Men’s Health magazine has consistently ranked Houston among the fattest cities in the USA, including four times at #1.

As one of the nation’s consistently ranked “fattest cities,” Houston just got a new diagnosis.

Andrew Pollack, New York Times
The American Medical Association has officially recognized obesity as a disease, a move that could induce physicians to pay more attention to the condition and spur more insurers to pay for treatments.

In making the decision, delegates at the association’s annual meeting in Chicago overrode a recommendation against doing so by a committee that had studied the matter.

“Recognizing obesity as a disease will help change the way the medical community tackles this complex issue that affects approximately one in three Americans,” Dr. Patrice Harris, a member of the association’s board, said in a statement. She suggested the new definition would help in the fight against Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which are linked to obesity.

Nonprofit seeks to improve the shape of Houston’s future.

To some extent, the question of whether obesity is a disease or not is a semantic one, since there is not even a universally agreed upon definition of what constitutes a disease. And the A.M.A.’s decision has no legal authority.

Still, some doctors and obesity advocates said that having the nation’s largest physician group make the declaration would focus more attention on obesity. And it could help improve reimbursement for obesity drugs, surgery and counseling.
(Read the full story at the New York Times)

RELATED STORIES:
• AMA Backs Disease Classification For Obesity (Forbes)
• Medical group recognizes obesity as a disease (USA Today)

LOCAL AREA HEADLINES:

• How The Houston School District Plans To Cover A $24 Million Deficit With 2-Cent Tax Hike (KUHF Public Radio)
• How Students Follow In Astronauts’ Footsteps … Literally (KUHF Public Radio)
• Houston group protests gun control outside Jackson Lee’s office (Chron.com)
• New splash pad opens in Houston’s Fifth Ward (KIAH 39 Newsfix)
• Pasadena woman attacked by Africanized honey bees (KPRC 2 News)
• A marine’s 200 mile ride, The hard way (KRIV 26 News)
• Do You Need Help Evacuating Before A Hurricane? Galveston Wants To Know (KUHF Public Radio)
• JETT tourniquet helps save first civilian (Chron.com)
• A&M prof’s plan to study human cancer using pets goes national (Chron.com)

STATE HEADLINES:

• How to Put a Wind Turbine in the Texas Gulf (State Impact Texas)
• TWIA Board Agrees to Steps to Address Financial Woes (Texas Tribune)
• Southeast Texas jail was ‘rape camp,’ inmate lawsuit alleges (Chron.com)
• Price to pollute hits record high (Houston Chronicle)

NATION & WORLD:

• House Passes Bill That Would Ban Abortions After 20 Weeks (NPR)
• Arizona Legislature passes Medicaid expansion (Chron.com)
• Smartphones Help Bridge Gaps In Electronic Medical Records (NPR)
• Immigration Law Changes Seen Cutting Billions From Deficit (New York Times)

The report compiled yearly by the nonprofit watchdog website, is the only comprehensive report on the performance – both Financial Health and Accountability & Transparency – of the 30 largest philanthropic marketplaces in America. And although Houston lost its standing at the top overal, it still shows us with some of the nation’s fastest growing charities.

In its study, Charity Navigator compared the median performance and size of the largest nonprofits in the 30 largest metropolitan markets   These markets account for 52% of the more than 6,300 charities evaluated by Charity Navigator and they generate 67% of the total revenue and 67% total spending.  The study revealed that regional factors, such as the cost of living, a market’s maturity and a city’s tendency to support one or two specialized causes, greatly influence the ability of the charities in each city to raise money, manage costs as well as their adherence to good governance policies and procedures. Here is an overview of the Houston picture compared to national averages.

Read more on the 2013 Market Survey at Charity Navigator.

