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How California Prisoners Organized to End Indefinite Solitary Confinement

Gabrielle Cannon Mother Jones
In a landmark court settlement in California, most inmates currently serving time in solitary are expected to qualify for removal under the settlement agreement—including all who have served more than 10 years—and they will be transitioned out over the next year.

Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention That Launched the Military-Industrial Complex

Sam Kean American Scholar
Ernest Lawrence was a leading member of the scientific community that invented the atom bomb. He was also a pioneer in the growth of the military industrial complex. Michael Hiltzik tells this history in his new book. Sam Kean observes in this review that "there is much to admire and much to mourn" here, as we continue to live with the complex legacy of Big Science three quarters of a century after its emergence.

Yanis Varoufakis Pushes for Pan-European Network to Fight Austerity

Rosanna Ryan ABC Late Night Live
As far as Yanis Varoufakis is concerned, the Greek election campaign will be 'sad and fruitless'. He tells Late Night Live why he won't be running and why he is instead putting his energy into political action on a European level.

Human Wall Shields Guatemala Deputies Debating Stripping Leader's Immunity

Associated Press in Guatemala The Guardian
Guatemalan civilians who support the ousting of President Otto Pérez Molina have formed a wall of bodies to let lawmakers into Congress, protecting them from presidential loyalists trying to prevent a vote on withdrawing the leader’s immunity from prosecution in a corruption scandal. A commission of lawmakers has recommended that Pérez Molina’s immunity of office be withdrawn, and now the issue is before the full congress.

Fight to Preserve Blair Mountain, Labor History, Continues

Paul J. Nyden, Staff Writer Charleston Gazette-Mail
Mullins asked for their latest comments on current proposals to preserve the area, focusing on the 1,600-acre Blair Mountain Battlefield National Register of Historic Places Nomination Area, or the BMBNA. The companies interested in mining the area include: Aracoma Coal Co., a subsidiary of Alpha Natural Resources; Mingo Logan Coal, a subsidiary of Arch Coal; and WPP LLC, a coal-leasing company with offices in Delaware.

Review: ‘Rosenwald' on a Philanthropist Who Created Schools for Blacks in the Jim Crow South

Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times
It was when philanthropist Julius Rosenwald read Booker T. Washington's 'Up From Slavery' and then met the celebrated black educator on the campus of Tuskegee Institute that his life work came into focus. Rosenwald became passionate about providing funding for more than 5,300 schools in the Jim Crow South. At one point in the pre-civil rights era, it was estimated, one in three black youths in the South attended a Rosenwald school.

NLRB's New Joint Employer Standard: Everything You Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask

Cole Stangler International Business Times
Last week the NLRB issued a major ruling that corporations can be considered "joint employers" of workers hired by franchisees or subcontractors. There has been relatively little attention to the ruling in many places, but the business press is paying close attention. Here is a piece from the International Business Times, trying to make sense of the ruling.