Daily Rounds: The Time-Wasting Divide; Drug Coupons Considered; Virtual Therapy For Traumatized City; The Swimming Bear

Wasting Time Is New Divide In Digital Era (The New York Times) — "As access to devices has spread, children in poorer families are spending considerably more time than children from more well-off families using their television and gadgets to watch shows and videos, play games and connect on social networking sites, studies show. This growing time-wasting gap, policy makers and researchers say, is more a reflection of the ability of parents to monitor and limit how children use technology than of access to it...The new divide is such a cause of concern for the Federal Communications Commission that it is considering a proposal to spend $200 million to create a digital literacy corps. This group of hundreds, even thousands, of trainers would fan out to schools and libraries to teach productive uses of computers for parents, students and job seekers."

Senate, House Both Seek To Allow Prescription Drug Coupons (State House News Service, via The Boston Herald) — "Massachusetts lawmakers have prided themselves on being first in the nation, especially when it comes to health care reform, but a proposal making its way through the Legislature would make Massachusetts the final state to allow for pharmaceutical drug coupons. These coupons appear in magazine ads and online, but they are worthless in Massachusetts because of a 1988 state law that forbids any rebate for health care purchasing, with penalties of up to $10,000 fine or even prison time. That could change
soon."

Virtual Therapy Helps Residents of a Shell-Shocked City (The New York Times) — "Ms. González, 18, is one of 25 patients who recently completed a virtual therapy program similar to the one used by the United States military to treat Iraq war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Created by doctors and psychologists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the pilot project was aimed at filling a void in mental health services for Ciudad Juárez’s shellshocked residents. The city, home to the powerful Juárez cartel and coveted by other criminal syndicates because of its strategic location within the drug trade, has been one of the front lines in President Felipe Calderón’s assault on organized crime."

Black Bear On Cape Likely Swam There, Officials Say (The Boston Globe) — "The black bear that was spotted roaming Cape Cod backyards last weekend is believed to have swum across the Cape Cod Canal, state wildlife officials said today. It is also thought to be the same bear that rambled through Southeastern Massachusetts last summer, officials said. “The most likely scenario is that it swam across the canal,” said Jason Zimmer, the southeast district manager for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. “There is a pretty strong current there, but if it were close to a flat tide, it would be absolutely no problem.”