Working poor upset over cut in day care subsidies, By Matthew Spina, January 7, 2010, Buffalo News: “Jennifer Ward figures that Erie County’s cuts to a day care program will backfire among people like her, the working poor. ‘I am probably going to have to quit my job at the end of the month and join the welfare rolls,’ said Ward, a paralegal who earns about $28,000 a year and has never been on welfare. ‘The chaos that is going to occur in Buffalo, N. Y., is just mind-boggling to me.’ Under County Executive Chris Collins, county officials have grown tired of county taxpayers shouldering a larger share – as much as $10 million this year – of a county, state and federal program that subsidizes day care costs for lower-income families. So as a way to spend less, the county will make it more difficult for families to qualify. The county’s new eligibility rules will cut off day care subsidies for about 1,500 children, or four of every 10 recipients in and around the nation’s third-poorest major city…”
Day: January 7, 2010
Metropolitan and Regional Unemployment Rates
- Severe unemployment worsens in cities, By Hibah Yousuf, January 5, 2010, CNNMoney.com: “The number of U.S. metropolitan areas with jobless rates above 15% increased in November, according to government figures released Tuesday, despite the biggest one-month drop in the national rate in more than three years. The Labor Department said 17 of 372 metropolitan areas surveyed suffered unemployment rates of at least 15% last month, up from 15 metro areas in October. National unemployment improved to a seasonally adjusted 10% in November from the 26-year high of 10.2% hit in October. The rate had climbed for 12 out of the previous 13 months before November. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect the national rate to edge up to 10.1% when the Labor Department releases its December jobs report Friday…”
- Battered midwestern cities see unemployment drop, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), January 5, 2010, Washington Post: “Signs of life among U.S. manufacturers helped lower unemployment rates in much of the industrial Midwest, a Labor Department report Tuesday showed. Still, jobs are likely to remain scarce in the next few months nationwide. Unemployment rates dropped sharply in November in cities such as Peoria, Ill., Elkhart, Ind., and Fort Wayne, Ind., the department’s report said…”
Legal Aid and Civil Cases – New York
Courts seek more lawyers to help the poor, By William Glaberson, January 6, 2010, New York Times: “The recession has swelled the number of people showing up in New York State courts who cannot afford lawyers to 2.1 million annually, often turning eviction, foreclosure, debt collection and other civil cases into lopsided battles that raise questions about the fairness of the legal system. In response, the state court system is beginning an unusual new program this week to try to fill the gap with volunteer retired lawyers, hoping partly to attract Baby Boomer lawyers who may be ready to slow down but are not keen on full-time golf. New York’s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, said in an interview that officials changed the state’s rules this week to add a new category of lawyer, attorney emeritus, that will free lawyers of some burdens of full-time practice, like paying for malpractice insurance, while channeling them to dozens of legal programs around the state that represent low-income people without charge. Until now, lawyers were required to register with the state as either active or retired…”