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Last Friday's better than expected unemployment report brought good tidings for the nation’s 15 million unemployed and marginally attached workers -- and for the first time in a long time, it seems like young people are sharing the gains.

Here’s how it’s supposed to work at the nation’s ports these days: the predominantly immigrant workers who drive short-haul trucks as “independent contractors” work in a desperate race to the bottom of pay, safety, and working conditions.

Much of the attention this week has focused on President Obama’s support for the Super PAC set up by former aides to promote his re-election, freeing his supporters to contribute unlimited amounts. But in this announcement the President also came out in support of a constitutional amendment to decrease the influence of money in politics.

In New York City, kindergarten isn't mandatory or guarenteed for all. Last year 3,000 eligible city children weren't enrolled in Kindergarten, 2,000 of whom were turned down or placed on a waitlist by the public schools their families applied to.

Yesterday, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn delivered the State of the City address, focusing mainly on what we’d expect from a mayoral candidate: unemployment and local development. Both are big problems in need of big solutions, and Quinn delivered accordingly, proposing a CUNY budget boost, an integrated education network for city children, and a $10 million small business loan fund.

A few recent indicators suggest the country, at least economically-speaking, is continuing to slowly heal: a decline in jobless claims, a bottoming of the housing market, maybe, and an uptick in consumer confidence.

Same Day Registration increases voter participation and lets people fix registration problems at the polls on Election Day.

Earlier today, Demos, along with a broad coalition of organizations, asset management groups, and elected officials sent a letter to the Senate Banking Committee calling for a public hearing to consider corporate governance solutions to Citizens United.

The Denver Broncos had to consider a lot of things before they signed quarterback Tim Tebow: they undoubtedly scrutinized his college football record, studied his ability to throw long passes, and observed how he handled himself under pressure. But one thing that probably didn’t factor into the decision was Tebow’s credit history. The Broncos likely recognized that how Tebow managed his personal finances had nothing to do with his ability to play football.

The Obama administration’s FY2013 budget proposal was released yesterday, and in addition to the headline items—such as military budget cuts and “Buffet-rule” tax increases—it contained in its 256 pages several interesting proposals that flew under the radar.

NYPIRG released a report last week of the largest donations in New York state politics over the past year. The numbers, while no longer surprising, mirror the disturbing state of campaign spending at the federal level, and they raise some important questions about the underlying institutions necessary for democratic elections and political accountability.

What happens when you take a terrible bill and split it in three? You get three terrible bills.

During the fight over national healthcare reform, I often made the point that it was deeply backward how members of Congress were lining up on this debate. The healthcare law promised to redistribute wealth from affluent coastal and metropolitan areas represented by Democrats to poorer, more rural parts of the country that send Republicans to Congress.

Work-study for students and institutions alike is an invaluable program, especially given the high unemployment rates for college age students (some 15 percent of 18-24 year-old-students are still having a hard time finding work) and the unflagging rise in college tuition.  As far as institutions go, a Financial Aid Director from a community college in Pennsylvania summarizes well the benefits of the program: “I’m a big fan of work-study.

School in New York is probably going to get a little more dull. Yesterday the United Federation of Teachers and Governor Cuomo struck a compromise on the issue of teacher evaluations that will probably mean less focus on creative assignments and more on standardized testing.

Yesterday’s House oversight committee hearing on contraception was far from productive.

Here we go again. Another holiday, another sale-explosion/shopping extravaganza. Can we stop and ask ourselves: Is buying more stuff, which we probably do not need and may very well not use, the best way to honor our Presidents?