- An opportunity gamed away, By Chico Harlan, July 11, 2015, Washington Post: “Her one-story house was slumping inch by inch, day by day, into the wet ground of the Mississippi Delta. Rot climbed up the wooden beams and mildew crept across the ceiling. Soft spots spread across the damp and buckling plywood floor. Holes opened up that led straight to the soil…”
- Graduating, but to what?, By Chico Harlan, October 17, 2015, Washington Post: “The day of his high school graduation, like so many of the days before, began with chaos. Ruleville Central had pledged to lock its front doors an hour before the ceremony to prevent a crowd overflow, and Jadareous Davis was still at his grandmother’s home six miles up the road, time slipping away. Davis scanned through his mental checklist. Shoes? His older brother hadn’t yet swung by to drop off a pair. Bow tie? Maybe he could borrow one from a neighbor. Pants? Davis wasn’t even sure whether the dress code mandated black or brown, and he called a friend for help…”
- A grim bargain, By Chico Harlan, December 1, 2015, Washington Post: “People here were so accustomed to the rural quiet, even the distant noises tipped off that something big was coming to the most impoverished corner of Alabama. First they heard chain saws buzzing through the forest, and then they heard trucks jangling along rutted roads, hauling away the timber. Next they heard pavers blazing new asphalt past a cow pasture. And finally they heard the rumblings of a different kind, the first rumors of what was planned for the clearing…”
- A lonely road, By Chico Harlan, December 28, 2015, Washington Post: “She set off on the latest day of job hunting wearing tiny star-shaped earrings that belonged to her 18-month-old daughter and frayed $6 shoes from Walmart that were the more comfortable of her two pairs. In her backpack she had stashed a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch, hand sanitizer for the bus and pocket change for printing résumés at the public library. She carried a spiral notebook with a handwritten list of job openings that she’d titled her ‘Plan of Action for the Week.’ It had been 20 months since Lauren Scott lost her apartment and six months since she lost her car and 10 weeks since she washed up at a homeless shelter in this suburb south of Atlanta with no money and no job. Her daughter, Za’Niyah, had already lived in seven places, and Scott feared that her child would soon grow old enough to permanently remember the chaos…”
Tag: Alabama
Kids Count Report – Alabama
Report: More than a quarter of Alabama children live in poverty, By Amy Yurkanin, December 1, 2015, AL.com: “The Great Recession hasn’t released its grip on Alabama children, who suffer higher rates of poverty than they did 15 years ago, according to the latest Kids Count Data Book. About 27 percent of Alabama children live in households that earn $25,000 or less for a family of four. Almost half of those children live in extreme poverty, with a household income of less than $12,000 a year. All told, about 300,000 children and families lack the economic resources needed to obtain safe housing, healthy food and adequate child care. Not all Alabama children are equally affected by poverty. Although the poverty rate has gone up in all demographics, African-American and Hispanic children are more than twice as likely to live in low-income households as their white counterparts, according to the report…”
States and Medicaid Expansion
- Haslam’s Tennessee Plan would expand health coverage, By Dave Boucher, December 15, 2014, The Tennessean: “In a major policy move, Gov. Bill Haslam has announced the new Insure Tennessee plan, a two-year pilot program that would provide health care coverage to tens of thousands of Tennesseans who currently don’t have access to health insurance or have limited options. The plan would be leveraged with federal dollars, said Haslam, who has been working for more than a year on a Medicaid expansion plan that could gain approval from both federal officials and the Republican-dominated state legislature…”
- Medicaid expansion could be months away in Alaska, Associated Press, December 14, 2014, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: “State health commissioner Valerie Davidson said it could be July before the state is in a position to begin enrolling Alaskans under expanded Medicaid coverage. Davidson said issues need to be worked out with a Medicaid eligibility system as well as with a Medicaid payment system that has been plagued by problems since going live in 2013. Both are being converted from one technology system to another, she said…”
- Robert Bentley suggests he could accept Medicaid expansion, By Brian Lyman, December 12, 2014, Montgomery Advertiser: “Gov. Robert Bentley suggested Thursday that he could support an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program in the form of a block grant with employment requirements. In remarks before lawmakers wrapping up three days of legislative orientation, Bentley — who for years has expressed staunch opposition to expansion — said he would not expand the system until proposed reforms of the state system go into effect. However, he added he would be open to discussing a block grant program, similar to an expansion that took place in Arkansas this year…”