skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Big Tobacco “Lights Up” Battle Over Healthy Kids Initiative

play audio
Play

Friday, September 7, 2007   

Portland, OR – "Big Tobacco" is lighting a match when it comes to the "Healthy Kids Initiative." The tobacco industry has funded a series of new advertisements about Measure 50, which would raise tobacco taxes to fund healthcare for Oregon kids. The ads claim HMOs and insurers are funding the push for Measure 50, and that the majority of the money won't be used for healthcare.

Supporters say the ads are not only misleading, they're completely deceptive. John Valley, with the American Heart Association in Oregon, says the funds not would only go to Healthy Kids, but also other healthcare and tobacco prevention plans.

"When you have a constitutional amendment that says all of these funds have to go to healthcare, it's in the language, it's going to be in the Constitution -- that's where the money is going to go."

The Healthy Kids Initiative, signed by the Governor this spring, would provide healthcare to more than 100,000 uninsured Oregon kids. Measure 50 would provide the funding. Valley says the Initiative has broad-based support, including the Oregon Medical Association, Oregon Business Association, and the Oregon PTA.

"It's about covering children who don't have health insurance. It's about reducing the amount of smokers we have in this state. It's about improving the overall public health of Oregon."


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Many factors affect a customer's bill amount, including energy usage, weather, and the number of days in a billing period, according to Arizona Public Service. (Jason Yoder/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …


Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …


More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social media platform X temporarily shutdown searches of "Taylor Swift" following the release of explicit deepfake images in early 2024. (Mdv Edwards/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

Environment

play sound

A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops. Excess nitrates can wind up …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021