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Tribal advocates keep up legal pressure for fair political maps; 12-member jury sworn in for Trump's historic criminal trial; the importance of healthcare decision planning; and a debt dilemma: poll shows how many people wrestle with college costs.

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Civil rights activists say a court ruling could end the right to protest in three southern states, a federal judge lets January 6th lawsuits proceed against former President Trump, and police arrest dozens at a Columbia University Gaza protest.

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Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

The New Face of "Hunger for the Holidays" in NY

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Monday, December 24, 2007   

Mineola, NY - Santa may find an empty cookie plate in some houses tonight, because many Long Islanders don't have much food to spare. Their friends and neighbors still have time to help fill the gap, even though a campaign to collect 22,000 turkeys for food baskets is 15,000 short.

Randi Shubin Dresner works with Island Harvest, which supervises a food network of nearly 500 community nonprofit groups across Long Island. She says local food banks that usually help stock holiday tables are coming up short on donations, while at the same time they see more families asking for help. Most notably, she adds, it's working families who are asking for a helping hand as they find it harder and harder to make their food dollars stretch.

"The face of hunger surprises many people. The majority of people in hunger situations are working people trying to make ends meet. Often they've lost their jobs because of downsizing."

National food networks are reporting a 40 percent increase in demand this year, with double that in parts of New York City and more than 2 million hungry statewide. But Dresner says there's still hope that local generosity will help make up the difference.

"It could be your neighbor, it could be your relatives. What we're doing is really helping to reduce a lot of the struggle that these families have, so that they can concentrate on getting themselves out of their problems. And that's what's so wonderful about this community this time of year."

Island Harvest's hotline for holiday food donations is 516-294-8528, or visit the Island Harvest website, www.islandharvest.org. Statewide information for food donors is available from New York State Foodbanks, www.endhungerny.org.




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