Despite a societal backdrop of widening income inequality, kids on opposite ends of the wealth spectrum are now entering kindergarten with closer levels of achievement than in the past, new research finds.
The designation, expected to take effect Friday, will expand Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument from 139,797 square miles to 582,578 square miles, making it the largest marine protected area on the planet.
Washington’s low-wage workers can expect to earn at least $13.50 an hour by 2020 under a ballot measure that won Tuesday night.
American income inequality narrowed for the first time since 2007, according to Census Bureau data released in September 2016. Median household income jumped 5.2% in a single year — the largest gain on record — and 3.5 million people rose above the poverty line. One hopeful year, hard-won after four decades of widening gaps.
The Army Corps of Engineers has denied a permit for the construction of a key section of the Dakota Access Pipeline, granting a major victory to protesters who have been demonstrating for months.
After a ProPublica and New York Times investigation into New Jersey’s student loan program, Gov. Chris Christie stayed silent. On Monday, he signed a reform bill ending its most onerous practice.
Colorado’s minimum wage got a voter-approved lift in November 2016, when Amendment 70 passed with about 55 percent support. The measure raised the state’s hourly floor from $9.30 to $12 by 2020, rising 90 cents each year, and tied future increases to inflation — a quiet structural shift with real weight for low-wage workers.
Hillary Clinton’s nomination came on July 26th, 2016, when Democratic delegates in Philadelphia made her the first woman ever nominated for president by a major American party. Speaker after speaker traced a longer lineage, from Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 to Barbara Mikulski in the Senate. A barrier that had long defined American politics by its absence finally moved.
The day after Labor Day, Oakland City Council made a bold proclamation in support of democratic and equitable workplaces, passing the “Resolution Supporting the Development of Worker Cooperatives In Oakland.”
