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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

What Many NY Moms REALLY Wanted for Mother’s Day

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Monday, May 12, 2014   

ALBANY, N.Y. - Flowers, candy, maybe a Sunday brunch. As Mother's Day gifts go, though, there's a better one in the eyes of many New Yorkers: passage of a bill - either in Albany or in Washington - that would allow mothers and fathers of newborn children paid family leave.

Donna Dolan, executive director, New York Paid Leave Coalition, says America is in rarefied company by not ensuring continued compensation for parents of newborns.

"Papua New Guinea, Swaziland and we are the only three countries that don't provide paid parental leave after the birth of a child," Dolan says.

Federal legislation was introduced in December that would establish a nationwide family and medical leave insurance program. In Albany, the Assembly has approved a family leave insurance program. Both face uphill battles for passage.

Some critics say it should be voluntary and up to businesses to decide. However, Dolan cites a study that showed only 12 percent of companies currently do so. She holds out hope that by next Mother's Day, at least, some form of paid parental leave will be in effect.

It would make a good Father's Day gift as well, she notes.

"So many fathers, as you know, in the Millennials are interested in spending quality time with their newborn children. We would expect that many fathers are supportive of paid family leave," she says.

Following swift passage in the Assembly, advocates for paid family leave are looking for support in the state Senate, she adds.

"Some senators who said they do not want to sign on as a co-sponsor, but are certainly supportive, said that they would vote for the bill if it got to the floor for a vote."

Earlier this year, Rhode Island became the third state to offer workers paid family leave, joining New Jersey and California.

The New York Senate measure is S04742-B. The federal Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act of 2013 is S. 1810.




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