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April 2005
Associated Press / MN Kids Healthy, but Study Author Warns Against Program Cuts (Apr. 28, 2005)
Minnesota's children are pretty healthy overall, according to a new study, but its author is warning lawmakers against cutting the health programs she says contribute to the state's success.
Read full story.
St. Paul Pioneer Press / State's Children Relatively Healthy (Apr. 28, 2005)
Most Minnesota children are covered by health insurance, receive timely immunizations and see their family doctors for scheduled checkups, according to a 2003 health report released Wednesday.
Read full story.
Mpls. Star Tribune / Tax Preparers, Ethics and the 234% Loan (Apr. 16, 2005)
Major tax preparation companies on Friday announced in St. Paul that they are stopping a $10 surcharge they exacted from some of the neediest taxpayers who take out instant loans when they file their taxes.
Read full story.
January 2005
Mpls. Star Tribune / For Some, A Painful Cut (Jan. 31, 2005)
With an edge to her voice, small-business owner Ellen Moody, 56, can almost chant the highs and lows of her family's journey to cope with chronic illnesses.
Read full story.
December 2004
Duluth News Tribune / Nurses Name Prettner Solon Official Of Year (Dec. 02, 2004)
The Minnesota Nurses Association recently named state Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth, their 2004 Public Official of the Year.
Read full story.
November 2004
St. Paul Pioneer Press / Child-care Lists Shrink (Nov. 29, 2004)
Assistance program could see millions of unused dollars at year's end
Some odd things have happened since the policies for Minnesota's child-care assistance program were dramatically changed.
Read full story.
September 2004
Mpls. Star Tribune / Health costs up 11.2% (Sept. 10, 2004)
Tab Jewett works all day to help sick families. But she can't protect her own. The case management assistant at Hennepin County's Children and Family Services can't afford her half of the $650 monthly premium to insure her three children.
Read full story.
August 2004
Mpls. Star Tribune / Tax Refunds Come At Heavy Cost (Aug. 16, 2004)
The temptation of speedy cash was too great for Marisa Thomas. Thomas, 20, made $9,089 as an appointment setter for Craftmatic Beds last year. When it was time to file her taxes this year, she went to an H&R Block office in West St. Paul and paid $39.95 for a rapid-refund loan, plus $84 in preparation fees to get her $531 refund.
Read full story.
July 2004
Poor Martha Stewart ... no, wait! Poor Children of Minnesota (Jul. 19, 2004)
Diary of a Mad Twin Cities Columnist, Entry No. 198 for Friday, July 16, 2004:
6:30 to 8:15 a.m. — Played hoops with the guys at the Y. Head to the weight machines. Martha Stewart's mug appears between the two other muted TV screens showing ESPN sports highlights. Closed caption informs me between grunts that the defrocked Queen of Good Things could be facing hard time at This Big Old House.
Read full story.
Star Tribune / Early help builds future workers (July 19, 2004)
During his trade mission to Poland and the Czech Republic late last month, Gov. Tim Pawlenty noted the quantum leap made by the Eastern European countries in the past 15 years, a leap that has led to the development of a very competitive workforce. Read full story.
May 2004
Minesota Public Radio / Pawlenty Budget Solution Could Cost Some Minnesotans Their Health Care (May 18, 2004)
Gov. Pawlenty says he will balance the state's budget deficit by using a mix of spending cuts and by taking money from a fund that pays for the state's subsidized health insurance program, MinnesotaCare. Read full story.
Rochester Minnesota Post Bulletin / Well-Being of Children -- An Update (May 6, 2004)
Although Minnesota has ranked at the top in national surveys of child well-being in recent years, an advocacy group says cuts to health care, child care assistance and other programs will have a negative effect on children in the state. Read full story.
April 2004
Willmar West Central Tribune / Children's Defense Fund talking about tax cuts, children (April 26, 2004)
The number of Kandiyohi County students dropping out of school fell from 289 in 1993 to 97 in 2002, but the number is still a bit higher than the state average. Read full story.
Pioneer Press / Against all odds (April 24, 2004)
Four years ago, Fartun Mohamed was illiterate, alone and a stranger. Now,
she's heading for college, having earned a 'Beat the Odds' scholarship. Read full story.
News Tribune / Minnesota kids have strong decade (April 14, 2004)
Latest figures find children in good health, although effects from
the 2001 recession linger. Read full story.
March 2004
Pioneer Press / HEALTH CARE: Children's Health Care Cigarette Tax Proposed (March 19, 2004)
A bill to provide free health care to all Minnesota children with money raised by a $1-a-pack hike in the cigarette tax passed the Senate Health and Family Security Committee on Thursday. Read full story.
Star Tribune / EDITORIAL: Cover All Kids/An Ambitious, Practical Plan (March 14, 2004)
Every so often, two or three radical ideas converge from different
directions with a force sufficient to burst through a stubborn barrier and
create a measurably better Minnesota. That's exactly what happened this
month when the Children's Defense Fund came forward with a plan to create
universal health insurance for Minnesota's children. Read full story.
