• Extended jobless benefits likely to end soon for 4,777 in area, By Richard Craver, January 7, 2012, Winston-Salem Journal: “The final unemployment-benefit lifeline for about 23,000 North Carolinians appears likely to be cut off as scheduled on Jan. 28. Although Congress agreed Dec. 23 to extend federal benefits for two months, it appears unlikely that the General Assembly will agree to allow North Carolina to borrow more money from the U.S. Labor Department. As of Dec. 29, North Carolina had borrowed $2.67 billion from the federal government - the fourth-highest amount among 27 participating states - to pay up to 20 weeks of state-extended unemployment benefits. Those benefits are available only after claimants exhaust up to 26 weeks of initial state benefits and up to 53 weeks - representing four tiers - of federal benefits. There are 4,777 people in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina in the extended state benefit level. The state’s unemployment rate was 10 percent in November. The national rate was 8.5 percent in December, officials announced Friday…”
• Extra jobless benefits in peril, By Catherine Candisky, January 7, 2012, Columbus Dispatch: “More than 20,000 long-term unemployed Ohioans will lose up to 20 weeks of jobless benefits unless state lawmakers agree to take advantage of a more-favorable formula for determining which states qualify for the federal aid. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is urging legislators to make the fix, which will cost the state nothing because the benefits are funded entirely by the federal government, said Benjamin Johnson, spokesman for the state agency which oversees unemployment benefits. The Republican-controlled General Assembly is expected to oblige…”

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…”

Deep Medicaid cuts suddenly on table in N.C., By Lynn Bonner, August 5, 2011, News and Observer: “The legislature set an aggressive target to cut more than $350 million from the state’s share of Medicaid spending this year, but chances for meeting the goal with the plan legislators approved were slim. It takes time to get federal approval for any changes in Medicaid services, so the state won’t see the impact of the legislature’s cuts for months. Under orders from the legislature to manage Medicaid with the money budgeted, Lanier Cansler, secretary of health and human services, has to squeeze more savings into less time. So Medicaid cuts may be deeper than anyone thought just a month ago…”

• Perdue vetoes photo ID voter bill, By Jim Morrill, June 24, 2011, Charlotte Observer: “In a move that could influence next year’s presidential election in North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Bev. Perdue vetoed a bill Thursday that would have required voters to show a photo ID. Republicans hailed the bill as a common-sense way to ensure against fraud. Critics said it would suppress voter turnout, particularly among students, African-Americans and elderly people, calling it a modern-day poll tax. ‘We must always be vigilant in protecting the integrity of our elections,’ Perdue said in a statement. ‘But requiring every voter to present a government-issued photo ID is not the way to do it.’ Perdue said the bill would ‘unfairly disenfranchise’ voters. Republicans roundly criticized the move. It’s unclear whether they can override the veto…”
• Nixon vetoes voter-ID and early-voting legislation, By Jason Noble, June 17, 2011, Kansas City Star: “Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Friday vetoed legislation that would have required voters to show photo identification at the polls and allowed some ballots to be cast before Election Day. In his formal veto message, Nixon said the bill would disenfranchise voters who don’t have access to a photo ID or the documents necessary to obtain one, such as a birth certificate. Specifically, he said access to the ballot box could be limited for seniors and the disabled…”

Rich schools, poor schools: N.C.’s gap may be growing, By Jane Stancill, June 20, 2011, Charlotte Observer: “North Carolina’s 1.5 million public school children depend on the state to pay the majority of their educational costs, but that long-held tradition may be changing. What started as the state’s promise during the Great Depression has eroded during the Great Recession. Lawmakers, facing gaping state budget shortfalls in the past two years, began to force cuts onto local school districts. That so-called discretionary reduction was $225 million two years ago and $305 million last year, both actions taken by a Democratic-led legislature. Now the state’s budget reduction has grown to $429 million for public schools and charter schools - with the Republican-led legislature cutting another $124 million. The cuts were contained in the budget that passed last week after a lengthy political fight over education spending with Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue. The GOP-controlled legislature overrode the governor’s veto, and the $19.7 billion budget plan became law…”

