About 1.9 million residents in economically struggling Michigan are receiving government food assistance, the highest number here in the more than 40-year history of the federal food stamp program and more than in all but five states...
The trend is being driven by massive downsizing in the state's auto industry and the disappearance of manufacturing jobs. Michigan's December unemployment rate of 7.1 percent was second-highest to Mississippi's 7.5 percent and trailed the national average of 4.5 percent.