skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

Free Lunch Really Exists for Low-Income MI School Kids

play audio
Play

Thursday, January 22, 2015   

LANSING, Mich. - There really is such a thing as a free lunch, as well as a free breakfast, and more low-income Michigan kids are getting just that thanks to a federal program that's helping to ensure fewer kids go hungry while reducing red tape for parents and schools.

According to the latest data, more than half of Michigan's high-poverty schools, or 181 out of 256 school districts, now provide free breakfast and lunch to all students, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon says there are multiple benefits.

"Better attendance in a number of schools," says Concannon. "Fewer visits to the nurse's station of kids with headaches, stomach aches, or falling asleep in class, fewer instances of kids being restless in class."

According to the latest USDA figures, 6.5 million kids nationwide are now able to receive free school breakfasts and lunches without filling out applications, thanks to the Community Eligibility Provision. The program allows qualifying schools to offer free meals to all students if more than 40 percent of their students already are approved for free meals based on data from other programs.

Along with reducing paperwork for parents and school districts, Concannon says the program has helped remove the stigma of being singled out for a free meal.

"The school-meals folks don't have to one by one, as children come through the line make the decision, 'Is this a paying student, is he a subsidized student, or a free-meal student,'" he says.

Concannon says as successful as the program has been, there is still room and time for more school districts to enroll for next year. The deadline to apply is June 30. More information is on the USDA website.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021