CALIFORNIA
The SANTA CLARA COUNTY Children’s Health Initiative — an effort to provide universal care for children — has received three grants totaling nearly $2.5 million, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The grants include $1 million from the California HealthCare Foundation, $950,000 from the California Endowment and $500,000 from the Health Trust.
The Children’s Health Initiative enrolls children in either Medicaid, CHIP or the Healthy Kids plan, administered by the Santa Clara Family Health Plan, an HMO that also covers Medicaid and CHIP. The Healthy Kids plan covers uninsured children whose families are undocumented immigrants or cannot qualify for Medicaid or CHIP.
Participants in the programs receive comprehensive coverage, and some pay small premiums and co-payments on a sliding scale. Premiums and co-payments are waived for families that cannot afford them. The grants will be used to pay premiums for children enrolled in Healthy Kids. Since the initiative began in January 2001, it has enrolled almost 29,000 children. The initiative’s goal is to cover an estimated 70,000 children in the county who lack health insurance.
FLORIDA
• Pumping equipment that was drawing salt water into sprinklers has prompted COLLIER COUNTY commissioners to place a limit on residential lawn watering. The failed equipment resulted from excessive amounts of water use by people in the county.
Water customers are now allowed to operate their sprinkling systems only three days each week from 12:01 a.m. to 8 a.m. They are allowed to do hand watering from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on those three days. Many cities are exempt, but county water customers and residents who use private wells or lakes are not.
In addition, property owners are required to install water sensors on existing sprinkler systems, according to the Naples Daily News. The devices cost between $50 and $70 and prevent sprinklers from activating after a rainfall. County officials assured residents that their lower monthly water bills would more than repay the cost of the sensors.
Also, County Commissioner Tom Henning made clear that the rules do not limit car washing.
• The Blob was a hit movie in the 1960s. A remake came in the 1980s. Now, it’s 20 years later and the Blob is back. Only this time, its home is not Hollywood, but rather Lake Osborne west of Interstate 95 near Lantana. PALM BEACH COUNTY received state and federal permits this month to spend about $1 million to vacuum a thick, dark-brown ooze off the southern end of the lake bottom.
The Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reports that the organic ooze is comprised of dead and decaying plant matter from two to 15 feet thick and filled with phosphorus and nitrogen from fertilizers that have been stirred into the water by wind, boaters and water ski wakes in the populous sporting lake.
“If you’re a water skier and fall into it, it’s a pretty frightening experience. It’s like trying to crawl out of a big jar of Jell-O,” said County Commissioner Warren Newell.
The algae is clouding the water and creating hydrilla, which tangles into boat engines. The current funding is expected to help suction about a seventh of the muck from the 116-acre southern end of the lake. The county Department of Environmental Resources Management says it needs $3 million to successfully dredge all the ooze, which is estimated to be the equivalent of 5,555 dump-truck loads.
The ooze will be piped to a nearby site to be blended into landscaping for the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority trash transfer station. The muck is expected to continue accumulating however, and the county is utilizing outside research sources to provide solutions.
INDIANA
A U.S. district judge has placed a timeline on ending overcrowding at MARION COUNTY’s downtown Indianapolis jail. After May 1, the county will face fines for each day the jail exceeds its limit of 297 inmates.
Although some weekend days see as many as 350 inmates awaiting initial court hearings, the county has plans in place to alleviate what the judge termed “chronic overcrowding.” Officials are set to purchase 75 beds for $1 million from a local jail. They also plan to no longer house Department of Corrections and federal inmates, begin weekend court hearings, and place more offenders on home detention.
The Indianapolis Star reported in January that Marion County approved an $11.9 million plan to convert a downtown warehouse into a new facility, which is expected to open early in 2003.
Overcrowding in Indiana jails is not confined to Marion County alone. Throughout the state, 52 counties have either built new jails or expanded existing facilities within the past 12 years
MARYLAND
In response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, ST. MARY’S COUNTY is distributing potassium iodide pills to prevent thyroid damage and guard against radiation that could result from a power plant mishap.
The effort began in early April to deliver doses to five schools within a 10-mile radius of Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. The pills will be stockpiled at schools and distributed to other residents at central locations throughout the county. The Washington Post reported that “the St. Mary’s plan could serve as the model for other counties.”
