• Kids report shows data issues, By David Crary (AP), July 29, 2009, Knoxville New Sentinel: “Serious shortcomings in national data, including an outdated federal measure of household poverty, are undermining the task of identifying and assisting America’s most vulnerable children, according to a report issued Tuesday. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, in its annual Kids Count report on children’s health and well-being, says national efforts to track and analyze such trends ‘fall far short of what is possible, what is needed, and what is demanded’…”
• Granite State still first in children’s well-being, By Adam D. Krauss, July 29, 2009, Foster’s Daily Democrat: “The rankings are in, and once again the Granite State was deemed to be the best state for the well-being of children. But advocates aren’t resting on their state’s laurels…”
• Children faring worse in state, By Mike Averill, July 29, 2009, Tulsa World: “Oklahoma dropped to 44th nationally in child well-being, according to a national report that ranks states on 10 health indicators. The state ranked 43rd last year, 42nd in 2007 and 38th in 2003, according to the 2009 Kids Count Data Book, released annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation…”
• Child poverty on the rise, By Martha Stoddard, July 29, 2009, Omaha World-Herald: “Iowa children are better off than those in Nebraska, according to a new national report. But the 2009 Kids Count Data Book shows growing numbers of children in both states living in poverty. The increases occurred even before the current recession hit last year…”
• More kids in state living in poverty, By Angela Mapes Turner, July 29, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “The ranks of Hoosier children living in poverty or with unemployed parents are growing, according to a state-by-state study on the well-being of America’s youth…”
• 24% of Alabama kids living in poverty, By Lydia Seabol Avant, July 29, 2009, Tuscaloosa News: “Almost a quarter of Alabama’s children live in poverty, according to a national Kids Count study released Tuesday. Alabama ranks 48th in the nation in the annual state-by-state analysis that examines the well-being of children. The study looks at 10 measures, including teen birth rate, child death rate, high school dropouts and the poverty rate…”
• Study: La. 49th in child welfare, By Sarah Chacko, July 29, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “Despite improvements in key areas, including a decline in births to teenage mothers and high school dropouts, Louisiana again ranked second to last in a national study on child well-being released Tuesday. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2009 Kids Count data book ranks Louisiana 49th out of 50 states - a place Louisiana has held for at least the past decade…”
• State is 47th in well-being of its children, By Nancy Cole, July 29, 2009, Arkansas Democrat Gazette: “Arkansas lags behind all but three states, ranking 47th in children’s health, education and economic well-being, according to a report released Tuesday by a national child-advocacy group…”

Study finds lower earners use credit as safety net, Associated Press, July 28, 2009, New York Times: “Even before the recession hit full force, people who earn low and middle incomes were tapping credit cards to cover basic living expenses, medical costs and other necessities — and driving up their balances in the process.  The average credit card debt for low- and middle-income households rose 3 percent to $9,827 from $9,536 three years earlier, according to a study released Tuesday by the New York-based nonprofit research and advocacy group Demos. About 42 percent of those surveyed in August said they had more debt than three years earlier, while 10 percent said they had the same amount. Less than half reported having less debt than three years earlier, when the group did its prior survey.   Credit cards were used to cover basic living expenses like rent or mortgage payments, groceries and utilities by more than one-third of the households in the survey. And three out of four people who took part said they used their cards for essential spending like car repairs, home repairs and college expenses…”

More retailers say yes to food stamps, By Jayne O’Donnell and Rachel Huggins, July 28, 2009, USA Today: “More retailers are accepting food stamps, as a record number of consumers are turning to government aid to pay for groceries. Nearly 39 million people received food stamps - now known as Electronic Benefit Transfers - in April 2009, up about 20% over April 2008. Retailers ranging from some Costco (COST) stores - yes, quarts of capers do qualify - to 7-Eleven to Target (TGT) are moving quickly to cater to cash-strapped customers…”

• Governor signs budget, vetoes $650 million in spending, By Thadeus Greenson, July 29, 2009, Contra Costa Times: “With a stroke of his pen Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made official what is perhaps the largest reduction in state services California has ever seen. But before signing his name to the state’s revised $85 billion budget, Schwarzenegger used his budget knife to deepen some of the cuts lawmakers approved last week, using his veto power to carve out another $656 million in spending reductions. Schwarzenegger’s vetoes — added to the more than $15 billion in cuts lawmakers approved Friday — drew sharp condemnation from some…”
• Schwarzenegger’s vetoes prompt Democratic threats, By Judy Lin (AP), July 29, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a revised $85 billion budget and targeted welfare programs for deeper cuts, prompting opposition Democrats to threaten to block his political agenda during his final months in office…”
• County: Governor’s vetoes may hurt kids, elderly, poor, By Tony Burchyns, July 29, 2009, Vallejo Times-Herald: “Solano County officials scrambled Tuesday to analyze the latest round of cuts to California’s budget after the governor used his line-item veto power to save an additional $656 million. One top county official forecast longer waits for services, as well as an increase in the number of abused kids falling through the cracks of the so-called safety net designed to protect society’s most disadvantaged people…”

Florida shifts child-welfare system’s focus to saving families, By Erik Eckholm, July 24, 2009, New York Times: “After her daughter and a daughter-in-law were each jailed on drug charges last fall, Sylvia Kimble, 46, poor and with a deeply troubled history of her own, struggled to care for six grandchildren.  Only a few years ago, officials here say, the safest path would have been to split up the children in foster care. Yet here they are, rambunctious children wrestling in her living room, Ms. Kimble encouraging her daughter’s out-patient drug rehabilitation while also arranging for summer camp and a family trip to a water park…”