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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Why do children die? New Idaho team searches for links

Brooklyn, 18 months old, is dipped into the water by her mother, Carrie Wiltsie, during a water babies class in Twin Falls, Idaho.
Brooklyn, 18 months old, is dipped into the water by her mother, Carrie Wiltsie, during a water babies class in Twin Falls, Idaho.

The state needs campaigns to educate parents about the infant health risks of smoking in the home, and about safe storage of guns and medication. Child care facilities should have policies for safe sleeping position. Baby sitters should call 911 — not a friend or relative — as the first response in an emergency. And parents should supervise young ATV riders, even when the law doesn’t require it.

Those are among a long list of recommendations from the review team, established by the Governor’s Task Force on Children at Risk in 2013 under executive order from Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter. For its April report, the team screened all 168 deaths of Idaho children younger than 18 in 2012 and pulled 78 of the cases for full review. Read more.



Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.