League of Women Voters takes on poverty project

Last week the U.S. Census Bureau released a report on the nation’s poverty level. Whitman County’s poverty level is more than 30 percent, more than double the poverty levels of surrounding counties and has the highest poverty level in the entire state.

The Census Bureau defined the poverty line as $23,283 a year for a family of four or $11,945 for a person under the age of 65.

Taking a look at the Inland Northwest, Whitman County shows up as having the highest percentage of people living in poverty in the state with nearly a third of the population at 32.2 percent of 12,846 people. Larger coun...