‘Never Seen Anything Like It’: Cars Line Up for Miles at Food Banks Millions are flooding a charitable system that was never intended to handle a nationwide crisis. Army and Air Force National Guard soldiers packed food boxes at the Nourish Pierce County food bank in Tacoma, Wash., last week. Army and Air Force National Guard soldiers packed food boxes at the Nourish Pierce County food bank in Tacoma, Wash., last week.

By Nicholas Kulish April 8, 2020

In Omaha, a food pantry that typically serves as few as 100 people saw 900 show up on a single day. In Jonesboro, Ark., after a powerful tornado struck, a food bank received less than half the donations it expected because nervous families held on to what they had. And in Washington State and Louisiana, the National Guard has been called in to help pack food boxes and ensure that the distributions run smoothly. Demand for food assistance is rising at an extraordinary rate, just as the nation’s food banks are being struck by shortages of both donated food and volunteer workers.

Opinion: Double the Federal Minimum Wage. State and local governments are proving that higher minimum-wage standards are good for workers. Congress should take the lesson. By The Editorial Board The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom. Dec. 30, 2019

Opponents of minimum-wage laws have long argued that companies have only so much money and, if required to pay higher wages, they will employ fewer workers. Now there is evidence that such concerns, never entirely sincere, are greatly overstated. Over the past five years, a wave of increases in state and local minimum-wage standards has pushed the average effective minimum wage in the United States to the highest level on record. The average worker must be paid at least $11.80 an hour — more after inflation than the last peak, in the 1960s, according to an analysis by the economist Ernie Tedeschi.

Medicaid Covers a Million Fewer Children. Baby Elijah Was One of Them. Officials point to rising employment, but the uninsured rate is climbing as families run afoul of new paperwork and as fear rises among immigrants. By Abby Goodnough and Margot Sanger-Katz . Oct. 22, 2019

HOUSTON — The baby’s lips were turning blue from lack of oxygen in the blood when his mother, Kristin Johnson, rushed him to an emergency room here last month. Only after he was admitted to intensive care with a respiratory virus did Ms. Johnson learn that he had been dropped from Medicaid coverage.

Opinion: Changing Rules to Help Bankers and Hurt Poor Neighborhoods. The Community Reinvestment Act needs a renovation. The Trump administration instead is proposing a partial demolition. By The Editorial Board. The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom. Jan. 10, 2020

Banks don’t like lending in lower-income neighborhoods, even as they profit from deposits taken from those same communities. Since 1977, the Community Reinvestment Act has forced the issue, requiring banks to provide mortgages, small-business loans and other services in all areas where they operate. The current crop of federal banking regulators, picked by President Trump, is now proposing to let banks pump less money into lower-income communities, and even to claim credit for lending that does not benefit those communities. One egregious example: Banks could count loans for improvements to stadiums that happen to sit in poor neighborhoods. Yes, you read that right: Under the proposal, the banks that financed the new sound system at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore could claim credit for investing in the community.

Take the Quiz: Could You Manage as a Poor American? See whether you make the kinds of mistakes that can cost poor families food or health insurance. By Emily Badger and Margot Sanger-Katz Jan. 28, 2020

Free Cash to Fight Income Inequality? California City Is First in U.S. to Try. Long plagued by poverty and desperation, Stockton, Calif., is testing universal basic income as a means of improving the lives of its residents. Stockton, Calif., hopes to become an exhibition ground for fighting poverty with a simple yet unorthodox experiment: giving $500 a month in donated cash to perhaps 100 local families, no strings attached. By Peter S. Goodman May 30, 2018

Statement on Visit to the USA, by Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. Washington, December 15, 2017