Jun
26
2013
On the 75th anniversary of the landmark bill that established a minimum wage, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) called for abolishing it completely, the Huffington Post reports.
At a Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee meeting to mark 75 years since the signing of the Federal Labor Standards Act, which set a minimum wage and mandated overtime pay, Alexander, the ranking Republican on the committee, jumped into a discussion between a witness from the Heritage Foundation and …
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Jun
26
2013
Vietnam is not a good place to be a blogger. At least, it’s not a good place to be a blogger if you actually want to write what’s on your mind. In the last month or so, three bloggers have been arrested for criticizing the communist government, or—as Vietnamese authorities deftly put it—”abusing democratic freedoms” by posting their opinions online. While that charge might seem like a bit of a paradox, their prospects post-arrest …
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Jun
26
2013
DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland will pay several hundred former residents of Catholic-run Magdalene laundries at least 34.5 million euros ($45 million) to compensate them for their years of unpaid labor and public shame, the government announced Wednesday following a decade-long campaign by former residents of the workhouses.
Justice Minister Alan Shatter apologized to the women — an estimated 770 survivors out of more than 10,000 who lived in the dozen facilities from 1922 to 1996 — …
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Jun
26
2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the Pentagon will begin the process to extend health care, housing and other federal benefits to the same-sex spouses of military members as soon as possible.
Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision opens the door for married gay couples to get federal benefits.
Defense officials estimate there are 18,000 same-sex couples in the active duty, National Guard and Reserves. It’s unclear how many of those are married. The court ruling also …
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Jun
26
2013
Yesterday, President Obama announced his new Climate Action Plan in a nationally televised speech.
He described the emerging climate crisis and its impacts–both past, present and future, while be suffered the heat of an abnormally warm June day in Washington, DC. His arguments for climate action were compelling and hard to argue with. Unfortunately his actions do not match his words.
Unlike Bill McKibben, I do not believe that “the solutions agenda [Obama has] begun …
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Jun
26
2013
The Supreme Court handed down a decision Tuesday morning that’s gotten considerably less attention than this term’s blockbuster battles over same-sex marriage and voting rights. But Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District will likely prove a historic property-rights ruling, with far-reaching implications for the leverage local land-use agencies may use to extract concessions from property owners and developers for the common and environmental good.
The question lurking behind the case – how much …
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Jun
26
2013
Mexico broke its silence on the United States immigration reform debate this week, declaring that “walls aren’t the solution.”
US lawmakers are considering extending the border fence as part of the added security measures that would accompany plans to provide legal status to more than 11 million immigrants, the majority of them Mexican.
Foreign Minister José Antonio Meade said the legislation would benefit Mexico’s countrymen in the US. But he also warned that the proposed fence extension …
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Jun
26
2013
WASHINGTON — Search engine companies should more clearly distinguish on their Web pages between advertising, paid content and the results of an Internet search, the Federal Trade Commission told two dozen search engine providers on Tuesday.
The commission made the statements, which update guidelines first laid out in 2002, in a letter it sent to seven general search engine companies including Google, Bing and Yahoo, as well as to 17 specialized search sites that focus …
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Jun
26
2013
Twelve cities across Canada participated in solidarity actions Tuesday in support of activists who took over a pumping station north of Hamilton, Ontario last Thursday morning.
The takeover was part of the Idle No More campaign called Sovereignty Summer.
Dubbed Swamp Line 9 because the Enbridge Westover pumping station is located close to Beverly Swamp, the action aimed to prevent construction on Line 9 and block the transport of tar sands through Ontario and Quebec.
The 2,400-hectare …
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Jun
26
2013
NEW ORLEANS—With an ad blitz and a tersely worded letter, BP is mounting an increasingly aggressive campaign to challenge what could be billions of dollars in settlement payouts to businesses following its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
In letters that started going out Tuesday, BP warns lawyers for many Gulf Coast businesses that it may seek to recover at least some of their clients’ shares of the multibillion-dollar settlement if it successfully appeals …
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