York City. Also, within New York City, Whites were infected at four times the national rate, Hispanics at three times the national rate, and Blacks at almost twice the national rate.  
The number of uninsured Americans drops. The number of Americans without health insurance dropped by more than 1 million people in 2007, the first yearly decline in seven years, U.S. Census Bureau officials announced Tuesday. The drop was driven largely by an increase in the number of children covered by government-funded programs. The overall number of uninsured dropped from 47 million in 2006 to 45.7 million in 2007, David Johnson, chief of the Census Bureau’s Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, said during a morning teleconference. The number of children with health insurance increased to 8.7 million in 2007, up from 8.1 million in 2006. “The number of children covered by government health insurance programs increased to 31 percent from 29.8 percent in 2006,” Johnson said. “This is the main reason for the fall in the uninsured rates in children and for the fall in uninsured rates in the general population,” he said. Among Blacks, the number of uninsured dipped from 20.5 percent in 2006 to 19.5 percent in 2007. The number of people with private health insurance did not change. However, the number of people covered by government health insurance such as Medicaid increased from 80.3 million in 2006 to 83 million in 2007. People getting their health insurance through Medicaid increased from 38.3 million in 2006 to 39.6 million in 2007. Karen Davis, president of The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that seeks to promote a high-performing health care system for all Americans, thinks that the drop in the number of uninsured supports the argument for government-sponsored health insurance programs. “When you look at what’s really going on, the number of uninsured dropped by 1.3 million, and the increase in coverage under Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) went up by 1.3 million,” she said. This shows the importance of government-funded safety nets, she said.

A food allergy action plan helps protect children.  Parents, teachers and school staff need to take measures to ensure the safety of the more than 2.2 million American students with food allergies, says the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. “Open and frequent communication between parents and school staff is a key ingredient to keeping food-allergic students out of harm,” Dr. Michael Pistiner, a member of the Academy’s  Adverse Reactions to Foods Committee, said in an academy news release. “It takes a partnership to establish effective avoidance strategies and emergency plans.” The academy’s sample action plan and checklist of safety tips:  Inform the school cafeteria, teachers and other staff of what foods your child must avoid. Pack bag lunches. Your child should avoid classroom snacks and refrain from sharing food with friends. When there’s a classroom party, provide your child with safe snacks he or she can eat during the party. And push for “no-eating” policies on buses and in other settings where there’s no supervision of children. “Parents should be aware of expiration dates and keep in contact with their allergist to insure that all medication, especially self-injectable epinephrine, is replaced prior to expiration,” adds Pistiner, whose own nut-allergic son enters kindergarten this fall. Visit the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology for more on food allergies and their management.

Nigerian city cracks down on prostitution. Authorities in Bauchi, a Nigerian city under Islamic rule, have decided to crack down prostitution, reports the BBC. Using a census by the Red Cross (which the charity conducted to help slow the spread of HIV) the Sharia commission ordered that the 320 women identified be rounded up. None of the women has been arrested, though; the city just wants to supervise and make sure that no illegal acts go on, according to a commissioner. The Sharia commission (which is ruled under the Islamic Sharia law) went to hotels to round up the prostitutes using only their own security forces and without the help of police. According to the BBC, officials were moved to act against prostitution to get rid of the idea that they were not adequately enforcing laws against prostitution. Sharia commission member Mustapha Babe, refuted any claims that the women were arrested or detained. The commission is just watching some sections of the city more closely, he said. “In every nook and corner and cranny, illegal acts were being committed contrary to Sharia law. As a result of this, we sent them to supervise the areas where something has happened,” he said. Of the 320 women rounded up, between 75 and 100 of them have tested positive for HIV.

Somali charity worker killed in his country. A Somali aid worker for the United Nation’s World Food Program was kidnapped and killed as he tried to escape his attackers, reports CNN. Abdulkadir Diad Mohamed was visiting his home town of Dinsor, Somalia this weekend, when he, along with people he was traveling with in a vehicle, were abducted. When he and the driver tried to escape, they were killed by their kidnappers, but a third passenger managed to escape. “I am shocked by this senseless and barbaric attack on one of our staff. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and colleagues,” said Josette Sheeran, the WFP executive director. Mohamed, who was an administration and finance assistant for the organization, joined the charity in June. According to the WFP, this is the first violent death of a worker in Somalia since 1993, although five drivers who were employed by the charity’s contractors were killed this year alone in Somalia.

Hoops pic causes an international uproar. The Spanish basketball team has come under attack after taking a team photo with their players making a slit-eyed gesture, possibly mocking the host country, China. Is the photo offensive to you? Read more at BET.com Olympics ‘08.

Men’s soccer squad advances to quarter-finals. Nigeria’s 2-1 victory against the USA Wednesday pushes the African men’s soccer team into the Olympics quarter-finals. The Ivory Coast and Cameroon also qualified to continue the chase for gold medals at the Beijing Games. America’s loss to Nigeria drops the men out of contention for any prize. The team needed at least a draw, in order to advance, but will return home empty-handed.

Yankees shortstop too sore to play in Minnesota.

Derek Jeter isn’t expected to take the field for New York again until tomorrow after he sat out a game versus Minnesota with a sore foot. Jeter hit a foul tip off his foot Tuesday night and didn’t take his starting spot on Wednesday. But he’s expected to re-join the rotation against the Kansas City Royals. X-rays of Jeter’s foot returned negative. “He’ll never tell you that he can’t play, but by saying that it’s kind of sore and it’s throbbing all night, you kind of get the feeling that it’s pretty rough,” says manager Joe Girardi.

Atlanta frontrunner drops out of mayor’s race

The president of the Atlanta City Council, who most locals believe was a shoo-in to become the next mayor, shocked her fellow Georgians Monday, abruptly withdrawing from the race. She cited the need to take care of her ailing parents, who are both 75 years old. Lisa Borders, who had $232,000 in her war chest in late June and is a darling of the Atlanta business community, was the most popular candidate looking to fill the seat of Mayor Shirley Franklin, who must step down because after serving two consecutive terms. She announced recently that she would need to devote more time to take care of her parents, William Holmes Borders Jr., who is a diabetic with full kidney failure, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. “In the final analysis, you’ve got to be completely focused on becoming mayor,” Borders said Monday. “I clearly have some personal things I need to take care of. I can run for mayor at another opportunity, but I only have one set of parents.”