The US Senate is scheduled to take up debate this week on the bipartisan immigration reform bill. And some vocal advocates like the Dominican Sisters in Houston are speaking out and trying to target Texas Senators.
(Video: KTRK 13 News) 

RELATED:
• Why One Family Worries They Will Be Separated (KUHF Public Radio)
• Which immigration amendments will pass Tuesday? (Washington Post)
• Cruz offers voting amendment after Supreme Court nixes Arizona law (The Hill)

OTHER LOCAL AREA HEADLINES:

• 15-year-old fights off shark near Surfside Beach shore (KHOU 11 News)
• Sheila Jackson Lee’s call to action on gun control (KIAH 39 Newsfix)
• Residents upset as developer cuts down tree in the Heights (KPRC 2 News)
• Students, first responders honored following Lone Star College stabbings (KRIV 26 News)
• Animal shelter hurricane ready (KRIV 26 News)
• Suspected drunken driver crashes into HFD ambulance (KHOU 11 News)

STATE HEADLINES:

• Bill would shutdown 85 percent of Texas Abortion clinics (KRIV 26 News)
• Why Passing the STAAR Exam Will Get Tougher, Starting Next Year (KUT News)
• Study Finds College Students Misinformed on HPV Risks (KUT News)
• Lawmaker Wants to Save Office Probing Corruption in State Government (KUT News)

NATION & WORLD:

• Komen breast cancer charity names new CEO (AP
• White House cites progress on gun control (USA Today)
• Study: Teacher Prep Programs Get Failing Marks (NPR)
• Pew: Americans Agree U.S. Should Stay Out of Syrian Conflict (NPR)

Hurricane season launched at the beginning of the month, but lawmakers in Austin have been in session since January. While a House panel plans to address the Texas Windstorm Insurance Assocation again this week, a fear of what doing nothing means to the Texas Gulf Coast residents until after the next storm, is very scary.
(Video: KRIV 26 News)

LOCAL AREA HEADLINES:

• HPD-HFD ‘Guns and Hoses’ hockey game raises money for firefighters, families (KIAH 39 Newsfix)
• Lifeguard drowns at community pool in Cinco Ranch (KPRC 2 News)
• Galveston shelters see animals so weird some don’t even belong there (Chron.com)
• UTMB developing backpack emergency room (Houston Chronicle)
• City announces list of neighborhoods to get bigger recycling bins (Chron.com)
• After a slow rise, solar starts to shine (Houston Chronicle)
• Parts of Galveston Could Be Under Water in 20 Years Due to Erosion (Houston Press)
• Good Samaritan removes bees from Houston woman’s home (KPRC 2 News)
• Protest Aims to Close Detention Facility Outside Houston (KUT-Austin)

STATE HEADLINES:

• Abortion Bills Debate in Texas Senate Slated for Next Week (KUT-Austin)
• House panel to discuss insurance group’s finances (Austin Statesman)
• Federal audit confirms cheating at El Paso schools (Austin Statesman)

NATION & WORLD

• Lenders seek court actions against homeowners years after foreclosure (Washington Post)
• Above the law: America’s worst charities (CNN)
• Bullying by siblings just as damaging, research finds (USA Today)
• Republicans trying to use health-care law to derail Obama’s immigration reform efforts (Washington Post)
• The Gulf of Mexico, 3 Years after BP (Scientific American)

You win some, and lose some, in the state house in Austin. Governor Perry vetoed a range of bills on Friday dealing with everythin from ethics, to equal pay, and even the limitation on sugary drinks inside of Texas schools. Meanwhile he left much of the budget intact, and approved a slimmed down version of drug-testing for benefits bill, he wanted before the session began.

Texas Governor Okays Drug Testing for Unemployed
(KUHF Public Radio)

Will Weissert, Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas Gov. Rick Perry vetoed 24 would-be laws late Friday, wiping out proposals to prevent wage discrimination against women, tighten ethics laws, limit the power of university regents and ban the sale of sugary drinks at many public schools — but leaving the roughly $100 billion budget mostly intact.

The governor has the authority to scrutinize the budget line by line and remove what he doesn’t like. Perry didn’t do much, however, except for making good on a threat to erase all funding for the state’s Public Integrity Unit after the district attorney who oversees it was convicted and jailed for drunken driving. The unit investigates wrongdoing by elected officials.

Perry carried out other cuts to the supplemental spending plan and main budget that appeared relatively minor. His office tweeted that they added up to $500 million, though it wasn’t entirely clear what that tally included and what it didn’t.

