1. Thomas Daschle to Be Nominated as Secretary of Health and Human Services (external link)
Thomas A. Daschle, a former Senate majority leader and a confidant of President-elect Barack Obama, will be nominated as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and will take on a broader role as the administration's health policy chief, said several sources close to the transition...

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

2. McDonald's Brings Moms Behind the Scenes (external link)
The only obstacle between kids and their french fries: Mom.

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

3. Having Won Race Against Death, Md. Man Tackles Triathlons (external link)
Last weekend, the bike went nowhere, the running shoes sat in the closet and Brian Boyle took a minute to reflect on the season just ended and the lifetime ahead.

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

4. Council Bans Sale of Single Cigars in Bid to Curb Youths' Marijuana Use (external link)
The Prince George's County Council adopted one of the nation's most sweeping restrictions on the sale of cigars yesterday, an effort to curb a growing trend among urban youths of using hollowed-out cigars to smoke marijuana.

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

5. Melamine, Lead and Other Scares Lead FDA to Send Safety Inspectors to China (external link)
BEIJING, Nov. 18 -- Under fire for not having the resources to better protect consumers at home, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is deploying staff members abroad to work directly with importers and foreign regulatory agencies to guard against contaminated animal feed, counterfeit drugs, to...

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

6. Some Toys With Banned Plastics Will Stay on Market (external link)
A new federal ban on the use of the controversial chemical phthalate in teethers, pacifiers and other children's products won't apply to goods already in warehouses or on store shelves, federal safety regulators said yesterday.

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

7. Andrews, Leggett Clash Over Ambulance Fee (external link)
Montgomery County Council member Phil Andrews yesterday introduced what he called an alternative to a proposed ambulance fee that would earmark money from fines raised by red light and speed cameras to pay for fire-rescue equipment and pedestrian safety programs.

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

8. A Half-Century Later, Woodley House Still at the Cutting Edge (external link)
You don't hear much about mentally ill people being locked in the attic by misguided relatives anymore. There are no "insane asylums" where patients go for counseling but end up getting a lobotomy instead. Words such as "warehouse," "snake pit" and "cuckoo's nest" are no longer used to describe most...

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

9. Breast Cancer Survivors Rely on Their Pets to Aid in Recovery (external link)
Pets . . . makeup . . . lights . . . camera . . . action!

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

10. Medical Mystery Solved by a Doctor Who Listened (external link)
Neither Carol Welsh nor the doctors treating her in Williamsburg, where she was attending business school, could figure out how to fix her stomach trouble.

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

11. My Son Was Autistic. Is He Still? (external link)
Paging through 176 MRI scans of my 9-year-old's brain on my home computer, I discovered a button that let me play them as a movie. Gray swirls burst onto the screen, dissolving into one another and revealing a new set of patterns. Beams of light faded in and out, some curving and traveling around...

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

12. NH prescription privacy law upheld (external link)
CONCORD, N.H. -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation law that restricts drug company access to some information about doctors' prescription writing habits.

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:24:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

13. Gym Equipment Can't Give You a Precise Measure of How Many Calories You're Burning (external link)
A little over a year ago, I was killing time on an elliptical machine at a local gym, using a wristwatch heart rate monitor to track the workout. The monitor had settings for my age, weight, sex and height, and kept a running count of the estimated number of calories used.

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

14. Experts Offer Advice on Meal Planning for Single People (external link)
A message to all of you out there who are eating alone:

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

15. Smoking Goes Up as Economy Goes Down (external link)
An Economy Going Up in Smoke If you think you've noticed more people huddled in doorways puffing on cigarettes or smelled smoke on the breath of someone you thought had kicked the habit, you may be right: A new survey indicates that the economic meltdown is prompting people to light up more.

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

16. N.Y. Boy On Life Support in D.C. Dies (external link)
The emotional legal battle over whether to keep a 12-year-old New York boy on life support at Children's National Medical Center ended early Saturday after the boy's heart stopped beating, an attorney for the boy's family said yesterday.

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

17. New Labor Dept. Rule Allows More Time Off for Families of Injured Troops (external link)
The Labor Department released a new regulation yesterday allowing workers to take up to 26 weeks off each year to care for family members seriously injured in the military.

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

18. W. Virginia town shrugs at poorest health ranking (external link)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- As a portly woman plodded ahead of him on the sidewalk, the obese mayor of America's fattest and unhealthiest city explained why health is not a big local issue.

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:46:46 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

19. Nebraska begins its special legislative session on the law that has resulted in 35 children getting dumped there (external link)
OMAHA -- When social worker Courtney Anderson got the urgent call, she knew another child was being abandoned to the state. She spotted a boy, 12 years old, sobbing in a chair at the emergency room registration desk.

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com

20. Fewer Fairfax Teens Have Had Intercourse (external link)
About a third of Fairfax County teenage students say they have engaged in sexual intercourse, a lower rate than the national average, according to a biennial behavioral survey in county schools that asked questions about sexual activity this year for the first time.

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST; feeds.washingtonpost.com