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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.

WA Libraries: Support from Congress Crucial to Our Future

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Friday, July 24, 2020   

SEATTLE - Libraries are providing essential support to folks during the pandemic. They're hoping Congress will support them in return.

King County Library System Executive Director Lisa Rosenblum says while the doors have been closed, libraries are doing more than providing online books. Librarians are helping people file for unemployment, find jobs, get support from the CARES Act and with other essential services.

She says library use goes up during recessions, and unfortunately the people who need the most help can't come to their buildings right now.

"But eventually they will be, and we know that they're going to need their libraries more than ever," says Rosenblum. "So if libraries are closed because of furloughs or layoffs, we're not going to be able to meet that need that we know is coming."

Congress could provide relief. The Library Stabilization Fund Act was introduced earlier this month and would create a $2 billion fund delivered through the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.

American Library Association president Julius Jefferson Jr. compares libraries to critical infrastructure. He says they'll help the country get back on its feet after the pandemic.

"There's been the CARES Act that's offered lots of relief and funds to small businesses, to those in the health-care industry," says Jefferson. "But we see libraries as second responders and this is an opportunity to continue to support the essential services that libraries have been providing throughout this whole pandemic."

Barbara Walters is the executive director of the North Central Regional Library system, which is headquartered in Wenatchee and serves five counties with 30 locations. She says her libraries have helped people learn new skills, file for benefits and access telehealth.

For some, it's the only place they can get access to these things. And Walters says the pandemic has hit this region hard.

"These counties that our libraries are in," says Walters, "these counties and cities and towns and municipalities are struggling, and this funding would be critical for those libraries to remain open."

Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray has supported the Institute of Museum and Library Services in the past. In a statement, Murray says she'll work to make sure libraries don't lose vital funding in the next round of novel coronavirus relief, but didn't commit to a specific relief model.

Disclosure: American Library Association contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy & Priorities, Census, Education. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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