Weekly Report 2-25

Are You at Higher Risk for Having a Life-Changing Stroke?

By d-mars.com News Provider

Lead scorer of the University of Pittsburgh women’s basketball team, Latia Howard was being recruited by the WNBA and at the top of her game. But that all changed after she suffered a stroke at just 21 years old.

Early one morning, Howard began experiencing weakness in her arm and leg. While she decided to skip practice that day, she didn’t think too much of it. When her roommate told her trainer why Howard wasn’t at practice and what she was experiencing, he called her and noticed she didn’t sound right on the phone. He went straight to her apartment, and after realizing something was very wrong, he immediately called 911 and she was rushed to the emergency room.

According to the American Stroke Association, African Americans have a higher prevalence of stroke and the highest death rate from stroke than any other racial group. Among stroke survivors, African Americans are more likely to be disabled and have difficulties doing daily activities.

A star athlete before her life-changing stroke, not only was Howard unable to play basketball afterward, she had to relearn how to walk and talk and went through extensive physical therapy, falling into a depression.

The stroke forced Howard to re-imagine her goal of being a professional basketball player. She shifted her dream of playing in the WNBA to coaching young, up-andcoming basketball players.

“I am grateful I am here and can share my story,” says Howard, who, now 43, is an educator and basketball coach. “I encourage my team to always give 100% because at one time in my life, I couldn’t give anything.”

A testament to the fact that stroke can happen to anyone, of any age, at any time, Howard encourages everyone to know their body, so they can recognize when something feels different or wrong. “When it comes to a stroke, every moment counts,” she says. “A person could lose everything to stroke, so it’s important to call 911 the moment something seems off.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Preven tion (CDC) reports that almost half of Afri can Americans have at least one risk factor for stroke, including manageable conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as genetic conditions like sickle cell disease. That is why it’s important for everyone to be aware of their risk factors and learn the signs to watch.

According to experts, immediate medical attention is vital when it comes to stroke and relies on everyone learning and being able to recognize the BE FAST signs and symptoms of a stroke in themselves and others and calling 911 immediately. BE FAST stands for Balance, Eyes, Face, Arm, Speech, Time and refers to these signs of stroke:

• Balance: Sudden loss of balance

• Eyes: Loss of vision in one or both eyes

• Face: Face looks uneven or droopy

• Arm: Arm or leg is weak or hanging down

• Speech: Slurred speech, trouble speaking or seems confused

Immediately call 911

For more information and resources, visit StrokeAwareness.com, developed by Genentech Inc, a member of the Roche Group.

“BE FAST” was developed by Intermountain Healthcare, as an adaptation of the FAST model implemented by the American Stroke Association. Reproduced with permission from Intermountain Healthcare. © 2011 Intermountain Healthcare. All rights reserved.

Source: StatePoint

Photo provided by StatePoint. Star basketball player, Latia Howard, suffered a life-changing stroke at 21.

Help Your Struggling Student Make Math a Part of Everyday Life

By d-mars.com News Provider

What do budgeting monthly expenses, being a sports fan and following a recipe have in common? All these activities employ math. Unfortunately, it is common for students to struggle with math classes because they don’t see how the subject will matter in their everyday lives.

Parents can help motivate students by drawing the connections between math and daily life. They can also help ensure children make the grade by equipping them with the tools they need to handle their coursework.

Black, Latino and Female Officers Use Less Force Than Whites

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior

African American police officers made more than 15 fewer stops, about two fewer arrests on average than their White counterparts, ScienceNews.org found in a new study (https://www. sciencenews.org/article/black-hispanic-female-policeuse-force-less-than-white-male-officers).

The study revealed that throughout 100 shifts, African American officers used force 0.1 fewer times.

The numbers correspond to a 29 percent reduction in stops, 21 percent reduction in arrests, and 32 percent reduction in force among Black officers than the average enforcement rates among their White peers.

