Senate workers are urging the president to sign an order to lead businesses to pay their workers $15 an hour. One of the Senate cafeteria staff, Bertrand Olotara, said he makes $12 an hour, which is not enough for him and his daughter to live on. He said he lives “in poverty” and “had to take a second job at a grocery store to make ends meet. Even though I work seven days a week...I can’t manage to pay the rent, buy school supplies for my kids or even put food on the table."   read more

Groups with the largest opposition to homosexuals marrying are Jehovah’s Witnesses (75%), Mormons (68%), white evangelical Protestants (66%), Hispanic Protestants (58%), black Protestants (54%), and Muslims (51%), the Public Religion Research Institute found in its survey of 40,000 Americans. Among white evangelical Protestants, white Baptists are the most opposed (72%). On the acceptance side of the issue, the two most supportive religions are Buddhists (84%) and Jews (77%).   read more

Sophisticated 3D modeling was used to make the determination. A new state government website includes evidence linking the rash of quakes to thousands of wastewater-injection wells and records sites of temblors 3.0 or larger. The admission is quite a turnaround in conservative Oklahoma, where Republican Gov. Mary Fallin had consistently refused to blame fracking for seismic activity. “Oklahoma state agencies already are taking action to address this issue and protect homeowners,” she said.   read more

A major controversy in the movie is its portrayal of the CIA using torture to extract intelligence that helped lead to the agency locating bin Laden. Some lawmakers took exception to this, criticizing it as untrue. Senators Feinstein, McCain and Levin wrote that “given the CIA’s cooperation with the filmmakers and the narrative’s consistency with past public misstatements by former senior CIA officials, that the filmmakers could have been misled by information they were provided by CIA.”   read more

The report told of deportees being flown around the U.S., often back and forth between their original location and other cities before finally being sent to their home countries. Despite the volume of passengers on ICE Air, there are often plenty of empty seats. The audit analyzed 5,699 flights to see if ICE is using the planes to its full advantage and found that 5% were less than 40% full. If ICE had operated its flights at full capacity, it could have saved as much as $41.1 million.   read more

All of the flawed testimony favored prosecutors over the defense. It was not only one or two individuals who continually provided flawed testimony. In fact, 26 of the 28 testifying FBI examiners were at fault. Thirty-two of the cases resulted in the defendants being found guilty and sentenced to death. In 14 of those 32 cases, the defendants were executed or died in prison. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the findings "appalling and chilling in their indictment of our criminal justice system."   read more

It shouldn’t come as surprise that IBM would agree to such a deal since the Chinese have poured more than $1.75 billion into IBM through investments since 2005. “Critics say IBM is caving in to Chinese demands, placing short-term business gains ahead of longer-term political and trade issues,” wrote Mozur. ”Its actions may spur other American companies to break ranks and also submit to the new Chinese regulations, out of concern that IBM will get advantages by cooperating with the country.”   read more

A report released by CAP and The Wilderness Society says that a fifth of the greenhouse gases emitted in the United States come from fossil fuel extraction on public lands. Jewell also said that the oil and gas industry, which has been less than forthcoming on the dangers of fracking, particularly about what kinds of chemicals are being injected into the ground, should reassure Americans that fracking is safe.   read more

Auditors found that nearly all examiners are graded “above average” on performance evaluations, entitling them to bonuses averaging more than $6,000 per year. The report also outlined “patent mortgaging,” a practice in which examiners submit incomplete work to gain credit. This is supposed to be treated as misconduct, but often isn’t, the inspector general found. Another practice, “end-loading,” is when examiners wait until the end of a quarter to submit reports.   read more

The Media Confidentiality Act, signed into law April 9, expands the state’s shield law by closing a loophole that allowed state and local governments to contact Internet service providers and social media sites to obtain reporters’ emails, notes and other confidential information. The new law was supported by nearly all of the state’s lawmakers, passing the Montana House by a vote of 90-7 and the Senate by 47-1.   read more

Part of the reason for African-Americans’ lower breastfeeding rate has to do with the inability of many in that group to work in situations where it’s easy to breastfeed. “These are common barriers to breastfeeding because you can’t access jobs where you might have a maternity leave, or can negotiate a private space to pump, or feel you are able to nurse at work,” said Monique Sims-Harper, director of A More Excellent Way Health Improvement Organization.   read more

A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that use of e-cigarettes among middle school and high school students tripled from 2013 to 2014. “This is a really bad thing,” CDC Director Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, told The New York Times, noting that research had found that nicotine harms the developing brain. “This is another generation being hooked by the tobacco industry. It makes me angry.”   read more

The many provisions of HB 2258 include a long list of ways welfare recipients cannot spend their assistance money. These include such questionable provisions as telling benefit recipients in land-locked Kansas that they can’t take cruises. They’re also forbidden from spending TANF money at movie theaters, swimming pools and massage parlors. That there’s no evidence that any significant number of benefit recipients spend money this way doesn’t appear to matter to Kansas politicians.   read more

The report found that nine of the 10 largest immigrant detention facilities are operated by for-profit prison corporations, which operate 62% of immigrant detention beds. Some lawmakers have been adamant about keeping the quota in place, and even objected when DHS released some immigrants from the centers. Two years ago, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) informed ICE that it was “in clear violation of statute” for not maintaining all 34,000 bed spaces following the release of 2,000 individuals.   read more

Two North Carolina judges who resigned rather than perform same-sex marriages want their old jobs back—and still want to be allowed to decline performing weddings they say are at odds with their religious beliefs. Breedlove and Holland filed a suit April 6, asking to be restored to their jobs, for back pay and credit toward retirement. But they also want an unspecified “accommodation” that will keep them from having to marry same-sex couples.   read more

An Illinois man who killed himself in front of the U.S. Capitol on April 11 was holding a sign that read “Tax the one percent,” according to bystanders. Thornton’s death appeared to make no impression on Congressional leaders. On Wednesday the Republican-led House passed a bill that would eliminate the estate tax, a proposal that would, thanks to exemptions already in place, apply only to—you guessed it—the top 1% of estates.   read more