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Spas are seeing more men
Sunday, September 15, 2019
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Spa visits and the money they generate reached record highs last year in the U.S. with $18.3 billion in revenue driven by 190 million pampering trips, according to the International Spa Association. F1
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Curbing their enthusiasm Focus on literacy, teacher salaries
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By Caroline Beck Alabama Daily News
Oka Kapassa celebrates connection, kindness The sound of rhythmic drumming and tribal chants pervaded Spring Park on Saturday morning during the public day of the 19th annual Oka Kapassa Festival. B1
WEIRD NEWS 9-pound, 11-ounce Tennessee baby is born on 9/11 at 9:11
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Growing prevalence among students amps up school vigilance By TimesDaily staff
Some parents and teachers can see an e-cigarette and never know what it is, yet the devices are now in the cross hairs of medical and health professionals who blame them for six deaths and hundreds of cases of lung illness. The devices are not allowed on local public school campuses, but because some of them are designed to look like USB flash drives, a parent or teacher can see one and not know what it really is. Some devices produce no visible vapor or scent, making it more difficult to detect their use among students. Colbert County High School Principal Melcha Satchel said the devices are easier to conceal than a pack of cigarettes or a canister of smokeless tobacco. “It’s something (students) can do in secrecy,” he said. “That’s causing an issue.” In Tuscumbia, Deshler High School Principal Gaylen Parker said he has confiscated a few devices. He said vaping activities on campus occur mostly in restrooms. “We’ve taken steps to prevent that as much as possible,” Parker said. Muscle Shoals Principal Chad Holden was an early, vocal advocate about learning the potential harmful effects of vaping long before these recent health concerns surfaced. “(The) 2017-18 school year was when we saw a big spike in
Alabama Literacy Act
Florence High Principal Rod Sheppard holds several vaping items that have been confiscated at the school.
vapes,” he said. “They doubled last year and we’ve had four instances already this year. It’s frustrating. These kids are so brazen they’re doing it in the classroom. It’s a really disrespectful thing, not to mention what they could be doing to their health. “The thing that concerned me the most was that students from all walks of life — boys and girls and kids across all demographics— were doing it and we knew so little about it. Now we know a little more than three years ago, but kids who’ve never picked up a cigarette are doing this because it seems cool. It concerns me for their health and well-being.”
Vaping, illness and death Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are battery-operated devices that typically heat a flavored solution into a vapor, which is inhaled. Inhaling the vapor is called vaping, or Juuling — a term taken from the trademark name of a popular brand of e-cigarettes. The lure of these devices is understandable. Instead of the pungent, acrid smoke of traditional cigarettes, with its residual stale odor, e-cigarettes deliver a halo of vapor that quickly dissipates. The taste of the pods in the JUUL devices, for example,
This year, lawmakers approved the Alabama Literacy Act. To improve reading skills, it says that starting in 2021-2022 third-graders not reading proficiently can be held back. It also requires schools to conduct summer reading programs for struggling students. To properly fund the new law’s requirements, an additional $25 million is needed in the Collins 2021 budget, Mackey said Mackey explained that the summer reading program would cost a little under $4 million each year. The reading initiative also calls for a certain amount of reading specialists to help with the bottom 5% schools and English language learners. The department estimates that will cost an increase of $4.7 million to what is already allocated. Funding for professional
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METAL ROOFING We manufacture our own panels, we install or provide for your installation. Delivered. Also gutters. JAGRIS, INC. 256-381-5949
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GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — A Mississippi couple welcomed a 9-pound, 11-ounce baby into the world on 9/11, at 9:11 p.m. According to reports, Christina Malone-Brown was born by cesarean section at a hospital in Germantown, Tennessee. Christina’s father, Justin Brown, says bystanders joked his family should play the lottery. He says the doctor kept saying “Oh my goodness, I’ve got a 9/11, 9/11, 9/11.” A photo of the baby shows her asleep in a hospital bed for infants, wires connected to her torso and a blue elastic band wrapped around her head. Her mother, Cametrione MaloneBrown, says her baby girl brought a spot of light to a day darkened by memories of the 2001 terror attacks.
Even though the 20192020 school year just began, officials at the Alabama State Department of Education are already discussing their education budget proposals for fiscal year 2021. State Superintendent Eric Mackey told reporters the main goal for this budget proposal is Mackey to get more money into classrooms. “The two big asks we had were for more teachers, making sure that the pay and benefits are good enough to recruit people into teaching and that teachers are well supported in the classroom,” Mackey said. At the K-12 state board of education monthly meeting Thursday, Mackey explained the budget priorities for 2021 include literacy, numeracy and STEM, preparing graduates, teacher quality and quantity, and unique populations.
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