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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.

State Budget Cut: Short Term Fix vs. Long-Term Costs

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Monday, May 10, 2010   

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A move to save money for Missouri now could cost more money in the long run. Advocates for the disabled are sounding that warning, while also raising issues about the quality of life for people with developmental disabilities. The Missouri Department of Mental Health plans to rebuild a state-run institution in the western Missouri town of Nevada by building nine segregated group homes, in the name of saving money.

Stephanie Briscoe. board chair of the Missouri Planning Council for Developmental Disabilities says society has moved away from such institutional settings because they cost taxpayers more money than investing in ways to help people with developmental disabilities to live in their communities. And, she argues that 'segregated group homes' are no different from institutions.

"These types of things are taken away from people who are institutionalized, because they are told when to eat, when to shower. If they want to go see a movie, and it's too late to watch TV, and it's 'lights out' time, they're not able to do these things."

Cathy Brown, a program specialist with the Planning Council, says there are about 5,000 Missourians on a waiting list for home and community-based services, who will now continue to wait because of money going into this plan.

"And I think that as long as we continue invest limited dollars in these segregated settings, we're never going to figure out how to serve those people on the waiting list in their homes and in their communities."

Supporters of the plan say the state can save an estimated $3 million by rebuilding the institution in Nevada. Details of this plan haven't been released, but advocates says $9 million was allocated for a similar plan, half the size of this proposal, in another part of the state.


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