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Most of the 42 million Americans who receive food stamps aren’t allowed to use them to shop for groceries online — and some lawmakers and state governments are rushing to change that as the newly jobless flood onto the rolls of the nutrition assistance program. Only six states allow online purchases with benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. Of those, Alabama and Nebraska launched online shopping only in recent weeks as the coronavirus pandemic erupted. (Crampton, 4/7)

In an average month, Brian Barks, the CEO of Food Bank for the Heartland, spends about $73,000 buying food to distribute to people in need across Nebraska and western Iowa. Last month, as the coronavirus was spreading across the U.S., he spent $675,000. That's a nearly tenfold increase, because Food Bank for the Heartland, like food banks and pantries across the country, is facing a steep drop-off in the bread and butter of its operations: food donated by supermarkets and farms. (Abou-Sabe, Romo, McFadden and Longoria, 4/8)

Like many Americans these days, Lisa M. Delmont is kept up at night by worry. But for Ms. Delmont, it’s the empty grocery store shelves that bring on dread. Her 2-year-old son, Benjamin, is severely allergic to milk, eggs, cashews, pistachios and bananas, so she has to be judicious about the items she brings home. Exposure to the wrong food could send Benjamin into anaphylactic shock, something that has happened three times since he was born. “I am way more terrified of taking him to an E.R. now than I’ve ever been,” said Ms. Delmont, 35, of Jacksonville, N.C. (Athas, 4/7)