IRP Poverty Dispatch

• Hawaii may cut back preschool tuition subsidies to families, By Mary Vorsino, November 21, 2009, Honolulu Advertiser: “The state is considering drastic cuts in subsidies for preschool care for thousands of children from low- to moderate-income families, which in some cases would result in parents having to quadruple what they pay for care. The changes would affect subsidies that cut preschool tuition costs for the families of about 2,500 kids in licensed preschools and about 6,000 children in licensed-exempt care, according to the Good Beginnings Alliance. The decrease in subsidies is being sought as the state faces a worsening fiscal crisis, and as demand for the subsidies is increasing because of the economic downturn…”
• Child care crunch, By Gary T. Kubota, November 21, 2009, Honolulu Star Bulletin: “Makiki single parent Tara Berry said she fears she might have to leave her job as a social worker if she is unable to afford a preschool fee and has to care during the workday for her 2 1/2-year-old son because of cuts in state child care subsidies. Berry said her pay has been cut by state furloughs. ‘I can barely afford to pay what I pay right now,’ said Berry, who also is raising a 16-year-old son. ‘It’s going to affect me greatly.’ As the state Department of Human Services considers major cuts in preschool subsidies affecting several thousands of children, parents are worried how they will get more money for additional child care expenses in a sour economy…”

Homeless in Bangor, By Eric Russell, November 21, 2009, Bangor Daily News: “The signs of homelessness growing in Bangor are everywhere. They are just far enough off the beaten path to go unnoticed by many. People take shelter in makeshift camps under the Veterans’ Memorial Bridge. In the wooded area off Hammond Street known as The Pines. Inside jails and emergency rooms and the police station lobby. The trend is heart-wrenching and perpetual - and just might indicate the arrival of a perfect storm, according to experts. Bangor’s shelters are full. State and federal housing subsidies have either dried up or created unfathomable waiting lists. General assistance, which is supposed to be emergency and temporary funding, is stretched paper-thin. Additional social service cuts from the state seem imminent…”

• Mental Health Commission begins 5-year project to help homeless Canadians, Canadian Press, November 23, 2009, Brandon Sun: “A research project that takes homeless people with mental illness off the streets in five cities and provides them with a safe place to live was officially launched Monday, the first such effort by the new Mental Health Commission of Canada. The pilot study, called the At Home/Chez Soi project, involves 2,285 people who are homeless and living with a mental illness in five cities - Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. Altogether, 1,325 people will be given a place to live and social services over the course of the five-year study, while the others will receive services that are currently available. One of the goals is to find out more about what works well in providing services to homeless people…”
• Research project gets mentally ill Canadians off the streets, By Laura Stone, November 23, 2009, Vancouver Sun: “Sandra Dawson woke up one morning with a bright idea. She would quit her job as a video editor in Vancouver, take all her money out of the bank and move to Seattle. There, she would have a revelation. It didn’t happen. Penniless, Dawson moved back after a few days to her mother’s basement - another manic episode that shook her once stable life…”

Moms, children stay locked up together in Ohio, By Sharon Coolidge and Eileen Kelley, November 13, 2009, Cincinnati Enquirer: “The only thing missing from tiny Takeem Maffett’s world are black and white prison stripes. On the campus of the Ohio Reformatory for Women, convicts shuffle across from one spot to the next under watchful eyes. Takeem’s mother Takaya Patterson is exempt. In contrast to the other buildings at the sprawling complex surrounded by razor wire and blinding lights, the nursery is colorful and dotted with Sesame Street characters. Takeem’s mother wears a prison jumpsuit. Takeem, with cherub cheeks and long slender fingers, sleeps in her arms as she rocks. Just 2 months old, Takeem lives in prison. Under an unusual program, the state of Ohio lets Patterson raise him behind prison walls…”

• Cautious optimism as job losses slow, By Lisa Lambert, November 20, 2009, Washington Post: “The pace of job losses slowed in many U.S. states in October, and the unemployment rate slipped in hard-hit Michigan, the Labor Department said on Friday, hinting the recession may be easing in some areas. Michigan’s jobless rate fell to 15.1 percent in October from 15.3 percent in September, although it remains the highest in the United States. The rate in Nevada, the second-highest, dipped to 13 percent from 13.3 percent. Rhode Island was close behind at 12.9 percent, followed by California at 12.5 percent…”
• Most states see higher jobless rates, By Jeff Bater, November 20, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “Unemployment rose in 29 states in the U.S. during October, hinting the threat posed by weak labor markets to the economic recovery might be growing. Labor Department data Friday said 29 states and the District of Columbia recorded unemployment-rate increases from the prior month, while 13 states had rate decreases, and eight states had no rate change. A month earlier, Labor had said 23 states and the District of Columbia reported over-the-month unemployment rate increases in September, while 19 had decreases and eight states had no rate change…”

Utility shut-offs soar for poor PG&E customers, By David R. Baker, November 20, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “The number of low-income households cut off by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. after they fell behind on their utility bills jumped 75 percent this year, according to a state report released Thursday. For the 12 months that ended in August, 91,393 low-income households lost their utility service, compared with 52,202 in the previous 12-month period. Most soon paid to have service restored. The report, from a division of the California Public Utilities Commission, found that shut-offs increased throughout the state as the recession devastated home finances…”

• TennCare may curtail coverage to reduce costs, By Chas Sisk, November 19, 2009, The Tenneseean: “People covered by TennCare may face new limits on their coverage and reductions in their benefits next year, under a plan unveiled Wednesday to help slice state spending. TennCare officials said that they could impose a new $10,000 annual cap on hospital coverage for the 1.2 million state residents enrolled in the program…”
• NM considers scaling back Medicaid coverage, By Barry Massey (AP), November 20, 2009, Las Cruces Sun-News: “Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration is proposing to overhaul Medicaid and scale back health care services to some lower-income New Mexicans to cope with a projected budget shortfall of $300 million next year in the state’s largest health care program. Human Services Department officials told lawmakers on Thursday that Medicaid benefits and eligibility likely would be limited to minimum federal requirements, such as covering low-income pregnant woman and some children. A package of health care services would be available to other needy individuals-currently covered by Medicaid because the state has expanded eligibility-but they would need to pay premiums and copays. Those fees would vary based on income. The effort to trim Medicaid comes at a difficult financial time. The state faces a half billion budget shortfall next year…”

