the local government association is warning tough budget cuts are undermining efforts to improve healthities received more than £3 billion of funding this year. it is your local council responsible for health, from quitting smoking to treating sexually transmitted diseases. giving council responsibility was controversial but today, the local government association says the evidence shows it has been largely successful. bring some of the overall number of adults smoking has fallen by 1.6 million since 2011. teenage pregnancies down by almost a quarter in 2013 and the suicide rate has steadily decreased and in men the lowest. we have seen indicators remain the same or improve. real success , remain the same or improve. real success, despite a 531 million pound cut. overall, i can say that public health and local government is a success. one of the main task of public health is to prevent illness in the first place by encouraging a healthy lives. today's report shows the positive impact and effective public health service can have but the role —— the role warnings that without funding the

the local government association is warning tough budget cuts are undermining future efforts on improvingughes explains. since 2013 in england, it is your local council that has been responsible for public health. that involves everything from helping people to quit smoking to treating sexually transmitted diseases. giving councils responsibility for public health was controversial, but today, the local government association says the evidence shows it has been largely successful. bar for example, the overall number of adult smokers has fallen by 1.6 million since 2011. teenage pregnancies are down by almost a quarter since 2013. and since 2012, the suicide rate has steadily decreased, and among men is now the lowest it has been since 1981. since public health has come over to local government, in 2013, we've seen 80% of the key indicators either remain the same or improve. we're showing real success. that's despite a £531 million cut in the public health budget and 50% reduction in government funding for local government. so, overall, i can say that public health in local government is a

the local government association is warning tough budget cuts are undermining future efforts on improving but the government says authorities received more than £3 billion of funding this year. 0ur health correspondent dominic hughes explains. since 2013 in england, it is your local council that has been responsible for public health. that involves everything from helping people to quit smoking to treating sexually transmitted diseases. giving councils responsibility for public health was controversial, but today, the local government association says the evidence shows it has been largely successful. for example, the overall number of adult smokers has fallen by 1.6 million cents 2011. teenage pregnancies are down by almost a quarter since 2013, and since 2012, the suicide rate has steadily decreased, and among men is 110w steadily decreased, and among men is now the lowest it has been since 1981. since public health has come over to local government in 2013, we have seen 80% of the key indicators either remain the same or improved. we are showing real success. that is despite a £531 mil

the local government association says local services face a funding gap of $3.2 billion this year. that is double in one year alone what the stronger town's fund is offering over 7 years. the number of rapes, murders and other serious crimes has risen by more than 50% since privatization was introduced four years ago. at least one company wrongly classified defenders is low risk in order to meet government targets. does her government accept that privatizing probation the service to profit-making companies has been a disaster and should be reversed and brought back completely into the public service? >> what we want to do is to ensure that when we are looking at these issues we are genuinely reducing the level of reoffending and a method that is about rehabilitation methods opening a variety of issues, with an individual coming out and looking at their employment and relationship with the family. this wasn't being done under the last labor government. that is why we need to take action but he keeps raising issues. what he is doing, i welcome the fact that he accept dealing with ser

association is challenging. we will hear first from the attorney representing the local government in this case. >> we are hearing an argument 1717, theing a case 17 american legion association against the american humanist association, and the consolidated case maryland national park and planning commission against the american humanist association. >> thank you, mr. chief justice, and may it please the court.

association is challenging. we will hear first from the attorney representing the local government in this case. >> we are hearing an argument 1717, theing a case 17 american legion association against the american humanist association, and the consolidated case maryland national park and planning commission against the american humanist association. >> thank you, mr. chief justice, and may it please the court. there are four reasons why it should not be destroyed. 93 years was created ago to commemorate those who gave their lives in world war i. second, it is no ordinary cross. heart, atter, and its the american legion symbol, it is gigantic. "d database are the words valor, endurance, courage, devotion." ofrd, not a single word religious content is anywhere from a rather at the base of the nine-foot plaque. and third, it is centered at veterans memorial park underneath a war memorial. >> do you know how many other parts are like this one? i looked at pictures, and it is an unusual park, because there are major highways dividing it up. city oughtt like the to officially decide an area accomplish other plaques an

