Press advisory

HARRISBURG – Today, state Rep. Lawrence Curry joined fellow House Democrats, as well as citizens served by adultBasic and a physician representative to call on Gov. Tom Corbett not to pull the plug on this insurance program for low-income Pennsylvania workers.

"It is not out of the realm of possibilities that Pennsylvanians will die if we don't keep adultBasic afloat. Such horrific results happened in Arizona when that state allowed its low-cost insurance for low-income people to end," said Curry, D-Montgomery/Phila.

HARRISBURG, Oct. 2 –The House of Representatives today voted to change the tentative state budget agreement negotiated by leaders from both parties.

The amended Tax Code bill (H.B. 1531) that state Rep. Lawrence Curry voted for and the House approved would eliminate a small games of chance and the arts tax included in the agreement, and replace them with a tax on smokeless tobacco and cigars and a 25-cent increase in the cigarette tax, as well as a severance tax on natural gas drilling.

"We are facing a $3.2 billion deficit. Why would we ask our veterans' organizations, volunteer fire departments, arts organizations and families to pay more while giving big oil and gas corporations and Big Tobacco a free ride?" asked Curry, D-Montgomery/Phila.

Curry said not only is a severance tax on natural gas drilling fair, but it could eliminate the need to open more state forest land to natural gas drilling.

JENKINTOWN, February 12, 2008 - Legislation sponsored by Rep. Lawrence Curry (D-Montgomery/Phila.) to help prevent incidents of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and sudden unexpected death of infants (SUDI) passed the State House yesterday by a vote of 201-0.

H.B. 1752 calls for the establishment of an education and public awareness program by the State Department of Health to inform parents about risk factors associated with SIDS and SUDI, as well as safe sleeping practices for newborns and infants.

According to Rep. Curry, the sudden, unexpected death of newborn babies is the third most common cause of death among newborns and is only exceeded in the first year of life by congenital malformations and prematurity. Most SIDS deaths occur when a baby is between two and four months old, with 90 percent occurring before six months of age.

"It is a tragedy that cuts across all socioeconomic, racial and ethnic groups, although statistics show that African-American and Native-American babies are more likely to be at-risk," Curry noted.

Some of the most common risk factors for sudden infant death include infant sleep position, exposure to smoke, overheating, inappropriate infant bedding and bed sharing, Curry added.

"Very often, young or inexperienced parents don't realize they may be putting their babies at-risk by laying them in a crib with a thick comforter or by letting them fall asleep in the parents' bed," Curry said.