Social services suffered, Pa. budget deal or not, By Marc Levy and Ramit Plushnick-Masti (AP), September 12, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “A tentative deal in Pennsylvania’s Capitol that could release billions of state dollars for schools and countless social services has come too late for people like Megan Shreve, Avona Proctor and hundreds of others whose lives have been disrupted by the political stalemate. Even if the deal is approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Ed Rendell, who is threatening a veto, legislative officials say it could take weeks for money to actually arrive in the bank accounts of private service providers. And the budget is already more than two months overdue…”

Governors worry federal health reform could strain budgets in states with many poor, jobless, By Emily Wagster Pettus (AP), September 14, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “States with high levels of poverty and unemployment have been struggling with growing Medicaid budgets during the recession, and some governors worry their financial burdens could get worse as Congress works on a comprehensive health care bill. They’re especially worried about possible expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the needy and disabled…”

Free lunch common in some Miss. schools, By Gary Pettus, September 5, 2009, Clarion-Ledger: “In Holmes County, where the poverty rate is three times higher than the country’s, Patricia Jenkins’ children get a free weekday lunch for at least nine months of the year. In fact, practically every one of the 3,300 other students in the Holmes County School District qualifies for the free midday meal, as well as for free breakfasts. ‘For me, being a single parent who’s out of work, the meal program is a big help,’ said Jenkins, 42, of Goodman, who has three children in school, ‘but it’s also a big help for parents who are working and still can’t afford these lunches.’ Based on family income, about 58 percent of Mississippi’s 491,000-plus public-school children qualified for a free lunch during the 2008-09 school year, compared with 46 percent for private-school students…”

• Ga. work program grows, attracts followers, By Christine Vestal, September 10, 2009, Stateline.org: “As states struggle to help legions of jobless workers find employment, some are seeking advice from Georgia, where a growing number of people are landing jobs as a result of free tryouts sponsored by the state unemployment system. The program, dubbed Georgia Works, is so simple that experts say other states should have no problem replicating it…”
• As unemployment benefits run out, Jersey’s jobless wait for extension, By Trish G. Graber, September 11, 2009, Star-Ledger: “Unemployment insurance benefits will dry up for an estimated 33,000 New Jerseyans today, and the state estimates another 3,500 to 4,000 will receive final checks each week through the end of the year as residents exhaust their benefits. Help for the unemployed now rests with Congress, where pending legislation would extend benefits, probably for another 13 weeks. In the Garden State, and many other states, out-of-work residents can collect unemployment for 79 weeks. In New Jersey, the maximum weekly benefit is $584, and the federal stimulus law allows for an additional $25…”

• State disputes dropout count, By Loren Moreno, September 8, 2009, Honolulu Advertiser: “The state Department of Education has disputed the number of Hawai’i high school dropouts recently reported by a national policy and advocacy organization. The Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Excellent Education said last week more than 6,202 students from the class of 2009 in Hawai’i dropped out of school before graduation…”
• Tough times for Hawaii dropouts, By Michael Tsai, September 7, 2009, Honolulu Advertiser: “If she didn’t have so much riding on it, Ginger Rivera never would have even opened the door to room H-103. There she was: a 31-year-old high school dropout getting ready to take a General Education Diploma preparatory class with what she figured would be a roomful of teenagers…”
• Report shows negative effects of dropouts on economy, By Lisa Singleton-Rickman, September 7, 2009, Florence Times Daily: “A study by the Alliance for Excellent Education indicates the sobering impact high school dropouts have on the national and state economy. On a national scale, if high school students who dropped out in 2009 had graduated, the economy would have benefited from nearly $335 billion in additional income during the course of their lifetimes, according to the study. If the dropouts in Alabama’s class of 2009 had graduated, it is estimated that the state’s economy would have had another $6.5 billion in additional income during the course of the students’ lifetimes…”
• The cost of not getting a high-school diploma is exorbitant for dropouts, governments and the economy, Editorial, Birmingham News: “Here’s a sobering thought for Labor Day in the midst of a recession. What you don’t know really can hurt you, especially in your pocketbook. Not only do high school dropouts earn less when they do have jobs, they are much more likely to get a pink slip during the current economic downturn. Talk about a double whammy. In July, the national jobless rate was 9.4 percent. For high school dropouts, it was 15.4 percent. High school graduates had a rate of 9.4 percent, while people with some college credits or an associate’s degree had a jobless rate of 7.9 percent. Only 4.7 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher were out of work…”