revenue-sharing ended and much like the bawling of a half and weaning there were mayors and others associated with local government that scream to high heaven that this was going to be terribly damaging to the balance sheets of a lot of the cities and towns. and it seems like they survived. we became dependent on something and was part of our regular revenue streams fo stream so the just assumed it was always going to be there. $22 trillion in debt is a lot of money. the trillion dollar deficits that would feed into that 22 trillion is a lot of money would you not agree x. we have to examine the spectrum of the federal government and as you said early on in your testimony in response with your opening ... it was important for federal bureaucracies on the discretionary side because we spent a lot of time talking about mandatory spending but you said on the discretionary side we cannot forget that there are places where we can analyze our priorities and approach from the perspective we are addressing the urgent needs with mia on fiscal responsibility did you not? so as a part of the budget you do advocate for the di

and much like the balling of a calf at weaning, there were mayors and others associated with local government that screamed to high heaven that this was going to be terribly damaging to the balance sheets of a lot of our cities and towns. it seems like they survived. we did. we became dependent on something and it was part of our regular revenue stream and therefore we assumed it was always going to be there. $22 trillion in debt is a lot of money. do you not agree? mr. vought: i totally agree. mr. womack: trillion dollar deficits that will knead feed into that $22 trillion is a lot of money, would you not agree? mr. vought: totally agree. mr. womack: so in order to make the tough choices we talked about earlier, we're going to have to examine the spectrum of the federal government, and as i said early on in your testimony or responses, talked about how it was important for federal bureaucracies on the discretionary side, because we spend a lot of time talking about mandatory spending, but you said on discretionary side we cannot forget that there are places where we can re-analyze approach o

the local park and planning commission has been sued by non-christianity residents and the american humanist association who say the government is affiliating itself with christianity. those arguments now. it's about an hour. >> we'll hear argument in case 171717 the american legion versus the american humanist association and number 1818 the consolidated case maryland national capital park and planning commission versus the american humanist association. mr. katyal. may it please the court. there are four facts about the memorial in issue the peace cross why it should be not be destroyed. first families in the legion built it 93 years ago to commemorate 49 brave souls who gave their lives in world war i. it's no ordinary cross. at its center in its

local conservative association. i think it's incredibly sad, nick boles is a great intellect. he's given a lot of service to the conservative party, both politically and as a minister and in governmenton developing long term a proposal to leave the european union byjoining the european free trade area, common market 2.0, as we call it, and the conservative party must accommodate people as diverse as boles and boris. we have to be a broad church, otherwise we'll just end up as a narrow sect. that alternative you talk about, though, what's the problem for the association ultimately, wasn't it, because, at the end of the day, mr boles does represent a constituency that voted 61% to leave the european union. surely it needs an mp that reflects that viewpoint? i think nick did reflect the viewpoint of the public because he voted for the prime minister's deal on both times, which is about leaving the european union. he came into parliament to vote for article 50 in a wheelchair, when he was recovering from very serious cancer. i think he's given incredible service. the exit that we are talking about, common market 2.0, does actually deliver the referendum result and gets us out of all of

conservative government, so he wants to carry on being an mp but it is not clear whether or not that's something he will be allowed to continue doing. what is the local conservative associationmbers basically saying they think mr boles should take what they describe as the honourable course of action and resign his seat. they referred to it asa resign his seat. they referred to it as a betrayal of the local constituency party because the look constituency party because the look constituency party because the look constituency party is the people who selected them to beat their mp in the first place. we heard from matthew lee, association member, who said mr boles‘ assessment of them as not sharing his values are not reflective of how they really are. the view that nick seems to be portraying of our association is that we are all against him, that we are all hard brexiteers — and it isjust not true. i mean, the last meeting of our executive management committee — many people, including me, spoke in nick's favour. we are not all against him, there are some people that disagree with him, but in any family, any group, there are always different views. you try to come together, t

