In gulf spill aftermath, worker safety overshadowed by environmental, economic concerns

The largest oil spill in U.S. history has received no absence of congressional scrutiny. Yet as lawmakers continue to focus their examinations on the environmental, economic and energy implications of the disaster, a number of labor advocates are beginning to wonder: What about the workers?

Klobuchar among senators seeking probe into shareholder bonuses for oil-spill company

Transocean Ltd., the Swiss company operating the doomed Deepwater Horizon oil rig when it blew up last month, raised plenty of eyebrows last week when it announced its plan to pay out $1 billion in dividends to shareholders.

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Anti-establishment backlash unproven as Democrats, liberals finish strong in primaries

If any common message emerged from Tuesday’s primary results across the country it was this: Republicans, who have been hoping that the public’s discontent with “big government” incumbents will translate into huge congressional gains in November, might want to reconsider their strategy.

In oil and coal disasters, parallel tales of lax regulation

Last month’s deadly explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in southern West Virginia, and the more recent fatal blast on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the coast of Louisiana, have at least this much in common: Both were likely preventable, according to a growing number of lawmakers and workplace safety experts — if only federal regulations designed to prevent such disasters had been enforced.

Senate calls for Burmese activist’s release

In a symbolic gesture, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution Friday afternoon calling for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democacy activist and Nobel Laureate whose been under house arrest at the hands of Burma’s military…

Funding crisis for unemployment programs begs reform

Thirty-four state unemployment insurance trust funds have run dry as a result of the recent recession, forcing those programs to take out nearly $40 billion in federal loans to weather the storm, the Government Accountability Office revealed this week.

Temporary unemployment extension is law

In a swift train of events, the Senate last night passed a short-term extension of emergency unemployment benefits, which the House approved a few hours later and President Obama signed into law shortly afterward. “In these tough economic times,”

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The trouble with unemployment math

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Economy creates 162,000 new jobs; unemployment rate unchanged

The Department of Labor this morning released its much-anticipated employment numbers for March, indicating that the economy created 162,000 new jobs last month, but the nation’s unemployment rate remained 9.7 percent.

Short-term Medicaid rate hike breeds long-term concerns

It’s been trumpeted as one of the key elements in the Democrats’ plan to expand access to health care for tens of millions of vulnerable Americans. Yet a provision of the health reform bill that raises doctors’ payments under Medicaid is both temporary and limited in the scope of medical services it covers. The restrictions have left a number of health care advocates and doctors’ groups concerned about patients’ long-term access to care under the reform legislation.