Schools try modified South Beach dining

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Nine-year-old Kelly Ferrer no longer gets the waffles, pancakes and sugar cereals that she loved eating for breakfast in her school cafeteria.

This year, she is served whole-wheat bread, low-fat cheese and fruit.

Does she like it? No.

"I want to go back to the old menu," said the fourth-grader at Mill Creek Elementary School.

Kelly's is one of six schools in the Orlando suburb of Kissimmee taking part in a study by a research center founded by Dr. Arthur Agatston, the author of The South Beach Diet.

The goal of the study is to figure out whether school cafeterias are capable of serving more nutritious food, whether children will eat it and whether their health will improve.

"We're not putting the children on the South Beach Diet," said Danielle Hollar, the deputy director of research at the Agatston Research Institute. "We're trying to provide healthier options for these children, and in the long run we hope they learn to eat healthier and incorporate that into their daily living."

Although the 3,000 students in the study haven't been put on the low-carb diet per se, many of the diet's guiding principles have been incorporated into school menus.

At the beginning of the school year, pupils were weighed, their height measured, and their blood pressure and pulse recorded. Those same measurements will be taken in April. The institute has paid for the $10,000 extra cost.

Research says driving program saves teens

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Teenage drivers are dying much less frequently on North Carolina highways since a restricted licensing program for new drivers started in 1997, safety researchers say.

A graduated license restricts the times of day rookies can drive, the number of passengers they can carry and the level of supervision they must have from an experienced driver.

"If you compare the first couple of years before the graduated licenses were introduced, death rates for 16-year-olds are down by 34 percent," said Arthur Goodwin, a senior research associate with the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center.

"For 17-year-olds, it's down 21 percent. And fatalities are down; we were averaging 55 fatalities a year before the graduated licenses; now we're down to about 30. In the highway safety field, we consider the program to be a huge success," Mr. Goodwin said.

Trimmer governor finishes marathon

LITTLE ROCK - Nearly two years after he embarked on a diet and fitness regimen that left him 110 pounds lighter and diabetes free, Gov. Mike Huckabee finished the Little Rock Marathon on Sunday ahead of his new running mate - Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa.

The crowd cheered as Mr. Huckabee turned the corner toward the finish line and started the last stretch of the 26.2-mile race. He finished in just more than 4 hours and hugged his two sons and daughter.

"What do you say? Is that not cool?" the Republican governor said, holding up his medal afterward.

Mr. Vilsack, a Democrat, finished about 40 minutes after Mr. Huckabee, who waited at the finish line and hugged his friend as he crossed, giving him his finisher's medal.

Ice cream truck driver charged in fatal crash

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. - A 2-year-old boy was fatally injured when he ran into the path of an ice cream truck in the parking lot of his apartment complex, and the driver is accused of leaving the scene, authorities said Sunday.

Angela Rodriguez, 27, later turned herself in and was charged with leaving the scene of a fatality, which carries a possible 15-year prison sentence. She was jailed Sunday in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Witnesses said the driver got out of her truck after Saturday's accident and moved Moses Joseph before driving away.

When Ms. Rodriguez got home, her husband saw blood on her hands and told her, "'You need to do the right thing,'" Palm Beach County sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said Sunday.