One of the Obama administration’s signature federal initiatives has been the First Lady’s campaign for a redesigned federal school lunch program, with more centralized prescription from Washington aimed at healthier and more natural fare. Now the results are beginning to come in, and they aren’t pretty, as Baylen Linnekin documents: skimpy calorie counts that leave energy-burning athletes desperately hungry, food wastage as unpalatable fruit gets tossed into garbage bins, contraband chocolate syrup aimed at making skim milk palatable, and in Wisconsin mass student boycotts of food that’s “worse tasting, smaller sized and higher priced.” More: Patrick Richardson/PJ Media, Althouse. Earlier here (new rules discourage scratch-cooking), here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, etc. More: “This year, we’ll be hungry by 2:00…. We would eat our pencils.” [Caroline May, Daily Caller]
Posts Tagged ‘schools’
“Cranston, RI Schools End Father-Daughter Dances After ACLU Complaint”
“Cranston Mayor Allan Fung says he’s ‘utterly disappointed’ the school district ended the gender-based events after the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter of complaint last spring.” [CBS Boston]
P.S. Or, to sum up in a different way: “It became necessary to destroy the village in order to make it more inclusive.” (& Alkon)
September 10 roundup
- Employee “moons” corporate brass, court upholds his loss of $2 million in commissions [NYDN]
- Just what you always wanted to win in a class action: a 15%-off Bed Bath & Beyond coupon [PoL, compare]
- Seven Camden, N.J. students made to eat lunch on cafeteria floor will get $500,000 [Courier Post Online]
- “Lawyer Submits A Five-Page Brief — In Comic Book Form” [Tucson Weekly]
- “Sunlight Before Signing: Measuring a Campaign Promise” [Jim Harper, Cato]
- Judge Alex Kozinski cast as an extra in “Atlas Shrugged II” [Above the Law]
- “Recusal Motion Cites Girl-Scout-Cookie Purchase” [Lowering the Bar]
Teacher’s union threatens to sue private schools that accept vouchers
“If we do not receive a signed copy of the attached letter from you [agreeing not to accept voucher funds under Louisiana’s newly enacted Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence program] by 4:00 P.M. on Friday, July 27, 2012, we will have no alternative other than to institute litigation against St. Theodore Holy Family Catholic School…” — one of many such letters sent by lawyers representing Louisiana Association of Educators, the state teacher’s union. [The Hayride, Pelican Post]
“‘C+’ in Chemistry Leads To Lawsuit Against School District”
“A former Albany High student is suing the school district because of the grade his chemistry teacher, Peggy Carlock, gave him last year, in hopes of getting a court order for the district to change the grade to an A+.” [Steven Lau, Albany (Calif.) Patch]
Lawyer: woman will stop suing School for the Deaf over frequent flyer miles
The Texas School for the Deaf flies its non-local students to their family’s homes each weekend for free, and saves the frequent flier miles for purposes such as buying air tickets for chaperones. A woman identified as D.G. sued, saying the benefit of the miles should go to her daughter, but her lawyer says she’s dropping the suit in view of the big public outcry against it. [Claire Osborn, Austin American-Statesman; followup, Ken Herman]
July 5 roundup
- “After drunken driver kills son, mother billed for cleanup” [Greenville News, S.C.]
- Cities, states and school districts in California will be among losers if Sacramento lawmakers pass bill authorizing phantom damages [Capitol Weekly; more on phantom damages]
- New from Treasury Dept.: steep exit fees for many corporations departing U.S. domicile [Future of Capitalism, TaxProf]
- Jonathan Lee Riches is back filing his hallucinatory lawsuits again, and courts don’t care to stop him [Above the Law] More: Lowering the Bar.
- Funny 1988 letter from Wyoming lawyer to California lawyer about fees [Letters of Note via Abnormal Use]
- L.A. family is considering adding another valedictorian lawsuit to our annals [L.A. Times, earlier]
- Effort to compensate Japanese nuclear accident victims is proceeding without much litigation [WaPo]
“Kids Severely Sunburned at School Because They Didn’t Have ‘Prescription’ for Sunscreen”
According to the parent’s account, the principal of the Tacoma, Washington school cited liability reasons for the prevailing policy; on a happier note, a school official says a newly enacted law will allow that policy to be changed. [Jesse Michener via Lenore Skenazy, Free-Range-Kids]
Food law roundup
- Bloomberg’s petty tyranny: NYC plans ban on soft drink sizes bigger than 16 oz. at most eateries, though free refills and sales of multiple cups will still be legal [NBC New York]
- Will Michigan suppress a heritage-breed pig farm? [PLF] NW bakers cautiously optimistic as state of Washington enacts Cottage Food Act [Seattle Times]
- Hide your plates: here comes the feds’ mandatory recipe for school lunch [NH Register] School fined $15K for accidental soda [Katherine Mangu-Ward] Opt out of school lunch! [Baylen Linnekin]
- Losing his breakfast: court tosses New Yorker’s suit claiming that promised free food spread at club fell short [Lowering the Bar, earlier]
- Amid parent revolt, Massachusetts lawmakers intervene with intent to block school bake-sale ban [Springfield Republican, Boston Herald, Ronald Bailey]
- Interview on farm and food issues with Joel Salatin [Baylen Linnekin, Reason]
- “Nutella class action settlement far worse than being reported” [Ted Frank]
- Under political pressure, candy bar makers phase out some consumer choices [Greg Beato] Hans Bader on dismissal of Happy Meal lawsuit [CEI, earlier]
“Texas honor student jailed for missing too much school”
“[Diane] Tran said she works both full-time and part-time jobs, in addition to taking advanced and college level courses,” and her parents have “split up and moved away” leaving her in charge of a younger sister, which make it hard to keep to the exact school day. Judge Lanny Moriarty did not seem sympathetic: “If you let one run loose, what are you gonna’ do with the rest of ’em?” [CBS Atlanta](& Hans Bader)
P.S. Earlier on truancy laws here.