Texas Blast Recalls Chemical Safety Bill Sunk by Business Lobby Bloomberg ...Guess who fought against a 2009 bill aimed at tightening “security standards of chemical factors, fertilizer depots and water-treatment plants.” None other than “Mining companies, refiners, paint makers, explosive fabricators and fertilizer plants...the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Farm Bureau...”
How Austerity Is Literally Killing People (opinion) Think Progress ...Austerity in the United States and Europe isn’t just placing an unnecessary drag on economic growth that has harmed the global economic recovery from the Great Recession...
Banking group says new regulations could push consumers into risky payday loans The Hill ...A leading banking group says tighter guidelines on deposit advance loans could push consumers into higher-risk payday credit...
US electricity giant rejects privatization plan Financial Times ...Push-back. President Obama recently floated the notion that it might be time to privatize the TVA. TVA’s Chief Executive says “the authority ‘isn’t broke’ and could fund the investment it needed while staying in the public sector.” TVA’s electricity prices are “significantly below the US average...”
Wealth Gap Among Races Has Widened Since Recession New York Times ... Millions of Americans suffered a loss of wealth during the recession and the sluggish recovery that followed. But the last half-decade has proved far worse for black and Hispanic families than for white families, starkly widening the already large gulf in wealth between non-Hispanic white Americans and most minority groups, according to a new study...
Bill to end sequester's air travel delays flies through Congress Los Angeles Times ...Lawmakers, among the nation's most frequent fliers, OK a bill allowing the FAA to transfer $253 million to stop furloughs of air traffic controllers...
But the sequester could hurt federal tax collections, IRS says Washington Post ...The head of the Internal Revenue Service is warning that the government-wide spending cuts that took effect last month could hurt federal tax collections...
Push to Require Online Sales Tax Divides the G.O.P. New York Times ...Legislation that would force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes from their customers has put antitax and small-government activists like Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the Heritage Foundation in an unusual position: they’re losing...
Sanford, Colbert Busch Campaign Day After Debate Associated Press ...Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch planned to hit the campaign trail a day after a spirited debate in their race for a vacant congressional seat along the South Carolina coast. "I rocked it," Colbert Busch said…
Citations drop for child work violations in Mass. Boston Globe ...Child-labor laws in Massachusetts were tightened then following on-the-job deaths of several teenagers, including a 16-year-old who was killed after losing control of a golf cart at a Salem country club. But enforcement citations appear to have dropped ...
Minimum wage hike goes to Minnesota House for vote Associated Press ....Many Minnesota workers would get a pay hike, extra time to spend with newborns and recently adopted children and more overtime pay in the minimum wage bill that is headed to the House floor.
Tax Shuffle Could Shake Up Missouri St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Missouri’s Republican-led legislature is poised to send Gov. Jay Nixon a bill that would cut the state income tax, especially for small businesses, while raising the sales tax to benefit three legislative priorities…
Right-to-work will lower wages and weaken the economy (opinion) Southeast Missourian ...Currently, Missouri Republicans are bent on passing so called "right-to work" legislation. Even though the president pro tem of the Senate said it isn't a priority of the Senate and it faces veto by the governor, they press on while they could be working to modernize our economy...
Feds approve New Jersey's plan to spend $1.8 billion in Sandy aid New Jersey Star-Ledger ...The federal government has approved New Jersey's plan to spend more than $1.8 billion in disaster aid, Gov. Chris Christie announced yesterday...
Sandy credited for rise in NY construction jobs Crain’s New York ...Thanks, in part, to a boost from post-Sandy work, employment in New York state's construction industry is inching its way back to its pre-recession peak...
Art Pope Groups Push Extreme ALEC Tax Agenda in North Carolina PR Watch …An array of right-wing organizations in North Carolina are arguing loudly for Gov. Pat McCrory to radically alter how corporations and people pay taxes in the state -- and the not-so-hidden hand behind the effort is North Carolina millionaire Art Pope, a close ally of the Koch brothers, who funds the groups…
Airport Privatization Takes Off in Puerto Rico Truth-Out ...About 17 years ago, lawmakers slipped an obscure section of text into the annual federal aviation bill. In February, the intent of that law was enacted for only the second time when the FAA approved the privatization of Puerto Rico's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. Numerous elected officials, lawyers and economists have denounced it as a bad bargain...
Virginia can block out of state use of FOIA, Supreme Court rules Associated Press ...The Supreme Court ruled Monday that it's legal for a state to limit use of its Freedom of Information Act to its own residents...
Marvel filming most of latest 'Captain America' movie in L.A. Los Angeles Times ...Disney-owned Marvel Studios is producing most of 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' in L.A., a region that has seen the steady exodus of big-budget features. Teamsters Local 399, represents the film’s casting directors, location managers and drivers...