Oregon gets federal money to help unemployed avert foreclosures, By Charles Pope, August 4, 2010, The Oregonian: “The Obama administration released $600 million Wednesday to help unemployed homeowners in Oregon and four other states avoid foreclosure. Oregon, where one in every 76 homes is facing foreclosure, qualifies for $88 million.The money will be used to help distressed homeowners. The money will be available to state housing authorities in Oregon, Ohio, South Carolina, Rhode Island and North Carolina “to support local initiatives to assist struggling homeowners in these five states that have high percentages of their population living in areas of economic distress due to unemployment,” the Treasury Department said…”

• State raises income standards for food stamp eligibility, By K.J. Williams, May 24, 2010, Wilmington Star-News: “North Carolinians should find it easier to get government help buying food starting July 1, when less stringent income rules take effect. The expected jump in eligible applicants could also swamp workers who process those applications, area social service directors say. The state’s federally funded Food and Nutrition Services program, commonly called food stamps, is currently available to applicants whose gross income is less than 130 percent of the federal poverty level. It will change to gross income less than 200 percent of the poverty level for applications in July. The change means the gross income limit will rise from $1,127 monthly for an individual to $1,805. For a family of four, it increases from $2,297 to $3,675…”
• Food stamps to meet more need in Minnesota, By Jean Hopfensperger, May 25, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “It’s a bustling morning at Woodbury Lutheran Church, as crowds of visitors head to the basement food shelf to pick up groceries — and to get screened for food stamps. The scene points to a new direction for the nonprofits that handed out 65 million pounds of donated groceries last year. After decades of asking the public to donate more and more food, leaders are convinced Minnesotans need a more permanent fix than monthly bags of groceries. Enter the food stamp program, ‘donated’ by the federal government and free to all who qualify. After lobbying by hunger relief organizations, the Legislature passed a law last week that expands the program to 70,000 more residents…”

• Fla. Medicaid lawsuit heads to trial, By Kelli Kennedy (AP), December 2, 2009, Miami Herald: “The state has spent about $2 million defending a class-action lawsuit that claims Florida is violating federal Medicaid requirements by providing inadequate medical and dental care to more than a million children. The case, scheduled for trial next week, claims 390,000 children did not get a medical checkup in 2007 and more than 750,000 received no dental care. The problem: Many doctors and dentists won’t accept Medicaid as Florida’s reimbursement rates are among the country’s lowest. Medicaid pays $15 for a basic dental exam in Florida, compared to $25 in Tennessee, which is considered a model of success for Medicaid dental reform. It’s about $40 for private insurance. A pilot program in Miami-Dade County pays dentists a monthly fee of $6.55 to treat each child…”
• TN health insurance plans stop enrolling needy, By Christina E. Sanchez and Janell Ross, December 2, 2009, The Tennessean: “As state funds run dry, Tennessee has cut off enrollment for two health insurance programs for low-income people, leaving the state at risk of a crisis, advocates say. Tennessee became the only state in the nation to have frozen enrollment for a children’s health insurance program funded largely with federal money, according to the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C. The state stopped accepting new CoverKids applicants on Monday. At the same time, the state stopped enrolling adults in CoverTN, an insurance program designed for the self-employed and working poor…”
• NC Medicaid dealing with cost-control delays, By Gary D. Robertson, December 1, 2009, Charlotte Observer: “North Carolina is breaking the Medicaid budget lawmakers approved this summer because more people need health insurance coverage after losing their jobs and are getting treated for swine flu, an agency leader said Tuesday. State spending for the government health insurance program for low-income families and senior citizens - along with the disabled - is $160 million over budget so far this fiscal year as expenditures have surged nearly 9 percent compared to a year ago, Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler said…”