• Recession’s cost: More in poverty, without health coverage, By Tony Pugh, September 10, 2009, Miami Herald: “The early impact of the worst recession since the 1930s pushed median incomes down, forced millions more people into poverty and left more Americans without health care in 2008, according to new annual survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau…”
• Recession’s toll: more Americans in poverty, without health insurance, By Mike Swift and Steve Johnson, September 11, 2009, San Jose Mercury News: “Surveying the pain of the first full year of the recession, a new U.S. Census Bureau report shows that household income has dropped, millions more are in poverty - and for the eighth year in a row, fewer Americans are covered by private health insurance…”
• Recession takes a toll as US poverty surges, By Mark Trumbull, September 11, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “America’s poverty rate surged upward last year, underscoring the toll of recession on ordinary households across the nation. Some 13.2 percent of Americans were living below the poverty line in 2008, the Census Bureau said Thursday. That’s a significant jump from the 12.5 percent poverty rate a year earlier. The rise means that nearly 40 million Americans are living in poverty, defined by incomes of less than $10,991 for an individual or $22,025 for a family of four…”
• Government programs helped control tally of uninsured, By Richard Wolf, September 10, 2009, USA Today: “The Census Bureau added some clarity Thursday to the fierce debate over government’s role in health care: Without government intervention, the number of uninsured would have soared last year. Though the 46.3 million people without health insurance in 2008 was slightly more than in 2007, private and employer-based insurance declined significantly. What made up the difference: Medicare, Medicaid and the state Children’s Health Insurance Program…”
• Rolls of privately insured Americans dip, census report says, By Bill Barrow, September 11, 2009, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “As Congress grapples with legislation that could expand health insurance coverage nationally, a U.S. Census Bureau report issued Thursday found that the number and percentage of Americans with private insurance fell from 2007 to 2008. The number of people with employer-based coverage also fell, while the rolls of government insurance programs increased. Altogether, the percentage of people without health insurance of any kind remained about the same, but the numbers reflect the correlation between a weakening economy and access to the private insurance market…”

• Poverty rate rose in 2008, Census finds, By Erik Eckholm, September 10, 2009, New York Times: “In the recession last year, the nation’s poverty rate climbed to 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007, according to an annual report released Thursday by the Census Bureau. The report also documented a decline in employer-provided health insurance and in coverage for adults. The rise in the poverty rate, to the highest level since 1997, portends even larger increases this year, which has registered far higher unemployment than in 2008, economists said…”
• Census: Income fell sharply last year, By Dennis Cauchon and Richard Wolf, September 10, 2009, USA Today: “Household income fell sharply and poverty rates rose in 2008 as the severe effects of the recession took their toll on Americans’ finances, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. Median household income dropped 3.6% to $50,303 in 2008, the bureau reported. That was the sharpest drop since at least 1967 and sent income to its lowest point since 1997…”
• U.S. poverty rate hit 11-year high in 2008, By Don Lee, September 10, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Reporting from Washington - Showing the scars of the deep recession last year, the nation’s poverty level jumped to an 11-year high, household incomes sank and the number of people without health insurance rose slightly to 46.3 million, the government reported today. The Census Bureau said that median household incomes fell 3.6% from 2007 to $50,303 last year. That was the biggest decline since 1991 and represented millions of job cuts by employers in 2008…”
• Growth of gov’t insurance outpaces private care, By Hope Yen and Frank Bass (AP), September 10, 2009, Houston Chronicle: “The number of Americans covered by government-sponsored health insurance plans surged to 87.4 million last year - or 29 percent of the U.S. population - amid a fierce, national debate about whether to create a new U.S.-run plan that any American could join. The number of people covered by federal Medicaid, Medicare and military insurance plans was an increase from 83 million in 2007, according to census figures released Thursday. It partially offset the eighth straight year of declines in the percentage of people with employer-provided plans and highlighted the growing role of a government-offered insurance safety net…”
• Decade of income growth lost, Census report finds, By Carol Morello, September 10, 2009, Washington Post: “The recession has erased an entire decade of growth in household incomes, according to a Census Bureau report released Thursday that also showed more Americans last year were living in poverty and without health insurance. Median household incomes sank 3.6 percent in 2008, to $50,303, and the nation’s poverty rate rose to 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007. In all, 39.8 million Americans were living in poverty, defined as $22,025 for a family of four. That was the highest number since 1960…”
• Recession takes heavy toll on U.S., By Conor Dougherty, September 10, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “The recession has slashed families’ earnings, increased poverty and left more people without health insurance, according to the Census Bureau’s annual snapshot of living standards, offering sharp evidence of how much the falling economy has touched Americans of every income and race. The report released Thursday showed median household income, adjusted for inflation, fell 3.6% last year to $50,303, the steepest year-over-year drop since at least 1967. The poverty rate, at 13.2%, was the highest since 1997, while about 700,000 more people were living without health insurance in 2008 than the year before, although the share of the population living without health insurance was about the same…”

• In New York City, poverty defined in new terms, By Pam Fessler, September 10, 2009, National Public Radio: “New census figures Thursday are expected to show that the poverty rate rose in 2008. But the government still measures poverty the same way it did more than 40 years ago, and many experts think that gives an inaccurate measure of what’s going on. New York City developed a new measure last year based on recommendations by the National Academy of Sciences that takes into account expenses such as child care and health care costs. The result, according to backers of the new formula, is a more realistic picture of today’s world. They’re pushing the federal government to make a similar change…”
• Another word for poverty, By Sarah Chacko, September 10, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “In the coming weeks, the federal government will release 2008 data about family income and economic status. An obvious focus for many will be the poverty rate, the number of people who earn less than an established measure of income needed to cover a family’s basic needs. But in some circles, the word ‘poverty’ has become off limits. Nonprofit organizations and state agencies say they are ‘moving people to self-sufficiency’ or ‘empowering families,’ without mentioning economic status. Avoiding the word has apparently become an international trend too…”
• Move that line, By Dave Schechter, September 9, 2009, CNN.com: “On Thursday morning, the Census Bureau will release data expected to show a “statistically significant” increase in the national poverty rate, the percentage of Americans living below the government poverty line. Based on an Associated Press interview with a Commerce Department official, the expectation is that there will have been nearly 39 million Americans living below the poverty line in 2008 - an increase of more than 1.5 million from the year before - pushing the poverty rate up to at least 12.7 percent, if not higher. In reality, that number and that rate are something of a fraud. In the first decade of the 21st Century, the U.S. government still determines who is poor with a formula created in 1963-64 using data from 1955…”
• New figures on uninsured — but just how accurate are they?, By Kelly Brewington and Stephanie Desmon, Baltimore Sun: “The U.S. Census just released some surprising figures on the number of Americans without health insurance. The agency says the percentage of the uninsured did not grow between 2007 and 2008 — holding steady at 15.4 percent. Meanwhile, the number of uninsured people rose slightly 45.7 million to 46.3 million. During a monster recession, with rising unemployment and so many employers cutting health insurance to their workers — can those figures be right?…”

