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+15 +1
One of America’s weirdest congressional districts has just been trashed by the Florida Supreme Court
The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state legislature must redraw at least eight congressional districts, including the 5th, that had been gerrymandered to favor the GOP.
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+20 +1
Parents, students fight back after girl sent home for showing collarbone
A campaign has been launched to change a school district’s dress code after a student was sent home for wearing a shirt that showed her collarbone. WTVQ reports that Stacie Dunn received a call on her daughter’s first day of school and was told she was in violation of the dress code. The dress code requires that students wear shirts that cover their collarbone.
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+23 +1
ALEC and the Far Right are Seven States Away From Convening A Dangerous and Unpredictable Federal Constitutional Convention
Amendment-seeking right wingers are getting close.
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+40 +1
Flint Is in the News, but Lead Poisoning Is Even Worse in Cleveland
One hundred fifty miles northwest of here, the residents of Flint, Mich., are still reeling from the drinking water debacle that more than doubled the share of children with elevated levels of lead in their blood — to a peak, in mid-2014, of 7 percent of all children tested. Clevelanders can only sympathize. The comparable number here is 14.2 percent. The poisoning of Flint’s children outraged the nation. But too much lead in children’s blood has long been an everyday...
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+26 +1
D.C. mayor calls for citywide vote to make nation’s capital the 51st state
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser on Friday called for a citywide vote in November on making the nation’s capital the 51st state, resurrecting a decades-old plan to thrust the issue before Congress and raise awareness across the country about District residents’ lack of full citizenship. “I propose we take another bold step toward democracy in the District of Columbia,” Bowser (D) said at a breakfast attracting hundreds of city residents...
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+32 +1
U.S. Ranks 41st In Press Freedom Index Thanks To 'War On Whistleblowers'
The U.S. is ranked 41 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index, which measures the "level of freedom of information in 180 countries." According to the organization, the U.S. moved from 49 in 2015 to 41 this year, though it warned that the "relative improvement by comparison hides overall negative trends." Citing the U.S. government's "war on whistleblowers who leak information about its surveillance activities, spying and foreign operations...
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+7 +1
States win the right to limit municipal broadband, beating FCC in court
The Federal Communications Commission has lost in an attempt to preempt state laws that restrict the growth of municipal broadband networks. The FCC in February 2015 voted to block laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that prevent municipal broadband providers from expanding outside their territories. The FCC, led by Chairman Tom Wheeler, claimed it could preempt the laws because Congress authorizes the commission to promote telecom competition by removing barriers to investment.
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+19 +1
Fidel Castro Thanks Cuba, Criticizes Obama, on 90th Birthday
Fidel Castro thanked Cubans for their well-wishes on his 90th birthday and criticized President Barack Obama in a lengthy letter published in state media. He appeared but did not speak at a gala in his honor broadcast on state television. "I want to express my deepest gratitude for the shows of respect, greetings and praise that I've received in recent days, which give me strength to reciprocate with ideas that I will send to party militants and relevant organizations," he wrote about his birthday on Saturday.
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+25 +1
U.S. Endangered Species Recovery Surges to Record High
More species protected by the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) have recovered during President Barack Obama’s administration than under all other presidents combined, the US Department of Interior announced on August 11. And 2016 marks a record high for species recovery, with six so far officially ‘delisted’ from ESA’s roster. The ESA, passed in 1973 to assist the recovery and protection of imperilled species and ecosystems, is widely seen as a landmark piece of environmental legislation.
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+19 +1
Sandra Bland's family settles for $1.9M in wrongful death suit
Sandra Bland's family has reached a $1.9 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit, the family's attorney said Thursday. The settlement includes compensation for Bland's death in custody as well as several changes to jail procedures in Waller County, Texas. Bland was found dead in her jail cell three days after she was arrested for failing to use her turn signal in July 2015.
