RELATED RESOURCES

Like Al's ideas? Hear more in our broadcast and online seminars. Sign up to receive Al's Morning Meeting by e-mail: * Click here (sent Monday-Friday at 7 a.m.) Buy Al's book, "Aim for the Heart" (Poynter receives a small cut as an Amazon affiliate).

Frogs, a surprisingly important part of our ecosystem, are disappearing in what the National Aquarium in Baltimore calls "major declines." This is not just about frogs. Vertebrates like frogs are considered indicator species. What happens to them might be an indication of what is ahead for us all, according to Reuters:

About a third of the 5,743 known species of frogs, toads and other amphibians are classified as threatened, according to the Global Amphibian Assessment.

Up to 167 species may already be extinct and another 113 species have not been found in recent years. Habitat loss is the greatest threat to amphibians but fungal disease is also a serious problem.

Here is a list of frog and toad species found in the United States and their status.

This is a wonderful time of year to get out, take a walk with a biologist and listen to nature. The aquarium, which is opening a big new exhibition about frogs, said:

Over the past 50 years, scientists have recorded major declines in frog populations around the world. A few species have vanished completely.

Many frogs die as the result of local human activity, but the epidemic has also reached remote areas. Is there a global cause? Scientists continue to search for answers.

Among the causes factoring into population declines are:

• Habitat destruction by human development
• Introduced species that prey on frogs or affect the food chain
• Chemical pollution
• Climate Changes
• Over-collection as a food source
• Epidemic diseases
  

This is a global issue. NatureServe.org has deep background on the size of the issue. 

In 1998, National Public Radio produced a wonderful piece on the issue. NPR reported:

Frogs -- and other amphibians that have been part of our landscape for millions of years -- are disappearing, failing to reproduce, and going extinct in baffling numbers and circumstances. Others are being found with grotesque deformities such as extra limbs.

Some experts used to scoff that researchers who couldn't find frogs were simply inept field scientists. But there's more and more information that proves the amphibian crisis is real.

Some of the declines have occurred in places you would not expect including national parks that have been protected for decades.

In January, some scientists said they could link the decline of some Central and South American species to an infectious fungus aggravated by warmer global temperatures. Look at this chart, a summary of red-list status for amphibians, from GlobalAmphibians.org:

The new Bureau of Justice Statistics summary is out. I like this report because it deals with crime on a household level. In 2004, the last year studied, 16 million American households experienced one or more violent or property crimes. Some highlights:

• One in every 10 households was a victim of theft.
• About one in every 27 homes was burglarized or had a family member 12 years old or older who was a victim of a violent crime at the hands of a stranger.
• The percentage of households affected by burglary dropped to 12 percent from 21 percent in 1994.    

Bank Fees

A new Bankrate.com survey said that, nationwide, banks are now charging an average of $27.04 for each check that you bounce. Banks charge their own customers an average of $1.29 each time they use another bank's ATM, down from $1.37 since Bankrate.com's last survey. Bank fees are rising, and BankRate.com's new survey shows that you had better check how much money in bank fees you are spending without noticing.  

Bankrate's new survey said:

The key findings of the study are:

• Getting whacked with bounced-check fees can leave quite a welt on your wallet. The average bounced-check fee is $27.04, and with more banks using a tiered structure, the cost can quickly escalate.
• ATM surcharges hit a new high and are more prevalent than ever. The fee that banks charge to nonaccount holders now averages $1.60, with 98 percent of banks owning ATMs charging a fee.
• The average balance requirement on interest-checking accounts hit a new high of $2,465. And you're not getting much in return, as interest-checking yields remain in the cellar.

You may also be paying fees on your checking account. The survey said:

[T]he average balance required to avoid fees on an interest checking account has hit a new high of $2,465. In the past two years, the average balance required to avoid fees has increased 18 percent. So you deposit more, yet don't earn appreciably more.

And what happens if you don't maintain that hefty balance? The monthly service fee on an interest checking account currently averages $10.85, up slightly from $10.81 in the fall.

To avoid the landscape littered with onerous fees and insurmountable balance requirements, look at noninterest accounts instead. Noninterest accounts require balances that are a fraction of those required on interest checking accounts. The average amount required to open a noninterest checking account is just $72, compared to nearly $430 needed to earn interest.

Shackling Inmates During Childbirth

I was surprised to learn that only Illinois and California have state laws forbidding the shackling of women who are in labor. Three other states and the District of Columbia have other, related rules against restraining women in labor. The matter recently came up in Pittsburgh, where a hospital nurse announced that deputies handcuffed an inmate while she was having a baby.

The New York Times reported:

Despite sporadic complaints and occasional lawsuits, the practice of shackling prisoners in labor continues to be relatively common, state legislators and a human rights group said. Only two states, California and Illinois, have laws forbidding the practice.

The New York Legislature is considering a similar bill. [Arkansas inmate Shawanna] Nelson's suit, which seeks to ban the use of restraints on Arkansas prisoners during labor and delivery, is to be tried in Little Rock this spring.

The California law, which came into force in January, was prompted by widespread problems, said Sally J. Lieber, a Democratic assemblywoman from Mountain View.

"We found this was going on in some institutions in California and all over the United States," Ms. Lieber said. "It presents risks not only for the inmate giving birth, but also for the infant."

