News
Poll Finds Virginians Willing to Pay More Taxes for Education
by Louis Llovio
01.25.17 A majority of Virginians are willing to see their taxes raised if the money goes toward public education, according to a poll from Virginia Commonwealth University. The poll, released this week, found that 69 percent of Virginians are willing to pay more in taxes to maintain state funding at current levels. Fewer, 54 percent, said they'd be willing to pay more to increase funding for public schools. The number of people willing to see their taxes raised for additional funding jumped from 54 … Continue Reading
US attorney investigates Brookline private school over allegations it barred disabled child
by Cristela Guerra
01.23.17 The US attorney's office is investigating the Park School, a prestigious private academy in Brookline, after a family alleged their child was denied admission solely because she is disabled. Five-year-old Harper Oates was born with a spinal cord injury that left her a quadriplegic. But when doctors tested Harper's development as a toddler, they found her limitations were mainly confined to mobility. Cognitively, Harper was found to be one to two years ahead of her peers. As a result, Dawn … Continue Reading
Repealing the Affordable Care Act will kill more than 43,000 people annually
by David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler
01.23.17 Now that President Trump is in the Oval Office, thousands of American lives that were previously protected by provisions of the Affordable Care Act are in danger. For more than 30 years, we have studied how death rates are affected by changes in health-care coverage, and we're convinced that an ACA repeal could cause tens of thousands of deaths annually. The story is in the data: The biggest and most definitive study of what happens to death rates when Medicaid coverage is expanded, published i… Continue Reading
As A Detroit Mother, I Know That Betsy DeVos Is The Wrong Choice For Education Secretary
by Michele Phillips
01.23.17 Betsy DeVos says that if she becomes President Donald Trump's education secretary, she'll work "to ensure every student has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential." Don't be fooled. I'm a mother of eight living in Detroit, the city where DeVos's ideas about education have played out for 20 years. Her push for charter schools without any accountability exposed my children and their classmates to chaos and unacceptable classroom conditions. They are working to reach their pot… Continue Reading
What Betsy DeVos' Nomination Means for Women and Girls on Campuses and in Classrooms
01.21.17 This week, the Senate held the confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, President-Elect Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Education. During the course of the hearing it became clear that DeVos - who has never attended a public school, taught in a classroom, or served on a school board - is woefully unprepared to serve as our nation's Secretary of Education. Particularly troubling were her responses to questions about the rights of students with disabilities, and what steps she would t… Continue Reading
Betsy DeVos embarrassed herself and should be rejected by the Senate
by Editorial Board
01.19.17 Betsy DeVos' love of private school vouchers didn't disqualify her for the role of U.S. Education secretary, even though vouchers are a bad idea. Nor did her lack of experience in public schools. What did render her unacceptable was her abysmal performance at her confirmation hearing Tuesday, during which she displayed an astonishing ignorance about basic education issues, an extraordinary lack of thoughtfulness about ongoing debates in the field and an unwillingness to respond to important qu… Continue Reading
Feds sue nation's largest student loan servicer, accusing it of cheating borrowers
by Andrew Khouri
01.18.17 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued the nation's largest servicer of student loans Wednesday, alleging that Navient Corp. cheated borrowers, resulting in higher payments for Americans struggling to payback their student loans. The federal consumer agency said that Navient, formerly part of Sallie Mae, "failed to provide the most basic functions of adequate student loan servicing at every stage of repayment for both private and federal loans." Navient, the agency claimed, provided stu… Continue Reading
Health Law’s Repeal Could Raise Costs and Number of Uninsured, New Report Says
by Robert Pear
01.17.17 The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that repealing major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, while leaving other parts in place, would cost 18 million people their insurance in the first year and could increase the number of uninsured Americans by 32 million in 10 years, while causing insurance premiums to double over that time. The budget office analyzed the probable effects of a Republican repeal bill like the one approved in Congress but vetoed early last year by Pres… Continue Reading
Invest early in America's children
by George Miller and Rick Santorum
01.16.17 The two of us have a lot in common. We're fathers, former legislators, and share a deep love for our country. But in Congress we rarely agreed on policy solutions to the challenges facing the nation. America is home to the world's largest economy and most powerful military. She is blessed with tremendous natural resources and agricultural wealth and can boast great industrial power. But our most valuable national asset is the tens of millions of children who will shape America's destiny. We bot… Continue Reading
Birmingham fast food workers protest Trump's Labor nominee
by Howard Koplowitz
01.12.17 About 20 fast food workers from Birmingham rallied at a Hardee's to protest President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Hardee's and Carl Jr.'s CEO Andy Puzder as to head the Labor Department. The protest, organized by the Fight for $15 and a Union campaign, called attention to Puzder's opposition to increasing the federal minimum wage and his support for using automation to replace fast food workers. "How can you make America great if you're trying to make the poor poor and the rich rich," s… Continue Reading
How Obamacare repeal helps rich, hurts poor
