(File Photo: Source for Photo: A cashier scans groceries, including produce, which is covered by the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), at a grocery store in Baltimore, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

(AP) It’s up to the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress to decide when full payments will resume under the SNAP food aid program that helps 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries, as some wonder how they will feed their families without government assistance.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule Tuesday on a request from President Donald Trump’s administration to keep blocking states from providing full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, arguing the money might be needed elsewhere.

The legal wrangling could be moot if the U.S. House adopts and Trump signs legislation to quickly end the federal government shutdown.

The seesawing rulings mean that beneficiaries in some states have received their full monthly allocations while in others they have received nothing. Some states have issued partial payments.

How quickly SNAP benefits could reach recipients if the government reopens or the Supreme Court orders full payments would vary by state. But states and advocates say that it’s easier to make full payments quickly than partial ones.

Carolyn Vega, a policy analyst at the advocacy group Share Our Strength, also said there could be some technical challenges for states that have issued partial benefits to send out the remaining amount.

An urgent need for beneficiaries

In Pennsylvania, full November benefits went out to some people on Friday. But Jim Malliard, 41, of Franklin, said he had not received anything by Monday.

Malliard is a full-time caretaker for his wife, who is blind and has had several strokes this year, and his teenage daughter, who suffered severe medical complications from surgery last year.

That stress has only been compounded by the pause in the $350 monthly SNAP payment he previously received for himself, his wife and daughter. He said he is down to $10 in his account and is relying on what’s left in the pantry — mostly rice and ramen.

“It’s kind of been a lot of late nights, making sure I had everything down to the penny to make sure I was right,” Malliard said. “To say anxiety has been my issue for the past two weeks is putting it mildly.”

The political wrangling in Washington has shocked many Americans, and some have been moved to help.

“I figure that I’ve spent money on dumber stuff than trying to feed other people during a manufactured famine,” said Ashley Oxenford, a teacher who set out a “little food pantry” in her front yard this week for vulnerable neighbors in Carthage, New York.

SNAP has been the center of an intense fight in court

The Trump administration chose to cut off SNAP funding after October due to the shutdown. That decision sparked lawsuits and a string of swift and contradictory judicial rulings that deal with government power — and impact food access for some 42 million Americans.

The administration went along with two rulings on Oct. 31 by judges who said the government must provide at least partial funding for SNAP. It eventually said recipients would get up to 65% of their regular benefits. But it balked last week when one of the judges said it must fund the program fully for November, even if that means digging into funds the government said need to be maintained in case of emergencies elsewhere.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to pause that order.

An appeals court said Monday that full funding should resume, and that requirement is set to kick in Tuesday night unless the top court takes action again.

Congressional talks about reopening government

The U.S. Senate on Monday passed legislation to reopen the federal government with a plan that would include replenishing SNAP funds. Speaker Mike Johnson told members of the House to return to Washington to consider the deal a small group of Senate Democrats made with Republicans.

Trump has not said whether he would sign it if it reaches his desk, but told reporters at the White House on Sunday that it “looks like we’re getting close to the shutdown ending.”

Still, the Trump administration said in a Supreme Court filing Monday that it shouldn’t be up to the courts.

“The answer to this crisis is not for federal courts to reallocate resources without lawful authority,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in the papers. “The only way to end this crisis — which the Executive is adamant to end — is for Congress to reopen the government.”

The coalition of cities and nonprofit groups who challenged the SNAP pause said in a court filing Tuesday that the Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, is to blame for the confusion.

“The chaos was sown by USDA’s delays and intransigence,” they said, “not by the district court’s efforts to mitigate that chaos and the harm it has inflicted on families who need food.”

(Photo Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Turnpike)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has partnered with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General so they can both enhance the enforcement of tolls and promote fairness, resulting in toll violation cases totaling over 100 being referred for civil action in the past year. This strategic partnership aims to hold people accountable who evade payments at tolls, ensuring that the burden for cost does not shift to law-abiding motorists unfairly. According to a release, the collaboration has led to significant improvements in toll collection, with the Turnpike successfully collecting between 92-94% of transactions within 60 days, aligning with industry standards. The main office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday is in Harrisburg and the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is located in Middletown.

(File Photo of the UPMC Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) UPMC recently made a decision to close its narcotic addiction treatment program. According to a UPMC spokesperson, UPMC Western Behavioral Health has to vacate the program’s location on Penn Avenue by the end of the month. An alternative location could not be secured despite a months-long search for the company based in Pittsburgh. UPMC is now working to connect patients with some other trusted service providers so uninterrupted access to medication and support can be maintained and the company is also working to help staff members impacted by this closure find other jobs within UPMC.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: This undated image provided by ByHeart shows ByHeart formula products.(ByHeart via AP)

(AP) ByHeart, a manufacturer of organic baby formula, recalled all of its products sold nationwide Tuesday, days after some batches were recalled in an expanding outbreak of infant botulism.

At least 15 babies in 12 states have been sickened in the outbreak since August, with more cases pending, according to state and federal health officials. All of the infants were hospitalized after consuming ByHeart formula, officials said. No deaths have been reported.

ByHeart officials expanded the voluntary recall from two lots announced Saturday to all products in consumers’ homes and in stores. That includes ByHeart Whole Nutrition Infant Formula and Anywhere Pack pouches of powdered formula. The company sells about 200,000 cans of infant formula a month online and in stores such as Target, Walmart, Albertsons and Whole Foods, according to Dr. Devon Kuehn, chief medical officer.

Parents and caregivers who have the formula in their homes “should immediately discontinue use and dispose of the product,” Kuehn said.

Company officials said they enacted the unusual recall “in close collaboration” with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration even though no product that was previously unopened tested positive for the contamination. The type of bacteria that produces the toxin is widespread in the environment and could come from sources other than the formula, company officials said.

“This action underscores ByHeart’s core mission: protecting babies above all else,” the company said in a statement.

California health officials earlier confirmed that a sample from an open can of ByHeart baby formula fed to an infant who got sick contained the toxin-producing type of bacteria.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that ByHeart expand its recall because of the number of ill infants that reported consuming the formula, the identification of additional lot codes, the growing case count and the results of the California testing.

The FDA is investigating 84 cases of infant botulism detected since August. Of those, 15 consumed ByHeart formula, the agency said in a statement.

“This information shows that ByHeart brand formula is disproportionately represented among sick infants in this outbreak, especially given that ByHeart represents an estimated 1% of all infant formula sales in the United States,” the FDA statement said.

Illnesses began between Aug. 9 and Nov. 10, federal officials said. Cases were reported in Arizona, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington.

Investigators have not identified any other infant formula brands or other sources of exposure in the outbreak, officials said.

ByHeart produces formula powder at a plant in Allerton, Iowa, and then ships it to a site in Portland, Oregon, for canning and distribution, Kuehn said. U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors were at the Portland plant Monday, she added.

In addition to the broad recall, the company said it is testing every batch of formula with an independent third-party laboratory, providing health officials full access to its sites and sharing results with regulators as they become available.

Infant botulism is a rare and serious illness that occurs in babies under age 1, whose gut microbiomes are immature. It is caused when the infants consume bacteria that contain spores that produce a toxin in the gut. Symptoms include constipation, poor feeding, drooping eyelid, weak muscle tone, difficulty swallowing and breathing problems, among others.

Babies who develop those symptoms need immediate medical attention. The sole treatment for the infection is BabyBIG, an IV medication made from blood plasma of people immunized against botulism.