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The Post-Standard

Searching for God with the late, great scientist.

In Science, Page A-10

RETURN OF CARL SAGAN

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2007 · FINAL EDITION

SYRACUSE, N.Y. · 50 CENTS

Numbers
on public
assistance
escalating

TOPPLED

How Ex-Candidates

Spend Leftover Money

More than one in six people
rely on some form of
government aid.

By Stephen Ohlemacher

The Associated Press

Washington -- The welfare

state is bigger than ever despite a
decade of policies designed to
wean poor people from public
aid.

The number of families re-

ceiving cash benefits from wel-
fare has plummeted since the
government imposed time limits
on the payments a decade ago.
But other programs for the poor,
including Medicaid, food stamps
and disability benefits, are burst-
ing with new enrollees.

The result, according to an

Associated Press analysis: Near-
ly one in six people rely on some
form of public assistance, a
larger share than at any time
since the government started
measuring two decades ago.

Critics of the welfare overhaul

say the numbers offer fresh evi-
dence that few former recipients
have

become

self-sufficient,

even

though

millions

have

moved from welfare to work.
They say the vast majority have
been forced into low-paying jobs
without benefits and few oppor-
tunities to advance.

``If the goal of welfare reform

was to get people off the welfare
rolls, bravo,'' said Vivyan Adair,
a former welfare recipient who is
now an assistant professor of
women's studies at Hamilton
College in upstate New York.
``If the goal was to reduce pov-
erty and give people economic
and job stability, it was not a
success.''

Proponents of the changes in

welfare say programs that once
discouraged work now offer sup-
port to people in low-paying
jobs. They point to expanded eli-
gibility rules for food stamps and
Medicaid, the health insurance
program for the poor, that enable
people to keep getting benefits
even after they start working.

``I don't have any problems

with those programs growing,
and indeed, they were intended
to grow,'' said Ron Haskins, a
former adviser to President Bush
on welfare policy.

NUMBERS, PAGE A-4

Much of Bragman's went for wining, dining

By Mike McIntire

New York Times News Service

When Michael J. Bragman, a onetime

Assembly majority leader, retired from
the New York State Legislature in 2001,
his campaign committee had about $1
million in the bank. Six years later, Brag-
man is still retired, and $400,000 of that
money is gone.

Bragman did not run for office again.

But he did pay his wife $24,000 a year to
work for a campaign committee that did
no campaigning. And he spent thousands
on wine, meals at a yacht club, Christmas
gifts and office rental payments to a com-
pany that he appears to control.

Bragman, a Democrat who represented

a district in the Syracuse area for 21
years, offers an unusually vivid example
of how New York's campaign finance
laws allow former candidates to keep

spending contributions long after their
campaigns have ended. And he is not
alone.

A review of campaign expenditures at

the State Board of Elections found other
former officeholders whose unused cam-
paign cash has been put to uses that their
contributors probably never envisioned
-- and with little or no scrutiny from
state regulators.

`THE RULE, PAGE A-7

The Associated Press

Who's the top radio
talk host in America?

It's not Howard Stern,

according to the trade magazine
Talkers. He dropped from first to
12th. Find out who ranks above
him.

CNY, PAGE D-4

Louis Farrakhan gives
last major speech

Louis Farrakhan, the Nation

of Islam leader, delivers what is
billed as his final major address.

``Our lips are full of praise,

but our hearts are far removed
from the prophets we all claim,''
he said Sunday in Detroit.
``That's why the world is in the
shape that it's in.''

STORY, PAGE A-3

Sharpton ancestors were
Thurmond family slaves

The Rev. Al Sharpton is a de-

scendant of a slave owned by
relatives of the late Sen. Strom
Thurmond -- a ``shocking'' dis-
covery, Sharpton said Sunday.

STORY, PAGE A-2

Sean Kirst on the death
of a 16-year-old

``As the weeks went by and

no one died, cops and teachers
and others who are engaged in
the daily quest to save young
lives began speaking of the
streak only in quiet voices, in the
fashion of people trying not to
drop a piece of fragile glass.''

SEAN KIRST, PAGE B-1

NASCAR bounceback
for Matt Kenseth

Driver Matt Kenseth had a

good weekend, winning Nextel
and Busch races in Fontana,
Calif., even though his crew
chief was sitting at home after
being suspended for cheating.

SPORTS, PAGE C-1

Guide to tackling taxes

Prepare yourself with the

best advice.

MONEYWISE

Corrections

Call 470-2240 to discuss a correction on a
news story. Subscription questions? Call
470-NEWS (470-6397).

Oscar
surprise:
`The
Departed'

A WINTER BLAST

News service reports

``The Departed,'' a story of

Boston mobsters that was in-
spired by a Hong Kong action
film, won the best-picture Oscar
Sunday night.

Martin Scorsese won best di-

rector for ``The Departed.''

Helen Mirren won best actress

for ``The Queen.''

Forest Whitaker won best

actor for ``The Last King of
Scotland.''

The dancing penguins of

``Happy Feet'' won over
``Cars'' for feature-length ani-
mation.

``I asked my kids, `What

should I say?' They said, `Thank
all the men for wearing penguin
suits,' '' said ``Happy Feet'' di-
rector George Miller.

Sound engineer Kevin O'Con-

nell, who worked on ``Apoca-
lypto,'' extended his losing
streak to 19 nominations without
a win, a record for Oscar futility.
The sound engineers from
``Dreamgirls'' took it from him
this time.

``An Inconvenient Truth,'' a

chronicle of Al Gore's campaign
to warn the world about global
warming, was picked as best
documentary.

Winners had 45 seconds of ac-

ceptance-speech time on stage,
and could thank the little people
later on the new, backstage Web-
based ``Thank-You Cam.''

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