Portside

Different palaeolithic populations around the world might have developed a crucial toolmaking skill independently. No mysterious migration required to explain how chipping technique appeared in different continents.

Drug possession is the No. 1 reason people were in Cook County Jail last year. That’s been the case for the better part of the past decade. Since 2006, people have been booked and released more than 100,000 times for possession, according to jail records. And during that same time period, taxpayers have spent $778 million jailing people on the lowest-level possession charges.

So far, 121 countries have signed the treaty, and 154 voted in favor of its adoption in April 2013 in the General Assembly. The successful entry into force of the ATT will be a big win for arms control campaigners and NGOs, who have been fighting for the regulation of the arms trade for more than a decade.

Roughly 20 to 25 percent of all union contracts have recently contained some kind of two-tier payment. Such arrangements, often made in response to threats of plant closures or job losses, can turn into strategies for long-term suppression of wages. They can also generate conflict and resentment among workers making vastly different amount of money and undermine solidarity.

Edward E. Baptist’s brilliant book, The Half Has Never Been Told, soars because of the author’s decision to root his analysis in the human dimension.

UNITE HERE and the Teamsters have been quietly negotiating a contract with Harrah's Hotel and Casino in New Orleans for the last six months that, when inked, would double the size of organized labor's tiny footprint in the New Orleans tourism economy.

The University of Illinois at Chicago United Faculty successfully organized a union in 2012 but have not been able to reach an agreement with the administration on a first contract. The union is prioritizing higher wages, particularly for non-tenure track faculty, and a greater share of decision-making power in the university. They have called a two-day strike for the next two days.

More than two dozen states now have similar Stand Your Ground laws on the books, thanks to the American Legislative Exchange Council, or "ALEC."

Two items on the Keystone Pipeline: Native Americans discuss the Keystone pipeline; and a link to '10 Reasons to Oppose the Keystone XL Pipeline' by Rose Ann DeMoro

During Black History Month, let’s not forget the speech-stifling history of US government spying that has targeted communities of color.