Unemployment rates fell in 193 large metro areas in July, rose in 118, and were flat in 61, Associated Press, August 31, 2011, Washington Post: “Unemployment rates fell in a majority of U.S. cities in July, despite a weak economy that is producing few jobs. The Labor Department said Wednesday that unemployment rates dropped in 193 large metro areas, increased in 118 and were flat in 61. That’s a sharp change from June, when unemployment rates rose in more than 90 percent of metro areas…”

• TennCare could take big hit, By Chas Sisk, August 31, 2011, The Tennessean: “Health care, children’s services and unemployment offices could bear the brunt of expected cuts in federal spending in Tennessee, according to planning documents released Tuesday. Spending on TennCare could be reduced by as much as 25 percent, and local health departments could lose as many as 278 jobs across Tennessee under a worst-case scenario prepared for state finance officials. Tennessee also may have to close as many 36 career centers, and reduce staffing for child welfare by nearly 700 people, if the federal government presses ahead with deep cuts to Tennessee. The planning documents give some insight into how sharp reductions in federal spending might affect Tennessee. About 40 percent of the state’s $30 billion budget comes from the federal government, which intends to reduce its spending by at least $1.2 trillion in a bid to reduce the national debt…”
• Colorado scaling back Medicaid after drastically underestimating numbers, cost, By Tim Hoover, August 31, 2011, Denver Post: “Two years after lawmakers expanded Medicaid to cover poor adults without children, the state is vastly scaling back the program because the number of people eligible for coverage is nearly three times as high as first projected and the cost of insuring them is almost nine times original estimates. The new coverage followed the 2009 passage of major health care legislation that allowed the state to impose a fee on hospitals while drawing down matching federal money to expand Medi caid coverage. House Bill 1293 was estimated to generate about $1.2 billion for Medicaid programs when fully phased in, and the measure called for expanding eligibility levels. A new eligibility class was created for adults without dependent children and whose income was up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level, or $10,890 per year for an individual…”

More Americans hungry for food stamps, By Marilyn Geewax, August 28, 2011, National Public Radio: “This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected to release its latest update on the food stamp program. It’s an important indicator of the nation’s economic health - and the prognosis is not good. Food stamp use is up 70 percent over the past four years and that trend is expected to continue. The spike began in late-2008 and early-2009 when the worst of the recession was triggering massive layoffs and home foreclosures. Although the economy has been growing since mid-2009, the pace has been too slow to absorb the nearly 14 million people without jobs. Nearly half of those have been out of work more than six months. As a result, the number of people seeking federal help with groceries has been soaring. At this time four years ago, before the recession hit, about 27 million people were using food stamps. Today 46 million get help through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - what most people call food stamps - which is roughly 15 percent of the population…”

Wave of Medicaid cuts to begin, By Lynn Bonner, August 28, 2011, News and Observer: “New cuts to health services for the poor take hold in October, with the elimination of eye exams and glasses for adults on Medicaid. Medicaid recipients are receiving notices about reductions, eliminations or other changes to an array of health services in the next few months. The $354 million Medicaid cut in the state budget includes limits and other changes to services totaling $16.5 million. In addition to getting rid of routine adult eye care and glasses, the state plans to limit payments for deep cleaning dental treatments for people who have gum disease to once every two years from once a year. Outpatient physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy for adults will be limited to three visits a year…”

Jobless benefits fix costing Ind. businesses more, Associated Press, August 28, 2011, Lafayette Journal and Courier: “Indiana businesses have paid about 44 percent more in employer taxes this year under a legislative effort to fix the state’s bankrupt unemployment insurance fund. The Journal Gazette reported that so far this year businesses have paid $741.6 million to the state’s unemployment trust fund. That’s up about 44 percent from last year, when the total collected from Indiana companies was $514 million. Those businesses also face the added burden of federal penalties because Indiana still owes the federal government about $1.8 billion it borrowed to continue making payments to the unemployed. Businesses pay taxes into an unemployment insurance trust fund that pays jobless benefits to Indiana residents who lose their jobs. However, Indiana has been paying out more in benefits than it received from taxes since 2000. That eroded the trust fund surplus well before the recession hit…”

Medicaid managed care is a growing but risky business, By Christopher Weaver, August 26, 2011, Washington Post: “Sanjuanita Espinoza, 55, doesn’t seem like a gold mine for private insurers. She’s disabled, has high blood pressure and has no family to help with her care. Yet, to some Texas insurers, she is an opportunity. In August, the state picked five health plans in South Texas to oversee care for people such as Espinoza who are enrolled in Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor. This scenario is playing out across the country as states increasingly turn to private insurers to rein in the cost of Medicaid. But Medicaid managed care is a risky business. Many new enrollees are older and sicker than the people health plans typically cover. The political environment is fierce, and insurers face resistance from physicians, hospitals and perhaps patients…”

Legal aid programs for poor deal with deep cuts, By Elizabeth Crisp, August 29, 2011, USA Today: “Programs that provide free legal aid to the poor are laying off employees, cutting services and increasingly turning away people who need assistance, as slashed budgets face deeper cuts. ‘It’s a really dire situation,’ said Rebekah Diller, deputy director of the justice program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. ‘Courts around the country are struggling right now with massive amounts of people who have no legal representation.’ Legal aid programs provide representation in civil cases related to domestic violence, foreclosures, child custody issues and similar matters. The Constitution guarantees legal representation if a person cannot afford to hire a lawyer in criminal cases, but in civil cases, people are on their own…”

