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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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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.

MA Gets a C in Helping Parents in the Workplace

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Monday, June 23, 2014   

BOSTON – Massachusetts gets just a C in a report analyzing how each state supports – or doesn't support – new parents in terms of such things as leave time and job protection.

The analysis by the National Partnership for Women and Families shows the Commonwealth with some distance to go in terms of state policies, but also with some successes.

Vicki Shabo, one of the report's authors, says women in the private sector have greater access to maternity leave rights under Commonwealth law than under federal law.

"In Massachusetts, a new mom can take a leave after three months on the job, take the time to bond with her new child and then come back to work more energized, loyal, productive," she explains.

Also, now that same-sex marriage is legal, same-sex married couples in the Commonwealth have access to leave under federal laws.

The report, titled "Expecting Better: A State-by-State Analysis of Laws That Help New Parents," is being released to coincide with today's White House Summit on Working Families.

Shabo says some discouraging grades were handed out nationwide.

"The state with the highest grade is California, which received an A minus,” she relates. “But a striking 17 states receive an F.

“They do nothing at all beyond what federal law provides to help new and expecting parents. Thirty-one states in total get a grade of D or F."

Still, Shabo says she finds reason for optimism in the report.

"Since our last report, we've seen a number of states take action to support new and expecting parents,” she points out. “So there is progress on the horizon.”

The group's previous report was in 2012.



(and Talk Show Producers) Shabo can be reached at (919) 599-6726. Full report: www.NationalPartnership.org






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