With aid, Mass. poor cut smoking, By Stephen Smith, November 18, 2009, Boston Globe: “Lower income Massachusetts smokers have dramatically abandoned their habit amid a major state campaign that vigorously promotes and pays for tobacco addiction treatment, according to a report scheduled to be released this morning. Smoking rates among the poor plummeted 26 percent in the first two years of the ongoing state program, a striking result that is already drawing national attention to the effort. Officials targeted a population that historically had the highest smoking rates in Massachusetts. The study, issued by the Department of Public Health, found early indications that the tobacco cessation efforts - aimed at patients enrolled in the state’s medical insurance for the poor, MassHealth - are reaping immediate health benefits…”

• Number of subsidized lunches on the rise, By Meranda Watling, November 19, 2009, Lafayette Journal and Courier: “An increased number of Greater Lafayette students are getting lunches on the government’s dime this semester, thanks in large part to the economy, school officials report. Preliminary numbers for this school year show that in Tippecanoe County, only the West Lafayette school district saw fewer students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches under federal guidelines…”
• Poverty in CMS hits all-time high: 51 percent, By Ann Doss Helms, November 19, 2009, Charlotte Observer: ” Almost 68,000 students, or 51 percent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ enrollment, get lunch aid for low-income families this year - an all-time high. The numbers announced Wednesday, while hardly unexpected, are bound to fan talk about middle-class flight and the growing swath of urban schools abandoned by affluent families. The school system nudged past the 50-percent poverty mark in the middle of last school year, as the recession worsened and new applications for aid came in…”
• Number of poor children rose in Tarrant suburbs, census data show, By Eva-Marie Ayala, November 18, 2009, Fort Worth Star Telegram: ” Fort Worth has seen a drop in the number of school-age children living in poverty, while many suburban school districts have seen significant increases, according to 2008 estimates released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. From 2004 to 2008, the number of such children in Tarrant County school districts grew by 901 to 53,092. The Fort Worth, Lake Worth and Northwest school districts saw decreases, while Kennedale, Grapevine-Colleyville, Crowley and Mansfield had the most significant increases. The shift within the county mirrors housing trends, said Pat Guseman, a demographer who works with Mansfield and other North Texas school districts…”
• Southern New Jersey school districts see worst of nation’s poverty, By John Froonjian, Diane D’Amico, Trudi Gilfillian, and Edward Van Embden, November 19, 2009, Press of Atlantic City: “Gladys Lauriello didn’t realize her family was poor when she went to school in Wildwood. But now, as Lauriello works as principal in the same building where she attended class, she recognizes the signs of poverty that characterized her youth. She wasn’t surprised to learn that U.S. Census Bureau data released Wednesday show that 36 percent of school-age children in Wildwood live in poverty. That’s the highest percentage among school districts in New Jersey…”

• State not paying bills: Social services in doubt, By Andre Salles, November 18, 2009, Geneva Sun: “Every day, Cindy Worsley looks through her mail, hunting for a check from the state of Illinois. And every day, she comes up empty. Worsley is the executive director of Fox Valley Older Adult Services. The not-for-profit company, based in Sandwich, has been providing help and care to seniors in the Fox Valley for 37 years. It operates three adult day care sites — one in Aurora (called Rachel’s Place), one in Sandwich, and one in DeKalb — and provides in-home care, meals and transportation services to more than 200 seniors each day. But now, Worsley is preparing for the worst. The services she provides are dependent on state funding to continue, and those payments are months late. She did receive a check from the state about six weeks ago, she said, which paid the state’s obligations through June. But she’s essentially been operating since July with no state cash at all, and she’s owed about $140,000…”
• Budget cuts will imperil state’s poor, By David Abel, November 17, 2009, Boston Globe: “Maria Bonilla - who has trouble walking because of a congenital heart defect - feeds, houses, and clothes her two young children with $942 of state and federal cash assistance every month, though it barely covers her rent, utilities, and everything else her family needs to survive, from diapers to subway fare. But in a few months the 27-year-old victim of domestic violence expects to be homeless. The Bonilla family is one of thousands of low-income families who will suffer from steep budget cuts. The state estimates that the children of 9,100 families with parents so severely disabled that they qualify for federal Supplemental Security Income benefits will lose their state cash assistance as a result of the $600 million in budget cuts that Governor Deval Patrick announced late last month. The $15.8 million reduction of the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, on top of $8 million in cuts made earlier this fiscal year, means families who receive the assistance will lose an average of more than $400 a month…”

• Jobless benefits set to expire unless Congress acts, By Erik Eckholm, November 18, 2009, New York Times: “About one million laid-off workers will see their unemployment benefits end in January unless Congress acts quickly to renew existing federally paid extensions, according to a new survey and legislators and state officials. The record-long extension of emergency benefits that was hastily signed into law on Nov. 6 was widely praised as an essential lifeline for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who had spent a year or more in fruitless searches for jobs. The new law provided up to 14 weeks of federally paid aid to unemployed people who had exhausted existing state and federal limits, benefits that already extended up to 79 weeks in many states. And for the majority of states with particularly high unemployment, it added an additional six weeks of payments, bringing the potential total to 99 weeks…”
• Extension of jobless benefits won’t help many, By Jane M. Von Bergen, November 17, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “On the same day the U.S. Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate had reached a landmark 10.2 percent, President Obama signed a law extending unemployment benefits by up to 20 weeks in some states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey. ‘I was so relieved,’ said Dawn Brown, 41, a mother of two from North Wales who lost her market-data research job in June. ‘It just took all the worry away.’ But the new law won’t help Brown at all - or anybody else who has been laid off since late June. Not only that, but, as written, no one in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or any of the nation’s other high-unemployment states will be eligible for the last six weeks of the 20-week extension. It’s all a matter of timing. And the timing is tricky…”
• Jobless Tennesseans won’t get as many extra benefits, By Bonna Johnson, November 18, 2009, The Tennessean: “Additional unemployment benefits that Congress approved for the jobless earlier this month won’t be as sweet as most people expected due to fine print in the law. The upshot is that instead of 20 weeks of extra benefits at a maximum of $300 a week, many Tennesseans probably will draw only 14 more weeks - on top of 79 weeks previously received - before the aid runs out due to a Dec. 31 cutoff date. The mix-up is confusing and confounding to many jobless workers who have exhausted or are about to run out of their government aid. Approximately 35,500 Tennesseans getting unemployment checks could be affected. Still, some people said they’re just happy to be getting anything…”

