A new report finds that the health of American children is a matter of concern, made worse by the disparities that exist between kids in low- and high-income families. Children's parents and their surroundings have a huge effect on whether they grow up healthy, and whether they live past their first year.

Nebraska delegateLogan Dobbs Aug. 29, 2008, 2:30 p.m. EDTQ. What serious issue in your state would you like the next president to address? For people my age, if we can't get (health insurance) from our parents, we're pretty much out of luck. I'm active. I work out. I play basketball. If I injure myself I can't afford to pay to get myself fixed. -Nebraska delegate Logan Dobbs, 22, Hastings College, senior, interviewed by Stephen C. Fehr, Stateline.orgComments

Cigarettes sold in 21 states will be self-extinguishing after a strikingly high 15 states passed new laws this year to combat smoking-related blazes, the No. 1 cause of home-fire deaths. 

The latest fireworks over the "morning-after pill" weren't in Congress, or at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but in Kent, Wash., at last week's meeting of the normally obscure state Board of Pharmacy. The FDA's decision to let women over age 18 buy emergency birth control pills without a prescription thrusts pharmacists - more than ever - into the middle of the hot social policy dispute and may shove additional issues into state policy-makers' laps.