Unemployment falls in a majority of US cities, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), April 28, 2010, Washington Post: “Unemployment rates fell or remained level in three-quarters of the 372 largest metropolitan areas, a sign that the economic recovery is widespread. The Labor Department said Wednesday the jobless rate dropped in 69 percent of metro areas last month from February. It rose in 24 percent of large cities and remained the same in the rest. That’s an improvement from February, when the unemployment rate decreased in 51 percent of metro areas and increased in one-third. The report follows other recent encouraging news about jobs. Employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the government said earlier this month, the most significant gain in three years. Still, the growth wasn’t enough to bring down the unemployment rate, which remained at 9.7 percent for the third straight month…”

Free money left on table, By Armand Emamdjomeh, April 29, 2010, New York Times: “What if residents of California - a state reeling from unemployment, a sagging economy and a gaping budget hole - had access to more than $1 billion, but did not use it? What if Alameda County residents had access to $29 million and failed to take it out of the federal treasury? That is exactly what they have been doing, according to a new report, ‘Left on the Table,’ by two professors at California State University, Fresno, which was published by the New America Foundation. An estimated 800,000 California residents will fail to claim a total of $1.2 billion in 2009 earned-income tax credit refunds, the report says. California has the highest rate of unclaimed earned-income tax credits nationally, with nearly a quarter of qualified residents failing to claim the credit when they file their taxes, according to studies by both the Internal Revenue Service and the Government Accountability Office…”

Study: Md., Va. Latino kids fare better than peers elsewhere, still face hurdles, By Tara Bahrampour, April 29, 2010, Washington Post: “Latino children in Maryland and Virginia are faring better than their counterparts in many areas of the country but still face significant hurdles to integration and success, according to a report released Wednesday by the Population Reference Bureau and the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights organization. The report found that a disproportionate number of Latino children in the United States live in poverty, drop out of school, lack health insurance and end up in the juvenile justice system. Its authors stressed the ‘urgency’ of the situation and recommended swift intervention to reverse the trends…”

‘99ers’ dread future without jobless benefits, By Alana Semuels, April 30, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Karl Schafer says he has tried for hundreds of jobs since he was laid off from a truck factory more than two years ago. Still waiting to get hired, the 52-year-old Ohio man has suffered the indignity of applying for food stamps and asking his elderly mother for help. Weary of her own job search, former customer service representative Wagma Omar, 40, of Mission Viejo is thinking about applying for a dangerous civilian job in Afghanistan. And in California’s wine country, Kay Stephens, 56, is frantically looking to cut her living expenses so her unemployment doesn’t become a burden to her 30-year-old daughter. Schafer, Omar and Stephens are among the increasing number of unemployed Americans whose burdens just got heavier: They’ve exhausted their 99 weeks of jobless benefits and must now figure out how to get by on ever more meager resources…”

Quarter of children in Scotland in ‘persistent’ poverty, By Reevel Alderson, April 29, 2010, BBC News: “The Scottish government has been urged to change the way it tackles the problem of child poverty. A series of studies it has published reveals poverty may be more serious for many families than had been previously believed. Researchers with Growing Up in Scotland, who tracked the experiences of 8,000 families, said a quarter of children were ‘persistently poor’. They said government measures to deal with the problem needed to be targeted. Eradicating child poverty is a commitment of both the Westminster and Holyrood governments…”

• States decide on running new pools for insurance, By Robert Pear, April 29, 2010, New York Times: “The fight over the new health care law shifted Thursday to the states, as some governors claimed federal money to run a new insurance pool for people with serious medical problems, while officials in other states said they would not operate the program. Friday is the deadline for states to tell the Obama administration whether they want to run the high-risk insurance pool for uninsured people with pre-existing conditions, or whether they will leave the task to Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services…”
• New Colorado law to help insure 67,500 more, By Jennifer Brown, April 29, 2010, Denver Post: “Colorado can afford to add about 67,500 people to Medicaid and other government insurance next week, thanks to a new state law that requires hospitals to chip in toward the landmark initiative. Hospitals made their initial payments - and in return, received more state and federal cash to take care of needy patients - this month. The amount each hospital paid was worked out through a complicated formula that left some hospitals in the hole and others millions of dollars ahead of where they were before the new law. The state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing released a list of hospital winners and losers at The Denver Post’s request…”

• Townships stockpiling reserves intended for needy, By Joe Biesk and Elisabeth Martin, April 25, 2010, Southtown Star: “At a time when America is grappling with its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, township governments across the Southland have stockpiled hefty cash reserves in accounts intended to help the poor pay for basic necessities, a SouthtownStar analysis shows. Many Southland townships are paying more to administer their poor relief programs - funded almost exclusively from the local property tax - than they are to give the needy a hand. Others are sitting on large sums of money, in some cases topping more than $1 million, that they invest or save for future use instead of increasing benefits or returning it to taxpayers, the analysis found…”
• Townships use different methods to address needs of poor, By Elisabeth Martin and Joe Biesk, April 26, 2010, Southtown Star: “When homeowners in Frankfort Township open their property tax bills each year, there’s a big fat zero where their taxes for the township’s general assistance program normally would be. The township hasn’t collected taxes for the program in 20 years, and officials say they plan to keep it that way. Instead, needy residents who come to Frankfort Township for help get referrals to other programs that offer assistance and visits to the township’s food pantry. As a result, the township hasn’t had a client on its general assistance rolls for years…”

• Job training urged for ex-convicts in New Orleans, By Katie Urbaszewski, April 29, 2010, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “The Home Builders Institute isn’t satisfied with just the 400 New Orleanians — some young adults in low-income families and some residents from Central City housing projects — they’ve trained to find jobs in the construction industry and now wants to create a similar career training program for those recently released from prison. That was the topic of the institute’s meeting with the Rebuilding a Better New Orleans advisory council Wednesday, their fifth meeting to hear community input as the life of the institute’s grant nears its last month and they search for new funding. Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the nation, 48 percent above the national average, said Roger Grissom, New Orleans program development manager of the Home Builders Institute. One out of every 55 Louisiana residents is behind bars, according to a study of 2007 U.S. Census data by the Pew Center for the States…”
• Is state jobs program luring employers?, By Laylan Copelin, April 26, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is crisscrossing the state to promote his plan that pays employers with state tax dollars to hire unemployed Texans. He touts it as a way for the state to save money by getting people off unemployment and jump-starting a Texas economy that many fear could be in a long, slow recovery. ‘We’ve got to grow this locomotive called the Texas economy,’ Dewhurst said in February as he kicked off the $15 million program. He already is talking about extending the nascent program during next year’s legislative session, and the Texas Workforce Commission is trying to persuade federal officials to give it $50 million in stimulus money to triple the program’s size. The program pays employers $2,000 for each unemployed person they hire and retain for at least four months. As of Friday, 682 Texans had been hired by 421 employers statewide. In many instances, however, employers say the state is paying them to do what they would be doing anyway: filling crucial vacancies, expanding only when business conditions warrant or, in the case of high-turnover industries such as call centers, filling their constant roster of openings…”

