More Cut from Food Assistance than Predicted
Some 30,000 college students in Michigan have been dropped from the state’s food assistance program since April. Earlier this year, the state Department of Human Services took bridge cards away from college students who didn’t meet federal guidelines for food assistance. However, the new eligibility requirements put in place were not predicted to drop so many students from the program. DHS says even more people will be cut from the program in October when qualifications become asset-based instead of income-based.
Bridge Debate Continues
Officials from Governor Rick Snyder’s administration say they would like to have a deal on a new bridge between Detroit and Canada reached before the end of the year, Laura Weber reports. From Weber:
Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley, who is spearheading the governor’s effort to build the bridge, says he has not counted heads recently to see who in the Legislature supports a new bridge project. But he says the only count he cares about is the final vote in the House and Senate. Most lawmakers, especially Republicans –who are in control of the Legislature—have yet to take a position on the bridge issue, citing misinformation from both sides of the debate. Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville says he won’t bring the bridge issue up for a vote if most Republicans are not on board. But Calley hinted last week that there could be a handful of ways the governor’s administration could get the bridge built without the Legislature’s approval.
Remembering Eleanor Josaitis
Focus: Hope co-founder Eleanor Josaitis has died. “Her son says she died this morning at a hospice in Livonia after being diagnosed with cancer last year… Josaitis and the Rev. William Cunningham founded Focus: HOPE in 1968 following the race riots that widened a rift between Detroit's black and white residents. The group offers job training, as well as food programs for the poor and elderly. Cunningham died in 1997,” the Associated Press reports. Josaitis was 79.