• Ruling: AHCCCS copays break law, By Mary K. Reinhart, August 25, 2011, Arizona Republic: “A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that mandatory copayments charged to Arizona’s poorest residents violate federal law. The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said federal health officials failed to show how the copays, imposed in November after a seven-year court battle, served any purpose besides cutting the state’s Medicaid budget. Federal law gives the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary discretion to approve state Medicaid ‘waivers’ as long as the programs have a ‘research or demonstration value.’ Raising copayments for more than 200,000 of Arizona’s poorest residents and making them mandatory, the judges said, helped balance the state budget but didn’t meet that federal standard…”
• Illinois Medicaid’s managed care effort stumbles, By Judith Graham, August 26, 2011, Chicago Tribune: “It can take years for people with cerebral palsy, autism, schizophrenia or Down syndrome to find trusted physicians to oversee their health. Now, families and advocates say, those medical relationships are being threatened as Illinois rolls out a new program of HMO-style care for people with serious disabilities. Many doctors and hospitals are refusing to join the new Medicaid program, which the state hopes will better coordinate care and lower costs for some of its neediest recipients. The providers’ rationale: They dislike the bureaucratic hassles and cost-cutting measures associated with managed care. The ranks of those who have said no, for the moment, include prominent medical centers and physician practices with a long track record of serving the disabled, among them Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rush University Medical Center, the University of Chicago Medical Center, Children’s Memorial Hospital and Loyola University Health System. Because of the situation, hundreds if not thousands of vulnerable, chronically ill individuals are being forced to find new doctors, some of whom appear ill-equipped to handle their needs, according to consumer advocates and families…”

Aging America: Grandparents stepping in to help grandkids as families struggle in bad economy, Associated Press, August 26, 2011, Washington Post: “America is swiftly becoming a granny state. Less frail and more involved, today’s grandparents are shunning retirement homes and stepping in more than ever to raise grandchildren while young adults struggle in the poor economy. The newer grandparents are mainly baby boomers who are still working, with greater disposable income. Now making up 1 in 4 adults, grandparents are growing at twice the rate of the overall population and sticking close to family - if their grandkids aren’t already living with them. Grandparents in recent decades have often filled in for absent parents who were ill or battled addiction, or were sent to prison. The latest trend of grandparent involvement, reflected in census figures released Thursday, is now being driven also by the economy and the graying U.S. population, including the 78 million boomers born between 1946 and 1964 who began turning 65 this year…”

• Study confirms child hunger is a growing problem in rural areas, By Laura Bauer, August 24, 3011, Kansas City Star: “Robert Krogsdale says his six daughters have never missed dinner or gone hungry. But look at what the Bates County, Mo., man and his wife, Reanna, have to do to make that happen: They use food stamps. They buy bread and fruit on sale. They rely on cheap staples like spaghetti. For Christmas, his parents give them packages of beef they use throughout the year. And once a month, the Krogsdales drive 17 miles from their rural home into Butler, Mo. - sometimes in the family’s 12-passenger, 12 miles-per-gallon van - to load up on groceries at a food pantry. ‘I make sure they have their plates and mouths full,’ Krogsdale said of their six daughters, as well as two stepsons who are with the family on the weekends. ‘If it boils down to I don’t eat, it’s real simple.’ Often, when people think of the nation’s hungry kids, the image is of families in urban-core neighborhoods. In rural areas, where farmers harvest crops and ranchers raise livestock, kids do all right - or at least that was the perception of many…”
• Hunger a problem for Southwest Michigan children, new study shows, By Chris Fusciardi, August 26, 2011, Kalamazoo Gazette: “More than one in five children under the age of 18 in Kalamazoo County live in households that are struggling with hunger, ac­cording to a new study. The study, ‘Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity 2011,’ found that 21.5 percent of children in Kalamazoo County are struggling with hunger, a figure that was determined using 2009 U.S. Census data including median family income and childhood poverty rates. The study was released Thurs­day by the Food Bank of South Central Michigan and the national nonprofit agency Feeding America…”
• Food Bank: 1-in-4 Midland County kids hungry; some West Texas areas much higher, By Kathleen Thurber, August 25, 2011, Midland Reporter-Telegram: “More than one in three children suffer from food insecurity in the 22-county area served by the West Texas Food Bank, according to a report released Thursday. Data released by Feeding America shows 24.8 percent of children in Midland County deal with hunger issues. And while that’s lower than the 34.9 percent of children in the West Texas area who are hungry, it still is above the national average of 23.2 percent, according to the report…”

Indiana alters foster care pay system, By Amanda Hamon, August 23, 2011, Lafayette Journal and Courier: “An upcoming change in the way the state will handle daily payments to foster parents is raising some questions among local families. Beginning Jan. 1, foster parents will receive from the state a daily amount per child based on the child’s age and particular needs, state officials announced Friday. The tiered payment system will replace one in which the state pays parents a flat $25 per child. Under the new system, the daily payment could drop to as little as $18.25 for a child younger than 5 with minimal special needs — or rise to as high as $66.56 for a highly needy, teenage child…”

Report: CO Medicaid system plagued by delays, By Ivan Moreno (AP), August 23, 2011, Denver Post: “Colorado’s Medicaid program has had significant delays in determining applicants’ eligibility, according to a federal review released Tuesday that raised the question of withholding money from the state if problems are not solved. The review from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also found that Colorado’s system does not provide sufficient time for applicants to show proof of citizenship and is not programmed to deny or terminate benefits to those who don’t qualify. The report presented to lawmakers in the state audit committee said Colorado is not complying with federal regulations that call for eligibility to be determined within 90 days for people with disabilities-or within 45 days for all other applicants. The report said about half of all applications are not processed within the federal timelines. State officials responded that they’ve made system improvements and now 80 percent of all applications are processed in time…”

