The Price of Poverty
What are the essentials of life? Food, water, and shelter. And to get those you have to have some kind of paying work or be enrolled in a government assistance program. But for the working poor (many of whom don’t qualify for government assistance) even the basics can be too expensive. They often cost more for working poor than for middle class people. We’ll explore this today (8/27) at noon on WBHM’s On The Line: The Price of Poverty.
Join the conversation by calling 1-800-444-9246 during the program or send your comments/questions to [email protected], WBHM 90.3 (Facebook), or @WBHM903 (Twitter). Use the hashtag #PovertyAL.
Dr. Mark LaGory is an urban sociologist and human ecologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research focuses on the consequences of residential environments and social capital for individual and community well-being. He teaches courses on societal development and urbanization, sociological theory, religion, homelessness and urban sociology. LaGory is chairman of the UAB Department of Sociology and Social Work. He also is a senior research scientist with the UAB Center for Aging and a senior scientist with the UAB Center for the Study of Community Health. He has co-authored six books, including his latest, Unhealthy Cities: Race, Class and Place in America, which is due in September. LaGory earned his doctorate from the University of Cincinnati in 1975. He has been a member of the UAB faculty since 1980. He also serves as a member of the clergy staff at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
Birmingham is 3rd worst in the Southeast for ozone pollution, new report says
The American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report shows some metro areas in the Gulf States continue to have poor air quality.
Why haven’t Kansas and Alabama — among other holdouts — expanded access to Medicaid?
Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
Thousands of ordinary people who helped clean up after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say they got sick. A court settlement was supposed to help compensate them, but it hasn’t turned out as expected.
Q&A: How harm reduction can help mitigate the opioid crisis
Maia Szalavitz discusses harm reduction's effectiveness against drug addiction, how punitive policies can hurt people who need pain medication and more.
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring a Community Engagement Producer
The Gulf States Newsroom is seeking a curious, creative and collaborative professional to work with our regional team to build up engaged journalism efforts.
Gambling bills face uncertain future in the Alabama legislature
This year looked to be different for lottery and gambling legislation, which has fallen short for years in the Alabama legislature. But this week, with only a handful of meeting days left, competing House and Senate proposals were sent to a conference committee to work out differences.
