Page 4 - aruba-today-20240709

A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 9 July 2024
New parents in Baltimore could get a $1,000 ‘baby bonus’ under a

proposal to fight child poverty

By LEA SKENE classroom every school year
Associated Press with students who are expe-
BALTIMORE (AP) — New riencing homelessness, food
parents in Baltimore could insecurity, gun violence and
receive a $1,000 “baby countless other challenges.
bonus” if voters approve a “When you see what
proposal that aims to help they’re going through out-
reduce childhood poverty side school, I’m still going
from birth with a modest to demand their best in the
one-time cash payment. classroom but it’s just not
A group of Baltimore teach- enough,” he said. “We have
ers is behind the effort. Or- to take care of these under-
ganizers recently secured lying needs before we can
the necessary 10,000 signa- get kids to focus on learn-
tures to bring the question to ing.”
voters as a ballot initiative in If the ballot initiative is ap-
November. Their campaign proved, all new parents in
relied on extensive canvass- Baltimore will receive a one-
ing efforts and a cute logo: time payment of at least
a flying cartoon stork with a $1,000.
bag of money in its beak. An estimated 7,000 children
The proposal is loosely mod- are born in Baltimore each
eled on a program imple- Nate Golden, president of the Maryland Child Alliance, poses for a portrait with a petition form year, so the program would
mented this year in Flint, for the Baltimore Baby Fund, Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in Baltimore. cost about $7 million annu-
Michigan, where women Associated Press ally, which is roughly 0.16% of
receive $1,500 during mid- the city’s annual operating
pregnancy and $500 per Organizers behind the Bal- for the ballot initiative. “This childhood poverty fell dur- budget, according to sup-
month for the first year after timore campaign say more could literally have a lifelong ing the pandemic thanks to porters.
giving birth. Officials said the systemic change is needed impact on a kid.” federal relief programs, but The initiative won’t result in
Flint program was the first of on a national level to help lift Golden said he also hopes it has since climbed again higher taxes, but it will be up
its kind in the U.S. families out of poverty, but the program will demon- to about 12% in 2022. to Baltimore’s City Council
Countries in Europe and giving new parents a modest strate to elected leaders It’s incredibly hard for the to allocate funds if it passes.
Asia have experimented financial boost could prove in Baltimore and beyond poor to move up the eco- Advocates say taking a
with larger cash payments, an important first step. that there’s a real appetite nomic ladder, especially blanket approach to dis-
but those programs are “If we’re going to spend a among voters for implement- among communities of col- tributing the funds ensures
meant to encourage more limited amount of money, ing policies that help vulner- or. Research shows that most that no one falls through the
people to have more kids, where do you get the most able children succeed. American children born into cracks. It also means some
not address child poverty. bang for your buck? Re- The issue is particularly ur- the lowest income bracket of the money goes to afflu-
Italy, which has one of the search says at birth,” said gent in Baltimore, where an will remain at roughly the ent parents who don’t need
world’s lowest birth rates, Nate Golden, a high school estimated 31% of school- same socioeconomic status assistance, but Golden said
provides baby bonus checks math teacher who helped aged children are experi- for the rest of their lives. it’s worth including them to
and other benefits aimed at found the Maryland Child encing poverty, according Golden said he sees similar avoid leaving out the poor-
increasing the population. Alliance, which is pushing to census data. Nationally, scenarios playing out in his est families. q

2 men drown in Glacier National Park over the July 4 holiday

weekend

WEST GLACIER, Mont. (AP) his body was caught un- to snowmelt runoff. Due to effort has been scaled The lake is shallower near
— Two men drowned in derwater in the gorge. The poor visibility and hazard- back and rangers are mon- the edge, but there is a
Glacier National Park over creek is running high due ous conditions, the search itoring the area, park offi- large drop-off in the area
the July 4 holiday week- cials said. where the man went under,
end, park officials said. The man was living and said park spokeswoman
A 26-year-old man from working in California and Gina Icenoggle. The Flat-
India was hiking on Ava- was in the park on vacation head County Sheriff’s Of-
lanche Lake Trail on Sat- with friends. fice dive team recovered
urday morning when he On Saturday evening, a his body in 35 to 40 feet (11
walked near Avalanche 28-year-old man from Ne- to 12 meters) of water at
Creek, slipped on rocks pal was swimming with about 8:20 p.m.
and was caught in the friends in Lake McDon- The man was living and
cold, fast-moving water. ald near Sprague Creek working in Portland, Ore-
Witnesses saw him go un- Campground. According gon, and was on vacation
derwater and resurface to friends, he was an inex- with friends.
briefly before being swept perienced swimmer. He Park officials have con-
through a narrow gorge at was about 30 yards (27 tacted the Nepal and India
about 8:30 a.m. Lake McDonald acts as a near-perfect mirror for the mountains meters) from shore when consulates for assistance
in Glacier National Park, Montana, June 22, 2011. From left are
A helicopter crew and Stanton Mountain, Mount Vaught, McPartland Mountain, Mount he started to struggle and in contacting the victims’
park rangers searched for Cannon and Mount Brown. went underwater at about families. Their names have
the man, but they believe Associated Press 6:25 p.m. not been released.q