by Frank Clemente and Ron Pollack
01.11.17 Republican plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act(Obamacare) threaten the health care of 30 million Americans and would erode some rare progress made recently to reverse America's growing economic inequality. By taxing rich households and big corporations to subsidize health care for working families, the ACA does what good public policy should: level the playing field to give everyone a shot, not just those at the top. Abolishing the ACA would only further tilt the field in favor of the wealt… Continue Reading
Carl's Jr., Hardee's workers blast Labor nominee at Senate forum
by Jill Disis
01.10.17 One worker said his wages were stolen. Another said she was forced to work without overtime pay. A third worker described her struggles to provide for a family of six children -- on $8.75 an hour after years of experience in the food industry. The three are current and former employees of CKE Restaurants, the fast-food company run by secretary of labor nominee Andrew Puzder that is known for its Carl's Jr. and Hardee's chains. They spoke for nearly two hours Tuesday about poor working cond… Continue Reading
Restaurants run by Trump’s pick for US labor secretary regularly serve up female objectification
by Neha Thirani Bagri
01.10.17 "I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it's very American." That's what Andrew Puzder, US president-elect Donald Trump's nomination for labor secretary-and the current CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company of chains including Carl's Jr and Hardee's-said in defense of highly sexualized Carl's Jr. ads that have been compared to porn on many occasions. The attitude is common in the fast food industry, where sexual harassment is ubiquitous: 40% of women wor… Continue Reading
Millions sign up for Obamacare as Trump and GOP lawmakers scramble for a way to roll it back
by Noam N. Levey
01.10.17 While Republicans struggle to find a way to roll back the Affordable Care Act without jeopardizing healthcare for tens of millions of people, Americans continue to sign up for Obamacare health plans. As of Dec. 24, more than 11.5 million people had enrolled in a health plan through one of the insurance marketplaces created by the law, including HealthCare.gov and Covered California, federal data released Tuesday show. That is nearly 300,000 more sign-ups than at the same point a year earlier, … Continue Reading
Democrats Form Congressional Caucus To Support Public Education
by Rebecca Klein
01.10.17 Members of Congress have formed a new caucus to support the goals of public education under Donald Trump's presidency. Although the caucus has been in the works for over a year, Trump's election and his nomination of Betsy DeVos as education secretary has given the group heightened urgency, according to those involved with the effort. Several Democratic members of Congress announced the effort alongside the presidents of the nation's two largest teachers unions at a press conference on Tues… Continue Reading
New House Education Caucus, Union Leaders Continue Anti-Betsy DeVos Push
by Andrew Ujifusa
01.10.17 A new caucus of the House of Representatives announced Tuesday it was dedicated to fighting the nomination of Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be education secretary, and to fight for what its members said was crucial funding for public schools. During a press conference here on Tuesday, Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., who announced the formation of the House Public Education Caucus along with Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., said he opposed DeVos' push for private school vouchers in p… Continue Reading
Mark Pocan launches House Public Education Caucus in opposition to Betsy DeVos nomination
by Jessie Opoien
01.10.17 U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan on Tuesday announced the formation of a House Public Education Caucus in opposition to President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Betsy DeVos as education secretary. DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who has been a major backer for charter schools and taxpayer-funded voucher schools in her home state and throughout the country, was set to go before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for her confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Her hearing was p… Continue Reading
Where’s the GOP’s health-care plan?
by Katrina vanden Heuvel
01.10.17 For six years, Republicans have voted more than 60 times to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. "Repeal and replace" was a staple of Donald Trump's stump speech. Give us control, Republicans promised, and what Mike Pence promises as the "first order of business" will be repeal and replace. Only one problem: There is no plan. Republicans have hundreds of ideas but no replacement plan and no consensus. So now the same politicians who couldn't come up with a serious plan in six years are c… Continue Reading
Democrats to attack Labor nominee's employee treatment
by Tal Kopan
01.10.17 Democrats looking to attack President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of labor, Andrew Puzder, will unveil new findings on Tuesday detailing the work environment at restaurants in his fast-food empire. A pro-worker organization, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, will unveil its report Tuesday afternoon, followed by a second news conference with prominent Democratic senators including Massachusetts' Elizabeth Warren and Washington's Patty Murray. At the events, workers fro… Continue Reading
Restaurants run by labor secretary nominee report 'disturbing' rates of sexual harassment
by Oliver Laughland
01.10.17 Two-thirds of female fast-food workers at restaurants operated by Andrew Puzder, Donald Trump's controversial nomination for US labor secretary, experienced sexual harassment at work, a rate much higher than the industry average, a stinging advocacy survey has claimed. Many female workers, according to the research conducted by Restaurant Opportunities Center (Roc) United, have been harassed by customers referencing the highly sexualized advertising campaigns Puzder has championed as CEO of CKE… Continue Reading