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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.

Health Advocates Say Romney Cutting and Running

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Thursday, December 7, 2006   

Boston, MA - Human services providers say people with disabilities and workers who care for them are still in bad shape, even after Governor Romney restored a fraction of his budget cuts last week. Romney gave back about 10 percent of the $425 million cut after being pressured by health executives. Opponents of the cuts say that's not enough to help some of the state's most vulnerable, including the elderly, homeless, mentally disabled, physically handicapped, and people with HIV and AIDS.

Toby Fisher, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Massachusetts, says the state has a responsibility, regardless of its current debts.

"We as a society must be able to take care of our most vulnerable, our most chronically mentally ill, our most disabled..."

According to Judy Meredith, director of the Public Policy Institute, Romney may have fixed his budget, but he has hurt everyone else's.

"The state does have cash flow problems, but more importantly, so do regular people in state hospitals and some of these civic projects."

Governor-elect Deval Patrick will have the option to restore the funds, including the millions cut from a reserve devoted to salary increases for the lowest-paid social workers. A spokesman for Governor Romney says the cuts were a matter of fiscal discipline.

A full list of the budget cuts can be viewed online, at www.mass.gov/Agov2/docs/11.10.06.9c.cuts.pdf.


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