Unintended pregnancy rate rises among poor women, study says, By Shari Roan, August 24, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Unintended pregnancies make up almost half of all pregnancies in the U.S. But a new study shows that rates are rising among poor women and declining among women with adequate economic resources. The report, released Wednesday by researchers at the Guttmacher Institute, reviews data from 1994 through 2006. The unintended pregnancy rate among women with incomes below the poverty line rose 50% in that time period. Among higher-income women, the rate fell 29%…”

48-month cap on welfare benefits heads to Snyder, By Karen Bouffard, August 24, 2011, Detroit News: “About 12,600 families will be thrown off cash assistance starting Oct. 1 if Gov. Rick Snyder signs a 48-month cap on welfare passed in the House and Senate today. The legislation passed 73-34 in the House, mostly along party lines, after it was granted immediate effect earlier today in the Senate. It now heads to the governor to be signed into law. The cap is opposed by Democrats and child advocates who say Michigan’s high unemployment rate means parents removed from the rolls won’t be able to find jobs. About 25,000 to 30,000 children would be affected, according to estimates…”

Welfare drug-testing yields 2 percent positive results, By Catherine Whittenburg, August 24, 2011, Tampa Tribune: “Since the state began testing welfare applicants for drugs in July, about 2 percent have tested positive, preliminary data shows. Ninety-six percent proved to be drug free — leaving the state on the hook to reimburse the cost of their tests. The initiative may save the state a few dollars anyway, bearing out one of Gov. Rick Scott’s arguments for implementing it. But the low test fail-rate undercuts another of his arguments: that people on welfare are more likely to use drugs. At Scott’s urging, the Legislature implemented the new requirement earlier this year that applicants for temporary cash assistance pass a drug test before collecting any benefits. The law, which took effect July 1, requires applicants to pay for their own drug tests. Those who test drug-free are reimbursed by the state, and those who fail cannot receive benefits for a year…”

State to tie some child-care subsidies to attendance, By Jason Stein, August 23, 2011, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Gov. Scott Walker’s administration is tying child-care subsidies for the poor to whether the children are actually attending day care. State officials said the change should save money for the state by cutting waste and might help reduce fraud in the Wisconsin Shares program, which has struggled with scammers. But some child-care advocates criticized the change that takes effect Sunday as a backdoor pay cut for family child-care providers, who can’t always ensure that the children they care for will show up…”

Country wrestles with spike in food stamp use, By Kristina Cooke, August 22, 2011, MSNBC.com: “Genna Saucedo supervises cashiers at a Wal-Mart in Pico Rivera, Calif., but her wages aren’t enough to feed herself and her 12-year-old son. Saucedo, who earns $9.70 an hour for about 26 hours a week and lives with her mother, is one of the many Americans who survive because of government handouts in what has rapidly become a food stamp nation. Altogether, there are now almost 46 million people in the United States on food stamps, roughly 15 percent of the population. That’s an increase of 74 percent since 2007, just before the financial crisis and a deep recession led to mass job losses…”

Hospitals seek more ER patients even as Medicaid tries to lessen demand, By Phil Galewitz, August 22, 2011, Washington Post: “Complaining of abdominal discomfort and chronic bronchitis, 22-year-old Toshia Johnson, an unemployed mother on Medicaid, went to a hospital emergency room in Bend, Ore., more than two dozen times in the year that ended in June 2010. She was never admitted to the hospital and used the ER for routine care because, she says, it’s near her home and the care was free. But in the first six months of this year, after entering a state-funded program designed to reduce unnecessary ER use by Medicaid patients in central Oregon, Johnson has gone to the ER just once, after breaking her tailbone. In the first half of this this year, ER visits by the 400 patients in this program have declined by more than half from the same period last year, saving Medicaid $1 million, officials say. Efforts to reduce unnecessary ER visits by patients in Medicaid, the joint state-federal health program for the poor and disabled, are proliferating as states search for ways to control the soaring costs of the program. But state officials complain that their efforts are sometimes hampered by hospitals’ aggressive marketing of ERs to increase admissions and profits…”

State officials identify priorities for Medicaid reform, By John Lyon, August 22, 2011, Arkansas News: “State officials working on revamping Arkansas’ Medicaid program have identified nine priority areas for reform. In an Aug. 10 letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius, Gov. Mike Beebe said the nine areas ‘appear to hold significant potential for early success and impact in moving from fee-for-service to episodic payments,’ or payments based on an entire course of treatment for a single health issue. The areas are pregnancy and neonatal care; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; type 2 diabetes; back pain; cardiovascular disease; upper respiratory infections; developmental disabilities; long-term care; and prevention…”

U.S. rejects mayor’s plan to ban use of food stamps to buy soda, By Patrick McGeehan, August 19, 2011, New York Times: “Federal officials on Friday rejected Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposal to bar New York City’s food stamp users from buying soda and other sugary drinks with them. The decision derailed one of the mayor’s big ideas to fight obesity and poor nutrition in the city. Mr. Bloomberg and the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, were quick to criticize the ruling by the United States Department of Agriculture as a disservice to low-income residents. Dr. Farley, who said he was ‘very upset’ by the decision, said that it ‘really calls into question how serious the U.S.D.A. is about addressing the nation’s most serious nutritional problem.’ In October, city and state officials proposed a two-year experiment to see if the prohibition would reduce obesity among people who buy their groceries with food stamps…”

