Nearly 1.4 million Ohioans depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, for help buying groceries. The federal program known as food stamps brings about $264 million in food benefits to Ohioans each month.
But with the federal government shutdown lasting more than a month, those benefits lapsed on Nov. 1. Families across the state could soon begin to feel the strain, and food banks are bracing for rising demand.
On Thursday, Governor Mike DeWine signed an executive order issuing emergency aid of up to $25 million for Ohio's food banks and another $7 million for regional operations.
We'll start Monday's "Sound of Ideas" looking at what the loss of SNAP benefits means for Northeast Ohio families, by focusing on one rural county, Tuscarawas, and how the emergency aid will play a role. And we'll hear how communities are stepping up to help.
Later in this hour, we'll debut our new series, "Law of The Land," where we talk about how the law affects our every day lives.
Today, we're looking at the balance of keeping kids safe on social media and freedom of speech.
How to manage social media use of young people is a big question, with a lot of factors of at play, some of those factors include the well being of people under the age of 18, logistics of how to monitor their online activity, and also, their individual constitutional rights.
In Ohio, the legislature is trying to take this matter into its own hands. One law that would limit social media access is currently on hold, having been blocked as an unconstitutional limit on first amendment free speech rights by a federal court. That decision is being appealed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
This year, two different bills have been proposed that would limit children's access to social media in different ways, bringing app stores into the equation.
We'll talk about these three different measures, with a constitutional law expert, people in favor of the new proposed limits, and the leader of a group who thinks both new bills are the wrong way to tackle this issue.
Guests:
- William Fritz, Treasurer, Food Pantry of Dover and New Philadelphia
- Veronica Spidell, Director, Tuscarawas County Job & Family Services
- Lisa Walker, Director, Tuff Bags
- Jonathan Entin, Professor of Constitutional Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
- Morgan Reed, President, The App Association
- Tony Coder, Executive Director, Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation
- Kareem Moncree-Moffett, Ph.D., Founder, Youth Lead Alliance