E. Timor aid _ where did billions go?, By Anthony Deutsch (AP), September 7, 2009, Washington Post: “A decade after tiny East Timor broke from Indonesia and prompted one of the most expensive U.N.-led nation-building projects in history, there is little to show for the billions spent. The world has given more than $8.8 billion in assistance to East Timor since the vote for independence in 1999, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press from the U.N. and 46 donor countries and agencies. That works out to $8,000 for each of East Timor’s 1.1 million people, one of the highest per person rates of international aid. But little of the money, perhaps no more than a dollar of every 10, appears to have made it into East Timor’s economy. Instead, it goes toward foreign security forces, consultants and administration, among other things. In the meantime, data from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Food Program, U.N. Development Program and others show the money has done little to help the poor. In fact, poverty has increased. Roads are in disrepair, there is little access to clean water or health services, and the capital is littered with abandoned, burned-out buildings where the homeless squat…”

• Dallas leads nation in repeat teen births, study finds, By Robert T. Garrett, September 1, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “Dallas leads the nation in the percentage of teen births that aren’t the mother’s first delivery, a nonpartisan national research group finds in a new report. Dallas had the highest percentage of teen births that are repeat births - 28 percent - among 73 major U.S. cities in 2006, the latest year for which city-level data are available. Texas has the highest repeat rate of any state - 23 percent of teen births. And five of the 15 worst-ranked cities are in Texas, according to the group Child Trends, in a report to be released Wednesday…”
• Houston had the most girls under 15 giving birth in 2006, report says, By Todd Ackerman, August 31, 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: ” More girls under 15 give birth in Houston than in any other U.S. city, according to a new national report. And among all births involving teenage mothers, Dallas had the nation’s highest percentage of repeat births, at 28 percent, while Fort Worth was eighth, at 25 percent. The report, by the research organization Child Trends, found that 20 percent more babies were born to girls 14 or younger in Houston than in New York and Los Angeles in 2006, the latest year for which data are available…”
• Texas has restrictive birth control policy for minors, By Robert T. Garrett, September 6, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “Texas, a leader in teen pregnancy and the state where more teens give birth to subsequent children than in any other, maintains one of the most restrictive policies in the nation for minors to obtain prescription birth control. Not even young parents in Texas can get birth control without their own parents’ permission at nearly a third of the family planning clinics on contract with the state health department…”

• Unemployed pushing out disabled residents for jobs, By Jessica Heffner, August 30, 2009, Oxford Press: “When Cheryl Callsen watches her 21-year-old son sit idle, she can see his frustration. ‘Andrew’s got a lot to offer and, like anyone else does, he gets bored sitting around all the time,’ she said of her son who was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, which is on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum. ‘He wants a job.’ But with so many people out of work, even entry-level jobs such as bagging groceries are hard to find. While nationally the unemployment rate is 9.4 percent, U.S. Census data puts that figure at more than 62 percent for those with disabilities…”
• Too many students ‘graduate to the living room’, By Barbara Shelly, September 5, 2009, Kansas City Star: “Emily Thomas was born profoundly disabled. Doctors told her parents that if she lived, she might never so much as smile. ‘I wasted a lot of tears over that,’ says her mother, Cynthia Thomas. Emily, now 25, grins when presented with a hefty sandwich at an Overland Park café. She beams while riding the lift on her family’s new van. She exults when I hand her a business card. With a single encounter, I see what she means. Emily’s delight in life’s small moments is contagious. Cynthia and Ted Thomas always envisioned a full life for their daughter. They sought out schools with good special education programs. Despite hearing and vision impairments and cognitive and physical disabilities that require her to use a wheelchair, Emily gained skills and thrived in the daily routine of classes…”

