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The number of Ventura County residents drawing food stamps has grown by more than 50 percent over the past two years, with some of the highest rates of increase coming in the affluent communities of Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.Officials say the 52,000 people in the program are the highest number since the mid-1990s, and perhaps ever. They tie the surge partly to relaxed rules, expanded …

Fewer than half of eligible Californians received food stamp benefits in 2007, the second lowest participation rate in the nation after Wyoming.That’s according to a report out today by the nonpartisan California Budget Project, which criticizes…

With fewer jobs to be found, more Mississippians are turning to food stamps. The latest numbers from the Department of Human Services show a 27-percent increase in Mississippians using food stamps over the last two years.

As layoffs in Leflore County mounted in the past year, more than 1,000 additional people began receiving food stamps. About 30 percent of the county’s population now receives the benefits, and the total sum handed out equaled $12.7 million this year.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee engaged in a colloquy with the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Collin Peterson, regarding repealing the lifetime of formerly incarcerated people from receiving food stamps. Congressman Danny K. Davis from Illinois also participated. He is the author of the Second Chance Act, of which Rep. Lee is an original co-sponsor.

In the struggling economy, food stamp usage nationwide is at a record high and climbing every month.

With nationwide hunger at an all-time high, more people in San Diego are applying for food stamps. … sdweek kpbs kpbsnews sd week food stamps hunger

Associated Press – December 18, 2009 8:25 AM ET AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The state’s lingering backlog of food stamp applications has led to a lawsuit by a legal aid group in south Texas.