Military creating student database

Washington The Defense Department began working Wednesday with a private marketing firm to create a database of high school students ages 16 to 18 and all college students to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment.

The program is provoking a furor among privacy advocates.

The database will include personal information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade averages, ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying.

Some data on high school students is given to recruiters under the No Child Left Behind Act. They use the data to contact students at home, angering some parents and school districts.

Medical group touts measures on health

Chicago The American Medical Association voted Wednesday to take on indoor tanning, violent video games and drinking in an effort to promote healthier lifestyles among the young.

The physicians’ group also adopted policies to strengthen its campaign against childhood obesity, including urging doctors to include waist measurements in children’s routine exams.

The measures include a push for a federal ban on minors using tanning salons and appropriate labeling so only adults would be able to buy violent video games.

Delegates voted to ask the AMA to lobby for higher alcohol taxes and for taxes to be based on amount of alcohol per beverage, rather rather than volume.

Designer who put ‘S’ on hero’s cape dies

Milwaukee Paul H. Cassidy, credited with putting “S” on Superman’s cape, died of natural causes May 15 at a senior facility here. He was 94.

He drew the cape tight to the crime fighter’s shoulders, not attached by ties as in earlier illustrations. His “S” became bolder, part of the evolution of the emblem. And he began drawing the fictional hero in a more fluid, dramatic way.

Thanks to a college contact, Cassidy was offered the chance to join Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, when help was needed on the comic books.

Muslim woman files a discrimination suit

Orlando, Fla. A Muslim woman is suing a Florida real estate firm for reli- gious discrim- ination after being told she couldn’t wear a head scarf and long sleeves at work.

Danine Hammond, 27, of Orlando, said the office manager of Chapel Trace Apartments said she couldn’t wear a hijab, a scarf worn by some Muslim women.

Hammond is suing under Florida’s Civil Rights Act, asking for lost pay and benefits, damages and fees, the lawsuit states.

Woman files lawsuit over autopsy mistake

Chattanooga, Tenn. An erroneous blood test in an autopsy report sent Margaret Mignano to jail last year on charges of killing her severely disabled daughter with a deliberate overdose of prescription medicine.

One year later, with the potential death penalty case dismissed, Mignano and her husband have filed a lawsuit seeking $750,000 in damages.

The lawsuit cites Meharry Medical College, its ToxMed Reference Lab, and the directors.

Mignano also said investigators should have requested another test because the autopsy report came from a former medical examiner who at the time was fighting state efforts to revoke his medical license.