In his third State of the Union address, President Obama warned the nation that the decades-old promise of a secure and rising middle class is under threat because of growing disparities between the rich and everyone else in America. In local news, Governor Andrew Cuomo reiterated his call to stop finger-imaging food stamp applicants. Meanwhile, in Washington, the U.S. Conference of Mayors met to launch a food policy task force that will share information on urban food policy initiatives and make sure that federal policy supports these local efforts. Other encouraging news this week: Federal unemployment claims continued to drop, and the USDA announced extra aid to farmers affected by this year’s extreme weather.

In State of the Union, Obama warns economic disparity threatens middle class, Washington Post, 1/24
In an election-year State of the Union message that will likely serve as the template for the months of campaigning ahead, Obama outlined a series of steps that he believes will reinforce the tentative economic recovery, including proposals to eliminate tax incentives for companies to move jobs overseas, to make college more affordable and to expand help for credit-worthy homeowners looking to refinance mortgages at historically low interest rates.

Mayor Bloomberg Hasn’t Persuaded Governor Cuomo To Keep Food Stamp Fingerprinting, "Politicker NY," The Observer, 1/19
Governor Cuomo said, “My position is this: there are many ways to detect fraud, especially nowadays, you don’t need fingerprinting.  If fingerprinting is stopping people from applying for food stamps so children are going to bed hungry, let’s do away with fingerprinting and let’s do away with fingerprinting now. Let’s make sure no child goes to bed hungry in New York.”  He went on to describe the fingerprinting process as “intrusive, and frightening, and just unknown and threatening” for many people.

Big-City Mayors Dig In To Food Policy, The Salt, NPR, 1/19
Big-city mayors are starting to see local food policy as a key step in getting healthy, affordable food to their constituents. "One of the conversations we'll be having is wanting to work with USDA and grocery retailers to overcome the policy barriers and technology barriers to online SNAP benefits," says Holly Freishtat, director of Baltimore's Food Policy Initiative. Urban dwellers might think that the USDA doesn't have much to offer them, but cities nationwide reap billions in benefits associated with the federal farm bill. Lobbying to make sure that the 2012 farm bill reauthorization works for the benefit of urban food initiatives is the next step, Freishtat said.

Unemployment claims at 352,000, fewest since 2008, Associated Press, 1/19
December marked the sixth straight month in which the economy added at least 100,000 jobs, and the number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to 352,000, the fewest since April 2008. When weekly applications fall consistently below 375,000, it usually signals that hiring is strong enough to push down the unemployment rate.

USDA announces $308 million in aid to help agriculture in disaster-stricken states, Associated Press, 1/18
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is adding more than $300 million to the massive amount of financial assistance federal agencies have doled out in response to an unusually intense year of natural disasters, officials announced Wednesday. In New York, which is set to receive $41.8 million — including about $37.8 million in watershed funds — money is earmarked for repairing erosion and other damage left behind by back-to-back late summer tropical storms Irene and Lee.