• Half of U.S. children will use food stamps, study finds, By Alfred Lubrano, November 18, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “In a stark and surprising finding, about half the children in the United States will be on food stamps at some point during their childhood, a new study of 29 years of data shows. One in three white children and 90 percent of all black children - ages 1 through 20 - will use the program, according to the research, published this month in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. ‘This means Americans’ economic distress is much higher than we had ever realized,’ said Thomas A. Hirschl, a sociology professor at Cornell University and a coauthor of the study with Mark R. Rank, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis. The survey finds that continued food-stamp usage signifies a kind of poverty that is ‘a threat to the overall health and well-being of American children, and, as such, represents a significant challenge to pediatricians in their daily practice.’ The persistent poverty described in the survey dovetails with the findings of a U.S. Department of Agriculture study released Monday. It determined that 49 million Americans - 17 million of them children - were unable to consistently get enough food to eat in 2008. Nearly 15 percent of households were having trouble finding food, the highest number recorded since the agency began measuring hunger in 1995…”
• Hunger in the United States, Editorial, November 17, 2009, New York Times: “Congress should make a priority of expanding federal nutrition programs that are aimed at helping millions of struggling families feed their children. The need to bolster these programs was underscored again this week in a dismaying Department of Agriculture study showing that a record number of households had trouble getting sufficient food at one time or another last year…”

‘New schools’ to serve poor students proposed, By Emily Johns, November 18, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “The Minneapolis school board will get a chance next month to give its blessing to the creation of up to five autonomous schools in the city. The district hopes the schools, some of which wouldn’t be run by the district, could more effectively educate poor students and be a lab for innovation regarding what works in urban education. ‘There are a number of new autonomous schools across the country that have demonstrated tremendous success with economically disadvantaged children,’ said Jon Bacal, who heads the district’s new Office of New Schools. ‘The end result should be a high-quality learning program for Minneapolis children.’ The Office of New Schools is an effort to address quality issues in the lowest-performing 25 percent of the district’s schools. Converting one of these schools to a “new school” is one method; others include changing leadership, school staff or curriculums…”

• USDA: Hunger rises in U.S., By Alfred Lubrano, November 17, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “America is hungry and getting hungrier, with 49 million people - 17 million of them children - last year unable to consistently get enough food to eat, according to a report released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These figures represent 14.6 percent of all households, a 3.5-percentage-point jump over 2007, and they are the largest recorded since the agency began measuring hunger in 1995. Of those 49 million, 12 million adults and 5.2 million children reported experiencing the country’s most severe hunger, possibly going days without eating. Among the children, nearly half a million in the developmentally critical years under age 6 were going hungry. That’s three times the number in 2006. The study documented both ‘low food security,’ which describes people unable to consistently get enough to eat, and ‘very low food security,’ in which people reported being hungry various times over the year but were unable to eat because there wasn’t enough money for food. The South reported the highest number of households in both categories, at 15.9 percent, followed by the West at 14.5 percent, the Midwest at 14 percent, and the Northeast at 12.8 percent…”
• Hungry U.S. households increased about 30% last year, By Tony Pugh, November 16, 2009, Cleveland Plain Dealer: “The number of U.S. households that are struggling to feed their members jumped by 4 million to 17 million last year, as recession-driven job losses and increased poverty and unemployment fueled a surge in hunger, a government survey reported Monday. These ‘food insecure’ households represent about 49 million people and make up 14.6 percent, or more than one in seven, of all U.S. households. That’s the highest rate since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began monitoring the issue in 1995. Additionally, more than one-third of these struggling families — some 6.7 million households, or 17.2 million people last year — had ‘very low food security,’ in which food intake was reduced and eating patterns were disrupted for some family members because of a lack of food…”

• Uninsured trauma patients are much more likely to die, By Karen Kaplan, November 17, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Patients who lack health insurance are more likely to die from car accidents and other traumatic injuries than people who belong to a health plan — even though emergency rooms are required to care for all comers regardless of ability to pay, according to a study published today. An analysis of 687,091 patients who visited trauma centers nationwide from 2002 to 2006 found that the odds of dying from injuries were almost twice as high for the uninsured than for patients with private insurance, researchers reported in Archives of Surgery. Trauma physicians said they were surprised by the findings, even though a slew of studies had previously documented the ill effects of going without health coverage. Uninsured patients are less likely to be screened for certain cancers or to be admitted to specialty hospitals for procedures such as heart bypass surgery. Overall, about 18,000 deaths each year have been traced to a lack of health insurance…”
• Study: Injured uninsured more likely to die in ER, By Carla K. Johnson (AP), November 16, 2009, Idaho Statesman: “Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study. The findings by Harvard University researchers surprised doctors and health experts who have believed emergency room care was equitable. ‘This is another drop in a sea of evidence that the uninsured fare much worse in their health in the United States,’ said senior author Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard surgeon and medical journalist…”

House health bill includes Medicaid relief for states, By Aaron C. Davis, November 16, 2009, Washington Post: “Wedged in the House health-care bill is $23.5 billion that looks a lot more like new federal stimulus spending than anything to do with national health-care reform. The barely debated pot of money would allow Congress to continue pumping billions in new short-term aid to states to cover Medicaid costs that have increased with rising unemployment in the past year. The potential impact of the new spending became clear last week when giddy state budget officials in capitals from Annapolis to Sacramento penciled in the revenue, hoping that if health-care legislation survives in the Senate, the states’ bonus might squeak through. Medicaid relief for states comprised one of the biggest pieces of February’s $787 billion federal stimulus package, but that funding will run out next year, halfway through states’ next round of spending plans…”

