| Making childcare work for you
CHILDCARE costs have rocketed in recent years, pricing many parents out of the market. Some families have to rely on friends and relatives to look after the kids to enable them to go out to work. Other mums have given up their careers because soaring childcare bills have made going back to work financially unviable. While those who do go back to work as soon as maternity leave ends face hefty nursery bills or nanny fees at the end of each month. A survey by The Daycare Trust charity found that a typical full-time nursery place for a child under two is £152 a week – a rise of six per cent on last year. Kate Goddard, the charity's policy and research officer, said that as there is no government regulation of childcare costs, prices can vary widely especially in regions such as the north west with nurseries and childminders in more affluent areas charging more for their services.
Family first for ADQ
ADQ Leader Mario Dumont focused on families Friday, accusing the Liberal government of hurting middle-class households with their financial policies. Campaigning in St-George-de-Beauce, southeast of Quebec City, Dumont tried to pump up the ADQ's family policies — such as a weekly $100 voucher for child care — as common sense ideas that will put more dollars in peoples' pockets. The ADQ leader visited a young family in the Beauce region where he held court in their living room to explain how Jean Charest's Liberal government cost them more than $1,000 a year. Using a whiteboard prop brought along for the occasion, Dumont itemized and tallied a series of numbers: income tax breaks upon which he claims the Liberal government failed to deliver, incremental increases in health care and auto insurance, electricity rate hikes and daycare costs.
Precious Times Daycare Investigation
(Rochester, N.Y.) - An Irondequoit daycare remains closed after its license was suspended this week following the death of an infant in their care. An employee of "Precious Times" called 911 when four-month old Nicholas Torregrossa was found not breathing. A letter obtained by 13 WHAM News confirms the center did not notify the family after the baby's death. State records show Precious Times was issued violations in January for not having enough staff and enough training for those who supervised care for infants. Further tests will be done this week to determine why the infant died. .
Lodge: Irony in immigration policyI
In the wake of a huge immigration sweep at a New Bedford factory on Tuesday, the irony is all around. More than 300 illegal immigrants were taken into custody in the raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at Michael Bianco Inc. Most of the workers were taken by bus to a detention center at the former Fort Devens in Ayer. These low-wage workers had been cutting and sewing vests and backpacks for our military, under a government contract. Now they're in federal custody, many separated from their children back in New Bedford and destined for deportation. The irony? Francesco Insolio, owner of the factory, who paid minimum wage and no benefits - and reportedly fined workers $20 or more for snacking at their work stations or arriving late for work - was arrested, charged and released on Tuesday.
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