Child Welfare
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit yesterday challenging the state’s law allowing officials to remove children from a parent without proving immediate danger to the child, reports the Detroit News.
The ACLU’s suit is based on a seven-year-old who, in 2008, was temporarily taken into foster care after his dad mistakenly gave him a Mike’s Hard Lemonade at a Detroit Tigers game. Click here for Youth Today’s story on the case from 2008.
The $19 million budget for California’s THP-Plus, a highly successful transitional living program for former foster youth between age 18 and 24, is safe for now but that could change in a hurry, reports Marga Cooley of the Lompoc Record.
Education/Jobs
Obama seeks to dismiss a lawsuit filed in January that would lift regulations on for-profit colleges that were issued by the U.S. Department of Education in October, reports Michelle Cormier of Transcript, an online trade source for college registrars and admissions staff. One such regulation took away incentive compensation for recruiters, and another allowed states greater authority over distance learning programs.
Education Today’s Brooke Brown reports that some prestigious universities – such as the University of North Carolina, Pennsylvania State University, Indiana University and the Universtiy of Florida – are now offering Masters in Business Administration programs online.
Maryland’s community colleges will get a lower share of the state’s university funds despite 4.5 percent growth in enrollment during the past year, reports Sarah Breitenbach of Gazette.net.
Jennifer Ruske of the Washington Post reports that Northern Virginia Community College is beginning its first major expansion project in more than two decades in Woodbridge. The building, scheduled to open in 2012, will allow students to move out of the trailers they have been using for the past nine years.
Juvenile Justice
Nevada’s bill to end life without parole sentences for juveniles convicted of non-homicide offenses is before the governor, reports The Record-Courier. The state currently has one person serving a non-homicide LWOP sentence.
A set of bills that would bring the state in line with the controversial Adam Walsh Act is before Gov. Rick Snyder (R-Mich.), reports Ed Brayton of the Michigan Messenger.
Miscellaneous
In Colorado, a bill to expand the age scope of homeless youth shelters moves to the governor’s desk, reports Jason Salzman of Bigmedia.org. Colorado shelters can only take 15- to 18-year-olds now; the bill would expand the range to 11-to-21, which drew some last minute opposition from Republicans.
