SEARCHLIGHT NEWS
Students in the Sioux Falls School District play on a playground. (Courtesy of Sioux Falls School District)
By Makenzie Huber
A Sioux Falls after-school coordinator said she fielded calls from panicked parents this month after the state altered childcare assistance payments — in some cases slashing assistance by more than 80%, she said.
Rebecca Wimmer is the coordinator for the Sioux Falls School District’s after-school program. She reported hearing from families who said it would be more cost-effective for a parent to quit working and stay home with their kids than to pay for the lost assistance.
COMMENTARY
Houses line a street in southern Sioux Falls. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
By Nina Luz
Imagine two identical homebuyers: the same salary, the same city, the same goal of buying a three-bedroom house in South Dakota.
The first closed the deal in 2018. The second is trying to do the same today. The first homebuyer paid around $296,000 and took out a loan equivalent to 2.5 times their annual income. The second homebuyer, seven years later, will need around $390,000 and will carry a debt of 2.7 times their yearly earnings. The house is the same. What changes is the financial burden.
FROM STATES NEWSROOM
Montana state Sen. Cora Neuman, a Democrat, speaks at a January news conference in the Minnesota Capitol surrounded by state lawmakers from across the country amid a surge in immigration enforcement there. (Photo by Michelle Griffith/Minnesota Reformer)
By Kevin Hardy/Stateline
Progressive activist Gaby Goldstein thinks her opponents are brilliant.
Despite her deeply held liberal politics, she admires the work of conservative groups that for decades have built influence in state governments across the country.
“We on the left have left a huge amount of power on the table,” said Goldstein, the founder and president of State Futures, a nonprofit launched last year that coordinates hundreds of Democratic lawmakers across the states.
NATIONAL NEWS
Commentary: The Battle of Lake Ontario: Trump opens a new front in the war on things with names | Jon King/Michigan Advance
Arkansas librarian fired after opposing book ban efforts to receive $275K in settlement | Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate
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