• Flu season: N.H. lawmakers may mandate paid sick days, By Michael McCord, September 8, 2009, Portsmouth Herald: “As concerns grow over the medical and economic impact of the H1N1 flu virus, a bill currently dormant in the New Hampshire Legislature to mandate paid sick leave may be revived by supporters. According to a state study in 2007, more than 50 percent of employers in New Hampshire had no paid sick leave policy for full-time employees and the number grew to 80 percent for part-time workers…”
• Swine flu brings a quandary to the workplace, By L.M. Sixel, August 30, 2009, Houston Chronicle: “When Ben - along with more than two dozen of his classmates - got sick with the swine flu last spring, his north Houston elementary school closed for the rest of the year. His mother, Melinda Flannery, said she was lucky because her son never got really sick. It also helped, she said, that her boss at Rice University was supportive of the 2½ weeks she had to spend away from the office…”
• Paid sick leave draws closer for city workers, By Jennifer 8. Lee, August 20, 2009, New York Times: “New York City could soon join San Francisco and Washington in requiring paid sick days for employees - a move that could affect as many as one million workers in the city. On Thursday, the City Council introduced legislation mandating that large employers give workers the ability to earn least nine paid sick days to workers per year, while small businesses who have fewer than 10 employees would earn five sick days…”
• Swine flu fight: Keep sick kids at home, but parents need paid sick days, says hero school nurse, By Samuel Goldsmith, September 8, 2009, New York Daily News: “Keeping kids at home from school when they get sick is one of the most important ways to stop the spread of swine flu. But plenty of parents can’t skip a day of work to watch their children - and that worries the hero school nurse who first detected the virus in New York. The head nurse at St. Francis Preparatory - the Queens school that became the epicenter of swine flu in the spring - says New York City needs a law to force all employers to provide paid sick days…”

Obama would keep $85 billion in tax breaks for working poor, By Lori Montgomery, September 3, 2009, Washington Post: “President Obama is proposing to add more than $85 billion to the nation’s budget deficits over the next decade to extend two tax breaks for the working poor, a move critics on Wednesday blasted as a violation of Obama’s pledge to pay for new policies. The tax breaks were included in the economic stimulus package Obama signed soon after taking office in January, and are scheduled to expire in 2011. But last week, in its midyear update of the federal budget, the White House said it plans to extend the tax cuts through 2019 without covering the cost by cutting spending or raising taxes elsewhere. The reason? Technically, the stimulus amended a series of sweeping tax cuts enacted in 2001 during the Bush administration. Obama has repeatedly said he does not expect Congress to cover the enormous cost of maintaining the Bush tax cuts past their 2010 expiration date. And because the stimulus provisions are now part of the Bush tax cuts, Congress shouldn’t have to pay for them, either, White House budget documents say…”

States: We can’t afford costs tied to $5B emergency fund, By Michael Grabell and Chris Flavelle, September 7, 2009, USA Today: “Many states are walking away from a $5 billion federal fund that some economists say is a swift and effective way to help people hurt by the recession and stimulate the economy. The states say they can’t collect their share of the emergency fund for needy families because they can’t afford to put up the 20% of costs required by the federal government. Six months after the money was made available under the $787 billion federal stimulus program, only 27 states have applied for funds, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. Most have tapped only a small fraction of the money they’re entitled to - less than 15% in most cases. As a result, as much as $1 billion could be left on the table when the program ends in September 2010, estimates Jack Tweedie of the National Conference of State Legislatures. The fund can be used to help states cope with growing welfare caseloads, create temporary jobs for the unemployed, pay rent for families facing eviction and immediately put cash in people’s pockets…”

Surge in homeless pupils strains schools, By Erik Eckholm, September 5, 2009, New York Times: “In the small trailer her family rented over the summer, 9-year-old Charity Crowell picked out the green and purple outfit she would wear on the first day of school. She vowed to try harder and bring her grades back up from the C’s she got last spring - a dismal semester when her parents lost their jobs and car and the family was evicted and migrated through friends’ houses and a motel. Charity is one child in a national surge of homeless schoolchildren that is driven by relentless unemployment and foreclosures. The rise, to more than one million students without stable housing by last spring, has tested budget-battered school districts as they try to carry out their responsibilities - and the federal mandate - to salvage education for children whose lives are filled with insecurity and turmoil…”

• 10,000 working parents to lose health insurance, By Casey Newton, September 8, 2009, Arizona Republic: “Nearly 10,000 working parents will lose their health insurance this month in the wake of state budget cuts, leaving some families with nowhere to turn as they seek affordable coverage. KidsCare Parents, a program that provides low-income families with inexpensive insurance, will end Sept. 30. The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, which administers the program, could not pay the $6 million annual cost following cuts by the Legislature. The state faces a $3 billion budget shortfall. The move comes as demand for government assistance is skyrocketing. Arizona has lost an estimated 240,000 jobs since December 2007, and AHCCCS has added 150,000 people to its rolls since January…”
• Legislature gets one right: Healthy Kids continues, Editorial, September 8, 2009, Vacaville Reporter: “The California Legislature came together last week and accomplished the seemingly impossible. On a bipartisan vote — unanimous, even, in the Assembly — it found a way to keep more than 600,000 children from losing their health insurance. More amazing, it found a way to pay for the Healthy Families program. During the summer’s contentious budget negotiations, the Legislature sliced $144 million from the program that provides medical insurance for children whose parents cannot afford it. Then the governor lopped off another $50 million in a line-item veto. Both were insane decisions. Not only does the federal government contribute $2 for every $1 the state puts into the program, but Healthy Families has consistently proven that it saves taxpayers money in the long run…”

