Free Republic

After New York Jewish Community elected officials defied New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio by forcing open two more community parks, the Mayor pushed back in a press conference deploring those who "take the law into their own hands." New York State Senator Simcha Felder Monday tweeted: “We’ve asked nicely and waited patiently. We’ve made every logical argument. The people have spoken and they’re running out of patience. If the NYC Mayor won’t open ALL our playgrounds, Simcha Eichenstein, Kalman Yeger, and I will cut the locks open ourselves." ..... The three then arrived at a park on Avenue...

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the only justice to join Sotomayor in dissenting from the majority’s opinion in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer. Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts, joined in full by liberal Justice Elena Kagan, concluded that a state government could not categorically deny churches that have playgrounds from competing with other institutions in the state grant program. “The Free Exercise Clause ‘protects religious observers against unequal treatment’ and subjects to the strictest scrutiny laws that target the religious for ‘special disabilities’ based on their religious status,” wrote Roberts. “Applying that basic principle, this...

A playground in Missouri is becoming a political minefield. "Only one religious freedom case is currently before the Supreme Court this upcoming term: Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley," the Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF) notes. "Trinity Lutheran is a case about a religious preschool that was rejected from a state program that provides reimbursement grants to purchase rubberized surface material (tire scraps) for children’s playgrounds." "The preschool was ultimately denied the grant for its playground solely because the playground belongs to a religious organization." The ADF is a national network of lawyers who undertake religious liberty cases. The...

First lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday linked the lack of youth sports and playgrounds to higher crime and even gun violence. Appearing with her brother and sportscaster Michael Wilbon at the Newseum, she said that bored kids are turning to crime. "Why can´t we put those things together? Why are we confused about why crime rates are going up? It´s not a complicated set of scenarios, unless people don´t really understand just what a wasteland so many kids are living in in terms of activity. Maybe that´s the case. Maybe people look at their lives and think, well, if my

(Hollywood police say there have been problems with adults hanging around Anniversary Park. Hollywood commissioners approved new rules last week that would require adults and anyone over the age of 13 who enter city-owned playgrounds to be in the company of a child 12 and under. Susan Stocker / Sun Sentinel File) If you're hanging around a playground without a child under 13, don't be surprised if a cop asks you to leave. In a bid to protect children and the swings they play on, Hollywood commissioners agreed last week to ban adults and teens from the city's playgrounds unless...

<p>Going to school these days isn’t what it used to be. Kids are marched through metal detectors on the way to a disappointing lunch of arugula with a side of alfalfa sprouts. Now they’re ruining recess. Swings in Seattle are now forbidden.</p>

Schools have begun ripping out swings and slides from playgrounds because they can no longer afford huge compensation payouts when children suffer minor cuts and grazes. The claims have become so common that even school trips to the seaside are being canceled in case pupils injure themselves while paddling in the sea and their parents then sue. Education authorities face big bills even if a child is hurt while defying school rules by climbing walls or trees. Lawyers all over the country are fueling the problem by offering parents no-win no-fee deals. Some firms have even set up telephone hotlines...

New Playgrounds Are Safe—and That's Why Nobody Uses Them The problem with safety guidelines is that they make most playgrounds so uninteresting as to contribute to reduced physical activity. Playgrounds don't look like they used to. Steep metal slides and wooden towers have given way to slow, plastic slides and carefully penned-in climbing contraptions. And forget about seesaws -- they're a thing of the past. When kids are bored by unimaginative (read: safe) playground equipment, they're less active as a result, and with childhood obesity at epidemic proportions, that's a danger, too. An interesting new investigation looks into this phenomenon....

Parents have been banned from supervising their children in public playgrounds, because they have not undergone criminal record checks. Only council-vetted "play rangers" are now allowed to monitor youngsters in two adventure areas in Watford while parents must watch from outside a perimeter fence. The Watford Borough Council policy has been attacked as insulting and a disgrace by furious relatives who say they are being labelled as potential paedophiles.

Childhood Obesity Report Calls For Government Regulations to Limit Access to ‘Unhealthy’ Restaurant Chains Wednesday, September 02, 2009 By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer (CNSNews.com) - A newly released report by the Institute for Medicine and the National Research Council details strategies for local governments to combat what it calls an epidemic of childhood obesity, including enacting zoning and land-use regulations that would “restrict fast food establishments near school grounds and public playgrounds.” The report, “Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity,” was compiled by the Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention Actions for Local Governments, a committee of health care...

