Latest news with #IdeasLab
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Child care costs as much as college. Here is what you need to know about fixes.
You might have heard that child care costs as much as college. Parents face big bills, long wait lists and a shortage of quality providers. At the same time, many child care providers say without assistance, they will be forced to close their doors. One of the biggest hurdles is finding qualified workers in an industry with low wages. For a first-hand perspective, the Ideas Lab's Kristin Brey talked with four early childhood education ambassadors from Milwaukee Succeeds, an organization connected with the Greater Milwaukee Foundation that focuses on early childhood education and high school success. The interviews (available in the video play list above and links below) include conversations with: Jackie Burrell, a former child care provider, educator and parent. She also serves on the Board of Commissioners for Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee; is the Westlawn Resident Council President; and is Foster Care to Adopt lead. See her interview. LaDonna Foster, a former child care educator and parent. She is also the lead coordinator and board member at Westlawn Resident Council. See her interview. Taffie Foster-Toney, lead case manager for Wisconsin Community Service and Driver's License Recovery and Employability program. See her interview. Vanessa Giraldez, current early childhood education parent and lead service navigator at the National Alliance on Mental Illness and program coordinator for the Lighthouse Project. See her interview. The future of proposed funding to support Wisconsin's struggling child care industry is in doubt after state budget negotiations between Gov. Tony Evers and legislative leaders collapsed June 4. Evers, a Democrat, proposed spending $480 million on Child Care Counts, a program that directs federal pandemic relief funding to child care providers across Wisconsin. Providers use the money to increase staff wages, to offset the cost of physical operating expenses like rent and utilities, to increase the quality of their programming and to prevent large tuition hikes. With the pandemic funding expected to run out this summer, Evers is asking for $480 million over the next two years to continue the program. It's unclear how much, if any, Republicans, who control the legislature, will support in their budget bill. The state's new two-year budget begins July 1. If the governor and legislature don't agree on a budget, spending will continue at current levels. How does Wisconsin compare to other states in responding to child care struggles? Here are solutions from two states highlighted by Milwaukee Succeeds: New Mexico: Voters passed a constitutional amendment dedicating 1.25% of state land trust revenue to early childhood education. In addition, the state now offers child care assistance to families earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level and has waived all family copayments. New Mexico is leading on both sustainable funding and affordability, ensuring families don't face out-of-reach child care costs while creating long-term stability for providers. Vermont: Lawmakers passed legislation that funds scholarships and loan repayment for early childhood education workers, expands family subsidies, upgrades the IT system, and sets equity-driven goals: no family should pay more than 10% of income, and providers should be fairly paid. Vermont is treating child care as public infrastructure, investing in both access and workforce quality while building a system that can meet long-term needs. The Wisconsin Policy Forum's recent budget brief for Wisconsin includes a table outlining policy options from other states. Jim Fitzhenry is the Ideas Lab Editor/Director of Community Engagement for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Reach him at jfitzhen@ or 920-993-7154. Kristin Brey is the "My Take" columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: WI lawmakers must be part of solution for child care woes | Opinion
Business Mayor
15-05-2025
- Science
- Business Mayor
NSF $7.5 million grant supports Han Li's innovative biomanufacturing process
Han Li, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, has received a $7.5 million award from the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. The three-year grant will support Li's development of a novel biomanufacturing process to make valuable organic pesticide chemicals in a more efficient, environmentally friendly and economical way. Li proposes using a cell-free approach to biomanufacturing with custom-designed enzymes and innovative materials that help organize chemical reactions outside of a living cell, making the process easier to scale and more cost-effective. This could open the door to producing high-value products that support and enhance supply chain resilience. Specifically, her project enables the production of chiral chemicals, the essential building blocks of all major pesticides, which are currently manufactured in wasteful and polluting chemical processes. Her project team includes three Co-PIs from both academia and industry (UCLA, University of Tennessee and Cascade Biocatalysts). Li says they are honored and excited to work on this project. 'It was honestly quite stunning to see how organically each team member's expertise meshed together,' she said. 'With the seamless integration of fundamental research and commercialization efforts, this project will realize the real-world impacts of our technologies.' The project emerged from the NSF Ideas Lab in which Li participated last year. The workshop focused on accelerating the adoption of cell-free systems to enable new applications of this technology and contribute to the growth of the U.S. bioeconomy. The NSF Advancing Cell-Free Systems Toward Increased Range of Use-Inspired Applications (CFIRE) initiative aims to reduce the cost, expand the range of cell-free systems, and develop and demonstrate their application. The workshop gathered 37 participants from industry and academia nationwide. They brainstormed ideas, formed collaborative teams, and pitched their project concepts. Li's team was subsequently invited by NSF to submit a full proposal, which was highly appraised by the CFIRE reviewers. 'This team embodies the spirit of the Ideas Lab in that these teams might not have ever connected outside this environment,' wrote the proposal reviewers. 'It is clear that the synergy across this team is strong and suitable for fulfilling the goals of the Ideas Lab and the CFIRE program.'
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
After security breach over war plans was exposed, Hegseth attacked the press
Thank you for the editorial 'Despicable disinformation' and other articles about Elon Musk in the March 23 Ideas Lab. We live in precarious times, with the presidency, both Houses and the Supreme Court being controlled by one party. In addition, that party has been extremely successful in controlling the media along with numerous podcasts and extreme right-wing radio spewing out disinformation and conspiracy theories. Recently, The Atlantic editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently added to a White House Signal app communication (using it in itself a security violation) that allowed him to hear war plans about the attack on Houthis in Yemen. When Goldberg exposed this serious security breach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth immediately attacked The Atlantic. Opinion: Local governments to face deficits if union bill repealed by WI Supreme Court Editorial: Elon Musk's despicable disinformation tampers with WI Supreme Court election With President Donald Trump surrounding himself with incompetent loyalists, and tearing apart our democratic institutions, there will surely be many more incidents as least as serious as this one. It's imperative that our traditional media continue to write editorials, fact check those in power and call out the lies from other extreme media sources. That's why I have a bumper sticker on my car that reads, 'Support a Robust Free Press.' Jerry Fredrickson, Greenfield Here are some tips to get your views shared with your friends, family, neighbors and across our state: Please include your name, street address and daytime phone. Generally, we limit letters to 200 words. Cite sources of where you found information or the article that prompted your letter. Be civil and constructive, especially when criticizing. Avoid ad hominem attacks, take issue with a position, not a person. We cannot acknowledge receipt of submissions. We don't publish poetry, anonymous or open letters. Each writer is limited to one published letter every two months. All letters are subject to editing. Write: Letters to the editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 330 E. Kilbourn Avenue, Suite 500, Milwaukee, WI, 53202. Fax: (414)-223-5444. E-mail: jsedit@ or submit using the form that can be found on the on the bottom of this page. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Media needs to call out lies coming from those in power | Letters
