01 November 19
Garrison Keillor | Memories of a Citizen of Halloween
Garrison Keillor, Garrison Keillor's Website
Keillor writes: "Every October it's my duty to point out that my hometown, Anoka, Minnesota, is known, at least in Anoka, as the Halloween capital of the world, and it puts on big parades and a football game, the Pumpkin Bowl."
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Jane Sanders, Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Bernie Sanders Campaign)
Garrison Keillor, Garrison Keillor's Website
Keillor writes: "Every October it's my duty to point out that my hometown, Anoka, Minnesota, is known, at least in Anoka, as the Halloween capital of the world, and it puts on big parades and a football game, the Pumpkin Bowl."
READ MORE
Jane Sanders, Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Bernie Sanders Campaign)
Heart-Wrenching Video Shows Bernie Sanders Touring Detroit With Rep. Rashida Tlaib
Steve Neavling, Detroit Metro Times
Neavling writes: "U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib was overcome with emotion. For years, the progressive Democrat had talked about underserved neighborhoods struggling with poverty, environmental contamination, failing schools and water shutoffs. Finally someone was listening. It was Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is running for president."
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People protest the Muslim travel ban outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., June 26, 2018. (photo: Mandel Ngan/Getty)
Steve Neavling, Detroit Metro Times
Neavling writes: "U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib was overcome with emotion. For years, the progressive Democrat had talked about underserved neighborhoods struggling with poverty, environmental contamination, failing schools and water shutoffs. Finally someone was listening. It was Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is running for president."
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People protest the Muslim travel ban outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., June 26, 2018. (photo: Mandel Ngan/Getty)
Trump Wants to Expand Number of Countries Included in Muslim Ban
Alison Durkee, Vanity Fair
Durkee writes: "The Trump administration is reportedly considering adding even more countries to the controversial travel ban."
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Restaurant staff are included in New York City's minimum wage. (photo: Getty)
Alison Durkee, Vanity Fair
Durkee writes: "The Trump administration is reportedly considering adding even more countries to the controversial travel ban."
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Restaurant staff are included in New York City's minimum wage. (photo: Getty)
The $15 Minimum Wage Was Supposed to Hurt New York City Restaurants - but Both Revenue and Employment Are Up
Nicole Hallett, MarketWatch
Hallett writes: "Critics would have you believe that upping the minimum wage in restaurants will lead to massive layoffs and closures. But since raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour nearly a year ago, the restaurant industry in New York City has thrived."
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Nicole Hallett, MarketWatch
Hallett writes: "Critics would have you believe that upping the minimum wage in restaurants will lead to massive layoffs and closures. But since raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour nearly a year ago, the restaurant industry in New York City has thrived."
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Teachers and supporters gather for the rally on the first day of strike by the Chicago Teachers Union, Oct. 17 2019, in Chicago. (photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty)
"This Is a Win for Our City": Chicago Teachers Celebrate End of Historic Strike After 11 Days
Democracy Now!
Excerpt: "After weeks of tense negotiations, the city agreed to reduce class sizes, increase salaries by 16% over the next five years and bring on hundreds more social workers, nurses and librarians."
Democracy Now!
Excerpt: "After weeks of tense negotiations, the city agreed to reduce class sizes, increase salaries by 16% over the next five years and bring on hundreds more social workers, nurses and librarians."
ICE detention center. (photo: Office of Inspector General/Department of Homeland Security)
2 Doctors Were Held by ICE. They Say What They Saw at One Facility Shocked Them
Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Shoichet writes: "Held behind bars as they pleaded for asylum, these men say they watched people around them receiving poor medical care, but - despite their years of training - felt powerless to help."
Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Shoichet writes: "Held behind bars as they pleaded for asylum, these men say they watched people around them receiving poor medical care, but - despite their years of training - felt powerless to help."
EXCERPTS:
They're doctors who became immigration detainees themselves -- held for more than a year inside a system that they warn is putting people's health at risk daily. One remains detained; the other was just deported after more than 15 months behind bars.
Among their allegations, made in court filings and detailed in interviews with CNN: mold on the walls, incorrect diagnoses and improper use of quarantines.
In a statement released to CNN, the private prison company that runs the facility said it "strongly disputes" any allegations of inadequate medical care. ICE said it couldn't comment on the specific allegations due to pending litigation, but said the agency provides "comprehensive medical care" and is committed to the welfare of everyone in its custody.
The doctors' observations come amid growing concerns about illnesses and diseases spreading behind bars as ICE detains more people.
