teen pregnancy

Poll: Parents want sex ed taught

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:34:53 -0400

Most parents want sex ed taught in schools, according to a poll conducted by the Survey Research Unit of the Gillings School of Public Health, University of North Carolina.

More than 90 percent of parents want sex education taught in public schools; 93.5 percent said public health professionals should decide what's taught in those classes, Lynn Bonner reports.

Close to 100 percent of parents said teaching students how sexually transmitted diseases are passed on and prevented, and how to deal with pressure to have sex were important topics for the classroom, according to the survey completed last month.

The poll, commissioned by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina, is an update of a 2003 survey sponsored by the state Department of Public Instruction.

The pregnancy prevention campaign supports House bill 88, which would allow parents to choose whether their children should receive what is now the standard abstinence-based sex ed, more comprehensive sex ed, or no sex ed in school.

The bill has passed the House and is pending in the Senate.

Sex ed text line hits the big time

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:15:19 -0400

While legislators are debating what kind of sex education public schools should teach, the country is talking about a program that gives students answers to teens' questions about sex by text message.

After the New York Times published a story Sunday about the Birds and Bees Text Line, run by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina, the phone started ringing with interview requests, Lynn Bonner reports.

Look for staff members talking about sex ed by text message Wednesday on Fox and Friends, the Today Show on NBC, and the Early Show on CBS, said pregnancy prevention campaign director Kay Phillips.

The office, based in Durham, has had requests for information about the text line from other states. At least a few states asked if they could forward their teens' questions to North Carolina, Phillips said.

The answer was no, but the office is willing to teach other states how to set up their own text lines, she said.

Quick Hits

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:48:24 -0400

* Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards' troubles had a silver lining: Book pre-sales for wife Elizabeth shot up on Amazon.

* Capitol Monitor starts its own Web site on state stimulus money, including this handy chart tracking spending and potential conflicts.

* Liberal polling guru Nate Silver says Sen. Richard Burr's seat is seventh most likely to flip in the 2010 elections.

* A different kind of sexting: North Carolina teen-agers send text messages to Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign, get answers.

Legislators have asked for $95m so far

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:37:36 -0500

State legislators have now asked for $94.7 million.

Seven more bills filed since Dome last checked have added another $1.4 million in spending, even as the state faces a $2 billion shortfall.

The largest request of the most recent batch is for $900,000 to expand social work programs at state colleges, a companion to a Senate bill already filed. The smallest is $25,000 to help community resource councils at state prisons.

Other spending bills would hire 10 new inspectors for the N.C. Department of Labor, give grants to the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign and start a pilot program on international studies at two high schools.

Two others are companions to bills already filed funding an outdoor drama and provide support to people with dementia and their caregivers.

The bills also call for $11.6 million in spending next year.

Ongoing coverage of spending bills is available here.

Document(s):
special-approps-02.05.2009.xls

Hagan seeks $48m in state spending

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:05:03 -0400

Sen. Kay Hagan is seeking more than $48 million in state spending.

The Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate has sponsored one bill and co-sponsored 16 bills seeking appropriations in the upcoming state budget. As a longtime state senator, she is serving an advisory role on the budget in the short session.

Hagan is the primary sponsor of a bill that would give the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering run by UNC-Greensboro and N.C. A&T University $2.9 million in the budget.

Among the larger appropriations bills she is cosponsoring: $12 million for the N.C. Housing Trust Fund, $9.5 million to the UNC system for 4-H camps, and $8.1 million to buy a building for a student services center at N.C. A&T.

She is also asking for $3 million for Boys & Girls Club programs targeting dropouts and teen pregnancy, $3 million for an International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, $2.6 million for promoting the semiannual furniture market in High Point, $2.5 million for minority financial literacy programs, $2 million for arts programs and $1 million for a parental school involvement pilot program.

Among the appropriations under $1 million: Money for a literacy program in Wake County public schools, an electronic health information study commission, Kids Voting programs, a John Coltrane Music Hall in Greensboro, job training for the homeless and former inmates, a male-oriented teen pregnancy prevention program, and housing for recovering substance abusers in Greensboro.