Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication back issues from February 1997:
Tobacco's toll on teens; every day another 3,000 young people become regular smokers.(Cover Story)
Feb 01, 1997; ... Every day another 3,000 young people become regular smokers. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), tobacco-related diseases kill more than 400,000 people in the United States each year. That's more than the combined number of deaths annually from AIDS, car ...
Calling it quits. (programs to help teens stop smoking)(Cover Story)
Feb 01, 1997 ... Seventy percent of teens who use tobacco already regret smoking. Because nicotine has been described as being as powerfully addictive as cocaine, quitting isn't easy. Withdrawal symptoms include anxiety, irritability, appetite changes, mood swings, fatigue, headaches, inability to ...
Lisa's story. (high school senior injured as passenger in car driven by drunk driver)(includes related article on the affect of drinking on driving)
Feb 01, 1997; ... High school senior Lisa Wright lived in a world bright with promise. When she got in a car with a drunk driver, her world came to a crashing halt. I wasn't the perfect 17-year-old high school senior, but I was pretty normal. I was a cheerleader and the president of my class in ...
Food cravings. (causes and management)
Feb 01, 1997; ... Whether you crave a juicy hamburger or a chocolate sundae may depend on whether you're male or female. A huge mountain of homework looms larger as you get hit with another weekend assignment, your bestfriend won't speak to you, and now your parents need you to baby-sit your ...
Working toward violence-free schools. (includes related article on a safe-schools plan in Lawrence Township, Illinois)
Feb 01, 1997; ... One beautiful day in October on the Purdue University campus in Indiana, an 18-year-old freshman strolled into his dorm. Blaming his RA (resident assistant, or dorm counselor) for the trouble he had gotten into for cocaine possession, the boy pulled out a gun and shot the older student ...
Get with the program that's right for you. (fitness program)
Feb 01, 1997; ... If you charge into weight training by lifting as much as you can as fast as you can, the only thing you're likely to get is injured. Today's the day you're going to get Fit For Life. You pick up the brochures from health clubs, the city rec center, the "Y"; persuade your parents ...
In search of happiness. (advice for happy living)
Feb 01, 1997; ... A recent national survey asked teens across the country what they really want from life. Among the 938 responses, Happiness took first place, even above long life, love, success, and friendship. Heather slams the tennis ball into the net. "Tough luck," her opponent, Rosalba, ...
Pneumonia is on the rise. (symptoms, diagnosis, treatment)
Feb 01, 1997; ... The death of Jim Henson in May 1990 was shocking news. Everywhere, people felt deeply sad about the loss of the man who had created the Muppets and given Kermit the Frog his cheerful voice. Henson died from a raging infection of a particularly deadly strain of pneumonia. His ...
The Net: a treasure trove of health info? (includes World Wide Web addresses)
Feb 01, 1997; ... Zack, age 14, was baby-sitting his sister Jamie on a Saturday night. While helping her to get ready for bed, he found a fat, blood-filled tick on her skin. He called Dr. Lawlor, the family doctor, who wasn't in. After he left a message, Zack ran to his computer and logged onto the ...
Year of the dragon: on July 1, HOng Kong will become part of China after 150 years of British rule.
Feb 03, 1997 ... VICTORIA, Hong Kong--According to the traditional Chinese calendar, 1997 is the Year of the Ox. But for the people of Hong Kong, 1997 may seem more like the Year of the Dragon. The dragon is a traditional symbol of China, and China, like a huge dragon, now has its jaws open, ...
Sidelights.(facts about Hong Kong)
Feb 03, 1997 ... * Hong Kong includes 236 islands dotting the turquoise-colored waters of the South China Sea. * The old video game Donkey Kong and the old movie "King Kong" have nothing whatever to do with Hong Kong. * Before Jackie Chan, the most famous resident of Hong Kong was ...
Ads in schools: a good idea?
Feb 03, 1997 ... Students in Colorado's Coronado High ride to school in buses emblazoned with brightly colored ads. When they get off the bus, eye-catching billboards pitching products from candy to jeans line the school's hallways. In Coronado's gym, a billboard encourages students to drink a popular ...