• N.C. borrowing billions for jobless, By David Ranii, December 1, 2009, News and Observer: “North Carolina’s high unemployment rate has stuck the state with $1.4 billion in debt - money that officials don’t know how they’ll pay back. It gets worse. The debt is still rising. The problem is that with about one-half million people out of work, the state has more unemployment claims than it can pay. So it has been borrowing from the federal government since February, sometimes as much as $20 million a day. The tally will rise to at least $2 billion by the end of the year, said David Clegg, deputy chairman and chief operating officer of the N.C. Employment Security Commission. Next year, depending on the economy, could add another $2 billion to the tab, he said. For purposes of comparison, the state budget for the current fiscal year is $19 billion…”
• State’s unemployment insurance fund runs out of cash, By Matthew Sturdevant, December 1, 2009, Hartford Courant: “The state’s unemployment insurance fund became insolvent on Oct. 13, and Connecticut expects to borrow $900 million from the federal government to keep paying checks to a growing number of out-of-work residents. The unemployment trust fund is funded by a two-part tax on employers that is on track to bring in $630 million to $650 million in revenue this year - far short of the $1.3 billion the state expects to pay out in unemployment benefits, said Carl Guzzardi, tax director for the state Department of Labor…”

Benefit Appeal: People denied unemployment payments fight for them because of tough job market, By John Murawski, November 23, 2009, Raleigh News and Observer: “When Jason Smith was fired from his job as a graphic designer earlier this year, he did what some might consider unusual: He filed for unemployment benefits. And when the Employment Security Commission denied his claim, Smith did something almost unheard of a few years ago. He hired a lawyer to take on his former boss for his weekly $371 benefits check. ‘I felt wrongly fired,’ Smith said. ‘I fight for the things I think I deserve.’ With the state’s unemployment rate at 10.8 percent, the scarcity of jobs is stiffening the resolve of the unemployed to collect their benefits — even when they’ve been fired. At the same time, many employers are just as determined to block the benefits because the payouts can increase a company’s costs…”

More districts use income, not race, as basis for busing, By Jordan Schrader, November 2, 2009, USA Today: “Struggling to improve schools that have large populations of poor and minority students and under legal pressure to avoid racial busing, a small but growing group of school districts are integrating schools by income. More than 60 school systems now use socioeconomic status as a factor in school assignments, says Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, which studies income inequality. Students in Champaign, Ill.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Louisville have returned this year to income-based assignments…”

Aid program will demand more, By Lynn Bonner, October 23, 2009, News and Observer: “The state’s 15-year-old welfare program, Work First, will begin living up to its name this year by requiring adult recipients to work, go to school, or job hunt before they get their monthly benefits checks. A handful of counties already have a “pay after performance” rule. The state Department of Health and Human Services made the pay rule a statewide policy this month, though it sent out payments as usual a few weeks ago to give the 8,900 households that have to live by the new policy a month to adapt to the change. Adults in this group have agreements with their counties that say they will work, look for work or attend classes for a set amount of time each month. In the past, recipients got their money whether or not they stuck to the plan. In November, payments won’t be automatic anymore, and social workers will expect recipients to show that they’ve complied, or have a good reason for not following through, before they get their money. The state made the change because it falls short of federal goals for getting welfare recipients working or on a steady path toward getting jobs…”

Once a dream, U.S. life is hard reality for Iraqis, By Kristin Collins, July 26, 2009, Charlotte Observer: “It was the hope of America that sustained them through Iraq’s long years of war. First, they believed the United States’ promises that their country would be free after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Then, as the fighting continued, they were thankful for the good-paying jobs the U.S. military provided. And finally, their lives in peril, they traded their homeland for a new start in North Carolina.  About 200 Iraqis have moved to this state since 2007, officials say. They are part of a wave of more than 20,000 who have come to the U.S. after being targeted by terrorists in Iraq or working for the U.S. government there. But as they arrive in the midst of a recession, their expansive hopes are being replaced by a struggle with poverty and social isolation…”