Hostess, 5-Hour Energy, Tamera Mowry and more: Our parenting news roundup

Hostess, maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, is shuttering operations, actress Tamera Mowry has her baby, 5-Hour Energy comes under scrutiny after 13 deaths, and the United Nations calls access to contraception a 'human right' (and a bargain!).

By Stephanie Hanes,?Correspondent / November 16, 2012

Hostess Brands Inc., announced plans to shutter operations, putting 18,500 people out of work, the days of Hostess snacks at recess are numbered, Nov. 14, 2012.

Reuters

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It?s Friday, and time for our weekly parenting news roundup. Today, we?re helping those of you who might have been distracted from other news by l'affair?Petreaus. (And how could you not be intrigued by the strange scandal that has brought down CIA?director David Petraeus, embroiled Gen. John R. Allen, and also includes twin sisters, a biographer, custody battles, and a shirtless FBI agent? Moreover, how do you explain that one to the kids?)

Skip to next paragraph Stephanie Hanes

Correspondent

Stephanie Hanes is the lead writer for Modern Parenthood and a longtime Monitor correspondent. She lives in Andover, Mass. with her husband, Christopher, her daughter, Madeline Thuli, a South Africa Labrador retriever, Karoo, and an imperialist cat named Kipling.

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So, here?s some of what you missed while you were contemplating 20,000 pages of e-mails and the General-as-Gentleman code of honor:

No more Twinkies?!

We got the shocking news today that Hostess Brands, the maker of childhood memories (I mean, pastries), is shutting down operations. Sure, the company had gone through labor fights and Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings. But they also had Ho Hos. And Ding Dongs. How will tomorrow?s children be able to group themselves, if not into factions of powdered versus chocolate Donettes? News reports say the company will sell its assets to the highest bidder. So we will just have to wait to see if there will be any new life for the Golden Sponge Cake With Creamy Filling.

Dangerous buzz

Talking about not-exactly-health food, more concerns emerged this week about caffeinated energy drinks ? those jolts in a can that are popular among teenagers.

The New York Times reported that the US Food and Drug Administration had received reports of 13 deaths possibly related to the energy drink 5-Hour Energy, along with dozens of other reports about health problems allegedly related to the beverage. This comes on top of a lawsuit filed last month against another energy drink ? Monster Energy ? by the family of a 14-year-old who died after consuming two of the beverages in a 24-hour period. The FDA said that it had received a number of reports about possible deaths related to Monster Energy.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/theculture/~3/VtfmeFA8DBI/Hostess-5-Hour-Energy-Tamera-Mowry-and-more-Our-parenting-news-roundup

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