Child Welfare
Stacey Patton reports for Black Voice News on the report released a few months ago that found that racial bias is not the culprit in the disproportionate number of black children involved in child abuse cases.
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman bought himself some time to maneuver on child welfare reform by avoiding (for now) a legislatively enforced moratorium on further privatization, reports JoAnne Young of the Lincoln Journal Star.
Oklahoma City has become a hub for the trafficking of underage girls involved in the sex trade, reports Vallery Brown of The Oklahoman.
Education/Jobs
The Maine legislature will consider a law that would offer employers a lower minimum wage for youth employees as a means to entice more hiring of people in that age group, reports Exception Magazine.
U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), in an op-ed for Politico, calls the administration’s plan to impose a gainful employment rule on for-profit colleges disproportionate and hurtful to students.
Republicans are crying foul in the wake of losing another effort to block for-profit college reform, Jennifer Epstein of Politico reports. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee’s nine Republicans claim bias from Democrats involved in a series of hearings held since last summer that has led to scrutiny and proposed regulation of for-profit colleges.
Juvenile Justice
Click here for the internet broadcast and transcript of a National Public Radio piece on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to save $50 million by consolidating the state’s 25 juvenile detention centers, a plan which is predictably unpopular with the people who work in facilities he has targeted for closure.
Oklahoma will not immediately build the juvenile facility it originally wanted to replace its infamous L.E. Rader Center, it will still close Rader at the end of September, reports Barbara Hoberock of Tulsa World.
