Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

In last Wednesday’s edition, the paper reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had finalized a new rule, eliminating the locality-wide exemption Franklin had been granted from the time limit and work requirement imposed on SNAP recipients. While geographic areas with a 12-month unemployment rate of 10 percent or greater are still allowed to apply for an exemption, the rule imposed new evidentiary standards for waiver approval, which no localities in Virginia, including Franklin, currently meet.