The Progressive: Everything starts in California. Energy policy, new school systems, you name it, it starts somewhere in California. This is no surprise then than California would be the first to bring in a dietician to straighten out its police force. Rana Parker, a diet coach who used to work with the Head Start program, began working with the Los Angeles Police Department in July 2007. Parker taught officers about nutrition, gave presentation to the force, and counseled 90 recruits face to face. Now, almost a year later, Parker’s regimen has turned out a leaner, meaner police force in Los Angeles. Now let’s hope that other departments follow suit.

The Scary: How worried would you be if your 22 year old son was in Afghanistan fighting for his life? Now how about hearing him in a firefight on your voicemail? That is exactly what happened to Sandie and Jeff Petee when they came home one day from the flower shop. They played their messages to find a three minute recording of their son and his comrades fighting against insurgents. The call was made by accident, when Stephen Phillips’ phone was accidentally redialed by the side of his Humvee. The Petees were understandably shocked, but were relieved to find that the call was made by accident, and that their son had survived that battle.

The Good: Today on CNN I ran across an article that I think all my readers should see. With all the rumors of vaccines causing autism, medication mistakes, and the like, many adults are not keeping up with their health the way they should. Why reluctance to accept the new is understandable, adults need to embrace their responsibility to take care of themselves as well as their children. One of the easiest ways to do this is to make sure your vaccines are in line.

If you are like many Americans, you probably visit more than one doctor. Maybe you have one general doctor but you go to a clinic or something similar for the smaller things (like I do). If this is you, it can be tough to get all of your information in one place. You can request all your records be forwarded to your general doctor, or you can request a copy for yourself. Then you should meet with your doctor and ask for their advice as to which vaccines you should take. The ones CNN recommends you have?

• Tdap:the tetanus-diptheria booster that also protects against whopping cough
• Varivax: the chicken pox vaccine (if you haven’t had chicken pox)
• MMR booster: the measles-mumps-rubella booster shot that is essential especially for adults born between 1957 and 1967 (when the vaccine wasn’t as strong)
• Hepatitis B Vaccine: especially with the needle reusing that some clinics covertly use
• Zostavax: the shingles vaccine. While new, it is highly recommended for older Americans.

For the full article visit CNN.

The Bad: Children who are adopted are more likely to develop behavioral or emotional problems, a study by the University of Minnesota says. Researchers talked to adopted children, their adopted parents, and their adopted siblings, to see if the cause of the increase is due to genetic predisposition or are learned behaviors. The researchers found that many times the cause of the behavioral and emotional disorders is the genetics or prenatal care of the birth parents, showing that adopted parents aren’t at fault.

Another interesting thing the study found? American and overseas adoptees behave differently. Researchers found that American adoptees tended to act out, resulting in behavioral issues. Children adopted from overseas seem to be more likely to hold in their fears and troubles, leading to more emotional and depressive disorders in these children. Are there any adoptees out there who would like to comment on this research?

The Good: Stephen Colbert, one of the most annoying and funny people out there, has another title to add to his list. Colbert is already an Emmy Award nominee and winner, a Peabody Award Winner, the inventor of the “word of the year”, an honorary Doctorate recipient, one of the Time’s 100 most influential people, the 2nd Sexiest TV news anchor, and the “Greatest Living American” just to name a few. Now he can add Webby Person of the Year to his Wikipedia page, an honor bestowed to the person who has shown excellence on the internet.

The Person of the Year award, along with the other categories in the Webby Awards, are sponsored by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Some other Webby winners are the Huffington Post, will.i.am, PostSecret, and NYTimes.com. The award recipients are chosen by internet poll and a separate group of judges.

The Shocking: We all know crime is a scary thing, but we trust the court system to keep these criminals in line. That made it all the more shocking when Victor Wright, a man on trial for a drug charge, attacked a lawyer with a razor blade. Wright, described as a “career criminal” attached the prosecutor as he was walking by. U.S. Marshals jumped on the man, along with the Vietnam vet stenographer, and saved the attorney.

Security in the court is now increased, with extra deputies for prisoners with long jail sentences or violent crimes. Wright, now back behind bars, will have to hear the verdict on his case from a closed circuit television at the prison. The incident happened in Brooklyn.