Thanks to Florida Gov. Rick Scott's insistence that people on welfare use drugs at a higher rate than the general population, the state's Legislature implemented a policy earlier this year requiring all applicants for temporary cash assistance to pass a drug test before getting any help.
The results: Ninety-eight percent passed. And the process will cost the state $178 million.
The Tampa Tribune reports that the Department of Children and Families says about 2 percent of applicants are failing the test and another 2 percent are not completing the application process for unspecified reasons.
Here's the Tribune's assessment of how much the state will pay:
Cost of the tests averages about $30. Assuming that 1,000 to 1,500 applicants take the test every month, the state will owe about $28,800-$43,200 monthly in reimbursements to those who test drug-free.
That compares with roughly $32,200-$48,200 the state may save on one month’s worth of rejected applicants.
Net savings to the state: $3,400 to $5,000 annually on one month’s worth of rejected applicants. Over 12 months, the money saved on all rejected applicants would add up to $40,800 to $60,000 for a program that state analysts have predicted will cost $178 million this fiscal year.
Maybe Florida politicians are the ones who need to be tested to see if they're under the influence of something (prejudice, perhaps?) that's making them think this wasteful program is good public policy.
Read more at the Tampa Tribune and ColorLines.
In other news: Juanita Bynum Types in Tongues on Facebook.
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Monday, August 29, 2011
98 Percent of Welfare Applicants Pass Drug Test
Irene brings worst flooding in century to Vermont
WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) — The remnants of Hurricane Irene turned placid rivers and streams into raging torrents across parts of Vermont and upstate New York on Monday, closing hundreds of roads, destroying dozens of bridges and cutting off entire communities in the worst flooding some areas have seen in a century.
Irene dumped up to 11 inches on parts of Vermont and more than 13 inches on some areas of New York — a deluge that quickly overwhelmed waterways, storm sewers and drainage systems. At one point, the floodwaters were climbing so fast that Vermont officials feared they might have to take the extraordinary step of flooding the state capital of Montpelier to relieve pressure on a dam.
"We prepared for the worst and we got the worst in central and southern Vermont," Gov. Peter Shumlin said. "It's just devastating — whole communities under water. ... We're tough folks here in Vermont, but Irene really ... hit us hard."
The governor and Sen. Patrick Leahy toured some of the most devastated communities by helicopter Monday, but because the floodwaters cut off many of those towns, the full extent of the damage could take days to emerge. In at least a dozen places, neither utility crews nor emergency vehicles could get in to offer help. President Barack Obama has declared the state a federal disaster area.
Judge blocks Alabama immigration law to buy time | Reuters
(Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday blocked Alabama's tough new immigration law from taking effect this week, making it the latest U.S. state to have a measure on illegal immigration halted in court.
Chief U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn cited the need for more time to consider the legal challenges against the law in an injunction that blocks implementation of the law through September 29.
"In entering this order the court specifically notes that it is in no way addressing the merits of the motions," the judge wrote in her two-page order.
Federal judges have previously blocked key parts of other immigration laws passed in Georgia, Arizona, Utah and Indiana.
The Alabama law, widely seen as the toughest state measure on illegal immigration, requires police to detain people they suspect of being in the United States illegally if they cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason.
The Associated Press: Hurricane Irene leads to at least 27 deaths
Hurricane Irene leads to at least 27 deathsBy The Associated Press – 5 hours ago
Hurricane Irene led to the deaths of at least 27 people in eight states:
CONNECTICUT:
— In Prospect, 89-year-old Charlotte Levine was killed early Sunday when a falling tree limb pulled power lines onto her house and started a fire.
— In Bristol, 46-year-old Shane Seaver died after he and another man went canoeing down a flooded street and the canoe capsized. Seaver's body washed ashore late Sunday night in Plainville. The other man survived.
FLORIDA:
— In Volusia County, 55-year-old Frederick Fernandez died Saturday off New Smyrna Beach after he was tossed off his board by massive waves caused by Irene. The Orlando Sentinel reports the high school teacher had a large cut on his head, apparently from hitting the sea floor.
