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US food stamp use swells to a record 47.8 million

Kate Randall
World Socialist Web Site
Fri, 29 Mar 2013 23:55 UTC
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A record number of Americans are using food stamps, known today as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Despite official proclamations that the recession has ended and an economic recovery is underway, families are turning to SNAP benefits in huge numbers. The working poor comprise a growing number of food stamp recipients, and about half of those receiving benefits are children.

Enrollment in the food stamp program has increased by 70 percent since 2008, to 47.8 million people as of December 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The biggest factor driving the increase is the stagnating job market and a rising poverty rate. This means that a staggering 15 percent of the US population receives food stamp benefits, nearly double the rate of 1975.

In 2008, at the onset of the recession, 28.2 million people were enrolled in SNAP. While the official jobless rate, which peaked at 10 percent in 2009, had dipped slightly to 7.7 percent as of February this year, the SNAP program has continued to grow. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that food stamp usage will drop only marginally, to 43.3 million people, by 2017. Even this estimate is predicated on the unemployment rate dropping to 5.6 percent over the next four years.
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Coffee

Why a college degree can get you a job in a coffee shop

Megan McCardle
The Daily Beast
Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:59 UTC
The number of jobs requiring high-skilled labor has declined.

There's a growing perception out there that a college degree no longer delivers the value that it used to.

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© Drew Angerer/GettyAn employee takes orders at a Starbucks in Washington, D.C on December 27, 2012.
Too many college kids are living in Mom's basement, or working at Starbucks. Like most personal finance columnists, I get the letters from them: what do I do? How do I fix this? For many, the answer is grad school. But I get the letters from grad students too. A while back, I found myself talking to a professor whose school has a number of impressive-sounding graduate programs that were originally conceived as add-ons for a professional degree in law or medicine or business. They are now attracting a number of students who just go for the standalone degree. He didn't understand what the career path was for these kids, and he wasn't sure that they did either.

"It sounds good, so they can persuade their parents to pay for it," he said, a touch guiltily.
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Sherlock

Poison claim in mysterious Surrey death of Russian informer

Mark Townsend
The Guardian
Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:04 UTC
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© UnknownLawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in police custody after uncovering a £144m tax fraud.
Alexander Perepilichnyy's friends question three-week delay in toxicology tests and say he may have been poisoned in Paris.

A Russian supergrass who died in mysterious circumstances outside his Surrey home may have been poisoned in Paris before travelling to England, his associates have claimed.

Alexander Perepilichnyy, a wealthy businessman who sought refuge in Britain after supplying evidence against an alleged crime syndicate in Russia, collapsed while jogging outside his Weybridge home almost five months ago. Toxicology tests on the 44-year-old's body have failed to reveal a cause of death, although murder squad detectives are investigating whether he was poisoned.

It has now emerged that British police have been working with their French counterparts after establishing that on the day he died, 10 November 2012, Perepilichnyy travelled by Eurostar to London after spending three days in Paris. During his stay, the Russian booked and paid for a room at the Four Seasons Hotel George V, off the Champs-Elysées, where suites can cost more than £4,500 a night, but he did not stay there. Instead, Perepilichnyy chose to stay at a more modest three-star, £145-a-night hotel across the city.

Associates of Perepilichnyy believe it is "highly possible" he met his alleged poisoners in Paris before catching a morning train back to London and from there to Weybridge, where he rented a mansion in the gated St George's Hill estate. Just after 5pm, the apparently healthy Russian was found dead in the street.
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MIB

Mossad-linked Berezovsky's guard - murder suspect?


The Voice of Russia
Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:51 UTC
Retired Mossad servicemen, the same as Russian, commonly become bodyguards.

Avi was the tycoon's last protection after Berezovsky lost a fortune in a series of scandalous law suites.

One of the tycoon's friends told The Daily Telegraph: "He thought after losing the case and all his money they wouldn't consider him worth killing", not specifying who those "they" were.

According to the tycoon's bodyguard, Berezovsky was alone at home from 10:00am to 3:00 pm on Saturday, while was running errands.
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Sherlock

Britain opens inquest into Berezovsky's unexplained death

Maria Golovnina
Reuters
Wed, 27 Mar 2013 15:19 UTC
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© Reuters/Olivia HarrisReuters/Reuters - Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky arrives at a division of the High Court in central London December 19, 2011.
Britain opens a judicial inquiry into the death of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky on Thursday to establish how he died in the locked bathroom of his vast mansion near London.

Berezovsky, who survived years of intrigue, power struggles and assassination attempts in Russia, was found dead on Saturday in his home in Ascot, a town close to Queen Elizabeth's Windsor Castle.

Police said there was no sign of a struggle and the 67-year-old's death was "consistent with hanging", suggesting he might have killed himself.

