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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.

Minnesota Best in the U.S. for Children

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Tuesday, July 21, 2015   

MINNEAPOLIS – After nearly a decade out of the top spot, Minnesota is once again the best in the nation when it comes to the overall well-being of children.

The latest Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation has the state ranked number one, based on 16 indicators including economic well-being, family and community, education and health.

Stephanie Hogenson, research and policy director with Children's Defense Fund Minnesota, says the improvements included – among other factors – a decrease in the number of children living in poverty.

"There's also a decrease in the number of children living in households with a housing cost burden, as well as fewer children born at a low birth weight, and a lower child and teen death rate," she says. "Those are the indicators that really propelled the rankings up to number one."

Minnesota was ranked in fifth place last year.

Hogenson credits a two-generation approach in helping improve children's well-being by also supporting parents through policy changes, like the increase in the minimum wage and expanding access to affordable health care.

While Minnesota ranks first when considering children from all families, Hogenson notes that for children of color and American Indian descent, there are still chronic inequities that are among the worst in the nation.

"Children of color are nearly 30 percent of all children under five in Minnesota," says Hogenson. "These changing demographics illustrate an urgent need to address disparities in our state through investments in policies and programs that are targeted and culturally relevant."

One such program that's helping reduce the gaps is the Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools for kids in high-poverty areas, including one operating at the Division of Indian Work in Minneapolis.

Governor Mark Dayton will speak at the school today at 10 a.m. about the rankings, and the need to do more with childhood poverty still higher than it was at the start of the recession.


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