Welfare reform law faces revision at 15, By Cheryl Wetzstein, August 21, 2011, Washington Times: “Don’t expect much hoopla or cake-cutting as the landmark welfare reform law passed by President Clinton and congressional Republicans in the mid-1990s celebrates its 15th anniversary Monday. Even though the widely touted overhaul of the national safety net for the poor and unemployed has touched the lives of virtually every American family, the Obama administration and Congress are debating new changes to the system, and a temporary extension of the main welfare programs is likely again with another funding deadline looming Sept. 30. But another round of welfare reform is not being ignored on Capitol Hill. Both the House and Senate have had committee hearings, and in March, a group of House Republicans introduced a bill to begin ‘managing’ welfare by requiring a public accounting of the costs of 70-plus federal anti-poverty programs…”

Ohio unlikely to get $176M for jobless benefits, By Andy Brownfield (AP), August 21, 2011, Dayton Daily News: “As Ohio faced Monday’s deadline to expand unemployment benefits and receive $176 million in federal stimulus money, state officials had not applied for the money and the General Assembly had not scheduled any sessions to take any action.  The federal government set aside $7 billion for unemployment compensation for states that broaden their unemployment programs. The provision is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. ‘The idea was to reward states who update laws to increase access to benefits,’ said Wayne Vroman, an unemployment compensation expert under contract with the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. But Gov. John Kasich says it makes no sense for the state to make long-term changes to a fiscally-damaged system for a one-time payment, spokesman Rob Nichols said. And the jobs department, which administers the state’s unemployment compensation system, is not seeking any changes, department spokesman Ben Johnson said…”

Benefits for severely disabled children scrutinized, By Jenny Gold, August 18, 2011, National Public Radio: “To those who believe the federal Supplemental Security Income program for severely disabled children is a lifesaver and not a boondoggle, Hulston Poe is a great example. The 4-year-old was diagnosed with severe ADHD last October, after more than a year of violent temper tantrums, and kicked out of preschool. Case workers said there wasn’t much they could do for him. ‘We were at a standstill,’ says his mother, Suzanne Poe, who was scraping by as a single parent of two in Des Moines, Iowa. Then doctors recommended that she enroll her son in the SSI program this year, and everything changed. A monthly check of $674 helps pay for Hulston’s day care, a private tutor and medicines. Perhaps most importantly, the program made Hulston newly eligible for Medicaid, the joint state-federal health insurance program for the poor. He gained access to the doctors he needed…”

SNAP cards give low-income customers access to farmers markets, By Lindsey Nair, August 17, 2011, Roanoke Times: “Elbert “Tee” Reynolds has become the official greeter at the West End Community Market in Roanoke, where every Tuesday afternoon he swipes customers’ benefit cards and hands them wooden tokens. The cards represent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for low-income families, while the tokens represent welcome cash for hardworking local farmers. Reynolds, a SNAP recipient who volunteers at the market, said some families who live in the surrounding neighborhoods do not have easy access to fresh, healthy food. Until recently, residents did not shop at the farmers market because they didn’t have the money…”

• National report says Minnesota is No. 2 in child health and well-being, By Richard Chin, August 17, 2011, Pioneer Press.
• Minnesota, North Dakota rank high for kids’ well-being, By Ryan Johnson, August 18, 2011, Fargo-Moorhead Forum.
• Report: 36% of Michigan kids live in jobless households, By Karen Bouffard, August 17, 2011, Detroit News.
• More kids in region live in poverty, according to Kids Count report, By Deborah Yetter, August 17, 2011, Louisville Courier-Journal.
• Children’s well-being ranked 31st in nation, By Angela Mapes Turner, August 17, 2011, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.
• Annual report: Recession took a toll on kids, By Erin Andersen, August 17, 2011, Lincoln Journal Star.

• Survey: New Jersey is among the best states to raise and educate kids, By Megan DeMarco, August 17, 2011, Star-Ledger.
• NH still No. 1 in child well-being, but poverty up, By Kathy McCormack (AP), August 17, 2011, Boston Globe.
• Kids Count: RI children affected by unemployment, foreclosures, By Kimberley Donoghue, August 17, 2011, Providence Business News.
• Study: Economy hurting children, Kids Count Data Book shows Pennsylvania fared worse in several categories, By Andrew M. Seder, August 17, 2011, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader.
• Study: Md. child poverty among lowest in U.S.; death rates higher, By Steve Kilar, August 17, 2011, Baltimore Sun.

• Tennessee kids’ well-being up, but poverty is, too, By Adam Tamburin, August 17, 2011, The Tennessean.
• Louisiana ranks 49th nationwide in child welfare survey, By Katy Reckdahl, August 17, 2011, New Orleans Times-Picayune.
• Report: Arkansas ranks 47th in nation in well-being of children, By John Lyon, August 17, 2011, Arkansas News.
• Alabama ranks 48th for child health, well-being in Annie E. Casey Foundation 2011 Kids Count data, By Jeff Hansen, August 17, 2011, Birmingham News.
• State last in child welfare, By Ellen Ciurczak, August 17, 2011, Hattiesburg American.
• Oklahoma ranks 43rd in child well-being, By Mike Averill, August 17, 2011, Tulsa World.
• Study finds one of every four Texas children lives in poverty, By Gary Scharrer, August 17, 2011, San Antonio Express-News.