Census matters, especially for rural counties, By William O’Hare, April 29, 2010, Daily Yonder: “We all have heard that results of the U.S. Census are used to determine how billions of dollars in federal grants and loans are distributed around the country. But how much does it matter? Who receives this funding? How much of this federal funding goes to rural areas? And which rural areas benefit most? We can begin to answer some of these questions thanks to some unique research conducted by the Brookings Institution, a non-profit non-partisan research group in Washington, D.C. Scholars there identified nearly $450 billion in federal grants, loans and direct payments that were distributed , in part, based on data from the U.S. Census. They made a special file available to us that shows how those funds were distributed to each county. Most (93%) of these federal funds came out of four program functions: health care (mostly Medicaid); transportation (such as highway planning and construction); income security (such as Section 8 Housing Vouchers); and education, training, employment, and social services (such as Special Education Grants to States). The information is available online here…”

• College courses for high schoolers, By Melissa B. Taboada, April 28, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “The Austin school district is trying to boost the academic performance and graduation and college-going rates of two struggling East Austin high schools by bringing college straight to the students. On Monday, trustees unanimously approved creating Early College High Schools at Reagan and LBJ. The free program would blend high school and college curricula and allow students to earn up to 60 hours of college credit as they work toward their high school diplomas. The idea is not new. Schools often target high-achieving or college-ready juniors and seniors to take dual credit courses and earn up to 30 hours of college credit…”
• Colorado high schoolers going forth with a state-paid fifth year, By Allison Sherry, April 14, 2010, Denver Post: “Almost 300 Colorado high school seniors are eligible for a state-paid year of college this fall - a policy garnering attention from the nation’s capital as a model to push poor kids to higher education. Colorado’s ‘fifth-year’ program allows seniors to elect to have high schools withhold their diplomas for a year so they can go to college on the state’s dime. State education leaders aren’t yet sure how many students will take advantage of the program, estimated to cost about $1.7 million this year. Participating students, who must have at least 12 college credits by the spring of their senior year to be eligible, can go to any public college in Colorado, as long as the high school sets it up. Previously, high schoolers could get some college credit through advanced courses, but the fifth-year program expands the opportunity to far more students…”

Paid sick leave pushed for low-income workers, By Tony Pugh, April 27, 2010, Miami Herald: “Fresh off passage of a sweeping health care overhaul, the Obama administration is supporting legislation to provide mandatory paid sick leave for more than 30 million additional workers, who are some of nation’s lowest-paid employees. The Healthy Families Act, sponsored by Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, both Democrats from Connecticut, would require companies that have 15 or more employees to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked or up to seven sick days a year for a full-time worker. Both bills - HR 2460/S1152 - are stuck in committee and haven’t yet faced a vote. In fact, most legislative action has come at the state and municipal level. In recent years, California, Ohio, Maine and New Jersey have considered bills requiring paid sick leave. San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have passed laws that require it for private-sector employees. New York City is debating a similar measure…”

Many low-wage workers eligible for unemployment benefits aren’t receiving them, By Jackie Headapohl, April 26, 2010, MLive.com: “A new University of Michigan study suggests that provisions in the economic stimulus fall short of helping low-wage and part-time workers receive unemployment benefits, even when they qualify. The Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided a pool of $7 billion for states that adopted measures to increase eligibility for unemployment insurance. These measures included allowing workers to include recent earnings in their eligibility calculations, expanding eligibility to those who quit for ‘compelling family reasons’ such as domestic violence and enhancing eligibility of part-time workers. A new University of Michigan study suggests that provisions in the economic stimulus fall short of helping low-wage and part-time workers receive unemployment benefits, even when they qualify…”

• State hopes for more Medicaid aid, By Catherine Candisky and Jonathan Riskind, April 26, 2010, Columbus Dispatch: “Ohio officials are pushing hard for federal aid that could pump $750 million more into the state’s Medicaid program next year, money that would help maintain health-care services to the poor and disabled. The call for more relief comes as Medicaid caseloads continue to climb and state officials face gaping budget shortfalls…”
• $1 billion in federal health aid - with a hitch, By Warren Wolfe, April 26, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Two leading DFL legislators proposed Monday that Minnesota expand Medicaid to cover health care for 37,000 or more low-income residents within months. They want to take advantage of a special provision of the new federal health care law that could send tens of millions of dollars to the state. The hitch: Minnesota would have to put up half the money — about $1 billion over three years — an idea that Gov. Tim Pawlenty and many Republican legislators are sure to oppose because of the state’s budget squeeze…”
• Despite health care reform, uninsured Central New Yorkers turn to clinics, By James T. Mulder, April 26, 2010, Syracuse Post-Standard: “Tim Durley did not worry about being uninsured until he got sick a year ago. The 32-year-old Syracuse man was working as a cook at a DeWitt restaurant. He had lost 77 pounds, was vomiting frequently, felt tired all the time and was experiencing vision problems. ‘I knew there was something wrong with me,’ Durley said. ‘I was really scared.’ The restaurant didn’t offer health insurance benefits. Durley made too much money to qualify for government health insurance programs, but could not afford private insurance. So he went to Amaus Health Services, a free health clinic in downtown Syracuse…”
• Who will switch health coverage?, By Maureen Groppe, April 26, 2010, Indianapolis Star: “Gov. Mitch Daniels has made an eye-popping prediction about the impact of the new health-care overhaul law on Indiana’s Medicaid rolls. Daniels said the state’s actuary determined that Medicaid enrollment will increase by almost 50 percent, resulting in nearly one in four Hoosiers getting coverage through the joint state and federal health program for the poor. The state’s projections are much higher than the 27.5 percent increase that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected nationally for Medicaid. And Indiana’s increase should be smaller, not larger, than the national growth because a smaller share of the state’s poor population lacks coverage…”
• With expanded coverage for the poor, fears of a big headache, By Roni Caryn Rabin, April 26, 2010, New York Times: “Of all the changes wrought by the new health care law, none is more sweeping than the transformation of Medicaid - from the government’s health insurance plan for poor families into a much wider program for millions of the poorest Americans who cannot afford insurance on their own. ‘Medicaid is finally living up to its role of serving as the health care safety net for poor and lower-income individuals and families,’ said Jennifer Tolbert, principal policy analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured…”
• Are there enough docs for the newly insured?, By Daniel C. Vock, April 27, 2010, Stateline.org: “After Massachusetts started rolling out its 2006 law to ensure that nearly every one of its residents had health insurance, the sudden influx of newly insured patients created long waits to see primary care doctors. Now, physicians worry the entire country could see the same thing happen when the recently passed national health law takes full effect in 2014. Even before President Obama signed the health bill, there already was a shortage of primary care physicians, who usually are the first person a patient goes to for treatment. These generalists - usually family physicians and internists (who focus on adults) - are dwindling in number, as older doctors retire and younger medical students opt for more lucrative specialty fields. A surge of as many as 32 million new patients - many of whom are poor and haven’t seen a doctor in a long time - could make the scarcity even worse…”

