Inside Amazon’s global worker movement
By Melissa Heikkilä 10/19/2020 12:51 PM EDT LILLE, France — When Amazon workers installed a mock guillotine in front of Jeff Bezos’ home in Washington, D.C., last summer, they gave the world’s richest man a chilling show of anger. But the real challenge to Amazon management isn’t from publicity stunts. It’s coming from a new, […]
Trump administration announces vaccine deal for long-term care facilities
By Adam Cancryn , David Lim10/16/2020 12:30 PM EDT Updated: 10/16/2020 02:32 PM EDT The Trump administration announced Friday a deal with CVS and Walgreens to administer a future coronavirus vaccine to seniors and staff in long-term care facilities with no out-of-pocket cost. President Donald Trump — who polls show is trailing Joe Biden among […]
Federal judge strikes down USDA rule to impose stricter SNAP work requirements
By Helena Bottemiller Evich 10/19/2020 12:05 PM EDT A federal judge struck down a controversial Trump administration rule that would have mandated tougher work requirements on millions of able-bodied adults without dependents who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. The effort was part of President Donald Trump’s broader bid to shrink safety net programs. The ruling […]
Which states had the best pandemic response?
By Tucker Doherty , Victoria Guida , Bianca Quilantan , Gabrielle Wanneh 10/13/2020 08:47 PM EDT Updated: 10/15/2020 04:08 PM EDT Vermont locked itself down early and reopened gradually. Washington state paid workers who couldn’t do their jobs while quarantined. And Louisiana zeroed in on students who were most at-risk of falling behind and prioritized […]
Sexual violence reports rise drastically at schools, Education Department data shows
By Michael Stratford , Juan Perez Jr. 10/15/2020 02:09 PM EDT The nation’s public elementary and secondary schools reported a more than 50 percent increase in reports of sexual violence during the 2017-18 school year, according to new federal civil rights data the Education Department released Thursday. Schools reported nearly 15,000 total incidents of sexual […]
Voters face ballot initiatives on affirmative action, sex ed, boosting teacher salaries
By Lauraine Genota 10/15/2020 05:02 AM EDT Several states have education measures on the ballot, ranging from affirmative action, sexual health education and taxes to benefit teacher salaries. New taxes would fund salary increases for K-12 teachers and staff, as well as fund universal preschool and other education programs. A couple of the measures would […]
California schools chief: Distance learning ‘our best option’ in many communities for now
By Mackenzie Mays 10/14/2020 07:00 PM EDT SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California schools chief Tony Thurmond stood firm Wednesday against wide- scale campus reopening and said districts should make decisions based on public health standards, not politics. “Safety is the highest order at this time. I don’t want to politicize this issue,” Thurmond said at a […]
EPA proposes curbing interstate pollution for 12 states’ power plants
By Alex Guillén 10/15/2020 05:11 PM EDT EPA proposed additional restrictions on nitrogen oxide pollution from power plants in 12 states on Thursday in response to a 2019 court ruling that said part of the original Obama-era version was unlawful. The rule will reduce NOx emissions, a precursor for ground-level ozone in downwind states in the East, […]
Ex-Google chief: U.S. must do ‘whatever it takes’ to beat China on AI
By Matthew Choi 10/15/2020 04:26 PM EDT The U.S. needs an urgent national strategy on developing artificial intelligence technology to counter the rising competition from China, said former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Speaking with reporters Nancy Scola and Mark Scott on Thursday during POLITICO’s AI Summit, Schmidt […]
Millions of workers face jobless benefits cliff with lifeline set to expire
By Eleanor Mueller , Rebecca Rainey 10/14/2020 08:40 PM EDT WASHINGTON — A failure by Congress to enact a new economic relief package would prolong the pain of the coronavirus crisis for many Americans, but those without jobs face a special threat — millions could run out of unemployment benefits altogether by the end of […]
