News stories tagged with "social-services"

(01/23/12) Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich intends it as an insult when he calls President Obama, the "food-stamp President." New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo seems not to fear being called the food stamp governor; he's proposing ways that more New Yorkers in need can access the federal program. Karen DeWitt has this report from Albany. more

(07/05/11) A health care advocacy coalition reports cuts to federal Medicaid spending, now being considered in Washington, would cost New York more jobs than any other state.

Families USA also says the loss of government entitlement programs will hurt the state's most vulnerable populations.

The Innovation Trail's Emma Jacobs reports. more

(07/22/10) A state audit is slamming the management of one of the North Country's largest non-profit social service agencies. A Comptroller's report released yesterday claims that ComLinks, headquartered in Malone, has suffered for years from mismanagement and nepotism.

The audit also alleges that former ComLinks CEO Nancy Reich diverted nearly $100,000 in funds for her private use. more

(02/19/09) This week, we're viewing the recession through the lens of one North Country community: the village of Lowville in Lewis County. Yesterday we heard from Main Street merchants struggling to make a living. Climb the hill from Main Street, up the Tug Hill Plateau, toward the East's largest wind farm, and you reach Lewis County's social services building. Inside, caseworkers are flooded with new clients. Heating assistance and food stamp applications are up 40%. As David Sommerstein reports, those who hold the safety net want even more people to use it. more

(12/18/08) A case now in St. Lawrence County Family Court sets the county Social Services Department against religious beliefs of the old order Amish in the North Country. Family Court Judge Barbara Potter ruled this week that an Amish couple neglected their year-and-a-half year old son by refusing medical treatment for his life-threatening heart condition. Gideon and Barbara Hershberger of Winthrop say surgery needed to repair the defect violates their religious beliefs. Judge Potter will decide next Tuesday whether to allow the social services department to remove Eli Hershberger removed from his parents' custody for the surgery. Public defender William Galvin represented the family. He declined to comment on the case.

Anthropologist Karen Johnson-Weiner has been studying Amish language and customs for 25 years. She's also become with many North Country Amish families during that time. She doesn't know the Hershbergers, or their son, but she testified at trial this fall on their behalf, particularly about the Amish sect they are part of: the ultra-conservative Swarzentruber Amish. Not all Amish live by the same rules; each church community sets its own. All Amish accept modern medical care, Johnson-Weiner says, but only to a certain point, and that point differs from community to community. Johnson-Weiner told Martha Foley Swartzentruber Amish draw the line at open heart surgery, and pacemakers. And that puts the Hershbergers at odds with the surgery doctors say Eli needs.

(10/23/08) New York's Health Commissioner toured the North Country this week, talking about the doctor shortage that continues to plague the region's hospitals and clinics. A new program is being launched next summer, designed to train new doctors to work in rural areas. But as Brian Mann reports, healthcare experts say that won't be enough.

(05/24/04) Martha Foley talks with Sue Rabideau, Director of Financial Services for the Franklin County Social Services Department. She's the primary person working on behalf of the homeless in the county.

(01/17/03) Senator Ray Meier was reappointed as chairman of the Senate Social Services Committee. In a recent interview, Meier said his main focus has been on the welfare to work program and the complex system of public support that's replacing the old model of cash assistance. Jody Tosti reports.