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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.

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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.

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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.

Arkansas Makes Honor Roll for School Breakfast

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Thursday, February 19, 2015   

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas is on the honor roll when it comes to serving school breakfast to low-income students.

The School Breakfast Scorecard from the Food Research and Action Center ranks Arkansas 10th best for serving first meals to nearly 170,000 children.

FRAC President Jim Weill says progress was made not just here, but across the country.

"That's just hugely important – not just so kids are less hungry, but hugely important for their health, for their behavior in school and for their ability to learn," he says.

Arkansas schools are serving breakfast to nearly 70 percent of students who also receive free or reduced-price lunches.

Weill points out schools that tend to be most successful at feeding students are the ones that are serving breakfast in the classroom or, for older children, offering it at grab-and-go carts in the hallways.

One option that is boosting the numbers is the Community Eligibility Provision. It's a federal program that allows schools to feed all students breakfast and lunch, free of charge, if most of them are low-income.

Weill says about half of the schools that are eligible are using the program.

"The advantage of this is, it eliminates the stigma of these programs being seen as for poor kids,” he explains. “It eliminates the differential between what kids are eating. It eliminates paperwork – it's just fabulous all around to offer meals to all kids for free."

FRAC's research indicates 320,000 more children ate a healthy breakfast at school last year than the year before. Today, he says, more than 11 million children eat breakfast at school.




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