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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.

Kids Count Report Ranks Michigan 31st for Childhood Well-Being

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Monday, June 24, 2013   

LANSING, Mich. - Poverty is holding Michigan's children back, according to a report being released today. The Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation ranks Michigan 31st in the nation in overall childhood well-being.

According to Gilda Jacobs, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy, state lawmakers need to address Michigan's rising poverty rate.

"The statistics are very, very clear," she declared. "When you grow up in poverty, you are most likely to be an adult that's living in poverty."

Jacobs stated that one way to address the problem is to restore the Earned Income Tax Credit, which lawmakers reduced in order to cut the state budget. She also said the state needs to increase job training programs and raise the minimum wage.

"Right now you can have two parents that are both working in low-wage, minimum-wage jobs and they're still not earning enough to support their families," she said.

Jacobs said Michigan ranks 36th in economic well-being, 32nd in education, 23rd in health and 27th in family and community. Overall, she said, Michigan is last among the Great Lakes states.

She did say that one bright spot is Michigan's fourth-place ranking in providing health insurance for children.

View the report at AECF.org.




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