Poverty

* Pope urges clergy to live simple lives among the poor * "Theoretical poverty" among clergy harms Church By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY, May 8 (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Wednesday that clergy who were "careerists" or "social climbers" were...

WASHINGTON -- An often-heard criticism of American politics is that lawmakers listen only to the views of their wealthy constituents, not to the poor. The recent vote in Congress to exempt the air traffic control system from across-the-board budget cuts...

(Reuters) - My wife Becky and I experimented with radically cutting our food costs last week as part of a fundraising campaign created by a hunger charity. Under the "Live Below The Line" campaign sponsored by the Global Poverty Project, an Australian...

Enrollment in a controversial program that provides free cell phone service to low-income families has increased faster in Maryland than any other state in the nation, jumping nearly 90-fold since 2008 — renewing scrutiny on Capitol Hill over its...

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is revising a plan to significantly reduce money for HUSKY A, the state-funded insurance program for low-income children and their parents, after his proposal failed to clear a legislative committee. Under Malloy's plan, the...

I figured out how they manage to look at themselves in the mirror. I’m talking about the Republican legislators up in Tallahassee who adjourned without extending health care to a million or so of Florida’s poor.   You have to assume that a...

Lawmakers put to bed another legislative session Friday night and, as usual, some people in Florida came out big winners and others came out losers. Teachers and state workers got raises in the state budget, the insurance industry held onto a 26-year-...

Relatively high pesticide use, asthma rates and contaminated bodies of water give Brawley the dubious distinction of being one of the most polluted areas in California, according to a recent report by a state environmental health agency. Pesticide...

The Senate immigration bill introduced recently contains much to cheer about, including a path to citizenship for the large majority of undocumented persons in the country. The so-called Gang of Eight senators, including Florida's Marco Rubio, have...

Although decades of research indicate that raising the minimum wage does not adversely affect employment, this untrue claim is recycled whenever the Connecticut General Assembly considers providing working people with a small wage increase. Businesses...

Contrary to popular perception, not all Asian Americans are basking in financial security and working high-income jobs after years of intensive schooling. The official poverty rate of Asian Americans in 2011 actually exceeded that of whites by 2.5...

The Tribune’s recent article on “poverty grants” to local school districts raises some important issues about education funding in Illinois (“Illinois’ method for measuring student poverty raises count statewide,” News,...