THIS JUST IN�

�From CBS Entertainment

LOS ANGELES, March 17 -- On Tuesday, March 22, CBS's drama JUDGING AMY (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT on the CBS Television Network) starring Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly, will feature a storyline in which a 15-year-old girl, who Maxine (Daly) previously placed in a foster home, tests positive for HIV.

After learning that the teenager is HIV positive, Maxine introduces her to Melinda Jones (Taji Coleman), a 34-year-old mother who contracted the virus when she was 17. Melinda, who runs a support group at the hospital, teaches the girl that, with the appropriate care and support, she can live a full life being HIV positive.

This fall, JUDGING AMY�s executive producers, James Frawley and Carol Barbee, and supervising producer, Barry O�Brien, attended a panel discussion hosted by KNOW HIV/AIDS, as part of an ongoing Peabody and Emmy Award-winning partnership with Viacom and the Kaiser Family Foundation. At the discussion, the producers met Marteniz Brown, a 24-year-old man who was diagnosed with HIV at the age of 18. Brown has turned his personal tragedy into an opportunity to provide support and guidance to HIV-infected youth at the Division of Adolescent Medicine Project at the Children�s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. Brown�s incredible work with HIV-positive teens inspired the producers to develop an HIV-positive character, who is living life to the fullest.

This episode was written by David McMillan of Year One of The CBS Diversity Institute�s Writers Mentoring Program.