poverty

The National Geographic has photos from Houston, the Bronx and Osage, Iowa, to illustrate its story on "The new face of hunger." Writes Tracie McMillan, "The image of hunger in America today differs markedly from Depression-era images of the gaunt-faced unemployed scavenging for food on urban streets...In the United States more than half of hungry households are white, and two-thirds of those with children have at least one working adult—typically in a full-time job." A sociologist blames inadequate wages.

Enrollment for food stamps, the largest U.S. anti-hunger program, is down for the fourth month in a row, according to new data from the Agriculture Department. Since the decline began last November, participation has dropped by 1.2 million people, or nearly 3 percent, to 46.2 million people in February, the latest month available.

Many poor neighborhoods are close to a supermarket - 86 pct are within a mile, says Tufts associate professor Parke Wilde in his U.S. Food Policy blog. That's a shorter distance than commonly thought and a shorter trip than faces higher-income people, according to research by Wilde and colleagues.

The governors of Connecticut and New York state say they will put more money into a program that helps poor people pay utility bills so they won't see a reduction in food stamp benefits.