In the last edition of Squirrel News for this week, we’re talking about how the closure of juvenile incarceration units resulted in an 86% drop in youth crime across the state of New York, the FDA’s approval of nonopioid pain relief Journavx, and the programme offering support to the families of those impacted by state violence.
Closing youth prisons has lead to a huge drop in juvenile crime
Beginning in 2008, New York State closed 26 juvenile jails. Over the next 12 years, youth crime in the state plummeted by 86%. Additionally, arrests for serious violent crimes by young people have fallen by 78% since their peak in 1994.
FDA approves new nonopioid painkiller for acute pain
Experts say Journavx, which is billed as nonaddictive, could reduce the number of opioids patients are prescribed after surgery. Although the number of patients going home from surgery with opioids has declined in recent years, post-surgery prescriptions are one of the leading causes of opiate addiction within the United States.
According to new legislation passed this week, students will no longer have access to their phones in classrooms and hallways unless given permission by a teacher. The move follows similar laws seen in the United States and across Europe.
Brazil’s mothers band together after their husbands and sons were killed by police
Every year, 6,000 people, mostly young Black men, are victims of state violence. Now, ‘scholarship mums’ are acting as paid researchers in a pioneering programme to provide support to those left behind
Black church vandalised by Proud Boys gains control over the group’s trademark
A judge has awarded control over the far-right group’s trademark after they defaulted on a $2.8 million settlement – to the very church they damaged. The ruling means the group are unable to sell any merchandise with the Proud Boys name or symbols without the church’s explicit consent.
Culdesac Tempe, about 15 miles east of downtown Phoenix, opened with a goal of making walkability its main feature. Now over 300 tenants call the area home, attracted by a healthier, more eco-friendly lifestyle and built-in community.
RSPB Geltsdale covers more than 50 square kilometres of blanket bog, heath, meadows and woodland and rises from a valley floor to the 640m summit of Cold Fell in the north Pennines. The RSPB have also announced that it has bought land that expands the existing reserve by a third.
The charity increasing workers’ wages by giving them glasses
Over a billion people across the globe have a vision impairment that could be fixed if they had access to eye tests or glasses. A charity in India is trying to improve their quality of life and earning potential by offering these services free of charge.
In Awra Amba, Ethiopia, the division of labour, including farming, weaving and caring for children or elderly, has to be split equally between genders, according to the community’s rules. The result? Life expectancy and literacy levels in the community, among other metrics, far exceed Ethiopia’s national averages.
