In the News
Danielle Polk used to work up to 13 hours per day, seven days a week, as a bank teller and a McDonald's floor supervisor. She dreamed of finishing college, but thought she couldn't afford to step away from the workforce to do it. "I was worried about the cost," Polk, who's now 22, recalls. "I was also worried about not having the time to actually attend."
Nonbinary and intersex people could finally be able to obtain a passport that matches their gender identity under new legislation introduced Tuesday.
While filling out a passport application more than five years ago, Dana Zzyym didn't want to lie. Instead of checking the box labeled "M" or "F" for gender, Zzyym — who is intersex and identifies as neither male nor female — wrote down an "X."
The application was denied, prompting Zzyym to begin a lengthy, landmark court fight with the State Department, arguing that the limited gender options violated their constitutional rights.
Like a lot of job fairs on college campuses, the event that brought tech-industry recruiters to San Jose State University on Saturday featured plenty of eager students and company-branded swag: Amazon foam footballs, eBay water bottles and Salesforce socks.
But unlike a lot of tech-industry job fairs — and unlike Silicon Valley itself, which has long been criticized for its lack of diversity — most of the prospective employees, and the recruiters from some of the sector's biggest firms, were black.
The first week of February is set to be an eventful week in U.S. politics between the Iowa Caucus and the impeachment trail. But for Rev. Jethroe Moore III, tonight's State of the Union address will mark the high point.
That's because the San Jose-Silicon Valley NAACP president snagged an invite to the event as Rep. Ro Khanna's (D-Fremont) guest of honor.
When people have a real chance to say what kind of world they want, they tend to tell similar stories: safety for themselves and their families, dignified work, health care. Viewed this way, there is something almost intuitive about many left ideas. Which means the real trouble with building support for them isn't so much the policies themselves—it's getting away from what we've been told is realistic or possible. When it comes to connecting what people say they want with the laws and policies that can actually do what they want, the gap is enormous.
The House voted on Thursday to approve a pair of measures intended to rein in President Donald Trump's ability to take military action against Iran, the latest effort by Democrats to reassert congressional authority amid simmering tensions with the country in the wake of a US strike that killed a top Iranian general.
The House on Thursday moved to block President Trump from taking military action against Iran without the approval of Congress, voting to repeal a 2002 war authorization and to bar him from using federal funds to mount an unauthorized strike against Tehran.
The assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani put the United States dangerously close to all-out war with Iran. The U.S. and Iran avoided this outcome, for now, due in part to anti-war activism within the United States — like the religious leaders who called on Americans to pray for peace. The week after the action, the House of Representatives approved a resolution restricting actions President Donald Trump could take against Iran.
House members introduced bipartisan legislation on Thursday to improve the procurement process for federally funded construction projects.
Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Mark Meadows, R-N.C., introduced the "Construction Consensus Procurement Improvement Act" (H.R. 5644). If passed, it would ban federal agencies from using reverse auctions to award design and construction contracts. This procurement method often favors businesses offering the lowest price, rather than those that are most qualified, they said. The Senate passed its version of the bill in late December.