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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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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.

Feed to Achieve – More Kids Eating Breakfast Better For WV

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Friday, September 13, 2013   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – One of the great things about West Virginia's new Feed to Achieve law is that it should really increase the number of children eating breakfast.

Stephen Smith, director of the West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition, says every school district now offers breakfast.

But he says while some feed better than eight out of 10 students, others struggle to feed a quarter as many.

Smith says one problem at the lagging schools is they don't give children enough time to eat in the morning.

He says thanks to the new law they should start adopting the practices of the more successful districts.

"When instead you stick it between first and second period, or you do breakfast in the classroom, or you do grab-and-go breakfast,” he says, “kids eat breakfast."

Feed to Achieve was signed into law this spring. With it in effect as children go back to class, the state Department of Education says it'll support universal breakfast and lunch in every school.

Smith says breakfast has been proven to be really important to help children be happier and more successful at school. He adds that's especially true for children who are facing problems outside of the classroom.

"They might be missing lunch, they might be missing dinner,” he says. “Anyone who has been around a seven-year-old knows how hard it is for them to pay attention. We want to do whatever we can to make that easier, rather than harder."

Smith says another good thing about the law is that since the federal government reimburses the school districts based on the number of children who eat breakfast, feeding more of them shouldn't cost state taxpayers.

As he puts it, the state now is leaving hundreds of thousands of meals on the table – food the federal government is willing to pick up the check for.

And in fact, Smith points out that each individual meal costs less as the total number goes up.

"For every kid you add, the cheaper it is to provide for another kid,” he explains. “So it has the benefit of being a bold action on behalf of the most vulnerable kids in our school and being cost effective."





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