• For governors, Medicaid looks ripe for slashing, By Kevin Sack, January 28, 2011, New York Times: “Hamstrung by federal prohibitions against lowering Medicaid eligibility, governors from both parties are exercising their remaining options in proposing bone-deep cuts to the program during the fourth consecutive year of brutal economic conditions. Because states confront budget gaps estimated at $125 billion, few essential services - schools, roads, parks - are likely to escape the ax. But the election of tough-minded governors, the evaporation of federal aid, the relentless growth of Medicaid rolls and the exhaustion of alternatives have made the program, which primarily covers low-income children and disabled adults, an outsize target…”
• Medicaid cuts could lead to higher taxes, insurance premiums, By Tim Eaton, January 28, 2011, Austin American-Statesman: “Even if you don’t rely on Medicaid, Texas lawmakers’ proposed cuts in the health care program could cost you money. Cutting Medicaid could have outcomes beyond fewer services for the poor, several local officials in the health care industry said. Notably, taxpayers in Central Texas could end up with increased local taxes and higher insurance premiums, according to several Central Texas health care professionals. Tom Banning, the CEO for the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, said the proposed cuts don’t equate to savings. Rather, there is simply a shuffling of expenses. ‘This has the potential to be the biggest cost shift to local governments that Texas has ever seen,’ Banning said. The two largest hospital groups in Austin echoed those concerns…”

An uncertain future after jobless benefits expire, By Cristina Silva (AP), January 29, 2011, Washington Post: “The portraits of his dead father are among the few mementoes Bud Meyers is certain he will take with him when he is forced from his home of five years next month because he cannot pay the rent. His prized collection of mystery novels, the bedroom set he was once proud to purchase new and anything else that can’t fit into the trunk of a car must be left behind. More than two years after Meyers lost his job as a Las Vegas Strip bartender and nearly eight months after he exhausted his unemployment benefits, it has come to this: a careful inventory of a life’s possessions and the hopeless embrace of a future as a middle-aged homeless man. ‘I can’t believe this is happening to my life,’ Meyers, 55, said on a recent afternoon, as he surveyed the one-bedroom apartment he must soon abandon. ‘It’s a social holocaust.’ Meyers, who is single and childless, is among a growing number of men and women who no longer qualify for unemployment benefits because they have been out of work for so long…”

Washington welfare cuts get reprieve, By Jordan Schrader, January 29, 2011, Tacoma News Tribune: “Turea Ducharme has been on welfare before. She has no interest in going back. The South Tacoma single mom said she worked hard to move herself and her two children off of a government check and onto a paycheck. She became first a teller, now an assistant manager, at a Moneytree payday-lending office. Finding work left Ducharme in need of another form of public assistance: Day care subsidies that helped pay for someone to watch Niya, 4, and Devon, 10, while she worked. But state budget cuts have yanked that help away, and she worries about ending up back on the welfare rolls. ‘I’ll lose my job if I get to the point where I don’t have anyone to watch my kids,’ Ducharme worries. Thousands more parents could be placed in that situation in the next two-year budget period as further cuts to welfare programs loom, including the $725 million Working Connections Child Care program…”

• Health-care law: Arizona tries new approach to get by federal Medicaid rules, By N.C. Aizenman, January 23, 2011, Washington Post: “Republican efforts to repeal or limit the reach of the new health-care law took a new direction last week when Arizona lawmakers approved a novel and controversial attempt to cut Medicaid for 280,000 of the state’s poor. The bill, requested and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R), empowers her to make a formal request, most likely this week, for a federal waiver to avoid complying with provisions of the law that prohibit states from tightening their eligibility requirements for Medicaid. Twenty-nine Republican governors, including Brewer, have signed a letter calling on President Obama and congressional leaders to remove the provision from the law. But Arizona is the first state to, in effect, play chicken with the Obama administration by directly requesting a reprieve and daring Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to refuse…”
• States may face showdown with feds over cutting Medicaid rolls, By Marilyn Werber Serafini and Julie Appleby, January 28, 2011, Kaiser Health News: “Financially strapped governors, Congress and the Obama administration could be headed for a showdown over the Medicaid health care program that covers 48 million poor, disabled and elderly people nationwide. Arizona’s governor has already asked for permission to drop people from the joint federal-state program, which states say is eating up huge portions of their budgets. But to do so, they need the green light either from Congress or the Obama administration. If they don’t get one? States warn they may need to slash payments to doctors and hospitals and make deep cuts in other programs such as education. They could even thumb their nose at the law and cut eligibility, which would force the Obama administration to decide whether to cut all federal Medicaid funding to those states…”

• Demand for general assistance at critical point in Bangor, By Eric Russell, January 26, 2011, Bangor Daily News: “In the six years that Shawn Yardley has overseen the city’s health and community services department, he has never seen things this dire. On most mornings when he arrives at his office before 8 a.m., Yardley unlocks the door for residents who are waiting to fill out an application for general assistance. Most applicants are encouraged to make appointments, but walk-ins are becoming more common. Yardley always lets them wait in the lobby. Some have to wait for hours but they are always seen. General assistance, an emergency safety net program administered by municipalities but funded in part by the state, is becoming an increasingly used entitlement for people struggling with finances or waiting to receive federal subsidies…”
• TANF study to contribute to welfare debate, By Eric Russell, January 26, 2011, Bangor Daily News: “Advocacy groups are calling on lawmakers to focus on facts, not anecdotes and stereotypes, as Gov. Paul LePage and the Republican-controlled Legislature gear up to tackle welfare reform. Maine Equal Justice Partners and the Maine Women’s Lobby released a study Wednesday of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - or TANF - cases in Maine. TANF is a federal entitlement program, administered by states, that provides a cash benefit to families with dependent children and includes an education and retraining program called ASPIRE. Last year, Maine distributed roughly $32 million in TANF benefits. The yearlong study, conducted by Thomas Chalmers McLaughlin at the University of New England and Sandy Butler at the University of Maine, concluded that recent discussions of welfare reform make unfair generalizations about TANF families…”

• Food-stamp use reaches record level in Oregon, By Michael Rose, January 20, 2011, Statesman Journal: “For 14 months, Oregon’s unemployment rate has hovered between 10.5 percent and 10.7 percent. That’s bad enough, but another sign of economic hardship keeps rising to record levels: food-stamp recipients. People receiving benefits from Oregon’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program increased by 7,467 in December. The total number of Oregonians in the SNAP program - formerly known as food stamps - now stands at 748,886…”
• Food stamps now help 1 in 5 in Jacksonville, By Deirdre Conner, Florida Times-Union: “Food stamp use has more than doubled in Duval County over the past five years. That grim statistic is twice the national average and is the second highest in a study of 22 cities nationwide, according to a report released Monday. The report, issued by the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger advocacy group, showed Jacksonville as second only to Las Vegas in the growth in people who depend on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is commonly called food stamps. It looked at a geographically balanced cross section of urban areas…”

