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Last Monday, a police officer in Minneapolis senselessly killed George Floyd by kneeling on his throat for nine minutes. Since then, countless people have peacefully protested this injustice across dozens of states and the consequences have been heartbreaking. In many places, law enforcement has responded with excessive force, needlessly escalated tension, and used careless, brutal…
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There is an interesting trend in South Carolina schools. During the months of July, August, and September, juvenile referrals to the Department of Juvenile Justice are typically at their lowest. However, once students get settled in school, the number of referrals spike. Here are two charts illustrating this troubling trend for the last two full…
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It’s not often that we see a news story that brings together two separate worlds in South Carolina: college sports and collateral consequences. But thanks to a faulty road-side drug test, bird poop, and a division one football quarterback, these two worlds came clashing together late last month. One July night in Saluda County Late…
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In December, the Administration proposed a rule change designed to undermine Congress and decrease states’ ability to feed their hungriest residents. The proposed rule was announced on the same day as the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill and effectively would add strict time limits to SNAP benefits despite Congress having rejected these harsh terms…
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Eliminating Protections Will Keep People Ensnared in Payday Debt Trap Columbia, SC — Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) moved to gut the agency’s own consumer protections against predatory lenders, leaving South Carolina families exposed to the harms of payday and car-title lending. South Carolina Appleseed strongly opposes this action and urges that the CFPB’s 2017 rule…
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Last week, we blogged about how many people support work requirements and other measures to reduce Medicaid coverage because they believed lies about Medicaid and the people on it. Contrary to what many people think, most people on Medicaid are either unable to work (children, the elderly and people with disabilities) or need the coverage…
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(Español abajo) February SNAP benefits will be received early—on January 17th—because of the federal government shutdown. Yesterday afternoon the SC Department of Social Services released important information related to SNAP benefits (formerly food stamps) for February that will affect about 231,000 households in our state. This information is urgent for SNAP beneficiaries in our state.…
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In December, while most of us were preparing for holidays and the New Year, South Carolina’s Medicaid agency proposed new work-related reporting rules. These new rules would apply only to parents and caretaker relatives with incomes below 67 percent of the poverty line who are insured through Medicaid. To remain on Medicaid, these parents and…
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Yesterday afternoon, President Trump held a press conference to announce a major shift in US asylum policy. In practice the shift would all but ban asylum and seems to be willfully ignorant of US and international law. Additionally, he announced that the administration intends to begin holding all immigrants—including asylum-seekers and vulnerable families—indefinitely in “tent cities”…
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Once again, President Trump, and his supporters, including Senator Lindsey Graham are advocating for the use of unconstitutional tactics to harm immigrants, sew division, and create fear in communities across the US. In his most recent attempt, the President vowed to end constitutionally guaranteed natural birth citizenship by Executive Order, a proposal so radical that…
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