Maryland and Massachusetts are the first two states to accept the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s offer of potassium iodide to residents living within a 10-mile radius of nuclear power plants. Statewide, Maryland has received approximately 160,000 doses, which equals two doses for each of the 80,000 residents living within 10 miles of the state’s reactors.
OHIO
And the election fun just keeps on coming. In CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Board of Elections Director Tom Jelepis has enlisted the help of the Cuyahoga County Funeral Directors Association to remove the names of the deceased from voting rolls.
After concerns arose about ineligibles remaining on the county voting rolls, Jelepis addressed a monthly meeting of the association asking for their help. The funeral directors agreed to cooperate and the election board is now establishing a systematic method for the reporting to take place, and for incorporating information sufficient to remove the deceased from the rolls.
NEW YORK
The SUFFOLK COUNTY Legislature recently passed two resolutions introduced by Presiding Officer Paul J. Tonna regarding child sex abuse cases. The first resolution passed requests the State of New York to lengthen the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases by ten years. The second approved resolution requests the State of New York to terminate the clergy penitent privilege (which applies to confidence, not to confession) for child sex abuse cases.
“Virtually every professional who works with children such as doctors, nurses, teachers, day care workers, and social workers are required to report suspected child abuse to civil authorities,” Tonna said. “Why not clergy?”
Tonna, a devout Catholic, has been in the spotlight recently for an editorial he wrote in March titled “The Church Must Take a Stand on Abuse” published in Newsday. However, Tonna believes the state also needs to take a stronger stand when it comes to protecting our children against the violent act of pedophilia.
Sexual abuse cases have statute of limitations that range from two years for misdemeanor violations to five years for non-class A felony violations.
“We are not doing enough to protect our children from these predators,” Tonna asserted. “It is time to reexamine the way we defend and protect our most precious resource: our children.”
TENNESSEE
A U.S. District Judge recently lifted a court order imposed on DAVIDSON COUNTY jails in 1989, aimed to reduce jail populations and improve overall jail conditions.
In 1987, inmates sued the county Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) claming massive overcrowding created dangerous and unsanitary conditions. In addition to placing population caps on two jails, the order included a provision that addressed inmate recreation, access to courts, staffing ratios, and inmate safety. At the time of the order, staff training was also an issue. Now, the DCSO has the only county correctional training academy accredited by the American Correctional Association.
“This decision proves the jails are operating as they should,” said Sheriff Gayle Ray.
In court proceedings in August 2001, District Judge Thomas A. Higgins stated the jails have “come a long way from an administration where inmates were under a corrupt and brutal regime to this administration that meets all constitutional requirements.”
WASHINGTON
Everyone is about to get a bit closer in YAKIMA COUNTY, no matter where they live. This new “long distance express” will allow residents from the Lower Valley area of the county to obtain permits, apply for licenses or have building plans reviewed via a computer link at a proposed service center. In addition, families of jail inmates will be able to use the same system for what is known as video visiting. Families and attorneys will still be able to meet in person, but use of the video option would save time, money and parking. The county will be the first in the state to offer video visiting.
The system is based on the same type of computer and communications technology that has made videoconferences common in business and government.
“We are trying to enable people to save some money by not having to come to the courthouse and stand in line,” George Helton, head of technology services for the county and the architect of the system told the Yakima Herald-Republic. “The idea is better service at a lower cost.”
The service center will be equipped with document cameras and digital signature pads to complete applications for permits. Other communities could be added to the system later, officials told the Herald-Republic.
WISCONSIN
And in other exciting election news, winning a seat on the ASHLAND COUNTY Board came down the luck of the draw.
In elections held in early April for an open seat on the county board, two candidates each received one write-in vote. Since there were no candidates for the post, the election was a tie. According the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the men drew cards to determine who would win the election.
Eric Erickson, a computer and copy machine salesman, drew the winning card, a 10 of spades. Erickson, who never planned to run for office and believes his neighbor wrote his name in, said he would serve out the two-year term.
The situation is a bit frustrating for County Clerk Patty Somppi, who told the Journal Sentinel that she even advertised in an attempt to get someone to run for the seat, but could find nobody willing to do so. Ashland County has a population of approximately 16,800.
(News from the Nation’s Counties is compiled by Paul Mackie, staff writer, and M. Mindy Moretti, senior staff writer. If you have news, contact them at pmackie@naco.org or mmoretti@naco.org.)