DFLers challenge Pawlenty’s proposed welfare cuts, By Madeleine Baran, April 27, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: “DFL legislators in the House appear poised to challenge Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s proposed cuts to the state’s welfare programs. A budget proposal released Monday by Rep. Thomas Huntley, DFL-Duluth, contains few of the cuts that the governor proposed earlier this year. Huntley chairs the House Health and Human Services committee and said his budget prioritizes the needs of the poorest Minnesotans. ‘We tried to minimize the cuts, so that we would not destroy institutions that we’re going to need for the next three years when the economy gets better, but we do have some serious cuts,’ Huntley said. Earlier this year, the governor had proposed cuts to the Minnesota Family Investment Program, a welfare program for families. The cuts would mean that most families with a disabled parent or child would lose their cash grants. Huntley’s budget does not include these cuts, although it does include other changes to the program…”

• Count of Dallas County homeless finds fewer living on the streets long-term, By Kim Horner, April 26, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Homelessness in Dallas County increased 1 percent - to 5,750 - during another year of difficult economic times, according to a new survey by the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance. But the annual count, conducted Jan. 28, showed major progress in the city’s efforts to combat long-term homelessness among those with mental illnesses and addictions. The number of people considered chronically homeless dropped 14 percent. And the number of families on the street also dropped. ‘We’re trying to end chronic homelessness, and we got that number to go down significantly this year,’ said Mike Rawlings, a businessman who serves as Dallas’ homeless czar. He attributed the success to new permanent supportive housing programs that provide apartments and services, such as mental health care…”
• Honolulu homeless move tents onto sidewalks in legal loophole, By Mary Vorsino, April 24, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “In the wake of a ban on tents in city parks that police started enforcing Monday, more homeless appear to be setting up camp on sidewalks - something the city says is legal as long as they don’t block pedestrian traffic. Yesterday, several advocates and urban Honolulu residents said they had noticed more people living in tents or makeshift shelters on sidewalks recently. But advocates also pointed out that the ban prompted a good number of people to move into homeless shelters or to get on waiting lists for shelters…”

Flaws found in state child-abuse registries, By David Crary (AP), April 25, 2010, Miami Herald: “Combatting child abuse is a cause with universal support. Yet a push to create a national database of abusers, as authorized by Congress in 2006, is barely progressing as serious flaws come to light in the state-level registries that would be the basis for a national list. In North Carolina, an appeals court ruled last month that the registry there is unconstitutional because alleged abusers had no chance to defend themselves before being listed. In New York, a class-action settlement is taking effect on behalf of thousands of people who were improperly denied the chance for a hearing to get removed from the state registry. And the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case this fall arising from the plight of a California couple whose names remain on that state’s registry years after they were cleared of an abuse allegation made by their rebellious teenage daughter…”

• Women still earn less than men, but gap narrows, By Ruth Mantell, April 21, 2010, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Decades after women entered the labor force en masse, pay disparity between genders has fallen but not disappeared, according to a report from the Labor Department. For the first quarter of this year women had median usual weekly earnings of $665, or almost 79 percent of the $844 that men earned, according to the study released Tuesday, which was Equal Pay Day. In the first quarter of 2000, women earned about 76 percent of men’s income. ‘Not only has the education gap between men and women narrowed, but labor market experience has narrowed because women have been working more and more, and more consistently,’ said Harry Holzer, an economist at Georgetown University and the Urban Institute…”
• Census says women equal to men in advanced degrees, By Hope Yen (AP), April 20, 2010, Washington Post: “Women are now just as likely as men to have completed college and to hold an advanced degree, part of an accelerating trend of educational gains that have shielded women from recent job losses. Yet they continue to lag behind men in pay. Among adults 25 and older, 29 percent of women in the U.S. have at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 30 percent of men, according to 2009 census figures released Tuesday. Measured by raw numbers, women already surpass men in undergraduate degrees by roughly 1.2 million…”

• Legislation would allow food stamps to be used at farmer’s markets, By Stephen Rickerl, April 26, 2010, The Southern: “Proposed legislation seeks to make locally grown fresh produce and meats available to food stamp recipients. House Bill 4756 introduced by state Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, would create the Farmer’s Market Technology Improvement Act, which would create a fund to assist vendors at USDA approved farmer’s markets in purchasing equipment needed to process Electronic Debit Transfers. The equipment is necessary to process electronic debits because recipients receive their food assistance in the form of a LINK card, which is used to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to increase access to fresh foods by SNAP recipients…”
• Farmers markets run by city of Chicago will start accepting food stamp cards, By Monica Eng, April 19, 2010, Chicago Tribune: “If you want to buy a meal of doughnuts, chips and soda with food stamp benefits, you’ll have no problem in Chicago. But if you want to use them for fresh fruits and vegetables at a farmers market, it’s been impossible. That’s about to change. In a pilot program announced Monday by the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, five city-run farmers markets - Lincoln Square, South Shore Bank, Daley Plaza, Division Street and Beverly - will accept LINK cards, Illinois’ debit cards for food stamp purchases…”
• Farmers market to take food stamps, By Anna Webb, April 19, 2010, Idaho Statesman: “A certain cliche hounds farmers markets: that they serve an affluent clientele willing to pay high prices for arugula and artisanal cheeses. But last year, growers at one Capital City booth - Global Gardens, a community garden project run by the Idaho Office for Refugees - started quietly undermining that idea by accepting food stamps at their produce booth. The idea caught on, and this year most produce booths at the market will be food stamp accessible, said Katie Painter, refugee agriculture coordinator with the agency. Though the market opens Saturday, the EBT, or ‘electronic benefits transfer’ machines, will be up and running June 5, just as harvest season is picking up. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare staff has actively recruited Idaho farmers markets to accept food stamps. Seven markets across Idaho have tentatively signed on, said Health and Welfare spokeswoman Emily Simnitt. A record number of Idahoans are using food stamps - 180,000 in the most recent count, an increase of 106 percent in the last two years…”