— In Flagler County, 55-year-old tourist James Palmer of New Jersey died Saturday in rough surf. Family members say they lost sight of him after he waded into the surf in North Florida. He was pulled to shore and his wife attempted CPR, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
MARYLAND:
— In Queen Anne's County, Md., 85-year-old Anne Bell was killed when a tree knocked a chimney through the glass roof of the sunroom where she and her son were sitting. They'd gone out into the sunroom after the power went out in her Queenstown home. Bell was struck by debris, causing severe trauma.
NEW JERSEY
— Celena Sylvestri, 20, of Quinton, called her boyfriend and then 911 early Sunday seeking help getting out of her flooded car in Pilesgrove, police said. Her body was found eight hours later in the vehicle, which was about 150 feet off the road, police said.
— Ronald Dawkins, a 47-year-old postal worker, abandoned his vehicle when it became partly submerged in water early Sunday, Kearny police said. He then tried to wade through rising water, and witnesses said he stepped into a hidden drainage creek. His body was found about two hours later.
— Scott Palecek, 39, was walking in Wanaque when a pipe broke loose and swept him away in floodwaters Sunday, police said.
NEW YORK
— A man in his 50s was electrocuted in Spring Valley when he tried to help a child who had gone into a flooded street with downed wires. The child was in very serious condition at Westchester Medical Center's burn unit, said a spokesman for the Rockland County Emergency Operations Center.
— State police said they recovered the body of a woman who apparently drowned after she fell into Onesquethaw Creek in New Scotland, near Albany.
— Police in Suffolk County say 68-year-old Joseph Rocco of East Islip drowned while windsurfing in Bellport Bay.
— Two men were swept down the Croton River on Sunday evening after their inflatable boat capsized, and one of them died after being pulled down river by heavy currents, Croton police said.
NORTH CAROLINA:
— In Nash County, a man was killed after a tree limb fell on him outside his home Saturday morning as outer bands from the storm brought near hurricane-force gusts inland.
— Goldsboro police say a 15-year-old girl died Saturday afternoon after the SUV carrying her and family members collided with another SUV at an intersection where Irene had knocked out power to traffic lights. She was one of four family members thrown from the vehicle; the family was returning to northern Virginia from Myrtle Beach, S.C.
— Authorities in Pitt County say a man was found dead in his home after Irene's winds toppled a tree onto his house.
— Another man in Pitt County drove through standing water, went off a road and died after striking a tree on Saturday.
— A mother in Sampson County died Saturday morning when a tree fell on a car carrying her and two family members.
— New Hanover County deputies on Sunday afternoon recovered the body of Melton Robinson, Jr., who had been missing since falling or jumping into the Cape Fear River as storms from Irene reached North Carolina on Friday night.
PENNSYLVANIA
— Michael Scerarko, 44, was killed Sunday when a tree fell on him in his yard. Scerarko, of Stroudsburg, pushed his son out of the way, but could not get out of the way himself, police said.
— A 58-year-old Harrisburg man was killed Sunday morning when a tree toppled onto his tent, state police said. The man was one of about 20 people at a party on private property in East Hanover Township, Dauphin County, some of whom who decided to sleep outside.
— A man in a camper was crushed by a tree in northeastern Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, state emergency management officials said. Police found his body shortly before 11 a.m. Sunday.
— A motorist was killed when he lost control of his car on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Carbon County, skidded over an embankment and hit a tree. State officials attributed the accident to the storm.
— The body of 64-year-old Patricia O'Neill, of East Norriton, was discovered Sunday afternoon in the Wissahickon Creek, around a half mile from where her car was found in the flooded waterway. Whitemarsh Township police said her family reported her missing after she didn't show up at work.
VIRGINIA:
— Newport News authorities report that 11-year-old Zahir Robinson was killed when a large tree crashed through his apartment shortly after noon.
— In Brunswick County, a tree fell across a car Saturday afternoon, killing 67-year-old James Blackwell of Brodnax. The driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
— Chesterfield County police say a man died at a Hopewell hospital Saturday after a tree fell on a house that he was in.
— A King William County man, 57-year-old William P. Washington, was killed when a tree fell on him as he was cutting another tree on Saturday night. Washington was trying to get home at the height of the storm when a fallen tree blocked his path on a road, about four miles from his home, and he and another motorist tried to clear the way.
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
