Poverty is bad; helping is hard

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Should aid for poor be extended?

Government "safety net" programs such as Social Security and food stamps have pulled growing numbers of Americans out of poverty since the mid-1990s. But even before the current recession, these programs were providing less help to the most desperately poor, mainly nonworking families with children, according to a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a private group in Washington.

The recession is expected to raise poverty rates, economists agree, although the impact is being softened by the federal stimulus package adopted this year, which temporarily expanded such measures as food stamps, child tax credits, unemployment benefits and housing and tuition aid.

In view of last week's gloomy employment report, economists are debating whether to increase stimulus funds overall. But in a side argument, poverty experts are also asking whether elements of the package aimed at the most vulnerable Americans should be extended beyond their scheduled expiration in two years or even made permanent

Health Choice divides leaders

Uncertainty over federal funding for children's state health insurance has opened a breach between the state House and Senate over allowing more to sign up.

The House wants more than 10,000 additional children to be covered on the government-sponsored insurance N.C. Health Choice and adds $10.4 million to its proposed budget to pay for the expansion. Under the Senate budget proposal, no more children would be able to sign up between Sept. 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009. Children could begin enrolling again April 1, but only if Congress has renewed the program or put up more money to pay the costs.

The Senate budget, which members will vote on today, caps the program's enrollment growth at 2.4 percent and includes $1.7 million for the expansion.

Heat help on way

About 70,000 North Carolina families could get help paying their heating cost this winter.

The state is partnering with utility companies to create a $10 million fund that will help low-income residents make their homes more energy-efficient and help pay utility bills.

Gov. Mike Easley announced the fund on Wednesday, saying that the state will contribute $6.5 million, while the balance will come from Progress Energy, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, PSNC, Electricities and N.C. Power.

Program offers working poor a way up

Tammee Beecher, a 39-year-old single mother of two surviving on $19,000 a year, has cut out magazine photos of the life she wants to have.

A tidy, quaint house. A Cadillac DTS. A resort where she'd love to take her children.

It was Beecher's sketch of the middle class.

Durham has a Smart Start fest

In a room full of adults, leaders of Durham's Partnership for Children turned to a children's book to illustrate 10 years of success since the Smart Start program was launched in Durham.

A collection of child advocates and their supporters gathered Wednesday night at the N.C. Museum of Life and Science to reflect on how Durham has changed since it received the initial funds in 1995 to implement Smart Start. Gov. Jim Hunt chartered the statewide initiative in 1993 to ensure early education for all children under 5 by providing child-care tuition for poor children, equipment for centers and better pay and training for teachers.

Marsha Basloe, executive director of the partnership, formed to oversee Hunt's initiative, read from the book, "Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me." The story tells of a little girl who wants the moon, and how her father finds a way to give it to her.