New polling finds that a proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) to set a minimum salary for teachers and raise the wages of over a million teachers nationwide is overwhelmingly popular among voters. According to a recent survey of 1,254 likely voters by Data for Progress, 77 percent of voters support the proposal to set a nationwide minimum salary of $60,000 for public school teachers…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
For the first time in Gallup’s history of polling on Israel’s violent occupation of Palestine, Democrats now sympathize more with Palestine than they do with Israel, new polling finds. In a poll released Thursday, Gallup found that Palestinians now hold an 11-point lead in Democrats’ sympathies over Israelis, with 49 percent of respondents sympathizing with Palestine and 38 percent with Israel.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
In a statement on Thursday, the White House threw its weight behind an ongoing effort in the Senate to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Iraq war authorizations over ten years after the U.S. supposedly officially ended combat operations under the already heavily criticized resolutions. The Statement of Administration Policy, a stronger form of a statement that emphasizes a presidential administration’s…
News outlet Axios fired a reporter in Tampa, Florida, this week after he called a press release from the Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) administration “propaganda” in an email that DeSantis officials posted online to smear the reporter. In a reply to a press release about a DeSantis event called “Exposing the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Scam in Higher Education” from the Florida Department of Education…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington, D.C. filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the U.S. government over the use of low-flying, military-grade helicopters used to disturb and disperse protesters during the 2020 uprisings following the police murder of George Floyd. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of plaintiff Dzhuliya Dashtamirova, a participant in the protests who said that she…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk announced on Tuesday that it will be cutting prices of its insulin products amid competition and high scrutiny over insulin prices, prompting calls from progressive lawmakers for lowering the price of insulin products across the board. The company is lowering the prices of four of its insulin pens and vials by between 65 and 75 percent starting January 2024…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Rep. Katie Porter (D-California) unveiled legislation with dozens of cosponsors to undo a key part of a Donald Trump-era Dodd-Frank repeal passed years ago that lawmakers say caused the “entirely avoidable” failures of Silicon Valley Bank and crypto and Trump family lender Signature Bank. The bill would repeal the portion of the major 2018…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) suddenly isn’t so sure whether it’s such a great idea to repeal bank regulations. On Tuesday, Manchin reportedly said that in the wake of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, he wouldn’t vote again on the sweeping bill that got rid of Dodd-Frank regulations implemented after the Great Recession to prevent major bank failures and corruption — marking a reversal…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that officials are proposing putting limits on levels of PFAS chemicals in drinking water for the first time, marking a win for environmental advocates who have long been warning about the detrimental health effects of the “forever chemicals.” The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing limits for six of the most toxic PFAS compounds.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is calling for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to recuse himself from his agency’s investigation into the Silicon Valley Bank failure because his actions directly contributed to the collapse, she says. The Federal Reserve announced on Monday that it is opening up a review into the “supervision and regulation” of Silicon Valley Bank after the bank failed…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Millions of workers in Illinois are now guaranteed the right to take paid leave for any reason they choose, after Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill into law on Monday mandating paid time off for nearly all workers in the state. The law, passed by the Democratically-led state legislature in January, allows employees in Illinois to accrue time off based on hours worked, with workers gaining one hour…
Climate justice advocates are condemning President Joe Biden for approving a massive oil drilling proposal in northern Alaska known as Willow, which will now be one of the largest new drilling projects in the U.S. The $8 billion project, proposed by ConocoPhillips, will be located in Alaska’s North Slope, a majority-Native American area. The drilling will take place over the next few decades on…
A Donald Trump-appointed judge who could effectively enact a federal ban on the abortion medication mifepristone privately sought to prevent the public from knowing that a hearing for the case was scheduled in order to prevent protests ahead of the hearing. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, one of the most conservative anti-abortion federal judges in the U.S., recently scheduled the first…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
A Senate Democrat introduced two bills on Thursday that would chip away at the major advantage that employers hold in union campaigns and disputes by tweaking tax laws. One bill, the No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act, would bar companies from writing off union busting expenses as business expenses on their taxes, ending taxpayer subsidization of union busting, as a press release on the bill puts…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
In his 2024 budget request released this week, President Joe Biden has called for the revival of the expanded child tax credit policy that lifted millions of children and adults out of poverty when it was implemented in 2021. According to a fact sheet on the budget request, the president has called for families to receive $3,000 per child six years and above, and $3,600 for each child under the…
