- In our cities, poverty may be your neighbor, By Paul Grondahl, March 18, 2010, Albany Times Union: “More than 25 percent of people in Albany live in poverty, as do more than 20 percent of people living in Schenectady and Troy, according to a report released Wednesday by the New York State Community Action Association. The 2010 New York State Poverty Report found that more than 2.6 million New Yorkers, including 852,000 children, live in poverty. The poverty level for a family of three is federally defined as a household earning less than $18,310 a year…”
- NY poverty rate tops national average, By Jessica M. Pasko, March 18, 2010, Troy Record: “Close to 14 percent of New Yorkers live in poverty, the highest rate among Northeastern states, according to a new report released by the New York State Community Action Association. More than 2.6 million New Yorkers live in poverty, including 852,000 children. That makes for a poverty rate of 13.8 percent, slightly higher than the national rate of 13.2 percent. The city of Buffalo was ranked as the third poorest city in the U.S., with close to 30 percent of the population there living in property. The poverty rate is defined as the percentage of the population living in households below or at the federal poverty line…”
Day: March 18, 2010
State Prison Populations
- Report finds states holding fewer prisoners, By John Schwartz, March 16, 2010, New York Times: “State prison populations, which have grown for nearly four decades, have begun to dip, according to a new report, largely because of recent efforts to keep parolees out of prison and reduce prison time for nonviolent offenders. State prisons held 1,403,091 people as of Jan. 1, nearly four-tenths of a percent fewer than a year before, the report said. Prison populations have fallen in 27 states in that period, while they have risen in 23…”
- State prison population drops for 1st time since 1972; report suggests budget woes responsible, By David Crary (AP), March 17, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Spurred by budget crises, California and Michigan together reduced their prison populations by more than 7,500 last year, contributing to what a new report says is the first nationwide decline in the number of state inmates since 1972. The overall drop was slight, according to the Pew Center on the States – just 0.4 percent – but its report suggests there could be a sustained downward trend because of keen interest by state policymakers in curtailing corrections costs…”
Education Reform and Rural Schools
Lawmakers say needs of rural schools are overlooked, By Sam Dillon, March 17, 2010, New York Times: “An Oklahoma senator complained that federal rules on teacher credentials had driven thousands of experienced educators out of rural schools. A North Carolina lawmaker complained that formulas for distributing federal education money favored big-city districts at the expense of poor students in small towns. And a senator from Alaska wanted to know how school-turnaround strategies based on firing ineffective instructors would work in a remote village on the Bering Sea that she said already had tremendous teacher turnover. Lawmakers who represent rural areas told Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a hearing Wednesday that the No Child Left Behind law, as well as the Obama administration’s blueprint for overhauling it, failed to take sufficiently into account the problems of rural schools, and their nine million students…”