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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Month: December 2019

December 9 – 13, 2019

Evidence shows women should receive follow-up care for a year after giving birth.

 

Experts say USDA proposals to curb access to food aid would likely boost hunger and increase “deaths of despair”

 

In addition to the SNAP rule affecting Ohio Medicaid recipients, an analysis by the Center for Community Solutions found that most of Ohio’s Appalachian counties will get hit by the rule, at a time when a new study shows the American mortality rates have decreased after decades of increases, driven by the premature deaths in the Ohio Valley.

 

 

Accepting a job, even flipping burgers, often means renouncing doing similar work in the future

 

Charleston and Columbia are about average when it comes to the percentage of workers who make low wages. But in Myrtle Beach, more than half of workers make low wages.

 

You’ve probably seen the protesters and signs calling for a $15-an-hour minimum wage nationally. Now there’s a Florida bid to increase the minimum wage.

 

A new Bay Area Air Quality Management District program provides grants to get low-income motorists into electric and hybrid vehicles.

 

Up to 20 low- and middle-income Indianapolis homes could be running on solar power for free by the end of 2020 with help from a new city initiative.

 

The U.S. has two water crises: Failing infrastructure and a silent one … race, said the report’s author.

 

December 2 – 6, 2019

The Labor Department’s report was much stronger than the one last month, helped in part by the end of a General Motors strike.

 

A decade-old legal fight shapes a mayoral race and offers the Supreme Court a chance to weigh in.

 

A new study shows housing assistance had a significant impact on health care use by children, but not by adults.

 

The Agriculture Department gave its final approval to the first of three rules that are ultimately expected to cut more than three million from the food stamp rolls.

 

“SNAP is related to hunger and getting people the nutrition they need,” one food bank representative said. “Food shouldn’t be a luxury.”

 

“We are trying to reduce the stigma. It’s OK to get some help, to get some assistance,” said Reniel Del Rosario from Berkeley.

 

The poll also discovered that “only the wealthiest and most conservative Americans support cuts” to food stamps and other safety-net programs.

 

Research suggests the most effective way to help poor people can be to give them no-strings-attached cash. Now a new study finds even neighbors who don’t get the aid benefit.

 

Working poor families pay such a high percentage of their income for child care that it leaves too many with crippling debt, advocates say.

 

With so many women in Congress, the nation looked closer than ever to affordable child care and paid family leave. So far, nothing. We found out why.

 

States are just now becoming aware of a five-year-old federal policy.

 

The Louisiana Department of Health has partnered with vendor MAXIMUS to streamline Medicaid enrollment, creating the Healthy Louisiana app. Eligible residents can use the app to compare health-care plans and find doctors.