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"In a move to help financially strapped retirees, the City Council voted Tuesday to give $1,083 checks to former workers whose city benefits fall below the poverty line."

"In response to concerns by local schools, Pinellas County educational leaders have tweaked a plan redistributing federal dollars to high-poverty schools."

"Scholar House, which sponsors affordable housing for low-income parents pursuing college courses, is to receive a $1 million loan toward construction of 33 apartments "

"Legislation that could push more than 100,000 low-income senior citizens in Massachusetts into managed care health plans spurred intense lobbying yesterday, as consumer advocates argued the measure would strip patients of their freedom to stay in traditional Medicare..."

"Affordable housing for senior citizens was one of the needs the county's 2005 study pinpointed. Since then, the county [has taken]... steps to make more housing available that low-to moderate-income residents can afford."

"Ohio still faces an uphill battle to convince the U.S. Department of Education that enough teachers will embrace education reforms to justify awarding the state any money in the department's Race to the Top stimulus-grant competition."

"On average, at schools with the same poverty rate, only 66 percent of the students pass the English test, and 29 percent score at an advanced level in math, according to a New York Times analysis of Department of Education statistics."

"Mark said District 189 gets one of the largest amounts of Title 1 and Title 2 federal money because 90 percent of its approximately 7,500 students come from homes below the poverty line. 'The dollars East St. Louis has for education aren't really being used to educate children.'"

"At issue is money from the federal Title I program, which sends tens of millions of dollars to high-poverty schools every year. For years, Pinellas has used that money for elementary schools alone, thinking that investments in earlier grades will pay dividends later. "

"He had moved into the category senior housing experts call 'assisted living.' Requiring help with some basic activities, he didn't need round-the-clock hospital care at a skilled nursing facility."

"In particular, concerns about Medicare could become a major political liability in the midterm elections. The report projected that Medicare cuts could drive about 15 percent of hospitals and other institutional providers into the red, "possibly jeopardizing access" to care for seniors."

"Supporters of Florida's two voucher programs, which are limited to disabled and high-poverty students, say that isn't likely. Doing so could invite a lawsuit like the one that sank the state's first voucher program in 2006, they say."