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+15 +1
After New York Attack, Congress Wants TSA to Secure Amtrak, Buses
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is one of those federal agencies that tends to inspire intense reactions among the traveling public. It’s a bureaucracy that interacts with millions of passengers each day, requiring their shoes, jackets, laptops—and time. Virtually all this occurs at airports, with about 80 percent of the agency’s $7.4 billion budget spent on aviation security. Only 2 percent of the TSA’s funding goes to surface transportation...
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+25 +1
Congress members ask Obama to block North Dakota pipeline
Nearly two dozen members of Congress sent a letter to the White House on Thursday requesting that the Obama administration intervene to stop construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. The two-page letter, co-signed by 19 members, was a direct call to action to an administration that has been the most progressive in the nation's history in its efforts to address issues affecting Native Americans.
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+48 +1
The FCC just passed sweeping new rules to protect your online privacy
The rules require providers to ask your permission before sharing your data.
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+17 +1
Opioid epidemic: ex-DEA official says Congress is protecting drug makers
A former top Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official has accused Congress of putting pharmaceutical company profits ahead of public health in the battle to combat the US’s prescription opioid epidemic. Joseph Rannazzisi, head of the DEA office responsible for preventing prescription medicine abuse until last year, said drug companies and their lobbyists have a “stranglehold” on Congress to protect a $9bn a year trade in opioid painkillers claiming the lives of nearly 19,000 people a year.
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+21 +1
Dakota Access pipeline protesters crowdsource for $5,000, get $1 million
The crowdsourcing goal was modest: $5,000, enough to help a few dozen people camping in North Dakota to protest the nearby construction of the four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline. The fund has since topped a staggering $1 million. The fund is among several cash streams that have provided at least $3 million to help with legal costs, food and other supplies to those opposing the nearly 1,200-mile pipeline. It may also give protesters the ability to prolong their months-long encampments that have attracted thousands of supporters, as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe pursues the fight in court.
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+17 +1
Puerto Rico's campaign to become the 51st state may be about to get a big boost
A passionate advocate for making Puerto Rico the 51st U.S. state appears poised to become the next governor of the territory, giving a boost to a movement that has been gaining momentum amid the island's economic woes. Ricardo Rossello, a scientist and the son of a former governor of the island, is expected to win Tuesday largely due to widespread public anger over the decade-long recession and a corruption scandal that has left the party of his main opponent in disarray.
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+29 +1
Dakota Access pipeline: Reservation ranchers struggle to keep buffalo alive amid protests
The anti-pipeline protesters descending by the hundreds on rural North Dakota in support of the Standing Rock Sioux aren’t necessarily standing with Beverly Fischer. Or her dead buffalo. An enrolled tribal member, Mrs. Fischer and her husband, Ernie, are convinced that at least 13 of their bison have been butchered, barbecued and eaten by some of the hundreds of activists trespassing through the livestock pastures of Cannonball Ranch since the protests erupted in August.
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+11 +1
Police Commit Human Rights Violation Against Dakota Protesters
Standing Rock protesters have gathered in North Dakota to exercise their constitutional rights against the Dakota Access Pipeline project, which is a underground oil pipeline that is roughly 1,172 miles long. The $3.7 billion project came under scrutiny by environmental groups and native American tribes. Since earlier this year protests have been growing steadily.
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+40 +1
Tom Wheeler Resigns From the FCC—So Long, Net Neutrality
THE MAN WHO saved net neutrality is stepping aside. Federal Communication Commission chairman Tom Wheeler will resign on January 20, the agency announced today. Wheeler’s decision to step down means Donald Trump will have two FCC seats to fill, one Republican and one Democratic. His resignation will also give Republicans a 2-to-1 majority on the commission even before those seats are filled after the departure of fellow Democratic commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel at the end of the year.
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+38 +1
For the first time, Lady Liberty depicted as African American on a coin
In subsequent coins, she'll be featured as Asian-American, Hispanic-American and Indian-American among others.
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