Portside

The Republican presidential candidates are wrong. Supreme Court nominees can and should be confirmed in election years.

The wastes sent to West Lake have most of the uranium removed from them, but they include concentrated radioactive decay products, some of which are tens of thousands of times more radioactive than the parent uranium. Because they are so highly radioactive, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health found that the West Lake landfill holds the “worst” of the Mallinckrodt wastes.

Maryland joins 13 other states and the District of Columbia where citizens are permitted to vote immediately after serving their sentences.

Whereas, most U.S. science teachers include climate science in their courses, their insufficient grasp of the science may hinder effective teaching. Mirroring some actors in the societal debate over climate change, many teachers repeat scientifically unsupported claims in class.

A majority (53.1 percent) of workers earning less than $12.16 per hour—the bottom 30 percent of wage earners—earn so little on the job that they must rely on public assistance to make ends meet.

The good news is Bernie Sanders sent promising signals about his judgment when he opposed the invasion of Iraq; the bad news is his statements on the latest iteration of the conflict have shown none of the acumen that distinguished him over 13 years ago. Without a plan to resolve the ISIS war responsibly, the U.S. war in Iraq could reverberate through yet another generation. If Sanders were elected, that would add a grim asterisk to his “political revolution” indeed.

With the DNC now accepting all lobbyist and PAC donations, it has reversed the policies that were adopted in 2008, when Obama vowed to curb the influence of special interests in Washington.

But a lot of the estrogen we are exposed to is under the radar. Endocrine disrupters (chemicals that mimic estrogen) are found in plastics like BPA, petroleum-based products, agricultural pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, detergents and cosmetics and even everyday items like furniture, carpeting and thermal receipts.

Indicating the fierce battles to come, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Senate judicial committee, issued a sharply worded statement in response to Republican remarks. Saying he was saddened by the death of Scalia “although I often did not agree with his legal opinions”, Leahy continued: “I hope that no one will use this sad news to suggest that the President or the Senate should not perform its constitutional duty.

More than a billion years ago and a billion light years away, two black holes merged. This was a truly cataclysmic event a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. In Star Wars Darth Vader tells us not to “underestimate the power of the dark side.” This amazing discovery shows how right he was.