• Unemployment, foreclosures drive more Utah families into poverty, By Brooke Adams, August 17, 2011, Salt Lake Tribune.
• Kids hit hard in recent economic downturn, By Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino, August 17, 2011, Contra Costa Times.
• Arizona kids worse than most in poverty, health, foreclosure, By Mary K. Reinhart, August 17, 2011, Arizona Republic.
• Report: Wyoming children fared OK in recession, By Jackie Borchardt, August 16, 2011, Billings Gazette.
• Report: Economy taking toll on Colorado kids, By Barbara Cotter, August 16, 2011, Colorado Springs Gazette.
• Oregon third-worst for percentage of children with unemployed parents, By Richard Read, August 17, 2011, The Oregonian.
• Montana ranks worst in 5-state area for child health, By Charles S. Johnson, August 17, 2011, Billings Gazette.

• National study looks at impact of recession on children, finds poverty up in 38 states, By Cristina Silva (AP), August 17, 2011, Washington Post: “Karla Washington worries how she will afford new school uniforms for her five-year-old daughter. Washington, an undergraduate student, earns less than $11,000 a year from a part-time university job. The salary must cover food, rent, health care, child care and the occasional splurge on a Blue’s Clues item for her only child. ‘My biggest fear is not providing my daughter with everything that she needs to be a balanced child, to be independent, to be safe, to feel like she is of value,’ said Washington, 41. Washington’s economic woes are seen throughout Nevada, where the nation’s highest unemployment and foreclosure rates have combined to devastate families and empty neighborhoods and construction yards. A national study on child well-being to be published Wednesday found that child poverty increased in 38 states from 2000 to 2009. As a result, 14.7 million children, 20 percent, were poor in 2009. That represents a 2.5 million increase from 2000, when 17 percent of the nation’s youth lived in low-income homes…”
• Study: Child poverty up in 38 states in past decade, August 17, 2011, National Public Radio: “Nearly 15 million children, or 20 percent of America’s juvenile population, were living in poverty in 2009, according to a child welfare study released Wednesday. More than double that number were in households where no parent had a full-time year-round job, according to the report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which noted that the child poverty rate grew about 18 percent over the past decade. ‘This is really troubling because we had made so much progress in the 1990s in reducing the percentage of children in poverty,’ said Patrick McCarthy, the foundation’s president and CEO. ‘Essentially the recession has put us back to where we were in the early 1990s.’ In the foundation’s first examination of the impact of the recession on the nation’s children, researchers concluded that low-income children will likely suffer academically, economically and socially long after their parents have recovered. As a result, they are less likely to be gainfully employed as adults…”

Think Oregon’s 9.5 percent unemployment is bad? Try 19.6 percent, once everyone’s counted, By Richard Read, August 16, 2011, The Oregonian: “In the official world of government reports, Oregon’s economy has stalled at 9.5 percent unemployment with almost no job growth since February. Economists call the July numbers, issued Tuesday, distressing. And in the real world inhabited by Scott Pickard and many others no longer counted as jobless, actual unemployment is far higher. Pickard, 49, of Tigard, lost a human-resources job in early 2009, exhausted his unemployment benefits and moved in with his mother in February. Pickard scrapes by. He earns a few bucks coaching other jobless people on interviewing skills. He falls into a broader government measure, called the U-6, of under- and unemployed people. Some label this figure, a whopping 19.6 percent in Oregon during the year that ended March 31, the real unemployment rate. Oregon’s ‘U-6′ rate is fourth highest in the country, behind Nevada, California and Michigan. It’s far above the national 16.5 percent U-6 level…”

Medicaid pays less than Medicare for many prescription drugs, U.S. report finds, By Robert Pear, August 15, 2011, New York Times: “Medicaid gets much deeper discounts on many prescription drugs than Medicare, in part because Medicaid discounts are set by law whereas Medicare prices are negotiated by private insurers and drug companies, federal investigators said Monday in a new report. The report, from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, could be used by lawmakers trying to cut drug prices as Congress looks for ways to rein in the cost of Medicare under the new deficit-reduction law. Under existing law, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the cost of Medicare’s outpatient drug benefit will increase an average of nearly 10 percent a year, to $175 billion in 2021, from $68 billion this year. Medicaid and Medicare receive discounts in the form of rebates, which are paid by drug manufacturers when their products are dispensed to people enrolled in the programs…”

Many live in poverty in oil country due to high rent, food prices, By Teri Finneman, August 14, 2011, Dickinson Press: “In one of the state’s wealthiest counties, the line of people waiting for the food pantry to open shows another side of the state’s oil boom story. The oil and gas industry has contributed to the state’s nationally known prosperity and created high-paying jobs in western North Dakota. But those who don’t make oilfield wages face the boom’s negative side effects, including the increasing cost of rent, services and goods. ‘I think the common misconception is that since we are in what most people call ‘oil country,’ that everybody is wealthy,’ said Holly Flatau of the Great Plains Food Bank in Fargo. ‘What it’s actually caused is a greater gap in those that are wealthy and those who are not. It’s harder for people that aren’t wealthy to make it on their own…’”

Long-term unemployment wreaks mental toll on jobless, By Daniel Lippman, August 16, 2011, Miami Herald: “Lisa Banks feels hopeless. She’s lost an essential part of her identity: Her status as a proud full-time employee is gone. Ever since the 44-year-old Germantown, Md., resident was laid off from her job as an administrator for a federal contractor in May 2009, she’s sent out hundreds of resumes, but only had four interviews. She says she’s depressed enough to try to seek out psychological help. But no luck there either: She doesn’t have insurance to pay for it. ‘I’ve worked all my life. I’ve been a decent person,’ she said. ‘(But now) I feel as if I’m invisible. Like I’m not worth anything to society anymore.’ The one consolation she can take is that she’s not alone. Statistics show that 14 million unemployed Americans still suffer the effects of the recession. Of the jobless, more than 44 percent have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, a time frame the Bureau of Labor Statistics considers long term. The average unemployed American has been out of a job for a record 40.4 weeks, a figure that’s grown steadily in the past 31/2 years - from 17.5 weeks in January 2008…”

