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There are some items up on News Unfiltered that may interest the community.
The nation's public health associations are calling on Congress to pass health reform:
State, regional and national public health associations today called on Congress to send comprehensive health reform legislation to the president in the coming weeks. Thirty-six organizations representing tens of thousands of public health professionals from Alaska to Maine, Iowa to Kentucky and states in between signed on to a letter to members of Congress urging action. "Congress has come further than ever before to passing comprehensive and affordable health reform legislation with an emphasis on changing from a system that focuses on treating the sick to one that focuses on keeping people healthy," the organizations wrote.
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Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis made a statement on Friday on legislation that would extend unemployment insurance and COBRA safety net programs:
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today issued the following statement: "It is essential that Congress extend the unemployment insurance and COBRA safety net programs that are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act past their current expiration date of Feb. 28. If Emergency Unemployment Compensation and full federal funding of the Extended Benefit program are not extended, 400,000 Americans will lose these vital benefits during the first couple of weeks in March. By May, nearly 3 million people would be left without these benefits. Furthermore, if the Recovery Act COBRA subsidy is not extended, thousands of families will lose access to affordable health care.
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On Saturday, Chile was hit by a devastating earthquake:
World Vision began distributing hundreds of blankets and some water containers to Santiago's earthquake survivors over the weekend as it prepared to start an extensive response in the hardest hit areas south of the capital. Many of the communities in Chile where the aid group already works, including Lota City, Temuco, Concepcion and other areas in the Bio Bio region and the La Araucania region, were close to the devastating quake's epicenter.
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