Learnfare

Gov. Tommy G. Thompson has decided to ignore the Legislature and resurrect an experiment that would provide monetary incentives for teen-age parents to wed and penalize them if they have more children while on welfare. The plan was eliminated by the Democrat-controlled Legislature when it passed the 1991-93 state budget last month, but the Republican governor restored it before he signed the budget Thursday.

Furor over rising taxes could cost Republicans at least two governorships in the Midwest, and active campaigning by President Bush, whose own popularity has taken a nose dive in the midst of budget woes in Washington, may not be able to help. Even though Republicans appear to be in a good position to capture the governor's office in Ohio and retain it in Wisconsin, Iowa and possibly Illinois, GOP governors in Kansas and Nebraska are in trouble.

We have an awful lot to be grateful for as a nation. These are troubled times, times of discontent. It isn't just America . . . . Take a look at Germany; take a look at France; take a look at what was happening in England before their elections. There seems to be a turmoil, an anti-political mode. But . . . we have a lot to be grateful for. We have effected, helped effect, worldwide change. Democracy is on the move. There's turmoil in Eastern Europe, but it's moving in the right direction.

When mice and roaches scurried from holes in her apartment walls, Linda Shaw moved her family out. When her welfare check wasn't enough to keep her five kids together, she split them up for a while and lived in a shelter. Now, she fears, comes the hard part. Wisconsin is preparing to embark on a sweeping welfare reform requiring work for benefits in a pay-your-way program that states across the nation are eyeing as a potential model. Linda Shaw is watching, too--knowing her life will change.