Nevada has the second highest rate of uninsured children in the country — more than 100,000 boys and girls. Yet despite the availability of public health programs to cover kids, only half of those who qualify enroll say state health officials.

VIDEO: Nevada Second Worst for Uninsured Children

Doctor Tamina McMillan with Nevada Health Centers speaks her patient’s language, literally and figuratively. Like the population she serves, McMillan grew up without regular access to health care. Now from the other side of the exam table, she recognizes the challenges faced by the uninsured.

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Las Vegas makes the Top 10 list of the unhappiest cities in the United States, that according to a report by Businessweek.com.

The economic downturn could lead to higher rates of crime, divorce, alcohol and drug abuse, depression and suicide. In part, Las Vegas ranked in 7th place due to its suicide rate. Mike Murphy, coroner for Clark County, told Businessweek.com that he has noticed an increase in economy-related suicides. He also said a lot of people come to Las Vegas looking to start over and then things don’t work out. Click here to read the full story.

Nevada has earned an F for its percentage of premature births, according to a state-by-state report card by the national March of Dimes.

The report, released today, says Nevada’s preterm birth rate is 13.9 percent, the highest on the West Coast.

The March of Dimes lists three reasons for Nevada’s high preterm birth rate: a high number of mothers lacking health insurance, smoking, and a rise in early induction labor and C-sections.

Overall, the nation received a D grade.

Any parent of a teen driver worries about them on the roads, but a new study shows that teens driving on Las Vegas roads face even more dangers. The study was done over a seven year period by Allstate Insurance Company, and during that time more than 300 teens were killed on our roads.

The study ranks Las Vegas as 15th out of the 50 most dangerous places for teen drivers. Nationwide, traffic crashes are the number one killer of teens from the ages of 15 to 20. AAA attributes the growing number of deaths in Las Vegas to the growing population, and they say parent involvement is a big part of prevention.

“Teens don’t have to be in big SUV’s that are hard to maneuver. These are the most inexperienced drivers on the road, so the simpler the better when it comes to educating teens. Picking the right car is one of the right answers,” said Michael Geeser with AAA.

Once teens get their license, many want their own car or to take the family car. AAA recommends that parents make sure their teen is driving a vehicle they can handle and the family SUV may be too much car for their experience level.

AAA also recommends that parents draw up a paper outlining what rules they expect new drivers to abide by, so teens know exactly what limits are placed on them as new drivers.

The study called San Francisco the safest city for teens while the Tampa area in Florida was deemed the worst place for teen drivers.

The American Lung Association has issued its State of the Air Report which ranks cities on three types of pollution.

Citites are graded on short-term particle pollution, year-round particle pollution and ozone pollution. Although, no Nevada city made the top 10 worst list in any category, Clark County did get an F when it comes to high ozone days. Los Angeles and Pittsburgh were among the worst.

Nevada scores poorly when it comes to the well being of its children, especially in the areas of uninsured children and children incarcerated.

Those findings are part of a new report by Every Child Matters, which is a non-profit group that bases its rankings on 10 standards.

The group uses child well-being standards to ranks the states from best to worst. Nevada ranked 43rd in the nation our of all 50 states. It’s worst rankings included; uninsured children, child welfare expenses, child vulnerability and juvenile incarceration.  (more…)

When it comes to walking in Nevada, Reno ranks right at the top for Best Walking City and North Las Vegas ranks at the bottom.

The rankings were done by Prevention magazine and the American Podiatric Medical Association.

The cities ranked in the following order — Reno, Paradise, Sparks, Las Vegas, Spring Valley, Carson, Sunrise Manor, Henderson, Enterprise and North Las Vegas.

By the way, the best city for walking in the United States is Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Tell us where you like to walk.

How do you take your coffee? There’s a coffee shop of one kind or another on most street corners in Las Vegas.  Now a survey confirms what Las Vegans may already know — we like our caffeine. The survey in Men’s Health magazine ranks Las Vegas the 5th most caffeinated city. The other four are Yonkers, Anaheim, San Francisco and Riverside. By the way, the least caffeinated is Detroit. (more…)

By Jonathan Humbert.For the second year in a row, Las Vegas has been named the fattest city in America by Men’s Fitness Magazine. We’ve been called a lot of things in our time. Sin City. Fat City. And the city of lights. Well, one out of three ain’t bad. (more…)

Well, we were edged out by Memphis and New Orleans, but Las Vegas got third! Woo-hoo! Except that the list is called the most “sedentary” (read: Lazy). Anyway, Forbes claims their research shows 64 percent of Las Vegas residents are overweight or obese and watch 38 hours of TV per week (thank you Las Vegas!).

I suppose those numbers don’t lie, but with the great weather, abundance of parks, bike lanes and recreation areas, it seems we should have ranked better. What  are your thoughts?

Here is the top 10 list (read the entire story here):

1. Memphis
2. New Orleans
3. Las Vegas
4. Detroit
5. Birmingham
6. Louisville
7. San Antonio
8. Nashville
9. Miami