government to be more transparent. to mark sunshine week here's a sad and true headline from the associated press about the sun setting of local papers. town by town local journalism is dying in plain sight. are you noticing this? >> i used to work for the "plain dealer" for decades. it's not even being delivered now. i loved meeting local journalists. i know from being a regional journalist and staying in cleveland, writing nationally from the city and from the state, how much we're harmed when we don't have that access. part of the problem, brian, i know you've been talking about this, when you've got a president demonizing the media that trickles down. all of a sudden you have a mayor calling media the enemy of people. you have the county commissioner saying i don't have to give you information which he or she must give to us. con sich we constituents have the right to see that. with their numbers diminishing, they need the backing of their publishers to push for that. that's what it means to be a journalist in this country. >> let the sunshine in. we need folks in those news rooms being employed. connie, thank you very muc

association is challenging the memorial. a 40 foot tall cross on first amendment grounds. we will hear from the attorney representing the local government in this case first. importante four facts. first, the families in the legion built at 93 years ago to commemorate 49 brave souls who gave their lives in world war i and have serve without challenge. at its center, in its heart was the american legion symbol. it is gigantic. four huge capital letters are the words of valor, endurance and courage. third, not a single word of religious content appears anywhere. rather the base has a nine foot names.isting the 49 fourth the monument is situated in veterans memorial park alongside other war memorials. >> do you know how many other parks are like this one? i have looked at pictures and it's an unusual part because there is major highways dividing it up. it is almost as if the city artificially designed an area that is huge to encompass other plaques and declared it apart. you cannot tell this crosses with anything else. onre is a six lane highway one side. there is another highway on the other. i'm am told you cannot get off the highways to

the local park and planning commission, which owns the land, has been sued by non-christian residents and the american humanist association who say the government is affiliating itself with christianity. those arguments now. it's about an hour. >> we will hear argument this morning in case 171717, the american legion versus the american humanist association and 1818, the consolidated case, maryland national capital park and planning commission versus the american humanist association. mr. katyal. >> may it please the court, there are four important facts about the peace cross that explain why it should not be destroyed or dismembered. families in the legion built it 93 years ago to commemorate 48 souls who gave their lives in world war i. it stood since that time without challenge. second, it is no ordinary cross. at its center is the american legion symbol.

associative legislative director. the immigration reform task force. thank you for joining us. we love to use this place for it events to highlight issues important to local governments as well as valuable work. i would like to thank the cohost, the bipartisan policy center and the conference of state legislatures, where been great partners to shed light on how federal immigration policies impact states and counties across the country. over the last year, the bipartisan policy center has worked with the immigration task force and played a key role in immigration work and helping membership find bipartisan consensus around this issue. we all know that and integration status for an individual, but states and counties across the country continue to be impacted by the nation's immigration system. rise over reform, counties are impacted directly by immigration, often serving as the health care providers of last resort for the uninsured and underinsured. counties provide health care 12 individuals regardless of immigration status. counties also provide for the public safety of our nation's residents and border counties in particular are involved in apprehension and detenti

the local government association said budget cuts left councils with little choice.that three children were among those killed when two tornadoes caused extensive damage in eastern alabama. there are fears that the death toll will rise as emergency crews dig through the rubble. our north america correspondent chris buckler reports. the tornado that torres switchers alabama neighbourhood has left little sign of the community that's one that match —— that once lived here. many families have been left grieving, including some who called the streets their home. those who survived the storm though they were lucky. that tornado was about 75 yards that direction. if the eye had hit right here, this building and that building where my grandsons we re that building where my grandsons were probably wouldn't be here. and that means your grandsons wouldn't be here. well, hopefully they... you know, you never know, there's a lot of people three quarters of a mile over that didn't make it. in this corner of alabama you will find many areas where metal has just been sacked from des