Child Welfare
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman is no fan of a bill dropped this week that would return child welfare casework to state employees, ending years of rocky moves toward a privatized system, reports the Associated Press.
Of the 2,626 teen births that took place in Connecticut in 2009, almost half were to Hispanics, reports Magaly Olivero of the New Haven Independent.
Education/Jobs
Headlines from the two youth-related themes in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Speech last night:
-The president said preventing illegal immigrant students from moving toward citizenship is nonsensical, reports Mike Lillis of The Hill. Interestingly, he did not mention the DREAM Act by name.
-President Obama called for every state to raise its dropout age to 18, reports Dave Murray of the Grand Rapids Press of Michigan, which raised its age from 16 to 18 in 2010.
After-school programs are in peril and are worth saving, argues Afterschool Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant, making her case in the Huffington Post. Grant throws a soft jab at the Obama administration’s offer of a waiver on federal after-school dollars, which would allow states to use the funds to extend the school day instead.
Matthew Blake of Progress Illinois reports on arguments made by Chicago leaders that given the current fiscal situation in most states, only the feds can muster up dollars for a youth jobs program right now.
Juvenile Justice
Georgia’s new juvenile justice boss is starting to fire and discipline staff at the Augusta Youth Development Center, reports Archith Seshadri of WJBF. The facility has been under investigation since an inmate was beaten to death by other juveniles two months ago.