• Agencies, governments to study who can best deliver social services, By Kevin Bonham, November 14, 2009, Grand Forks Herald: “The North Dakota County Commission Association wants the state to shoulder the responsibility - and a share of the financial burden - of delivering social services, such as federal Medicaid, food stamps and temporary assistance for needy families programs. The resolution, initiated by the nine-county Northeast North Dakota County Commission Association, asks the state Legislature to conduct an interim study of the proposal…”
• Counties propose state delivery of social services, Associated Press, November 16, 2009, Jamestown Sun: “North Dakota county officials want the state to take over the delivery of social services programs, including federal Medicaid and food stamps, saying counties can no longer afford to do it. The North Dakota County Commission Association is seeking a two-year study of the idea starting in 2011, the year of the next legislative session. Its resolution says counties would contribute up to 15 mills of property taxes each…”

• Report: More Americans going hungry, By Amy Goldstein, November 16, 2009, Washington Post: “The number of Americans who lack dependable access to adequate food shot up last year to 49 million, the largest number since the government has been keeping track, according to a federal report released Monday that shows particularly steep increases in food scarcity among families with children. In 2008, the report found, nearly 17 million children — more than one in five across the United States — were living in households in which food at times ran short, up from slightly more than 12 million youngsters the year before. And the number of children who sometimes were outright hungry rose from nearly 700,000 to almost 1.1 million…”
• Hunger in U.S. at a 14-year high, By Jason DeParle, November 16, 2009, New York Times: “The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls ‘food insecurity’ 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday. The increase, of 13 million Americans, was much larger than even the most pessimistic observers of hunger trends had expected and cast an alarming light on the daily hardships caused by the recession’s punishing effect on jobs and wages. About a third of these struggling households had what the researchers called ‘very low food security,’ meaning lack of money forced members to skip meals, cut portions or otherwise forgo food at some point in the year…”
• More U.S. households report food shortages, By Scott Kilman, November 16, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday that 17 million U.S. households experienced some sort of food shortage in 2008, up 31% from 13 million households in 2007. In 2008, a year marked by rising food costs and recession, the prevalence of ‘food insecurity’ in the U.S. soared to the highest levels in the history of the USDA’s national annual survey, which began in 1995. According to the survey, 14.6% of U.S. households experienced food insecurity at least some time during 2008, up from the 11.1% of U.S. households in 2007 that fell into the USDA’s definition of food insecure…”

Changes in public housing bring fresh start for families, By Timothy Pratt, November 16, 2009, Las Vegas Sun: “Shea Hampton-Earl’s living room is empty, but her head is full of ideas. This spring, she will plant a garden with tomatoes and collard greens in the back yard of the house she just moved into. And in a few years, the 36-year-old mother of seven wants to buy the house with its path that leads to a park in the back and a tree-lined street in the front. Only two months ago, Hampton-Earl’s front door opened onto the pop of pistols and the hum of police helicopters overhead. There were no gardens, no parks. Hampton-Earl’s family lived in one of the 250 apartments at Ernie Cragin Terraces, a public housing complex scheduled to be turned into dust early next year. The single mother and her children are living through the biggest change in Las Vegas Valley public housing since the 1940s…”

• State pushed to restore dental aid, By Kim Kozlowski, November 16, 2009, Detroit News: “Advocates for the disabled, poor and elderly say the state needs to restore Medicaid dental benefits before more people suffer or another person dies. ‘We’ve got to start to thinking about these policy decisions and how they affect real lives, not just what they represent in budget numbers,’ said Sharon Parks, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services. Gov. Jennifer Granholm eliminated dental benefits to adults in July to help shore up the $1.3 billion deficit in last year’s budget. They weren’t restored in this year’s budget, so only emergency dental work is now paid for by Michigan’s Medicaid program, even though advocates argue that dental care is essential to good health. Before the cut, the program paid for routine exams and fillings. Research has shown that dental services are essential to good health…”
• Planned Medicaid cuts hit dental, home care, By Kay Lazar, November 14, 2009, Boston Globe: “More than a million low-income Massachusetts residents covered by Medicaid would be required to pay more for visits to certain doctors and receive prior approval for some expensive psychiatric medications under a plan announced yesterday by the Patrick administration to narrow a $307 million shortfall in the state’s MassHealth program. Some of the biggest changes are in dental care for adults, who would no longer receive dentures or other oral care except for cleanings, X-rays, and emergency services…”

State costs rise with poverty, By Jon Walker, November 15, 2009, Sioux Falls Argus Leader: “A new reality in the shadow of today’s health care debate is that a growing number of South Dakotans live in poverty. Use of Medicaid to pay health care bills jumped the past five years across the state, as did use of food stamps to buy groceries. Both trends indicate that more South Dakotans are low-income, and both show the pain that the recession has caused for individuals and families. But those trends also show that South Dakotans, already below average for wages, are losing ground to what the government defines as a minimum basic income. ‘People making ends meet two years ago and four years ago are not really as able to do that now,’ said Matt Diersen, a South Dakota State University economist. The rise in poverty presents a budgeting headache for politicians and a hard choice for doctors who must decide whether to accept more Medicaid patients at discount rates. But it also pushes more state residents to public health services…”

Poor nations vow low-carbon path, By Richard Black, November 11, 2009, BBC News: “Poor countries considered vulnerable to climate change have pledged to embark on moves to a low-carbon future, and challenge richer states to match them. The declaration from the first meeting of a new 11-nation forum calls on rich countries to give 1.5% of their GDP for climate action in the developing world. It also calls for much tougher limits on greenhouse gas emissions. The forum was established by Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed to highlight the climate ‘threat’ to poor nations. The declaration contends that man-made climate change poses an ‘existential threat to our nations, our cultures and to our way of life, and thereby undermines the internationally protected human rights of our people…’”

