food deserts

With the longest U.S. government shutdown over, state officials said Thursday that they are working quickly to get full SNAP food benefits to millions of people who made do with little-to-no assistance for the past couple of weeks. Until recently, SNAP families and food banks in Alabama will have to subsist with pledges of emergency funding from Governor Kay Ivey and The State Department of Human Resources.

It wasn’t immediately clear how quickly the debit cards that beneficiaries use to buy groceries could be reloaded after twin rulings by federal judges. That process often takes one to two weeks. The website USAfacts says 750,000 Alabamians use SNAP dollars to afford enough to eat.

A federal judge in Boston on Thursday seemed skeptical of the Trump's administration's argument that SNAP benefits could be suspended for the first time in the food aid program's history because of the government shutdown. The website USA Facts says 750,000 Alabamians use SNAP benefits to buy groceries.

Officials in Louisiana, Vermont and Virginia pledged this week to keep food aid flowing to recipients in their states, even if the federal program is stalled next month because of the government shutdown. Alabama’s plans, if any, remain under wraps with the November first deadline looming for an end to federal money. The state is not responding to questions from the press about what happens this coming Saturday.

The Trump White House will order an end to federal measurement of food insecurity. That’s a situation where Americans either fail to have the resources to eat regularly, or live in so called “food deserts,” where access to groceries including fresh fruit and vegetables is limited.This is an on-going problem in Alabama.

For the almost two million Alabamians grocery store shelves loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables are often out of reach. That’s because they live in what are called food deserts. Those are rural and urban settings where poverty is higher, education is lower, and supermarkets are often non-existent. That leaves so called “dollar stores” as the only grocery option for a growing number of Alabamians facing food insecurity. Last week, we reported on what changes to food stamps might mean for Alabama’s hungriest residents. Today she teams up with a local chef to better understand the challenges of Alabamians living in food deserts.

Hundreds of thousands of Alabamians could be impacted by a budget plan under consideration in the U.S. House. The Republican majority is looking at three hundred billion dollars in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program also known as SNAP. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities says about three quarters of a million Alabamians used the federal food program in 2024.

GOP majority in the U.S. House is considering a budget that could negatively impact over one million Alabamians. Republican lawmakers may make cuts to Medicaid. The Kaiser Family Foundation says over a million Alabamians use this health insurance plan for the poor. The GOP-controlled Congress is eyeing work requirements for Medicaid and considering paying a shrunken, fixed rate to states.

The Alabama Department of Human Resources is continuing to receive an increased number of fraud reports throughout the state. The agency stresses it's working to process requests for replacement of SNAP benefits stolen from households impacted by EBT card skimming, cloning and similar fraud.

Students at The University of Alabama are celebrating after raising hundreds of thousands of pounds of food during the annual Beat Auburn Beat Hunger food drive. The items will go toward providing meals to West Alabamians struggling with food insecurity.