• Hospitals, poor patients face new costs, By Kay Lazar and Stephen Smith, January 27, 2011, Boston Globe: “Payments to hospitals and other health care providers would be slashed and low-income patients served by Medicaid would have to pay higher copayments under the spending plan Governor Deval Patrick proposed yesterday for the next budget year. But the biggest savings in the $10 billion program that serves 1.2 million residents would come from revising and rebidding Medicaid contracts to encourage health care providers to work together to drive down costs. With health care spending, including Medicaid, now making up 39 percent of the state budget, Patrick said it was time to take aggressive action to halt the relentless trend upward…”
• Minnesota health CEOs taking a whack at Medicaid, By Warren Wolfe, January 26, 2011, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Concerned that the Legislature and governor might get it wrong, CEOs from seven major health plans and providers have drawn up their own plan to streamline Minnesota’s massive Medicaid program — and carve $1.8 billion from the projected $6.2 billion deficit. The plan is sure to draw political fire. It suggests up to $170 million in cuts to state-funded services that help keep the elderly and disabled out of institutions, for example, and captures $280 million in higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol. Nonetheless, its influential authors and specific targets will make it part of the debate as lawmakers grapple with a state budget in which health care consumes 30 percent of all spending…”
• Gov. Steve Beshear wants Medicaid funds shifted to avoid shortage, By Deborah Yetter, January 19, 2011, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Seeking to prevent deep cuts in services, Gov. Steve Beshear said Wednesday that he will ask lawmakers to shift $166.5 million from next year’s Medicaid budget into the current fiscal year. The maneuver would allow Kentucky to draw more federal matching money for Medicaid from federal stimulus funds, though it only postpones the need to achieve savings or make cuts in the program. The stimulus funds expire June 30, which is also the end of the current fiscal year. If nothing is done, Kentucky’s $6 billion-a-year Medicaid program could wind up as much as $600 million short this year, the governor said. And that, he said, could lead to ‘devastating’ cuts of up to 30 percent in the federal-state health plan for the poor and disabled that serves more than 800,000 people…”

Measure by measure, January 20, 2011, The Economist: “Most people have an inherent sense of what it means to be poor. But choosing a definition is much trickier. Is poverty an absolute or relative condition? What is a decent standard of living? Such questions have dogged America’s social scientists for decades. This month the Census Bureau published a preliminary estimate of poverty, using a new definition. It was 16 years in the making. But it is not quite finished yet. Poverty means different things in different countries. In Europe, the poor are those whose income falls below 60% of the median. Britain uses three measures: one relative, one absolute and a broader indicator of material deprivation, such as whether a child can celebrate his birthday. The concept of poverty becomes even more slippery when attempting international comparisons. The United Nations’ ‘human- development index’ assesses countries across a range of indicators, such as schooling and life expectancy…”

• For Milwaukee’s children, an early grave, By Crocker Stephenson, January 22, 2011, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “On a bitter January afternoon, a 22-year-old mother sits on the edge of her bed and feeds her infant daughter. The child, Rashyia, born in December, is healthy. She coos, eyes closed. She touches her mother’s cheek with her perfect hand. Rashyia and her mother, Lakisha Stinson, live in a small attic apartment on Milwaukee’s near north side. Three modest rooms. The kitchen has just three chairs and a table that is missing its glass top. The living room has no furniture. The bedroom has a bed and a Pack ‘n Play crib, a gift from Wheaton Franciscan-St. Joseph’s Hospital, whose staff, nurses and doctors brought Rashyia through a high-risk pregnancy and into the world. Rashyia and her mother live in a neighborhood where the rate at which African-American babies, such as Rashyia, die during their first year of life is worse than Botswana. Public health experts have long considered the infant mortality rate to be an essential indicator of a community’s well-being…”
• It takes a community to keep babies alive, Editorial, January 22, 2011, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Milwaukee’s littlest children are dying at appalling rates - rates that are among the worst in the country; rates that rival the world’s poorest nations. These are babies who never live to blow out their first birthday candle - three-quarters of them dead before they are a month old. They are babies such as the little boy born prematurely to Denelle McManus in January 2007. Denelle was in good health; she had good prenatal care; she didn’t smoke or drink. She was 32 years old when she lost her child. The boy, named Tavion, lived eight days before dying of a heart condition. Denelle’s mother, Patricia McManus, is chief executive of the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin. An expert in urban issues, McManus has worked 30 years to reduce Milwaukee’s infant mortality rate and now believes that it will take a communitywide effort to save these children, an effort that is beginning to take shape with McManus as one of the leaders…”

• Behavioral, mental health problems play big role in other childhood issues, By Erin Andersen, January 25, 2011, Lincoln Journal Star: “One in 10 Nebraska kids is not all right. One in 10 suffers from some sort of behavioral health problem, according to the 2010 Kids Count in Nebraska report being issued Tuesday by Voices for Children. Those kids — with behavioral, emotional and psychological troubles — make up more than 26 percent of children in foster care, 65 to 70 percent of the children in the juvenile justice system and a disproportionate number of school drop-outs and children in poverty, said Melissa Breazile, research coordinator for Voices for Children in Nebraska. This year’s Kids Count report is a mixed bag. While graduation rates have increased and dropout, school expulsion and infant mortality rates have dipped, poverty and its many related issues have increased — some rather significantly…”
• Kids Count sounds alarm on cuts, By Sam Womack, January 25, 2011, Omaha World-Herald: “In 2008, 34 youths with a history of behavioral health problems were dropped off at ’safe haven’ locations throughout the state. In response, the state enacted big changes. The Legislature limited the safe abandonment law to infants less than 30 days old. In mid-2009 it passed legislation that created programs to connect families with resources to manage child behavioral health issues. This year, several of those services are on the chopping block. As a response, the 2010 Kids Count report focuses on Nebraska’s estimated 90,000 youths with mental, emotional or behavioral disorders, the services available and the need for more preventive action. Kids Count is compiled by Voices for Children, a statewide research and policy group that times the release of its report to the start of new state legislative sessions…”

States help ex-inmates find jobs, By Steven Greenhouse, January 24, 2011, New York Times: “Faced with yawning budget gaps and high unemployment, California, Michigan, New York and several other states are attacking both problems with a surprising strategy: helping ex-convicts find jobs to keep them from ending up back in prison. The approach is backed by prisoner advocates as well as liberal and conservative government officials, who say it pays off in cold, hard numbers. Michigan, for example, spends $35,000 a year to keep someone in prison - more than the cost of educating a University of Michigan student. Through vigorous job placement programs and prudent use of parole, state officials say they have cut the prison population by 7,500, or about 15 percent, over the last four years, yielding more than $200 million in annual savings. Michigan spends $56 million a year on various re-entry programs, including substance abuse treatment and job training…”

• Arizona’s middle class: Defining American ideal, By Betty Beard, January 23, 2011, Arizona Republic: “America’s middle class has never been easy to define, measure or study. It’s loosely seen as those falling between the impoverished and the rich, the vast group that makes enough money to aspire to the American dream. The dream varies depending on the individual. But generally, “middle class” means enough to live on, with a little bit more. It means in typical times, you can support a household, buy a home and pay a mortgage, afford medical care, help the kids with college costs and plot out a comfortable retirement. With the ‘little bit more,’ you can indulge - an upgraded smartphone, a relaxing vacation, a better car. ‘It’s a headache trying to define,’ said John Russo, of the Center for Working Class Studies at Ohio’s Youngstown State University. It would seem obvious that the middle class could be defined by money - perhaps broadly, such as those between the 20th and 80th percentiles in income, or more narrowly, such as those earning a certain percentage below or above the median income. In Arizona, the median income last year was almost $33,000. But Philadelphia-based economist Joel Naroff said that defining the middle class based solely on income can be misleading…”
• Arizona’s middle class: Poverty casts longer shadow, By Betty Beard, January 24, 2011, Arizona Republic: “Gas prices hover near $3. Medical costs are on the rise, and child care can be expensive. And there’s always an emergency home repair that just wasn’t in the budget. It’s hard to climb back to a middle-class lifestyle after a tumble into joblessness and poverty, as many Arizonans are finding. In September, the U.S. Census Bureau said Arizona had the nation’s second-worst poverty rate in 2009, behind Mississippi. The percentage of impoverished Arizonans was said to have increased to 21 percent in 2009 from 18 percent in 2008. The one-year change highlights the devastating impact of the Great Recession in Arizona, which typically falls in the upper third of the 50 states for high poverty rates. The lower-middle class, in particular, faces a shaky short-term outlook…”
• Arizona’s middle class in crisis: Many are barely hanging on, By Betty Beard, January 23, 2011, Arizona Republic: “Arizonans are coming to terms with a harsh reality: Life is different now. Fundamentally, profoundly different. More than 3 1/2 years after home prices peaked, and three years after the recession began, the economic aftershocks continue. In the job-networking groups and the partially built subdivisions, in the nervous break-room conversations, many middle-class dreams are under siege…”

