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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.

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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.

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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.

Baby Boomlet Nine Months After Sandy?

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Monday, August 12, 2013   

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. - More babies than usual are being born in some parts of Long Island, nine months after Hurricane Sandy delivered its powerful punch. Reports from area hospitals include a small increase in July births over last year at Stony Brook University Hospital, and a 19 percent jump at North Shore/LIJ Medical Center.

Dr. Chaur-Dong Hsu reported a similar spike in July at Nassau University Medical Center.

"It's almost 19 percent that we saw there," Hsu said, "so that's why we are surprised. Now we'll try to look at August."

Some experts have warned against jumping to conclusions, saying regional data has to be analyzed further down the line. And they say a blizzard may be more likely to stimulate baby-making than a hurricane, which disrupted many people's dwellings.

Nonetheless, area child care workers are noting the "boomlet." Janet Walerstein with Child Care Council of Suffolk said they are standing by.

"If that's the case, certainly we in child care and early education are ready to help parents who might need child care, particularly infant care," Walerstein said.

Carl Haub, a demographer with the nonprofit Population Reference Bureau, said it is difficult to firmly link birth rate spikes with natural disasters.

"Data from individual hospitals and maternity wards are definitely worth looking at," he said, "but these have always been very hard to prove."

Haub suggested that hurricane victims would likely get busy repairing storm damage rather than ... well ... get busy.
"If you're, for example, the victim of a hurricane, you've got a lot to do," he said. "But, there's always been a lot of talk after major blizzards, when people were isolated for three or four days, which kind of makes more sense to me."

Hospitals along the Jersey Shore are also reporting July birth rate jumps of 20 percent to 30 percent.




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