Second Harvest leadership claim funding sought by Archdiocese [Video]

The leftist president said he would provide loans to those who take up his offer to return home and enlist in one of its programs to start a business.

Newly filed bills during the legislative session seek to fund public safety initiatives while defunding and reallocating revenue for a new 3,000-bed prison that is planned to be built in Franklin County. "If my bills pass, we know that the first $100 million of sales tax revenue that comes in, the state is going to be able to address this crisis," Arkansas District 28 Sen. Bryan King said. "Then they're not going to have the money for the mega prison, major financial disaster in Franklin County."Senate Bill 143 would reallocate $100 million in sales tax revenues to Arkansas State Police for new crime reduction and prevention programs.According to the bill, the programs would include assisting with probation and parole services, while also allowing funds for local sheriffs to hire more deputies to focus on preventing and reducing crimes in their counties.Senate Bill 144 would allow the eight Arkansas counties, which account for approximately two-thirds of the state's prison inmates, to partner with adjoining counties to build or expand a shared multi-county jail to house inmates who are waiting to go to prison.King told 40/29 News that his proposals would ease local jail overcrowding issues while also adequately funding public safety measures in Arkansas."We've got to address the crime issue right now. There's nothing in the governor's proposal that's going to do anything substantial to reduce the crime. We've already got a high incarceration rate," King said. "This is just finding revenue streams that we know will pay for, and do it in a fiscally responsible way, and get immediate safety out there to our citizens."

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The Trump administration's freeze on federal grants sparked chaos and confusion at state Medicaid agencies on Tuesday.Although the White House insisted that Medicaid, which provides health insurance to more than 72 million low-income Americans, was not affected by the freeze that it announced Monday evening, state Medicaid officials found themselves locked out of the federal funding portal for hours on Tuesday. They started to regain access to the system in the afternoon.The administration sent conflicting messages about Medicaid. The Office of Management and Budget memo announcing the pause on Monday said Social Security, Medicare and direct assistance to individuals would not be affected, but did not mention Medicaid. The office issued a Q&A the following day stating that "mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps) will continue without pause."But during the first White House press briefing of President Donald Trumps second term, press secretary Karoline Leavitt could not immediately answer a question on whether Medicaid funding was included in the freeze, telling reporters that she would have to check and get back to them on whether enrollees might get cut off. Leavitt later posted on X that the White House knows the Medicaid portal is down and said it "will be back online shortly.""We have confirmed no payments have been affected they are still being processed and sent," she posted.A federal judge on Tuesday afternoon temporarily blocked part of the Trump administrations plans to freeze federal aid.No access to fundingState Medicaid agencies lost access to the Department of Health and Human Services Payment Management Services (PMS) system on Tuesday.A notice was posted in red on the PMS site stating: "Due to Executive Orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments, PMS is taking additional measures to process payments. Reviews of applicable programs and payments will result in delays and/or rejections of payments.""My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last nights federal funding freeze," Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, posted on X on Tuesday afternoon. "This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed."Connecticut's Department of Social Services told CNN that state Medicaid officials could not log in to the system on Tuesday morning but said access was restored in the afternoon. Medicaid policy experts also told CNN they were hearing reports of additional states being able to sign in.State Medicaid agencies use the PMS system to draw down funds to pay hospitals, doctors and other providers that treat Medicaid recipients, as well as to pay insurers, which contract with states to cover enrollees. Many states access the system on a quarterly basis, but some draw down the needed funds near the end of each month to make payments at the start of the next one.