• Arizona lawmakers back governor on Medicaid waiver, By Paul Davenport (AP), January 20, 2011, Washington Post: “The Arizona Legislature on Thursday authorized Republican Gov. Jan Brewer to seek a federal waiver allowing the cash-short state to temporarily remove nearly 300,000 people from its Medicaid rolls in the first such request by a state. The House and Senate approved the authorization requested by Brewer amid questions about whether the waiver request would be approved by President Barack Obama’s administration, and if the legislation would survive an anticipated court challenge. Brewer wants to suspend the eligibility of 280,000 low-income adults, which would scale back the state’s coverage to near that of most other states and save $541.5 million. It’s the single biggest element in Brewer’s plan to eliminate a projected $1.1 billion shortfall in the next state budget…”
• Dayton: Medicaid shift will be soon, By Warren Wolfe, January 20, 2011, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Briskly brushing aside the views of his predecessor, Gov. Mark Dayton said Thursday that Minnesota will begin a major expansion of its Medicaid program on March 1, not in October as the Pawlenty administration had projected. His decision to move about 95,000 patients into Medicaid was a ‘no-brainer,’ Dayton said at a news conference. The shift will offer more comprehensive care for most of the affected patients and is expected to bring Minnesota about $1.1 billion in federal funds over the next biennium. There will be no net cost to the state beyond what it would have spent for those patients who are currently on two state health plans, state analysts concluded. While the move was applauded by many health care providers and Dayton’s DFL allies, Republicans said the expansion will be shortsighted…”

States will soon have to start paying interest on their massive unemployment borrowing, By Olga Pierce, January 14, 2011, ProPublica: “Sometimes it’s time to pay the piper. And sometimes that piper is the federal government. And sometimes the piper wants more than $1 billion. Soon. Because of the high jobless rate and past fiscal irresponsibility, 30 states have collectively had to borrow more than $40 billion from the federal government just to keep unemployment insurance checks in the mail. A provision in the stimulus bill made those loans interest-free for an extended grace period. But no more. Efforts to include an extension of the grace period in Obama’s tax cut extension enacted at the end of last year failed, and the first batch of 14 states will have to start paying interest before the end of this year. Given that state budgets need to be hammered out in advance, that means state legislatures will soon face tough choices as they come back in session…”

• Supreme Court to decide on health care payments for poor people, By David G. Savage, January 18, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “The Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will decide whether to give California and other cash-strapped states more freedom to reduce how much they pay to doctors, hospitals and other providers under the Medicaid program for poor people. The case, which involves about $1 billion in Medicaid cutbacks adopted by the California legislature in 2008 but blocked by federal courts, could greatly complicate the national debate over the funding of health care, as the states try to cut back on their Medicaid spending, while the Obama administration tries to hold the line. Gov. Jerry Brown, in his initial budget plan this year, proposed to slash by 10% what the state pays to these health care providers, which would save the state nearly $719 million…”
• U.S. Supreme Court to take Medi-Cal lawsuit case, By Bob Egelko, January 19, 2011, San Francisco Chronicle: “The U.S. Supreme Court granted California’s request Tuesday to decide whether the state can be sued for cutting fees to doctors and hospitals that treat poor people, a case that will affect Gov. Jerry Brown’s ability to reduce spending for social services. Federal courts in the last two years have blocked attempts by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to lower Medi-Cal payments and in-home care workers’ wages by hundreds of millions of dollars, saying federal laws require states to maintain poor people’s access to basic health care. On Tuesday, the high court agreed to decide whether the lower courts should have even considered those cases. The state denies it is violating the law and argues that only the federal government can enforce the laws governing Medicaid, the federal-state program known as Medi-Cal in California. Medi-Cal providers and their patients have no right to sue a state for allegedly violating federal Medicaid rules, lawyers for California told the Supreme Court…”

States’ unemployment debit cards often carry hidden costs, fees, By Pamela M. Prah, January 20, 2011, Stateline.org: “Like many out-of-work Americans, Philip Tressler gets his unemployment benefits deposited directly into his checking account. He could have received the benefits via a debit card that the state also offers. But Tressler, who was laid off 14 months ago after 32 years working for a grocery distributor in western Pennsylvania, didn’t go for the card. ‘It’s just not convenient,’ he says, especially since he doesn’t use the same bank that issues the state’s debit card. But there’s more than inconvenience at issue when it comes to state debit cards for the unemployed. Had Tressler decided to take one, he might have been subjected to a whole array of extra charges, including $1.50 for each withdrawal of cash from an ATM that isn’t ‘in-network.’ Pennsylvania is among some 30 states that offer debit cards as vehicles for unemployment insurance payments. These cards have their advantages. Workers get their benefits quicker, and states save money. And people without bank accounts can avoid check-cashing fees and make purchases without carrying large amounts of cash…”

New tax law may hold a surprise for working poor, By Tim Lockette, January 20, 2011, Anniston Star: “When President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans cut a deal on the extension of Bush-era tax cuts last month, the move was billed as a tax reduction for all. But the working poor may find an unpleasant surprise in their paychecks this month, says one tax expert. ‘If you’re a low-wage earner, you’ll be worse off, as will about 50 million households,’ said Roberton Williams, a scholar at the nonprofit Tax Policy Center, which is run jointly by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. ‘You’ll probably see the effects of the change in your next paycheck.’ The Star contacted Williams after a reader pointed out that her first January paycheck was actually smaller than her paycheck from last year - despite a recent compromise tax bill that was widely interpreted as a tax cut. Republicans and Democrats sparred throughout December over extension of Bush-era cuts to income taxes, which were set to expire Dec. 31 of last year…”

Utah foster care placements up 38% in past decade, legislative audit finds, By Marjorie Cortez, January 19, 2011, Deseret News: “The fallout of the 1993 federal lawsuit that challenged Utah’s child welfare practices may be a 38 percent increase in children being placed in foster care, a new legislative audit suggests. ‘Others believe the David C. vs. Leavitt lawsuit has made DCFS (the Division of Child and Family Services) and court staff risk averse and led them to protect children in foster care more than in-home,’ according to a performance audit of the Division of Child and Family Services released Tuesday. DCFS has operated under a court-appointed monitor for more than a decade under the lawsuit. Federal oversight ended in 2007. During the past decade, foster care placements in Utah have increased by 38 percent while the number of families that receive in-home supports that allow children to stay in their family homes has decreased by 40 percent, the audit by Legislative Auditor General shows…”