Milwaukee-based researchers study prenatal exposure to toxins, By Kelly Hogan, August 15, 2011, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Scientists are learning that health is the function of genes and environment. The work of Milwaukee-based researchers suggests that this principle also applies to the health of a growing fetus and a premature infant. Michael Laiosa, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Public Health, and neonatologist Venkatesh Sampath, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin, want to understand how genetics and the environment affect the health of humans during the most vulnerable stages of development. In Milwaukee, there were 807 infant and fetal deaths between 2005 and 2008, according to the city’s Fetal Infant Mortality Review. A disproportionate number were African-American. Of the 499 who were not stillborn, nearly 54% died from complications of being born too soon…”

• State will switch to public workers for FoodShare program, By Jason Stein, August 12, 2011, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “In a deal that preserves millions of dollars in federal aid to Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker’s administration will drop hundreds of private contractor employees who work for the state’s food assistance program and hire scores of public workers as replacements. The agreement comes after federal officials had threatened in recent months to withhold some money for the state’s FoodShare program because of what they said were improper privatization efforts that were started by the administration of Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle and initially intensified by the administration of Walker, a Republican…”
• Local use of food stamps doubles, By Kathleen Foody, August 13, 2011, Wausau Daily Herald: “The number of residents receiving food stamps in Marathon and Lincoln counties nearly doubled during the last four years as the recession forced more people into poverty and stretched family paychecks. In the first six months of 2011, a monthly average of 14,784 Marathon County residents received food stamps, up from 7,936 in 2007. Almost 3,700 Lincoln County residents used the program in the same time frame, up from 1,587 in 2007. Tammy Beranek, a 44-year-old Wausau resident who has used the program for three years, said it allowed her to make ends meet when she was diagnosed with epilepsy and couldn’t continue working as a housekeeper…”

• State educators: Michigan accreditation system ‘no longer has relevance’, By Dave Murray, August 15, 2011, Grand Rapids Press: “Michigan’s school accreditation system ‘no longer has relevance’ state educators say, as every school in the state has met state criteria despite sliding backward on federal testing goals. The state Education Department released announced Monday that 79 percent of Michigan’s public school buildings and 93 percent of the school districts made federal testing goals - called ‘adequate yearly progress’ - for the 2010-11 school year. That’s down from 86 percent of schools and 95 percent of districts making AYP the previous school year…”
• Income gap can be bridged, starting with expectations, educators say, By Dave Murray, August 15, 2011, Grand Rapids Press: “It’s not that children from poor families can’t do well in school, Northview Superintendent Mike Paskewicz says. But they might not be as prepared when they arrive in kindergarten, so schools need to find ways to help them. ‘Parents might not be able to spend time reading with their kids at night when their priorities are trying to get food on the table or a roof over their heads,’ he said. A Press study of U.S. Census figures shows school districts with the lowest reading and math test scores often have the highest poverty rates. The most affluent West Michigan districts - including East Grand Rapids and Forest Hills - have six-figure family incomes and test scores well above the state average. Those with the highest rates of poverty, Godfrey-Lee and Grand Rapids Public Schools, also have the lowest average achievement on the 2011 Michigan Merit Exams given to high school juniors. A family’s income can explain academic struggles, but should not be an excuse, Paskewicz and other educators say. All students have needs, and districts both rich and poor are working to meet them…”

RI pays millions to send foster kids out of state, By David Klepper (AP), August 14, 2011, Houston Chronicle: “Nicholas Alahverdian was a 15-year-old foster child when he was sent from Rhode Island to live in facilities for troubled young people, first in Nebraska and later in Florida. According to lawsuits he filed, he was subjected to regular physical and emotional abuse. Now 24, Alahverdian blames officials in Rhode Island for moving him hundreds of miles from his home, school and friends. The state is failing its foster children when it places them far from its oversight, he said. ‘It’s an inhumane approach to a human problem,’ Alahverdian told The Associated Press. ‘These are the most vulnerable people in Rhode Island. We have the ability to provide for them here. And we’re spending all this money to ship them across the country.’ Each year, Rhode Island sends dozens of children to facilities elsewhere, at a cost to taxpayers that has averaged $14 million over the past decade, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press through an open-records request. In fiscal year 2010, for instance, 117 foster children were placed out of state, most in neighboring Massachusetts but some in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee…”