Food bank workers are helping Texas ease its backlog of food stamp applications, By Robert T. Garrett, April 25, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Last year, food banks had to step up to help hundreds of families when the recession and a meltdown of Texas’ food stamp application process caused them to miss out on months’ worth of benefits. Now, food banks and pantries in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio are doing it again as the state works, under federal orders, to reduce backlogs and improve service at the offices where it determines if Texans are eligible for aid. The need is still evident. Hungry, desperate people are flocking daily to Metrocrest Social Services, a food pantry in Carrollton’s central business district…”

• Many Americans struggling with rising rental housing costs, By Tony Pugh, April 21, 2010, Miami Herald: “The gap between the cost of renting a modest apartment and the wages of working families continues to widen, according to a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. ‘Out of Reach 2010′ paints a gloomy picture for the nation’s nearly 38 million renters, who make up a third of U.S. households. On average, a family must earn $38,355 a year, $18.44 an hour, to afford a simple two-bedroom apartment at the 2010 national average fair market rent of $959. However, the average wage for U.S. renters is $14.44 an hour, down from $14.69 last year. Further, more than 60 percent of U.S. renters live in counties where even the average one-bedroom fair market rent of $805 isn’t affordable for average wage earners, the study found. Minimum wage earners are at the greatest disadvantage. Under the standard measure of affordability - housing costs should account for no more than 30 percent of income - full-time minimum wage earners can’t afford one-bedroom apartments in any county in the country, even though Congress hiked the minimum wage from $6.55 an hour to $7.25 last year…”
• Some renters in Utah are still struggling, By Lesley Mitchell, April 21, 2010, Salt Lake Tribune: “After years of hefty rental increases, rates are stabilizing and in some areas falling. But affordable-housing advocates say rents are still too high for many low- to moderate-income families. The general rule is that housing costs — either in the form of rent or a mortgage — shouldn’t account for more than 30 percent of a family’s income, leaving enough money for food and other necessities. ‘But in Utah, there are many families paying more than 50 percent,’ said Tara Rollins of the Utah Housing Coalition. The coalition on Wednesday released “Out of Reach,” a report that compares incomes in the state with rental rates. It shows that a person or family would have to earn $2,560 monthly, or about $30,700 annually, to afford a two-bedroom apartment that runs $768 per month — without paying out more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Rollins said many don’t make that much money but still pay that level of rent…”
• Hawaii rents, already least affordable in nation, get worse, By Mary Vorsino, April 22, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “At a time when Hawai’i families are weathering pay cuts and job losses, here’s more gloomy news: The income needed to afford a modest two-bedroom rental in the Islands rose by nearly $3,000 this year to $64,396 annually - $26,000 more than the national average, a report on housing affordability shows. The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2010 Out of Reach study, which was released yesterday, again ranks Hawai’i as the least affordable state in the nation for renters - a spot it has held since 2005. The study puts Hawai’i’s ‘housing wage,’ a calculation of the minimum hourly pay needed to rent a two-bedroom home, at $30.96 in 2010, up from $29.53 (or $61,428 annually) the year before. Those figures are based on fair market rents, which in 2010 rose to $1,610 a month for a two-bedroom in the Islands, up from $1,536 a month the year before…”

Lead poisoning, a stubborn nemesis, By Mireya Navarro, April 21, 2010, New York Times: “Nothing prepared Veronica Rodriguez for the call she got from a New York City health official last October. A blood sample taken from her 2 1/2-year-old son, Carlos Espinoza, had revealed more than double the level of lead that the federal government considers cause for concern about poisoning. ‘I was horrified,’ said Ms. Rodriguez, 26, who lives on Staten Island and vaguely recalls having heard routine prevention messages about the dangers of lead in the home. ‘I thought, oh my God, my boy is very sick.’ Lead poisoning among young children, which can cause learning and behavior problems, has decreased so sharply in recent decades that it is tempting to consider it a problem of the past. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was so confident about the decline in childhood lead poisoning that it set a goal of 2010 for eliminating it. But federal health officials now say eradication may still be years away because hazards remain in often poor urban pockets - mostly from old, badly maintained housing with lead-based paint…”

Florida Medicaid overhaul dies, By Jim Saunders, April 26, 2010, Miami Herald: “With differences remaining between the House and Senate — and a possible veto by Gov. Charlie Crist looming — an overhaul of Florida’s Medicaid system will not pass this year, legislative leaders said Sunday. ‘It looks like major reform isn’t going to happen this year,’ said Rep. Dean Cannon, a Winter Park Republican who has been a House leader on the issue. Cannon and House Health Care Appropriations Chairwoman Denise Grimsley, R-Lake Placid, said they expect to bring back the issue during the 2011 legislative session. The House proposed a sweeping plan that gradually would have led to almost all Medicaid recipients enrolling in managed-care plans, while the Senate proposed a smaller expansion of a pilot managed-care program. ‘I really think that what we did is good policy,’ Grimsley said. ‘But at the end of the day, if we don’t pass it this year, the sun will still rise on May 1 (the day after the legislative session ends).’ Cannon pointed to differences between the House and Senate as the main reason that a Medicaid overhaul will not pass. But Senate Ways and Means Chairman JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said aides to Crist made clear that the governor did not like parts of the House proposal and likely would veto it…”

Micro-lender bringing his vision of helping the poor to D.C., By Jonathan O’Connell, April 19, 2010, Washington Post: “In 1976, Muhammad Yunus began making loans of a dollar or less to poor farmers and textile makers in his native Bangladesh. Thirty years later, he and the nonprofit micro-lender he founded, Grameen Bank, shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. To date, Grameen has lent more than $9 billion to more than 8 million borrowers, almost all in Bangladesh. Now Yunus plans to bring low-interest credit to the poor and unemployed in Washington. Grameen America, a U.S. offshoot, is already lending in Queens and Brooklyn, N.Y., and Omaha and has lent to more than 2,500 American borrowers. Yunus says that although the United States is one of the wealthiest places in the world, the need for small, low-cost loans is evident in the number of Americans coming to Grameen to borrow money…”

