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

October 30, 2020

Federal programs enacted by the CARES Act coronavirus relief law to help unemployed workers are ending after Dec. 31. Lapsing benefits will directly impact millions of people.

 

Latinos were denied fair pay, leaving them vulnerable to COVID-19. In this six-part series, USA TODAY investigates how racism killed people of color.

 

After fires and the coronavirus cut wages for many Central Valley farmworkers, a winter slowdown means families are unable to pay for necessities.

 

Lower-income states that expanded Medicaid may be receiving a bigger piece of the federal pie.

 

The city of Compton is launching a pilot program that will guarantee free, recurring cash payments to 800 of its low-income residents — with no strings attached.

 

Evictions in Arkansas can snowball from criminal charges to arrests to jail time because of a 119-year-old law that mostly impacts female, Black and low-income renters. Even prosecutors have called it unconstitutional.

 

One tenant said she told her landlord, “There’s got to be something for people affected by Covid,” and the landlord responded, “There’s nothing we can do.”

 

The pandemic has worsened longstanding conditions that have widened inequality, hindering Xi Jinping’s vow to “leave no one behind.”