“I was a skeptic about demographic reform previously, and now I am a convert.… Demographics reform in policing actually has the potential to dramatically change behavior,” says Phillip Goff, a behavioral scientist at Yale University who wrote a commentary on the study (https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6530/677) published in the same issue.

The study arrives as police traffic stops, and shootings continue to grab headlines.

It also comes less than a week after a jury convicted former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin of three counts of murder in the death of George Floyd.

“George Floyd was approached by the police for the allegation of a $20 alleged fraudulent counterfeit bill, which is a misdemeanor,” Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Floyd family, remarked in a statement.

“They could have given him a ticket. But when it is marginalized minorities, especially Black people, the police have the tendency to always do the most and engage in the most excessive use of force. And so George Floyd literally was tortured to death for 9 minutes and 29 seconds for what would have amounted to a minor misdemeanor,” Crump concluded.

The ScienceNews.org report concluded that Black and Hispanic officers tend to stop, arrest, and use force against civilians less often than White officers.

According to a Chicago Police Department study (https://home.chicagopolice.org/wp-content/up -

loads/2021/02/CPD-Reform-Status-Report-compressed.pdf), female officers of all races use less force than their male colleagues.

Further, Bocar Ba, an economist at the University of California, Irvine, told ScienceNews.org that diversifying law enforcement is one of the oldest, most frequently proposed police reforms.

“Over three years, Ba and colleagues peppered various city and state agencies with open-records requests and appeals to collect data on officers in the Chicago Police Department,” the outlet reported.

Those data included officers’ race, gender, and daily patrol assignments, as well as timestamped and locationtagged records of when those officers stopped, arrested, or used force on civilians, they reported.

In total, the researchers examined 2.9 million officer shifts and 1.6 million enforcement activities performed by nearly 7,000 officers from 2012 to 2015.

The team looked at how officers of different backgrounds behaved while patrolling the same neighborhood at the same time of day, day of the week, month, and year.

This study is “one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated” examinations of how officer demographics affect policing to date, Robin Engel, a criminal justice researcher at the University of Cincinnati who was not involved in the work, told ScienceNews.org.

“We now have rigorous, robust evidence that suggests there are differences in behavior across racial and gender groups within our police departments, and that’s important for a whole host of things. It’s important for recruitment, and it’s also important for our training of officers.”

The trends “uncovered in this case study do provide compelling evidence that diversifying police departments is an important part of any comprehensive effort at police reform,” stated David Sklansky, a law professor at Stanford University who was not involved in the work.

“It’s not just that Black and Hispanic officers conduct fewer stops – it’s that they conduct fewer stops of Black suspects in situations not involving serious crime,” Sklansky explained.

“That’s clearly an improvement.”

Source: NNPA

Everyday Connections

Everyday Connections

The more connections you can make between math and daily life, the better. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• When cooking or baking together, have your child help you double the recipe or convert the measurements from metric to standard.

• The next time you’re paying a bill, ask your child to calculate the tip.

• Personal finance is perhaps one of the most important and practical math lessons you can teach a young person. Demonstrate creating and managing a budget, explaining concepts such as savings and interest as you go.

• On your next road trip, have your child calculate your estimated time of arrival based on your average speed, as well as the estimated fuel costs for the trip.

• Take a run around the neighborhood as a family. Afterward, have everyone calculate their heart rates. Check your pulse and measure the number of beats in 15 seconds. Then multiply that number by four.

Getting Equipped

Getting Equipped

Ensure kids are equipped to succeed in math classes. For students learning the fundamentals, a basic calculator has all the functions they’ll need. When it comes to more advanced math, such as algebra or statistics, graduate your child to a scientific calculator. Those from Casio can handle decimal, trigonometry, exponential, and statistical functions in addition to hundreds of other math functions. They also offer several models of graphing calculators, all of which feature a natural textbook display to help students more easily visualize mathematical concepts. New models also feature built-in Python programming functionality. To access free math resources and tutorials, visit casioeducation.com.

When it comes to math, parents can help make the subject more fun, interesting and approachable by equipping kids with the right tools, and helping them embrace a positive mindset.

Source: StatePoint