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A federal judge Sunday struck down a Trump administration rule that could have stripped food stamps from nearly 700,000 people, saying the US Department of Agriculture has been "icily silent" about how many Americans would have been denied benefits had the changes been in effect during the pandemic. ... The rule, announced in December, would have required more food stamp recipients to work in order to receive benefits by limiting states' ability to waive existing work mandates. It had been scheduled to take effect on April 1, but Howell in mid-March blocked it from being implemented, and Congress suspended work mandates in the food stamp program as part of a coronavirus relief package that month. (Luhby, 10/18)

In a scathing 67-page opinion, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of D.C. condemned the Agriculture Department for failing to justify or even address the impact of the sweeping change on states, saying its shortcomings had been placed in stark relief amid the coronavirus pandemic, during which unemployment has quadrupled and rosters of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program have grown by more than 17 percent, with more than 6 million new enrollees. (Hsu, 10/18)

By early October, Kaneadsha Jones was close to giving up. It had been seven months since she or her husband had steady work. Seven months since her three school-age children, including a 14-year-old daughter with autism who is blind, nonverbal and immunocompromised, had been to school. Four months since a shooting on her block left her car and her family’s rented house in north Columbus, Ohio, riddled with bullet holes and her 12-year-old daughter struggling with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. The pressure of it all – the hunger, the constant worrying, the desperation to find some stability – was crushing. Some days, she struggled to get out of bed. “I’m so tired,” Jones said. “It seems nothing is getting a little better. The only thing that keeps me trying is my family.” (Mader, 10/17)

Indiana families receiving aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, widely known as food stamps, generally receive less than half of the lowest of food cost budgets projected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Over 725,000 Hoosiers received SNAP benefits in August, according to data from the Family and Social Services Administration, but some hunger relief advocates say the amount of aid they — and other families across the nation — receive is insufficient. (Hays, 10/19)

The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) has received federal approval to offer disaster food benefits to eight Oregon counties impacted by wildfires. Residents impacted by the wildfires in Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, and Marion counties are approved to participate. (10/18)

1 in 9 people in the U.S. struggle with hunger. And despite federal assistance programs like food stamps, which aim to help millions of families across the U.S., many of these families aren’t actually receiving these benefits due to the cumbersome administrative process required to enroll. mRelief is changing that. Led by cofounders Rose Afriyie and Genevieve Nielsen, the tech nonprofit is transforming access to food stamps, so more families can get the help they need to eat with dignity. (Farley, (10/15)