• Lowest-wage workers to get a pay hike, By Tony Pugh, July 19, 2009, Miami Herald: The final installment of a three-part increase in the federal minimum wage is proving to be the most controversial. Two previous wage hikes, one in 2007, the other in 2008, pushed the federal wage to $5.85 and then to the current $6.55 an hour. The third, which goes into effect Friday, will push it to $7.25 an hour…”
• Minimum wage rise: More money or fewer jobs?, By Marilyn Geewax, July 19, 2009, National Public Radio: “This Friday, the federal minimum wage will rise to $7.25 an hour, up from $6.55. Conservative economists are worried that the government-mandated raise will force small businesses to lay off workers. They note that the job market has deteriorated since Congress approved the 10.7 percent pay raise two years ago…”

Privatizing welfare means more fall through cracks, critics say, By Will Higgins, July 20, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Omega Young lay in her hospital bed, her body wracked with disease. The cancer that started in her ovaries had spread to her kidneys, breast and liver. She’d lost her appetite to the chemotherapy; she weighed 98 pounds. Then came more bad news: After a botched round of telephone tag with welfare officials, the state of Indiana pulled the plug on her Medicaid benefits and food stamps…”

• Defying slump, 13 states insure more children, By Kevin Sack, July 18, 2009, New York Times: “Despite budgets ravaged by the recession, at least 13 states have invested millions of dollars this year to cover 250,000 more children with subsidized government health insurance…”
• Governors fear Medicaid costs in health plan, By Kevin Sack and Robert Pear, July 19, 2009, New York Times: “The nation’s governors, Democrats as well as Republicans, voiced deep concern Sunday about the shape of the health care plan emerging from Congress, fearing that Washington was about to hand them expensive new Medicaid obligations without money to pay for them…”
• More uninsured patients cause struggle for local hospitals, By Sarah Tompkins, July 19, 2009, Munster Times: “While about 700 working Hoosiers each week lose health insurance during the declining economy, local hospitals and doctors are left to figure out how they can continue to treat more and more uninsured…”
• Millions more lacking insurance, By Mark Johnson, July 19, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “This month, Pierre Aterianus is due back at the doctor for twice-a-year tests of his high cholesterol, but he may stay home and simply hope he isn’t heading toward a heart attack or stroke. Aterianus, who is 57 and lives in Whitefish Bay with his 23-year-old daughter, was laid off in January from his engineering job…”
• Healthy Kids expansion to take time, By Margot Sanger-Katz, July 17, 2009, Concord Monitor: “Gov. John Lynch signed a bill yesterday that will allow young adults to purchase low-cost health insurance from a state plan originally designed for low-income children…”