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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

WV Pay Raise Raises State Ranking

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Thursday, April 5, 2007   


Charleston, WV - West Virginia is no longer the worst when it comes to social worker pay. The state's reputation as last in the country for social worker salaries will change with a two thousand dollar pay raise Governor Joe Manchin promoted. There are hundreds of West Virginians who work for the state in taking care of child abuse cases, adult protective services, adoptions, and family crises. Sam Hickman with the West Virginia Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers calls it one of the toughest jobs in the state.

"Social workers often have to walk into the middle of an adversarial, unsafe situation. A matter of life and death not only for the recipient, but sometimes unfortunately, for the social workers."

Social work dangers have recently been highlighted with the murder of a social worker in Kentucky.

Hickman says Governor Manchin gets credit to making the pay raise happen. Hickman points out that social workers always have a college degree, and many pursue higher degrees even though the state doesn't reward those who do.

"There's no salary increase [for social workers] if you get a master's degree. If you're a teacher, and you get a master's degree you get a salary increase. That hasn't happened for social work."


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