United States

Adriana Alvarez, earns $10.50 an hour as a cashier at a Chicago-area McDonald’s. She depends on Medicaid, a child-care subsidy and food stamps to help care for her 3-year-old son Manny. Photo: David Kasnic/The New York Times

Working, but needing public assistance anyway

by Patricia Cohen New York Times April 12, 2015

A home health care worker in Durham, N.C.; a McDonald’s cashier in Chicago; a bank teller in New York; an adjunct professor in Maywood, Ill. They are all evidence of an improving economy, because they are working and not among the steadily declining ranks of the unemployed....

Firms move to gut California’s farm labor law

by David Bacon Capital and Main April 11, 2015

When hundreds of people marched to the Los Angeles City Council last October, urging it to pass a resolution supporting a farm worker union fight taking place in California’s San Joaquin Valley, few had ever heard the name of the company involved. That may not be the case much longer. Gerawan Farm...

States tighten conditions for improving food stamps as economy improves

by Jess Bidgood New York Times April 11, 2015

BRUNSWICK, Me. — The food pantry here, just off the main drag in this neat college town, gets busiest on Wednesdays, when the parking lot is jammed and clients squeeze into the lobby, flipping through books left on a communal shelf as they wait their turn to select about a week’s worth of food....

Food safety law’s funding is far below estimated requirement

by Ron Nixon New York Times April 7, 2015

WASHINGTON — After thousands of people were sickened by tainted eggs, peanut butter and spinach, Congress passed a sweeping food safety law in 2010 that gave the Food and Drug Administration new powers to prevent additional outbreaks. But lawmakers have not provided enough money for the mission....

World Health Day 2015: Five food safety tips

by Judy Stone Forbes April 7, 2015

Last week’s post on antibiotic resistance in the environment, promoted by herbicides and spread by dust storms from factory farms is a good segue into this week’s observance of the World Health Organization’s Safe Food Day. We also just had news of an outbreak of antibiotic resistant Shigella ...

Maximum wage! How much CEOs earn per hour

by Matt Krantz USA Today April 6, 2015

Getting paid $10-an-hour is a welcome lift for Walmart (WMT) and McDonald’s (MCD) workers. But compare that with what the average restaurant and retail CEOs earn....

A well-drilling rig at an almond orchard in Hanford, Calif. Land devoted to water-thirsty almonds has doubled in the state in 20 years. Photo:  Max Whittaker/The New York Times

Beneath California crops, groundwater crisis grows

by Justin Gillis and Matt Richtel New York Times April 5, 2015

Even as the worst drought in decades ravages California, and its cities face mandatory cuts in water use, millions of pounds of thirsty crops like oranges, tomatoes and almonds continue to stream out of the state and onto the nation’s grocery shelves....

House legislation supporting USAID Feed the Future program introduced by Rep. Chris Smith

by Hunger Notes March 30, 2015

March 30, 2015) On March 24, Rep. Chris Smith introduced the Global Food Security Act of 2015 (H.R 1567), legislation supporting the U.S. government global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future (FtF). The bill's purpose is "To authorize a comprehensive, strategic approach for Unit...

After the story is published, a minimum wage worker loses her job for talking to the Washington Post

by Chico Harlan Washington Post March 30, 2015

Shanna Tippen was another hourly worker at the bottom of the nation’s economy, looking forward to a 25-cent bump in the Arkansas minimum wage that would make it easier for her to buy diapers for her grandson. When I wrote about her in The Post last month, she said the minimum wage hike would bring...

Weed killer, long cleared, is doubted

by Andrew Pollack New York Times March 27, 2015

Thirty years ago, an Environmental Protection Agency committee determined that the popular weed killer Roundup might cause cancer. Six years later, in 1991, the agency reversed itself after re-evaluating the mouse study that had been the basis for the original conclusion....

  • World Hunger Education
    Service
    P.O. Box 29015
    Washington, D.C. 20017
  • For the past 50 years, since its founding in 1976, the mission of World Hunger Education Service is to undertake programs, including Hunger Notes, that
    • Educate the general public and target groups about the extent and causes of hunger and malnutrition in the United States and the world
    • Advance comprehension which integrates ethical, religious, social, economic, political, and scientific perspectives on the world food problem
    • Facilitate communication and networking among those who are working for solutions
    • Promote individual and collective commitments to sustainable hunger solutions.