Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Virginia: Suit Seeks to Prevent College From Closing - NYTimes.com

Virginia: Suit Seeks to Prevent College From Closing - NYTimes.com:



"State authorities filed suit Monday to block the closing of Sweet Briar College, giving a boost to alumnae and faculty who are fighting to save the 114-year-old women’s liberal arts institution near rural Amherst. The Amherst County attorney, Ellen Bowyer, argued in court filings that she has jurisdiction to sue on behalf of the state, and said shutting down Sweet Briar would violate the will of its founder, Indiana Fletcher Williams, who in 1901 bequeathed her former plantation for the purpose of educating young women to be “useful members of society.” A college spokeswoman had no immediate comment."



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Monday, March 30, 2015

Movement to Increase McDonald’s Minimum Wage Broadens Its Tactics - NYTimes.com

Movement to Increase McDonald’s Minimum Wage Broadens Its Tactics - NYTimes.com:



"ATLANTA — On a recent Friday, Kwanza Brooks, a $7.25-an-hour McDonald’s worker, climbed into a 14-person van to take a four-hour ride from Charlotte, N.C., to Atlanta."



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China Appears to Attack GitHub by Diverting Web Traffic - NYTimes.com

China Appears to Attack GitHub by Diverting Web Traffic - NYTimes.com:



"HONG KONG — The Chinese government has long used a sophisticated set of Internet filters known as the Great Firewall as a barrier to prevent its citizens from obtaining access to foreign websites with information it deems threatening."



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Greece Looks to Russia as Deal With Europe Stumbles - NYTimes.com

Greece Looks to Russia as Deal With Europe Stumbles - NYTimes.com:



"ATHENS — With the prospect of a default looming in Greece, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is preparing to meet next week with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as a European deal to give more aid to Athens falters."



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Rahm Emanuel Shows His Softer Side in Chicago Mayoral Runoff - NYTimes.com

Rahm Emanuel Shows His Softer Side in Chicago Mayoral Runoff - NYTimes.com:



"CHICAGO — Alderman Scott Waguespack was in a conference room at City Hall in the spring of 2011 for a formal sit-down with this city’s newly elected mayor, Rahm Emanuel. Mr. Waguespack attempted some small talk, he said, but Mr. Emanuel was not much interested."



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Income Inequality: It’s Also Bad for Your Health - NYTimes.com

Income Inequality: It’s Also Bad for Your Health - NYTimes.com:



 "We know that living in a poor community makes you less likely to live a long life. New evidence suggests that living in a community with high income inequality also seems to be bad for your health."



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Saturday, March 28, 2015

Why Reconstruction Matters - NYTimes.com

Why Reconstruction Matters - NYTimes.com:



"THE surrender of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, 150 years ago next month, effectively ended the Civil War. Preoccupied with the challenges of our own time, Americans will probably devote little attention to the sesquicentennial of Reconstruction, the turbulent era that followed the conflict. This is unfortunate, for if any historical period deserves the label “relevant,” it is Reconstruction."



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Friday, March 27, 2015

Amanda Knox Acquitted of 2007 Murder by Italy’s Highest Court - NYTimes.com

Amanda Knox Acquitted of 2007 Murder by Italy’s Highest Court - NYTimes.com:



"ROME — Italy’s highest court acquitted Amanda Knox and her Italian former boyfriend of murder on Friday, throwing out all charges and ending a long-running courtroom drama over the killing of a British student in 2007.

Continue reading the main story
RELATED COVERAGE

Italy’s Highest Court Set to Rule in Amanda Knox Case MARCH 24, 2015
"



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Thursday, March 26, 2015

House Passes Bill Changing Medicare Fee Formula and Extending Children’s Insurance - NYTimes.com

House Passes Bill Changing Medicare Fee Formula and Extending Children’s Insurance - NYTimes.com:



"The House overwhelmingly approved sweeping changes to the Medicare system on Thursday, in the most significant bipartisan policy legislation to pass through that chamber since the Republicans regained a majority in 2011."



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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

U.S. Begins Airstrikes on ISIS in Tikrit for First Time - NYTimes.com

U.S. Begins Airstrikes on ISIS in Tikrit for First Time - NYTimes.com:



"BAGHDAD — American warplanes began airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Tikrit late Wednesday, entering a struggling Iraqi offensive to retake the city for the first time after more than three weeks of remaining on the sidelines. A coalition of Shiite militias and Iraqi security forces aided by Iranian military advisers have been trying to root out Islamic State fighters from Tikrit, an important city north of Baghdad in Iraq’s Sunni heartland. From the start, the offensive went without American air assistance — government and militia officials had boasted that airstrikes were neither needed nor wanted, and American officials privately expressed discomfort with the idea of directly aiding an operation led by militias and Iranian officials."



