• Many Minnesotans at end of jobless benefits, By Dee DePass, October 5, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Former University of Minnesota plumber Keith Ferguson got his last unemployment check last week. Now the Maple Grove father of four, unemployed for 20 months, is wondering how he’ll pay child support and feed himself. It is a dilemma facing millions of unemployed Americans who have counted on as many as 79 weeks of government checks to help them make ends meet through the worst recession in decades. Almost 5.5 million workers have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, a record. In Minnesota, an estimated 1,000 people currently exhaust unemployment benefits each week, said Dan McElroy, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). When the last federal extension expires the day after Christmas, the number will grow given that new job growth is expected to remain slow…”
• Senate Dems reach deal on extending jobless benefits, By Jim Abrams (AP), October 8, 2009, Seattle Times: “Senate Democrats said Thursday they have reached a deal to extend unemployment insurance benefits to the nearly 2 million jobless workers across the country who are in danger of running out of assistance by the end of the year. The agreement would give an additional 14 weeks of benefits to jobless workers in all 50 states. Workers in states with an unemployment rate at 8.5 percent or above would receive six weeks on top of that. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tried to bring the measure to a quick vote on the Senate floor, but Republicans objected, saying they needed more time to study the proposal and its costs and possibly offer amendments. The House last month approved legislation that gives 13 weeks of extended benefits, but only in those 27 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico that have unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent…”

Bill increases funds for food stamps, nutrition, By Jim Abrams (AP), October 7, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Nutrition, food stamp and dairy aid programs were among the winners as the House on Wednesday approved a $121 billion agriculture spending bill for the 2010 budget year. Reflecting the growing number of people scrambling to get by in tough economic times, the bill provides $58.2 billion for the food stamp program, a jump of $4.3 billion from last year. Similarly, the federal nutrition program for women, infants and children receives $7.3 billion, up $400 million from 2009 nonemergency levels. Aid to school and child care nutrition programs goes up $1.9 billion to $16.9 billion…”

• ‘Shockingly wide’ health gaps among states, By Rita Rubin, October 8, 2009, USA Today: “A new ’scorecard’ lists ’shockingly wide variations’ among the states when it comes to the health of their residents, says the president of the Commonwealth Fund, which compared such factors as access to care, insurance coverage and avoidable hospital admissions. ‘The differences we see among the states translate to real lives and real dollars,’ Karen Davis said Wednesday at a news conference…”
• Report shows healthcare disparities among states, By Andrew Zajac, October 7, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Even as state and federal initiatives have extended a medical safety net beneath children in recent years, more and more adult Americans have been living without insurance coverage - compounding the already-serious problems of the healthcare system and fueling sharp disparities in the cost and quality of care across the country. Those disparities, graphically documents in state-by-state rankings released Wednesday by the non-partisan Commonwealth Fund, underscored one of the biggest challenges in designing a healthcare overhaul: The nation doesn’t have one system and one reality, it has at least 50 - each with its own economic, social and demographic characteristics…”