Month: May 2019

The proposal could result in cuts in federal aid to millions of low-income Americans.

The possible change involves a different inflation measure to adjust the poverty threshold annually. Anti-poverty groups worry that many low-income people would be pushed off assistance programs.

The Trump administration has taken a step toward changing the way the poverty threshold is calculated, a move that could strip many low-income Americans of their federal benefits.

African-American, Native American and Alaska Native women are about three times more likely to die from causes related to pregnancy, compared to white women in the United States.

Black women in the U.S. are about three times as likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause as others.

For years in prison, Kristan Kerr looked forward to one thing every month: a visit from her daughter. “I just watched her grow all the way up,” she says.

The public defender wants to end bail without using a controversial risk-assessment tool. Many defendants would not even be arrested, instead receiving a summons; the rest would receive individualized detention hearings.

Under a reform bill, anyone arrested for a crime who is able to pay their bail would be permitted to post it and get out of jail. Those unable to pay, however, would have to see a judge within 48 hours of their arrest to limit pre-conviction jail time.

The data shows that the average bond amount fell from $5,000 to $1,000, while the percentage of inmates picking up new charges while on bond dropped.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Housing and Urban Development acknowledged that a Trump administration plan to purge undocumented immigrants from public housing could displace more than 55,000 children, all of whom are legal U.S. residents or citizens.

About 110,000 low-to median-income students will qualify for help each year, including adults who never got a degree and want to go to school. There will be no more financial-aid wait lists.

State law already prohibits school districts from withholding diplomas for nonpayment of fees. Legal Aid attorneys believe that should include school lunch debt.

The superintendent of the Warwick Public School District said the school committee would vote next week on a proposal to reverse the policy.

The economy produced another strong month of growth, and the jobless rate fell to the lowest level in half a century.

Employers added far more jobs than expected in April — another sign the U.S. economy is chugging along as the expansion nears the 10-year mark. The unemployment rate was the lowest since 1969.

Three red states failed to pass work requirements this year.

THE WATCHDOGS: Tens of thousands in Illinois are waiting months for health care because of state backlog in determining who’s eligible for Medicaid.

A new state is repealing its cap on welfare for families having additional children.

Jules grew up in a home that often didn’t have electricity, water or heat.

Ten years after the last minimum wage hike, Tennesseans see little hope for mandated increase.

Differences in ability to post bail account for one-third of the city’s race gap in pretrial detention.At $25,000 bail, white defendants are twice as likely to go free as black defendants while they fight their case.

More than a half-million people live on the street in the United States.

The population experiences homelessness at disproportionate rates.

The city keeps getting slapped for the poor condition of its public housing. Nothing has changed so far.

In every county across the U.S., some people are facing hunger — children are the most vulnerable

Many routinely skip meals and take ‘poverty naps’ because they cannot afford groceries. Campus food pantries are helping, but are they enough?

Mississippi had been one of only three states still banning those with drug felonies from federal food benefits.