• Hunger grips Pa.’s First District, report finds, By Alfred Lubrano, August 12, 2011, Philadelphia Inquirer: “A new report that astonished even experts on hunger shows that half of all households with children in Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District can’t always afford to buy enough food. The district - which includes Kensington, parts of North and South Philadelphia, and Chester - is the second-hungriest place for families in the United States, according to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), the leading antihunger nonprofit in the nation. The report seems to establish Philadelphia as a locus of American poverty. With an overall poverty rate of 25 percent, Philadelphia is the poorest big city (population over one million) in the country. And the FRAC report shows that high levels of hunger are very much a part of life here…”
• Hunger an issue for 25 percent of N.Y. families with kids, By Cara Matthews, August 11, 2011, Ithaca Journal: “Nearly 25 percent of New York households with children reported in 2009 and 2010 that they didn’t always have enough money to buy food, according to a national Food Research and Action Center report released Thursday. The study found that 23.4 percent of families with children nationwide and 23.3 percent in New York said they had experienced food hardship at times during the past 12 months - meaning they at times could not afford food for the adults or children in the household. The rate was 14.6 percent for households without children. New York ranked 29th among all states in the analysis by the Food Research and Action Center, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group. It was one of 41 states with rates between 20 percent and 29.9 percent. Three states are 30 percent or higher - Mississippi (32.5 percent), Alabama (32 percent) and Florida (30 percent)…”
• Florida fourth in nation for ‘food hardship,’ group says, By Catherine Whittenburg, August 12, 2011, Tampa Tribune: “Nearly one out of three Florida families, and 27 percent of those in the Tampa-Bay area, are struggling to put enough food on their tables, according to a new study released on Thursday. Florida ranks fourth among the 50 states and Washington, D.C. for the rate at which its families were unable to afford enough food in 2010, according to the Food Research and Action Center, a national nonprofit group that advocates for government policies to end hunger…”

Poverty, academic achievement intertwined, census figures show, By Lynn Moore, August 12, 2011, Muskegon Chronicle: “Many of those who don’t live there - who don’t walk in parents’ and students’ shoes - don’t have a problem beating up on Muskegon Heights schools, especially its high school. Just read the online comments left on stories about the high school’s struggles with academic achievement. Plenty of blame is heaped on parents, students, teachers and administrators. But would they have the same opinion if the topic was the poverty plaguing those families and schools? We’re not talking poor people, but desperately poor. Nearly half of children in the Muskegon Heights school district live in poverty. That would include, for example, a child living with a parent and sibling in a home with an income of no more than $17,285 a year. The question is raised because new data shows academic achievement and poverty are intertwined - not just for Muskegon Heights, but in communities throughout the state. The trend is undeniable when the poverty rates of school districts recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau are placed next to student test scores…”

California reports eighth-grade dropout rate for first time, By Howard Blume, August 12, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “An overlooked corner of the dropout problem became more visible Thursday when state officials for the first time released the dropout rate for eighth-graders. Statewide, about 3.5% of eighth-graders - 17,257 in all - left school and didn’t return for ninth grade, according to the state count now available with a system for tracking students individually. The California Department of Education released the new dropout and graduation rates, the first such report based on unique identification numbers for every public school student. It looked at eighth-graders in the 2008-09 academic year and students who started high school in 2006 and should have graduated four years later…”

• Study finds poverty is a high risk factor for AIDS, By Don Sapatkin, August 12, 2011, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Poverty, long known to be a major factor behind the HIV epidemic in urban areas, is such a powerful force that income and related measures are better predictors of who will get infected than whether a person exchanges sex for money, according to a new federal study of heterosexuals in 24 cities. The study, published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was too small to break out findings on Philadelphia or the other cities. But it helps explain why Philadelphia has some of the highest HIV rates in the country, as Philadelphia is among the most impoverished of big cities. The report emphasized that in the communities studied, poverty was more closely linked to HIV than was behavior traditionally seen as driving the epidemic…”
• Poverty a strong factor for HIV in Atlanta and other cities, CDC finds, By Carrie Teegardin, August 11, 2011, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The HIV infection rate for low-income heterosexuals from Atlanta and 23 other cities is 10 to 20 times higher than the overall rate for the nation, according to a study released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People who did not finish high school, were unemployed and had incomes below the poverty line were all significantly more likely to be HIV positive than heterosexuals with higher levels of education and income…”

Judge allows cuts to health care coverage for poor Arizonans, By Howard Fischer, August 10, 2011, East Valley Tribune: “A judge gave the go-ahead Wednesday for the state to deny free health care over the next year to about 135,000 poor people. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Mark Brain acknowledged that voters mandated in 2000 that the state must provide care for everyone below the federal poverty level. And the Voter Protection Act, a provision of the Arizona Constitution, prohibits lawmakers from altering or repealing anything approved by voters without taking the issue back to the ballot. But Brain said that does not preclude lawmakers from refusing to provide enough money to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid program, to cover everyone who is eligible to enroll…”

Demand for safety-net care remains high in Massachusetts, By Noam N. Levey, August 8, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Massachusetts, whose 2006 healthcare overhaul provided a template for the landmark national law signed by President Obama last year, has already demonstrated that it is possible to achieve almost universal health coverage. Now, the trailblazing state is providing another clue about what may happen when the federal government begins guaranteeing health insurance for all citizens starting in 2014. Massachusetts community health centers and so-called safety-net hospitals - originally created to serve the poor and uninsured - have seen no let-up in demand, even after the state’s reforms, according to new research published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine…”

Tackling obesity amid poverty in a Mississippi county, By Debbie Elliott, August 9, 2011, National Public Radio: “The average life expectancy for men in Holmes County, Miss., is 65 years. That’s a full decade shorter than the U.S. average. So what’s killing people there? Researchers say it’s no coincidence that Holmes County is also one of Mississippi’s poorest, and most obese. Forty-two percent of the county’s residents are considered obese. Calvin Head, the county’s former transportation director, doesn’t have to see the statistics on paper. He saw the problem first hand: The school buses were overcrowded, but there were not more students…”

