Portside

The water crisis in Flint, Michigan has been brewing for the past year. Now researchers have found lead in the drinking water. Flint mayor Karen W. Weaver has declared a state of emergency. This week a researcher alleged that government officials knew the water contained lead.

When Flint, Michigan Mayor Karen Weaver declared a state of emergency last week in light of a dramatic water crisis, it brought national attention to the current troubles facing that town. This report on Weaver's declaration also contains some historical background to this crisis.

The 40th anniversary of the demise of baseball's oppressive reserve clause is cause for celebration for those who care about labor rights in sports and society as a whole. But we should also realize the ways that the trajectory of the new baseball labor structure resembles some of the most pressing political economic problems facing Americans today.

A new party of the Left in Spain has surprised pundits by winning big in last Sunday's elections by running on an an-austerity program. Mark Weisbrot offers some background and an analysis of how these developments fit within the overall "post-recession" Eurozone crisis.

Conservative arguments make it seem like poverty is a puzzle. But, according to Philip N. Cohen, we've already figured out ways of reducing poverty among large sections of the population. We should just use what works to reduce poverty.

This year's annual report from the US Conference of Mayors details just how prevalent hunger and homelessness are in our cities.

Changes are happening and the Cubans are trying to figure out how to accommodate them within a socialist framework.

This essays calls attention to two crucial developments. First, the far right has taken dangerous steps further to the right, legitimizing the public expression of blatant racism and authoritarian policies toward Muslims and immigrants. And second, not for the first time, how crucial it is for a social justice strategy with intimate interconnections of war, terrorism, racism and inequality, and between peace and justice at home and abroad.

U.S. schools provide a great deal of useful information, but also leave out a great deal. Please see whether you can answer the following questions before scrolling down and clicking a link at the bottom for the answers. How many can your kids answer? Can your kids' teachers answer them? Can your parents answer them? Can your uncle who tells you whom to vote for and what to think answer them?

Seven years ago local officials in Marin County, California organized to form a nonprofit electricity company with the noblest intentions. Buying and selling electricity allowed the group, Marin Clean Energy (MCE), to route around the local utility giant, Pacific Gas & Electric, which for years had resisted its customers’ pleas for cleaner, more reliable power, all the while “greenwashing” its image with marketing campaigns.