• Poverty and recovery, Editorial, January 19, 2011, New York Times: “In 2008, the first year of the Great Recession, the number of Americans living in poverty rose by 1.7 million to nearly 47.5 million. While hugely painful, that rise wasn’t surprising given the unraveling economy. What is surprising is that recent census data show that those poverty numbers held steady in 2009, even though job loss worsened significantly that year. Clearly, the sheer scale of poverty - 15.7 percent of the country’s population - is unacceptable. But to keep millions more Americans from falling into poverty during a deep recession is a genuine accomplishment that holds a vital lesson: the safety net, fortified by stimulus, staved off an even more damaging crisis…”
• Where does the poverty line truly lie?, By Andrew Chambers, January 19, 2011, The Guardian: “Thailand is a development success story. The country is on target to meet or exceed all its millennium development goals (MDGs), and absolute poverty ($1 a day) is now less than 2%. However, do these statistics accurately measure what poverty is, and what is the next step in poverty reduction for middle-income countries like Thailand? How to define and measure poverty, therefore, is not just a dry academic debate, as these decisions greatly affect what policies are pursued…”

Suburban schools see growing levels of financial stress among families, By Sheena Dooley, January 18, 2011, Des Moines Register: “The number of low-income families living in Des Moines suburbs is on the rise, a trend that is pushing educators to find ways to ensure school-age youngsters keep pace academically. Iowa had more than 180,700 children and teens who qualified for free or reduced-price meals in 2009-10, up nearly 32,000 from 2004-05. Among those seeing the largest increases were suburban Des Moines districts. In 2009-10, for instance, 14 percent of Johnston’s students qualified for free or reduced-price meals. That percentage has more than doubled since the 2004-05 school year. Over the past five years, hundreds of suburbanites in Iowa and the nation have fallen out of the middle class. The result has been increased levels of poverty and demands for social services in communities where low-income residents have typically been in the shadows…”

Achievement gap more than a black and white issue, By Maggie Gordon, January 18, 2011, Stamford Advocate: “The achievement gap between low-income and non-low-income students in Connecticut is the largest in the nation, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. The gap between low-income students and their non-low-income peers is not the only achievement gap in Connecticut; white students also consistently outperform black and Hispanic students. ‘We know there is a high correlation between poverty and ethnicity in Connecticut, and that if you look at Hispanic and black student groups, there is a high likelihood that they’re also poor,’ said Tom Murphy, spokesman for the state Department of Education…”

In South Los Angeles, new fast-food spots get a ‘No, thanks’, By Jennifer Medina, January 15, 2011, New York Times: “Driving along Crenshaw Boulevard, it is not difficult to find a place to grab a bite. At some intersections, there is a fast-food joint on each corner. If the restaurant chains had their way in some parts of town, city officials say, no street would be without its own fast-food outlet. Los Angeles is making one of the nation’s most radical food policies permanent by effectively banning new fast-food restaurants in South Los Angeles, a huge section of the city that has significantly higher rates of poverty and obesity than other neighborhoods. A handful of much smaller cities have enacted similar regulations for primarily aesthetic reasons, but Los Angeles, officials say, is the first to do so as part of a public health effort. The regulations, which the City Council passed unanimously last month, are meant to encourage healthier neighborhood dining options. Supporters envision more sit-down restaurants, produce-filled grocery stores and takeout meals that center on salad rather than fries…”

New statewide Medicaid plan wins praise, By Gary Pettus, January 14, 2011, Jackson Clarion-Ledger: “A Medicaid patient for nearly three years, Dorathy Shirley can tick off a list of complaints that reads like a medical dictionary. Asthma, back pain, bleeding ulcers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, degenerative joint disease, diabetes, glaucoma, high blood pressure and so on. ‘I’m always in pain,’ said Shirley, 62, of Jackson. Aggravating her distress are her out-of-pocket payments for medications normally too numerous to be covered by Medicaid, including three that bleed her of more than $100 a month, each. But on Jan. 1 relief arrived with the debut of a new statewide plan meant to improve the health of thousands of Mississippi’s most vulnerable Medicaid patients while saving the state money. The state Division of Medicaid calls it the Mississippi Coordinated Access Network, or MississippiCAN, but Shirley calls it a ‘blessing’ because it pays for more of her medicine. ‘I believe it will be a good thing,’ she said, ‘and it keeps you kind of motivated.’ Under this managed-care system, the motivation is furnished by an offer of gifts or other rewards to eligible recipients already on Medicaid, the federal-state medical coverage program for low-income residents and others. The rewards are reserved for those who undergo certain health screenings, lead healthier lives and/or see their primary-care doctor soon after signing on…”

Study: Paid family leave raises satisfaction without killing jobs in California, By Niesha Lofing, January 11, 2011, Sacramento Bee: “California’s landmark Paid Family Leave program didn’t amount to be the costly ‘job-killer’ businesses initially feared and has resulted in significant economic, social and health benefits for both male and female workers, economic and labor researchers found in a study released today. The study by University of California Los Angeles, City University of New York and the Center for Economic and Policy Research is the first study of the state’s Paid Family Leave since the law’s passage in 2002. The program, the benefits of which became available to most working Californians in July 2004, provides eligible employees up to six weeks of wage replacement leave at 55 percent of their usual weekly earnings (with a cap that is adjusted for inflation) when they take time off from work to bond with a new child or to care for a seriously ill relative. Researchers Eileen Appelbaum and Ruth Milkman noted that, despite business opposition to the law, most employers they surveyed reported that the program had either a ‘positive effect’ or ‘no noticeable effect’ on productivity, profitability and performance, turnover and morale…”

• As state budgets, payrolls shrink, so do ambitions, By John Gramlich, January 10, 2011, Stateline.org: “Four years ago, Washington Governor Chris Gregoire beamed as she presented her new state budget to the public. It was a good-times spending plan that took billions of dollars in tax revenue drawn from a bustling high-tech economy and poured it into education, health care and social services. ‘I love my budget,’ she said, calling it a roadmap ‘to change the status quo.’ These days, Gregoire would love to return to the status quo of old. Last month, she proposed another two-year budget that is notable not for the investments it makes, but for the spending cuts it requires, many of which reverse her priorities of just a few years ago. Gone are subsidized health insurance for 66,000 working poor and 27,000 children; funding for early childhood education; the state tourism office; and even Washington’s 2012 presidential primary election, which she intends to cancel in favor of party caucuses to save $10 million. If approved, the budget would be the first one in Washington State since the Great Depression to decrease overall state spending from one biennium to the next…”
• States adjust to a more frugal Washington, By Pamela M. Prah, January 11, 2011, Stateline.org: “As a new power dynamic takes hold in Washington, one thing is clear for cash-strapped states: Whether they think of federal aid money as an essential economic boost or a wasteful bailout, the help is over. For states that have leaned heavily on federal stimulus dollars to balance their budgets during their worst fiscal crisis in generations, Washington’s more austere attitude will come as a big change. But the really interesting question for 2011 is whether the state-federal relationship may change in more fundamental ways than Congress simply turning off the spigot of emergency budget aid…”
• Republicans face obstacles in redistricting, By Daniel C. Vock, January 12, 2011, Stateline.org: “If there is any state where the power to draw political district lines is well understood, surely it must be Texas. It was in Texas, after all, where Democratic state legislators fled the Capitol and later the state in 2003 to stall a controversial Republican redistricting plan. The Democrats ultimately relented and the Republicans passed their unusual ‘mid-decade’ map. Partly as a result, the GOP gained six congressional seats in the next election…”
• State budget outlook: the worst isn’t over, By Josh Goodman, January 13, 2011, Stateline.org: “Last year, to the surprise of many people in Maryland, the state ended the fiscal year with a $344 million surplus. State revenues, beaten down by the recession, had begun to increase again - and they’ve continued to rise ever since. After three revenue-draining years, it seems, the long-awaited economic recovery has begun. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the uptick won’t be anywhere near enough to save Maryland from what will likely be the worst year yet of its current budget crisis. Even with the recent revenue growth, Maryland faces a budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year of somewhere between $1.3 billion and $1.6 billion. As a result, this year may be the first time in the current economic downturn that Maryland cuts K-12 education spending to a lower amount than it was the year before. Also for the first time, major layoffs of state workers may be coming…”
• Health care budgets in critical condition, By Christine Vestal, January 14, 2011, Stateline.org: “Ever since Congress passed a sweeping health care reform law last year, states have been split into two groups moving essentially in opposite directions. Going one way are states like California, where leaders from both parties have embraced the federal law and even accelerated plans to implement it. Democrats in the Legislature last summer wasted no time writing a bill to create a health insurance exchange - a key element of the national framework - and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was then governor, signed it. California also sought and won a special waiver from the federal government to allow low-income adults now covered by state-funded health care programs to move into federally funded Medicaid plans prior to the 2014 effective date. Going the other way are states like Arizona, where leaders wish the federal health care law would go away. First, Republican Governor Jan Brewer joined one of several legal battles aimed at overturning the federal law. Then, Brewer supported a successful ballot measure that rejects one of the core principles of the law, the so-called ‘individual mandate’ requiring every American to buy health insurance. Now, with a gaping hole in her upcoming budget, Brewer is asking Washington for permission to scale back Arizona’s existing Medicaid program until health care reform takes effect in 2014…”

