skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Lawmakers on Both Sides Favor Restoring Kids' & Families' Cuts

play audio
Play

Thursday, April 24, 2014   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – State lawmakers from both parties are asking Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to let them consider restoring money cut from programs for children and families.

The governor cut $1 million from safety-net budgets, including those for child advocacy, in-home family education and support for victims of domestic violence and child abuse.

Families and advocates are asking the governor to let the Legislature reconsider the cuts during a special session. Some lawmakers from both parties agree.

Republican Senate leader Mike Hall says there is a good chance lawmakers can find a little money for the popular programs.

"With this kind of public support behind it, it would not surprise me that the governor wouldn't consider at least putting this on the special session,” he says. “It really is a very small amount."

The governor will have to call a special session to deal with other budget issues. Most expect the session will be late next month.

The governor made the cuts to help close a gap in the budget. But supporters of the programs say they more than pay for themselves.

They say the programs draw federal and private funding. And according to Democratic delegate Nancy Peoples Guthrie, the programs reduce state spending in areas such as criminal justice and substance abuse.

"If I thought that the economics proposed through these cuts made any sense, I would be quiet about it,” she says. “But we may end up costing the state more money over the long run by making these cuts than if we restored the cuts."

Guthrie adds the cuts represent a tiny amount compared to a $4 billion state general revenue budget.

"We hope that the governor, who is a kind and decent man, will reconsider what amounts to, in the larger scheme of things, just a rounding error," she says.





get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021