Auditors call for changes in food stamp program

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — State auditors are calling for changes in an emergency food stamp program at the center of a fraud scandal involving state employees.

A report released Thursday by the Auditors for Public Accounts makes recommendations for better management of aid applications and verification of applicants' income levels.

The agency's review was prompted by allegations of fraud in the distribution of benefits under the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, which hit the state as a tropical storm in August 2011.

More than 1,000 state employees were among the 24,000 people who received the aid.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy dismissed 103 workers following an investigation into claims that aid went to ineligible state employees, but the administration said in June that 40 of them had been reinstated.