• Federal Katrina dollars can impact Louisiana’s Medicaid benefits, By Matthew Hamilton, September 7, 2009, Monroe News-Star: “G.B. Cooley chief executive officer Ben Pitts and ARCO executive director Roma Kidd refer to it as Louisiana’s ‘Medicaid cliff.’ In January 2011, a little-known formula will prompt the federal government to slash $1 billion in health care spending for the poorest residents of one of the poorest states in the country. Unless legislators make tough political choices to close the gap, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and Medicaid providers like Pitts and Kidd fear a devastating economic blow and the loss of health care for thousands across the state. The seeds of the crisis were planted in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. After the storm, the federal government pumped billions of dollars into the state, including $5.4 billion in Road Home subsidies. According to the DHH, the cash infusion spiked Louisiana’s per-capita income growth more than 42 percent in Louisiana…”
• Alabama Medicaid rolls jump by 50,000 over two year span, By Kim Chandler, September 7, 2009, Birmingham News: “Alabama Medicaid enrollment jumped by nearly 50,000 people in the past two years, with the largest increase coming in the number of children, teens and pregnant women enrolled. ‘When we’re at double-digit unemployment, it has an effect on the entire safety net,’ said Sen. Roger Bedford, chairman of the Senate General Fund budget committee and a Democrat from Russellville. ‘You see it not only in Medicaid, but also in food stamps.’ Alabama Medicaid Agency spokeswoman Robin Rawls said agency officials believe the economy is likely the cause, and the largest increase is in the program most likely to include working families…”

For Marylanders, insurance affordability will depend on subsidies, By Kelly Brewington, September 7, 2009, Baltimore Sun: “Even if lawmakers can agree on how to overhaul the nation’s health care system, the hope of universal coverage could crumble if individuals can’t afford their share. Take Howard County. Less than five months into an innovative program to give low-income people access to medical care for as little as $50 a month, nearly one in 10 participants is at risk of being cut off because they can no longer afford the cost. Howard officials say their fledgling program, called the Healthy Howard Access Plan, provides a cautionary lesson for federal policymakers battling over how to re-imagine the nation’s health care system and extend insurance to some 47 million Americans. While the major congressional proposals would require that nearly everyone have insurance or pay a penalty, low-income people could qualify for subsidies to help cover the cost of premiums. But lawmakers are wrangling over who would get financial help - and how much. If the subsidies fall short, millions of Americans could continue to struggle without health insurance, say advocates for the uninsured. Besides, if people in Howard County - among the richest localities in the nation - can’t manage $50 a month, how could those struggling elsewhere afford the plans under consideration in Washington that would require a much higher out-of-pocket cost?…”

More stores are accepting food stamps, By Kristen Mack, September 8, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Joanna Gugudan hesitated as she picked a box of brownies off the shelf at Aldi. ‘I can’t believe I can buy this,’ she recalled thinking during her first grocery shopping trip in a month. Her family had been relying on food pantry rations. But this time, she swiped her electric-blue Illinois Link food stamp card to cover the $74.50 tab. Gugudan is among a record number of consumers relying on government aid to pay for groceries because of the economic downturn. And that flood of participants has persuaded retailers who never before accepted food stamps to join the program. More than 35.1 million Americans received food stamps in June, up 22 percent over June 2008, according to data released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It was the seventh straight month that participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program increased. The trend also is reflected in Illinois, where 17.6 percent more households received assistance in July compared with a year ago, the Illinois Department of Human Services said…”

• Despite fixes, unemployment department still tough to reach for many, By Denis C. Theriault, September 7, 2009, San Jose Mercury News: “Despite an infusion of money and workers in recent months, the phone number that most out-of-work Californians rely on for questions about their unemployment benefits or missing checks remains swamped by millions of calls. Officials say it still takes about 17 tries before a live operator is reached at the state Employment Development Department and that nearly two-thirds of the 18.9 million calls received last month were rejected because the phone service was too busy…”
• Wisconsin unemployment phone line dropped 86% of calls, By Ellen Gabler, September 6, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The voices taunt thousands of Wisconsin’s unemployed. Here’s what happens: Unemployed people call a hotline run by the Department of Workforce Development to check on their claims for unemployment benefits or to answer agency questions about their application. The calm, recorded voice of a woman says: ‘To speak with the next available claims specialist, press 0.’ But about 86% of the time, the caller is soon disconnected with a simple ‘Goodbye’ from the calm, recorded voice of a man. The callers still don’t know why their unemployment checks haven’t hit their bank account, and they can’t ask a live person any questions…”

Employers: No more break for Utah’s jobless seniors, By Tony Semerad, September 8, 2009, Salt Lake Tribune: “A political clash is brewing over a clause in Utah law that has big implications for the state’s growing population of jobless senior citizens. For the past five years, working Utahns over age 65 laid off through no fault of their own have been able to collect some unemployment benefits in addition to their Social Security retirement checks. But the law is set to expire halfway through 2010, meaning state legislators will have to wade into the controversy when they convene in January. Known on Capitol Hill as ‘the Social Security offset,’ the issue pits the powerful interests of Utah employers - — who pay for unemployment insurance — against those of the growing ranks of elderly Utahns who continue working past retirement age, or who have been forced to return to work after seeing their savings drained by the recession…”

Nearly 1 in 5 older Americans believed to be in poverty _ almost double the official rate, By Hope Yen (AP), September 4, 2009, Grand Forks Herald: “The poverty rate among older Americans could be nearly twice as high as the traditional 10 percent level, according to a revision of a half-century-old formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations in the cost of living. The National Academy of Science’s formula, which is gaining credibility with public officials including some in the Obama administration, would put the poverty rate for Americans 65 and over at 18.6 percent, or 6.8 million people, compared with 9.7 percent, or 3.6 million people, under the existing measure. The original government formula, created in 1955, doesn’t take account of rising costs of medical care and other factors…”

