Report: Update standards for US school lunches

Report: Update standards for US school lunches

WASHINGTON — School lunches need more fruits, veggies and whole grains and a limit on calories, says a report urging an update of the nation’s 14-year-old standards for cafeteria fare.

But the changes won’t come cheaply.

Schools can’t put just anything on a kid’s lunch tray. They must follow federal standards, because the government’s school lunch program subsidizes lunch and breakfast for needy kids in nearly every public school and many private ones.

Yet those standards are lacking, according to an Institute of Medicine report released today. They don’t restrict the number of calories kids are offered, even though childhood obesity keeps climbing.

And they don’t match up with the government’s own dietary guidelines, which serve as the basis for the familiar Food Pyramid and were updated in 2005. They call for lots of fresh fruit and veggies and more whole grains.

Hawaii schools to be closed most Fridays

HONOLULU — At a time when President Barack Obama is pushing for more time in the classroom, his home state has created the nation’s shortest school year under a new union contract that closes schools on most Fridays for the remainder of the academic calendar.

The deal whacks 17 days from the school year for budget- cutting reasons and has education advocates incensed that Hawaii is drastically cutting the academic calendar at a time when it already ranks near the bottom in national educational achievement.

While many school districts have laid off or furloughed teachers, reduced pay and planning days and otherwise cut costs, Hawaii’s 171,000 public schools students now find themselves with only 163 instructional days, compared with 180 in most districts in the U.S.

EU gives more for dairies

LUXEMBOURG — The European Union agreed Monday to give the dairy sector an extra $420 million in special aid, caving in to farmers’ vocal demands in an effort to quell a season of unrest in agriculture.

The news came as angry farmers pelted riot police with eggs and buckets of milk and choked traffic with tractors in Luxembourg, one of Europe’s financial capitals. Protesters even lobbed burning tires into the EU compound where the 27-nation bloc’s farm ministers were meeting Monday, shrouding the area in smoke.

Mixed findings in report on Pa. park supervisor

WASHINGTON — The National Park Service says it is satisfied with the results of a yearlong inspector general’s investigation that found no criminal violations by John Latschar, the superintendent of one of the agency’s most popular facilities, Gettysburg National Military Park.

It will not say, however, how it handled a violation of department policy that was documented in the course of the investigation — Latschar’s use of his office computer over a two-year period to search for and view more than 3,400 sexually explicit images.

An internal Aug. 7 memo from an investigator to Daniel Wenk, the acting director of the National Park Service, details the discovery of the images on the computer hard drive that was seized by investigators. But the office of Mary Kendall, acting inspector general for the Department of the Interior, omitted details of the computer probe or any mention of the violation from a 24-page report that was released Sept. 17.

‘Octomom’ fertility doctor expelled from society

LOS ANGELES — The Beverly Hills fertility doctor who treated octuplets mom Nadya Suleman has been expelled from the American Society of Reproductive Medicine for what was deemed a “pattern of behavior” detrimental to the industry, a spokesman for the association confirmed Monday.

The disciplinary action was approved by the association’s board in September and first reported over the weekend by USA Today. The move does not keep Dr. Michael Kamrava from continuing to practice, but sends a strong signal to prospective patients that the doctor’s standards and history are far outside acceptable limits.

‘Addams Family’ theme composer dies at 93

LOS ANGELES — Vic Mizzy, a film and television composer best known for writing the memorable theme songs for the 1960s sitcoms “Green Acres” and “The Addams Family,” has died. He was 93.

A veteran writer of popular songs such as “There’s a Faraway Look in Your Eye” and “Pretty Kitty Blue Eyes,” Mizzy launched his TV career in 1960 when he was asked to compose music for the dramatic anthology series “Moment of Fear.”

Combined dispatches