Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
The Supreme Court will wade into a clash between organized labor and conservative groups Monday in a case that could overturn decades-old precedent and deal a potentially crippling blow to public sector unions. The case is one of the most contentious in a pivotal term, and protesters from both sides are expected to flood the Court Monday morning.
This April 4, 2017, file photo, shows the Supreme Court Building is seen in Washington. Every time a consumer swipes his or her credit card, the credit card company collects a fee.
Next week, hundreds of thousands of working people will join together to stand up for their right to improve their lives and those of their families. The Working People's Week of Action, which will include events in cities across the country and across Massachusetts, will stand in sharp contrast to recent union-busting efforts led by wealthy special interests.
On Monday the US Supreme Court will hear Janus v. AFSCME. At issue are the constitutionality of laws in 22 states - including New York - that force public employees who do not want to belong to unions to pay unions "agency fees" for bargaining collectively on their behalf.
Execution team members stuck an inmate repeatedly in the lower legs, ankles and groin in effort to find a usable vein before the state called off the lethal injection, according to a Friday court filing by the inmate's lawyer. Prison offiicals said at 11:30 p.m. that they halting the execution because medical staff did not think they could obtain "the appropriate venous access" before a midnight deadline.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will consider for the second time in two years whether to choke off a critical funding stream for public-employee unions, potentially reducing organized labor's influence in the workplace and at the ballot box. The nine justices will hear a challenge backed by anti-union groups to the legality of fees that workers who are not members of unions representing teachers, police, firefighters and certain other government employees must pay to help cover the costs of collective bargaining with state and local governments.
If executions set for Alabama, Texas and Florida were carried out as scheduled, it would have marked the first time in more than eight years that three convicted killers were put to death in the U.S. on the same day. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday accepted the recommendation of the state's parole board and granted clemency for Thomas "Bart" Whitaker.
This image provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Doyle Lee Hamm, an inmate scheduled to be executed Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 in Alabama. Alabama is set to execute Hamm, who argues his past drug use and cancer have too badly damaged his veins and will make the lethal injection unconstitutionally painful.
Alabama officials on Thursday postponed a scheduled lethal injection of an inmate who had argued that his veins were severely compromised by illness, saying there was not enough time to prepare the inmate before the death warrant expired at midnight. The Department of Corrections announced at 11:35 p.m. that the execution of Doyle Lee Hamm, 61, would not proceed, despite an earlier green light from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Yesterday, in a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to broaden the definition of "whistleblower" in federal anti-retaliation law, ruling that employees who simply raise complaints with their employers are not protected by the Dodd-Frank Act despite regulations which sought to provide additional protections. This is a positive decision for employers because it significantly limits the type of reports protected by the Act, while decreasing the likelihood that you could face liability for discharging an employee .
Florida is preparing to execute a man convicted of raping and killing a college student in 1993 so he could steal her car. Barring a last-minute stay, 47-year-old Eric Scott Branch will be put to death by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison.
Two years ago, many public sector unions were on a collision course with the Angel of Death. All five Republicans on the Supreme Court appeared ready to cut off a major source of union funding and encourage public employees to become free-riders who enjoy all the benefits of unionization without paying for it.
A request by Republican leaders in the Pennsylvania Legislature to stop a new congressional map from being implemented is now in the hands of the nation's highest court. The filing made late Wednesday asked Justice Samuel Alito to intervene, saying the state Supreme Court overstepped its authority in imposing a new map.
Pennsylvania Republicans again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block Pennsylvania's new, court-ordered congressional map on Wednesday, marking the latest in a series of attempts to halt a plan that would make congressional elections more competitive in the state by reducing the impact of gerrymandering. In an emergency application , Pennsylvania House Speaker Michael Turzai and Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati asked the Supreme Court to prevent the new map from going into effect.
Scarnati and Turzai claim that the state Supreme Court "conspicuously seized the redistricting process and prevented any meaningful ability for the legislature to enact a remedial map to ensure a court drawn map" when it required the legislature and governor to agree to a map by a court-imposed deadline. The legislators are challenging the state Supreme Court's determination that congressional districts to be equal, compact and contiguous [JURIST report] as being found "nowhere in the Pennsylvania Constitution" and contrary to an earlier court ruling.
Witnesses to a collision between a train carrying Republican congressmen and a garbage truck in rural Virginia have told investigators that the truck entered the railroad crossing after safety gates came down to... Witnesses to a collision between a train carrying Republican congressmen and a garbage truck in rural Virginia have told investigators that the truck entered the railroad crossing after safety gates came down to warn drivers about the approaching train. Several states could see severe flooding and other weather-related problems amid a storm system that has brought rain, ice and snow to the Midwest and Great Plains.
Republican leaders of the Pennsylvania Legislature said Wednesday they will soon ask the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the imposition of new congressional district maps , two days after they were announced by the state's highest court. House Speaker Mike Turzai said that later Wednesday he and his Senate counterpart will request an emergency stay of what he called a "completely partisan, ultimate gerrymander."
A Wisconsin man convicted of murder in the case that was chronicled in the Netflix documentary, "Making of a Murderer," on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to toss out his 2005 confession that his attorneys claim was coerced by investigators, the Washington Post reported. Attorneys for Brendan Dassey, 28, made a similar argument to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago in December and failed.
Justice Clarence Thomas, in a blistering dissent Tuesday, accused the U.S. Supreme Court of making the right to keep and bear arms "a constitutional orphan." The court turned down a challenge to California's waiting period for guns.
The legal team for Brendan Dassey filed a petition before the United States Supreme Court Tuesday to hear his case. Lawyers submitted a writ of certiorari, which asks the Supreme Court to review the lower court's decision on the case.