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Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) and three other House Democrats introduced legislation last week that would expand school lunch programs for low-income children to weekends and holidays. Titus plans to roll out the legislation at a Thursday event with area business leaders in her Las Vegas district

Tags: auto, budget, budget-cuts, children, debt-ceiling, democratic, taxes, thinkprogress, yahoo

Senate Republicans unveiled their plan to avert sequestration this week, and though they are still demanding that the looming budget cuts be offset totally by a different set of budget cuts, they are refusing to say what new budget cuts they prefer. Instead, they want to give President Obama the authority to choose which programs would face cuts as part of the $85 billion plan.

Tags: bush, debt-ceiling, democrats, health, house speaker, lgbt, obama, taxes, tweets, yahoo

After months of economic coverage narrowly focused on deficits, a new jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reinforces the need for the media conversation to shift toward growth. The alternative approach would require journalists and pundits to follow in the footsteps Rush Limbaugh laid out today when he insisted the BLS report says the opposite of what it does. In their coverage of These numbers demonstrate that government austerity has lopped nearly 15 percent off private-sector job growth over the course of the recovery.

Tags: articles, debt-ceiling, elections, environment, feeds, media matters, progressive news, science, video

Several conservative media figures have publicly come out in favor of comprehensive background checks for gun purchases, specifically closing the loophole allowing private and gun show sales without a background check. Recent polls have shown widespread support for comprehensive background checks. Pew  found  that 85% of people supported background checks for private and gun show sales

Tags: congress, debt-ceiling, discrimination, economy, education, environment, health, jobs, media matters

While the eyes of the nation were turned toward President Barack Obama’s second inauguration on Monday, the Virginia State Senate managed to hurriedly pass a bill that would redistrict the state’s senate seats. The vote, 20-19 , would have been a tie had Democratic Senator Henry Marsh been present. Marsh, a civil rights leader, was in Washington, D.C., attending the inauguration

Tags: debt-ceiling, economy, health, house, lgbt, media, pennsylvania, security, thinkprogress, tweets, virginia

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Tags: action, author, debt-ceiling, drugs, economy, gun violence prevention, house, media, pennsylvania, progressive news, thinkprogress, war

(Photo Credit: AP/Cindy Yorgason) A man in Utah was photographed at a JC Penney carrying around an unloaded version of the gun used in the Newtown tragedy to prove that guns aren’t as dangerous as they’re portrayed. In addition to the unloaded rifle, a loaded Glock pistol was strapped to his hip when his picture was taken by shopper Cindy Yorgason on her cell phone camera.

Tags: action, cartels, credit, debt-ceiling, gun-control, guns, health, house, media, military, pennsylvania, utah

The U.S. is currently experiencing its worst flu season in a decade , but many workers can’t heed the advice of public health experts to stay home when they’re sick due to a lack of paid sick days. And Florida business leaders are looking to keep it that way : The Florida Chamber of Commerce said Wednesday that one of its top legislative priorities this year would be blocking local governments from adopting paid sick-time measures such as the one pending in Orange County.

Tags: author, debt-ceiling, economy, florida, house, jobs, paid-sick-leave, sales

In a January 15  editorial ,  The Oklahoman  uncritically pulls material from a pro-corporate lobbying group’s website in support of the proposition that “ridiculous” lawsuits are rampant in the U.S.  However, the editorial fails to mention that the source of this information, the Institute for Legal Reform,  has spent millions in successful lobbying efforts to close the courthouse door to plaintiffs seeking redress for real harms. The Oklahoman  draws examples from the Faces of Lawsuit Abuse  website , a project of the U.S.

Tags: chamber, congress, debt-ceiling, discrimination, education, elections, environment, feeds, health, legal

The Wall Street Journal argued in an editorial that the National Labor Relations  Board, which is charged with protecting workers’ right to organize, has overstepped its authority to do unions’ bidding regardless of the law–particularly in its approach to employers’ social media policies.  A review of the NLRB Office of the General Counsel’s memos, however, demonstrates that the WSJ ‘s characterization of the body’s policies is without merit. The January 6 editorial, titled “Another NLRB Power Grab,” accused the body of becoming “a wholly-owned subsidiary of Big Labor, rather than a neutral arbiter of fair labor practice.” In support of this claim, the WSJ presented blatantly false statements about the NLRB’s approach to employers’ social media policies: Also insidious is the NLRB’s effort to regulate how companies handle social media. In the Facebook and Twitter age, employers have an obvious interest in rules that prohibit their employees from defaming colleagues, or broadcasting confidential information.

Tags: debt-ceiling, desktop, education, feeds, health, jobs, progressive news, science, social-media