AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION: How healthy is your home?

Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 21:36 Written by Lellianne Canastra, Quinnipiack Valley Health District student intern
Monday, 20 February 2012 00:00

Home is a place of comfort for many of us. It can be our fortress away from the world.

Whether you spend the majority of your time at home, or on the go, home is the base that brings families together. The quality of our physical home environment is a crucial but often overlooked factor of the health of our families, especially for young children, older persons, those whose immune systems are weaker, or those who have asthma.

The indoor environment can easily be a breeding ground for illness or unintended injury.

According to the Connecticut Department of Public Health, nationally, asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases and a leading cause of disability in children, and in recent years, asthma diagnoses have increased in Connecticut.

Often there are factors in the home that can trigger these asthma attacks.

EDITORIAL: Helping neighbors throughout the world

Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 21:30 Written by The Amity Observer
Friday, 17 February 2012 00:00

Rotary clubs throughout the region help support local and international communities. The Orange Rotary Club is no different, and next month it is seeking our help.

Locally, they provide dictionaries to every third grader in Orange, register area children in the Amber Alert ID Program, and make donations for the town food pantry and energy assistance program. The last two years they have participated in “Project Warmth” and have donated thousands of coats to area schools and shelters to help keep less fortunate youngsters warm.

Additionally, the club awards $6,000 in college scholarships annually to high school seniors from Orange.

How could you go wrong?

LETTER: Superintendent's generosity with our tax dollars

Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 21:32 Friday, 17 February 2012 00:00

To the Editor:

As a member of the Bethany Board of Education, let me begin by stating that the following expresses my own personal beliefs and feelings as a taxpayer, and in no way are those of the Board of Education.

At the last special meeting of the Bethany Board of Education, our superintendent brought up an idea on how to increase revenue. His plan was to increase “open choice” from the current four to 15 students. The increase in the number of students will bring in $90,000 to our school in grants (average of $6,000 per student). What is open choice? According to the state Department of Education website, open choice is as follows:

“The Open Choice program allows urban students to attend public schools in nearby suburban towns. It allows suburban and rural students to attend public schools in a nearby urban center. Enrollments are offered by school districts on a space-available basis in grades K-12. Lotteries are used to place students when there are more applications than spaces available. The program includes Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven and their surrounding districts.”

EDITORIAL: Life lessons

Last Updated on Friday, 10 February 2012 14:27 Friday, 10 February 2012 09:19

With zest and humor, evolutionary biologist Dr. Dan Riskin told students assembled for the Southern Connecticut Invitational Science and Engineering Fair at Amity High School why they should consider becoming a scientist.

“You’ll never be bored as a scientist,” he promised them, “because things happen in the biological world that you can’t discuss at the dinner table.”

Nerdy can be sexy, he maintained, and he included a picture of his young wife, smiling for the camera while she was standing in a pool of water inhabited by anacondas.

Drawing from his own life experiences, which led him from the laboratory at Cornell University to the TV studios in Canada, where he co-hosts the show Daily Science, something like a Bill Nye the Science Guy, he shared several lessons with his audience.

• Follow your own curiosity, whether or not there is a prize at the end.