This week’s #TCFBest brings an unusual mix of news, now that the government is reopened and there actually is other news. Low-income schools are on the rise nationwide, Texas is spearheading stricter voter ID laws affecting married women and Millennials might just read the news after all.
What’s Trending? Low-Income Schools.
A new study from The Atlantic points at a disturbing, but not altogether unpredictable, trend: nearly half of all public school students qualify as low-income. This percentage is highest in the South and West, and the national average is up 10 percent from a decade ago. The researchers did not strictly analyze poverty rates, but looked at the percentage of students receiving free or reduced school lunches (provided to those whose families earn below 185 percent of the poverty line). Yes, schools are failing, and it’s because disadvantaged families are fighting against a self-replicating cycle of lowered income. Read the full study at The Atlantic.
Texan Women Dust-Off Suffrage Strategies
Stricter voter ID laws are creeping across state boundaries, and many are drawn across racial lines. Starting November 5, Texas voters will be required to provide identification that reflects the individual’s most recent, legally recognizable name, according to ThinkProgress. Why is this contentious? Only “66 percent of voting-age women with ready access to any proof of citizenship have a document with [their] current legal name,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. As is the custom, women are typically the spouse to opt for a name change after marriage, and so will face many obstacles in getting proper ID in time to vote. For an ID-free look at voter restrictions, visit our friends at ThinkProgress.
Who Says Millennials Don’t Care About News?
“Millennials,” dubbed by marketers and researchers as any person born between 1982 and 2000, are oft written about as lazy, spoiled and largely disinterested in reading news or long-form content. It seems Millennials may have the last word in the news debate as PolicyMic has just raised $3 million in funding for news directed at the under 35 set, according to TechCrunch. For the record, by “news,” PolicyMic does not mean cat videos and twerking; its nine million unique views per month are for stories about Syrian refugees and voter rights. Read more about the digital revolution at TechCrunch.
Follow us on Twitter @tcfdotorg and submit your #TCFBest faves all week long.
Tags: news, voting rights act, #tcfbest, millennials, low-income students, the atlantic, voter id laws, thinkprogress, voter rights, brennan center for justice, citizenship
#TCFBest: October 18, 2013
This week’s #TCFBest brings an unusual mix of news, now that the government is reopened and there actually is other news. Low-income schools are on the rise nationwide, Texas is spearheading stricter voter ID laws affecting married women and Millennials might just read the news after all.
What’s Trending? Low-Income Schools.
A new study from The Atlantic points at a disturbing, but not altogether unpredictable, trend: nearly half of all public school students qualify as low-income. This percentage is highest in the South and West, and the national average is up 10 percent from a decade ago. The researchers did not strictly analyze poverty rates, but looked at the percentage of students receiving free or reduced school lunches (provided to those whose families earn below 185 percent of the poverty line). Yes, schools are failing, and it’s because disadvantaged families are fighting against a self-replicating cycle of lowered income. Read the full study at The Atlantic.
Texan Women Dust-Off Suffrage Strategies
Stricter voter ID laws are creeping across state boundaries, and many are drawn across racial lines. Starting November 5, Texas voters will be required to provide identification that reflects the individual’s most recent, legally recognizable name, according to ThinkProgress. Why is this contentious? Only “66 percent of voting-age women with ready access to any proof of citizenship have a document with [their] current legal name,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. As is the custom, women are typically the spouse to opt for a name change after marriage, and so will face many obstacles in getting proper ID in time to vote. For an ID-free look at voter restrictions, visit our friends at ThinkProgress.
Who Says Millennials Don’t Care About News?
“Millennials,” dubbed by marketers and researchers as any person born between 1982 and 2000, are oft written about as lazy, spoiled and largely disinterested in reading news or long-form content. It seems Millennials may have the last word in the news debate as PolicyMic has just raised $3 million in funding for news directed at the under 35 set, according to TechCrunch. For the record, by “news,” PolicyMic does not mean cat videos and twerking; its nine million unique views per month are for stories about Syrian refugees and voter rights. Read more about the digital revolution at TechCrunch.
Follow us on Twitter @tcfdotorg and submit your #TCFBest faves all week long.
Tags: news, voting rights act, #tcfbest, millennials, low-income students, the atlantic, voter id laws, thinkprogress, voter rights, brennan center for justice, citizenship