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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.

On Valentine’s Day, Retired WV Public Workers Look for a Little “Love”

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Thursday, February 14, 2008   

Charleston, WV – Looking for some Valentine's Day "love" from state lawmakers, retired West Virginia public employees hold a rally today at the State Cultural Center in Charleston. They want to call attention to their financial squeeze between rising costs and stagnant pensions, and to ask legislators for some relief.

There are more than 50,000 retired public employees in West Virginia, and Ernest Terry with the Coalition of Retired Public Employees says most are facing tough retirement years. He explains there has never been a cost of living increase in their pension, which means their budgets are stretched thin as costs go up.

"From heating and gasoline, to medical expenses, the costs of all those things increase every year, and of course, our pensions are stagnant. It's really a terrible strain."

Terry says West Virginia state employees already are among the lowest-paid in the nation, and low wages continue to be a problem even after they retire.

"If you work for a low wage, you're going to retire with a low pension, and therefore our retirees are probably suffering more than those in neighboring states."

The group will ask lawmakers to help by exempting part of retired workers' pension incomes from state taxes, and by approving a cost of living increase for pensions, which Terry calls "long overdue."


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