More than 2,100 drug felons were denied SNAP benefits in West Virginia in 2016. The number has more than tripled during the past decade. Patrick Strattner/Getty Images hide caption
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A confederacy of prison reform activists rallied at City Hall in New York City to demand that it close the long-controversial Rikers Island Corrections facility where, among others, Kalief Browder, died; critics maintain that the prison is unsafe and prolonged detention of inmates at the facility is a violation of Constitutional due process rights. Albin Lohr-Jones/Getty Images hide caption
Women hold up their babies for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as he speaks at a campaign rally on Aug. 1 in Mechanicsburg, Pa. John Moore/Getty Images hide caption
Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana takes photos with supporters during a Welcome Home Rally on Saturday in Zionsville, Ind. Pence is a passionate advocate for school choice and state control over federal oversight. Darron Cummings/AP hide caption
The farm bill proposes a $1 billion cut to food stamps, which would affect nearly 850,000 struggling families who already depend on food banks like the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland, Calif. Antonio Mena/Courtesy of Alameda County Community Food Bank hide caption
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What happens when the average person on the street tries to explain a public policy issue? It tends to make them rethink their position. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption
On Tuesday, President Obama urged congressional action to prevent automatic spending cuts scheduled to begin on March 1. Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Landov hide caption
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About a third of U.S. hospitals have an observation unit, and most hospitals will eventually have one, the industry predicts. iStockphoto.com hide caption
MIT health economist Jonathan Gruber, who explained the ins and outs of health overhaul in a comic book, says that excluding the value of health insurance from federal taxes is a terrible idea, at least from an economist's point of view. Macmillan hide caption
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The largest tax break in the federal code doesn't appear on the forms the average person fills out each year. iStockphoto.com hide caption
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President Obama holds a copy of "The New Economic Patriotism: A Plan for Jobs & Middle-Class Security," which outlines some of his agenda for a second term, during a rally in Richmond, Va., on Thursday. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption
President Obama signs the Affordable Care Act in the East Room of the White House on March 23, 2010. Data suggest that racial attitudes of ordinary Americans shape both how they feel about the health care overhaul and how intense those feelings are. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption
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The Washington State Fruit Commission received $100,000 in federal money to promote cherries in Indonesia, but Sen. Tom Coburn says this is a waste of taxpayer money. Jeff Goulden/iStockphoto.com hide caption
Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks to supporters in Greenville, S.C. on Aug. 20. RICHARD SHIRO/AP hide caption
Ocean City, N.J. has among the high medical spending from people with private insurance. iStockphoto.com hide caption
"We stand by the integrity and methodology of the survey," McKinsey says. Michael McCloskey/iStockphoto.com hide caption
Workers look out from shattered windows on an upper floor of the St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., in late May, after a tornado severely damaged the hospital. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption
Supporters of the Tea Party movement protest health care overhaul outside the U.S. Capitol, March 20, 2010. Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images hide caption