• Job woes exacting a toll on family life, By Michael Luo, November 11, 2009, New York Times: “Paul Bachmuth’s 9-year-old daughter, Rebecca, began pulling out strands of her hair over the summer. His older child, Hannah, 12, has become noticeably angrier, more prone to throwing tantrums. Initially, Mr. Bachmuth, 45, did not think his children were terribly affected when he lost his job nearly a year ago. But now he cannot ignore the mounting evidence. ‘I’m starting to think it’s all my fault,’ Mr. Bachmuth said. As the months have worn on, his job search travails have consumed the family, even though the Bachmuths were outwardly holding up on unemployment benefits, their savings and the income from the part-time job held by Mr. Bachmuth’s wife, Amanda. But beneath the surface, they have been a family on the brink. They have watched their children struggle with behavioral issues and a stress-induced disorder. He finally got a job offer last week, but not before the couple began seeing a therapist to save their marriage…”
• Job losses both deep and enduring, especially for the young, By Floyd Norris, November 13, 2009, New York Times: “The rise in unemployment that has occurred in the current recession has been hardest on young workers, while having a smaller effect on older workers than previous downturns. Women have been more likely than men to hold on to their jobs. The overall unemployment rate, which reached 10.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last month, remains below the post-World War II peak of 10.8 percent, reached in late 1982. But the proportion of workers who have been out of work for a long time is higher now than it has ever been since the Great Depression. The persistence of joblessness for so many people - 5.6 million Americans have now been out of work for more than half a year even though they have continued to seek employment - may provide the greatest challenge for the Obama administration if it decides to seek a new economic stimulus program…”

Alabama poverty rate would decline under new formula, says study, By Dan Murtaugh, November 12, 2009, Mobile Press-Register: “Alabama’s poverty rate is lower than the national average when regional differences in housing costs are taken into account, according to a recent study. Both Alabama and Mississippi are among several Southeastern states whose poverty rates decrease under such a formula. The study, written by Dorothy Smith at the Center for Law and Social Policy in Washington, D.C., aims to highlight the need to modernize how poverty is measured. Kristina Scott, executive director of the Alabama Poverty Project, said a study of regional differences in poverty needs to take into account more than just housing costs. But overall, she agreed that officials need new ways to measure the problem…”

• Food stamp participation hits 11% in R.I., By Ted Nesi, November 13, 2009, Providence Business News: “More than 11 percent of Rhode Island residents were receiving food stamps in August, according to new government figures. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said 116,252 Rhode Island residents were participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in August. (Congress renamed the food stamp program last year.) That was up from 88,423 a year earlier. Rhode Island tied with Florida and Pennsylvania for the fifth-highest monthly increases in food stamp enrollment, with participation rising 3.1 percent in all three states between July and August. Connecticut was highest with a 4.7 percent increase…”
• Texas eases rule requiring six-month reviews of food-stamp eligibility, By Robert T. Garrett, November 11, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “Texas is easing a requirement that most families on food stamps must be interviewed every six months, a step that will relieve pressure on the system for determining who receives state aid, officials said Tuesday. The state Health and Human Services Commission also has reassigned about 140 veteran eligibility workers in Dallas and Houston to join front-line workers in taking applications and renewals. That should reduce applicants’ wait times, officials say…”

• Swine flu: Without paid sick leave, workers won’t stay home, By Patrik Jonsson, November 8, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “Nearly half of all American workers do not have paid sick leave, and half of these are more likely to go to work feeling unwell - or send an ill child to school - rather than take an unpaid day off. These findings threaten to undermine President Obama’s effort to have anyone exhibiting swine-flu-like symptoms stay at home for as many as four days. The emphasis on prevention and individual responsibility is a welcome departure from the punitive government actions - such as quarantines and forced vaccinations - called for under previous pandemic-response plans, some health experts say. But for the 48 percent of Americans without paid sick leave, the policy presents a choice between two equally undesirable options: stay at home and lose money or go to work despite government exhortations not to. Businesses, too, say the situation leads to so-called ‘presenteeism,’ or the act of going to work while unwell, costing the economy $180 million a year, by one estimate…”
• Lawmakers call for emergency sick-leave requirement, By Joe Markman, November 11, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Against the backdrop of the H1N1 flu pandemic, congressional Democrats are pushing for emergency sick-leave legislation and using the crisis to garner support for a wider-ranging bill — both of which, they say, would help prevent a more rapid spread of the virus by mandating that employers provide workers with paid time off. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairing a health subcommittee hearing Tuesday, said that requiring businesses with 15 or more employees to offer seven paid days off a year would end a dangerous choice ‘between staying healthy and making ends meet.’ But some conservatives argue that Democrats are using a public health crisis as momentum for faulty legislation that would harm businesses by inviting abuse by workers…”

• Poor nutrition ’stunting growth’, By Nick Triggle, November 11, 2009, BBC News: “Poor child nutrition still causes major problems in the developing world - despite some progress, experts say. A third of deaths in children under five in those countries are linked to poor diet, a report by Unicef suggests. It also reveals 195m children - one in three - have stunted growth, even though rates have fallen since 1990. Unicef said the number of underweight children also remained high, with many countries struggling to hit official targets to halve the figures. An estimated 129m children are underweight…”
• 200 million children under age 5 are starving, By Ariel David and Maria Cheng (AP), November 12, 2009, Halifax Chronicle Herald: “Nearly 200 million children in poor countries have stunted growth because of insufficient nutrition, according to a new report published by UNICEF Wednesday before a three-day international summit on the problem of world hunger. The head of a UN food agency called on the world to join him in a day of fasting ahead of the summit to highlight the plight of a billion hungry people. Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, said he hoped the fast would encourage action by world leaders who will take part in the meeting at his agency’s headquarters starting Monday. The UN Children’s Fund published a report saying that nearly 200 million children under five in poor countries were stunted by a lack of nutrients in their food…”

Aid freeze in post-coup Honduras hurting poor, By Robin Emmott, November 12, 2009, Washington Post: “Poor Hondurans are going hungry and their sick children cannot obtain medicines as donors cut aid to the country following a June coup that deposed President Manuel Zelaya, doctors and aid workers say. Soup kitchens have closed, medicines have become scarce, foreign doctors have canceled trips to Honduras and funding for the poor to run small businesses have dried up, increasing unemployment. With Honduras already suffering from the global economic crisis, international development banks, the European Union and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close Zelaya ally, froze donor programs after the army-backed coup on June 28…”

Job training by D.C. welfare program is criticized, By Henri E. Cauvin, November 12, 2009, Washington Post: “At a time when unemployment is hitting the District hard, a new review of the city’s welfare program has found that it is pushing recipients to work but is not providing the skills and support they need to land decent-paying jobs. The study of the District’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program concluded that although the city has opportunities for substantive educational and vocational training, TANF recipients are too often kept in the dark about such help…”