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Tuesday, March 24, 2015

As Silence Falls on Chicago Trading Pits, a Working-Class Portal Also Closes - NYTimes.com

As Silence Falls on Chicago Trading Pits, a Working-Class Portal Also Closes - NYTimes.com:



"CHICAGO — The pits where generations of sweating traders in colorful jackets once bellowed out orders for wheat, corn and cattle contracts, using hand signals and sheer force of personality, are almost empty. The smattering of traders who hung around them on a recent day appeared listless, some glancing at tablet screens, others staring blankly into space."



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Monday, March 23, 2015

Britain's Terrible, No-Good Economic Discourse - NYTimes.com

Britain's Terrible, No-Good Economic Discourse - NYTimes.com:



"The 2016 election is still 19 mind-numbing, soul-killing months away. There is, however, another important election in just six weeks, as Britain goes to the polls. And many of the same issues are on the table."



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Sunday, March 22, 2015

Shy of Majority, Socialists Win in Spain’s Andalusia - NYTimes.com

Shy of Majority, Socialists Win in Spain’s Andalusia - NYTimes.com:



 "BARCELONA, Spain — Spain’s Socialists won Sunday’s election in Andalusia, the country’s largest region, but fell short of gaining a majority in a fragmented regional Parliament in which two upstart parties will have a combined quarter of the seats, according to preliminary results."



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In Greece, Syriza Struggles to Deliver Promises as Money Runs Out - NYTimes.com

In Greece, Syriza Struggles to Deliver Promises as Money Runs Out - NYTimes.com:



"ATHENS — Glowering with disdain, Evangelos Venizelos stepped into the well of the Greek Parliament and ridiculed members of the country’s new leftist government. They had vowed to roll back unpopular austerity measures that Mr. Venizelos and the prior government had pushed through. They had promised that Greece would stop kneeling to European creditors."



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Viva Gentrification! - NYTimes.com

Viva Gentrification! - NYTimes.com:



 "LOS ANGELES — FOR years, our family journeys have taken us from our hillside home, in the multiethnic Mount Washington district of northeast Los Angeles, into the flatlands of the Latino barrios that surround it."



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Mexican Journalist Is Fired After Report About First Lady - NYTimes.com

Mexican Journalist Is Fired After Report About First Lady - NYTimes.com:



 "MEXICO CITY — One of Mexico’s best-known journalists, who exposed a possible conflict of interest involving the first lady’s purchase of a house from a government contractor, was fired on Sunday in a dispute that defenders see as an act of retaliation and an attack on press freedom."



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Alabama Shakes’s Soul-Stirring, Shape-Shifting New Sound - NYTimes.com

Alabama Shakes’s Soul-Stirring, Shape-Shifting New Sound - NYTimes.com:



"In the upstairs dressing room at the Georgia Theater in Athens, Ga., in January, Alabama Shakes was getting restless. The band was about to perform songs from its second album, “Sound & Color,” for the first time, and the room was full of distractions. Friends and relatives had driven over from Alabama: cousins and uncles, wives and girlfriends, crying babies and unrestrained toddlers. Sippy cups and spilled Cheerios were scattered everywhere."



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Saturday, March 21, 2015

Chicago Mayor’s Race Is Cast as a Test of Liberalism - NYTimes.com

Chicago Mayor’s Race Is Cast as a Test of Liberalism - NYTimes.com:



 "CHICAGO — Mayor Rahm Emanuel had just finished the quintessential municipal politics photo op, briefly inspecting a dusty street-paving project on a block of the South Side lined with tidy brick bungalows."



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7 Children Die in Brooklyn Fire - NYTimes.com

7 Children Die in Brooklyn Fire - NYTimes.com:



"Seven children from the same family — ages 5 to 15 — died early Saturday in a fire in Brooklyn that the authorities said was caused by a malfunctioning hot plate."



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Friday, March 20, 2015

Trillion Dollar Fraudsters - NYTimes.com

Trillion Dollar Fraudsters - NYTimes.com:



"By now it’s a Republican Party tradition: Every year the party produces a budget that allegedly slashes deficits, but which turns out to contain a trillion-dollar “magic asterisk” — a line that promises huge spending cuts and/or revenue increases, but without explaining where the money is supposed to come from."



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Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Fed Signals It May Increase Interest Rates by Midyear - NYTimes.com

Fed Signals It May Increase Interest Rates by Midyear - NYTimes.com:



"WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday moved to the verge of raising interest rates for the first time since the Great Recession, even as officials suggested that the Fed might not take that action until later this year."



