Vaccine Supply Chains, Texas Freeze
February 23, 2021 The Park Center for Independent Media circulates the Indy Brief. Subscribe for a weekly selection of news stories from journalists operating outside traditional corporate systems. Subscribe The Headlines U.S. Politics FBI Seized Congressional Cellphone Records Related to Capitol Attack (The Intercept) Andrew Cuomo Isn’t the Only One Who Needs to Answer for COVID-19 […]
What’s On Interior’s To-Do List? A Full Plate of Public Lands Issues—and Trump Rollbacks—for Deb Haaland
Public lands are set to play a pivotal role in the Biden administration’s ambitious climate change agenda. The national parks, wildlife refuges and national recreation areas overseen by the U.S. Department of the Interior have been little-appreciated as climate solutions, even though they’re crucial sinks for greenhouse gas emissions. But Interior lands are also part of the […]
Demands Grow for Texas to ‘Forgive All Utility Bills’ as Price Gouging by Energy Companies Sparks Outrage
$3,000. $6,500. $7,000. $17,000. Those are just some of the sky-high electricity bills that Texans have reported receiving from their private utility providers in the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri, which overwhelmed the state’s deregulated and fossil fuel-dependent energy grid and caused widespread power outages amid frigid temperatures. Millions of Texas households lost power altogether—some […]
Fossil Fuel Shock Doctrine: Naomi Klein on Deadly Deregulation & Why Texas Needs the Green New Deal
Millions of Texans are still suffering after severe winter weather devastated the state’s energy and water systems. About 8 million Texans remain under orders to boil water, and 30,000 homes still have no power. Around 70 deaths have now been linked to the winter storms, including at least 12 people who died inside their homes […]
Pandemic May Have Left 265 Million People With Acute Food Shortages in 2020
Beyond the questions surrounding the availability, effectiveness and safety of a vaccine, the COVID-19 pandemic has led us to question where our food is coming from and whether we will have enough. According to a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) report, COVID-19 might have left up to 265 million people with acute food shortages in 2020. […]
Why We Can’t Make Vaccine Doses Any Faster
President Joe Biden has ordered enough vaccines to immunize every American against COVID-19, and his administration says it’s using the full force of the federal government to get the doses by July. There’s a reason he can’t promise them sooner. Vaccine supply chains are extremely specialized and sensitive, relying on expensive machinery, highly trained staff and finicky ingredients. […]
Crediting Xenophobia—Rather Than Organizing—With Raising Workers’ Wages
The Economist (2/15/20) ran a brief article last year with a startling headline: “Immigration to America Is Down. Wages Are Up. Are the Two Related?” Maybe, the article’s anonymous author answered, at least for the short term. A few on the right were quick to cite this conclusion as support for former President Trump’s efforts to deter […]
The Labor Movement Has a Card to Play—And We Need to Play It
card check noun 1. The ability for workers to form an official, legally recognized union by simply telling everyone they’re a union (and signing cards that say as much) Is this a new idea? Nope! Card check, also called “majority sign-up” (because it requires a simple majority of the workers involved to agree to move forward), has been a thing since […]
‘Justice Rooted in Compassion’: Asian, Black Progressives Stress Unity and Understanding Amid Attacks on Asian Americans
As violent attacks on Asian Americans, many of them elders, increase across the nation amid the coronavirus and economic crises and the still-frothing wake of racist rhetoric from former President Donald Trump, Asian and Black progressive organizers are standing in solidarity to denounce violence and division at events including a Saturday rally in New York […]
Andrew Cuomo Isn’t the Only One Who Needs to Answer for COVID-19
Agroup of Republican senators are pressing President Joe Biden’s Justice Department to investigate Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mismanagement of nursing home policy during the pandemic — and conservative media outlets are excitedly touting those lawmakers’ plans to spotlight the issue at this week’s confirmation hearing for Biden’s attorney general nominee. Cuomo deserves the criticism. However, there […]