Latest Coverage

"I believe strongly in the importance of Social Security; it keeps millions of seniors out of poverty and provides critical longevity risk insurance - that is the risk of outliving your money. If anything, Social Security benefits should be beefed up in the years ahead, not reduced."

"Public education in America, particularly in our most troubled urban neighborhoods, has been broken for a long time, and nowhere more so than in our nation's capital."

"However, significant boosts in federal grant aid and the use of tax credits provided so much relief that many families, particularly low-income households, were shielded from those price increases, the report found."

"Across the state, black, Latino and low-income students had the most difficulty moving into the advanced level. And more than 500 schools had fewer than 10 percent of students at the top level in reading, many in Chicago Public Schools."

"The high school where those students are guaranteed a seat -- Lincoln Park High -- was the city's highest-scoring neighborhood high school, and No. 130 statewide. Lincoln Park High achieved those results with 57 percent low-income kids."

"Gov. Bev Perdue today announced a new JobsNOW program, called JobBoost, to help put low- income workers into jobs. The program will create up to 1,000 jobs for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) eligible workers."

"Almost everybody has been helped by the federal government's increased spending on education, Ms. Baum said, either through Pell grants, which provide an average of $3,600 for low-income students, or through tax credits, which go further up the income scale."

"State officials reviewed standardized test scores from South Carolina's 525 Title 1 schools, which get extra federal money because they have a large share of students from low-income homes."

"Portland has long had two Head Start pre-kindergarten classrooms, currently in Riverton and East End schools. They serve 4-year-olds from low-income families, in a program supported by PROP, a social service provider."

"...Center for People in Need took high school graduation pictures of Lincoln students who couldn't afford them, giving these students the opportunity to frame their photos... It was a small but important gesture for students who often are held back by poverty"

"[Karyn Parker]... said the program has covered tuition for children from low-income families. It also provides scholarships for their teachers to attend community colleges and work toward associate degrees in early-childhood education."

"Schools face escalating consequences if they continue to miss federal test targets. In the first year, nothing happens. But after two consecutive years, schools that get federal funds for low-income students must offer tutoring or student transfers to other schools."