PHOENIX, Ariz. — Amber Zenzak, an office manager at a small carpet-cleaning company, took a moment recently to consider what life would be like each week without state support for child care for her children ages 3, 4, and 9. “My day care costs would be $100 more than what I gross a week. [...]
May 14, 2013 / Read More

Janice Slaughter often takes her 19-month-old granddaughter to the Tiny Tots child care center in Jackson, Miss., or picks her up in the afternoon so that her daughter, the baby’s mother, can attend school. Slaughter brought her own children to the same center when they were babies and has known the owner for years. But, [...]
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s sputtering economic recovery is putting a heavier-than-expected drag on state tax revenue, leading Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday to propose deep budget cuts across an array of government services and warn again that even more cuts are ahead if voters reject his tax-hike initiative in November. Brown’s latest budget plan [...]
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OXNARD, Calif. (AP) — Sarah Comito rolls out of bed before dawn most days and slips quietly out of her house. Before her rambunctious toddler wakes up, she heads off to work as a waitress in an upscale weight-loss resort in Malibu. The hour-long commute is exhausting, but the 33-year-old is thankful to make the [...]
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WASHINGTON (AP) — After decades of worker gains in paid-leave benefits, employers are becoming more selective about granting maternity leave in an economic downturn. A Census Bureau analysis released Thursday shows that the share of women given time off for pregnancy, birth and child care has leveled off, with about half of working first-time mothers [...]
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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Karla Washington worries how she will afford new school uniforms for her five-year-old daughter. Washington, an undergraduate student, earns less than $11,000 a year from a part-time university job. The salary must cover food, rent, health care, child care and the occasional splurge on a Blue’s Clues item for her only [...]
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Editor’s note: Reporting for this story began in March, shortly before Arizona’s immigration bill, SB 1070, was signed into law. In the four months since, a national debate has raged over immigration reform, spreading from Arizona to states across the country, and coloring the political landscape. As November’s mid-term elections approach, organizations that work with [...]
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In the dusty Arizona desert, a young man wearing only one shoe limps toward a group of college students. Thirsty and bleeding, he begs for help. He has trudged for 12 miles, all the way from the Mexican border, and says he has never made this trip before, doesn’t know exactly where he is or [...]
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On a crisp morning in October, 300 low-income families and their allies – all members of a movement known as the Equal Voice Coalition – gathered at a hotel in San Francisco with an ambitious goal: Together, they would spend the next nine hours devising strategies to push the concerns of low-wage workers into the [...]
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