Child Welfare
The leader of Connecticut’s child welfare system believes her agency is paying for mental health services that should be covered by their parents’ insurance, reports Jacqueline Rabe Thomas of the Connecticut Mirror.
Sources tell the Washington Post’s Mike DeBonis that former deputy mayor Brenda Donald will be coming back to lead the city’s child welfare system. The D.C. native is currently working for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and before that oversaw Maryland’s child welfare system.
Fewer children in Oregon foster care were prescribed psychiatric drugs last year after a new law forced child welfare officials to monitor the medications more closely, reports Michelle Cole of The Oregonian.
The predictable drop in donations to The Second Mile has forced the organization to initiate layoffs, reports James Kelleher of Reuters. The organization was founded in 1977 by Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach accused now of molesting at least 10 boys.
Nevada child welfare boss Diane Comeaux is leaving to run the state’s welfare system, and Amber Howell will take her place for now, reports Kolotv.com.
Education/Jobs
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich defended his call to put young Americans to work, and seemed to delight in the fact that he has been criticized by the left for them, reports Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times. Said Gingrich at a forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition: If “people learn the culture of work and learn the culture of saving and learn the idea of value over time, we just made this country dramatically more conservative. And so the left goes nuts.”
The editorial board of Kentucky.com supports the group of state legislators interested in reviewing for-profit colleges, “not to pick on for-profit colleges, but because the legislature has a duty to make sure taxpayers are getting the most value possible from state spending on education.”
Juvenile Justice
Against the objections of some county supervisors, Milwaukee will reinvest some savings from one part the juvenile justice system in a Shakespeare program for offenders, reports Steve Schultze of the Journal Sentinel.
Matt Dixon of the Florida Times-Union reports on a juvenile justice overhaul aimed at better measuring the educational and career prep experiences of juvenile offenders. Dixon quotes state Sen. Stephen Wise (R), who is leading the effort: “We are not saying they need to come out as rocket scientists. We just want to make sure that gains are being made.”