Minn. could join other states in cutting welfare programs for single adults, By Madeleine Baran, April 23, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: “When Freddy Toran started going blind, he said he considered himself lucky to be living in Minnesota. Toran had moved to the state after he lost his job at a steelworker in Missouri six years ago. He found work as a baker in Minneapolis, but his vision started to fail. Within a few years, he was diagnosed with glaucoma, lost his job and ended up homeless. ‘From something to nothing in like overnight, that do hurt a person,’ Toran said. Out of work, broke and disabled, Toran, 49, headed to the Hennepin County welfare office, where he learned he could receive $203 a month from a state program known as General Assistance. Disabled and sick adults without children are eligible for the payments. Toran said he was surprised to learn of the program. His home state, Missouri, didn’t have anything like it. ‘We are blessed to have what we have here in Minnesota,’ he said on a recent afternoon at his new one-room apartment. The building sits next to the freeway near downtown Minneapolis, with a view of the shelter where Toran used to sleep. But Toran worries he could end up homeless again if the legislature approves Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s welfare cuts. In February, the governor proposed eliminating General Assistance, which covers about 19,000 Minnesotans…”

Arizona lawmakers may revive KidsCare program, By Mary Jo Pitzl, April 22, 2010, Arizona Republic: “Buoyed by the prospect of federal dollars, the state Legislature is poised to reinstate a health-care program for children that it axed just six weeks ago. The House Health Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to direct $9 million to the KidsCare program, which under current law is due to expire on June 15. If approved by the full Legislature, the program would continue, but its reach would be limited - an enrollment freeze that’s been in place since December would remain. The money would come from the state’s general fund. Senate Bill 1403 also restores up to 310,000 single adults to the state’s Medicaid program, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, if additional federal stimulus dollars arrive. Arizona expects about $435.5 million from the stimulus, which is tied to a jobs bill expected to get to President Obama’s desk within the next few weeks…”

• Deal on state health coverage for the poor is unraveling, By Tom Scheck, April 21, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: “It looks like the deal to continue state-paid health care for Minnesota’s poorest residents is unraveling. The Hennepin County Board has rejected a contract with the state to have Hennepin County Medical Center take part in a new version of General Assistance Medical Care. Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin said HCMC initially applied to treat the state’s poorest residents, but that was under the assumption that 16 other hospitals would also join in. To date, only five hospitals have applied, prompting concern that more and more GAMC patients would show up at HCMC for medical treatment…”
• HCMC could undo health care plan for poor, By Warren Wolfe, April 22, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “A delicate compromise to continue health coverage for about 37,000 poor Minnesotans, hammered out last month between DFL leaders and Gov. Tim Pawlenty, suffered a major blow Tuesday when Hennepin County commissioners rejected the state’s terms. While they didn’t rule out participation by their hospital, Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), commissioners said they need a better deal for taking on 10,000 or so poor patients in the revamped General Assistance Medical Care program, scheduled to start June 1. Without participation by HCMC, the biggest provider for these patients, the new program might fail. At least one other hospital said Wednesday that it would back out if Hennepin County does, and several outstate hospitals said last week they will not participate…”

Japan tries to face up to growing poverty problem, By Martin Fackler, April 21, 2010, New York Times: “Satomi Sato, a 51-year-old widow, knew she had it tough, raising a teenage daughter on the less than $17,000 a year she earned from two jobs. Still, she was surprised last autumn when the government announced for the first time an official poverty line - and she was below it. ‘I don’t want to use the word poverty, but I’m definitely poor,’ said Ms. Sato, who works mornings making boxed lunches and afternoons delivering newspapers. ‘Poverty is still a very unfamiliar word in Japan.’ After years of economic stagnation and widening income disparities, this once proudly egalitarian nation is belatedly waking up to the fact that it has a large and growing number of poor people. The Labor Ministry’s disclosure in October that almost one in six Japanese, or 20 million people, lived in poverty in 2007 stunned the nation and ignited a debate over possible remedies that has raged ever since…”

• Districts warn of deeper teacher cuts, By Tamar Lewin and Sam Dillon, April 20, 2010, New York Times: “School districts around the country, forced to resort to drastic money-saving measures, are warning hundreds of thousands of teachers that their jobs may be eliminated in June. The districts have no choice, they say, because their usual sources of revenue - state money and local property taxes - have been hit hard by the recession. In addition, federal stimulus money earmarked for education has been mostly used up this year. As a result, the 2010-11 school term is shaping up as one of the most austere in the last half century. In addition to teacher layoffs, districts are planning to close schools, cut programs, enlarge classes and shorten the school day, week or year to save money…”
• Schools in New Jersey plan heavy cuts after voters reject most budgets, By Winnie Hu, April 21, 2010, New York Times: “School officials across New Jersey said on Wednesday that they would most likely have to lay off hundreds of teachers, increase class sizes, eliminate sports teams and Advanced Placement classes, cut kindergarten hours and take other radical steps to reduce spending after 58 percent of districts’ budgets were rejected by voters on Tuesday, the most in at least 35 years. Residents went to the polls in record numbers for the normally low-profile school-budget elections, and rejected 316 of the 541 budgets on the ballot. They were angered by higher property taxes that were sought to make up for unusually large state aid reductions proposed by Gov. Christopher J. Christie, along with resentment toward teachers’ unions for not agreeing to wage freezes or concessions…”

• Handing out money to stave off homelessness, By Peter S. Goodman, April 19, 2010, New York Times: “Two years into a merciless downward spiral, Antonio Moore was threatened with living on the street. He had lost his $75,000-a-year job as a mortgage consultant, his three-bedroom house with a Jacuzzi, his Lexus sedan. He could no longer pay even the rent on his cramped studio apartment - not on his $10-an-hour part-time job as a fry cook at a fast food restaurant. Faced with eviction, he was staring last month at the imminent prospect of joining the teeming ranks of the homeless. His last hope was a new $1.5 billion federal program aimed at preventing that fate. Within days of applying, a check for $775 was on its way to Mr. Moore’s landlord, enabling him to stay - at least for now. Much like the Great Depression, when millions of previously working people came to rely on a new social safety net for their sustenance, a swelling group of formerly middle-class Americans like Mr. Moore, 30, is seeking government aid for the first time. Without help, say economists, many are at risk of slipping permanently into poverty, even as economic conditions improve…”
• Homeless families in motels decline, By Nancy H. Gonter, April 18, 2010, Springfield Republican: “State statistics show the number of homeless families living in motels across the commonwealth has declined over the past two months, but it is still costing close to $2 million a month to provide them places to live. State and regional leaders in the efforts to address homelessness say a continuing need for more ‘affordable housing’ to provide these families a new start remains at the root of the problem. And, they caution that the stagnant economy and expectations for state budget reductions threaten to force even more families onto the streets in the months ahead…”