• In unemployment report, signs of a jobless recovery, By Peter S. Goodman and Jack Healy, September 4, 2009, New York Times: “The American economy lost another 216,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate jumped to 9.7 percent, amplifying worries that millions of households are likely to endure financial anxiety and lean times for months to come. As a technical matter, most economists believe that the United States has escaped the grip of recession, the longest since the Great Depression. The Labor Department’s latest employment report, released Friday, added weight to the view that economic expansion has resumed, marking a continued albeit modest improvement to the rate of lost jobs. Yet the report also lent credence to a growing consensus that the recovery is likely to be weak and fragile, prompting most companies to hold back from hiring aggressively…”
• Jobless picture soon to worsen, By Tamara Lush (AP), September 4, 2009, Modesto Bee: “More than 1.3 million Americans’ unemployment insurance benefits will run out by the end of the year, placing extra strain on an economy that is just starting to recover from the worst downturn in a generation. Of the nation’s 14.5 million jobless, those whose benefits are drying up - in some cases after a record 18 months of government support - are the most unfortunate. In California, the state Economic Development Department said as many as 170,000 of the unemployed it serves are at risk of losing their benefits…”

Will safety net hospitals survive health reform?, By Carla K. Johnson (AP), September 3, 2009, San Jose Mercury News: “Janie Johnson has no health insurance, so when she cut her toe while giving herself a pedicure, she limped to the emergency room at one of Chicago’s safety net hospitals and waited her turn. ‘I’m 44, but I probably look about 55 right now,’ Johnson joked in Stroger Hospital’s emergency department where more than 100 patients sat waiting. Urgent cases, from chest pains to gunshot wounds, are rushed to doctors first. Johnson was glad to have somewhere to go for health care. ‘I don’t know what I would do’ without the hospital, she said. ‘My health would probably get worse.’ To all the knotty issues involved in health care overhaul, add one more: The proposals in Congress may threaten the funding and future of the nation’s already-struggling safety net hospitals…”

States shut down to save cash, By Leslie Eaton, Ryan Knutson, and Philip Shishkin, September 4, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “California drivers can’t line up to renew their licenses Friday. Wisconsin natives can’t order copies of their birth certificates. Georgia consumers will have to postpone registering complaints with state watchdogs. And stranded motorists in Maryland may have to wait a little longer for highway-department help. Across the country, cash-strapped state governments are shutting down business for a day at a time to save money. State offices are shuttered Friday in California, Maine, Maryland and Michigan. Rhode Island had planned to join them until a judge on Thursday blocked its closure plan. Some state agencies are closed in Georgia and Wisconsin, and most Colorado state offices will be shuttered on Tuesday. Other states, such as Arizona, have been trying to keep their operations open while furloughing thousands of workers. So far the effect of furloughs appears to have been muted, with most people able to take care of state business in advance of closures or by filing forms online. But at the Detroit Center for Family Advocacy, which helps low-income families avoid sending children to foster care, furloughs have already slowed assistance efforts, said managing attorney Tracy Green…”

Firefighters become medics to the poor, By Ian Urbina, September 3, 2009, New York Times: “Peeling off his latex gloves after treating a 4-year-old boy having a severe asthma attack, J. R. Muyleart sighed with a touch of frustration. It was 3 a.m. and in the past 24-hour shift, Mr. Muyleart, a firefighter, had responded to at least one emergency call per hour. But only two of those calls were for fires; most of the others involved heart attacks, diabetic sores, epileptic seizures and people complaining of shortness of breath. ‘I joined the force to battle blazes, not to be an emergency room doctor,’ Mr. Muyleart, 35, said as he and the rest of Engine Company 10 drove back to their firehouse, which for most of the last 15 years has been the busiest in the country, according to industry surveys. Among the hidden costs of the health care crisis is the burden that fire departments across the country are facing as firefighters, much like emergency room doctors, are increasingly serving as primary care providers…”

Good news, bad news for Colo. low-income health clinics, By Allison Sherry, September 3, 2009, Denver Post: “Health clinics for the poor must chop $32.9 million from their budgets at the same time they are receiving millions in stimulus dollars to expand - creating a situation where new buildings may stand empty. Mountain Family Health Centers received half a million dollars in federal stimulus money to build a new clinic in Rifle, but director Dave Adamson said he’s not sure he will be able to staff it. In fact, he may have to cut staff at his existing clinic in Glenwood Springs. The Metro Community Provider Network clinics will get $1.6 million in new solar panels and medical and dental equipment, but state budget cuts are forcing the director to close three clinics in the next two months - one in Bailey, where there are few other options…”

Japan’s economic downturn pushes more onto streets, By Peter Ford, September 3, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “By the time the police arrived at 7 a.m. last Monday to move him on from the Ikebukuro subway station where he had spent the night, Isao Ito had been awake for some time. He had been poring over the jobs section of a magazine, and he hadn’t slept well anyway. Newly arrived in the capital in search of work, he said, ‘I haven’t eaten or slept for three days. I’m alone, and I’m nervous about sleeping rough.’ Welcome to the global recession, Japanese style. As Mr. Ito has just found, perhaps nowhere else in the industrialized world is it so easy to slip from just getting by to utter destitution. Some 460,000 people have lost their jobs in Japan since the ‘Lehman shokku,’ as people here call it - the day last September when the collapse of Lehman Bros. bank triggered a worldwide financial crisis. Half of them, like Ito, were on temporary or part-time contracts that gave them no unemployment or other social security insurance…”

