In today’s rundown: Local women politicians commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. | A look at food stamp recipients whose benefits barely last an entire month. | And one politician asks the federal government to bar food stamp recipients from being able to purchase one type of item.
— Today, D.C.’s Congressional representative Eleanor Holmes Norton will join the City Council’s three women members to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. “D.C. has the highest breast cancer rate in the country, and also has the highest cancer death rate,” reports WAMU.
— Today, WTOP features a story about food stamp recipients who go on late night grocery runs so that they can purchase much-needed items as soon as the benefits go into their accounts at midnight.
–And New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has requested federal permission to ban New Yorkers from using food stamps to buy sugary drinks like soda. Some public health experts say that the ban could stigmatize people who use food stamps, reports The New York Times. The Agriculture Department denied a similar request from Minnesota in 2004.
