Unemployment falls in 37 states in October, By Paul Davidson, November 20, 2012, USA Today: “Unemployment rates fell in 37 states and the District of Columbia last month despite the slight rise in the national jobless rate, the government reported Tuesday. Unemployment increased slightly in seven states and was unchanged in six. The national unemployment rate edged up to 7.9% from 7.8% in October despite solid job growth of 171,000 as discouraged workers resumed their job searches, the Labor Department reported earlier this month. The labor force — which is made up of those employed and looking for work — increased by 578,000…”
Day: November 20, 2012
Welfare Time Limits – Michigan
5-year limit on welfare challenged in Michigan Supreme Court, By David Eggert, November 18, 2012, mlive.com: “The welfare benefits of at least 11,000 recipients are at stake in the Michigan Supreme Court, which is weighing whether the state overstepped its authority in enforcing a five-year lifetime limit on receiving cash assistance. After a new law took effect in October 2011, state Department of Human Services Director Maura Corrigan changed policy to end welfare benefits for people who were beyond 60 months of eligibility under federal law. The state has a 48-month limit, but months that recipients get a hardship exemption – working single parents, for instance, or caregivers for disabled family members – do not count…”
Homeless Bill of Rights – Rhode Island
Activists aim to bolster Rhode Island’s homeless bill of rights, By Jake Grovum, November 12, 2012, Stateline: “Just two miles separate the Rhode Island State House from Amos House, a soup kitchen and service center that’s helped hundreds of thousands since opening in 1976. But it feels farther. Amos House sits amid a maze of narrow streets lined with subsidized housing and empty storefronts, past a string of convenience and liquor stores where homeless Rhode Islanders frequently gather. It’s near one of Providence’s ubiquitous homeless shelters – Crossroads – where battered women seek refuge and drug dealers often congregate outside. Advocates were looking to close the gap between Rhode Island’s homeless and the rest of the state’s citizenry when they convinced state lawmakers to approve the nation’s first Homeless Bill of Rights this past summer..”