Spending

Council Member Marilyn Balcombe stated it perfectly: she cast the county’s recent special SNAP appropriation as a “response to federal chaos.” The recent federal shutdown was due to deliberations concerning lifting the debt ceiling. Without congressional authorization to borrow even more money than it already has, the government shut down due to lack of funds.…

In Part 1 of this series, we explored the ethical nature of asking the entire American public—present and future—to subvent our county’s poor. In this installment we’ll show that MoCo doesn’t need to beg the federal or state governments to fund local poverty relief; we can do it ourselves. The Department of Agriculture publishes biannual…

We’ve previously introduced Maria and Juanita: one an irresponsible alcoholic parent, the other a local version of Mother Theresa. I overheard them having a discussion at the Fort Totten Metro stop. “Maria,” said Juanita, “I’m not able to take care of your grandmother any more.” “Why not?” asks Maria. “Well, as you know, I travel…