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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Hunger at the Holidays for 500,000 Minnesotans

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013   

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota's unemployment rate is at a six-year-low and the state budget is back in the black, but for many of the working poor, the economic rebound has yet to be felt. According to the new director of Minnesota FoodShare, Suzanne Shatila, the need at food shelves remains around record levels, and recent cuts to SNAP benefits have more people looking for help in feeding their families.

"And I'm hearing from our partner organizations all over the state that they're seeing more people returning," Shatila said. "They're seeing people who they haven't seen in a number of years coming in for assistance with food, and so the need is still there."

In addition to the recent reduction from the ending of an economic stimulus program, a new Farm Bill could bring more cuts to SNAP benefits, of which more than 500,000 Minnesotans are recipients.

As benefits are cut, Shatila said, that adds even more financial pressure on those struggling to make ends meet. She said a lot of them are employed but don't earn enough to cover the basics.

"And so they do have to rely on these different forms of assistance to kind of fill the gaps and make sure that they're able to find food and that they're able to heat their homes and things like that."

Last year, there were more than 3 million food shelf visits in the state and Shatila said around 40 percent of those helped are children.

Minnesota FoodShare is a program of the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches.

Minnesota hunger information is at bit.ly/1hdYQIO.




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