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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.

It's Walk to School Day: Minnesota Students Hit the Sidewalks

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Wednesday, October 8, 2014   

ST. Paul, Minn. - Today is Walk to School Day, and the annual event comes as some school districts in Minnesota see a resurgence in students who are getting to class on their own. In the Sauk Rapids-Rice district, Superintendent Daniel Bittman says with the recent addition of sidewalks and crosswalks around Pleasantview Elementary, students, parents and staff are becoming more active.

"It's becoming part of a healthy-lifestyle choice," Bittman says. "It's not just about to and from schools. Families are taking that opportunity to be more active. And we know when kids are more active and engaged in healthier lifestyles, they do better in school."

Bittman says the improvements around Pleasantview were funded through Minnesota's Safe Routes to School program. The effort has helped a number of districts make improvements so kids can bike and walk safely to class, but demand in the state far exceeds available resources.

Dawn Moen, program specialist with Better Living: Exercise & Nutrition Daily (BLEND) with the CentraCare Health Foundation, says many schools are in dire need. That includes Oak Ridge Elementary in Sartell, which her son attends.

"They have a policy against any children walking or biking to that particular elementary school because it sits off a very busy county road, which does not have sidewalks or bike paths," says Moen. "It is unsafe to walk or bike to school."

With the need, Moen says, CentraCare and other groups like the American Heart Association that are involved with the Move Minnesota campaign will seek dedicated funding in the next legislative session to improve infrastructure around schools and address other transportation needs in the state. Moen predicts that will pay dividends down the road.

"Studies have found, for every dollar invested in building pedestrian or bike infrastructure, about $3 can be saved in health care costs associated with that increase in physical activity," she says.

It's estimated fewer than 15 percent of students now walk to school, as compared to the 1960s when that was how nearly half of all kids got to class.


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