No more billing for rape
When Nola.com first reported last month that some private hospitals were sending large bills to rape victims for the cost of their care, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration was slow to react. At first ittried to shift blame on to local authorities and the “legacy” charity hospital system. But on Monday the administration took steps aimed at ending the practice. An executive order issued late Monday directs the Board of Regents to improve rape reporting on college campuses, and makes wholesale changes in the state commission that oversees reparations for crime victims.

The order added teeth to some of the provisions detailed in a plan released earlier in the day by Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals — a plan designed toprohibit hospitals from billing rape victims. DHH Secretary Kathy Kliebert said that her agency will support legislation that will mandate hospitals bill the Crime Victims Reparations Fund directly for all medical services associated with forensic medical exams, including pregnancy tests, HIV tests and emergency room fees. Currently, victims must apply to Crime Victims Reparations themselves for reimbursement. But few victims ever do — only 33 applied last year and only 25 actually received money. 

Poor kids who do everything right don’t do better than rich kids who do everything wrong
Hard work doesn’t always pay off, especially if you are a child from a low-income household.A new study from Richard Reeves and Isabel Sawhill concludes that children from low-income households who graduate from college don’t do much better than wealthy children who drop out of high school. As The Washington Post writes:

Specifically, rich high school dropouts remain in the top about as much as poor college grads stay stuck in the bottom — 14 versus 16 percent, respectively. Not only that, but these low-income strivers are just as likely to end up in the bottom as these wealthy ne’er-do-wells. Some meritocracy. What’s going on? Well, it’s all about glass floors and glass ceilings. Rich kids who can go work for the family business… or inherit the family estate don’t need a high school diploma to get ahead. It’s an extreme example of what economists call “opportunity hoarding.” That includes everything from legacy college admissions to unpaid internships that let affluent parents rig the game a little more in their children’s favor.

Head Start helps parents too
While most evaluations of the Head Start have studied the program’s effects on children,researchers Terri J. Sabol and P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale sought to understand how participating the program affected parents’ educational advancement and employment. They reviewed over 4,000 Head Start cases, and concluded that “parents of children in the three-year-old cohort (but not the four-year-old cohort), who were randomly assigned to and participated in Head Start, had steeper increases in their own educational attainment by child age six years compared to parents of children in the control group. This pattern is especially strong for parents who had at least some college experience at baseline, as well as for African-American parents.” This conclusion shows the potential of Head Start as a two-generation intervention, helping both the kids and their parents.

Geaux Vote: Early voting period begins
Louisiana residents can vote early beginning today. The early voting period for the Nov. 4 election runs from Oct. 21 through Oct. 28, excluding Sunday, Oct. 26. Polling locations will be open from 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. during the early voting period.Click here for a list of early voting locations throughout the state. There are several resources voters can use to do their homework before casting their ballot. Voters candownload a sample ballot from the Secretary of State’s website. Additionally, voters are encouraged to read the Public Affairs Research Council’sGuide to the 2014 Constitutional Amendments and a similar guide from the Council for a Better Louisiana.

Number of the Day
1,158 — Number of forcible rapes reported to Louisiana law enforcement in 2012. (Source:Nola.com)