• $75M Payday,By Mary Vorsino, August 25, 2010, Honolulu Star-Advertiser: “The $75 million Race to the Top federal grant announced yesterday for Hawaii schools will kick-start some of the biggest reform initiatives ever seen in the state’s public education system, educators say. The money will be targeted on efforts to turn around low-performing schools, boost student achievement, better evaluate teacher effectiveness and steer low-performing teachers out of the classroom. Officials say although the changes are sweeping, they are also doable — through measured phase-ins and targeted work to help students, teachers, principals and schools in need of the most help…”
• Race to the Top losers: Why did Louisiana and Colorado fail?, By Amanda Paulson, August 24, 2010, Christian Science Monitor: “Nine states and the District of Columbia have emerged as winners in Round 2 of the closely watched Race to the Top competition, the Department of Education’s innovative - and controversial - competition to reward reform efforts. Together, they were competing for $3.4 billion available in federal funds. In order of their rank, the winners are Massachusetts, New York, Hawaii, Florida, Rhode Island, D.C., Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, and Ohio. ‘We funded as many states as we could [until we] ran out of money,’ said Education Secretary Arne Duncan in a press call with reporters, noting that just a few points separated some of those states who failed to make the cut from the winners. ‘I can’t overstate how strong the applications were in the second round.’ Still, the big news among many education experts was who lost - particularly Louisiana and Colorado, widely considered leaders in education reform with priorities that are strongly aligned with those favored by the administration. And some of the winners - including Maryland, Ohio, and Hawaii - raised eyebrows, as well…”
• Eastern states dominate in winning school grants, By Sam Dillon, August 24, 2010, New York Times: “When Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced on Tuesday the latest states to win the Race to the Top competition - and a share of $3.4 billion in federal financing - he said they were chosen because they outlined the boldest plans for shaking up their public school systems. But others noted another common denominator: geography. Of the dozen states that have won major grants to date in the two-part grant contest that is the Obama administration’s signature education initiative, 11 are east of the Mississippi and most hug the East Coast, including Florida and Georgia in the South and New York and Massachusetts in the North. Among the winners, Hawaii is the lone geographic exception. Educators in many of the states that did not win, or did not even participate in the competition - which includes every state from Tennessee west to the Pacific - said they were hamstrung from the outset…”

Federal government throws up roadblock to Florida’s Medicaid reform, By Jermy Cox, August 23, 2010, Florida Times-Union: “Federal health officials want changes to be made to the Medicaid experiment that has put private managed-care companies in charge of covering thousands of patients in Northeast Florida. In a letter last week, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told state officials that it wouldn’t extend the program through an expedited process, as Florida had sought. Instead, the agency said it wanted to undertake a more rigorous review that would take into account ‘issues that have been raised in reviews’ of the program. The letter didn’t specify what issues federal officials want to address. While internal reviews have painted a positive picture of the program, it has come under fire from critics and some outside analysts. Expectations were high in 2005 when Florida won federal approval to place Medicaid patients in certain counties into privately run managed-care plans. Duval and Broward counties kicked off the reform program in 2006. Baker, Clay and Nassau followed in 2007…”

• The face of the newly poor, By Yvonne Wenger, August 22, 2100, Charleston Post and Courier: “Every day, an average of 112 people — most of them the newly poor — sign up for free government health care in South Carolina. Since the recession officially hit in December 2007, some 3,300 people a month, on average, have signed up for Medicaid in a state that outpaces the nation for poverty, obesity and diseases such as diabetes. Yet, South Carolina’s political leaders have been among the most vocal in the country in opposition of the new health care law. The new law is intended to provide insurance coverage to a portion of the nearly 17 percent of state residents estimated to be without it. But it won’t come cheap: The law will cost the cash-strapped state nearly $1 billion more over the next decade, even after the federal government kicks in its share. Advocates and academics alike say the federal plan is critical for South Carolina’s future prosperity. Healthy workers draw in new businesses, they say, and an educated population starts with children who aren’t sick when they go to school. But many say Medicaid is only part of the answer to South Carolina’s grave health care needs. Others think government-run health care should not be the solution…”
• Signing up for Medicaid more difficult, By Yvonne Wenger, August 24, 2010, Charleston Post and Courier: “Tens of thousands of South Carolinians likely are eligible for government-run health care but aren’t signed up because bureaucratic red tape creates obstacles, advocates said Monday. Sue Berkowitz, director of Appleseed Legal Justice Center, and John Ruoff, program director for South Carolina Fair Share, said Medicaid enrollment isn’t keeping pace with the need, despite the seemingly rapid increase during the state’s deep and prolonged economic downturn. Advocates are working to identify how great the need is, but an exact number isn’t clear. More than 750,000 people are estimated to be without health insurance in the state, although not all of them are eligible for Medicaid. A report Sunday by The Post and Courier revealed that as many as 112 people a day sign up for Medicaid in South Carolina. More than 90,000 have enrolled since the recession officially hit in December 2007…”

Wisconsin makes push on free birth control, By Janet Adamy, August 18, 2010, Wall Street Journal: “Wisconsin is pushing to expand a controversial program that uses federal Medicaid funds to provide free birth-control pills, vasectomies and other forms of contraception to low-income people, an effort made possible by the federal health-care overhaul. It and 26 other states already provide free contraception and other reproductive-health services through a Medicaid pilot project to lower-earning women who otherwise wouldn’t qualify. Among other things, the women get access to prescription birth control, Pap smears, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and, in some states, infertility treatments. Women qualify for Wisconsin’s program if they make up to $21,600 a year for single people-twice the federal poverty level…”

Food stamp stampede, By Alana Listoe, August 22, 2010, Helena Independent Record: “Halfway through the month, Scott Crooks had $8.94 left in food stamps, and after a trip to the grocery store on Thursday to buy some ground beef, just $3.33 remained. It wasn’t a difficult decision to buy beef. The 24-year-old AmeriCorps Vista had ingredients at home to make tacos and spaghetti, thus making it possible to split the meat and use it for both meals, stretching his food a few more days. Crooks isn’t alone. More Montana citizens receive federal assistance to pay for their groceries than ever before. Some use the help to feed their children. Many are on a fixed income due to a disability. Others, like Crooks, work but don’t earn enough to buy basic necessities, so they use food stamps to bridge the gap. The number of recipients has climbed steadily every month for the past two years, with 12 percent of the state population receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. That’s about 3 percent higher than it was two years ago at this same time…”

The high cost of our homeless, By Jenel Few, August 22, 2010, Savannah Morning News: “For the past 12 years, Samuel Wayne Anderson has spent most nights in a shelter, a cheap motel, a makeshift campsite or a cell at the Chatham County jail. The 72-year-old veteran with a long, white beard and penchant for liquor spends most of his days hanging out in downtown Savannah. He’s a regular at the Inner City Night Shelter and the free health clinics downtown. Many know him as the man who totes an open 32-ounce bottle of King Cobra, asks tourists for change and makes it hard for them to enjoy the scenic squares in the Historic District. Anderson is chronically homeless. He has family in Ellabell that love him. His son Stephen Anderson is currently serving with the military in Iraq. But for whatever reason, the old man’s preference for alcohol and a solitary life has drawn him to the street for most of his adult life…”