February 1, 2019

Professor Melissa Harris-Perry and Wake Forest University clash over MLK speech

After speaking out against Wake Forest University at an MLK event on Jan. 21, Melissa Harris-Perry, a professor at the university, claims the university retaliated against her by threatening to close an academic center and offering her a “payoff.”

Melissa Harris-Perry, a former MSNBC host and prominent professor, is clashing with Wake Forest University after giving an MLK Day speech critical of the institution.

On Jan. 21, Harris-Perry, who has been the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University since 2014, gave a speech Union Baptist Church in Winston-Salem for the 39th annual MLK Noon Hour Commemoration. During her speech, she criticized the university’s role during slavery and outlined the struggle of the city’s black residents over the years.

Harris-Perry described the unfair labor practices of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., the second largest tobacco company in the country, against black workers in the 1940s and argued that questionable labor practices take place within the university today. According to the Wake Forest University factbook, the college moved from Wake Forest to Winston-Salem in 1941 after accepting a proposal by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation set up by Mary Reynolds Babcock, RJ Reynolds’ daughter. Babcock and her husband donated much of the RJ Reynolds family estate as the site for the new campus.

Harris-Perry also claimed that the school fires its foodservice workers every summer, and then rehires them in the fall before classes start. The university has since disputed Harris-Perry’s claims and told City Beat that their employees are on either a “12-month or 10-month term based on student demand” and that “it is not accurate to say [their] dining service staff are fired and re-hired each year.”

Read more: https://triad-city-beat.com/professor-melissa-harris-perry-and-wake-forest-university-clash-over-mlk-speech/

February 1, 2019

The Revolving Door...Yep, Revolves for Former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA10)

Not surprising at all, but the good ol’ revolving door has indeed revolved…for former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA10). Can we hear the sound of cashing in? Why yes we can – Ka ching! Ka ching! Just a reminder, by the way, that during Comstock’s illustrious career, she has been nothing else if not a “swamp creature.” For instance, see Right-Wing Operatives Form ‘Crisis Management Firm’ To Profit Off Scandal-Ridden Conservatives (back in 2006, “former Justice Department spokespersons Mark Corallo and Barbara Comstock are forming a law/PR firm — Corallo Comstock — to help defend Bush administration aides”); and also see Who Is Mark Corallo? Trump’s Former Legal Spokesperson Could Be The Key To The Russia Investigation (“After becoming a spokesman for George W. Bush chief of staff Karl Rove in ‘Plamegate,’ Corallo opened his own political consulting and crisis management firm, Corallo Comstock, with fellow political hand Barbara Comstock”), etc, etc. Also note that Comstock’s voting record in the Virginia House of Delegates and U.S. House of Representatives resulted in ratings that were basically 100% pro-corporate but godawful towards workers and the environment.

So clearly, Comstock is cut out to work for a firm like the one Comstock’s joining (Baker Donelson), which brags about having “decades of experience in the oil and gas industry.” Also worth noting, the company recently was sued over allegedly “help[ing] push investors to “confessed Ponzi schemer Arthur Lamar Adams and his disgraced company, Madison Timber Properties,” for having “allegedly abetted or turned a blind eye to Adams’ $100 million scheme.” So yeah, this should be a match made in heaven (hell?) in the latest episode of…”As the Washington, DC Revolving Door Revolves!”

https://bluevirginia.us/2019/01/the-revolving-door-yep-revolves-for-former-rep-barbara-comstock-r-va10

February 1, 2019

Does the Va. GOP really believe the governor supports infanticide? 'You saw the tape.'

Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted he never thought he “would see the day America had government officials who openly support legal infanticide.”

President Donald Trump weighed in from the Oval Office. “Do you remember when I said Hillary Clinton was willing to rip the baby out of the womb? That’s what it is, that’s what they’re doing, it’s terrible.”

A headline from The Federalist, capturing the zeitgeist of coverage that’s dominated conservative media outlets, reported “Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam Just Called For Legalizing Murder of Newborn Babies.”

But it’s easy to toss bombs from a distance. Is that really what Republican leaders in the Capitol, who lit the match that set off the firestorm, believe Northam, a pediatrician, was saying when he offered a clumsy explanation Wednesday of how a nonviable or severely deformed fetus might be handled at the end of a pregnancy?

Read more: https://www.virginiamercury.com/2019/02/01/does-the-va-gop-really-believe-the-governor-supports-infanticide-you-saw-the-tape/

February 1, 2019

Senate panel endorses Bible classes for public schools

The Senate’s Education and Health Committee advanced legislation Thursday that would allow public high schools to offer an elective Bible study course.

The legislation is part of a nationwide push in Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia, according to USA Today.

“It teaches a lot about all other religions. It teaches a lot about where people stand on the Christian faith. And it’s one of the fastest growing faiths in the country,” said the measure’s sponsor, Sen. Bill Carrico, R-Grayson. “And if we’re going to be a country that reaches out to other communities then this is much needed.”

As first presented, the Virginia version of the bill would have mandated all public schools offer the course, but Carrico amended the legislation to make it optional at the discretion of local school boards.

Read more: https://www.virginiamercury.com/blog-va/senate-panel-endorses-bible-classes-for-public-schools/

February 1, 2019

Colstrip ash pond cleanup could cost $700M, Montana DEQ says

Cleaning up Colstrip will cost as much as $700 million, maybe more, according to a legislative memo from state environmental regulators.

Department of Environmental Quality officials have informed Dan Zolnikov, R-Billings, chairman of the House Energy Committee, that just cleaning up the three coal ash ponds fed by the power plant will cost $400 million to $700 million. It was the first time numbers had been put to the final cleanup costs of all three ponds.

"Our big question, the biggest one, is if NorthWestern owns one sixth of at least the big ponds, thats one sixth of $600 million, $100 million, who will pay that?" Zolnikov said.

