Sens. Ernst, Lee Put Forward Paid Parental Leave Plan That is Budget Neutral and Flexible for Parents
The plan would enable parents to stay home with their newborns without creating a massive mandated government program
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Mike Lee (R-UT) are putting forward a paid parental leave plan that is budget neutral and flexible for parents who choose to opt in.
Their legislation, the CRADLE Act, would allow parents to receive one, two, or three months of paid leave by giving them the option to postpone activating their Social Security benefits. The plan provides every new mom and dad the flexibility to stay home with their newborns during the critical first months after birth, without creating another massive mandated government program or adding to our ever-growing deficit.
“It’s past time we modernize our family leave policies to reflect the evolving needs of today’s workforce and to reduce the barriers that pose challenges for parents balancing family and work. Millions of working moms and dads in Iowa, and across the country, face huge hurdles in taking time off to spend with their newborns. As a mother, I understand how important it is for children to bond with their parents in the first precious few weeks after birth,” said Senator Joni Ernst. “Our proposal is a path forward for a budget neutral paid leave option that gives parents greater flexibility without imposing a new government entitlement or mandate.”
“Families are the bedrock of our society. If young people can’t afford to marry and start a family then the American dream literally has no future,” Senator Mike Lee said. “We need to make sure our existing social insurance programs are doing all they can to work for working families. The CRADLE Act will give working families the flexibility they need to make sure Social Security is working for them.”
Background:
The CRADLE Act would allow both natural and adoptive parents to receive one, two, or three months of paid leave benefits by giving them the option to delay activating their Social Security benefits for two, four or six months. Expectant parents would simply fill out a form to notify the Social Security Administration (SSA) of their intention to take paid leave before an expected birth or adoption. Then, after the birth or adoption, the SSA would begin payments two weeks after parents applied for their baby’s social security number.
To be eligible, parents must meet certain work requirements, and benefit levels would be determined by using the same formula used for determining Social Security Disability benefits. The formula is progressive, meaning that monthly benefits would be more generous to those least likely to have the luxury of an employer-sponsored benefit.
You can find a one-pager, a Q&A, and text on the CRADLE Act here.
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New technology helps Unclaimed Property Division reunite more lost money with rightful owners
More robust search technology increases the average number of properties per claim by 9%
SALT LAKE CITY – March 12, 2019 – Utah State Treasurer David Damschen today announced that the August implementation of the new unclaimed property management system has resulted in increased efficiencies and a better user experience.
Since the conversion, the average number of properties per claim has increased by 9% due to more robust search technology.
“The new system makes it even easier for Utahns to search for unclaimed property, and it enables us to process claims more quickly,” Treasurer Damschen said. “You can now upload claim documentation directly to the website, instead of having to mail it to us or deliver it in person.”
Some other new features include improved online payments, manual online reporting for small reports and stronger protections to ensure security of personal information.
“During the past several years, we have placed significant focus on leveraging technology to make record levels of unclaimed property payouts to rightful owners,” Unclaimed Property Administrator Dennis Johnston said. “We are thrilled by the results of the system conversion. It has taken us to the next level, improving the claims process and enabling us to reunite more unclaimed property with rightful owners.”
For more information and to search property, visit mycash.utah.gov or call 801-715-3300.
Facebook Live: facebook.com/utah.unclaimed
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NEW YORK (PRWEB) MARCH 11, 2019
Digitalization and job automation have created a skills gap. Employers globally cannot find the workers they need to build their companies. Traditional colleges and universities are not revolutionizing education fast enough to close the knowledge and skills gaps. EdX, an online learning platform which offers over 2000 online courses from more than 150 education institutions to over 17.6 million people, is trying to address the issues by making education accessible, affordable and relevant to workplace needs. CEO Anant Agarwal explains to C.M. Rubin, founder of CMRubinWorld, that some of the most popular subject areas on edX are “data science; computer science and engineering; and business and management.” Agarwal’s platform allows learners to upskill while they are on the job. He states that in a rapidly changing increasingly connected world, “consumers expect to have anything they want available at their fingertips, and education is no different.” Online learning must be flexible and high quality, offering “a hybrid set of skills” that is “increasingly sought out by hiring managers.”