After massive aid, Haitians feel stuck in poverty, By William Booth, January 11, 2011, Washington Post: “One of the largest and most costly humanitarian aid efforts in history saved many lives in the aftermath of last January’s earthquake but has done little to ease the suffering of ordinary Haitians since then. As U.S. officials, donor nations and international aid contractors applaud their efforts - all the latrines, tents and immunizations - the recipients of this unprecedented assistance are weary at the lack of visible progress and doubtful that the billions of dollars promised will make their lives better…”

State has plan to save child care subsidies, By Marisa Lagos, January 14, 2011, San Francisco Chronicle: “Assembly Speaker John Pérez will announce today that state officials have found a way to save child care subsidies for 55,000 low-income families - a program that then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to eliminate last year. The subsidies are available to parents who were formerly on cash assistance but now have jobs or are in school. Supporters had argued that eliminating the subsidies was shortsighted and could ultimately cost taxpayers more than keeping it, because many parents would quit their jobs and apply for welfare if they were unable to afford day care. Under a plan Pérez will announce today, state officials will use $60 million in child care funds left from previous years to fund the subsidies through March. The program’s funding would be restored April 1 under Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal unveiled this week…”

• More families became homeless in recession, By Henri E. Cauvin, January 13, 2011, Washington Post: “During the throes of the recession, the number of homeless people in the United States increased, and the number of homeless families increased at an even greater rate, according to a report released Wednesday. The findings by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, although not surprising, confirm the harsh toll that the recession - which began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009 - took on families. Historically, people struggling with mental illness, substance abuse or other chronic problems have been the focus of government homelessness efforts, and until recently the number of such homeless people had been declining. But the recession, which has led to rising unemployment and declining social services, has slowed progress among the chronically homeless and increased numbers of the newly homeless, among them many families, according to the alliance’s report…”
• Foreclosures, homelessness surge in Alabama, By Jeremy Gray, January 13, 2011, Birmingham News: “The number of foreclosed homes across Alabama doubled between 2008 and 2009, even as the state’s total homeless population grew 13 percent, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The alliance used data from federal agencies to monitor the change in the homeless population, with 30 other states and Washington, D.C., reporting increases. There were an estimated 6,080 homeless people in Alabama as of 2009, according to the report. The nation’s total homeless population grew 3 percent in that time to a total of 656,129. Also, between 2008 and 2009, the number of homeless families in Alabama grew 7 percent, while the number of unsheltered homeless — those who live on the street or in cars or abandoned homes — grew 40 percent…”
• Homelessness on the rise, By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, January 13, 2011, San Antonio Express-News: “The homeless population across the country increased by about 20,000 people, or 3 percent, at the height of the recession between 2008 and 2009, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. A new report from the alliance shows the increases were across the board - families, individuals, the unsheltered and the chronically homeless. In San Antonio, the most recent survey found 3,580 people lived in shelters or on the streets in 2010, compared with 3,303 in 2009…”

Toronto’s poor concentrated in aging highrises, By Laurie Monsebraaten, Toronto Star: “They rise up among the postwar bungalows of Toronto’s inner suburbs. Towering buildings that house hundreds of thousands of the city’s poorest people. These apartments are often the first home for those who came to this country looking for a better life. Once built to house modest-income and middle-class families, these aging highrises have increasingly fallen into disrepair and become rife with problems - drug dealing, vandalism, bug infestations, overcrowding - and increasing poverty. That is the bleak reality for too many highrise dwellers in Toronto, according to Vertical Poverty, a landmark report released by the United Way Wednesday. It is a troubling development in a city where almost half of residents are renters, says the report based on Census data from 1981 to 2006 and a survey of 2,803 highrise tenants conducted in the summer and fall of 2009. Although the bulk of tenants surveyed live in private-sector towers, responses from about 600 non-profit tenants suggest living conditions are worse in those buildings…”

Majority of Palestinian youth living in poverty, January 13, 2011, The Daily Star: “Around 70 percent of Palestinian refugee children and adolescents in Lebanon live in poverty, according to a report released Wednesday. A further 9 percent of young people aged between 6 and 19 live in ‘extreme poverty’ on less than $2 a day, unable to meet basic daily food requirements, the Socio-Economic Survey of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon said. Conducted by researchers from the American University of Beirut in coordination with United Nations Relief and Work Agency, the report is thought to be the first comprehensive evaluation of the living conditions of the country’s registered Palestinian refugees…”

• Healthcare safety nets kept intact with help from Washington, By Noam N. Levey, January 12, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Bolstered by billions of dollars in aid from Washington, states managed to hold their healthcare safety nets together last year despite the fallout from the recession, a new survey shows. Several states actually expanded coverage for poor children and adults, using Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to prevent more Americans from losing insurance in the economic downturn, according to the report by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Now, however, with emergency federal aid scheduled to end this year, it is unclear how much longer financially strained states will be able to head off cutbacks. Republican governors, many of whom have criticized the new healthcare law’s dependence on Medicaid to guarantee all Americans coverage, are pushing the Obama administration for permission to cut their programs…”
• Feds helped states sustain Medicaid, By Catherine Candisky, January 12, 2011, Columbus Dispatch: “Almost no state threw people out of its tax-funded Medicaid program last year, a new report found. In fact, more than half made it easier for qualified poor and disabled residents to enroll, blunting a spike in the ranks of the uninsured despite the recession and tight state budgets. Ohio was among both groups. A big reason: Billions in added federal aid to states were contingent on them not dropping Medicaid recipients, the annual survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found. The report comes just four days after Ohio Gov. John Kasich and 32 other Republican governors sent a letter to President Barack Obama and congressional leaders urging them to allow states to cut Medicaid without risking federal cuts. Ohio is facing a projected $8 billion shortfall in its next two-year state budget as state Medicaid rolls have reached 2 million, including 1 in 3 children. A few states, including Texas, have suggested eliminating Medicaid entirely…”
• Coverage for millions - especially kids - at stake in governors’ request, By Jim Saunders, January 11, 2011, Miami Herald: “Florida Gov. Rick Scott and other Republican governors are asking the federal government to give them more power to trim Medicaid eligibility to help control costs. But a report released today has a different take on the situation: It credits federal requirements with helping avoid cutbacks in Medicaid and children’s health programs, as states have dealt with huge budget shortfalls during the past year. ‘Keeping these programs stable and strong has helped protect children and avoid an even larger increase in the nation’s 50 million uninsured and will be key to ensuring the success of health-reform implementation over the next few years,’ Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, said in prepared statement. The report, released by the foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, found that eligibility and enrollment requirements remained the same or improved in almost every state during 2010 in the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program…”