• 30,000 college students kicked out of food aid program in Michigan, By Paul Egan, August 8, 2011, Detroit News: “Michigan has removed about 30,000 college students from its food stamp program - close to double the initial estimate - saving about $75 million a year, says Human Services Director Maura Corrigan. Federal rules don’t allow most college students to collect food stamps, but Michigan had created its own rules that made nearly all students eligible, said Brian Rooney, Corrigan’s deputy director. As a result, the number of Michigan college students on this form of welfare made the state a national leader. For example, Michigan had 10 times the number of students on food stamps as either Illinois or California, Rooney said. Cutting off the students is part of what Corrigan says is an effort to change the culture of the state’s welfare department and slash tens of millions of dollars of waste, fraud and abuse…”
• Michigan will cut public assistance to families who received federal aid, By Robin Erb, August 10, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “Federal assistance may be running out for nearly 14,000 of Michigan’s needy families. The five years allowed to them have expired, and the state no longer is willing to extend the time through hardship exemptions. At the same time, the state is revamping how it hands out the assistance and plans to limit the total time allowed to four years in most cases, likely beginning Oct. 1, according Maura Corrigan, director of the Michigan Department of Human Services. On Tuesday, DHS began sending out notices that assistance will end to Michiganders who had passed their five-year federal limit, but received extensions…”

Five shelters for homeless to open in rural parts of state, By Madeline Baran, August 9, 2011, Minnesota Public Radio: “Five new homeless shelters will open in rural Minnesota this year as part of a broader effort to shift some state and federal money away from programs in the Twin Cities. The state’s Department of Human Services awarded grants to open shelters in Cass Lake, Pine County, Mankato, Faribault and Marshall, agency officials said Wednesday. At the same time, the agency cut grants to several Twin Cities-based programs, including a drop-in center for homeless adults in St. Paul and a free voicemail service for low-income adults. Advocates for the homeless said shelters are urgently needed in rural areas, but they said the government should spend more to avoid cuts to urban programs…”

More of county’s youth in poverty, courts, By Mealand Ragland-Hudgins, August 9, 2011, Daily News Journal: “Rutherford County children fared better than their peers across the state on the 2010 Kids Count report, although increases were seen in the areas of local children living in poverty or being referred to juvenile court. Released today, the report is an analysis of issues that can affect children’s well-being in all 95 of Tennessee’s counties. Included in the report is data on high school dropouts, children on public assistance, medical care, safety and risky behaviors. Most data in the report is based on numbers compiled in 2008 or 2009, depending on what information was available. Individual rankings by county were not provided, and data was only broken down by city for Memphis and Nashville-Davidson County…”

Democrats challenging administration on Medicaid, By Robert Pear, August 8, 2011, New York Times: “In an unusual break with the White House, the Democratic leaders of Congress told the Supreme Court on Monday that President Obama was pursuing a misguided interpretation of federal Medicaid law that made it more difficult for low-income people to obtain health care. The Democratic leaders said Medicaid beneficiaries must be allowed to file suit to enforce their right to care - and to challenge Medicaid cuts being made by states around the country. The Obama administration maintains that beneficiaries and health care providers cannot sue state officials to challenge cuts in Medicaid payment rates, even if such cuts compromise access to care for the poor…”

• States can apply for waivers on school testing required by No Child law, By Michael Alison Chandler, August 8, 2011, Washington Post: “School leaders in Virginia and Maryland said they are likely to seek exemptions for the most stringent requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law after an announcement Monday that the Obama administration will offer flexibility to states willing to modernize their accountability systems. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is exercising rarely used executive authority by inviting states to apply for legal waivers. The move comes after efforts to update the federal law stalled in Congress this year, frustrating educators across the country…”
• Overriding a key education law, By Sam Dillon, August 8, 2011, New York Times: “Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has announced that he will unilaterally override the centerpiece requirement of the No Child Left Behind school accountability law, that 100 percent of students be proficient in math and reading by 2014. Mr. Duncan told reporters that he was acting because Congress had failed to rewrite the Bush-era law, which he called a ’slow-motion train wreck.’ He is waiving the law’s proficiency requirements for states that have adopted their own testing and accountability programs and are making other strides toward better schools, he said. The administration’s plan amounts to the most sweeping use of executive authority to rewrite federal education law since Washington expanded its involvement in education in the 1960s…”

• Education takes a beating nationwide, By Stephen Ceasar and Teresa Watanabe, July 31, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “After a particularly brutal budgeting season this summer, states and school districts across the country have fired thousands of teachers, raised college tuition, relaxed standards, slashed days off the academic calendar and gutted pre-kindergarten and summer school programs. Slashed budgets are nothing new for educators, but experts say this year stands out. Last year, K-12 budgets were cut $1.8 billion nationwide. According to estimates by the National Assn. of State Budget Officers, cuts to K-12 for the new fiscal year may reach $2.5 billion. A year ago, higher-education budgets across the nation were trimmed $1.2 billion. The expected cuts this year: $5 billion…”
• Poor schools hit hardest by budget cuts in Pennsylvania, Associated Press, August 7, 2011, Patriot-News: “Cutbacks in state aid for public schools hit Pennsylvania’s poorer school districts the hardest, slashing nearly three times as many dollars in aid per student compared with wealthier districts, according to an analysis of state data. All told, the poorest 150 school districts, or 30 percent of the state’s total, lost $537.5 million in five key program lines. That works out to $581 per student, the analysis found. The wealthiest 150 school districts, as measured by the number of children who qualify for subsidized school lunches, lost $123 million, or $214 per student. Of the remaining money in the programs, almost $3 per student went to the 150 poorest districts for every $1 per student that went to the 150 wealthiest…”