LA Summer jobs - application deadline June 30th

High School junior and senior students!  There is a wonderful opportunity for you to get a six-week "paid" summer internship, "SITES",  with the City of Los Angeles Public Works Bureau of Sanitation!  "SITES" is the Summer Introduction to Engineering and Science Program. If you are interested in becoming an engineer, then this program is for you. Introduction to engineering and science program will be available for those that qualify.

Program Description

·  Paid $9/hr. and will work four (4) hours per day

·  Program will start either July 6, 2015 or July 13, 2015

·  Six-week PAID summer internship (July-August)

·  Participate in training sessions, workshops, and educational field trips

·  Gain work experience and explore careers in:

o Civil Engineering

o ​Environmental Engineering

o Chemical Engineering

o Environmental Science

Program Requirements

·  Must be an incoming high school junior, senior or recent graduate

·  You must either:

o Live within the City of Los Angeles

o Attend a high school within the Los Angeles Unified High School District, or

o Attend a high school in the City of Los Angeles

·  Must be able to provide verification of your legal right to work

·  Must submit an online resume and recommendation

·  Must be able to work during the hours of 8:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. for the duration of the program.

·  Emergency release form for active interns are required to be on file.

·  Students must be taking the advance Math and Science classes and completed Algebra II with B or better. 

Applicants who are interested, please submit your resume and recommendation letter to RHONDA.DOWDY@LACITY.ORG. Telephone number 213 485-2656.  The deadline for all applications will be June 30, 2015.  The earlier the application is submitted the better the chances are to be admitted into the program.

 

10 Natural Ways to Lower Blood Sugar

High blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, is something that many people living with diabetes face regularly. You may feel nauseous, lethargic, and irritable, and find yourself extremely thirsty and having to go to the bathroom nearly constantly.  There are a lot of natural ways to lower your blood sugar levels, and many lifestyle behaviors that can make them consistently lower.

1. Exercise can be a fast and natural way to lower your blood sugar, instead of using insulin or other glucose-lowering medications. Engaging in physical activity increases your body’s sensitivity to insulin and makes your muscles take in more glucose so less is left circulating in the bloodstream.

2. When you relax, your body releases chemicals that lower your blood sugar. Conversely, when you’re stressed, your body releases hormones that make your blood sugar spike. A body under stress releases glucose-raising hormones like adrenaline and cortisol because it activates the fight-or-flight mode we use for survival.

3. The more you drink when you are experiencing high blood sugar, the better. Drink at least two glasses of water, with one right after the other. Water helps your body flush glucose out of your system and stabilize sugars in the bloodstream. 

4. Negative emotions such as anxiety, fear and sorrow can raise blood glucose levels. On the other hand, positive emotions like gratitude and wholesome behaviors like laughter may positively affect blood sugar. So laugh a little more, and stop taking life so seriously.

5. Protein can be a good blood stabilizer because it slows the absorption rate of glucose. Examples of healthy proteins to reduce high blood sugar include turkey lunchmeat, yogurt without added sugar, or an ounce of cheese. Ask your diabetes healthcare professional, such as your CDE or dietitian, for small protein snacks they recommend to lower blood sugar.

6. If you have diabetes you may experience a low blood sugar reaction called hypoglycemia every now and then. You need to treat these lows effectively without over-treating them. Over-treating can lead to high blood sugar, putting you on the blood sugar rollercoaster. Plan ahead for hypoglycemia with a set amount of carbohydrates to raise your blood sugar levels, like glucose tablets, hard candies, 1 tablespoon of honey, 2 tablespoons of raisins, or ½ cup of juice or non-diet soda.

7. The amount of sleep you get affects the release of glucagon and insulin, hormones that regulate your blood sugar levels. Blood glucose increases with the secretion of glucagon and decreases with the secretion of insulin. Getting enough sleep allows your body to keep your blood sugar levels within healthy parameters during your waking hours.

8. Recent research suggests that 20 to 30 minutes of exercise before a meal can help prevent post-dinner blood sugars from rising. A study published in the July 2014 issue of Diabetologia found that “exercise snacks” before main meals may help improve glycemic control in people with insulin resistance.