All the safety measures we have taken to protect our children have produced such harmful effects as increasing the rate of childhood obesity; in fact, one in six children in America is obese, and many of them face a lifetime of chronic illness, says the Center for Disease Control. However, the situation could cure itself if children would just get off the sofa! But how do we lure children outside? One key attraction is risk, says Philip Howard, chairman of Common Good. Risk is fun, he continues, at least the moderate risks that were common in prior generations. Today, America...

Temperatures In Rubber Cushioning Rises To Extreme Levels On Hot Days (CBS) NEW YORK -- You may not realize it, but at your favorite local playground there may be an unlikely hidden danger that can send your children to the emergency room: rubber mats designed to actually protect children when they fall. While the mats can cushion a fall, they become incredibly dangerous on hot days when the blistering sun causes the mats' temperatures to rise to nightmarish levels. For one small child, that nightmare became a reality this past Memorial Day. Will Casson was spending the afternoon at Carl...

Experts fear today's empty playgrounds http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070709/A_NEWS/707090322 http://tinyurl.com/3d4fpu By Jennifer Torres July 09, 2007 Record Staff Writer Heat on Friday nudged outdoor playtime earlier and cut it shorter than scheduled for nearly 70 children at Stockton's Seifert Community Center day camp. Once it got going, though, campers cheered on teammates during a running, jumping, twirling relay race, while other groups played basketball or made up their own games on playground equipment. Some outdoor play - any outdoor play - is important, recreation leader Michaiah Martin said. "Keeping them inside compresses a lot of the negative energies." According to environmentalists, child-development specialists...

I've been hanging around playgrounds. No, not like that -- there's no need to call the police, or keep your children locked indoors. Maybe what I should say is we've been hanging around playgrounds. You see, I have my own little girl, so my presence among the slides and swings is perfectly legitimate. Like any dad, I'm a slave to my wee one's thrill-seeking demands. I push, slide and climb, both to make her happy, and to ensure she's safe. I've found myself wedged inside playground tubes too tiny to comfortably fit a dachshund, and I've smacked my head on...

Merry-go-rounds, seesaws and tall metal slides are gone. East Valley schools also forbid tackle football, jumping off swings and hanging upside down from monkey bars. Students can still play tag — but they must "power walk" or skip at some schools because running is too dangerous. Pioneer Elementary School in Gilbert prohibits tag altogether. And that’s just the beginning of the rules that principals, playground aides and lawmakers have created in recent years to keep schoolchildren safe. Johnson Elementary School in Mesa banned flip-flops this semester to protect children from twisted ankles and stubbed toes. Sonoran Sky Elementary School in...

PLANO, Texas -- Some Plano parents are furious that swingsets are disappearing from school playgrounds. The Plano Independent School District told NBC 5 that all swingsets have been removed from all elementary schools throughout the district because of safety concerns. Parents said taking the swings out is taking the fun out of being a child. Kristine Conley said the move is a disappointing sign of the times. "Well, sure it can be dangerous. It's just as dangerous as riding a bike and falling down. But, it is just part of growing up," Conley said. The Plano ISD said the move...

<p>Playing for the Pittsfield High School baseball team in Illinois, Danny Hannant threw a pitch that a Calhoun High School player hit in a line drive right at the pitcher's mound. The ball bounced off Hannant's head.</p> <p>Rather than blame the mishap on a lousy pitch or a missed catch, or on the intrinsic risks of the game, Hannant sued the maker of the bat, Hillerich & Bradsby. Seeking in excess of $1 million, Hannant's lawyer argued that the company should have put labels on its Louisville Slugger bats warning that the product "could cause a baseball to be propelled with such velocity that when hit directly towards a pitcher it does not allow the pitcher sufficient reaction time to avoid being struck."</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal regulators Tuesday denied a request to ban arsenic-treated lumber used in playground equipment, which environmentalists say poses a health hazard. The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously to adopt its staff's finding and recommendation that a ban was not needed because most manufacturers already have stopped using the treated wood and other makers soon will follow suit. The lumber in question is treated with a pesticide, chromated copper arsenate, that protects it from decay and insect damage. Almost all wooden playground equipment has been treated with the pesticide. The concern is that children can get cancer-causing...