Black and white: president says healing racial divide will be second-term priority. (Pres Bill Clinton's inaugural address outlines social change goals)
Feb 10, 1997 ... WASHINGTON,D.C.--Do we Americans live in one nation or two? The answer depends on whom you ask. Many white people say we are one nation. But many African Americans say we are really two nations--one white, the other black; one rich, the other poor; one free, the other still bound by ...
Sidelights. (information about civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and activist Rosa Parks)
Feb 10, 1997 ... * Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was the main leader of the civil rights movement in the United States during the 1950a and 1960s. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for leading nonviolent demonstrations against racial discrimination. He was assassinated in 1968. * Martin ...
Trouble in Tibet: China mounts a new campaign against the Dalai Lama and Tibetan culture.(Special Report)
Feb 10, 1997 ... Even in your wildest thoughts, you might find it difficult to imagine a country where * the lowest points are higher than the highest mountains in nearly every other country; * until recently more than one in five males out of a population of 2.3 million was a monk ...
Too extreme? (controversy over extreme fighting matches)
Feb 10, 1997 ... Two fighters enter the chained-in ring The crowd jeers and roars and cheers. The fighters not only punch each other, they also kick, wrestle, and scratch each other without mercy. As one fighter is doubled-over in pain, his opponent kicks him in the face, pounding him onto the sweat ...
How safe is our food? President Clinton announces $43 million program to make U.S. food supply safer.(includes related information on ergot poisoning and irradiation preservation of food)
Feb 17, 1997 ... WASHINGTON, D.C.--You'll never guess who's coming to dinner tonight. Even if you plan to eat alone in a closed room, you're going to have a lot of dinner guests. Millions of them, in fact. Every time we humans eat anything--from a candy bar to rice to a double ...
Shaming criminals: a good idea?(using shaming to punish criminals)
Feb 17, 1997 ... Glenn Meyer, a 62-year-old Illinois farmer, beat a man in the face with a pipe. Instead of sending Meyer to prison, the judge sentenced him to be publicly shamed. Meyer had to display a big green sign at the foot of his driveway for 30 months. The sign reads "A Violent Felon Lives Here ....
A people in peril.(Native Americans face unemployment and poverty)
Feb 24, 1997 ... STANDING ROCK, N.D.--A little more than 130 years ago, proud Sioux warriors fought the U.S. Army in the northern Great Plains--the vast flat sea of grass that once stretched across the north-central United States and into Canada. Today, much of this vast grassland, now dotted ...
Sidelights.(information about Native Americans)
Feb 24, 1997 ... * When Columbus discovered the New World in 1492, he and his crew unwittingly brought common European germs with them. Within a few years after Columbus landed, Native Americans lost an estimated 50 to 90 percent of their population throughout the Western Hemisphere to epidemics of ...
Changing the course of the Nile: Egypt begins a massive canal project to make the Sahara bloom.(Nile River; Special Report)
Feb 24, 1997 ... The Sahara in Africa is the biggest, driest desert in the world. It covers the entire top if the continent with 4,000 miles of shifting, blowing sand. Through this sandy waste flows the great Nile, River the longest river in the world. For thousands of years, the people of ...
Mysteries of the pyramids.(construction of Egyptian pyramids; Special Report)
Feb 24, 1997 ... Thousand of workers toiled for years with no modern machinery to build the pyramids as monuments and burial chambers for ancient Egypt's pharaohs. The biggest pyramid, built by the pharaoh Khufu, is shown here. Its base covers 13 acres, the size of eight football fields. It is 450 feet ...
Kids on the catwalk?(beauty pageants for children)
Feb 24, 1997 ... Amanda Smith glides down the runway, her rhinestone tiara and sequined gown glimmering under the lights. Her proud parents look on as she charms the audience. Tears of happiness stream down her tiny face. She's been waiting for this moment all her life. At 6 years old, Amanda's been in 70 ...