Meet Them Where They Are
Mississippi lawmakers pave the way to collect child support arrears at casinos.
A radio spot in my home city used to advertise a casino as “ninety minutes from wherever you are.” According to the American Gaming Association, 53% of United States residents have visited a casino in the past twelve months. Mississippi lawmakers assert that some of those visitors are behind on their court-ordered child support obligations.
So why not meet deadbeat parents where they are? The Magnolia State may have just created a new way to collect unpaid child support. Both the Mississippi House and Senate have passed legislation requiring casinos to intercept winnings from parents who owe arrears, perhaps marking the first time a state will use casinos as debt collecting agents.
Local reporting is available here.
The full text of Mississippi Senate Bill 2369 is available here.
Links of interest:
“Financial abuse is present in almost all abusive relationships.” From embezzling family money to prioritizing unnecessary purchases and disrupting a partner’s ability to thrive at work, this kind of emotional DV takes many forms. Liberating Motherhood has an important primer on financial abuse.
The Joyful Heart Foundation reminds us that it’s okay to take a break from the news when you really need it. “If you are struggling to take in the latest news concerning survivors of trafficking and sexual violence, you are not alone. It is okay to unplug for a while so that you can prioritize your health.”
More links of interest:
“Hope is not really the same as optimism,” Rebecca Solnit says in the forthcoming issue of ELLE Magazine. The article celebrates the release of her new book, The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change. This is one we’ll want on our bookshelves for the long term—preorder is available now.
Crime and No Punishment, new work by Professor Marie Gottschalk, is receiving advance praise well beyond political science classrooms. Gottschalk discusses how concentrated economic and political power in America protects certain elites while fostering violence everywhere else. Princeton University Press has this preview.
Journalist Jodi Kantor has a new book on the way too. Kantor, best known for her investigative reporting on serial predator Harvey Weinstein, has spent nearly twenty years covering the workplace, technology, and leadership. At speaking engagements students kept asking her how, in this environment, they should best start (or in some cases restart) their life’s work? Kantor’s answer, How to Start, is informative, encouraging readers to strategize when navigating precarious job markets.
“Reality is wilder than anything you can invent.” Agree. Strange Pilgrims has “Seven Short Lessons from Gabriel García Márquez.”
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Postscript . . .
In elementary school we used to memorize the state nicknames. California is the Golden State. Connecticut is the Constitution State. Michigan is the Great Lakes State. I had forgotten that Mississippi is the Magnolia State, which is so beautiful because magnolias are among the oldest flowers on earth. Withstanding the test of time, they show resilience while maintaining their essential delicateness. They have been said to represent the beauty of endurance.
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