• Minimum wages to rise in 31 states, By Tony Romm, July 24, 2009, Stateline.org: “Minimum-wage earners in 31 states and the District of Columbia can soon expect slightly bigger paychecks thanks to the third and final installment of a federal rate hike that raises the wage floor from $6.55 an hour to $7.25 an hour effective Friday (July 24).  The latest federal bump will enlarge roughly 4.5 million workers’ paychecks by about four cents an hour in some states to almost $1 an hour in others, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, D.C. that supported the increase…”
• Some attack timing of minimum wage hike, By V. Dion Haynes and Emma L. Carew, July 24, 2009, Washington Post: “The federal minimum wage will rise to $7.25 from $6.55 an hour Friday, an increase aimed at giving workers at carwashes, restaurants, child-care centers and retail shops more buying power but one that has sparked criticism from some small-business owners, who say it could threaten their ability to survive in a weak economy…”
• Minimum-wage boost has mixed benefits, By Jonathan B. Cox, July 23, 2009, Charlotte News and Observer: “At Bojangles’ restaurants operated by the company’s largest franchise, a chicken biscuit costs a little more these days. So does the sweet tea. Those higher prices are because the people behind the counter are getting paid a little more…”
• Minimum wage hike could threaten low earners’ jobs, By Dionne Walker (AP), July 23, 2009, Seattle Times: “A federal minimum wage increase that takes effect Friday could prolong the recession, some economists say, by forcing small businesses to lay off the same workers that the pay hike passed in better times was meant to help.  The increase to $7.25 means 70 cents more an hour for the lowest-paid workers in the 30 states that have lower minimums or no minimum wage. It also means higher costs for employers who feel they’ve already trimmed all their operating fat…”

• Massachusetts, home of nation’s most ambitious health care law, offers reform ‘dos and don’ts’, By Steve LeBlanc (AP), July 24, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Three years into its experiment with near-universal health care, Massachusetts has some ‘dos and don’ts’ for the nation as it grapples with the best way to cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans.  Do require that virtually everyone have health insurance, the overriding goal in Massachusetts. Don’t ignore rising costs, the single greatest threat to the law’s long-term affordability…”
• Texas Medicaid program likely to surge under health care proposals, By Dave Michaels, July 24, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “The effort to insure tens of millions of uncovered Americans will almost certainly involve a sweeping expansion of Medicaid – with Texas probably feeling the impact more than any other state.  State lawmakers have for years limited Medicaid’s reach to low-income adults, who under Texas rules don’t qualify for the joint state-federal program. One proposal by U.S. House lawmakers would provide federal funding to extend Medicaid to about 1 million Texas adults, according to the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities – a massive jump from the 38,000 who qualify today…”

• Jobless checks for millions delayed as states struggle, By Jason DeParle, July 23, 2009, New York Times: “Years of state and federal neglect have hobbled the nation’s unemployment system just as a brutal recession has doubled the number of jobless Americans seeking aid.  In a program that values timeliness above all else, decisions involving more than a million applicants have been slowed, and hundreds of thousands of needy people have waited months for checks…”
• Claims drop as jobless exhaust state benefits, By Kelly Evans, July 24, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “The number of workers on jobless rolls is declining in an encouraging sign for the U.S. economy, although the decrease partly reflects people exhausting their state benefits. The Labor Department said Thursday that about 6.2 million workers received weekly unemployment benefits, known as ‘continuing claims,’ from their state in the week ended July 11, down from a peak of nearly 6.5 million in late March. The number of new weekly claims also is down from its spring highs…”

Feeling the heat, By Damian Mann, July 24, 2009, Mail Tribune: “Tara Harper would rather find a good job to support her family, but for the time being food stamps are the lifeline sustaining her two children.  ‘It’s great they have food stamps, but it’s not something I want to rely on forever,’ said the 31-year-old Ashland resident. ‘I do want to go back to work.’ Harper said she’s not surprised that 58,000 people in Jackson and Josephine counties received foods stamps in June, equating to roughly one out of five residents…”

• Joy, skepticism greet IBM’s plan, By Angela Mapes Turner, July 24, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “State lawmakers and social service providers welcome Indiana’s extensive plan to correct its failing welfare system.  But they aren’t convinced it provides the right guidance for private welfare vendor IBM Corp. to resolve widespread problems…”
• IBM to add humanity to welfare, By Ken Kusmer (AP), July 24, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “IBM Corp.’s 362-page plan to fix problems with Indiana’s privately run welfare system calls for providing more face-to-face help and no longer “forcing clients to self-service channels” such as telephone call centers and online applications.  The plan, obtained by The Associated Press, also describes myriad mechanical and human errors such as an automatic call distributor that “inappropriately fails” about twice a month, losing all telephone calls in progress and infighting within IBM’s coalition of partners…”