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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

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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.

Poverty Commission Back at the State Capitol Today

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Wednesday, June 25, 2008   

St. Paul, MN – A legislative commission directed to draw up a blueprint for ending poverty in Minnesota is back at the state Capitol today to take more testimony. Greg Gray, executive director of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020, says that, though the state’s poverty level is below 10 percent, it still affects everyone.

"Poverty impacts Minnesota's ability to attract industry, the productivity of the work force, and the amount individual citizens have to pay to support social programs to deal with the problem."

Gray says some ideas are getting broad support, while others will require further discussion.

"I think everybody sees obvious needs, such as for additional heating assistance with the high price of oil, or reducing paperwork so that people can get benefits more easily. The second track would be to consider some of those systemic changes, such as providing additional funds for anti-poverty programs, or deciding if we need to change the way income is distributed in Minnesota."

Deborah Schlick, executive director of Affirmative Options, which advocates for low-income Minnesotans, says the Commission needs to draw up some practical, effective solutions, because poverty is having a devastating impact on too many Minnesotans.

"They are unable to sustain work, they aren’t sustaining housing, or bringing all the assets and productivity our fellow human beings can bring to our shared lives. The consequences are felt even by those of us who don’t live in poverty. Housing foreclosures down the street erode everyone’s housing values. A growing number of unemployed mean our general economy is weaker. "

Anti-poverty groups argue that society can choose to pay for helping people avoid falling into poverty in the first place, or to pay for the consequences afterwards if they do become poor. The groups believe the more prudent investment is up front, because that lessens poverty's reach.

The bipartisan 20-member commission has until the end of the year to present its recommendations.

More information about the Poverty Commission is available online at
www.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/lcep/index.htm.




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