The action was hailed as the latest move to address income inequality in the nation. The issue of paid parental leave is gaining momentum across the country much like the debate over a higher minimum wage. Paid leave has become a topic in the presidential campaign as companies, especially in Silicon Valley, start offering better benefits. The U.S. lags other countries in providing parental leave and is the only major industrialized nation that doesn't require paid leave.   read more

The decision also signals that the Obama administration remains committed to encouraging the spread of renewable energy, seen as a major component of reaching national goals on stemming climate change. Multiple companies are hoping to build high-voltage transmission lines to transport renewable energy produced by wind farms and hydroelectric plants to more populous regions of the country. The federal government said it could use eminent domain to acquire land if negotiations failed   read more

A team of researchers has found a remarkable parallel to one of evolution’s signature events. In a cave in Thailand, they’ve discovered that a blind fish walks the way land vertebrates do. The waterfall-climbing cave fish has even evolved many of the skeletal features that our ancestors did for walking, including a full-blown pelvis. “I was completely blown away,” said biomechanics expert Brooke Flammang. “These guys seemed to be very leisurely walking up the rock face."   read more

Deputies say Jackson was turned away at the Pompano Beach auto dealership after trying to buy the $60,000 car using his EBT card and a credit card. However, deputies say the suspect returned the next night and stole the car along with keys from 60 other vehicles.   read more

One mine has shut down amid a wave of coal bankruptcies and slowdowns, and another has announced that it will go dark. The closings added to a landscape of layoffs and economic woes concussing mining-dependent towns from West Virginia to Wyoming. And as Hotchkiss searches for a new economic lifeline, some people are asking: What about marijuana? “If we could get it legalized right now, we could create some jobs, and we need the tax revenue,” said town trustee Thomas Wills.   read more

“Sir, I don’t know how to tell you this,” the officer began. Meyers had a 2002 warrant out for his arrest for failing to return a VHS movie rental of “Freddy Got Fingered.” The officer let Meyers go and told him to show up later at the police station, where officers took him to a magistrate’s office, patted him down and put him in handcuffs. The story of Meyers’ ordeal has gained wide attention, spreading from a YouTube video he posted to ricocheting around the world on social media.   read more

Because chronic alcoholism is a medical disability, the Ninth Circuit called it unconstitutional to classify a "habitual drunkard" as lacking good moral character, reversing a deportation order 2-1 Thursday.   read more

More than 40 millionaires in New York state have written to Gov. Cuomo and top lawmakers calling on them to consider raising taxes on the state's wealthiest residents to help address poverty and rebuild failing infrastructure. "(W)e have both the ability and the responsibility to pay our fair share," the letter states. "We can well afford to pay our current taxes, and we can afford to pay even more." Those signing the letter include Abigail Disney, Leo Hindery and Steven C. Rockefeller.   read more

Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson is being nominated to head U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. If confirmed by the Senate, Robinson would be the seventh commander to head the Colorado-based command. She currently is head of the Pacific Air Force. Northern Command was created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate and improve homeland defense and to provide support for national disasters.   read more

The Department of Interior has authority to demand repayment of gas and oil revenues it overpaid to Alabama and Louisiana under an old and faulty revenue sharing scheme going back to 1986, a federal judge ruled. However, the department violated the Debt Collection Act in its letters to states demanding refund of overpayments by not offering the states an opportunity to "inspect and copy" its records, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton held.   read more

Divorce in the U.S. has become more common through the generations, and there's an assumption that acceptance would be holding or increasing. There could be several explanations for the decline, said marriage researcher Wendy Manning. Marriage rates are down and people are older when they first get married. So those who do marry are more likely to be in it to win it. "Marriage is becoming so selective that maybe people think if you achieve this status, you don't want to end it."   read more

The United Nations made it official: It found Danes to be the happiest people on Earth. The accolade is based on a variety of factors: People's health and access to medical care, family relations, job security and social factors, including political freedom and degree of government corruption. Even U.S. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have singled out the small Scandinavian country as an example of a happy, well-oiled society.   read more

The bipartisan bill would require federal agencies to consider the release of government information under "a presumption of openness" as opposed to a presumption that the information is secret. The legislation aims to reduce the amount of exemptions the government uses to withhold information and would create a single portal through which individuals can submit a Freedom of Information Act request. The legislation was sponsored by Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy.   read more

Smartphone virtual assistants, like Apple’s Siri, are great for finding the nearest gas station. But if someone is in distress, they often fall seriously short. Phone makers have known their devices could give potentially harmful responses that could deter victims from seeking help. “Just imagine someone who feels no one else knows what they’re going through, and to have a response that says ‘I don’t understand what you’re talking about,’ that would validate all those insecurities and fears.”   read more

The fliers advertised jobs as security guards or bodyguards under the name of a fake company, and promised good benefits, a Christmas bonus and "growth in the short term," according to chief prosecutor Jesus Eduardo Almaguer. Those recruited were, however, employed as street-level drug dealers, not guards. Almaguer said a U.S. woman led the effort to hand out fliers on the streets of Jalisco cities like the beach resort of Puerto Vallarta.   read more

A growing percentage of suburbanites rent, according to a new study. Experts attribute the renter surge partly to the foreclosures, financial struggles, stagnant incomes and tighter credit that followed the mortgage meltdown. Researchers also note the wave of young adults — often renters — in the large, so-called millennial generation, though the Harvard study in December noted a majority of U.S. renters now are 40 and older.   read more