"Their perspective and their insight is extremely eye-opening," says Laura Rivera, director of the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is representing the doctors in a class-action federal lawsuit over ICE detention and parole practices. "Here you have people who understand what it means to take an oath to do no harm. ... They're trained to evaluate and diagnose and treat, and they're seeing the failures of the system at every step of the way."
He said guards painted over mold on the walls rather than fixing the problem
P.S.P. also says he saw multiple mumps quarantines during his time in detention.
"Often, the prison officials use illness as a weapon to punish all the inmates, by placing us under quarantine, which is very similar to isolation," he said in his court declaration.
ICE said thousands of detainees across the country were quarantined for exposure to mumps or chicken pox over the summer. And in August, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its first report on mumps outbreaks in detention facilities, noting that nearly 900 adults held in immigrant detention facilities had contracted the contagious disease in the past year.
In June, an ICE official told CNN that the agency had successfully prevented communicable diseases from spreading in the past, but added that the recent wave of quarantines would likely lead to increased time in detention and delays in deportations.
They sued over ICE's parole practices
Duke Energy reported that it spilled an estimated 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River near Eden, North Carolina, in Feb. 2014. (photo: Rick Dove/Waterkeeper)
EPA to Weaken Public Protections Against Toxic Coal Ash in Water
Jordan Davidson, EcoWatch
Davidson writes: "In a gift to the coal industry, the EPA will reverse course on regulations meant to reduce the amount of toxic heavy metals that leach into the water systems from the ash emitted by coal-fired power plants."
Jordan Davidson, EcoWatch
Davidson writes: "In a gift to the coal industry, the EPA will reverse course on regulations meant to reduce the amount of toxic heavy metals that leach into the water systems from the ash emitted by coal-fired power plants."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA) will release several new rules in the coming weeks, many of which will relax regulations meant to protect the environment from industrial pollution. In a gift to the coal industry, the EPA will reverse course on regulations meant to reduce the amount of toxic heavy metals that leach into the water systems from the ash emitted by coal-fired power plants, according to The New York Times.
The New York Times broke the story from sources familiar with the EPA's plans. The Trump administration plans to weaken the 2015 rule that would have increased inspections and monitoring at coal-fired plants, lowered the amount of effluent plants could discharge, and required new technology to protect water supplies from coal ash contaminants. Not only will the new rules slacken some of those requirements, it will completely exempt a significant number of plants from complying with any of the requirements.
When the regulations were written, the Obama administration estimated oversight and new requirements would prevent around 1.4 billion pounds of toxic metals and pollutants from seeping into nearby rivers and streams. A source that knows the EPAs current plans told The New York Times that the new rules would actually remove more pollutants than the Obama-era rules. However, that math is based on having 30 percent of coal-fired plants voluntarily choosing to install new, expensive technology.
Those pollutants in drinking water can cause birth defects, cancer and stunted brain development in young children. Environmental groups quickly assailed the news of the regulatory rollback.
"[It's] "a huge step backward and incredibly dangerous," said Lisa Evans, general counsel for Earthjustice, to the The New York Times.
The move is ostensibly another deregulation to keep coal-fired plants from shutting down. Eight coal energy companies have already filed for bankruptcy this year as demand for coal energy plummets. Cleaner energy from renewables and natural gas has gotten cheaper and more efficient, making coal energy an unpalatable option in the marketplace.
The EPA is maneuvering to save a dying industry since the department's director, Andrew Wheeler, was a lobbyist for the coal industry. Energy analysts, however, told The New York Times that this latest rollback will not save the industry from its inevitable decline.
"While it might keep some existing coal plants running a little bit longer, it's at best a Band-Aid on a bullet wound that the market has sent the coal industry," said Joshua Rhodes, a senior energy analyst with Vibrant Clean Energy, to The New York Times.
The industry's record around toxic coal ash is abysmal. For years, it was not regulated, but spills in North Carolina and Tennessee that released billions of gallons of toxic sludge into waterways caused state and federal lawmakers to issue new rules over the containment of coal ash. A recent study also found that more than 90 percent of 265 coal-fired plants had unsafe levels of at least one contaminant in the groundwater near their coal ash dumps, as Reuters reported.
Environmental groups that keep tabs on the coal industry say that power plants discharge more than 1 billion pounds of pollutants every year into 4,000 miles of rivers. In turn, those pollutants contaminate the drinking water and fisheries of 2.7 million people, as The New York Times reported.
"That knowledge should lead E.P.A. to move to establish greater protections for our health," said Evans of Earthjustice to The New York Times. "But E.P.A. is running the other way under the direction of the utilities."
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