News
U.S. Directs Public Schools to Allow Transgender Access to Restrooms
by Julie Hirschfield Davis and Matt Apuzzo
05.12.16 WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is planning to issue a sweeping directive telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity. A letter to school districts will go out Friday, adding to a highly charged debate over transgender rights in the middle of the administration's legal fight with North Carolina over the issue. The declaration - signed by Justice and Education department officials - will describe … Continue Reading
The House Hearing on the New Persuader Rule Didn’t Persuade Anyone
by Andrew Strom
05.12.16 In this era of divided government, Republicans in Congress understand that if they want to enact legislation, they need to compromise. But, the Republicans in the House of Representatives seem to have little interest in compromising. So, instead of trying to write bills that have a chance of becoming law, they prefer to spend their time holding grandstanding hearings. The latest hearing conducted by the Education and the Workforce Committee was called "The Persuader Rule: The Administration'… Continue Reading
How a lack of paid leave is making wealth inequality worse
by Ruth Milkman
05.12.16 The United States is famously exceptional in its failure to guarantee paid family leave to new parents. What is less well-known is that this failure contributes to the growing problem of income inequality, widening the gap in well-being between the haves and the have-nots. In 21st-century America, paid leave is available to most upper-level employees, especially professionals and managers, when they become parents or need to care for a seriously ill family member. However, the nation's burgeo… Continue Reading
What’s stopping paid family leave?
by Christine Emba
05.09.16 Mother's Day has come and gone - and most mothers have gone back to work. But being a mother in the workforce is uniquely challenging in the United States - the only developed nation in the world that doesn't have some kind of universal paid maternity leave program. In fact, any sort of family leave is a relatively recent proposition in the United States: The Family and Medical Leave Act, which guarantees new parents and those with ailing family members the right to take up to 12 weeks of unpai… Continue Reading
New York orders nail salons to pay $2 million in unpaid wages, damages
by Barbara Goldberg
05.09.16 New York has ordered 143 nail salons to pay cheated employees $2 million in outstanding wages and damages as the result of a crackdown on an industry that relies heavily on an immigrant workforce. The payments to 652 employees were ordered in the year since Governor Andrew Cuomo created the New York State Nail Salon Industry Enforcement Task Force to end abuse of salon employees, the governor said in a statement. "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work is a principle that this state was built… Continue Reading
When All Kids Eat for Free
by Melinda D. Anderson
05.09.16 Much has been made recently of Detroit's resurgence and growth. In January, President Obama made a swing through the Motor City, touting "something special happening in Detroit." Yet the comeback has not been evenly felt across the city. The Michigan League for Public Policy's 2016 Kids Count Data Profilerevealed a major fault line earlier this year. From 2006 to 2014, child poverty in Detroit increased by 29 percent, to about 94,000 children or well more than half (57 percent) of the city's pop… Continue Reading
U.S. Education Secretary John King touts preschool at Norfolk State University
by Cherise M. Newsome
05.05.16 Preschoolers at Norfolk State University perked up when a special guest walked in Thursday. They didn't seem to understand the big to-do about U.S. Education Secretary John King visiting the school's Child Development Lab, with a trail of reporters and school officials in tow. But they had a special poem to share. The nation's education chief nodded as they chanted: "I'm glad I'm me … I am special. No one I'd rather be. I'm glad I'm me!" King visited the school at the invitation of U.… Continue Reading
U.S. Secretary of Education gets inside look at Norfolk preschool
by Elise Brown
05.05.16 NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) -- The U.S. Secretary of Education and Congressman Bobby Scott toured a Norfolk preschool Thursday. It was a chance for the officials to see how federal funding, aimed at improving access, is working. Back in 2014, the commonwealth was awarded a $17 million grant to increase access to preschool programs. Norfolk State benefits from the money, which supports low to moderate-income families. "It provides instructional resources, it provides some technological support," said D… Continue Reading
Education Secretary John King says work in Newport News is 'encouraging'
by Jane Hammond
05.05.16 NEWPORT NEWS - U.S. Secretary of Education John King enjoyed a busy morning visiting Hampton Roads on Thursday. King, named to the post after Arne Duncan resigned last year from the position, visited Heritage High School and An Achievable Dream Middle/High School in Newport News, as well as Norfolk State University's Child Development Lab. King hosted two roundtables along with Rep. Robert C. "Bobby'' Scott, D-Newport News; one discussed the newly passed Every Student Succeeds Act and the othe… Continue Reading
House Republican proposal would make it harder for poor schools to feed their students
by Jared Bernstein and Ben Spielberg
05.02.16 Schools are supposed to help kids build character, socialize, and learn critical thinking and academic content. But we also ask schools to do a lot more: to offer extracurricular activities, serve as community centers and feed our children. Particularly in low-income areas, where kids come to school with a variety of disadvantages, the successful completion of these varied tasks can require Herculean efforts. That's why we should celebrate initiatives that ease the burden on low-income schools.… Continue Reading