Corrections officials say they must strike a balance between security and the well-being of the pregnant woman and her child.

"Though these are pregnant women," said Dina Tyler, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, "they are still convicted felons, and sometimes violent in nature. There have been instances when we've had a female inmate try to hurt hospital staff during delivery."

Dee Ann Newell, who has taught classes in prenatal care and parenting for female prisoners in Arkansas for 15 years, said she found the practice of shackling women in labor appalling.

"If you have ever seen a woman have a baby," Ms. Newell said, "you know we squirm. We move around."

Twenty-three state corrections departments, along with the federal Bureau of Prisons, have policies that expressly allow restraints during labor, according to a report by Amnesty International U.S.A.

Amnesty's site has an interactive map that allows you to see your state's laws, and the organization's report gets down to the state level:

• Eight state departments of correction told AI they have no written policy governing the use of restraints on pregnant women. Arizona, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey and North Carolina.

• Kansas has a policy on restraining pregnant women during transportation but no policy governing the use of restraints on women during labor and birth.
  

• Thirty-eight state departments of corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons may use restraints on pregnant women in the third trimester. Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

• Louisiana and the Federal Bureau of prisons have no restrictions on the application of restraints other than specifying that pregnant women should not be restrained face-down in four-point restraints.

• Twenty-three state departments of corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons allow the use of restraints during labor. Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
  

• Most state departments of corrections did not provide details on what type of restraints may be utilized during labor, nor did they provide their policy. Amnesty International received the following details:
• Alabama stated that restraints depend on the security class of the woman, but that "often two extremities are restrained."
• Arkansas reportedly has a policy stipulating that women with "lesser disciplinary records" will at times have one arm and one leg restrained by flexible nylon "soft restraints." Arkansas did not provide information on how women with other disciplinary records are restrained.
• Louisiana allows restraints including leg irons to be utilized.
• Nevada reported that "normally only wrist restraints" are used.
• New Hampshire stated that one foot may be shackled to the bed during labor depending on security class of the woman in labor.
• West Virginia reports that leg restraints would not be used during labor.
• Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Wisconsin allow restraints until the inmate is in "active labor" or arrives at the delivery room.

• Only five state departments of corrections and the District of Columbia have written policies stipulating that no restraints are to be used on inmates during labor and birth. Connecticut, Florida, Rhode Island, Washington and Wyoming.

• Hawaii, Iowa and Kansas reported that they have no policy but that the practice is not to restrain women during labor and birth.
• California, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota and Texas told AI that they do not use restraints during labor and delivery; it is unclear whether this is based on policy or practice.
• Oregon reported that it does not use restraints during labor and delivery "unless expressly requested by the attending physician."

• Twenty-four state departments of corrections station an officer in the delivery room while an inmate is in labor. Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

• Some departments require the officer to be female. These include Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.
• Florida reported that placement of an officer in the delivery room is decided on a case-by-case basis.
  

Al's Morning Meeting Turns Five

Happy birthday to you good people who read Al's Morning Meeting. This is the fifth birthday of the column that was born in 2001 for no particular reason but that I like to research story ideas.

There is no way to know for sure how many people read this column; we estimate it to be about 20,000 a day. We know that newsrooms print it out and share it. Journalists around the world read it. I regularly hear from African, Australian and European colleagues.

Bosses often tell me funny stories about reporters who arrive at editorial meetings late, with no ideas, and whip out a story pitch that they say a "source told them," only to discover that everyone in the meeting read it on Al's Morning Meeting, too. I take it as a compliment. It is what I hope to do -- help reporters who are in a pinch. Trust me, I have been there.   

We are posting about 1,400 stories a year on this column. I estimate that there are 7,000 story ideas in our archive now. Dozens of them are even usable. A few are pretty good. As I like to say, the column is free -- and well worth the price!

My goals for this column are simple, as they have been from the start:

• Help journalists enterprise stories

• Help journalists navigate the Web

• Help connect Poynter with newsrooms and help newsrooms connect with Poynter

• Help non-journalists learn how to pitch stories to journalists

• Earn my keep so they won't take away my cool office

I thank (and you should, too) my editor and friend, Meg Martin, for her excellent work and cheerful encouragement. She often works late at night, very early in the morning and every Sunday evening, cleaning up my mistakes and challenging my facts to make Al's Morning Meeting as useful and accurate as she can, given what I hand her. Barely a year out of college, she teaches and coaches me daily.

She is so good that once, when she first started working with me, I cited some statistic from a federal study. She didn't trust the number for some reason, went back to the study, recalculated the government's numbers and found an error in their data. With young journalists like Meg coming up through the business, it gives me hope for journalism. Her internship will end this summer -- some lucky news organization should snap her up.

Lots of readers ask me how I come up with story ideas every day. I use a lot of RSS feeds, I read/skim about 100 newspapers a day and I check a lot of government-document-monitoring sites like DocuTicker.com, ResourceShelf.com and FedBlog. Of course, the best source of stories is you -- the reader. Here is a piece from a few years ago about how we put this column together every day. Even though it is a little old, it is still pretty accurate.

I hope the column helps you in your work, or at least is an interesting read. Thanks so much for your story ideas, loyalty, useful critiques and your friendship. Keep the story ideas coming.