Report: US hunger to rise for consecutive years into 2023
(Reuters) – Hunger in the United States last year reached its highest level in a decade, with 18 million households, or 13.5 percent, struggling to get enough food, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released on Wednesday.
Hunger in the country has declined for many years, but has been on the rise since 2021. U.S. Census Bureau data from last year showed food insecurity increased following the end of a program that expanded food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report did not explain the reason for the increase.
The anti-hunger organization Feeding America reported in May that America’s hungry people face a funding shortfall of $33.1 billion to meet their food needs, due in part to rising food prices.
Las Vegas Police: Woman steals coffin containing body
LAS VEGAS (TNS) — Police have accused a woman of stealing a casket containing a body from a Las Vegas funeral home.
The Metropolitan Police Department alleges in an arrest report that Patricia Sierra, 47, of Las Vegas, entered the funeral home at 2127 West Charleston Boulevard on Aug. 27 and removed the body of Maria Ramirez, who died Aug. 13 and whose funeral was held the day before the robbery.
Affordable Cremation & Burial Services is at that address, and prosecutors listed the business in the criminal complaint as Lover of Family Affordable Cremation.
A woman who answered the phone at Affordable Cremation on Wednesday declined to comment.
Sierra, who is facing charges of business burglary and taking, transporting or disturbing a human body, told police he was drowsy after drinking six beers and couldn’t remember why he took the coffin, police said.
Biden administration officials consider tightening ban on refugees at Mexican border
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Biden administration officials are considering whether to strengthen a ban on asylum seekers that took effect in June to keep illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border low, a Homeland Security official familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The ban would be lifted if the number of migrants caught crossing the southern border illegally falls to an average of less than 1,500 per day for a week, followed by a two-week waiting period.
A Homeland Security official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the changes now being discussed would extend to several weeks the period during which arrest numbers must remain below that level.
The 1,500 mark has yet to be reached: In July, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended an average of 1,820 migrants per day, and on one day in December the number hit 10,800, a figure that officials said at the time was at or near a record.
Boeing Starliner to depart space station without crew
(New York Times) — Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft is scheduled to begin its return to Earth Friday evening, leaving behind the two NASA astronauts it carried to the International Space Station three months ago.
Six hours after undocking, it is scheduled to land by parachute at White Sands Spaceport in New Mexico. If there are delays due to bad weather or technical issues, Starliner’s return could be delayed until September 10, 14, or 18.
NASA officials said that after lengthy analysis and ground testing, they still don’t fully understand the cause of the propulsion system problem that occurred when Starliner approached the space station in June.
Both Boeing and NASA officials said they expected the empty Starliner’s return would go smoothly, and maintained that the spacecraft would likely have been able to safely bring home two NASA astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were on an extended stay at the space station.
Judge suspends Biden administration program for immigrant spouses
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday tentatively upheld the Biden administration’s suspension of a program to legalize immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens.
The decision by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker in Texas put the program on hold until Sept. 23 to allow for court arguments and possible hearings.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration last month opened applications for the “Keeping Families Together” program, which offers a path to citizenship to roughly 500,000 immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally if they are married to a U.S. citizen.
Texas and a coalition of U.S. states, including Republican attorneys general, have filed a lawsuit seeking to end the Biden administration’s program, arguing it exceeds the executive branch’s authority to grant legal immigration status to people who have entered the country illegally and circumvented U.S. immigration laws.
Harris campaign approves rules for Trump debate, including muting microphones, sources say
PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ campaign has approved rules for next week’s debate with Republican Donald Trump that will include muting microphones except when the candidates are speaking, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The debate will be the first between Trump and Harris, who took over for President Joe Biden after he dropped out of the Democratic nomination on July 21 following a poor performance in a debate with the former president in late June.
The Harris campaign is still hoping for a moment when ABC News, which will host the Sept. 10 debate, will be forced to unmute microphones so the candidates can answer, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Trump campaign announced it had raised $130 million in August.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign and party raised $130 million in August and ended the month with $295 million in cash on hand, the campaign said in a statement on Wednesday.
The fundraising was slightly lower than the $138.7 million the Trump campaign raised in July, the same month that former President Trump survived an assassination attempt. As of the end of July, the Trump campaign had $327 million in cash on hand.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ Democratic presidential campaign surpassed the Trump campaign in fundraising in July. Her campaign has yet to release official figures for the Democrats’ August numbers. Both campaigns have been heavily involved in TV advertising in battleground states.
Harris’ campaign said last month that it and major Democratic fundraising groups raised a combined $310 million in July.
Goldman Sachs says Harris and Democrats are better for the economy than Trump
(TNS) — Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs says Kamala Harris and a Democrat victory in November’s presidential election would be better for their wallets than former President Trump returning to the White House.
The investment bank report suggests that Harris’ plan to help middle-class Americans and small businesses would boost consumer spending and create tens of thousands of jobs each month.
This tax increase would slightly outweigh the negative impact of tax hikes that Democrats could enact on the wealthy and large corporations, for example, if they take control of Congress and block an extension of President Trump’s massive 2017 tax cuts.
“A Democratic sweep would likely result in a modest boost to (gross domestic product) growth as new spending and expanded tax credits for middle-income earners slightly outweigh the decline in investment caused by higher corporate taxes,” Goldman wrote in a note to investors.