• Deep social services cuts outlined in California, By Jesse McKinley, January 10, 2011, New York Times: “Workers were removing the ornaments from the Christmas tree at the Capitol here on Monday morning, and much the same mood filled the legislative chambers as Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his Grinch-like budget. It included $12.5 billion in spending cuts, with a 10 percent cut in take-home pay for some state employees and deep reductions in social services. He also suggested a five-year extension of a bundle of taxes, a plan that requires voter approval, setting the stage for a potentially contentious special election in June. The budget is meant to address an estimated $25.4 billion deficit, just the latest shortfall for a state that has experienced a drumbeat of bad economic news in recent years. But Mr. Brown, who took office last week, cast the blame even further, saying the state’s leaders had spent the last decade balancing their books with ‘gimmicks and tricks and unrealistic expectations that pushed this state deeper and deeper into debt.’ But that period, Mr. Brown repeatedly emphasized, was over…”
• Pennsylvania subsidized health insurance for low-income people to end, By Don Sapatkin, January 12, 2011, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Pennsylvania’s subsidized health insurance for low-income working people will likely end next month, officials on Gov.-elect Tom Corbett’s transition team said Tuesday, leaving more than 40,000 people with less palatable options and dashing the hopes of more than 400,000 on the waiting list. ‘AdultBasic is not sustainable,’ said Kevin Harley, a spokesman for the transition, referring to the insurance program that began eight years ago under Gov. Tom Ridge, a Republican, and was expanded by outgoing Gov. Rendell, a Democrat. Staff for the incoming and outgoing governors traded accusations Tuesday about who was responsible for the program’s demise, but both agreed that the money - a combination of tobacco-settlement revenues and donations from the state’s four Blue Cross plans - would run out around Feb. 28 for the fiscal year that ends June 30, and that no good alternative was in place…”
• Corbett team negotiates health care for working poor, By Brad Bumsted, January 11, 2011, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Leaders of Republican Gov.-elect Tom Corbett’s transition team said yesterday they worked out a plan with insurance companies to continue providing coverage to the working poor, but at significantly higher premiums than people pay now. Corbett’s team charged that the outgoing administration of Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell unnecessarily delayed notification to people in the adultBasic program and failed to live up to an agreement to provide state money to extend the program. Coverage under the program expires Feb. 28 because of a shortage of money. About 45,000 people receive adultBasic coverage…”

• Downturn’s ugly trademark: Steep, lasting drop in wages, By Sudeep Reddy, January 11, 2011, Wall Street Journal: “In California, former auto worker Maria Gregg was out of work five months last year before landing a new job-at a nearly 20% pay cut. In Massachusetts, Kevin Cronan, who lost his $150,000-a-year job as a money manager in early 2009, is now frothing cappuccinos at a Starbucks for $8.85 an hour. In Wisconsin, Dale Szabo, a former manufacturing manager with two master’s degrees, has been searching years for a job comparable to the one he lost in 2003. He’s now a school janitor. They are among the lucky. There are 14.5 million people on the unemployment rolls, including 6.4 million who have been jobless for more than six months. But the decline in their fortunes points to a signature outcome of the long downturn in the labor market. Even at times of high unemployment in the past, wages have been very slow to fall; economists describe them as ’sticky.’ To an extent rarely seen in recessions since the Great Depression, wages for a swath of the labor force this time have taken a sharp and swift fall…”
• Residents out of work for longer periods during ‘10, By Christopher Behnan, January 9, 2011, Livingston Daily: “Michigan’s unemployed were without work for an average of 40 weeks in 2010, compared to 30 weeks in 2009 and nine weeks a decade earlier, according to the most recent state data. More than 50 percent of Michigan’s unemployed were without work for at least 27 weeks - the federal definition of long-term unemployment - compared to around 44 percent of the nation’s unemployed in 2010. ‘We do have a greater portion of our unemployed who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more,’ said Mark Reffitt, a state regional economic analyst. Data released Friday showed a steady increase in the number of long-term unemployed workers in the nation, for 27 or more weeks toward the end of the year. There were 6.23 million Americans who were unemployed for 27 or more weeks in October, 6.34 million in November and 6.44 million in December, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were 308,000 more people unemployed for 27 weeks or more nationwide last month than in December 2009…”

State details its efforts to house the homeless, By Paul Davis, January 11, 2011, Providence Journal: “Five years ago, the state’s top officials put together a 10-year plan to end homelessness. Their promise? Build more affordable housing and help those living in shelters move into apartments by helping pay the rent. ‘We envision a Rhode Island where no one is homeless,’ said social service directors, state officials, academics and religious leaders. In an 18-page plan submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, they envisioned a state where everyone had housing, services and ‘hope for the future.’ Five years later, the state’s homeless shelters are full, and advocates don’t expect those numbers to decrease anytime soon. Since 2007, the number of Rhode Islanders in shelters and transitional housing has increased from 3,015 to 3,514 last year, a nearly 17-percent increase, said Eric Hirsch, a Providence College professor who tracks the state’s homeless population More than half of those sleeping on cots and air mattresses in 2010 were homeless for the first time. Many lost apartments through foreclosures. Others lost jobs…”

Va. Tech helps with foster care, By Kafia A. Hosh, January 10, 2011, Washington Post: “In the 1990s, Fairfax County experienced a surge in the number of foster care cases, mirroring a national increase. Yet the county’s budget was stretched thin, and busy social workers and other county employees had little time to navigate a maze of external government programs from which certain clients could benefit. Facing an overwhelming case-load, the county teamed up with Virginia Tech to launch a pilot program that checked whether a child was eligible for federal and state funding. ‘It was tough for [social workers] to have these responsibilities and work with the families,’ said Melony A. Price-Rhodes, a principal investigator and the program’s director with Virginia Tech. Since then, the program, which officials say is the first and most extensive of its kind in the United States, has saved Fairfax millions of dollars. It has been a model for similar programs in Hawaii and California. The annual contract, valued at about $500,000, saved Fairfax $4.63 million in fiscal 2010, county officials said - for every $1 the county spent on the program, it got back $8…”

Who is poor? Many of America’s neediest may look a lot like you, Editorial, January 7, 2011, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Americans fuss and fight over many aspects of public policy, from climate change to health care reform. But here’s something about which there’s not much argument: If you fall below the federal threshold for ‘poverty,’ you are poor. You aren’t just needy or disadvantaged. At best, you hover somewhere between broke and destitute. It’s easy to prove. All you need is a pencil and the back of an envelope. The federal poverty threshold set by the U.S. Census Bureau for a family of four in 2009 was $21,954 a year. Deduct from that $650 a month for rent and utilities, $20 a day for food and $138 a month for two 30-day bus passes to get to work, and you end up with the princely sum of $14.72 a day to cover everything else - child care, household and personal care products, clothing, haircuts, school supplies, home furnishings and health care…”

