A study published in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine says half of the nation’s children will be on food stamps at some period in their lives and that 90 percent of African-American children will utilize the program.

From HuffingtonPost.com

The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters other recent evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk. It suggests that almost everyone knows a family who has received food stamps, or will in the future, said lead author Mark Rank, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

“Your neighbor may be using some of these programs but it’s not the kind of thing people want to talk about,” Rank said.

The analysis was released Monday in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The authors say it’s a medical issue pediatricians need to be aware of because children on food stamps are at risk for malnutrition and other ills linked with poverty.

“This is a real danger sign that we as a society need to do a lot more to protect children,” Rank said.

Ninety percent is a remarkable number. I’m sure the report will be analyzed and debated.

A six-year-old girl who witnessed her mother’s murder has written a letter to Sasha and Malia Obama seeking help for her father.

Bianca Perez, who lives in New York wrote the girls “to see if you can ask your daddy to help me and my daddy,” according to the letter.

From the New York Daily News

Bianca wrote the letter with the help of her father, Joseph Perez, 31, last week. They sent the letter over the weekend.

Her mother, Christina Scarabaggio, 27, was shot to death by an abusive boyfriend in September 2007 as she tried to shield Bianca, then 4, in front of their Bay Ridge home.

Christopher Flynn, 27, shot Scarabaggio twice in the back and once in the face before turning his .380-caliber handgun on himself.

Bianca has been living with her father on Staten Island ever since. Like many New Yorkers, he has fallen on hard times.

Beyonce and Solange may soon have another sibling, according to Bossip.com.

Alexsandra Wright, a television actress who has appeared on “Scrubs” and “Jag” alleges in a lawsuit that Matthew Knowles is the father of her child. No comment from Knowles about the situation.

A new study released today by the U.S Census Bureau confirms what many already thought; the recession hit poor and middle class families the most.

According to an article about the story published by the Associated Press and picked up by other news outlets, “the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans — those making more than $138,000 each year — earned 11.4 times the roughly $12,000 made by those living near or below the poverty line in 2008, according to newly released census figures. That ratio was an increase from 11.2 in 2007 and the previous high of 11.22 in 2003.”

The report also indicates the national median income has decreased around $2,000 for every family in the poor/middle class demographic, while “income at the top 5 percent of households — those making $180,000 or more — was 3.58 times the median income, the highest since 2006.”

 

According to several local Cleveland news sources, police have confirmed that Davon Crawford, the 33-year-old man suspected of killing five family members, is dead. Cleveland Police Lt. Thomas Stacho says that police responded to a call from a tipster who saw Crawford entering a house on West 128^th Street in the city. Police surrounded and searched the home and when they found Crawford hiding inside, he shot himself to death.  The suicide ends a manhunt that began Thursday night, when police say Crawford shot and killed his wife, her sister, a 5-year-old girl and 2-year-old twins. Read More.

There is a massive manhunt underway in Cleveland for a man who allegedly shot to death his new wife, four children and injured another child, CNN reports. “We believe wholeheartedly that he’s armed,” Cleveland Police Lt. Thomas Stacho said of 33-year-old Davon Crawford, noting that the wife and four children – two of whom are toddlers – are dead. The fifth child, a 7-year-old boy is in “very critical condition.” Read more.

Student says singer’s brother-in-law tried to leave town.  The only person who police have publicly connected with the Jennifer Hudson family murder case reportedly tried to leave town the day of the killings. Mississippi college student Rashia Whitlock tells investigators that William Balfour, Hudson’s estranged brother-in-law, called Oct. 24 at 4 a.m. Balfour said he and his “boys” were “getting ready for something real big that’s going to go down tomorrow,” Whitlock tells The Chicago Sun-Times. Read the rest here.

 Friends and former co-workers gather in Hawaii to pay respects to Obama’s “Toot.” Madelyn Dunham, who missed her grandson’s historic victory by hours, is remembered. About 150 friends and former co-workers paid their final respects to President-elect Barack Obama’s late grandmother yesterday in a 45-minute memorial in Hawaii. The service for Madelyn Dunham, 86, who passed away Nov. 2, just before her grandson was elected President, was held at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Obama and his family did not attend the ceremony and neither did his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, a professor at the University of Hawaii. “It broke his heart not to be here,” said Emme Tomimbang, a friend of Obama’s and the service’s master of ceremonies. “Even though Barack and Maya couldn’t be here physically, they were here in spirit. In fact, they both helped put this together.” She said Obama and his family are expected to have another small, private service. Dunham, whom the President-Elect and his sister affectionately called “Toot,” was remembered as “tough” and “hard-working” and “loyal” woman who loved jigsaw puzzles, mystery novels and playing Bridge.  The Bank of Hawaii, where Dunham started her career as a secretary and left as the first woman to make Vice President, helped organize the service. Dunham’s body was cremated.

Jennifer Hudson kissed the body of her murdered mother goodbye at Chicago funeral services for her mom Darnell Donerson and two other relatives Monday. The Rev. Jesse Jackson addressed the mourning Oscar-winner and others at the program where Hudson’s fellow “American Idol” alumna performed, taking Hudson by the hand to comfort her as she sang. Hudson’s nephew, Julian King, and brother, Jason Hudson, were also memorialized after their shootings last week in an investigation that’s ongoing. No one has been charged in the three murders, but the estranged ex-husband of Hudson’s sister is in custody.