• Persistent poverty in Northern Ireland ‘twice that of Great Britain’, November 12, 2009, Belfast Telegraph: “The level of persistent poverty in Northern Ireland children is more than double that of those in Great Britain, it was revealed today. High levels of unemployment, disability, lower wages and poor quality part-time jobs were to blame, a study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) discovered. A fifth of families in Northern Ireland experienced persistent poverty compared to a tenth in Great Britain in recent years. Julia Unwin, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, called for action by the Assembly…”
• NI has worst child poverty in UK, November 12, 2009, BBC News: “The level of persistent child poverty in Northern Ireland is more than double that of the rest of the United Kingdom, new research has found. The study, by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, found that high levels of unemployment, disability and poor quality part-time jobs were to blame. The charity defines poverty as the experience of a family with an income which is 60% below the UK average…”

• Indiana trims Medicaid payments to hospitals, By Mary Beth Schneider, November 10, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Hospitals would get 5 percent less money from the state for caring for Medicaid patients under cuts announced today by the state. Gov. Mitch Daniels last week called for emergency budget cuts as the state’s revenue continues to fall short of projections. State tax collections already are a half-billion dollars short of what was collected at this time last year. To make the cuts, Daniels said state employees would not be getting pay raises, and asked agencies to come up with cuts, including the Family and Social Services Administration which administers Medicaid in Indiana…”
• Pain of budget cuts is hitting home, By Mary Beth Schneider, November 11, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “State budget cuts will begin to take a tangible toll on Hoosiers, from the pay in prison guards’ pockets to possibly the level of service people receive at hospitals. Faced with withering revenues, Gov. Mitch Daniels last week ordered state agencies to slash their expenses by 10 percent this fiscal year, on top of 10 percent cuts made last year. On Tuesday, the Family and Social Services Administration announced that it will reach some of its goal by cutting the amount it pays hospitals for caring for Medicaid patients by 5 percent beginning Jan. 1, a move that will save the state $10.6 million in this fiscal year…”
• Ind. budget cuts include $34 million in social services, By Ken Kusmer (AP), November 10, 2009, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Indiana’s human services agency said Tuesday it will slice $34 million from its budget by paying hospitals less to treat Medicaid patients, renegotiating contracts with most of its vendors, moving some offices and leaving about 400 jobs unfilled. However, the Family and Social Services administration will not reduce its Medicaid payments to doctors or cut ‘vital services’ to the young, elderly, disabled and needy Indiana residents who receive social safety-net benefits, agency officials said…”

• Unemployment tops 10 percent again _ and it’s tougher off the job than a generation ago, By Jeannine Aversa (AP), November 7, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “It hurts more to be unemployed now than the last time the jobless rate hit 10 percent. Americans have more than triple the debt they had in 1982, and less than half the savings. They spend 10 weeks longer off the job. And a bigger share of them have no health insurance, leaving them one medical emergency away from financial ruin. For these reasons, the unemployed are more vulnerable today to foreclosure and bankruptcy than they were a generation ago…”
• Debt levels leave low paid at risk of homelessness, By Nick Mathiason, November 11, 2009, The Guardian: “Britain’s 14.3 million low earners are in danger of being sucked into a whirlpool of poverty as official figures are expected to show today that the number of unemployed has passed through 2.5 million for the first time in 15 years. Research by the insurance tycoon Clive Cowdery’s thinktank, Resolution Foundation, shows low-income households - with an average of £15,800 at their disposal - are walking an increasingly precarious financial tightrope. It has found that 24% of low-wage households spend more than a quarter of their monthly income on debt - twice the number from three years ago. The study shows nearly a third of low-income households have high loan-to-value mortgages and are in negative equity, making them vulnerable to homelessness if they lose their job…”

State considers getting out of handling Hawaii public housing, By Mary Vorsino, November 11, 2009, Honolulu Advertiser: “The Hawaii Public Housing Authority is considering a radical solution to decades of backlogged repairs, aging projects and limited resources: selling properties or units and ending state oversight of public housing. The proposal, which officials stressed is still very preliminary, is part of a draft ‘vision’ before the housing authority board that includes ’self-sufficient families living in units that they own that were previously public housing’ and the authority - the largest affordable-housing landlord in the Islands - ‘no longer in existence.’ The draft says the ‘public housing shelter model has been broken for 40 years’ and ‘having an ownership stake in their housing encourages people to take pride in their physical surroundings and become responsible for their future.’ Under the proposal, the agency would sell some units to tenants and also redevelop rental projects under a mixed-income model aimed at deconcentrating poverty while preserving affordability…”

La. educators turn to trades to cut dropout rate, By Doug Simpson (AP), November 9, 2009, Washington Post: “Beginning next year, a lot of Louisiana high school classrooms could look like Wes Sebren’s: equipped with welding gear, safety goggles and circular saws. Sebren, a teacher at West Ouachita High School near West Monroe, is at the forefront of public schools’ response to a 2009 law passed by the Legislature that encourages teaching skills that students will need in the work force. The law created a ‘career diploma’ that - in an effort to reduce the dropout rate - will go to students who opt for lower academic standards in math and English, while taking classes such as welding, woodworking and small engine repair. Sebren has been teaching such classes in rural Louisiana for more than a decade. ‘I try to teach them to have pride in their work,’ Sebren said. ‘The finished product needs to be something they’re proud of.’ Roughly a third of the state’s high school students drop out or otherwise don’t graduate. That figure is down since 1996, when 46 percent didn’t graduate…”

Will a longer school day help close the achievement gap?, By Amanda Paulson, November 1, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “Going to school from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. may sound like a student’s nightmare, but Sydney Shaw, a seventh-grader at the Alain Locke Charter Academy on Chicago’s West Side, has come to like it - as well as the extra 20 or so days that she’s in class a year. ‘I’m sure every kid at this school says bad things about the schedule sometimes,’ says Sydney, who was at school on Columbus Day, when most Chicago schools had a holiday. ‘But deep down, we all know it’s for our benefit.’ Finding ways to give kids more classroom time, through longer hours, a longer school year, or both, is getting more attention. President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan support a lengthier timetable. Many education reformers agree that more time at school is a key step. Charter schools like Alain Locke and KIPP schools (a network of some 80 schools that are often lauded for their success with at-risk students) have made big gains in closing gaps in student achievement, partly through expanded schedules. Other schools have been making strides, too - notably in Massachusetts and in the New Orleans system…”

