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"Under the program, nonprofit organizations can collect donations from businesses to fund scholarships that would move low-income children from public schools with low test scores to private schools. The businesses would receive a tax credit that subtracts 70 percent of the amount they donated off their bill for state corporate income tax, privilege tax (for financial institutions) or premium tax (for insurance companies)."

"Enrollment in Medicaid is surging as a result of the Affordable Care Act, but the Obama administration and state officials have done little to ensure that new beneficiaries have access to doctors after they get their Medicaid cards, federal investigators say in a new report. The report, to be issued this week by the inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, says state standards for access to care vary widely and are rarely enforced. As a result, it says, Medicaid patients often find that they must wait for months or travel long distances to see a doctor."

"Medicaid-focused managed-care firm Centene is having its moment as states turn over Medicaid patients to managed-care firms. St. Louis-based Centene has been expanding in Florida and Mississippi, and may get a lot bigger in Illinois next year. It already gets a big slice of Medicaid business from Texas. And Texas will likely hand over more business to Centene next year for a new pilot program for low-income "dual eligibles" -- those on Medicare and Medicaid."

"Six years after auditors discovered signs that some Texas orthodontists were putting unneeded braces on teeth of the state's poorest children, an army of lawyers is battling over who is liable for one of the biggest instances of Medicaid abuse in recent history. The state's estimate for how much was spent between 2007 and 2012 on Medicaid dental and orthodontic services that were medically unnecessary, improperly documented or not provided at all has climbed to $823 million."

"According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 128,531 Montanans were in the SNAP program last year. A family of two must earn less than 11,293 monthly to qualify. There's no comprehensive data to show how many college students struggle with food insecurity. An increasing body of anecdotal and numeric evidence, however, suggests that it is becoming a more pressing problem. A study conducted by Oregon State University researchers in 2011 found 59 percent of OSU students interviewed went hungry at some point the year prior."

"Texas taxpayers and hospitals pay a steep price for the state's refusal to expand Medicaid, top White House officials said Wednesday, citing fresh cost projections for treating the uninsured.Hospitals nationwide will see uncompensated care drop $5.7 billion this year, according to a Department of Health and Human Services report. Three-fourths of that savings will go to the states that expanded Medicaid."

"Perhaps the saddest result of poverty is how it affects children, a situation spotlighted in the recent News article showing that more than half of Buffalo's children live in poverty. It is disturbing to think that many of these children face a lifelong struggle just to get by. There is no single solution to poverty. But there are paths that can break the cycle of poverty. These include Buffalo Promise Neighborhood, Say Yes to Education and the Buffalo Arts and Technology Center, which will train the unemployed and underemployed in skills geared toward jobs at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus."

"A record number of homeless students were enrolled in US public schools last year, according to new numbers released Monday by the Department of Education. The data - which most experts say underreport the actual number of homeless children in America - showed that nearly 1.3 million homeless children and teens were enrolled in schools in the 2012-13 school year, an 8 percent increase from the previous school year."

"Forget that more than half the homeless population is employed. Forget that we have created a world of few second chances; where a drug conviction from 20 years ago can mean the difference on whether or not a person qualifies for housing or food assistance. Forget that the very act of being homeless is illegal and that states such as Alabama tend to fund incarceration over rehabilitation. Yeah, the numbers must surely be wrong how could a state like Alabama, where 20 percent of its population lives below the federal poverty line, see a dramatic increase in homeless students? That's just crazy talk."

"Recent data from the United States Census has shown that Youngstown is the city with the highest poverty rate in Ohio, standing at 40.2 percent, with 63.3 percent of these impoverished being children. Youngstown is devastatingly below the national average. The Youngstown City Schools provide students with one free breakfast and lunch a day, and other schools throughout the Mahoning Valley offer programs that help with the situation. Beatitude House, an organization that helps to create homes for women with children who are in need and promotes education, is one of the many organizations in Youngstown that are helping to combat childhood poverty."

"As another round of state report-card data in Ohio shows a significant performance gap between low-income and wealthier districts, one key state lawmaker says it's time for Ohio to get serious about addressing the 'crisis.' No matter what measure is used - performance index, proficiency scores, ACT scores - the latest results are clear: Poverty rates continue to have a direct, negative link to Ohio student achievement."

"An estimated 9,000 people in Randolph County do not have health insurance today because North Carolina did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Based on income levels reported in census data, that's how many adults may have been eligible for the program, according to figures from the Randolph County Department of Social Services (DSS). But not getting access to Medicaid is only part of their trouble."