Berezovsky was the king-maker behind Vladimir Putin's ascent to power in Russia but later became his number-one enemy and fled to Britain in 2000.

Berezovsky's associates have hinted he was depressed after losing a $6 billion court case against another tycoon, Roman Abramovich, last year, when a judge humiliated him publicly by saying he was an unimpressive and unreliable witness.
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Bomb

Eiffel Tower evacuated due to bomb threat


RT.com
Sat, 30 Mar 2013 15:33 UTC
Eiffel Tower
© RT.com
The Eiffel Tower has been evacuated following an anonymous tip threatening to cause an explosion at the Paris landmark.

Almost 1,500 tourists and employees including security personnel were evacuated from the tower.

Police and bomb squads are still working at the scene. The anonymous caller announced the blast would take place at 21:30 local time, lexpress.fr reports.
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Health

Rescuers dig through rubble seeking missing in Tanzania building collapse

Mwondoshah Mfanga
CNN
Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:15 UTC
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© CNNRescue workers search for survivors as bystanders watch, after a building under construction in the Kariakoo district of central Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, collapsed on March 29.
Rescuers planned to search for survivors under a mountain of concrete and twisted metal Friday night after a high-rise building collapsed in Tanzania.

At least four people were dead and 60 were missing after the 16-story building under construction collapsed in Tanzania's largest city, government and emergency officials said.

Five children are believed to be among the missing, rescue official Walji Ali said.

The building collapsed Friday with a "huge whoosh and then thump," said eyewitness Ali Jawad Bhimani, a hotel owner who lives near the building in Dar es Salaam's normally bustling Kariakoo central business district.
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Handcuffs

Maine Zumba teacher pleads guilty to prostitution

David Sharp
Boston Globe
Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:05 UTC
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© JOHN EWING/PORTLAND PRESS HERALD VIA ASSOCIATED PRESSProsecutors say they will recommend a jail term of 10 months after Alexis Wright (right) pleaded guilty to 20 counts of prostitution, conspiracy, and tax evasion.
A dance instructor accused of using her Zumba fitness studio as a front for prostitution pleaded guilty Friday to 20 counts in a scandal that captivated a quiet seaside town.

The agreement that followed a second day of plea negotiations on Friday spares Alexis Wright from the prospect of a high-profile trial featuring sex videos, exhibitionism, and pornography. Prosecutors will recommend a jail sentence of 10 months when she is sentenced on May 31.

Wright quietly answered ''guilty'' 20 times when the judge read the counts, which include engaging in prostitution, promotion of prostitution, conspiracy, tax evasion, and theft by deception.

''We're very satisfied with it. It's an appropriate outcome, given the gravity of her actions,'' Assistant Attorney General Darcy Mitchell said after the brief court hearing.

Wright, 30, was accused of conspiring with insurance agent Mark Strong Sr. to run a prostitution business in which she kept detailed records indicating she made $150,000 over an 18-month period. She was also accused of using a hidden camera to record sex acts without her clients' knowledge.
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X

Clean up begins for Mayflower, Arkansas Oil Spill

Amy Hancock
KTHV
Sat, 30 Mar 2013 07:56 UTC

It was a rough start to the Easter holiday weekend after an oil spill struck in Mayflower. Authorities said as many as 40 homes had to be evacuated Friday afternoon.

Mayflower Police Chief Robert Satkowski said that the evacuations will remain in effect over-night. The chief also stated that it's too early to say how much oil spilled, but crews have prevented it from getting into Lake Conway. That was a big concern all day; the work ahead will focus on clean-up around the affected areas in town.

"So that is a pipeline that has busted and has flooded the neighborhood," said THViewer Drew Barnes, who gave THV 11 video of the Northwoods subdivision in Mayflower Friday.

Authorities said it's a mess triggered by an Exxon Mobile crude oil pipeline that ruptured, spewing out oil Friday afternoon.

"The smell is unbelievable. I mean, look!" Barnes said as he shot the video of his neighborhood.
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Document

France: Plan for more university lessons in English


The Connexion
Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:00 UTC
flags
© Unknown
A PROPOSED law change that would make it easier for universities to provide lessons in English has provoked anger from defenders of the French language.

The amendment to the Code de l'Education, which was discussed by ministers on the Journée Internationale de la Francophonie, would lift some of the restrictions on the language in which classes are held.

Supporters say this would make France a more attractive destination for bright foreign students, offering competition to established British and American campuses.

The rules currently state that the default language is French and that only a few exemptions can apply - such as teaching a foreign language, or lessons given by visiting foreign lecturers.

Three French authors - Frédéric Werst, Eugène Green and Olivier Rolin - are leading the campaign for the current rules to remain in place.

Werst describes the proposed change as "insulting" and "anti-Republican" because of goes to the heart of the constitutional principle of French being the language of France.
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