Senators cleared the path Wednesday for a final vote on legislation to bolster the safety and nutritional value of school lunches, including provisions to improve training for cafe-teria workers and to alert schools more quickly about recalls of contaminated food.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 would commit an additional $4.5 billion to child-nutrition programs over the next 10 years

It appears that many households eligible for the deduction are not claiming it. In addition, those that do claim it could likely qualify for larger deductions.

When blurry-eyed kids traipse through the breakfast line in the early hours of the morning before the start of school at Park Terrace, they are assured of not only healthy food but of a smile.

“I always tell our cooks to smile when kids come through,” said Ann Richly, District 16’s food service operations coordinator.

They’re young, they’re broke, and they pay for organic salmon with government subsidies. Got a problem with that?

Salon

The numbers in Minnesota are even more telling if you go back a few years. There are 10,000 fewer students in Minnesota schools than there were in 2002, yet there are 65,000 more students on free and reduced lunch.

The data also show that increased poverty is universal. Edina, widely considered one of the state’s most affluent communities, has one of the lowest rates of poverty in Minnesota.

Bastions of the middle class, Twin Cities suburbs are seeing financial pain spreading quietly among their residents. They now have more poor people than the core cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

STRIB

Cooney thinks a bill will be produced after healthcare is out of the way. He said the Congressional Hunger Center advises anti-hunger coalitions on these issues and some organizations, particularly Feeding America and the Food Research Action Center, are serious about getting a bill passed.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that it will be developing an alternative way to measure poverty. This new method will better reflect the realities facing struggling families and ways in which current government programs can help them to get back on their feet.

Human Services Committee – More Minnesotans would be eligible for the federal Food Support program under a bill held over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill.

Session Daily

The events and legislation behind an aid program’s beginnings, controversies and recent revival.

NYT