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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.

Study: "Kids Count" In Tennessee

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Thursday, May 22, 2008   

Nashville, TN - Quality education, access to health care, affordable housing and well-paying jobs: those things top the list of what experts call the "prosperity grid," a support system that ensures kids have the tools they need to succeed in life. The annual "Kids Count" report by the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth helps identify which communities are plugged into that grid, and what it will take to connect those that are not.

Linda O'Neal, the executive director of the commission, says the cuts outlined in the newly-revised state budget add to challenges families and communities already face.

"There's no question that the current economic situation in Tennessee, reflected in the state budget, adversely impacts children and families. We are unable to provide any more quality early childhood education or health care coverage for more people through TennCare."

The study reveals that over the last six years, unemployment numbers in Tennessee have gone up, while access to affordable health care has been reduced. O'Neal says the state has to do a better job of supporting working families and creating more livable-wage jobs.

"We really need to provide the kinds of opportunities that can help children who are in families that are challenged by income and educational levels to have the opportunity to be successful in school and in life."

O'Neal says the good news is the budget did preserve funding for early childhood education, which the study identified as essential for nurturing children's social and emotional development.

The entire report can be found at www.tennessee.gov.





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