Portside

“There’s a Superfund for dirt,” Mazzocchi used to say. “There ought to be one for workers.”

This year the left must use the ideological opening created by the most anti-corporate political campaign in recent history to build political capacity that lasts well beyond this electoral cycle.

The criminal trial for the six officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray isn’t set to start until October, but this morning, the city of Baltimore agreed to pay his family $6.4 million in restitution. The Baltimore Sun reports that the city’s spending panel, the Board of Estimates, is expected to approve the settlement at a meeting tomorrow. Gray’s family had not yet filed a civil suit against the city.

Consumers gravitate to favorite mouthfeel behaviors, whether it involves chewing, crunching, "smooshing" or sucking. The Understanding & Insight Group (U&I) has found a previously unrevealed, unexpressed need that drives texture preferences: mouth behavior. The truth is that individuals have a preferred way to manipulate food in their mouths (mouth behavior) and this BEHAVIOR determines the food textures they will prefer.

The United States and European allies have launched wars on the Middle East creating an enormous refugee crisis. The same nations threaten Russia. The question of maintaining peace with Iran is on the tip of everyone's tongue. Even in Asia, Pacific and Africa, the biggest military buildup is by the U.S. So why does Japan, of all places, have streets full of antiwar demonstrations for the first time since the U.S. war on Vietnam?

In a major victory for prisoners' rights, California has agreed to greatly reduce the use of solitary confinement as a part of a legal settlement that may have major implications in prisons nationwide. The decision on Tuesday, September 2, 2015 came following years of litigation by a group of prisoners held in isolation for a decade or more at Pelican Bay State Prison, as well as prisoner hunger strikes.

As presidents, celebrities, dignitaries and a plethora of VIPs descended on New Orleans to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Katrina, activists in the streets of New Orleans were also getting organized.

Now, a new photo exhibition at Los Angeles’ Union Station captures images of modern-day Rosies working in manufacturing. The Jobs to Move America coalition and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy are hosting the “Women Can Build: Re-Envisioning Rosie” portrait series, which aims to celebrate the women who are building America’s transportation system—and put pressure on major companies to recruit and train women for high-paying manufacturing jobs.

Phillips 66 proposes an Oil Train offloading facility in San Luis Obispo County to ship 3 million gallons per day of volatile and toxic crude by rail in outdated and unsafe oil tank cars into California, including through Inland Empire and LA Harbor, Downtown LA and the San Fernando Valley. Recently LA City Councilman Mike Bonin introduced a resolution and the entire Council approved asking the San Luis Obispo County Supervisors to deny Phillip 66's request.

Union density went up in New York City and New York state this past year, according to a new study by Ruth Milkman and Stephanie Luce. They also found that nearly nearly 40 percent of black workers of New York City are union members. Unions raise wages for all workers compared to nonunion workers, but the pay boost is larger for black workers. Unions also help reduce inequality between nonblack and black workers.