Benefit for uninsured may still pose hurdle, By Roni Caryn Rabin, April 19, 2010, New York Times: “William Mann of Pittsburgh earns just enough to get by. He is 46, doesn’t own a car, hasn’t taken a vacation in three years and hasn’t had health insurance for most of his adult life. He is just the kind of person who should benefit from the health care overhaul, and he is, in fact, eligible for heavily subsidized insurance that will cost him an estimated $1,845 a year, while the government contributes about $2,756. But Mr. Mann says he still can’t afford it. He lives too close to the edge, and won’t be buying insurance, even though he will face a fine under a provision called the individual mandate, which penalizes most Americans who don’t buy coverage starting in 2014. The requirement is one of the most controversial aspects of the overhaul…”

Health bill taps into states’ Medicaid funds, By Christopher Weaver, April 21, 2010, National Public Radio: “The new health care law could shift billions of dollars from cash-strapped states to the federal government by changing the way Medicaid prescription drug rebates are treated, according to state and industry officials and an examination of Medicaid spending data. Democrats included a provision in the health law designed to raise $38 billion over 10 years by requiring greater discounts from drugmakers selling to Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for people with low incomes. Previously, the rebates were divided between the states and the federal government. Under the law, a significant portion of the rebates will go solely to Washington beginning this year…”

A state with plenty of jobs but few places to live, By Monica Davey, April 20, 2010, New York Times: “When Joey Scott arrived here recently from Montana, he had no trouble finding work - he signed almost immediately with a company working to drill in the oil fields. But finding housing was another matter. Every motel in town was booked, some for months in advance. Every apartment complex, even every mobile home park, had a waiting list. Mr. Scott found himself sleeping in his pickup truck in the Wal-Mart parking lot, shaving and washing his hair in a puddle of melted snow. ‘I’ve got a pocketful of money, but I just can’t find a room,’ said Mr. Scott, 25. North Dakota has a novel problem: plenty of jobs, but nowhere to put the people who hold them…”

• Medicaid measure clears Florida House, By Marc Caputo, April 20, 2010, Miami Herald: “Large HMOs will have more power than ever in Florida’s growing Medicaid program under a major health-reform package that cleared the House on Monday. The goals are lofty: Stop rampant fraud, reduce skyrocketing costs and improve healthcare for the almost 2.8 million poor, elderly and catastrophically sick Floridians served by Medicaid. The success of the bill hinges on the philosophy that private companies do a better job managing public health benefits than the government or individual Medicaid providers, who see patients on a pay-as-you go basis in what is known as a ‘fee for service’ system. By largely ending fee-for-service, the proposal so fundamentally changes Medicaid that almost every lobby — hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, homes for the developmentally disabled, pharmacists — has voiced concerns…”
• Fla. House ignores own analysts who warn of pushing elderly to managed care, By Stephen Nohlgren, April 20, 2010, St. Petersburg Times: “Elderly Floridians who want to stay out of nursing homes would be forced into managed care under two bills passed Monday by the House in an effort to pare Medicaid costs. But the Legislature’s own policy analysts suggest that managed care may be more expensive for frail older people, based on the track record of HMOs. A recent report examined a managed care program that provides home health care, housekeeping and many other at-home services, as well as assisted living when necessary. It did keep people out of nursing homes but was more expensive than two traditional programs, run by not-for-profit agencies, that cover the same services. The state could save by beefing up the traditional programs, the analysts said. The House bills would do just the opposite - wiping out the traditional programs and putting elderly clients into managed care…”

Aid programs cut as child poverty rises, By Larry Cow, April 18, 2010, Citizen of Laconia: “Helping children out of poverty isn’t just a feel-good measure, it’s an investment, according to Dean Crocker, the president of the Maine Children’s Alliance. The need for investment - from government and private sources - is growing. According to the 2010 Maine Kids Count Report, compiled by the Maine Children’s Alliance and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, child poverty in the state continues to rise. Combating child poverty is ‘a critical investment in the economy,’ Crocker said. ‘We just need everyone to understand that.’ According to the report, which tracked trends in 2008, the number of pre-school aged children living in households below the poverty threshold was at 21.8 percent in 2008, up from 19.4 percent the previous year. Meanwhile, the national rate for children under 5 living in poverty is at 21.2 percent. The federal poverty level for a two-parent family of four was $21,834 for 2008; families earning less are identified as living in poverty. The report also found that 38 percent of children in the state live in a low-income household, defined as a family that makes less than twice the federal poverty threshold. In New Hampshire, 9 percent of children were identified as living in poverty according to that state’s 2009 Kids Count, the latest available. New Granite State data is due to be published later this year…”

Out at home: Teenage homelessness on the rise, By Paul Levy, April 19, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Suddenly, homeless teenagers are all over the Twin Cities — cities and suburbs alike — sleeping in port-a-potties and cars, camping under bridges or riding buses all night. ‘Part of it is the economy, but we’re also doing a better job of identifying who is homeless,’ said Karrie Schaaf, considered a state expert on youth homelessness in the metro area. ‘And now that times are hard economically, they’re coming out of the woodwork.’ Some are children of economically stressed families that have been forced to double up with other families; they simply don’t have room to house older kids, said Schaaf, youth director for the Emma B. Howe Family YMCA in Coon Rapids. Others were evicted from their homes on their 18th birthdays by struggling families facing foreclosure, said Judy Johnson, housing supervisor in Anoka County. In Minnesota, the number of 18- to 21-year-olds in shelters more than doubled in the past three years, rising from 455 in 2006 to 987 last October, the Minnesota Department of Human Services said. In Anoka County, the homeless 18-21 population doubled in the past year alone, according to a January survey…”