Time to curb high fees on retirement accounts
by Reps. Bobby Scott, Maxine Waters and Elijah Cummings
04.14.16 In 1975, Gerald Ford was president, a first-class stamp cost 10 cents, and 401(k) plans did not exist. Back then, millions of Americans earned a traditional pension after working for decades for one company or industry. This pension provided workers with a guaranteed income stream for the rest of their lives and helped ensure they could enjoy a secure and dignified retirement. For the vast majority of Americans, that's not how it works anymore. We now live in a "do it yourself" retirem… Continue Reading
Rep. Bobby Scott celebrates School Breakfast Week at Norfolk elementary
04.11.16 Norfolk, Va. - Rep. Bobby Scott (VA-03) visited Richard Bowling Elementary to celebrate National School Breakfast Week Friday. Scott is a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce that is tasked with making sure all children have an equal shot at success. During Scott's visit he highlighted the importance of maintaining strong school nutrition standards and increasing access to healthy meals.… Continue Reading
Rep. Bobby Scott visits Norfolk school to talk about healthy eating
by Jane Alvarez-Wertz
04.11.16 NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - School nutrition was the topic of discussion at a Norfolk elementary school Friday morning. Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) talked to students at Richard Bowling Elementary School on East Princess Anne Road. Representative Scott is a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which is tasked with making sure all children have an equal shot at success.… Continue Reading
Should All Teens Be Screened for Depression?
by Dr. Francis
04.10.16 Emotions run wild during the teenage years, and there is no stopping that. For most, the highs and lows tend to balance out after a yearslong roller-coaster ride. But for a significant number of others, the suffering during those low periods can lead to full-blown depression.… Continue Reading
Gazette editorial: Finally, some justice for miners
04.07.16 Don Blankenship, former Massey Energy CEO, was sentenced to a year in prison, another year of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for conspiring to violate federal mine safety rules at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County. Twenty-nine miners died there in an underground explosion six years ago this week. Finally, a measure of justice for the workers who died and the families who lost dear members. "Safety simply has to be paramount," U.S. District Judge Irene Berger said during the se… Continue Reading
Five women's players file wage discrimination complaint against U.S. soccer
by A.J. Perez
04.06.16 Five standout members of the U.S. women's national soccer team have filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against U.S. Soccer Federation that seeks wage equality with their male colleagues. Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Rebecca Sauerbrunn,Hope Solo and Alex Morgan have filed the complaint on behalf of the entire team. "I think the timing is right,'' Lloyd said on NBC's Today show on Thursday. "I think that we've proven our worth over the years. Just coming off of a… Continue Reading
With one change, this school doubled the number of kids eating school breakfast
by Moriah Balingit
04.06.16 Less than 10 percent of students at Frederick Douglass Elementary in Leesburg were eating school breakfast last school year, and educators noticed the impact: Students were fidgety and cranky and sometimes had to leave class to see the school nurse because of stomach aches. About one-third of the Loudoun County school's students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, but many of those children were not eating breakfast at school. The reason? Students were worried that a sit-down breakfast in … Continue Reading
Court lets Uber appeal a class-action lawsuit filed by its drivers
by Tracey Lien
04.05.16 Uber has caught a break in a class-action lawsuit that could force the San Francisco company to treat many drivers as employees, not contractors. In a small victory for the on-demand transportation company, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said it would allow Uber to appeal a District Court order that certified a class of nearly 160,000 drivers in California. In its appeal, attorneys representing Uber argued that drivers for the ride-hailing service signed away their right to part… Continue Reading
United Airlines Agrees to Contract Terms for 30,000 Workers
by The Associated Press
04.04.16 CHICAGO - United Airlines has reached agreement on contracts covering about 30,000 union employees including airport workers. The International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers said Monday that the contracts, if ratified, would increase pay by about 30 percent over five years and also raise defined-benefit pensions and stop outsourcing of work now done by the union's members. United said the agreements followed just four months of negotiations and were reached before the date … Continue Reading
Killing multiple birds with one stone, saving more lives
by Nancy G. Brinker
03.31.16 A recent study that found mammography screening for breast cancer may also help detect heart risk in women is another example of how thinking beyond one's medical specialty, tunnel-visioned silo may help save lives while saving money through the use of multiple applications. The study released in late March - in anticipation of its presentation at the American College of Cardiology's annual meeting in Chicago later this week - noted that 70 percent of women who had evidence of breast-arterial c… Continue Reading