Read the full article here
Prof. Anant Agarwal, Ph.D. has been the Chief Executive Officer of edX since March 2013 and serves as its Director. Prof. Agarwal is a Co-founder of Tilera Corporation and served as its Chief Technology Officer. He is a Founder of InCert Software Corporation.
CMRubinWorld’s award-winning series, The Global Search for Education, brings together distinguished thought leaders in education and innovation from around the world to explore the key learning issues faced by most nations. The series has become a highly visible platform for global discourse on 21st-century learning, offering a diverse range of innovative ideas which are presented by the series founder, C. M. Rubin, together with the world’s leading thinkers.
For more information on CMRubinWorld
Follow @CMRubinWorld on Twitter
Contact Information:
David Wine
David(at)cmrubinworld(dot)com
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4 Reasons Everyone Should Care
About America’s Everglades
It’s been called one of the world’s great biological wonders.
And since there’s nothing quite like Everglades National Park, efforts have been made for decades to protect and preserve its fragile ecosystem.
But just how well protected the park is can be confusing, especially with two recent events that seem at odds. An appeals court ruling could pave the way for oil drilling in at least one part of the 1.5 million-acre park. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently proposed spending $360 million for Everglades restoration projects.
Regardless of such conservation contradictions, there’s no denying that the Everglades is a national environmental treasure, though a swampy one that many people haven’t explored up close and personal.
“Even people in Florida don’t always realize what they have here, much less people elsewhere in the country,” says Clyde Butcher (www.clydebutcher.com), a nature photographer who since the 1980s has helped bring national attention to the Everglades through stunning black-and-white photographs that have been compared to the works of Ansel Adams.
“People just don’t realize how unique and beautiful the Everglades are. When I first moved from California to Florida in 1979, I didn’t either. Now I’ve fallen in love with a swamp.”
Butcher over the years has dared to wade into regions of the Everglades that most people never see. He’s making plans to put his latest photographic exhibit, “America’s Everglades: Through the Lens of Clyde Butcher,” on a national tour. Right now the exhibit is on display through May 26 at the Appleton Museum in Ocala, FL, and in 2020 will be in Youngstown, Ohio.
Butcher has photographed other locations, but it is the Everglades that became his greatest subject. He suggests 4 reasons why everyone, whether they live in Florida, Ohio or Oregon, should care about this natural wonder:
The uniqueness. Unlike rivers, lakes and mountains, there is no other Everglades. The planet has just one to care for. “There is no other place on earth like the Everglades,” Butcher says. “It’s beautiful in its primeval essence.”
The need for clean water. Everyone can identify with the need for fresh, clean water to support life. By saving the Everglades we save the water, Butcher says, and by saving the water, we save ourselves. “If we don’t clean the water, our own drinking water will fail, thus destroying the economy of both coasts of Florida,” he says.
The impact on the ocean. Saving the Everglades also helps save the fish nurseries along the coast, and thus saves the ocean.
The example that will be set. By saving the Everglades, Butcher says, we can show the world that we can save a precious environment and give other communities and countries the inspiration to do the same. As Marjory Stoneman Douglas, author of the book The Everglades: River of Grass, said, “If we can save the Everglades we can save the world."
Butcher says everyone can help make the world a better place, by speaking up for places that are wild and endangered; by volunteering in state and local parks; and by personal choices related to how we treat nature.
For Butcher, photography is his contribution.
“Through my images,” he says, “I hope people will come to a greater understanding of the beauty they will lose if the preservation and restoration of our environment is not in the forefront of our thoughts.”
About Clyde Butcher
Clyde Butcher (www.clydebutcher.com) is an acclaimed nature photographer who is best known for his striking black-and-white images of the Everglades in Florida. But he has photographed the beauty of nature in other locations as well. For more than 50 years, he has been preserving on film the untouched areas of the landscape. Butcher has been honored by the state of Florida with the Artist Hall of Fame Award. Other major awards and honors include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the North American Nature Photography Association; Humanitarian of the Year for 2005 from the International University; the 2011 Distinguished Artist Award from the Florida House in Washington, D.C.; and the Ansel Adams Conservation Award from the Sierra Club