• New figure for poor: 372m, By Chetan Chauhan, April 18, 2010, Hindustan Times: “As many as 372 million Indians will be categorised as poor in the proposed National Food Security Act, the Planning Commission said on Saturday. It would mean that additional 97 million people would get subsidised food grains, once the proposed law is implemented, increasing the government’s food subsidy bill by around Rs 20,000 crore, to Rs 75,000 crore. The proposed law guarantees 25 kg of food grains only to below poverty line families. As of now, 275 million poor Indians get up to 35 kg in subsidised food grains from the government-run fair price shops…”
• 37.2 per cent of population BPL, 10 crore families to get food security, By P Vaidyanathan Iyer, April 18, 2010, Indian Express: “For purposes of food security, the Planning Commission today finally accepted that the number of people living below the poverty line in India is 37.2 per cent of the total population. The Plan panel, mandated by the empowered group of ministers chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to finalise the BPL numbers, will now meet the secretaries of food and expenditure on Tuesday to calculate the cost of providing food security to so many poor. The 37.2 per cent poverty line (that works out to 40.71 crore for 2004-05) is based on the methodology recommended by the Suresh Tendulkar committee that submitted its report to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in December 2009. The report is yet to be officially accepted by the Plan panel…”

Despite billions in U.S. aid, Colombia struggles to reduce poverty, By Juan Forero, April 19, 2010, Washington Post: “Eight years after President Álvaro Uribe took office and began harnessing billions in U.S. aid dollars to pummel Marxist guerrillas, Colombia is safer for this country’s 45 million people and for the foreign investors who have flocked here. But stubbornly high levels of poverty expose a harsh reality: Despite better security and strong economic growth, Colombia has been unable to significantly alleviate the misery that helps fuel a 46-year-old conflict and the drug trafficking behind it. What social scientists here call lackluster results in fighting poverty have become a campaign issue ahead of May elections, in which Colombian voters will elect a president to succeed Uribe, Washington’s closest ally on the continent. Unless a 43 percent poverty rate can be steadily reduced, experts on the conflict contend, Colombia could regress even as the United States continues to provide military assistance…”

• State’s unemployment rate hits record in March, By Cy Ryan, April 16, 2010, Las Vegas Sun: “The jobless rate in Nevada hit a record high of 13.4 percent in March, the 15th consecutive month of double digit unemployment. The jobless rate in the Las Vegas area, however, declined from 13.9 to 13.8 percent, but it also was the 15th straight month of double digit numbers…”
• R.I. jobless rate dips slightly in March, By Cynthia Needham, April 16, 2010, Providence Journal: “For the first time in nearly four years, Rhode Island’s monthly jobless rate inched down ever so slightly to 12.6 percent in March, while local businesses saw modest hiring gains, the state planned to announce Friday. But economists warn that the numbers may be misleading. For one thing, the rates are based on monthly surveys that were conducted several weeks before the flooding that temporarily swallowed thousands of jobs across the state. Meanwhile, the small uptick in hiring is likely due to part-time U.S. Census jobs that will only last a few months…”
• Florida’s jobless rate hits record 12.3 percent, By Kelli Kennedy (AP), April 16, 2010, Miami Herald: “Gary Salloum has sent out close to 300 resumes since losing his job as a civil designer in 2008. He’s even applied to be a stock boy at a grocery store. With a job history that ranges from being a machinist to working in a restaurant, 53-year-old Salloum says it’s hard to believe he’s one of more than 1.1 million jobless Floridians. Unemployment hit a record high at 12.3 percent in March, making it the second straight record-setting month since the state began tracking it in 1970, according to figures released Friday…”

N.J. advocates for poor, disabled question Gov. Chris Christie’s budget cuts, By Susan K. Livio, April 15, 2010, Star-Ledger: “With millions of dollars in proposed cuts to health care, housing and public assistance programs, Democratic lawmakers and advocates for poor and disabled people today questioned Gov. Chris Christie’s contention that his budget represents “shared sacrifice” for all state residents. Democratic members of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee pressed Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez to defend reductions in what they called key safety net programs. Those cuts include saving $15.3 million by taking the entire monthly disability check provided to developmentally disabled people; eliminating the $200 monthly check to spouses of permanently disabled partners to save $6.7 million; and saving another $1.8 million by halving the $1,000 grant that allows grandparents raising grandchildren one-time expenses like furniture and moving costs…”

Senate passes payday loan regulations, no rate cap, By Scott Bauer (AP), April 13, 2010, Oshkosh Northwestern: “The payday loan industry would be regulated for the first time in Wisconsin under a bill that passed the state Senate on Tuesday. However, there still would be no limit on the interest that could be charged on the loans primarily given to the working poor. Advocates for the poor, as well as a bipartisan group of state senators, pushed for a 36 percent annual rate cap as a way to stop people from being charged high interest rates and getting trapped in a cycle of debt…”

Report: Poor pay higher state tax share, By Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino, April 14, 2010, San Bernadino County Sun: “California’s poorest residents cough up a higher share of their income to fund the state services than those in the highest income bracket. And as tardy taxpayers face today’s deadline for submitting state and federal income tax forms, the poor have also run headlong into California’s economic problems. ‘It’s a good-news, bad-news situation,’ said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, whose report released this week outlined the inequities of taxation in California. ‘In the name of helping the economy, the federal government has lowered taxes to targeted groups, such as families with children. State had to balance its budget so it increased the taxes. It can’t ‘deficit-spend’ like the feds.’ The state’s decision to increase tax liability has especially hit hardest at the poorest 20 percent of California families…”

State, patients, doctors like new Medicaid drug plan, By Catherine Candisky, April 14, 2010, Columbus Dispatch: “When the state took back control of Medicaid’s prescription-drug program last year, there was a lot of talk about how the move would save millions. It has. But it’s also making it easier for patients to get the medications they need. An analysis by the Ohio Coalition for Patient Rights found that Medicaid patients have improved access to ‘quality and appropriate’ treatments and medications…”

• Florida Medicaid overhaul heads to the House floor, By Bill Kaczor (AP), April 15, 2010, Miami Herald: “The Florida House set the stage Thursday for a vote next week on a massive overhaul of Florida’s Medicaid system, adopting a series of amendments with relatively little disagreement or partisan wrangling. The House began floor action on a pair of bills (HB 7223, HB 7225) that would put most Medicaid recipients in all 67 counties into privately operated managed care plans over the next five years, a move aimed at cutting rapidly rising costs and curtailing fraud…”
• House bill would turn Medicaid into managed care, By Gary Pinnell, April 16, 2010, Highlands Today: “Two bills approved Monday by the House Policy Council on Strategic and Economic Planning could privatize Medicare in every Florida county, saving Florida billions of dollars. HB 7223, co-written by Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Lake Placid, would change from a fee-for-care system, in which more than 2.7 million patients are treated by a caregiver who bills the state. Moreover, Florida’s Medicaid could enroll more than a million new participants under the new federal health care bill. The new PSN will use a combination of federal and state taxpayer funds to provide free health care for the eligible population…”

