AZ Teachers Win Raises, Want More For Schools
AZ teachers to receive raises, but their demands were far from met. ThinkProgress: "Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed a portion of the budget bill that helps fund teacher raises on Thursday morning, after House lawmakers debated the bill into the early morning hours. Teachers watched the session all of Wednesday night and camped out outside the Capitol building. Teachers will get an average raise of 9 percent and then 5 percent for the next two years. Teachers also won $400 million in education funding to partially make up for recession-era cuts, according to the Associated Press. Although the raises were lower than what teachers wanted, they are an improvement over the 1 percent raises Ducey originally proposed."
White Supremacist Convicted For Charlottesville Beating
First attacker convicted in beating at Charlottesville rally. NYT: "Jacob S. Goodwin, who was accused of brutally beating a black man at a rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., last year, was convicted on a felony count of malicious wounding on Tuesday, making him the first person to face judgment for one of the event’s most prominent acts of violence. Jurors recommended Mr. Goodwin, 23, of Ward, Ark., face 10 years in prison, a $20,000 fine and a rehabilitation or empathy plan, according to NBC 29, a local TV station. A judge is scheduled to sentence him this summer. Mr. Goodwin, who is white, was one of six men to surround and attack DeAndre Harris, 20, in a parking garage on Aug. 12, beating him with metal pipes and wooden boards. Mr. Harris suffered a broken wrist and a head wound that required 10 staples. The attack was captured on video, and the footage spread widely on social media as amateur sleuths set out to identify the assailants. Two remain unidentified, but three others have been arrested: Alex Michael Ramos, 34; Daniel P. Borden, 18; and Tyler Watkins Davis, 50."
EPA Defends Monsanto Herbicides
Pruitt's EPA defending Monsanto's glyphosate herbicides. NRDC: "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pesticide office continues to side with Monsanto’s interests to protect glyphosate-based herbicide products like Roundup. NRDC let EPA know that it has strayed far from its mission, in detailed technical comments on EPA’s Draft Human Health & Ecological Risk Assessment (relevant documents on EPA’s website). Based on the combined data of adverse impacts, the EPA needs to severely restrict the use of glyphosate and glyphosate-based products immediately."
Trump Aide Clovis Resigns From USDA
Sam Clovis resigns from USDA. The Hill: "Former Trump campaign aide Sam Clovis is leaving his role in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the end of the week, Politico reports. Clovis worked at the USDA as a senior adviser since January 2017, most recently serving in the department’s National Resources Conservation Service. His last day is Friday... Clovis served as one of Trump’s chief policy advisers during the campaign. He was later nominated as an undersecretary at the USDA, where he would have served as the department's chief scientist.The pick faced intense criticism from environmental advocates and some lawmakers who questioned Clovis’s scientific credentials."
Carson's Housing Plan Attacks The Poor
Ben Carson’s effort to ‘reform’ housing safety net would deepen poverty. The Conversation: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson claims his 'welfare reform,' which would jack up rents on the poorest Americans and impose stricter work requirements, would promote self-sufficiency and make federal housing assistance fiscally sustainable. As someone who has studied, taught and written about housing policy for more than 25 years, I believe the proposal would do nothing of the kind... the proposed changes in federal housing policy would neither foster economic self-sufficiency nor meaningful fiscal savings. They would deepen poverty and worsen the housing affordability crisis."
More from OurFuture.org:
How Elites Scam Americans Out of Housing. Olivia Alperstein: "The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Ben 'I’ve Never Had to Worry about Affording Housing' Carson, wants to triple the rent that low-income American families pay for federally subsidized housing. For many families, that rent increase could mean the difference between squeaking by and being out on the street. That’s not an exaggeration — just ask anyone who’s been on the cusp of homelessness.
