All Articles by Lindsey Barton Straus, JD

The Vermont law, signed by Governor Pete Shumlin, on May 31, 2011, includes only two of the three components considered essential (inform and educate coaches, youth athletes and their parents/guardians about the nature and risk of concussions and require them to sign a concussion information form; and require a youth athlete to be cleared by a licensed health care professional trained in the evaluation and management of concussions before returning to play or practice) and not the third (requiring the immediate removal of athletes from games or practices if they are suspected to have suffered a concussion), it is considered a "weak" youth sports concussion safety law.

On April 14, 2011, Nebraska governor Dave Heineman signed the state's youth sports concussion safety bill  (L.B. 260) into law.  The Concussion Awareness Act will take effect July 11, 2012.

On May 27, 2011, Governor Mark Dayton signed Minnesota's youth sports concussion safety bill into law.

On May 19, 2011, Governor Martin O'Malley signed Maryland's youth sports concussion safety law, adding the state to the 31 other states plus the District of Columbia (as of January 2, 2012) that have enacted a strong concussion safety and education law.

On May 25, 2011, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed the state's youth sports concussion safety act, which will take effect.

On May 27, 2011, Alaska Governor Sean Parnell signed the state's youth sports concussion safety bill into law, adding the state to the list of  states that have passed strong legislation since May 2009.

College-age athletes who had previously suffered a concussion performed more poorly on tests for verbal memory than those who had not, according to a new study presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine and 2nd World Congress on Exercise is Medicine® in June 2011.

The USDA's MyPlate has replaced its outdated and much-maligned Food Pyramid. The colorful quarters of the plate - green for vegetables, red for fruits, orange for grains, and purple for protein - are aimed at nudging Americans away from meals dominated by meat and starch and towards meals made up mostly of plant-based foods.

Sports drinks should be consumed by children and adolescents only when there is a need for fluid, carbohydrate and electrolyte replenishment during and after prolonged, vigorous sports participation, while the ingestion of energy drinks should avoided completely, recommends the American Academy of Pediatrics in a report published in the journal Pediatrics.

On May 10, 2011, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels signed a strong youth sports concussion safety act (Senate Enrolled Act 93) into law, becoming the sixteenth state since May 2009 to enact such a law.