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) introduced a bill on Thursday that takes a crack at ending a crisis that has long plagued the U.S. education system: extremely low teacher pay. Sanders, the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has proposed setting a nationwide minimum wage for teachers at $60,000 a year. This would raise the salaries of 43 percent of public school…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
California is ending its agreement with retail pharmacy Walgreens after reports revealed that the company has caved to pressure from far right politicians and restricted the sale of abortion medication, even in states where the pills are legal. The state, led by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, is terminating a $54 million contract with the company that was set to be renewed in May.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order on Wednesday aimed at creating a statewide asylum for transgender people seeking health care in a move that LGBTQ advocates are hailing as crucial to protecting the trans community as it comes under attack across the country. The order, which is similar to legislation being brought in the state legislature to establish Minnesota as a “trans refuge”…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Congressional staffers have formed the first-ever labor union in the U.S. Senate after Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) granted his staff voluntary recognition of their union on Wednesday, the same day the group announced its organizing drive. On Wednesday morning, the Congressional Workers Union (CWU) announced that Markey’s staff were filing a petition for their union to be voluntarily…
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed a bill into law on Tuesday that would roll back child labor protections in the state as Republicans across the country wage a campaign to make it easier for employers to violate child labor laws. The law eliminates the requirement for children under 16 to show documentation of their age in order to work. Before this, employers seeking to employ a 14…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Democrats and progressives in Congress reintroduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban the government from using facial recognition technology as increasing surveillance and police violence pose a threat to marginalized communities. The bill would also prevent the government from using biometric technologies like voice and gait recognition, while providing individuals a legal pathway against having…
House Republicans’ plan to majorly slash federal spending over the next decade as a supposed “solution” to the national debt would likely cost millions of jobs and trigger a recession next year, a new report by Moody’s Analytics economists finds. With Republicans in charge of only one chamber of Congress, the party has turned to the debt limit as a vehicle for their policy priorities…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has agreed to testify before the Senate labor committee after committee chair Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) threatened to subpoena the executive to appear in a hearing on the company’s rampant union busting later this month. Sanders announced the company’s decision on Tuesday after weeks of demurring from the company, thanking members in the committee for being…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit to block a merger between JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines in the latest antitrust move from the Biden administration. DOJ officials are challenging the $3.8 billion deal on the grounds that it would further reduce competition and potentially cause a jump in air fares in a time of already heavy consolidation and soaring flight prices.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
As scrutiny of the railroad industry increases in the wake of a disastrous crash in Ohio last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is advocating against a proposed merger between two large rail companies that she says would only compound problems within the industry. In a letter sent to the Surface Transportation Board (STB), an agency charged with regulating the rail industry and…
In their quest to buy credibility and influence the academic sphere, fossil fuel companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on funding research at top universities in the U.S. over the past decade, a new report finds. Between 2010 and 2020, six top fossil fuel corporations funneled at least $677 million to 27 universities for research — funding that could have impacted the research…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Walgreens has said that it will not dispense abortion pills in states where the medications are legal after Republican state officials threatened to take legal action against the company if it began distributing the drugs. In a letter riddled with disinformation about abortions, sent by Republican attorneys general in 20 states to Walgreens last month, the Republicans said they were writing to…
A woman in South Carolina was arrested and charged this week for allegedly taking abortion pills in 2021. As first reported by The State, the woman sought medical care associated with labor pains in October 2021, according to the police report, which was obtained and posted online by Jezebel. She told health care workers that she had taken pills that would end her pregnancy. After the fetus was…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
A group of Democrats is reviving a caucus in the House that is focused on ending homelessness in the U.S. as the housing crisis steadily worsens across the country. This week, Representatives Cori Bush (D-Missouri), Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-California), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon) and Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) announced that they’re establishing the Congressional Caucus on Homelessness…
When Norfolk Southern, the railroad company behind the crash in East Palestine, Ohio, finally offered to give its workers paid sick leave, its proposal came with a major caveat: the company must be allowed to campaign to erode safety regulations without union opposition. In a letter sent on Wednesday to government officials, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, an official for a…