County spares welfare from cuts

As Los Angeles County faces record demand for welfare benefits, officials said Thursday the recently adopted state budget cuts funding for thousands of mentally ill children, but largely spares welfare programs. Troy Anderson in the Daily News,

County Department of Public Social Services Director Phillip Browning said he was relieved the final state budget doesn't eliminate the CalWORKS welfare program or make large cuts in the In-Home Supportive Services program as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger originally proposed.

Although the county expects to lose a total of $89 million in funding, Browning said his department "escaped a real bullet."