By Mark Gray, Host SportsGroove Radio Program

Beltway Sports Report

By Michael Walton, Myvoicedc Health & Fitness Contributor

Hola!  Today we will address the final subject matter of the five part series on giving healthy tips and guidelines to parents for your children to follow.  We will conclude by addressing how your child is eating while at school and how to become involved with making that environment a healthier place for them.  One method of being involved is supporting organizations and programs that push schools to address these issues.  One such program is the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program. 

The Healthy Schools Program (HSP) provides support to schools to create healthier school environments that promote physical activity and healthy eating among students and staff. Schools that create these environments - in the classroom, cafeteria, gym, hallway and playground – can earn national recognition. The HSP is committed to supporting schools that serve resource-constrained and vulnerable populations. According to the independent Preliminary HSP Evaluation, over 90% of HSP schools made a positive change to promote health to their students and staff.  This is a program that has demonstrated great success in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area as can be seen from this statement from Derek McKeiver, the Physical Education instructor at Tree of Life Public Charter School who says “The Healthy Schools Program has showed our School Wellness Council a new direction.  By completing the action plan and meeting regularly, it has allowed the Council to lay a nice foundation.   As the Council grows, we will continue to establish a healthier environment within the Tree of Life community.” 

Getting involved in your child’s School Wellness Council is another way to have a direct impact on healthy initiatives.  First find out if your child’s school has a Wellness Council and what the proper steps are to become involved.  If the school does not have one in place you can be a pioneer and assist in getting one started.  Click on the following link for details on how to get it going:  http://www.HealthierGeneration.org/parents.aspx?id=2052.  If you are interested in getting your school involved in the Healthy Schools Program so they too can create a healthier environment for students and staff, feel free to visit www.HealthierGeneration.org/schools.  You can also contact the District of Columbia Relationship Manager for the Healthy Schools Program directly to get more information at (202) 905-3095 or email precious.calloway@HealthierGeneration.org

Basics for a Healthy Lunchbox

When sending your child off to school there are a few essentials that should be in place for their lunch boxes.

-          One serving of vegetables or salad and one serving of fruit (fresh, canned or dried can all count).

-          One serving of a low-fat or fat-free milk or dairy item such as a low-fat cheese stick, a yogurt cup, or some cottage cheese.

-          One serving of meat, chicken, fish, eggs, peanut butter, beans or another protein source.

-          A healthy drink such as water or 100% juice.

Students often consume up to 50% of their daily calories at school.  With that being said snack and beverages options that are presented to students at school are very important.  Contrary to popular thought, school lunch sales do not decline when healthier items are served; and more nutritious foods do not necessarily cost schools more. 

Many more great tips for parents can be found at www.healthiergeneration.org.  There’s a wealth of information there for you to take advantage of.  We’ll be back soon with more exciting tips and information.  Until then, stay focused.  I have my eye on you!

Michelle Obama in Vogue Magazine. Portraits by Annie Leibovitz

NEW YORK - It’s official: Michelle Obama is the first lady of American fashion, appearing on the cover of the March issue of Vogue.
Every first lady since Lou Hoover — save Bess Truman — has been photographed for the high-fashion magazine. Mrs. Obama appears wearing a magenta silk sheath dress by Jason Wu, who also designed her inaugural gown.

Vogue’s editor at large Andre Leon Talley called his interviews with Mrs. Obama ahead of President Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony “one of the best experiences of my life.”
“She’s so accessible, natural and normal. There’s nothing affected about her.”

Much of the eight-page feature inside is devoted to Mrs. Obama’s self-described role as “mom in chief” to 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha.

“I’m going to try to take them to school every morning, as much as I can,” she said. “But there’s also a measure of independence. And obviously there will be times I won’t be able to drop them off at all. I like to be a presence in my kids’ school. I want to know the teachers; I want to know the other parents.”
Being Vogue, though, the conversation eventually turns to clothes.

Mrs. Obama said she is aware of how her wardrobe is being scrutinized, but she makes no apologies for her choices — even the Election Night combination of ripped-from-the-runway, fashion-forward dress and plain-Jane cardigan.

“I’m not going to pretend that I don’t care about it,” she said. “But I also have to be very practical. In the end, someone will always not like what you wear — people just have different tastes.”
She did choose outfits for the Vogue photos by labels she has worn before: Wu, who made her inaugural gown; Narcisco Rodriguez, the designer of that Election Night dress; and J. Crew, which she and her children have famously worn.