• Fending off the chill, Editorial, September 3, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Wholesale changes this year in Pennsylvania’s annual heating-aid program seem designed to make every needy homeowner and utility stakeholder hot under the collar. Maybe it’s part of some secret plan to keep low-income families warm this winter? The changes make little sense, otherwise. No wonder they’ve sparked widespread criticism from utility company officials and low-income advocates alike…”
• Heating aid in a LIHEAP of trouble, By Signe Wilkinson, September 3, 2009, Philadelphia Daily News: “The Annual cold war starts early this year. We’re referring to the annual battle for people to get help with their heating bills through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Usually, it’s not until October or November that we begin hearing signs of worry that the state-administered LIHEAP, managed by the Department of Public Welfare, will not be able to cover as many needy people as the year before. The federal government establishes the appropriation for LIHEAP, and sends money to the states. Most states also add their own funds to the program, though Pennsylvania is an exception…”

Fighting blindness may prevent deaths in Ethiopia, By Carla K. Johnson (AP), September 1, 2009, Washington Post: “An antibiotic widely used in Africa to treat eyesight-robbing infections seems to help prevent Ethiopian children from dying of other diseases. A study in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association suggests an unintended benefit from efforts to wipe out trachoma, the world’s leading preventable cause of blindness. The World Health Organization has set 2020 as the target for eliminating trachoma. The United States has been free of the disease since the 1970s, but it persists in 48 countries. In Ethiopia, a hotbed, 40 percent of children under 10 show signs of active trachoma…”

• Child welfare: The nanny state, September 3, 2009, The Economist: “When the poet William Wordsworth declared that ‘the Child is father of the Man’, he meant that the gifts of childhood endow adults with some of their finest qualities. And many governments, these days, feel that the path to happiness for society as a whole lies through spending on the welfare of its youngest members: their health, education and general well-being. A report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a rich-country think-tank, scrutinises these efforts and asks if the aim is being achieved. With its stress on quantifiable facts, the spirit of the OECD report differs from one by UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, in 2007 which made waves by saying children in Britain did badly. UNICEF relied too much on asking youngsters how they felt (did they have ‘kind and helpful’ schoolmates?); the new study stresses meatier things like vaccination and test scores…”
• Spending levels on single-parent benefits criticised, By Carl O’Brien, September 2, 2009, Irish Times: “The government has been criticised for spending considerable amounts on single-parent welfare benefits with little evidence that they influence the wellbeing of children. In a report comparing child welfare in 30 developed countries, the Paris-based International Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) said Ireland, along with a handful of other countries, was spending significant sums on lone parent benefits that last until children are well into their teens…”

Low-wage workers are often cheated, study says, By Steven Greenhouse, September 1, 2009, New York Times: “Low-wage workers are routinely denied proper overtime pay and are often paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The study, the most comprehensive examination of wage-law violations in a decade, also found that 68 percent of the workers interviewed had experienced at least one pay-related violation in the previous work week. ‘We were all surprised by the high prevalence rate,’ said Ruth Milkman, one of the study’s authors and a sociology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the City University of New York. The study, to be released on Wednesday, was financed by the Ford, Joyce, Haynes and Russell Sage Foundations. In surveying 4,387 workers in various low-wage industries, including apparel manufacturing, child care and discount retailing, the researchers found that the typical worker had lost $51 the previous week through wage violations, out of average weekly earnings of $339. That translates into a 15 percent loss in pay…”

A Milwaukee clinic fills a need but faces failure, By Kevin Sack, September 1, 2009, New York Times: “Like many low-income neighborhoods, the north side of Milwaukee has seen a gradual depletion of its primary care doctors over the last two decades. One by one, they have retired or surrendered to financial reality, rarely to be replaced. At the few remaining practices, the wait for an appointment can make it almost purposeless to seek one. When Martha Brown’s 3-year-old daughter, Loverree, woke up with a runny nose last Thursday, her doctor’s office told her it would be a week. ‘I couldn’t wait,’ Ms. Brown said. ‘I had to see what was wrong with my baby. I think she’s got an infection.’ Rather than heading to an emergency room, Ms. Brown took her three children to the Milwaukee Immediate Care Center, a small nonprofit clinic that has treated the north side’s largely African-American community since 1986. The clinic, which keeps hours at night and on weekends, is the only full-time operation in the neighborhood that provides urgent care, luring patients with a sign that reads, ‘When You Need a Doctor Today…’”

Healthy Indiana Plan to reopen to childless adults, By Ken Kusmer (AP), September 1, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Indiana wants to enroll more childless adults in its state-funded medical savings account program and will reopen enrollment for them in the future, a state consultant told lawmakers Tuesday. The federal government, when it approved the Healthy Indiana Plan, said the state could enroll no more than 34,000 childless adults, consultant Seema Verma told the Medicaid Oversight Commission. However, HIP has proven most popular among such non-caretaker adults, and the Family and Social Services Administration closed the program to that group in March. At the end of July, they made up more than 26,000 of the nearly 46,000 people enrolled, Verma said. The program, partially funded by the Medicaid program for needy and disabled people and a state cigarette tax increase, was designed to enroll a total of 130,000 people, mostly parents…”

