Good news for consumers.Growth in consumer prices in April rose only .2% although food prices spiked at the sharpest rate in 18 years, the Labor Department said.
The core consumer price index increased 0.1%.
Extreme Makeover
The Southern Pine Council contributed large amounts of Southern Pine lumber to two season-finale projects for ABC’s hit home improvement show, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” scheduled to air Sunday, May 18 at 7 Eastern/6 Central. The show was filmed in March 2008 in New Orleans, SPC’s hometown.
“Participating in a project of this magnitude was a life-changing event for all of us at the Southern Pine Council,” said Digges Morgan, president of the Southern Forest Products Association, one of the two associations backing SPC. “We were offered the unique opportunity to not just help two very deserving families, but to do it in our own backyard. These structures will be around for a very long time and we know that we were part of rebuilding our great city.”
The New Orleans build consists of two projects: a new building for the Noah’s ArkMissionaryBaptistChurch, located in downtown New Orleans, and a new home for the Usea family of Westwego. Both the church and the Usea home took a pummeling from Hurricane Katrina in 2005; less than a year and a half later, the Usea family was again struck by Mother Nature when a tornado hit their home.
Both structures, hurricane-resistant circular buildings constructed by Deltec Homes of Asheville, NC., are built on raised floor foundations and include substantial amounts of Southern Pine lumber encompassing the floor and wall framing, ceiling trusses, interior ceiling paneling and exterior decking. Lumber was provided from Georgia-Pacific LLC and Beadles Lumber, both Southern Pine Council members.
“This project was right up our alley,” continued Morgan. “SPC is in the middle of a comprehensive educational campaign designed to educate GulfCoast homeowners about the benefits of rebuilding – and building – on raised floors. We’re encouraging homeowners to build to a higher standard and protect their greatest investment.”
A raised floor foundation, also known as crawlspace foundation or pier-and-beam, offers numerous benefits to homeowners, not the least of which is increased protection in flood-prone areas. Additional reasons to build on a raised floor include cost savings, insurance benefits and aesthetic charm, as seen in many older and historic homes and buildings across the country.
John Nicholson of Deltec Homes is a long-time fan of both Southern Pine lumber and building homes on a raised floor foundation. “Our homes are engineered to use only the best products, and that includes Southern Pine lumber,” he said. “We could never have completed this incredible project without Southern Pine.”
School Scores
Scores from the state's iLEAP exam, when taken alongside LEAP scores released last week, show a clear pattern of improvement among students in the RecoverySchool District, Superintendent Paul Vallas said earlier this week.
"The iLEAP scores mirror what we saw in the high stakes LEAP scores released last Tuesday. You see a trend toward improvement at every grade level and in every content area tested," Vallas said. "This speaks once again to the success of the core reforms we've put in place this year at all grade levels, not just the high-stakes testing grades. We clearly see that our standardized curriculum and instructional models, the interventions like READ 180 and our benchmark testing through the year to monitor have made a difference."
The i LEAP, which replaced The Iowa Tests beginning in the 2005-2006 school year, is administered to students in 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th grades. While not a high-stakes test, the iLEAP provides data for tracking student performance and indicates future performance on the LEAP exam, which is given to students in 4th and 8th grades. The scores released last week for the RSD include the district's directly run schools as well as charter schools.
An analysis of iLEAP scores for students in the RSD's directly operated schools shows improvement in 45 of 46 categories.
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In the category of students scoring proficient, meaning Basic and above, there was improvement in all grades and in all subject areas. The most significant improvements were double-digit percentage point gains in 3rd grade mathematics, social studies and reading; and in 5th grade social studies.
In the category of students scoring Unsatisfactory, there were decreases in all grades and all subject areas except 7th grade social studies. That grade saw only a 1 percentage point increase in the number of students scoring Unsatisfactory. The most significant improvements were double-digit percentage point decreases in 3rd grade math, social studies and reading; and in 5th grade math and social studies.
"I think this success sets the stage for even greater success next year when our teachers have more experience with our benchmarking system and when we go to an extended school day, which will increase the amount of instructional time by as much as 24 percent," Vallas said. "But our teachers - both our veteran teachers and the new ones we've recruited - are the most important reason for this improvement."
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are playing a lot of offense these days, especially when it comes to educating Louisiana’s youth about the dangers of using tobacco.
Team trainers are working with the Department of Health and Hospitals’ Tobacco Control Program to bring tobacco-free sports programs to schools across the state.The two groups, in partnership with the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, will be offering educational programs that promote good health and physical activity as an alternative to tobacco use.
From May 12 - 16, 2008, middle schools in Monroe, Alexandria, Thibodaux, Lake Charles and Lafayette will host the Louisiana Tobacco-Free Sports Tour.Four hundred kids from each area will attend from 100 schools that have shown interest and participated in tobacco prevention activities.
The Saints trainers will lead the kids through drills of their Gatorade Junior Training Camp, a version of their actual Saints training camp.
The Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports will engage students in baseball, football, basketball and track and field activities.Miss Louisiana, Michelle Berthelot, also will make an appearance to talk to students about the dangers of tobacco.
“We must educate our children about the importance of leading healthy lives,” said DHH Secretary Alan Levine.“Every year, 6,900 kids under 18 start smoking in Louisiana, and 109,000 minors in Louisiana today will die early from smoking.Preventing children from ever using tobacco is key to reducing the burden of tobacco-related illness on Louisiana and ensuring that healthy children aren’t plagued with costly medical problems later in life.”
The Louisiana Tobacco-Free Sports Program administers the Youth Tobacco Attitudes and Awareness Survey. According to the 2006 - 2007 survey, 6.7 percent of youth athletes in Louisiana have smoked a cigarette, and 6.3 percent have used chew tobacco.
Additionally, the Louisiana Tobacco-Free Sports Playbook was developed for the event by the Louisiana Tobacco Control Program, the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living and well-known Louisiana coaches to assist coaches in talking to their teams about staying tobacco-free.
The Playbook includes messages from Les Miles, LSU head football coach, and Pete Richardson, Southern University head football coach, about the addictive nature of tobacco products, the effects of smoking on sports performance and the importance of tobacco prevention.
The Playbook also includes information to help school coaches promote tobacco-free living and 100 percent Tobacco-Free Sports policies.These policies include prohibiting all tobacco products and advertising from all sporting events and within 50 yards of the playing field or event site; notifying parents, coaches and visitors of the policy; displaying “Tobacco-Free” signs at all sporting events; and promoting smoking cessation efforts of all staff, volunteers and players.
For more information about The Tobacco-Free Sports Program, contact Tiffany Netters at 225-342-2664, or e-mail tnetters@dhh.la.gov.
