- State’s high school graduation rate in ‘crisis’, By Gracie Bonds Staples and D. Aileen Dodd, July 23, 2009, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Georgia’s dismal high school graduation rate has reached a ‘crisis’ level, according to a national report released Wednesday. The authors recommended immediate federal action. Entitled ‘Graduating America: Meeting the Challenge of Low Graduation-Rate High Schools,’ the report puts Georgia among 17 states with the lowest overall graduation rates in the country…”
- Report: State poised to lift graduation rates, By Kathleen Lavey, July 23, 2009, Lansing State Journal: “Michigan is one of 17 states in a ‘make or break’ position as the U.S. strives to improve high school graduation rates, according to a nationwide report released Wednesday. But the report also says the state – along with Ohio and California – is in a good spot to boost graduation rates if local school districts take advantage of federal stimulus money and other resources as well as tailoring solutions to their individual needs…”
Daily Archives: July 23, 2009
U.N. Arab Human Development Report
Report: Insecurity in Arab world hinders its progress, By Edith M. Lederer (AP), July 22, 2009, Seattle Times: “A new report by over 100 independent intellectuals and scholars from Arab countries blames political, economic, social and environmental problems for undermining the lives and freedom of Arabs – coupled with the region’s vulnerability to outside intervention. According to the Arab Human Development Report 2009 released Tuesday, what’s missing in the Arab world is ‘human security – the kind of material and moral foundation that secures lives, livelihoods and an acceptable quality of life for the majority’…”
Minimum Wage Increase – Indiana, Florida
- To minimum-wage workers, this raise makes a difference, By Dana Hunsinger, July 23, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Will Farrington folds clothes, helps customers find just the right jeans and toils daily in the world of retail. For his work at Aeropostale, he makes $7 an hour. But Friday, his pay will jump when the federal minimum wage rises to $7.25 an hour from $6.55. For Farrington, that means $2 more a day for eight hours of work. But he says it’s nothing to scoff at…”
- Minimum wage goes up tomorrow, but pay is heading down in South Florida, By Harriet Johnson Brackey, July 23, 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Caroline Bartha’s last employer in Fort Lauderdale reduced staff, from about 80 a few years ago to eight. Next came the pay cut, followed by hours being pared back. Then workers were told they’d have to take two weeks off without pay. ‘Morale was dragging on the floor,’ she said. ‘Because of the pay cuts, I didn’t feel they were treating the employees the way they should.’ And in a final blow, Bartha’s company extended the unpaid leave to three weeks. A full paycheck is no longer a certainty for many South Florida workers…”
Extension of Unemployment Benefits – Colorado
Colorado jobless won’t get extension pay till Aug., By Allison Sherry, July 22, 2009, Denver Post: “Out-of-work Coloradans eligible for a 20-week extension in unemployment benefits will have to wait until the end of August to get paid, even though a new law providing those benefits took effect July 1, state officials said Tuesday. By August, between 5,000 and 6,000 people will be due money, said Steve Fowler, director of unemployment insurance at the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment…”
Food Stamps and Military Families
More troops relying on food stamps, Bryan Mitchell, July 22, 2009, Military.com: “Military members and their families are using more food stamps than in previous years – redeeming them last year at nearly twice the civilian rate, according to Defense Commissary Agency figures. The agency reports that more than $31 million worth of food stamps were used at commissaries nationwide in 2008 – an increase of about $6.2 million, or more than 25 percent – from the $24.8 million redeemed in 2007. That contrasts with a 13 percent overall increase in food stamp use by Americans for the same period, according to the Department of Agriculture, which administers the food stamp program…”
State Budgets and Program Cuts
- States’ budget pain eclipses last recession, By Stephen C. Fehr and Daniel C. Vock, July 21, 2009, Stateline.org: “The current recession — now 19 months long and still going — already has forced states to deal with greater budget shortfalls than they faced in the five years it took them to recover from the last national recession after the 2001 terrorist attacks. New figures from the National Conference of State Legislatures show that states scrambling to balance their budgets already have closed at least $268.6 billion in gaps between projected spending and revenues since the recession started in December 2007…”
- Safety net for poor, disabled in tatters after plan’s cuts, health care advocates say, By Ken Carlson, July 22, 2009, Modesto Bee: “As details of the state budget deal emerged this week, some health care advocates said the agreement cuts too deeply into safety net programs for the poor and disabled. According to one estimate, a $144 million budget cut to Healthy Families, the low-cost health insurance for the working poor, would result in denying coverage to almost 780,000 children in California…”
- California budget cuts deep into healthcare, schools, By Daniel B. Wood, July 21, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “Deep cuts in government services including healthcare, prisons, and local government assistance are the likely results of the budget deal struck between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers after negotiations all day Monday. The California legislature will vote as early as Thursday on the deal to close the state’s $26.3 billion budget deficit…”