Fedgazette / EARNED INCOME TAX CREDITS: Helping Low-Income Families Build Lives And Assets (March 11, 2004)
The impact of the EITC and other refundable tax credits can be enormous for low- to moderate-income working families. They use these tax benefits to lift themselves out of poverty, provide for their children and begin to develop financial assets. Read full story.
Womens Press / STATE CHILD CARE CUTS HIT FAMILIES HARD (March 10, 2004)
Last year the Minnesota Legislature slashed state spending on child care
subsidies to low income and lower-middle-income working families by 50
percent, or $86 million over a two-year period. Read full story.
February 2004
Pioneer Press / HEALTH CARE: Proposal gives all kids free care (February 25, 2004)
All Minnesota children would get free health care under a bill that will be released later this week. Read full story.
November 2003
Minnesota Public Radio / Advocates Criticize Head Start Tests (November 19, 2003)
Advocates for early childhood education are asking Congress to reverse a
policy of mandatory tests for Head Start students across the country. Read full story.
Pioneer Press / State Budget Woes Hit Home (November 17, 2003)
It is still dark, crisp and quiet when Elizabeth Little packs her two sons, ages 4 and 5, into her minivan to head across Lakeville. The blond boys yawn occasionally at a quarter to 6, but seem ready to face another morning at the home-based child-care center they love. Read full story.
Star Tribune / Editorial: The Uninsured / Minnesota Can Aim Higher (November 10, 2003)
People invited to a conference last week on achieving universal health insurance in Minnesota might have found the timing a bit curious. Minnesota has just faced its worst budget crisis in a generation -- as have most states -- and the 2003 Legislature made cuts, not expansions, in the state's health-care programs. Read full story.
Star Tribune / Conference Tackles Health Care Reform (November 07, 2003)
Rising costs and more horror stories about the health care system once again are driving the issue to the top of the public agenda, and on Thursday more than 100 health care advocates gathered to begin another attempt at reform. Read full story.
Associated Press / Experts Try To Jump Start Debate On Universal Health Care (November 06, 2003)
With employees striking, employers hollering and public coffers hemorrhaging over health care concerns, a smattering of interest groups is trying to restart the debate over universal coverage. Read full story.
Star Tribune / Editorial: Head Start / Senate Resists Bush, Rightly (November 05, 2003)
Every few years Congress conducts the bipartisan ritual of reauthorizing Head Start, an occasion when Republicans and Democrats acknowledge the wisdom of investing in poor children. This year, however, the ritual has turned into an ugly political battle because the Bush administration is insisting on a misguided plan to redefine Head Start and restructure its funding. Read full story.
August 2003
Star Tribune / Editorial: Covering kids / A back-to-school essential (August 19, 2003)
It's big news these days when a government program achieves, quickly and efficiently, exactly what its creators intended. But that's precisely what has happened with the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), passed by Congress in 1997 to help states improve medical care for the children of uninsured families. Read full story.
July 2003
Pioneer Press / Summer Jobs Tough To Find Despite Help (July 22, 2003)
Every weekday morning at 7, Salah Mohamed, 17, rides his bike a mile from his home in Minneapolis' Cedar-Riverside subsidized apartments to his job as a groundskeeper at RiverWest Apartments downtown. Until 1 p.m. he mows, sweeps and prunes, earning $7.50 an hour with no benefits. Read full story.
Duluth News / Bill Would Shift Head Start Funding (July 10, 2003)
A proposed change could hurt programs that help the Northland's
youngest learners. Read full story.
Star Tribune / Critics Slam Bush's Head Start Reforms (July 8, 2003)
President Bush said Wednesday that he wants to improve Head
Start, but critics say his plan to give states flexibility in running it
would gut the popular education program that serves nearly 1 million
preschoolers. Read full story.
Star Tribune / Editorial: Head Start / Needs a tune-up, not an overhaul (July 8, 2003)
The Bush administration has proposed an overhaul of Head Start, the
venerable preschool program for needy youngsters, and the nation's
child-advocacy community has responded with vehement and sustained alarm.
The result is that members of Congress, who will vote on the plan this
month, are backing into ideological corners rather than talking honestly
about what works best for poor children. Read full story.
June 2003
Star Tribune / Editorial: AAA for children / The rating state has put at risk (June 14, 2003)
On Wednesday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty reported from New York his confidence that
Minnesota will retain its AAA bond rating. That's good news, he said,
because it amounts to the bond market giving Minnesota a Good Housekeeping
seal of approval. Pawlenty also allowed as how the raters are "agnostic"
about how a state gets to a balanced budget, whether through tax increases
or spending cuts. The important point is that you get there, he said.
Pawlenty's right, but that's not the entire story. Read full story.
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