Your Health ; In the News
6.1 Percentage of multigenerational households in the United States in 2010.
New Lives for Old Golf Courses
Where do fading olf courses go
in a tough economy?
In some Florida com-
munities, they become
playgrounds. ; When
a 100-acre golf course
in Deerfield Beach,
Fla., shut down sever-
al years ago, the owner
first proposed a hous-
ing development, but
eventually agreed to
revamp half of the course into a cemetery,
and half into a park with a playground and
ball field. Proposed plans are pending.
; “My hope is to get the property in devel-
opment into a park for athletic use,” says
Bob Harbin, director of parks and recre-
ation for Deerfield Beach. “The city is so
deficient in that area.”
; Royal Palm Beach,
Fla., is replacing an old
course with a 160-acre
park, complete with
kayak rentals, volleyball
courts and playgrounds.
; “Unfortunately, there
is a supply-and-de-
mand issue along with
the unstable econo-
my,” says the National
Golf Foundation’s Greg
Nathan, adding that 61 of some 16,000
courses nationwide closed permanently
in 2010. “But whether a course is closed
and converted or stays in business, you
hope that whoever is making the decision
makes it with intelligent information on
the market.” —Stacy Gilliam
; What an Outrage
Companies: It’s Better to Receive Than Pay
Adults, Kids Team Up for Healthy Habits
program that unites
older adults and children in the fight against
obesity is getting a boost.
; CATCH Healthy Habits will expand with a $2.7
million, two-year WellPoint Foundation grant
to the OASIS Institute,
which focuses on lifelong
learning and service for
people 50-plus. By 2012,
the current program will
be rolled out in 18 locations in 14 states. ; In weekly one-hour sessions, teams of volunteers age 50-plus work
with children in kindergarten through fifth grade. They play active games, explore edible
options and prepare healthy snacks. ; Created by university researchers, Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) has involved more than 200 volunteers and 1,000 youngsters in California, Missouri, New York, Indiana and Pennsylvania since its pilot program’s
debut in 2008. ; For information, visit oasisnet.org or call 314-862-2933. —Susan Kreimer
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Thousands of companies that reaped big bucks from the federal government through
recent economic stimulus efforts apparently
aren’t fulfilling their tax responsibilities. ; At
least 3,700 businesses that received govern-
ment contracts or
grants under the
American Recov-
ery and Reinvest-
ment Act of 2009
are delinquent
on a whopping
$750 million-plus
in unpaid corpo-
rate income tax,
payroll taxes,
and excise and
unemployment
taxes, according
to a report from
the Government
Accountability
Office. ; And that
figure is probably
an underestimate,
since the report
doesn’t take into
account busi-
nesses that failed
to submit tax returns altogether. ; The com-
panies that federal investigators are calling out
collected a combined $24 billion for everything
from construction to security work. ; The kicker:
Federal agencies could not have done much to
prevent delinquent companies from securing the
contracts. That’s because federal law does not
require them to be current on tax bills in order to
do business with the government. ; “Since the
problem of federal contractors who get paid with
taxpayer dollars while dodging their own tax ob-
ligations isn’t going away, we need to do more to
stop the abuse,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. “Tax
deadbeats should not be getting taxpayer dol-
lars, and they shouldn’t be allowed to compete
against honest businesses that meet their tax
obligations.” —Michelle Diament
