Love on the Fly: Volunteer Vacations

If you’ve had your fill of moonlit beach walks and peach-colored drinks, try something altogether different. I recently spoke with several couples whose idea of a passionate vacation involved less hand-holding and more giving a hand: they spent their vacation time volunteering. Jamie Cann and his wife, Mary, returned recently from a trip to Tanzania.

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Report Says 1 in 50 U.S. Kids Are Homeless

Even before the financial and home foreclosure crisis hit full stride, the number of homeless children in America had reached an alarming level. The National Center on Family Homelessness released a report today that estimates that one in every 50 American children was homeless between 2005 and 2006. That totals roughly 1.5 million kids.

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Obama wants to overhaul education system from ‘cradle to career’

President Obama began to flesh out the details of one of his signature campaign promises Tuesday, outlining his plan for a major overhaul of the country’s education system "from the cradle up through a career." “We have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short and other nations outpace us,” Obama said in an address to the U.S.

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The plight of young, uninsured Americans

They’re generally healthy and have a long life ahead of them. The health insurance industry even calls them ‘the young invincibles.’ So, what’s the problem Young adults, ages 19 to 29, are the largest age group of uninsured people across the country. For Maryland resident Bree Honey, all she can do for her chronic back pain right now is to exercise at the gym where she works and take Tylenol PM instead of other medicine she needs.

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Mexico pours troops into border city stricken by drug war

Nearly 7,000 Mexican soldiers and federal police arrived in the U.S.-Mexico border city of Ciudad Juarez this week to restore security to a city plagued by a long-standing, bloody drug war. Random vehicle checkpoints, patrols of masked soldiers and police in SWAT gear are some of the signs of the massive military buildup ordered by Mexico’s president, Ciudad Juarez police spokesman Jaime Torres Valadez said Thursday. Another 1,500 soldiers are expected to join the 3,500 that rolled into Juarez earlier this week to support municipal police in street patrols and ultimately take control of their operations, Torres said

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