Help Win $5,000 for Your State 4-H Program! Here’s a fun and exciting  way to be a part of 4-H’s success! During the month of April, join 4-H’s Give2Vote Challenge by texting CLOVER to 50555 to give $10 in support of 4-H in your state. You can also take the Challenge by making a secure online donation at 4-H.org to benefit your state 4-H program.

When you give, you vote! Each $10 mobile gift or online donation counts as one “vote” towards your state. The state with the most “votes” at the end of the Challenge receives an additional $5,000. It’s that easy! Voting ends April 30th.

If you are under 18, be sure to get a parent or guardian’s permission before participating.

Congratulations to Rebecca Lawton who was the winner of a great nutrition information-packed basket of goodies from the drawing that took place at the Liberty Employee Wellness Fair held on March 26th. Rebecca claimed her prize at the Cooperative Extension office in Johnstown. Congratulations!

You can support the local 4-H Program in Fulton & Montgomery Counties through April 18th by stopping by the Tractor Supply Store in either Gloversville or Amsterdam and purchasing a paper clover! Tractor Supply Stores across the nation are conducting a Paper Clover Campaign to bring attention to the value of the 4-H Programs in their communities and to raise money to help support the local programs. "I've visited the managers of both of our local stores and they are very enthusiastic about this campaign", says Karen Kosinski, Public Affairs Coordinator for Cornell Cooperative Extension in Fulton and Montgomery Counties. "The clovers are covering the front windows and doors and filling up the interior walls near the cash registers at the stores. Store employees are embracing the campaign, too, and offering customers the opportunity to participate. We are very grateful for the local support." says Kosinski. You are encouraged to stop by one of the stores and purchase your paper clover or make a donation using the "Donate" button at the right. Either way, we thank you!

The movie "Home Alone" caught the attention of many people. Producers capitalized on humor surrounding the adventures of a child left home alone by mistake. Although the parents in this movie did not intend to leave their child, many parents must make decisions regarding their child's ability to be home alone. The decision to do so is complicated and depends upon the individual child.

As a child care provider, a parent may ask you about a child's readiness to stay by him or herself. There is no single answer to this question, no magical age or single indicator that ensures a child is ready to stay at home alone (or with younger siblings). Some states have made laws that specify an age (e.g., 10 years) below which it is illegal to leave children alone. Other states do not set a specific age, but rather, consider the maturity level of the child. Be sure to check with your state child welfare agency to learn about the regulations in your state.

I LOVE NEW YORK, (www.iloveny.com), New York State’s tourism promotion agency, and EscapeMaker.com are seeking to celebrate those individuals who are doing their part to keep the Empire State green with the first-ever contest to find “The Greenest New Yorker.”

I LOVE NEW YORK is looking for those New York State residents who are making earnest efforts to preserve the environment in their everyday lives and the lives of others.

Download the attached file for details about upcoming webcasts being offered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). All webcasts are offered free of charge, but space may be limited.

EPA hosts the Local Climate and Energy Webcast Series to assist local government with climate change and clean energy efforts. These regular webcasts highlight EPA resources available to local governments, and present examples of successful climate and energy programs and policies implemented locally.

ENERGY STAR offers free online training to help you improve the energy performance of your organization.

For more information or to view past webcasts, visit: http://www.epa.gov/statelocalclimate/web-podcasts/local-webcasts-by-date.html

Sorting out the new health care reform bill may be difficult at best, but Karl Pillemer, Ph.D., professor of human development in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University and Associate Dean for Extension and Outreach suggests a website by The Kaiser Family Foundation can clear up confusion about what is covered in the new health reform legislation.  Dr. Pillemer, a Ph.D. in sociology with a specialization in gerontology, holds positions as a faculty member at the Weill Cornell Medical College and the Director of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging. The Kaiser Family Foundation website is http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm

A North Carolina Extension economist, Dr. Mike Walden, offers an interesting discourse, “What Dilemma Do We Face in Health Care?” http://www.extension.org/pages/What_Dilemma_Do_We_Face_in_Health_Care%3F

Or

http://www.ncsu.edu/project/calscommblogs/news/archives/2010/03/you_decide_what_14.html

Dr. Walden is a William Neal Reynolds Professor and North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics of N.C. State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He teaches and writes on personal finance, economic outlook and public policy.

Last summer the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene launched a campaign, “Are you pouring on the pounds?” with the slogan “Don’t Drink Yourself Fat”.  New York State Health Commissioner, Richard Daines has recently expressed his concern about childhood obesity and the role soda plays in this ongoing epidemic.  Whether you approve or disapprove of a public campaign that discourages the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages or agree or disagree with the Commissioner’s proposal to impose a sugar tax, the nutritional facts speak for themselves. 

Dietitians will tell you that an occasional indulgence of any food is fine as part of an overall healthy diet. But the definition of "occasional" can get some people stuck. One can of a high-sugar beverage every day is actually quite a bit.

Still, you're not alone. The trend toward consuming more calories from beverages has been growing for decades. A 2007 study in the journal Obesity reported that the percentage of calories from beverages increased from 11.8 percent in 1965 to 21 percent in 2002. That represents an increase of 222 calories per person per day from beverages, mainly from high-sugar soft drinks. Since it takes just 3,500 extra calories over time to put on a pound of weight, it's easy to make a connection between higher consumption of soft drinks and higher rates of overweight and obesity across the nation.

Tempted by a plate of cookies on the buffet table? Chances are, the goodies are a little farther away than you think they are. But your faulty estimation may give you a little added nudge to head over to the table and have one. (Or two.)

In research published in the January 2010 issue of the journal Psychological Science, psychology professor David Dunning and Emily Balcetis, Ph.D. '06 (now an assistant professor of psychology at New York University), found that when an object is desirable, we perceive it to be closer than it actually is. A $100 bill, for example, may appear just within reach -- while a letter from the IRS, if it were placed at exactly the same distance, may appear farther away.