Banks making big profits from tiny loans, By Neil MacFarquhar, April 13, 2010, New York Times: “In recent years, the idea of giving small loans to poor people became the darling of the development world, hailed as the long elusive formula to propel even the most destitute into better lives. Actors like Natalie Portman and Michael Douglas lent their boldface names to the cause. Muhammad Yunus, the economist who pioneered the practice by lending small amounts to basket weavers in Bangladesh, won a Nobel Peace Prize for it in 2006. The idea even got its very own United Nations year in 2005. But the phenomenon has grown so popular that some of its biggest proponents are now wringing their hands over the direction it has taken. Drawn by the prospect of hefty profits from even the smallest of loans, a raft of banks and financial institutions now dominate the field, with some charging interest rates of 100 percent or more…”

City is urged to evaluate foster care, By Julis Bosman, April 14, 2010, New York Times: “At 21, a young person in foster care in New York is officially out of the child welfare system. Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, said Wednesday that the government’s involvement should not stop there. In legislation introduced before the City Council, Mr. de Blasio said the city should collect data on former foster children to understand what happens to them once they are out of the city’s care. ‘Too often, young adults who grow up in the city’s foster care system slip through the cracks,’ Mr. de Blasio said. ‘Until we can evaluate what happens to the hundreds of young people who leave foster care each year, we will not know if we are putting them on the path to success or creating a generation of disconnected youth stuck in poverty…’”

Plan would require homeless to work to qualify for rent subsidies, By Julie Bosman, April 13, 2010, New York Times: “The Bloomberg administration is planning to require more homeless families to get jobs in order to qualify for rent subsidies, city officials said Tuesday. For the last three years, the city had provided certain homeless families with vouchers good for one or two years of free or steeply discounted rent. Since the program began, more than 18,000 families, and some single adults, have received the so-called Advantage vouchers, more than 7,500 of them last year. Most of those families qualified for the vouchers because they had already found work, and as a result were eligible to pay only $50 toward their rent each month for up to two years. But families who had become the subject of child welfare investigations were granted an even-more-generous voucher, good for up to two years of free rent - because of their vulnerability. For the last three years, the city had provided certain homeless families with vouchers good for one or two years of free or steeply discounted rent. Since the program began, more than 18,000 families, and some single adults, have received the so-called Advantage vouchers, more than 7,500 of them last year…”

R.I. Kids Count says absenteeism is a key problem, By Lisqa Borg, April 12, 2010, Providence Journal: “In Rhode Island, almost one in four children in the early grades missed 12 or more days of school - and in Providence, one in five children missed 18 or more days of school. In its latest annual report, Rhode Island Kids Count, a child advocacy group, looked at the obstacles that prevent a child from learning at the beginning of his or her academic career and at the end. The organization this year looked at five new measures of a child’s well-being, from school enrollments to youth violence. Rhode Island Kids Count is to release its latest fact book Monday at 8 a.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick. Kids Count zeroed in on chronic absenteeism, defined as missing at least 18 days of school, because studies have shown that success in the early grades sets a child up for success or failure later on. Children who miss a lot of school in kindergarten show lower levels of achievement in math, reading and general knowledge by the time they reach first grade…”

• Eligible families in need fall through the cracks, By Mary Spicuzza, April 13, 2010, Wisconsin State Journal: “Just two days before she was due to have a baby, a young mother said she was discouraged from applying for the state’s welfare-to-work program after being told her fiance - who’d struggled to find work - should go out and get a job. Another woman said she’d spent months looking for work but complained of rude job center employees who never mentioned the program, Wisconsin Works (W-2) to her. And a mother who has been living on nothing but food stamps said she dropped out of the W-2 program after less than a year, partly because the schedule for required job training and classes was so demanding. They were among the dozens of people who told the Wisconsin State Journal that despite living in deep poverty - many of them with no income other than food stamps - they still aren’t receiving cash payments or other benefits they could be eligible for under W-2…”
• DFL legislator says welfare policy penalizes women who have a miscarriage, By Madeleine Baran, April 13, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: “A key DFL lawmaker has asked the state to change a policy that limits welfare benefits for mothers who suffer a miscarriage. State Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, proposed an amendment on Tuesday that would remove what she calls an unintended and obscure barrier to welfare benefits. Under current law, in many cases welfare officials can deny cash grants for children who are born to a mother who suffered a previous miscarriage while on welfare. ‘It’s pretty rare, but it is sad when it does happen,’ said Jessica Webster, a policy advocate with Legal Aid. The agency has represented clients who have challenged the welfare policy. Webster said that the denials are the result of a complicated and often confusing welfare system…”

• Maternal deaths decline sharply across the globe, By Denise Grady, April 13, 2010, New York Times: “For the first time in decades, researchers are reporting a significant drop worldwide in the number of women dying each year from pregnancy and childbirth, to about 342,900 in 2008 from 526,300 in 1980. The findings, published in the medical journal The Lancet, challenge the prevailing view of maternal mortality as an intractable problem that has defied every effort to solve it…”
• Fewer women dying in childbirth, study says, By David Brown, April 13, 2010, Washington Post: “The rate at which women die in childbirth or soon after delivery has fallen by about 40 percent since 1980, with dramatic reductions in the populous nations of India, China, Brazil and Egypt. Maternal mortality is a key gauge of a population’s health and wealth, as well as of women’s status. The rate differs greatly between countries and regions, with the best- and worst-performing nations differing by a factor of about 400, according to a study in the Lancet, a European medical journal…”

Poorer TN schools will get most Race to the Top aid, By Chas Sisk, April 14, 2010, The Tennessean: “Tennessee schools are set to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid through the Race to the Top program, but districts can expect to get vastly different amounts from the effort to raise the state’s education standards. School districts will get half of Tennessee’s $500 million award from the federal government, with the other half remaining under the control of the state government. How much each district gets will be tied to poverty measures, meaning that urban and poor rural districts will get many times more money per pupil from the program than their suburban counterparts. About 40 percent of the $250 million earmarked for school districts through the Race to the Top program is expected to go to two school districts - Metro Nashville and Memphis…”