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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 Mayorkas.

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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.

More WA Children Eating Free Summer Meals

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Monday, June 10, 2013   

SEATTLE - More low-income children in Washington are getting the free summer meals that help their families stretch food dollars, although a new report from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) says many more could be served. It says more than 342,000 children get free or reduced-price lunches in Washington schools, but only about 33,000 receive the free summer meals.

One dilemma is that summer food is often tied to summer school or other enrichment programs. Crystal FitzSimons, FRAC director of school and out-of-school-time programs, says budget cuts have trimmed many of those programs.

"The programs are not serving all of the kids that they should," explains FitzSimons. "Part of the big problem - and this is true in urban, suburban and rural areas - is that there are not enough summer programs for low-income children to keep them safe, engaged and active during the summer months."

Another challenge she identified is making the meal sites convenient for families, especially in rural areas. Washington added 65 summer meal sites in 2012, and fed 5 percent more children at more than 700 locations.

According to the report, about half the states fed fewer children last summer. Yet FitzSimons says her organization knows that the need has increased, based on what it has seen during the school year.

"The summer nutrition programs have not responded to the increased need that has been caused by the recession and its aftermath," she says. "Hundreds of thousands of additional kids are participating in school lunch, and we don't see the same increase in the summer food program."

For every 100 children who receive free or reduced-price meals at school in Washington, only 10 get summer meals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has made it a goal this summer to increase the meals served by 5 million, nationwide.

The full report is online at frac.org.




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