For poor, bail system can be an obstacle to freedom, By John Eligon, January 9, 2011, New York Times: “Before George Zouvelos agrees to post someone’s bail, a customer must put up cash, sign a 20-page contract and initial 86 separate paragraphs. Those paragraphs are chock-full of fees: $250 if the defendant misses a weekly check-in; as much as $375 an hour for obscure tasks like bail consulting and research; and unspecified amounts if Mr. Zouvelos, a bail bondsman based in Manhattan, farms out tasks like obtaining court documents or delivering release papers to jail. Then there are the thousands of dollars that Mr. Zouvelos can charge if he decides to revoke a bond and return a defendant to jail, as he did 89 times during a four-month period last year. The common perception of how the bail-bond system operates is fairly straightforward: A bondsman bails a defendant out of jail. If that defendant misses a court appearance, the bondsman can ’surrender’ him - chase him down and haul him back to jail. The reality is more troubling…”

• Unemployment rate drops to 9.4%, but December jobs report shows only modest gains, By Don Lee, January 7, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Employers across the country added a modest 103,000 jobs to their payrolls in December, the government said Friday, closing out the year with a bit of a whimper instead of the bang that some economists were expecting. Analysts were expecting new jobs on the order of 150,000 after recent unemployment filings and private surveys of hiring and layoffs suggested that the anemic labor market was solidly improving. The Labor Department report, however, showed that the unemployment rate dropped dramatically last month to 9.4%, from 9.8% in November. The drop was likely due at least in part to statistical adjustments, as the government’s count of unemployed workers fell by 556,000 to 14.5 million…”
• Unemployment drops sharply to 9.4%, By Neil Irwin, January 7, 2011, Washington Post: “The unemployment rate plummeted in December, as more Americans indicated they were working, according to a government report released Friday that offers new confirmation that the economy is clawing its way out of the deep downturn. The unemployment rate was 9.4 percent, the Labor Department said, down from 9.8 percent in November, as 297,000 more people said they had found jobs. That surprising drop - which was far better than the modest step-down economists had forecast - was the steepest one-month fall in the unemployment rate since 1998 and the lowest in 19 months…”
• Private sector improves jobs picture only slightly, By Christine Hauser, January 7, 2011, New York Times: “The United States economy ended the year by adding 103,000 jobs in December and with a lower unemployment rate, the Labor Department said Friday, but as thousands of Americans gave up looking for work, the numbers suggested that joblessness could continue to weigh on the recovery. The unemployment rate fell to 9.4 percent last month from 9.8 percent, its lowest rate since July 2009, the department said in its monthly report. But the figures also showed that the civilian labor force declined by 260,000 in December, as many Americans stopped applying for jobs…”

Recession-bruised states’ revenue sank 30 percent in 2009, Census Bureau reports, By Michael A. Fletcher, January 5, 2011, Washington Post: “The recession blew a huge hole in the already shaky finances of state governments, causing them to lose nearly one-third of their revenue in 2009, according to a Census Bureau report released Wednesday. The severe drop in revenue resulted largely from the big investment losses experienced by state pension funds during the worst period of the downturn. Also, the report said, tax revenue slipped while surging demand from newly needy citizens drained the funds that back unemployment benefits, publicly funded health care and workers’ compensation. Overall, total state government revenue dropped 30.8 percent, to $1.1 trillion, between fiscal 2008 and 2009, according to the report…”

Residency requirement could be part of LePage welfare overhaul, By Steve Mistler, January 7, 2011, Lewiston Sun Journal: “Gov. Paul LePage’s decision Thursday to allow state agencies to ask people about their immigration status likely will be the first step in his plan to overhaul Maine’s welfare system. A spokesman for LePage said the governor’s executive order was meant to send a message that Maine would no longer be a ’sanctuary state’ for people seeking a driver’s license or social services. But advocate groups for low-income individuals expect the move is a precursor to Republican efforts to impose residency duration requirements on certain welfare programs, particularly General Assistance, which disburses vouchers to qualifying families for critical living expenses, such as utilities and food. General Assistance recipients are already required to prove they’re living in Maine. However, widespread concerns that needy people are coming to Maine to take advantage of its welfare programs have prompted Republican lawmakers to introduce legislation that would require people to live here for a determined period before receiving assistance…”

• Shelters try ‘housing first’ protocol to help homeless people, By Bill Laitner, December 29, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “An innovative way to help homeless people, called housing first, has dramatically shortened their stays in the South Oakland Shelter system based in Royal Oak and could make shelter programs statewide more effective, experts said. By making permanent housing the first priority at the South Oakland Shelter and addressing other needs — such as job training — later, average stays dropped from four months to 28 days since summer, Executive Director Ryan Hertz said. The organization houses an average of 30 men, women and children at a time, rotating them through 67 churches and synagogues, where volunteers set up cots and serve meals. ‘We’re turning over our beds much faster, so we can help more people,’ Hertz said. But the housing-first approach has taken more than a decade to gain wide acceptance across Michigan because it requires homeless people, shelters’ clients, to have incomes, and there must be safe housing available that they can afford, Wayne State University psychologist and homelessness expert Paul Toro said…”
• New face of homelessness is a family, Dallas-area agencies say, By Kim Horner, January 7, 2011, Dallas Morning News: “First, they stayed with family. Then, they rented a trailer. Finally, they went to a shelter. Katrina Stephens, Alan Charles Walker and their three young children became homeless after Walker’s construction work dried up. Now, the family lives in a modest East Dallas apartment as part of Family Gateway’s transitional housing program. Stephens plans to finish school to become a medical assistant this spring. ‘We’re back on track,’ she said. The economy has taken a similar toll on thousands of families nationwide - and the numbers are rising. About 80,000 families - typically a single woman with young children - are homeless on any given night, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Families are the fastest-growing homeless population, according to Family Gateway and other local agencies…”

• ‘Achievement gap’ between rich and poor, different races persists in N.J. schools, By Jeanette Rundquist, January 5, 2011, Star-Ledger: “The ‘achievement gap’ between rich and poor students, and among those of different races, persists in New Jersey schools, according to statewide test score data released Wednesday by the state Board of Education. The ‘achievement gap’ has long been an issue facing educators in New Jersey and elsewhere. Today, the state released results of tests taken last spring, showing as much as a 38.4-point difference in the passing rate in third-grade language arts, between African-American and Asian students. On that test, about 60 percent of black or African-American third-graders failed to achieve proficient scores, compared to 21.4 percent for Asian students and 31 percent for whites…”
• N.J. test scores reveal achievement gaps, By Leslie Brody and Patricia Alex, January 5, 2011, The Record: “New Jersey’s achievement gaps remained stubbornly wide last year, starting with the earliest round of statewide test scores in third grade. Scores released Wednesday showed that in third-grade language arts, roughly 60 percent of black students and 56 percent of Hispanic students failed to meet proficiency standards last spring, compared with 31 percent for whites and 21 percent for Asian students. Poverty played a key role; about 60 percent of low-income children did not meet standards for third-grade language arts, compared with 30 percent of those from economically stable families. Schools and families have struggled to close these gaps for years…”