• State’s poor being shifted to different medical plan, By Chen May Yee, November 10, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune: “The Pawlenty administration, which faced criticism for proposing to eliminate a state health-care program for the indigent, has decided to transfer most of those recipients to a subsidized insurance plan for the working poor. The General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program for adults making less than $7,800 a year is scheduled to go away March 1, potentially leaving some 36,000 recipients — many with chronic illnesses and often homeless and mentally ill — without regular access to medical care. Now some 28,000 will be automatically enrolled in MinnesotaCare, a subsidized health insurance plan. The remainder are those whose GAMC eligibility is running out or who already are applying for MinnesotaCare…”
• More Alaska Medicaid kids may get braces, Associated Press, November 10, 2009, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: “The state of Alaska must pay for braces on the teeth of foster children and young people on Medicaid who need them, a Superior Court judge ruled Monday. Judge William Morse issued an order in a lawsuit brought by an advocacy group for foster children called Facing Foster Care in Alaska. He granted a preliminary injunction against a state rule that limits braces to severe conditions such as cleft palate. The state argued that Facing Foster Care does not have the right to bring a lawsuit. Morse disagreed and ruled the state cannot use its own regulations to limit services that are required by federal code. The braces still have to be medically necessary - not just for the sake of appearance…”
• KidCare numbers drop; Medicaid kids rise, By Bill McCarthy, November 9, 2009, Wyoming Tribune Eagle: “The number of children on Wyoming Kid Care CHIP is declining, but the number of children on Medicaid is going up. Bob Peck, chief financial officer for the Wyoming Department of Health, said one explanation could be that parents are losing their jobs. Formerly working parents who had their children on the Kid Care program for child health insurance may be having to enroll their families directly into Medicaid, he said…”

• Recession bites the poor, By Jazmine Ulloa, November 7, 2009, Brownsville Herald: “At least ‘from a technical perspective,’ as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in September, some economists believe the recession is very likely over. But a study released this week emphasized high levels of poverty among children in the United States - a problem that has long been pervasive in the country, even during positive economic times, public policy analysts say. The study in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youth will be on food stamps at some point in childhood, and the most recent recession could push the numbers up. The findings come from an analysis of 30 years of national data in a time span of economic highs and lows, including the early 1980s recession…”
• Food stamps: a canary in the coal mine?, By Douglas C. Lyons, November 7, 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “It’s an eye-popping statistic, no matter how you cut it: 90 percent of all black youngsters in the United States will be on food stamps at some point of their childhood. The statistic comes from a Washington University in St. Louis study and published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Its author, Mark Rank, was quoted as saying the study ‘… shows that the period of childhood, rather than a period of safety and security, is really a time, for a lot of kids, of economic turmoil and risk…’”

Hope in the battle against homelessness, By Neal Peirce, November 8, 2009, Denver Post: “Veterans of America’s recent wars left homeless; abused women and their children seeking nightly shelter; out-of-sight medical system costs; rising tides of bankruptcies. What do they have to do with each other - and America’s current health care debate? A lot, it turns out. By failing to guarantee a roof over every American’s head, we’ve failed the test - as Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan puts it - of ‘a civilized society.’ On a typical night, 650,000 Americans have no place to call home. We created this crisis ourselves, by the states emptying out their mental hospitals and cities demolishing thousands of low-income rental units. The result was a huge gap in affordable shelter. Plus, by failing to restrain medical system costs or guarantee care for all Americans, we’ve forced thousands of families to go into bankruptcy. Today, alarming numbers are being forced to take to the streets where their health is even more endangered by extremes of pelting rain or stone-cold nights, unsanitary conditions and sometimes violence. Yet as grim as all this sounds, it’s possible to see strong glimmers of light…”

Out-of-home foster care reform kicks off, By JoAnne Young, November 9, 2009, Lincoln Journal Star: “Child welfare’s view of the world is shifting. The providers of foster care - and other services for families and children who need help in so many areas of their lives - are undergoing a complete culture change. They are learning to think in new ways. The work has been hard, really hard, with plenty of challenges. Recently, one of the six private agencies with which the state contracted to provide foster care and family services, pulled out - deciding not to sign the contract. In the final days, the Alliance for Children and Family Services, one of two contractors in the central service area, said it just wasn’t financially feasible…”

Computer issues cause Medicaid payment lags, By Patricia Anstett, November 5, 2009, Detroit Free Press: “Dozens of Michigan nursing homes, hospices, dental offices and hospitals have encountered problems with two new state Medicaid computer programs, including payment errors, lengthy reimbursement lags and delays enrolling patients in the Medicaid program. The problems coincide with large increases in people applying for Medicaid, a program that serves 1.8 million low-income Michigan children and adults…”

Program based on Harlem initiative shows promise, By Cassandra West, November 4, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton famously drew on an African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ to explain her vision for American children more than decade ago. Now the Obama administration is looking to another village — local urban communities — to serve the educational and social needs of children in poverty with its Promise Neighborhoods, an initiative modeled on the transformative and widely touted Harlem Children’s Zone. For two days next week representatives from the Chicago communities of Chicago Lawn, Logan Square and Woodlawn will be in New York attending the conference, ‘Changing the Odds: Learning from the Harlem Children’s Zone Model.’ The forum is a first step for advocates and community groups interested in replicating the New York City-based endeavor, which President Barack Obama has called ‘an all-encompassing, all-hands-on-deck anti-poverty effort…’”

