In the News

In America today, the views of the voting public are nearly meaningless; wealthy individuals and business-backed special interest groups are almost entirely responsible for the stances that politicians take on the issues. That’s the takeaway from a new study by Martin Gilens of Princeton University and Benjamin Page of Northwestern University.

Assemblyman James Brennan says companies that own private power generators are overcharging consumers, potentially by billions of dollars.

But in his quest to get unredacted financial information from the companies, the Brooklyn legislator has run into a regulatory roadblock: Power generator officials say that if the information was made public it would put them at a competitive disadvantage and create market volatility. So far, the state has sided with the generator companies.

Even amid the battles over the implementation of Common Core reading and math standards, and the sparring over reforming the nation’s dysfunctional immigration system, an old debate is flourishing again: How to stem unwed pregnancy and the chronic poverty among out-of-wedlock households that are caused and exacerbated by it.

A new executive order from President Obama will make it harder for companies to win federal contracts if they violate their workers’ rights and withhold their wages, the White House announced Thursday.