- Few bright spots in new Kids Count report, By Ruth Campbell, November 30, 2010, Fort Scott Tribune: “Although Bourbon County surpasses its peers and the state in percentage of mothers who get prenatal care and has a lower percentage of low birth-weight babies than the rest of Kansas, its infant mortality rate rate is among the worst in the state, according to data from a Kids County report released Tuesday. Kansas Kids Count is produced by Kansas Action for Children and funded in part by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Kansas Action for Children is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to shaping policy that improves the lives of Kansas children and families. Data collection and analysis were provided by the Kansas Health Institute, according to the report…”
- Economic recession taking a toll on Kansas children, reports indicate, By Scott Rothschild, November 30, 2010, Lawrence Journal-World: “Many Kansas children aren’t faring well, according to two reports released Tuesday. In its annual survey, Kansas Action for Children said the troubled economic times are having an impact on youngsters. ‘As more working families struggle to make ends meet, more children are relying on free and reduced school lunches and more children are growing up without health coverage,’ said Shannon Cotsoradis, president of KAC. The new Kansas KIDS COUNT data showed that 45 percent of Kansas school children receive free or reduced lunch, 40 percent of children are growing up in low-income households, and 10 percent of Kansas children are uninsured…”
- Kids Count releases data, By Angela Deines, November 30, 2010, Topeka Capital-Journal: “When it comes to mothers getting adequate prenatal care, children getting properly immunized and the number of violent teen deaths, Shawnee County fares well compared to statewide numbers in the latest Kansas Kids Count data. ‘The good news is your immunizations are up,’ said Shannon Cotsoradis, executive director of Kansas Action for Children. ‘But the economic indicators aren’t as good.’ The report, a joint effort by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Kansas Action for Children, shows higher poverty rates for Shawnee County children than the statewide rate and one out of two children qualify for free or reduced-price lunch…”
- Study: More Kansas kids in poverty, By Matthew Clark, December 1, 2010, Pittsburg Morning Sun: “More Kansas children are living in poverty and those who already are have seen their conditions worsen. That is the result of the KIDS COUNT study, which was released on Tuesday by the Kansas Action for Children (KAC) and The Annie E. Casey Foundation. The study concluded that approximately 45 percent of Kansas school children are participating in free and reduced lunches and 40 percent are growing up in low-income (23.08 percent) or poverty-stricken (17.33 percent) households. In addition, one in 10 Kansas children are currently not covered by health insurance…”
Day: December 1, 2010
Extension of Jobless Benefits
Millions to lose unemployment benefits, By David Welna, December 1, 2010, National Public Radio: “Things just got worse for the millions of Americans who have been unemployed for up to 99 weeks. At the stroke of midnight Tuesday, a short-term extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed expired as Democrats and Republicans in Congress failed to agree on how those benefits should be further extended. Congress decided last July to extend long-term unemployment insurance only until the end of November. November has now given way to December, and West Virginia Democratic Sen. John D. Rockefeller lamented that those benefits have run out, just in time for the holiday season. ‘I feel terrible about it, particularly in West Virginia where everybody’s fighting to survive all the time. And we have to do it,’ he said. ‘Why we haven’t done it, I don’t know.’ The House has already tried once – and failed – in the current lame-duck session to extend the jobless benefits. In the Senate, No. 2 Democrat Dick Durbin appeared stricken Tuesday when asked what that chamber planned to do about the 2 million people losing their jobless benefits…”
Post-Earthquake Rebuilding – Haiti
Funding delays, housing complexities slow Haiti rebuilding effort, By William Booth and Mary Beth Sheridan, November 25, 2010, Washington Post: “Yolette Pierre says thank you, America. She points to the plastic over her head, to a gray sack on the dirt floor, to a bucket in the corner. Thank you for the tarp. Thank you for the rice. Thank you for the water, too. She is as sincere as she is poor. The $3.5 billion in international relief spent after the worst natural disaster in a generation succeeded in its main mission. ‘We kept Haitians alive,’ said Nigel Fisher, chief of the U.N. humanitarian mission. Now the really hard part begins. To weary Haitians such as Pierre, mired in a fetid camp, hoping to sweep away the tons of earthquake rubble and remake broken lives, the wait for $6 billion in rebuilding money promised in March by the United States and other donor nations is more than frustrating. It is almost cruel. Ten months after the earthquake left more than a million people homeless, only a small fraction of that recovery money has been put into projects that Haitians can see…”