Most cover models have their clothes chosen for them by Vogue, or at least editors work as advisers. Not this time.
“She doesn’t need any help. She loves fashion and knows what works for her,” Talley said. “She’s never had a conversation with me about, `What do you think?’ or `How did this look? And I’m glad for that.”

By MyFox National
LOS ANGELES - In these tough economic times, many are turning to the Internet for help. 

People who have lost their homes and/or jobs and are in need of economic stability are placing ads on Web sites such as Craigslist as a last resort.

Craigslist has gained the reputation as a barometer for the economy. The site provides free job listings, housing and real estate listings, and many other listings.

Some have used Craigslist information to predict the state of the national and local economy by analyzing user behavior and posting trends in some key categories. The number of posts for jobs available/wanted reflects usually corrolates with the actual trends reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Now the site is seeing a new trend of listings from desperate people trying to keep their heads above water.

LANHAM, Md. - Endorsements are being dropped and radio stations have stopped playing his music, and 19-year-old singer Chris Brown is running into career-changing problems because of allegations he physically assaulted his 20-year-old girlfriend, Rihanna.

Both singers were absent from the Grammy’s after reports he punched her in the face.
WKYS-FM in Lanham, Maryland is waging an on-air campaign, asking its listeners to weigh in on whether it should drop his playlist from the air.

So far, callers to DJ EZ Street’s afternoon drive show seem to be saying overwhelmingly they should continue playing his music, because he should be considered innocent until proven guilty.

Street says listener opinions will count, but a final decision by the WKYS program manager will also consider how the matter plays out in court.

Traffic moves through the the intersection of 108th Street and 51st Avenue in the Queens section of New York, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009, hours after an unidentified man was struck by a car at this intersection, then dragged by another vehicle.

By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - A van traveled for nearly an hour over busy New York City roads before its driver discovered the horrific cargo it had dragged almost 20 miles: the partially scraped-away body of a man who was plowed over by an SUV just before he got caught under the van.

Police said the gruesome episode was accidental and that they have no plans to charge the drivers at this time.

But that did not diminish the shock of seeing a dead man hooked under a van that had just traversed some of the busiest roads in the city. Police said the driver, Manuel Lituma Sanchez, had no idea he hit the victim until the end of his trip, when a bystander told him something was dragging under his van.

Investigators were working to identify the body, which was found largely intact but horribly battered. The man’s heels were shorn off. His clothes and several layers of skin on his legs and buttocks were worn off. The back of his head was worn through to the scalp.

A business card, Western Union receipt and a broken iPhone were found in the man’s pockets, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

The man was first hit around 6:15 a.m. while apparently crossing against a stop light in the Corona section of Queens by the driver of a black Ford Expedition, Gustavo Acosta, who immediately called 911. When police arrived, the victim was gone and no damage was found to the SUV.

Lituma Sanchez, who was about two vehicles behind, said he had noticed cars swerving but didn’t see the initial accident and assumed the drivers were simply avoiding a pothole.

He drove over the victim, who was facing up, and the man’s chest was hooked by a steel plate under the van known as the skid plate, used to protect the transmission and undercarriage.

“I didn’t feel anything, and I didn’t hear anything,” Lituma Sanchez told reporters outside his Queens home. “I didn’t know what happened.”

It’s not clear whether the victim was alive at that point.

“The van comes and rides right over the body and as it goes by there’s no body there,” Browne said. “The body was basically fish-hooked by the plate.”

Lituma Sanchez stopped shortly after the accident to check his car but noticed nothing and went on his way. The vehicle has a low ridge around the wheels for stepping inside, making it difficult to see under the van.

Lituma Sanchez drove on the Grand Central Parkway, the Van Wyck Expressway and the Belt Parkway, winding from Queens to Brooklyn and ending up in Brighton Beach, where he works as a delivery man, Browne said. On the residential streets at a slower speed, he suspected something was wrong with his engine, and he stopped, opened the hood and checked the oil. But he did not look under the car.

He got back in and drove a few more blocks before a pedestrian flagged him to say something was dragging under his 1998 Chevrolet van. Lituma Sanchez got out of his car again, looked underneath, discovered the body and called 911 from his cell phone.

“You can’t imagine the shock I felt” on seeing the corpse, he told reporters. “I’m just so nervous and very sad.”

Police jacked up the vehicle and pulled the body from under the van. The corpse, found face up with the shirt and pants shredded, was covered with a white sheet as officers investigated and talked to the shellshocked, exhausted driver in a police car. The victim’s bruised and bloody legs could be seen protruding from the sheet in front of the van.

