![]() ![]() A second story was about our lawsuit to free up the records that USDA refused to release. The main bar documented the rapid increase in the number of businesses that had signed up to take money from the federal government via food stamps. In August of 2011, Luther and I did a three-story package on food stamps. When we didn’t get one, we went to court. Our attorney, Jon Arneson, started badgering USDA for a response. As winter gave way to spring, and spring gave way to summer, we heard nothing on the status of the appeal. I wanted to know how much each of those businesses made over the years, but the department denied my freedom of information request. As the number of people in the program expanded, businesses were signing up to capture some of the revenue from food stamps, which now costs $80 billion a year. By the start of 2011, we had assembled a national database that showed the explosive increase in businesses signing up to participate in the program over a five-year period. ![]() Starting in the summer of 2010, Luther began making freedom of information requests. USDA sent me more than 30 pages of reports – almost all of it redacted. Last year, I requested the monthly progress reports from the firm retained to do the study. As an aside, USDA is currently studying purchasing habits. Because almost all of those transactions occur with an electronic benefits card, she figured there might be data on food purchases. She was curious about what kinds of foods people in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program were buying with their benefits. It started with my former colleague, Megan Luther, who is currently a trainer for IRE. Department of Agriculture calling for the release of public information about the country's food stamp program. Last week, The Association of Health Care Journalists, along with IRE and five other journalism and open-government groups, sent a letter to the U.S. Journalism organizations send letter to USDA ![]()
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