Trump proposal seeks to crack down on food stamp ‘loophole’

Trump proposal seeks to crack down on food stamp ‘loophole’

Residents signing up for food stamps in Minnesota are provided a brochure about domestic violence, but it doesn’t matter if they even read the pamphlet. The mere fact it was made available could allow them to qualify for government food aid if their earnings or savings exceed federal limits.

As odd as that might sound, it’s not actually unusual.

Thirty-eight other states also have gotten around federal income or asset limits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by using federal welfare grants to produce materials informing food-stamp applicants about other available social services. Illinois, for example, produced a flyer briefly listing 21 services, a website and email address and a telephone number for more information.

The tactic was encouraged by former President Barack Obama’s administration as a way for states to route federal food aid to households that might not otherwise qualify under a strict enforcement of federal guidelines. Now President Donald Trump’s administration is proposing to end the practice – potentially eliminating food stamps for more than 3 million of the nation’s 36 million recipients.

Russian police arrest more than 1,000 in Moscow protest

MOSCOW

Russian police cracked down fiercely Saturday on demonstrators in central Moscow, beating some people and arresting more than 1,000 who were protesting the exclusion of opposition candidates from the ballot for Moscow city council. Police also stormed into a TV station broadcasting the protest.

Police wrestled with protesters around the mayor’s office, sometimes charging into the crowd with their batons raised. State news agencies Tass and RIA-Novosti cited police as saying 1,074 were arrested over the course of the protests, which lasted more than seven hours.

Along with the arrests of the mostly young demonstrators, several opposition activists who wanted to run for the council were arrested throughout the city before the protest. Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail for calling an unauthorized protest.

Africa’s booming cities face a severe toilet crisis

MAKINDYE-LUKULI, Uganda

The darkening clouds are ominous for many in this urban neighborhood, promising rushing rainwaters stinking of human waste from overflowing septic tanks.

As Africa faces a population boom unmatched anywhere in the world, millions of people are moving to fast-growing cities while decades-old public facilities crumble under the pressure.

Sewage is a scourge for residents of this community on the outskirts of Uganda’s capital, Kampala. There are no public toilets for some 1,200 people. Mud tinged with feces washes into homes during heavy rains.

The sanitation crisis echoes that of cities across the developing world. Some 2.5 billion people, most of them in Africa or Asia, lack access to an adequate toilet, United Nations figures show. Governments are increasingly depending on private businesses and philanthropic groups to help manage human waste in cities that were never planned to handle so many people.

One of the fastest-growing cities in the world, Kampala is home to at least 1.5 million people but authorities say over 3 million pass through daily, usually for work. Yet there are fewer than 800 pay toilets and only 14 free ones, many of them dilapidated with walls often smeared with feces.

Plan halted to house migrant kids at Oklahoma Army base

OKLAHOMA CITY

The Trump administration no longer needs to detain migrant children at an Oklahoma Army base and preparations to house them there have stopped, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

“Over the last several weeks HHS has experienced a decrease in Department of Homeland Security referrals of unaccompanied alien children (UAC). Additionally, HHS has been placing UAC with sponsors at a historically high rate. As such, the UAC Program does not have an immediate need to place children in [holding] facilities,” said Evelyn Stauffer, spokeswoman for the agency’s Administration for Children and Families.

Stauffer, who did not immediately reply to messages seeking further information, said no children have been held at the base at Lawton, about 80 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.

Homeland Security officials said earlier this month there was a 28 percent drop in the number of migrants encountered by Customs and Border Protection in June, amid a crackdown on migrants by Mexico.

There were 104,344 migrants in June, down from 144,278 the month before. Homeland Security officials said the numbers of single adults, families and unaccompanied minors at the border had all declined.

Navy SEAL Team 6 member charged in sexting case

NORFOLK, Va.

A member of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 has been charged with soliciting nude photos of women while pretending to be someone else through text messages.

The Virginian-Pilot reports that Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Howard is accused of impersonating several different people.

The newspaper reports a general court-martial has been scheduled at Naval Station Norfolk.

Howard’s attorney Michael Waddington said the case should be dismissed. He said investigators didn’t find any nude photos on Howard’s phone, and he passed two polygraph tests.

Waddington said the only thing linking his client to the messages is that whoever sent them said he or she was stationed in San Diego and liked to work out with kettle bells. He said that could apply to any number of SEALs.

SEAL Team 6 is famous for being the unit that killed Osama bin Laden.

FBI, police search for missing 2-year-old after parents died

MEDFORD, Ore.

The Medford Police Department and the FBI are searching for a 2-year-old boy whose parents were involved in an apparent murder-suicide in Montana.

Officers are trying to find Aiden Salcido, the son of Daniel Salcido and Hannah Janiak, the FBI said in a news release Friday night.

The boy’s parents were found dead Wednesday in Kalispell, Mont., after police stopped them following a chase because they had felony burglary warrants for their arrest.

Officers found Janiak dead with a gunshot wound to her head, and Salcido dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the FBI said in a news release. Their child was not in the 1996 GMC Jimmy with Oregon license plates, the FBI said.

The Jackson County, Ore., Sheriff’s Office investigated the couple for a burglary in 2018, the FBI said. Both were convicted of the charges, and Janiak was to begin serving her sentence at the Jackson County Jail on June 11, the FBI said. She did not show up for her sentencing.

5-year-old credited with saving 13 from Chicago house fire

CHICAGO

A 5-year-old boy is being credited with saving 13 people from a Chicago house fire.

Residents said Jayden Espinosa awoke to smoke and flames just before 4 a.m. Saturday and alerted others to the danger.

Seven adults and six children who lived in the 2 Ω-story brick home in the Back of the Yards neighborhood were left homeless. No injuries were reported.

Nicole Peeples said that without the boy’s warning, “I don’t think we would have survived.”

Peeples said she smelled no smoke and “the fire alarms never went off. I’m so glad he was there.”

Fire officials are investigating the cause of the fire. Residents said the home was destroyed.

Associated Press