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GREENSBURG, LA - MAY 5: Students' belongings rest on the ground due to a lack of lockers at the gymnasium at St. Helena Central Middle School May 5, 2009 in Greensburg, Louisiana. The recession has hit many Americans hard, but the rural Lower Mississippi Delta region has had some of the nation's worst poverty for decades. The mechanization of agriculture and movement of textile plants out of the country has left the region's economy in tatters, leaving generational poverty in its wake. Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal has rejected $98.4 million of the federal government stimulus funds for the unemployment reform package. The package allows states to expand eligibility, potentially assisting thousands of unemployed Americans to weather the recession. Louisiana's poverty rate is 19.2%, the second highest rate in the nation behind Mississippi.
