Foundation Giving Is Bullish – The New York-based Foundation Center’s annual report revealed that giving from the nation’s 50,000 grant-making foundations increased 18.4 percent last year. The increase from $23.3 billion to $27.6 billion, said the report, could be attributed largely to increases in stock values, gifts to foundations and the rise of new “mega-foundations” in the West like the Gates Foundation. The report said stock market declines and a slowing economy had little effect.
The New York-based Foundation Center’s annual report revealed that giving from the nation’s 50,000 grant-making foundations increased 18.4 percent last year.
Town Cracks Down on “Cops and Robbers” – Two second graders from Irvington, N.J., were suspended and turned over to police in March after playing with a paper gun and making what police called terrorist threats. The youth pointed the paper gun at classmates and said, “I’m going to kill you all.” Following the district’s zero-tolerance codes, the boys were suspended and police were notified. “It may appear to some as though we went a little overboard because it was a paper gun,” Irvington Police Chief Steven Palamaras told the Washington Post. “But what would those same people say if this incident was ignored and in a day, week or month the same student came to school with a firearm?” Youths in Ohio and in North Carolina were suspended last year for making paper guns in school.
Arkansas Can Still Execute Minors – Despite efforts by Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), a bill that would prohibit the execution of anyone younger than 17 was rejected by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in March. (Federal law already prohibits the execution of anyone under 15.) “We don’t treat children as adults for the purposes of voting, drinking alcohol, using tobacco or serving in the military,” said bill sponsor State Rep. Sam Lebetter (D). “We don’t need to treat them as adults for making even more serious decisions.” According to the National Juvenile Defender Center, 17 minors have been executed since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Arkansas has never executed a minor and has none on death row now.
‘My Anti-Drug’ – A new series of anti-drug advertisements starring teens hit the networks and newsstands last month, as part of the federal government’s $185 million National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. In each of the eight ads, the teens talk about their “anti-drugs” – things that stand between them and drugs, like family, sports activities, friends, hobbies and their future goals. The campaign is run by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The ads will run on network television and in publications, such as youth-oriented magazines, through June.
