NEWS DIGEST
Tuesday, March 20, 2007 11:53 AM PDT
IDAHO - Lawmakers pass new
driving requirements
for Idaho teens
BOISE (AP) — The Idaho House voted Monday to require young drivers to get more instruction before sliding behind the wheel on their own. The vote, which follows a fatal accident last month that killed five children near Emmett, was 55-12.
The bill already cleared the Senate, 31-4.
Idaho couple battles for parental rights over
medical decisions
BOISE (AP) — The parents of an infant who was given a spinal tap against their wishes hope to change the way medicine is practiced in Idaho. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill recently ruled that the state violated Corissa and Eric Mueller’s civil rights when a Boise police officer took custody of their 5-week-old daughter so a doctor could give her a spinal tap to check for signs of meningitis.
THE NATION
As insurance premiums soar after Katrina, some homeowners are ‘going bare’
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Disgusted with his insurance company after Hurricane Katrina, the Rev. Simmie Harvey let his homeowner policy lapse and left his house in the hands of a higher power. Somebody up there must like the 88-year-old Baptist minister: His newly uninsured house escaped serious damage last month when a tornado ripped through the city’s Uptown neighborhood and toppled a tree that narrowly missed his home.
THE NATION
New skin study casts doubt on duct tape’s
effectiveness as
treatment for warts
CHICAGO (AP) — Duct tape’s success at curing warts may have been overstated, according to a new study that raises doubts about the tape’s effectiveness as a cheap, painless treatment.
The tape supposedly works by irritating the skin and stimulating the body’s immune system to attack the virus that causes warts. It earned a place in the medicine cabinet when a small study showed it to be effective on children.
and young adults.
This time, a study among older adults found duct tape helped only 21 percent of the time and was no more better than moleskin, a cotton-tape bandage used to protect the skin.
