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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.

Report: Measuring Child Poverty is Key to Fighting It

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Thursday, February 26, 2015   

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - It's been more than 50 years since the federal government's official measure of poverty was created, and a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation says it's time for a new ruler.

The current method for measuring poverty doesn't take into account assistance benefits or regional differences in the cost of living.

Missouri Kids Count coordinator Laurie Hines says policymakers and lawmakers need to have that data so they can accurately measure the impact their decisions have on children and families.

"There are programs out there that are really effective, and we need to enforce them and keep them going and fund them appropriately," says Hines. "In fact, in some instances, that would probably improve them and enhance them."

The report recommends using the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), created in 2011 by the U.S. Census Bureau, and factoring in the impact of programs like the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Using the SPM, researchers say the child poverty rate has dropped from 33 to 18 percent nationwide, and from 30 to 15 percent in Missouri.

Hines says lawmakers will be better equipped to tackle child poverty if they receive more accurate measurements of the problem. She says child poverty is something most kids will never outgrow.

"We know there's a physiological effect of poverty, there's a social effect, there's obviously an emotional effect," says Hines. "We know the effects of that chronic trauma that happens in families where they just can't ever get to a balanced state."

While some critics of federal and state assistance programs believe they are too costly, Hines argues that ultimately everyone pays the price when it comes to child poverty.

"Better educated kids, healthier kids, essentially are going to be working-age adults that contribute," she says. "Given the aging demographic, isn't it important for all of us to think about how many children are going to grow up to be working adults that contribute to those of us who want to retire at some point?"

The entire Measuring Access to Opportunity in the United States report can be found at the Annie E. Casey Foundation website.


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