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"Stepping Up For Kids", being released Wednesday by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation.
• Yet despite these hurdles, child-welfare experts say children who can't be raised by their own parents fare better in kinship care than in the regular foster care system.
• "We urge state policymakers to make crucial benefits and resources available to kinship families so that their children can thrive," said the Casey Foundation's president, Patrick McCarthy.
• According to 2010 census data, about 5.8 million children, or nearly 8 percent of all U.S. children, live with grandparents identified as the head of household. However, many of those children have one or both of their parents in the household, as well as grandparents.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney swept the Kentucky and Arkansas Republican presidential primaries Tuesday, inching closer to the GOP nomination he is certain to win.
• With no serious opposition left, the former Massachusetts governor easily won both contests. He won all 42 delegates at stake in Kentucky and at least 31 of the 33 delegates at stake in Arkansas.
• Two delegates were still undecided in Arkansas.
• Romney has 1,065 delegates, leaving him just 79 shy of the 1,144 delegates needed to win the GOP nomination for president. He should reach the threshold next week, when voters go to the polls in Texas.
• Assured of the party nod, Romney has been in general election mode for weeks. He's been spending much of his time fundraising and focusing on Democratic President Barack Obama.
• ___

• LOS ANGELES (AP) -- He already has a Super Bowl ring, and now football star Donald Driver can add the "Dancing With the Stars" mirrorball trophy to his awards collection.

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