Workers Need More Than a Wage Hike

| Aug 28, 2019 | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|Rights / DemocracyAs the primaries approach, Democratic presidential candidates will no doubt be touting their support for a $15 per hour minimum wage. None have opposed the idea. A minimum wage increase would put more money in workers’ pockets. But so far, only two candidates —...

Name and Shame Big Political Contributors

| Aug 26, 2019 | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|Environment / Health|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyThis August, a phony controversy erupted over wealthy donors to President Trump’s campaign and political action committee being publicly named. After Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) tweeted the names of San Antonio contributors who’d made large donations to support Trump,...

What It’s Like to Grow Up Hunted

| Aug 21, 2019 | Editors Picks|HP Subfeatured|Peace / Security|Rights / DemocracyIt was a quiet Sunday night when my dad told me to hide in a closet — and stay there until he said to come out. As I sat in the dark, I knew this was part of my life, part of my identity. The darkness and fear slowly penetrated my heart. I tightened up my fist, as if...

400 Years After Slavery’s Start, No More Band-Aids

| | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|HP Featured|Rights / DemocracyFour hundred years ago this month, the first enslaved people from Africa arrived in Virginia.  Slavery is often reduced to a crime of America’s long-ago past. But enslaved labor created the backbone for America’s capitalistic economy, allowing it to grow into — and...

Trump’s Re-election Strategy: Pit Us Against Each Other

| | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|HP Subfeatured|Peace / Security|Rights / DemocracyYou would think after a white nationalist murdered 22 people and injured dozens more in El Paso, Donald Trump would lay off the hate, even just for a moment. Apparently he’s not capable. Or not willing.  Whether it’s immigration raids, cutbacks on legal immigration,...

Red States Cut Worker Pay by $1.5 Billion

| Aug 14, 2019 | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyOver the summer, the House voted to incrementally raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. If the Senate had passed the bill, it would have been the first federal minimum wage increase in more than a decade — far too long for residents of the 21 states that don’t have...