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At Outside In, An Overwhelming Vote to Unionize

Don McIntosh NW Labor Press
The Outside In unit will consist of about 125 workers in about 50 separate classifications. Alongside the vote to unionize, Outside In employees who hold advanced degrees also voted 21 to 7 to be in the same AFSCME bargaining unit.

‘No Cop Academy’ Protesters Disrupt City Council Committee Meeting

Fran Spielman Chicago Sun-Times
“Over 500 people we surveyed in West Garfield Park said they do not want this cop academy,” said Monica Trinidad, one of the demonstrators. “There are way more resources of need in their community. They want jobs. They want mental health clinics. They want public schools."

Was Kevin Cooper Framed for Murder?

Nicholas Kristof with Jessia Ma and Stuart A. Thompson The New York Times
This is the story of a broken justice system. It appears that an innocent man was framed by sheriff’s deputies and is on death row in part because of dishonest cops, sensational media coverage and flawed political leaders.

We Could Not Do Otherwise

Abby Zimet Common Dreams
"Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children, the angering of the orderlies in the front parlor of the charnel house. We could not, so help us God, do otherwise.” -- Remembering the Catonsville 9.

Donald Trump Collected a Massive $168,000 Union Pension. Will He Fight for Yours?

Andrew Joyce Policy.Mic
As recently as 2015, Donald Trump was still collecting a $168,000 pension — and maybe more — from the Screen Actors Guild for playing himself in The Apprentice. Now that Trump is about to be president, the most important question is: What is Trump's plan to save the system that is designed to protect millions of union pensions like his own?

The Burn Pits, A Book Review

H. Patricia Hynes Truthdig
In his no-holds-barred book, “The Burn Pits: The Poisoning of America’s Soldiers,” former Marine and Army Joseph Hickman exposes the knowing contamination of thousands of soldiers stationed on bases with these lethal pits.

How to Repeal and Replace ObamaCare Today? Use Medicare

Robert C. Hockett The Hill
I have a very simple, even modest, proposal, one that offers us means both of having the cake and of eating it too. Why not, in the very same legislation that repeals ObamaCare, instantly entitle all who lose their insurance coverage under the ACA immediately to enroll in Medicare? The enrollment might be permanent, and at the prices that Medicare currently costs its participants, or it might be simply until such time as a viable replacement for ObamaCare is found . . .