9. Your body breaks down white grain and sugar products very fast. You need foods that digest slower and are full of nutritious components your body needs. When your blood sugars are high, stay away from processed foods.

10. Supplements can be an excellent, natural way to provide your body with the extra nutrients it needs to successfully balance blood glucose levels. There are several supplements that are suggested to help regulate blood sugars, and you should discuss them with your healthcare provider before implementing any into your diabetes treatment plan. Research around diabetes supplements is somewhat limited and/or of questionable quality, so you should proceed with the advice of your doctor and with your own caution.

Source: Diabetic Connect

Legal Financial Obligations and Inequality

by Marc Meredith, Claire Greenberg and Michael Morse

The recent focus on Ferguson, Missouri has generated a welcome national dialogue about criminal justice policy in the United States and the rampant use of legal financial obligations, such as fines and court fees, to fund government services. In a report analyzing all that went wrong in Ferguson, the Department of Justice highlighted costly penalties for municipal violations, which saddle the poor with a sizable amount of debt to the courts. Ferguson assessed these penalties regardless of an individual's ability to pay, and then put individuals who could not afford to pay their debt on payment plans that carry high fees. Every missed or partial payment was treated as a "failure to appear" offense, which may then result in an arrest warrant. While in some ways the case of Ferguson is an outlier, less extreme versions of this same story could be documented across the United States.

We have spent the past year researching the role of criminal debt in Alabama. One of the major issues we have identified in carrying out this research is that while individual fines and fees might not seem overly burdensome, they accumulate to form a substantial amount of debt. When considered in isolation, it seems quite reasonable to charge someone convicted of a crime $30 for the investigation of their criminal history and $21 to help fund the Alabama Solicitor General's Office. Yet it isn't unusual to find that all of the fines and fees associated with a single conviction, felony, or misdemeanor add up to $2,000 or more.

If a conviction involves restitution, the total cost can be substantially more. Another reason fines and fees accumulate is that different levels of government all want their share of the revenue. Consider docket fees, which are the price of a case being placed on a court's calendar and are present in every case the court hears. Docket fees, like every other type of fee, are not part of the punishment, but rather reflect the cost of using the courts. In Alabama, the statewide felony docket fee is $247, but counties can tack on their own fees too. So Coosa County, for example, adds an additional $58 to the docket fee. Surprisingly, municipal violations can be even worse. A municipal ordinance violation docket fee can range from $144 to $374· The docket fee for a traffic infraction can be $111 to $199.

Our research shows that the median amount of fines, fees, and restitution associated with a felony conviction in Alabama in 2005 was about $2,000. The median annual income reported in a 2014 survey of Alabama ex-felons by Foster Cook was less than $10,000. Cook's study found that 60 percent of individuals in Alabama paying court costs had to choose between paying off their debt and buying essentials. In the same study, 17 percent of individuals admitted to committing crimes to pay court costs. Given this, we were not surprised to find that the median balance owed today on a 2005 felony conviction is about $1,000.

Despite this, our research documents a general increase in court costs over time, leaving more and more individuals with outstanding criminal debt. Not only is it common for courts to charge fees for payment plans as in Ferguson, but courts may also charge fees for debt collection. Alabama imposes a fee of 30% after 90 days. Failure to pay this criminal justice debt may result in an individual having his or her driver's license suspended or even spending time in jail. In some states, including Alabama but also Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, and Tennessee, restoration of voting rights are conditioned on the payment of these legal financial obligations.

More work on this topic is needed. The extent of criminal justice debt- and the broad inability to pay it off-suggests that legal financial obligations themselves could play an important, though under-theorized, role in structuring inequality and mediating citizens' relationship with the state.

Marc Meredith is an associate professor of political science at Penn, and Claire Greenberg, C'17, is a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) major. Michael Morse, C'13, is a graduate student in government at Harvard University.

Penn Arts & Sciences magazine, Spring/Summer 2015.