Child Welfare
It wasn’t too long ago that Nebraska media reported the legislature was unlikely to get involved in the state’s move to privatize most child welfare services. Since then, a number of bills have been submitted that would affect the overhaul, and Lincoln Journal Star’s JoAnne Young reports that the legislature’s Performance Audit Committee is making a review of child welfare reform a top priority.
A South Florida NBC affiliate ran a combination video/text story on its website about child officials observing an increase in the number of child removals related to prescription pill abuse.
Lisa Jackson of the Florida Times-Union reported today on a new job readiness program in North Florida aimed at 18- to -21-year-olds who have aged out of foster care.
Education/Jobs
For-profit college Strayer Education is profiled in this piece on the stock market analysis site Seeking Alpha. This business-oriented profile shines a positive light on the company, saying Strayer has avoided some of the pitfalls seen elsewhere in the career college industry.
Community college funding is on the chopping block across the country, except…Mississippi? Bloomberg Businessweek’s Shelia Byrd writes about the Mississippi legislature approving funding to improve community colleges.
A financial aid expert will be answering FAFSA questions on the Washington Post’s website today at 1 p.m. Click here to participate or to read a transcript of the chat later.
Juvenile Justice
Strange headline/article combination here out of Dakota County, Minn. Jane Lightbourn’s story in the Hastings Star Gazette deals almost entirely with a strong downward trend in the number of juvenile offenders within the county. The headline deals only with the exception to this: “Juvenile Crime Numbers Jump in Hastings,” referring to the one city in Dakota County that saw an increase from 2009 to 2010.
James Lowe of the Daily Hampshire Gazette reports on the retirement of Judge Lillian Miranda, a respected juvenile and family court judge who stepped down this week after 17 years in juvenile court.
The Luzerne County scandal, which included two privately-run detention centers, was the big juvenile justice story in Pennsylvania this year. But, wrote Reading Eagle columnist Holly Herman, a situation at another private juvenile facility deserves some more public scrutiny.
Miscellaneous
The Des Moines Register published a letter to the editor that describes the local impact of a federal elimination of the Corporation for National and Community Service
