Billy Metteba News Today

Better health and educational outcomes are being touted as the potential benefits as Minnesota lawmakers discuss whether to provide free school meals for all students. Supporters of the idea said it is especially critical now, to ensure all kids can get free breakfast and lunch at school, regardless of income. A legislative plan calls for state funding to be combined with annual aid from the long-standing National School Lunch Program. ...

A measure in the Washington State Legislature would provide free school meals to K-12 students, but nutrition service workers are worried they are not being considered. The American Federation of Teachers of Washington represents kitchen workers and is supportive of the bill, but the union said lawmakers also need to ensure there is enough staff to provide the meals. Kristine Bengochea, kitchen manager for the Northshore School District in King and Snohomish counties, said staffing is a key co...

A recent survey offers insight into the challenges with hunger many Nevada families are facing on a daily basis. The "Feeding Our Community" survey from the Food Bank of Northern Nevada found about half of its clients sometimes have to choose between food and transportation. One in three chooses between paying for food or medical bills. ...

Under a new project, locally sourced food is part of a food assistance program for members of the Lummi Tribe in northwest Washington. The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations is a federal program providing meals in the form of commodity boxes for low income residents. But food boxes have neglected to include culturally relevant food for the diversity of reservations across the country, instead providing options like catfish and buffalo. ...

Members of the nation in northwest WA now have more control over how culturally important foods — like locally caught salmon — are distributed.

Looking for chum salmon under crisp, windy skies of an autumn late to arrive, Shadrach Misanes zigzags his boat away from shore, launching fishing nets into Lummi Bay, tucked in Washington’s northwes…

The Lummi Nation in northwest Washington is part of a push to give Native Americans more control over food assistance program