• Unemployment rate rises above 10%; Obama signs jobless benefit extension, By Don Lee, November 6, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “As the nation’s unemployment rate surged to 10.2% in October, reaching double digits for the first time in 26 years, President Obama signed a measure today providing additional aid for the jobless as well as expanding and extending a home buyer tax credit to help spur economic growth. ‘The need for such a measure was made clear by the jobs report we just received this morning,’ Obama said at the White House. He called the Labor Department figure released today ‘a sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead.’ The unexpectedly sharp increase in the unemployment rate, from 9.8% in September, came as employers dropped 190,000 workers from their payrolls last month. That was larger than the 175,000 job losses that most forecasters were expecting for the month, and it underscored just how dire the labor market remains despite the recent upturn in the nation’s economic output…”
• U.S. unemployment rate hits 10.2%, highest in 26 years, By Peter S. Goodman, November 6, 2009, New York Times: “The American unemployment rate surged to 10.2 percent in October, its highest level in 26 years, as the economy lost another 190,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday. The jump into the realm of double-digit joblessness - from 9.8 percent in September - provided a sobering reminder that, despite the apparent end of the Great Recession, economic expansion has yet to translate into jobs, leaving tens of millions of people still struggling…”

Who’s poor? Proposal aims for better measurement, By Ruben Rosario, November 4, 2009, Pioneer Press: “I need to cut a piece of wood that is precisely 36 inches long and 5 inches wide. I have two measurement tools at my disposal. I already know the distance between the tips of my outstretched thumb and pinky - 9 inches. I also have a tape measure. Both will do the job, but one will provide a more accurate and efficient measurement. Which leads me to a bill in Congress that, if passed, will change the way we define and measure poverty in Minnesota and across the nation for policy-making and public assistance purposes. Whether the proposed change will be significant, increasing or decreasing who’s officially poor and who is not, is open to debate. The Measuring Poverty in America Act of 2009 seeks to replace the current federal poverty-level guideline used to determine the nation’s poverty rate as well as an individual’s or a family’s eligibility for public assistance benefits that can range from food stamps to state-subsidized health care…”

Study finds working poor hardest hit by income tax, By Phillip Rawls (AP), November 5, 2009, Montgomery Advertiser: “A national study released Wednesday showed Alaba­ma makes families living in poverty pay higher income taxes than any other state. The study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priori­ties comes a few days after a U.S. Census report showed Alabama residents and busi­nesses overall pay less in state and local taxes than their counterparts in any other state. In the 2007 fiscal year, the average of state and local taxes collected per person in Alabama was $2,909. Missis­sippi finished 49th at $2,989. The national median was $4,011. That doesn’t mean every­one in Alabama is enjoying low taxes…”

• Food stamp woes grow with need, By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, November 5, 2009, San Antonio Express-News: “Despite efforts to improve the system, food stamp applicants continue to face long delays in assistance amid a recession-fueled surge in demand. In Bexar County, the state processed 22,463 more applications from March to September than it did in 2008. More than 210,000 people received $26 million in food stamps in October in the county, with the average family getting $322 a month. In the vast majority of households receiving food assistance - 82 percent - at least one person is employed. Many have had to wait six months for their first food stamps…”
• Food stamp workers share frustrations, By Corrie MacLaggan, November 5, 2009, Austin American-Statesman: “When the new head of the agency responsible for the state’s backlogged food stamp applications sent an e-mail to employees asking for feedback about the agency, he got it. About 500 state workers replied to Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs, telling him about low morale and low pay, poor management, technology problems, insufficient training, long hours away from their families. They wrote about feeling frazzled, crying on the drive to work and actively looking for other jobs…”

Hospitals cite worry on fees in health bill, By Anemona Hartocollis, November 2, 2009, New York Times: “As Congress struggles to rein in health care costs as part of its sweeping reform efforts, hospitals in New York City and other urban areas that provide some of the most expensive care are among the primary targets. The issue pits hospitals in more rural states like Iowa and Minnesota, where spending tends to be lower, against those in areas like New York and Los Angeles, and revolves around a question that has bedeviled the medical establishment for decades: How much money do hospitals need to provide adequate care for patients, especially poor people who have not had regular access to health care…”

Tax refund loans cost Arkansans millions, By John Lyon, November 3, 2009, Fort Smith Times Record: “Arkansans spend about $100 million a year obtaining loans against anticipated tax refunds, according to a report released Monday by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. The report also estimated that Arkansans miss out on as much as $110 million a year by failing to claim the federal earned income tax credit. ‘Low-income tax filers are paying tax preparation fees, in many cases exorbitant tax preparation fees to have their taxes done, when in fact most low-income families could receive free tax assistance through an existing VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) site,’ Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates, said at a news conference to announce the report…”

Children slipping back into poverty, By Rachel Williams, November 3, 2009, The Guardian: “Children in affluent areas are sinking into poverty after a third of the gains made over the last eleven years in getting families into work were wiped out in just 12 months, a new study warned today. One in five - two million - British children now live in households where neither parent has a job, a rise of 170,000 since 2008, the Campaign to End Child Poverty said. If unemployment continued to rise as forecast, the number could return to levels of a decade ago, when Tony Blair made his flagship pledge to eradicate child poverty by 2020 and halve it by 2010. The number of children in jobless households, two thirds of whom face poverty, had fallen by a half a million - nearly a quarter - between 1997 and 2008…”

Wisconsin failing to approve Medicaid and food stamps applications in timely manner, By Jason Stein, November 2, 2009, Wisconsin State Journal: “Socked by tens of thousands of childless adults applying for a new state health plan, Wisconsin is failing to meet requirements in federal law for timely approvals of applications for both the Medicaid health coverage and food stamps. Since June 15, more than two-thirds of childless applicants with virtually no income - the highest priority cases - haven’t received food stamps within the federally required seven days, state figures show. Nearly two-thirds of all the childless adults seeking food stamps haven’t received them within the required 30 days. The same process is used to check whether applicants are eligible for both Medicaid and the federal FoodShare, or food stamps, program. Officials from the state Department of Health Services met Monday with federal officials to brief them on the delays and said they would seek to resolve the most pressing backlogged food stamp cases by the end of this week…”

More districts use income, not race, as basis for busing, By Jordan Schrader, November 2, 2009, USA Today: “Struggling to improve schools that have large populations of poor and minority students and under legal pressure to avoid racial busing, a small but growing group of school districts are integrating schools by income. More than 60 school systems now use socioeconomic status as a factor in school assignments, says Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, which studies income inequality. Students in Champaign, Ill.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Louisville have returned this year to income-based assignments…”