Replies

WASHINGTON - (AP) -- Nearly 1.4 million more people in the United States fell into poverty last year -- almost half of them children -- even as the country emerged from recession, according to a Census Bureau survey.

The city of Miami retained the No. 1 poverty ranking among large cities, with 31.2 percent of its population in poverty.

The next highest was Newark, N.J., at 30.6 percent.

Miami-Dade County's poverty rate was 18 percent, and Broward County's rate was 11 percent.

About 12.4 percent of the U.S. population, or nearly 34.8 million people, lived in poverty in 2002, according to the bureau's American Community Survey, to be released today. That was up from 12.1 percent, or 33.4 million, in 2001.

Roughly 17.2 percent of children, or 12.2 million, lived in poverty in 2002, up from 16.4 percent, or about 11.5 million, in 2001.

Median household income rose by $51, when accounting for inflation, to $43,057 after a slight drop the previous year, when the nation was in recession from March to November.

Robert Greenstein, executive director of the liberal-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, blamed the increase in poverty on rising unemployment and the government's failure to promote more child tax credits for low-income families and stronger unemployment insurance.

However, increases in poverty in 2002 were ''not out of the ordinary'' for a recession, and less adverse than expected, said Sheldon Danzinger, co-director of the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan.

Another heads up for tonight's TV viewers:

A & E, 9pm EST: "Seven Days in September"... 2 hours.

___________________________________________________

Twenty-eight filmmakers and ordinary New Yorkers--who woke up to an average day and wound up living through a week they will never forget--shot this 2-hour special presentation during the week following 9/11, depicting real-life experiences and firsthand accounts of New Yorkers as they struggled to deal with the terrorist attacks and their aftermath. This living testimony features never-before-seen footage of September 11th from Camera Planet's extensive 9/11 archives.

__________________________________________________

How appropriate for it to be run opposite the Dwarf debate. Guess I'll have to watch the dwarfs and tape A&E.