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The budget that President Obama released today is drawing intense criticism for its cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called those cuts “wrong and indefensible.”A president’s budget is more than just numbers. It is a profoundly moral document. We believe cutting Social Security benefits and shifting costs to Medicare beneficiaries—while exempting corporate America from shared sacrifice—is wrong and indefensible.
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is looking to reduce the size of its nearly 800,000 civilian work force by 40,000 to 50,000 employees over the next five years, mainly through attrition as it closes bases and consolidates healthcare facilities, the department's comptroller said on Wednesday."I would hope that given the time to prepare, we could do this through attrition, but we aren't far enough al...
Faculty members at his college said he got good grades. His co-workers at the local library had kind words to say about him. Neighbors remembered him as a friendly kid growing up.When Dylan Quick, the suspect in Tuesday’s stabbing spree at Lone Star College in Texas, was arrested, it came as a shock to seemingly everybody who knew him – or thought that they knew him.“He has shared with us that he ...
The Army has reopened its Tuition Assistance pipeline to soldiers — following a Congressional mandate and complaints from service members — yet similar funding remains stalled within the Air Force and Marine Corps, a leading veterans’ advocate complained Wednesday.The federal sequestration had previously blockaded all money that’s normally funneled to troops to help them pay for college classes in...
A man who blended into wealthy East Coast circles by posing as a member of the famous Rockefeller family was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder in the 1985 killing of a Southern California man whose remains were unearthed decades later in his family's backyard.Jurors deliberated for about one day in the case of Christian Gerhartsreiter, who used several aliases that included Clark Ro...
A vast storm system pounded the Dakotas with snow, coated Oklahoma with rare spring ice and took aim at parts of the Mid-Atlantic and South, where forecasters warned of hail and perhaps tornadoes later Wednesday.Snow, freezing rain and strong wind snapped trees, broke power poles and left cars sheathed in ice in South Dakota, and the city of Sioux Falls declared a state of emergency.Forecasters sa...
The talk about reforming the American immigration system has focused on getting 11 million undocumented workers on the path to citizenship. It’s a simple idea that obscures a thorny truth.There is no single path to citizenship. There are hundreds.Which path you take can depend on who your relatives are, whether you are safe in your homeland or how good you are at your job — in the case of one Cana...
The daughter of Sandy Hook Elementary's slain principal wants to talk to all the senators who threatened to filibuster gun-control legislation, but only one has answered her calls and tweets.Erica Lafferty's Twitter feed drew lots of attention when she called out the 14 politicians Tuesday, tweeting poignant messages and photos about her mother, Dawn Hochsprung, to their official accounts.Connecti...
A bipartisan pair of senators introduced a compromise proposal to expand background checks on Wednesday, an agreement which could form the basis for major gun control legislation to potentially pass through Congress.Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. – who both enjoy top ratings from the National Rifle Association – outlined an agreement that would expand background checks to includ...
Asia Jackson likes to learn at the computer because she can work at her own pace, which is usually faster than her classmates’. Al-Tariq Linton says, “It’s one on one. If I have a question, instead of competing for the teacher’s attention, I can go back and read it on my own.” Wanda Williams says her favorite part of the online course she’s taking is the narrator of the videos it includes. “Rufus ...
