THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2012
Mich., Pa. Put Limits on Families Seeking Food Aid
Kathy Barks Hoffman | Associated Press
HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — The 2010 Buick Enclave parked in her garage kept Michigan resident Renee Moore from getting food stamps for two months last year, even though her family’s income had dropped to below the poverty level, her husband’s Ford Explorer had 300,000 miles on it and her [...]
Picking Up the Pieces: Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Still Making it in America
Beth Macy, The Roanoke Times | Photo by Jared Soares, Equal Voice News
February 12, 2012
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GALAX, Va. — John D. Bassett III was winding along the dusty roads of northern China on a three-day fact-finding mission. It was 2001, and the third-generation furniture-maker was gathering ammo for an epic battle to keep his factory churning. If he [...]
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States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-Abuse Settlement
Derek Kravitz | AP Real Estate Writer
February 9, 2012
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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. states have reached a $25 billion deal with the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders over foreclosure abuses that occurred after the housing bubble burst. Federal and state officials announced the deal Thursday. It is the biggest settlement involving a single industry since a 1998 multistate [...]
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From Relief to Despair: Varying Views of Jobs Data
Paul Wiseman | AP Economics Writer
February 8, 2012
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Month by month, the U.S. job market is regaining its health. So many jobs are being added that the unemployment rate has dropped for five straight months. At 8.3 percent, it’s at a three-year low. Whether the job market actually feels stronger, though, depends on your [...]
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Emboldened GOP Wants to Abolish State Income Taxes
Sean Murphy | Associated Press
January 31, 2012
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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A year after Republicans swept into office across the country, many have trained their sights on what has long been a fiscal conservative’s dream: the steep reduction or even outright elimination of state income taxes. The idea has circulated among academics and think-tank researchers for years. [...]
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Food stamp families to critics: Walk in our shoes
Jesse Washington | AP National Writer
January 26, 2012
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Some have advanced degrees and remember middle-class lives. Some work selling lingerie or building websites. They are white, black and Hispanic, young and old, homeowners and homeless. What they have in common: They’re all on food stamps. As the food stamp program has become an issue in the Republican [...]
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State Child Care Cuts Force Hard Choice on Parents
Amy Taxin | Associated Press
December 30, 2011
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OXNARD, Calif. (AP) — Sarah Comito rolls out of bed before dawn most days and slips quietly out of her house. Before her rambunctious toddler wakes up, she heads off to work as a waitress in an upscale weight-loss resort in Malibu. The hour-long commute is exhausting, but the 33-year-old [...]
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Economic Recovery Slow for US Nonprofits
Donna Gordon Blankenship | Associated Press
December 30, 2011
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SEATTLE (AP) — As the first signs of an economic recovery make the news, many of the nation’s nonprofit organizations are digging in for another three to four years of financial distress, according to researchers who keep an eye on the charitable world. Some larger nonprofits are seeing donations [...]
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SF Becomes First US City to Top $10 Minimum Wage
Beth Duff-Brown | Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — David Frias works two
December 13, 2011
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ias works two minimum-wage jobs to squeak by in one of the most expensive cities in America. Come New Year’s Day, he’ll have a few more coins in his pocket as San Francisco makes history by becoming the first city in the nation to scale [...]
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Income Gap Widens within the Black Community
Jesse Washington | AP National Writer
December 12, 2011
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WASHINGTON (AP) — What happens within the black community when the gap widens between the poor and the affluent? That’s one question raised by new census data showing well-off African-Americans leaving cities for the suburbs and the South while the ranks of the black poor grow larger. Over the [...]
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