family – News Stories About family - Page 8

Hospitals Build 'Womb Rooms' for Preemies

May 29, 2007 5:36 PM CDT

Hospitals Build 'Womb Rooms' for Preemies

Environments are designed to replicate qualities of the womb

(Newser) - With preterm births soaring—and tinier preemies surviving—many hospitals are redesigning their neonatal units to provide environments closer to those babies experience in utero, the New York Times reports. The new rooms are darker and quieter, and provide space for skin-to-skin contact with parents (not to speak of places...

Bride and Groom Need
Not Attend

May 14, 2007 3:40 PM CDT

Bride and Groom Need Not Attend

In Montana, couples use stand-ins to tie the knot

(Newser) - Who says you need to be present at your own wedding? In Montana, where a World War II–era law allows "proxies" to stand in for the bride and groom, hundreds of couples from as far away as China are sending substitutes to the altar—or in this case,...

Michelle Obama Picks Campaign Trail Over Career Track

May 11, 2007 8:49 AM CDT

Michelle Obama Picks Campaign Trail Over Career Track

Candidate's wife is no stay-at-home mom

(Newser) - Michelle Obama is putting her career on hold for her husband's campaign. The Princeton- and Harvard-educated lawyer has been phasing out her work as a vice president at the University of Chicago Hospitals and will be unemployed for the first time in her adult life. "It's a bit disconcerting,...

Divorce Rate Hits 37-Year Low

May 11, 2007 7:00 AM CDT

Divorce Rate Hits 37-Year Low

But America's marriages may not be more stable

(Newser) - America's divorce rate has been dropping steadily for decades; this year breakups reached their lowest level since 1970. But that doesn't mean todays' relationships are more stable: More couples are living together without tying the knot. Divorces are down by a third since their peak in 1981, but marriages themselves...

DNA Tests Surprise Immigrants

Apr 10, 2007 8:55 AM CDT

DNA Tests Surprise Immigrants

Thousands of tests of family members fail to turn up matches

(Newser) - Thousands of new citizens asked to take DNA tests in order to verify the immigration status of relatives back home are discovering unwelcome surprises about their families, the New York Times reports. The State Department recommends the tests to confirm family ties in countries where record-keeping is poor. But an...

States Battle Over Stillborn Babies

Apr 10, 2007 8:33 AM CDT

States Battle Over Stillborn Babies

Grieving parents are pitted against pro-choice advocates

(Newser) - Parents of stillborn babies are pitted against pro-choice advocates in an emotional battle over initiatives in seven states to issue birth certificates for their children, reports the Chronicle. Parents want recognition of their loss; abortion advocates want to avoid a precedent that might be used to claim an unborn fetus...

Late to The Ball, But Gays Will Wed

Apr 6, 2007 1:23 PM CDT

Late to The Ball, But Gays Will Wed

With a sweep of a wand, Disney welcomes same-sex couples for "Fairy Tale" ceremonies

(Newser) - Same-sex couples can now exchange rings in the shadows of Sleeping Beauty's castle and have Mickey and Minnie as witnesses. Walt Disney opened its "Fairy Tale Wedding" package to gay partners yesterday, after a gay website accused the company of discrimination for barring same-sex couples from the $8,000-and-up...

Gingrich: 'I Cheat, but Don't Lie'

Mar 9, 2007 10:07 AM CST

Gingrich: 'I Cheat, but Don't Lie'

Republican denies hypocrisy, mulls presidential run

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich, the former "family values" congressman from Georgia, was cheating on his wife even while hounding Bill Clinton for doing the same. In an interview that airs tonight, Gingrich confessed the 1998 affair to Focus on the Family's James Dobson. But he's no hypocrite, he reasons, because he...