L.A. charter schools get a chance to grow, but how big?, By Howard Blume, September 2, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “A groundbreaking plan to open 51 new Los Angeles schools and 200 existing ones to possible outside control has Randy Palisoc feeling as if salvation is just steps away. A new $54-million campus he covets is rising a block from where his award-winning charter school operates in a rented church. Palisoc is among many with big dreams since the Los Angeles Board of Education approved its landmark school control resolution last week. The management of about a fourth of all district schools could be up for grabs. As a result, leading charter school operators anticipate accelerated growth for their organizations and better facilities for some current schools. An 11-school nonprofit group controlled by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is eyeing a new high school south of downtown and may bid for more existing campuses. Momentum is building for internal district proposals…”

L.A. plans revival for center of crime, poverty, By Jacob Adelman, (AP), September 2, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “Juanita Sims has lived in the notorious Jordan Downs project in Watts for almost four decades, raising eight children behind the barred windows of the cramped barracks-like apartments. She moved in shortly after the Watts riots in the 1960s left almost three dozen people dead and made the South Los Angeles community a national symbol of urban decay. Now Sims fears she’ll have to leave, just as Watts emerges from years of neglect with a proposed urban village of shops, homes and businesses that would force the demolition of Jordan Downs…”

• US fares poorly in OECD survey of childhood welfare, despite above-average spending, By Greg Keller (AP), September 1, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “America has some of the industrial world’s worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates. The OECD, a Paris-based watchdog of industrialized nations, urged the United States to shift more of its public spending to its youngest children, under the age of six, to improve their health and educational performance. The report released Tuesday, ‘Doing Better for Children,’ marks the first time the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has reported on child well-being within its 30 member countries…”
• High spending fails to improve child welfare, says OECD report, By Owen Bowcott, September 1, 2009, The Guardian: “High public spending in the UK on child welfare and education is failing to deliver results, an international comparative study warns today. The report, by the Paris-based International Organisation for Economic Development (OECD), points out that Britain, although moderately well placed in the rankings, has relatively high rates of teenage pregnancy, drunkenness and young people not in education, employment or training (neets). The survey, entitled Doing Better for Children, suggests that globally girls do better than boys and that, while bullying is on the decline, children are smoking and drinking more…”

Poverty’s punch still packs power, By Stacy Vogel, August 30, 2009, Janesville Gazette: “Mike and Cheryl Easton have struggled over the past year. The Janesville couple moved in with Mike’s dad after a stint at the House of Mercy homeless center. They’ve taken care of sick parents while dealing with their own health and family problems. On top of all that, they can’t find full-time, steady work. They deliver newspapers to pay for necessities for them and their 3-year-old son, David, and contribute toward household bills. ‘I’ve been applying everywhere,’ Mike said. ‘It’s insane.’ The Eastons’ story is typical in Janesville since the economy crashed in fall 2008. Jobs just aren’t available, local experts and those looking for work said. The Gazette addressed Janesville’s growing poverty rate in a three-day series one year ago. It pointed to U.S. Census data showing that Janesville’s population living below the federal poverty rate nearly doubled, from 6.5 percent to 12.7 percent, between 1999 and 2006. Since then, the national economy has collapsed. The situation is even worse in Janesville, where a host of companies, most notably General Motors, have laid off workers or moved out all together…”

• Indiana weatherization set to begin, By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener, August 27, 2009, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Indiana can start spending nearly $132 million in federal stimulus funds to help low-income Hoosiers weatherize their homes after the U.S. Department of Energy approved the state’s plan for the money. The new money provides an 11-fold increase in the size of the state’s weatherization program. The approval announced Thursday means more than 30,000 households could get new energy savings equipment, including programmable thermostats, insulation, new furnaces or hot water heaters…”
• Indiana gets stimulus green light, By Eric Bradner, August 27, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “The federal government has green-lighted Indiana’s plan to spend $131 million in stimulus money to equip homes of low-income Hoosiers with energy-saving furnaces and insulation. The decision ends a monthslong snag that had frustrated state officials and put the project behind schedule…”

Massachusetts cuts back immigrants’ health care, By Abby Goodnough, August 31, 2009, New York Times: “State-subsidized health insurance for 31,000 legal immigrants here will no longer cover dental, hospice or skilled-nursing care under a scaled-back plan that Gov. Deval Patrick announced Monday. Mr. Patrick said his administration had struggled to find a solution ‘that preserves the promise of health care reform’ after the state legislature cut most of the $130 million it had previously allotted immigrants, to help close a budget deficit. Although their health benefits will be sharply curtailed in some cases, Mr. Patrick portrayed the new program as a victory, saying the services that the affected group tends to use the most will still be covered…”

Arizona faces ‘financial tsunami’ over Medicaid, by Jeff Brady, September 1, 2009, National Public Radio: “Arizona has one of the highest Medicaid rates in the country. About 1 out of every 5 residents is covered by the program for the poor and disabled. That doesn’t include illegal immigrants, who are barred from receiving state services. And the Medicaid rolls there are increasing rapidly in this economy, primarily due to slumps in the construction and service industries…”