social services

The government of Minnesota has been essentially shuttered for a week since the governor and legislature failed to find a compromise solution for the state's $5 billion shortfall. But it's hard to imagine what it means to "shut down" a state of 5.3 million people. Here's what it means to them.

While the Great Recession caused the U.S. poverty rate to hit a 15-year peak, a longer trend has seen suburban poverty increasing. According to a new report, the recession only exacerbated the problem, with social safety nets providing fewer services to meet the rising need.

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, an estimated 100,000 displaced New Orleans residents have yet to return home. What impact have these evacuees had on the local economies of their new homes?

As the economy continues to stumble, homelessness has skyrocketed, leaving many states grappling with an expensive and delicate issue -- what to do with the growing population of people finding refuge in shelters, parks and the streets. Hawaii, where a recent census showed that the homeless...

Whatever you do, don't call it easy money. Newly freed prisoners in Texas are being compensated richly for their travails, thanks to a new law in the state, which leads the nation in freeing wrongly-convicted inmates. Under the new law, which took effect this week, Texas exonerees will receive...