• Health spending rose in ‘09, but at low rate, By Robert Pear, January 5, 2011, New York Times: “Total national health spending grew by 4 percent in 2009, the slowest rate of increase in 50 years, as people lost their jobs, lost health insurance and deferred medical care, the federal government reported on Wednesday. Still, health care accounted for a larger share of a smaller economy - a record 17.6 percent of the total economic output in 2009, the report said. The economy contracted while health spending continued to grow. The nation spent $2.5 trillion on health care in 2009, for an average of $8,086 a person, and the recession had a profound influence…”
• U.S. health-care expenditures up only 4 percent in 2009, suggesting effects of recession, By Amy Goldstein, January 5, 2011, Washington Post: “The nation’s expenditures on health care in 2009 grew by 4 percent, the smallest increase in at least a half-century, according to new federal figures that suggest Americans stinted on medical services as they lost jobs and insurance in the recent recession. Although health insurance premiums rose slightly faster than they did a year earlier, overall spending on private health insurance decelerated as the number of people with such coverage fell by 6.3 million. And the out-of-pocket amount Americans spent on health care barely increased, the figures show. On the other hand, spending on Medicaid soared - by 9 percent, compared with less than 5 percent in 2008 - as more people qualified for the public insurance program for the poor…”

• Census releases alternative formulas for gauging poverty, By Carol Morello, January 5, 2011, Washington Post: “The Census Bureau took a baby step toward redefining what is considered poor in America on Tuesday when it released several alternative measurements of poverty, fundamentally revising a one-size-fits-all formula developed in the 1960s by a civil servant. Under a complex series of eight alternative measurements, the Census Bureau calculated that in 2009, the number of Americans living in poverty could have been as few as 39 million or as many as almost 53 million. Under the official calculation, the census estimated that about 44 million were subsisting on incomes below the poverty line of about $21,750 for a family of four. The alternatives generally set the poverty threshold higher, as much as $29,600 for a couple with two children. In September, the census estimated the nation’s poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3 percent. Under the alternatives, it could have been as low as 12.8 percent or as high as 17.1 percent. For the time being, the government will continue to use the original poverty definition to determine eligibility for federal programs. The alternatives are experimental and will be revised every year, eventually winnowing them to one…”
• Census: Number of poor may be millions higher, By Hope Yen (AP), January 5, 2011, Washington Post: “The number of poor people in the U.S. is millions higher than previously known, with 1 in 6 Americans - many of them 65 and older - struggling in poverty due to rising medical care and other costs, according to preliminary census figures released Wednesday. At the same time, government aid programs such as tax credits and food stamps kept many people out of poverty, helping to ensure the poverty rate did not balloon even higher during the recession in 2009, President Barack Obama’s first year in office. Under a new revised census formula, overall poverty in 2009 stood at 15.7 percent, or 47.8 million people. That’s compared to the official 2009 rate of 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million, that was reported by the Census Bureau last September…”

95,000 poor Minnesotans will get Medicaid today, By Warren Wolfe, January 5, 2011, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Mark Dayton on Wednesday will launch the most sweeping changes to Minnesota health care in years, adding 95,000 of the poorest adults to the state’s Medicaid rolls. The expansion, permitted by the federal health overhaul of 2010, was the subject of fierce budget and ideological debate at the Legislature last spring. But many local doctors and hospital executives say it will improve medical care for thousands of people who have lived at the margins of the health care system…”

Decade of change: Education system deals with fewer students, more poverty, less control, By Julie Mack, January 5, 2011, Kalamazoo Gazette: “Michigan educators found they had some learning of their own to do in the past decade, and the subject was ‘change.’ People leading both the K-12 systems and the colleges find themselves in very different places at the start of 2011 than they did 10 years ago, working through an unprecedented transformational period. Districts statewide have about 200,000 fewer students - but more children from impoverished homes - as the economy took its toll and competition with charter schools and choice plans offered parents other options. And the federal and state governments claimed more of a role in decision-making, leaving fewer things for local districts to control. Meanwhile, public universities and, especially, community colleges, enjoyed tremendous growth despite a gradual decline in state assistance - made up by nearly doubling tuition during the decade. But as state officials look to education to pull Michigan from its economic doldrums, they can point to some success…”

Microlenders, honored with Nobel, are struggling, By Vikas Bajaj, January 5, 2011, New York Times: “Microcredit is losing its halo in many developing countries. Microcredit was once extolled by world leaders like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair as a powerful tool that could help eliminate poverty, through loans as small as $50 to cowherds, basket weavers and other poor people for starting or expanding businesses. But now microloans have met with political hostility in Bangladesh, India, Nicaragua and other developing countries. In December, the prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheik Hasina Wazed - who had championed microloans alongside Mr. Clinton at talks in Washington in 1997, while Mr. Clinton was president - turned her back on them. She said microlenders were ’sucking blood from the poor in the name of poverty alleviation,’ and she ordered an investigation into Grameen Bank, which had pioneered microcredit and which, along with its founder, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. In India, until recently home to the world’s fastest-growing microcredit businesses, lending has slowed sharply since the state with the most microloans adopted a strict law restricting lending. In Nicaragua, Pakistan and Bolivia, activists and politicians have urged borrowers not to repay their loans…”

Unemployment rises in two-thirds of metro areas, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), January 4, 2011, Modesto Bee: “Unemployment rates rose in more than two-thirds of the nation’s largest metro areas in November, a sharp reversal from the previous month and the most since June. The Labor Department said Tuesday that unemployment rates rose in 258 of the 372 largest cities, fell in 88 and remained the same in 26. That’s worse than the previous month, when rates fell in 200 areas and rose in 108. The economy is strengthening, but employers have been reluctant to create jobs. Hiring will pick up in 2011, but not enough to significantly lower the unemployment rate, economists forecast…”

Homeless - and going to college, By Randy Furst, December 28, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “When he isn’t attending classes, chances are Christopher Sparks, 32, is hunkered over a computer in the library at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC). He’s in his second year there, majoring in computer support and administrative network. Sparks does not study at home because he does not have one. He sleeps at the Salvation Army’s Harbor Light homeless shelter on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. His bed is a mat on the floor with 80 other men. ‘I hate it, but I have to survive,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t wish this situation on my worst enemy.’ College officials and advocates for the poor say the economic downturn has spawned a phenomenon they’re only beginning to measure and understand: college students with no stable housing, who sometimes show up at homeless shelters…”

• Medicaid cost crisis looms for Bay State, By Michael Levenson, January 3, 2011, Boston Globe: “The money, it seems, is never enough. Governor Deval Patrick approved a record $9.6 billion last July for the state’s health insurance program for the poor - sufficient, he assumed, to last a year. But the program’s costs quickly outpaced expectations, forcing the governor to approve an additional $329 million in October and then seek $258 million more, which lawmakers approved last week. And even that may not last, with six months remaining in the budget year. The ballooning cost of Medicaid is one of the biggest challenges facing Massachusetts and other states, which have seen demand for the program jump during the recession as increasing numbers of unemployed residents enroll in the subsidized insurance plan…”
• TennCare funding problem persists despite overhaul, By Anita Wadhwani, January 3, 2011, The Tennessean: “Eight years ago, Phil Bredesen successfully campaigned on his pledge to fix TennCare or end it. Since then, the governor has steered the state’s public health-care program through the most turbulent changes of any of the 50 state Medicaid programs, drastically cutting enrollment, limiting benefits and reining in spending. Rising health-care costs and new federal policy mean the Bredesen administration’s eight-year effort to bring the TennCare budget under control has only bought Tennessee time. Nationally, advocates opposing an expanded government role in health care credit Bredesen for making hard decisions to cut more than 350,000 people from TennCare’s rolls, staving off a state budget crisis. Critics say the human impact of the cuts has been deep, with new data showing many pushed off the TennCare rolls remain uninsured…”