An autopsy was planned for Thursday. Both drivers have clean records, police said.

Police retraced the van’s route and recovered a blue jacket believed to have belonged to the victim, who was described as Hispanic, in his 20s or 30s and between 5 feet 2 and 5 feet 4 inches tall.

Police had initially believed it was a 17-mile journey, but did a closer examination of the route realized it was 19.8 miles instead.

WASHINGTON - The big economic stimulus package agreed to by House and Senate negotiators is on track for final action with a House vote possible Thursday or Friday.

The agreement on tax cuts and spending that started out at more than $800 billion has been pared to $789 billion.

President Barack Obama, who has campaigned energetically for the legislation, says it will “save or create more than 3.5 million jobs and get” the economy back on track.

Lower and middle-income taxpayers will see a bit more in their paychecks from a credit of $400 per individual and $800 per couple.

There’s also a subsidy for health care for the unemployed and billions for transportation projects and states.

Staff aides worked into the night drafting and double-checking the measure in hopes of officially unveiling it today.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The suggestion came from a third-grade boy: why not make it illegal to smoke in the car with a child?

The question appealed to Sen. Ralph Northam, a Norfolk pediatric neurologist who was describing the democratic process to elementary school students.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed Northam’s bill that would fine smokers $100 for lighting up with a minor present in the vehicle. Four other states have similar laws.

Northam told senators that the amount of secondhand smoke from riding in the car with someone who is smoking for one hour is equal to puffing 10 cigarettes. Children who live with smokers often have problems with asthma, allergies and bronchitis, he noted.

“This is about the health of our children,” Northam said.

Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta, said he has never supported a bill to restrict smoking for adults or in businesses, but he supported Northam’s proposal because of the health hazard smoking poses for children.

Those who opposed the bill said the government has no right telling parents how to raise their children.

“At some point, we’re going to either reach the point where we’re just turning raising our children over to government or following an instruction manual that’s written in the code of Virginia, or we’re going to let parents and families raise these kids,” said Sen. Kenneth Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax.

Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, countered that the General Assembly has made it illegal to physically abuse children, and “If this isn’t child abuse, what is?”

Northam’s bill passed 30-10. It now heads to the Republican-controlled House of Delegates, which watered down smoking restrictions in restaurants and bars on Monday.

LA PLATA, Md. (AP) — The Charles County Sheriff’s office is investigating a series of hate crimes in the La Plata area, including racial slurs that were spray-painted on a church.

Sheriff’s officers were notified Tuesday of the slurs on the church. They also discovered racially offensive graffiti on classroom trailers at a nearby elementary school in Nanjemoy, and on a recycling center store sign and on a stop sign in La Plata.

Sheriff Rex Coffey and Crime Solvers is offering a $6,000 reward to anyone with information leading to an arrest or indictment.

The sheriff’s office and Crime Solvers also are offering another $6,000 reward for information in connection with similar offenses at schools in Marbury and Indian Head. Authorities are investigating a possible connection among the incidents.

As part of their Christmas vacation, Justin and Jennifer Krieger took their children David and Alexandra to Colorado.

“We were so excited. This was our first family ski trip; David was finally old enough to go to ski school,” says Jennifer. But moments after they arrived, Jennifer says David got sick.

“After getting him signed up, he threw up. We said this isn’t good,” she recalls.

His condition quickly went downhill. Every two hours he was waking up with diarrhea. He ended up in the emergency room being treated for dehydration. They went back to the hotel that night, but it wasn’t over.

“The symptoms quickly got worse,” says David’s father Justin. David was screaming. He ended up back in the hospital for the rest of the vacation.

Test results showed the child had a life-threatening infection caused by the salmonella bacteria. Justin and Jennifer had no idea where it came from until they were on the trip home.

“We looked at the Blackberry. It spoke of a salmonella outbreak nationwide. We thought ‘this has to be something David ate,’” says the father.

David had eaten contaminated crackers and peanut butter from the Peanut Corporation of America plant in Georgia. He was one of 600 people nationwide who had gotten sick after eating the snacks. Eight people have died so far.

“My thoughts went from primary concern for my child’s health to anger,” Justin says.

There are now more than 1,800 product recalls including peanut butter crackers and many other snacks. A criminal investigation is being conducted by the FDA and the justice department.

“I would love to know when they made the decision to go ahead and ship the product,” says Jennifer.

The company has already closed a Georgia plant identified as the source of the outbreak. Tuesday, they suspended operations at its Plainview Texas plant.

A Congressional hearing on the product recall is scheduled for Wednesday.