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News21: In abortion-restricted North Dakota, lawmakers put resources toward mothers and children
WARSAW, N.D. – North Dakota this year adopted one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, with narrow exceptions for rape and incest victims in the first six weeks of pregnancy and to save the life of the mother.
Although abortions-rights advocates haven’t given up the fight, abortion opponents are moving ahead with the restrictions and placing a heavier emphasis on supporting new mothers through legislation and services, such as maternity homes for pregnant women and teens. One of those teens is Molly Richards, who was just 13 years old when she learned she was pregnant. (Photo By Trilce Olvera-Estrada/News21) |
News21: ‘Confusing’ and ‘chilling’: First legislative sessions after Roe produce patchwork of laws on abortion
A year after the U.S. Supreme Court returned regulation of abortion to the states, the first full legislative sessions post-Roe v. Wade produced a lot of confusion and little agreement, with more extreme measures going so far as to propose criminalizing pregnant people – once unthinkable on all sides of the debate.
News21 spent months analyzing more than 550 abortion-related bills introduced this year in all 50 states – and found that the biggest loser was compromise. “I think we’re in this strange period of kind of shock after Roe v. Wade being overturned,” said Eric Scheidler, executive director of the anti-abortion Pro-Life Action League, based in Illinois. (Photo by Joseph Kual Zakaria/News21) |
Cronkite News: Tribal boarding schools much improved, but legacy of old schools remains
WASHINGTON – Pope Francis apologized. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland called it a “heartbreaking” part of U.S. history. Congress is considering legislation to atone for the government’s actions.
Few dispute that Indian boarding schools led to more than a century of abuse, systematically seizing Indigenous land, separating children from their families, destroying communities and working to erase tribal languages, religions, cultures and economies. Poor conditions and harsh treatment at the schools are blamed for the deaths of untold numbers of Indigenous children who were supposed to be in the government’s care.
While the abuses were in the past, the schools are not, entirely. Arizona, home to 47 federal Indian boarding schools at one point, still has eight such schools today. (Photo: Creative Commons)
Few dispute that Indian boarding schools led to more than a century of abuse, systematically seizing Indigenous land, separating children from their families, destroying communities and working to erase tribal languages, religions, cultures and economies. Poor conditions and harsh treatment at the schools are blamed for the deaths of untold numbers of Indigenous children who were supposed to be in the government’s care.
While the abuses were in the past, the schools are not, entirely. Arizona, home to 47 federal Indian boarding schools at one point, still has eight such schools today. (Photo: Creative Commons)
Cronkite News: New Museum of the American Latino has first exhibit in Smithsonian space
WASHINGTON – The dusty backpack and sneakers left in the Sonoran Desert by a migrant are displayed right between the multicolored graduation stole and the stylized “tree of life” adorned with images of historic Latino figures.
It’s a lot to pack into one exhibit. But “¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States” has a big story to tell.
The display, which opened last month in the National Museum of American History, is the first exhibit by what will eventually become the National Museum of the American Latino. But with that museum still years – and hundreds of millions of dollars – away, a 4,500-square-foot space in the American History Museum will serve as its rotating display for the next decade.
(Photo: Morgan Fischer)
It’s a lot to pack into one exhibit. But “¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States” has a big story to tell.
The display, which opened last month in the National Museum of American History, is the first exhibit by what will eventually become the National Museum of the American Latino. But with that museum still years – and hundreds of millions of dollars – away, a 4,500-square-foot space in the American History Museum will serve as its rotating display for the next decade.
(Photo: Morgan Fischer)
Cronkite News: Arizona again near bottom of states for per pupil spending, Census says
WASHINGTON – Arizona was again among the worst states in the nation for per pupil spending on K-12 education in 2020, a ranking that advocates said was embarrassing but not surprising.
The numbers from a recent Census Bureau report said Arizona spent $8,785 per pupil in 2020, ahead of only Utah and Idaho that year. And it was dead last – 51st among states and the District of Columbia – when it came to the amount spent on actual instruction, at $4,801 per pupil.
Both were well below the national average of $13,494 overall and $8,176 on instruction per pupil for that year.
The data “reflects the continued failure by Arizona’s legislature to appropriately invest in our state’s future,” a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Education said in a statement. (Photo: file Olivia O'Brien)
The numbers from a recent Census Bureau report said Arizona spent $8,785 per pupil in 2020, ahead of only Utah and Idaho that year. And it was dead last – 51st among states and the District of Columbia – when it came to the amount spent on actual instruction, at $4,801 per pupil.
Both were well below the national average of $13,494 overall and $8,176 on instruction per pupil for that year.
The data “reflects the continued failure by Arizona’s legislature to appropriately invest in our state’s future,” a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Education said in a statement. (Photo: file Olivia O'Brien)
Cronkite News: A special routine: Schweikert a top user of House ‘special order’ speeches
WASHINGTON – Armed with poster boards full of numbers and charts, punching the air for emphasis, his voice rising in indignation, Rep. David Schweikert, R-Fountain Hills, looks every bit the “accountant on steroids” he calls himself.
He’s getting worked up even though he is speaking to a largely empty House chamber on fiscal issues, including gas prices, unemployment, inflation and the federal deficit, and criticizing Democrats’ policies on them.
This is Schweikert’s almost weekly routine during “special order” speeches, that time at the end of each legislative day when the floor is open for two hours of talking. Schweikert talks a lot: He has given a special-order speech 29 times in the current Congress, second only to Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wisc., with 38. (Photo: courtesy of C-SPAN)
He’s getting worked up even though he is speaking to a largely empty House chamber on fiscal issues, including gas prices, unemployment, inflation and the federal deficit, and criticizing Democrats’ policies on them.
This is Schweikert’s almost weekly routine during “special order” speeches, that time at the end of each legislative day when the floor is open for two hours of talking. Schweikert talks a lot: He has given a special-order speech 29 times in the current Congress, second only to Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wisc., with 38. (Photo: courtesy of C-SPAN)
The State Press: Afghan refugees start their studies at ASU
In mid-December, around 60 women from Afghanistan arrived in Phoenix to continue their studies at ASU after fleeing their homeland due to the Taliban taking over the region in August.
Starting in the Spring 2022 semester, most of the women have begun studying at ASU to restart their studies, which they began at the Asian University for Women (AUW) in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Most of the women will be taking classes through Global Launch courses to help improve their English and to learn about the degree programs ASU offers before taking general studies classes in future semesters. Some of the students are also starting regular courses this spring, said Erin Tamayo, the coordinator of the AUW Afghan Student Program and an associate global educator at Global Launch. (Illustration: Biplove Baral)
Starting in the Spring 2022 semester, most of the women have begun studying at ASU to restart their studies, which they began at the Asian University for Women (AUW) in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Most of the women will be taking classes through Global Launch courses to help improve their English and to learn about the degree programs ASU offers before taking general studies classes in future semesters. Some of the students are also starting regular courses this spring, said Erin Tamayo, the coordinator of the AUW Afghan Student Program and an associate global educator at Global Launch. (Illustration: Biplove Baral)