Some of that burden will fall on utility customers.

Read more: https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/colstrip-ash-pond-cleanup-could-cost-m-montana-deq-says/article_74c97386-2c1f-5689-8a43-6ff43f96fcdc.html

February 1, 2019

University of Montana closes McGill Hall Thursday for additional asbestos testing, cleanup

The University of Montana closed McGill Hall Thursday morning "until further notice" after test results for asbestos showed levels "above cleanup standards" set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to the campus.

"It's not an indicator of health risk, but we knew we were at levels at various places in the building where we would need to do wide-scale cleanup, and the best course of action would be to close the building," UM spokeswoman Paula Short said Thursday.

Asbestos fibers were found "in settled dust," Short said. The test results, which showed a wide variation of asbestos levels, were posted online at https://news.umt.edu/2019/01/mcgill.php.

Short said samples taken from above a light fixture, a place not regularly cleaned, showed high levels, but other places more frequently wiped were below acceptable levels. "We're treating it like all of it will need to be cleaned,'' she said.

Read more: https://missoulian.com/news/local/university-of-montana-closes-mcgill-hall-thursday-for-additional-asbestos/article_88839ae6-63f6-51a4-88c3-f36a6b93dbad.html

February 1, 2019

Bullock again urges continued Medicaid expansion in State of the State speech in Helena

In his last State of the State address, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock cast an eye back on his tenure in office, reflecting on passing some of his hallmark policies such as a pilot program for public preschool, and imploring lawmakers to continue a program he wants to see become a piece of his legacy — Medicaid expansion.

Bullock is a two-term Democrat governor termed out from running in 2020. He’s had a Republican majority in the Legislature for all of his six years in office, but has been able to get through some of his most sought-after legislation that he listed Thursday night.

That includes Medicaid expansion, passed in the 2015 legislative session as the Montana Health and Economic Livelihood Partnership (HELP) Act, carried by a Republican. In their rebuttal to Bullock's speech, Republicans expressed qualms about the federal money that helps fund Medicaid expansion.

Ever since the HELP Act went into effect, Bullock has been building statistics to make the argument Medicaid expansion has been a good deal for the state and should continue in its current form. A sunset in the original bill calls for it to expire this summer, unless lawmakers choose to extend it.

Read more: https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/bullock-again-urges-continued-medicaid-expansion-in-state-of-the/article_15edcb90-ee7a-587c-b868-8120919e130f.html

February 1, 2019

Medicaid expansion heads to House floor

WYOMING – A bill expanding Medicaid eligibility in Wyoming passed through the Labor committee Wednesday and will now be considered by the whole of the House.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Andy Schwartz, D-Teton, believes that expanding Medicaid access in Wyoming is necessary for both economic and medical reasons.

“When people have access to healthcare, they tend to be healthier in the long run. More people receiving preventative care means fewer people with preventable diseases later,” Schwartz said. “If you don’t have insurance, you may have to go to the emergency room for something that could be taken care of in a regular visit. The bills are too high to pay, so the hospitals take a loss of about $130 million/year. This makes healthcare more expensive for everyone. We can help put an end to that, keep our people healthy, and help make sure our doctors and hospitals stay in business.”

Schwartz promised his constituents during a campaign run last fall that Medicaid expansion would be at the top of his list of concerns.

Read more: https://buckrail.com/medicaid-expansion-heads-to-house-floor/

February 1, 2019

University of Wyoming dorms bill stokes old fears about 15th

LARAMIE -- A legislative measure that would start the nine-figure overhaul of the University of Wyoming’s dormitories contains a subsection that’s renewed concerns about a potential closure of 15th Street after the bill was posted Monday to the Legislature’s website.

House Bill 293 would require UW to issue revenue bonds to fund the construction, but it would also appropriate $3.5 million “to provide grants to the city of Laramie to improve traffic efficiency on Ninth Street between Ivinson Avenue and Flint Street and 22nd Street between Grand Avenue and Willett Drive to mitigate any potential impacts created by the restricted access to 15th Street from Ivinson Avenue to Lewis Street necessitated by the construction and implementation of the University of Wyoming student housing project.”

The bill instructs the State Loan and Investment Board to release funding to the city “upon submittal of a proposal and cost estimates by the city for traffic efficiency improvements under this subsection.”

Wyoming House Speaker Steve Harshman, R-Casper, is the sponsor of the bill and has previously shown strong interest in closing 15th Street in certain areas.

Read more: https://www.laramieboomerang.com/news/local_news/dorms-bill-stokes-old-fears-about-th/article_a70d9c15-ffe2-50cc-9965-59ec2940a1b1.html

February 1, 2019

Abortion waiting period an insult, not 'gift' to Wyoming women

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: Abortion is nothing like buying clothes.

Maybe someone should tell that to Rep. Richard Tass (R-Sheridan), the sponsor of a bill requiring a 48-hour waiting period in Wyoming before having an abortion.

Tass told the House Judiciary Committee last week that recently he was buying a sports jacket and was worried about how it would “fit and feel.” The freshman legislator said he was assured by the clerk that if he didn’t like the jacket he could bring it back after a few days.

“Buyer’s remorse,” Tass said. “There’s no such thing with abortion. It’s final. There’s no returning it, there’s no taking it back. … This bill only asks that a woman be given the gift of just two days to consider this final act.”

I doubt he spent anywhere near the amount of time thinking about his purchase than a woman who contemplates an abortion. Nor did he have to drive across Wyoming to Jackson to see the only two medical providers who perform abortions in the state, pay for transportation and lodging and perhaps child care.

Read more: https://www.wyofile.com/abortion-waiting-period-is-an-insult-not-a-gift-to-wyoming-women/