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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Israel’s Vote Without Victory - NYTimes.com

Israel’s Vote Without Victory - NYTimes.com:



 "If the Israeli election was above all a referendum on the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he did not lose it. After accumulating nine years in office over three terms, that is a measure of his political guts, however limited his political achievements."



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Monday, March 16, 2015

Israel’s Gilded Age - NYTimes.com

Israel’s Gilded Age - NYTimes.com:



"Why did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel feel the need to wag the dog in Washington? For that was, of course, what he was doing in his anti-Iran speech to Congress. If you’re seriously trying to affect American foreign policy, you don’t insult the president and so obviously align yourself with his political opposition. No, the real purpose of that speech was to distract the Israeli electorate with saber-rattling bombast, to shift its attention away from the economic discontent that, polls suggest, may well boot Mr. Netanyahu from office in Tuesday’s election."



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Sunday, March 15, 2015

Anger Bubbles Up Against Brazilian President - NYTimes.com

Anger Bubbles Up Against Brazilian President - NYTimes.com:



"RIO DE JANEIRO — Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in cities across Brazil on Sunday to express their ire at President Dilma Rousseff, raising pressure on her as she grapples with an onslaught of challenges including an economy mired in stagnation, a sweeping bribery scandal and a revolt by some of the most powerful figures in her governing coalition."



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Friday, March 13, 2015

Jane Goodall Is Still Wild at Heart - NYTimes.com

Jane Goodall Is Still Wild at Heart - NYTimes.com:



 "Jane Goodall was already on a London dock in March 1957 when she realized that her passport was missing. In just a few hours, she was due to depart on her first trip to Africa. A school friend had moved to a farm outside Nairobi and, knowing Goodall’s childhood dream was to live among the African wildlife, invited her to stay with the family for a while. Goodall, then 22, saved for two years to pay for her passage to Kenya: waitressing, doing secretarial work, temping at the post office in her hometown, Bournemouth, on England’s southern coast, during the holiday rush. She had spent her last few days in London saying goodbyes and picking up a few things for the trip at Peter Jones, the department store in Chelsea. Now all this was for naught, it seemed. The passport must have fallen out of her purse somewhere."



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Thursday, March 12, 2015

Key Black Figure, Despite a Plea by Obama, Gives a Lift to Emanuel’s Challenger - NYTimes.com

Key Black Figure, Despite a Plea by Obama, Gives a Lift to Emanuel’s Challenger - NYTimes.com:



"CHICAGO — Several weeks ago, President Obama was at an event in Chicago when he approached Willie Wilson, a businessman who had challenged Rahm Emanuel in the mayor’s race, with a gentle plea, Mr. Wilson said."



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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

The Carnage of Barrel Bombs in Syria - NYTimes.com

The Carnage of Barrel Bombs in Syria - NYTimes.com:



 "ALEPPO, Syria — MARWAN was on the operating table when the lights blinked and fizzled out. I turned on the headlamp I wear for situations like these, but it flickered, indicating low batteries. The nurse to my left pulled her cellphone from her pocket and turned it on, creating the only light in the pitch-black basement. Others in the room followed suit with their phones, shining the devices at the wound and producing just enough light to allow me to finish repairing the little boy’s broken body."



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Ferguson Police Chief, Thomas Jackson, Steps Down Amid Criticism - NYTimes.com

Ferguson Police Chief, Thomas Jackson, Steps Down Amid Criticism - NYTimes.com:



"FERGUSON, Mo. — The embattled police chief of Ferguson, the focus of bitter complaints of racial discrimination within his department that turned into national protests after one of his white officers fatally shot an unarmed black teenager last August, has stepped down, the city said Wednesday in a statement."



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Monday, March 9, 2015

State Judge to Take Charge of City Cases in Ferguson - NYTimes.com

State Judge to Take Charge of City Cases in Ferguson - NYTimes.com:



"A state judge will take over municipal court cases in Ferguson, Mo., the Missouri Supreme Court announced Monday evening. The change comes days after the federal Department of Justice sharply criticized municipal courts in the St. Louis suburb for acting largely as a fund-raising operation that disproportionately fined and jailed black people."



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Thursday, March 5, 2015

In U.C.L.A. Debate Over Jewish Student, Echoes on Campus of Old Biases - NYTimes.com

In U.C.L.A. Debate Over Jewish Student, Echoes on Campus of Old Biases - NYTimes.com:



 "LOS ANGELES — It seemed like routine business for the student council at the University of California, Los Angeles: confirming the nomination of Rachel Beyda, a second-year economics major who wants to be a lawyer someday, to the council’s Judicial Board."



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