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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Minnesota Outlines Plan to Reduce Infant Mortality

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Thursday, May 7, 2015   

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Every year, several hundred babies statewide die before they reach their first birthday and a new plan from the Minnesota Department of Health aims to reduce those numbers.

Commissioner Ed Ehlinger says while Minnesota does have one of the lowest overall infant mortality rates in the nation, more work must be done, especially with the persistent and large disparity among races.

"Populations of color and American Indians are not benefiting from all the things we have in our state to a level that they should," says Ehlinger. "So as we become an increasingly diverse state, if we don't deal with the disparities, our infant mortality rate is not going to be able to keep up with improvements in the rest of the country."

The infant mortality rate in Minnesota for whites is about four deaths per 1,000 births, while the rates for African-Americans and American Indians are both more than double that.

Ehlinger notes, healthy birth outcomes are strongly influenced by social and economic factors, so reducing infant mortality and closing the racial gaps will require addressing those determinants.

"We are talking about security of neighborhoods, economic security, housing stability, educational levels," says Ehlinger. "Things that really are impacted by a whole variety of factors including poverty, racism, segregation and economic development."

Other broad recommendations in the plan include reducing the number of teen pregnancies and lowering the rate of Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths. More targeted tactics will be outlined when a second phase of the plan is released later this year.


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