The final burst brings to 28 the number of vetoes Perry has issued since the legislative session ended May 27, and he line-itemed parts of the budget and one other measure. Perry summoned lawmakers into a 30-day special session immediately, but they cannot override any of his vetoes because they are only allowed to work on issues he places on the agenda.

The budget uses a surging state economy to restore large chunks of the historic spending cuts of two years ago and includes a ballot initiative that will ask voters to approve $2 billion for major water infrastructure projects.
(Read more of this story at Chron.com)

LOCAL AREA HEADLINES:

• Harris County spraying for mosquitos after positive West Nile test (KTRK 13 News)
• Outrage after officer not indicted for fatally shooting unarmed double-amputee (KPRC 2 News)
• Residents remember history’s lessons on Juneteenth (Chron.com)
• BARC reaches crisis point with record number of dogs, cats (KHOU 11 News)
• $5M grants bring federal Ebola studies to Galveston (Chron.com)
• HPD-HFD ‘Guns and Hoses’ hockey game raises more than $25K for firefighters, families (KTRK 13 News)
• Disaster drill held at Houston Food Bank (KPRC 2 News)
• Officials stress safety after Montgomery County house explosion (KPRC 2 News)
• Never Before Seen Video of Police Beating may have swayed Jury (KRIV 16 News)

STATE HEADLINES:

• TDCJ Faces Lawsuit In Heat Deaths Of Four Prisoners (KUHF Public Radio)
• Texas lawmakers hold 2dn review after West plant blast (KPRC 2 News)
• Texas CPS seeks IDs for 10 kids found in Laredo home (KTRK 13 News)
• Federal Judge Faces Rare Review Over Controversial Remarks (KUT News)

NATION & WORLD:

• Police: OSHA to join investigation of second Louisiana plant explosion that killed 1, hurt 7 (AP)
• Opinion: Expanding Medicaid coverage is not a cure-all (Washington Post)
• Ahead of G8 summit, A-list actors urge Obama to push for ‘a world without nuclear weapons’ (Yahoo News)
• Mandela Seeing Sustained Improvement in Health (ABC News)

The Houston Independent School District Board voted to accept the annexation of North Forest-ISD as requested by the states. But while things move forward to assure school management into next year, advocates for North Forest continue to press their case in an Austin state court.
(Video: KTRK 13 News)

ALSO SEE: HISD trustees OK North Forest annexation (Chron.com)

LOCAL AREA HEADLINES:

• New allegations of corruption made against more HISD officials (KTRK 13 News)
• Federal ‘Sequester’ Squeezes $7 Million From Houston Rent Subsidies (KUHF Public Radio)
• Bellaire Boy Scouts forced to evacuate Colorado camp (KTRK 13 News)
• Alzheimer’s patients move back into their homes after fire (KPRC 2 News)
• Packed Houston animal shelter sets record for most animals dropped off (Chron.com)
• Injured firefighter’s family express gratitude to Houston as he recovers in hospital (KPRC 2 News)
• Critically injured woman dies after Montgomery County house explosion (Chron.com)
• No charges against HPD officer who killed double amputee in a wheelchair (Chron.com)

STATE HEADLINES:

• Perry Hopes Obama Stays “True to His Word” on West (Texas Tribune)
• Despite Legislation, Texas Students Still Face Bevy of Tests (Texas Tribune)
• Texas Religious Freedoms Bill Allows Religious Holiday Symbols In Public Schools (KUHF Public Radio)
• Hispanic San Antonio boy slammed over National Anthem (KTRK 13 News)

NATION & WORLD:

• Can Federal Funds Help Social Service Groups Work Smarter? (NPR)
• Obamacare: Law saves millions ahead of full implementation (Chron.com)
• 6 months after Newtown: Rush of gun laws, mixed results (USA Today)
• U.S. Says Syria Crossed ‘Red Line’; Now What? (NPR)

(Video: KRIV 26 News)
Houston weather, traffic, news | FOX 26 | MyFoxHouston

RELATED STORIES:

• Houston’s Star of Hope homeless shelter hits capacity record (Chron.com)
• Did Houston Really Have A 29% Drop In Homeless Population? (KUHF Public Radio)