Tag Archives: Kentucky

Citing ‘Deprivation’ They Would Cause, Federal Judge Blocks Kentucky’s Trump-Backed Medicaid Work Requirements

Leave a reply

“Today’s win means that nearly 100,000 Kentucky residents will continue to be able to see their doctors, stay healthy, and take care of their families.”

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 6-29-2018

“This is a victory for the people of Kentucky who rely on Medicaid for life-saving healthcare,” Frederick Isasi, executive director of Families USA, said in a statement on Friday. (Photo: ACLU)

Kentucky’s Medicaid work requirements—which were enabled and enthusiastically approved by the Trump administration—would have stripped healthcare from around 100,000 people, but a federal judge on Friday decided to block the new restrictions from taking effect, arguing that the White House’s approval of the rules did not adequately account for the “deprivation” they would cause.

“This is a victory for the people of Kentucky who rely on Medicaid for life-saving healthcare,” Frederick Isasi, executive director of Families USA, said in a statement on Friday. “Most Medicaid enrollees that are not elderly or disabled are in families that are working. Let’s stop perpetuating stereotypes and stop trying to take health care away from families.” Continue reading →

Share Button

With Walkout and Rally Planned for Monday, Teachers’ Anger Over Low Pay and Lack of Funding Spreads to Colorado

Leave a reply

“Educators are fed up…Colorado has, year over year over year, significantly underfunded our public schools.

By Julia Conley, staff writer for CommonDreams. Published 4-15-2018

Teachers in Arizona last week wore red during a “walk-in,” preceding a possible walkout, to demand school funding. Colorado teachers plan to do the same on Monday. (Photo: @SenQuezada29/Twitter)

Colorado’s teachers’ union expects more than 400 teachers at a rally that’s planned for Monday at the state’s Capitol in Denver.

Continue reading →

Share Button

Joining Nationwide Teacher Rebellion, Tens of Thousands Rally for Education in Oklahoma

Leave a reply

The $50 million in school funding that was included in a bill last week “will buy less than one textbook per student,” said the head of the state teacher’s union

By Julia Conley, staff writer for CommonDreams. Published 4-2-2018

An estimated 30,000 Oklahoma teachers rallied at the State Capitol on Monday, demanding far more funding for education than what was included in the legislature’s last-minute effort to avoid a strike last week. (Photo: @cora/Twitter)

A weeks-long mobilization in Oklahoma resulted in teachers striking across the state on Monday, with tens of thousands of educators and supporters rallying at the State Capitol in Oklahoma City to demand more funding for schools and higher wages for teachers.

Organizers planned to speak with state lawmakers about how decades of funding cuts have affected their schools—and why a bill passed in the legislature last week that would raise taxes on oil and gas production to give teachers a $6,100 raise and allot $50 million for school funding was not enough to stop the protest. Continue reading →

Share Button

Disregarding Privacy, Court Rules Common Cell Surveillance Method is Legal

Leave a reply

The court rejected an argument that collecting phone location data without a warrant violates the Fourth Amendment

By Nadia Prupis, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 4-14-2016

The panel referred to a 1979 ruling in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that the numbers dialed on a landline are not protected by the Fourth Amendment because the caller willingly gives that data to phone companies. (Photo: Graeme Peterson/flickr/cc)

The panel referred to a 1979 ruling in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that the numbers dialed on a landline are not protected by the Fourth Amendment because the caller willingly gives that data to phone companies. (Photo: Graeme Peterson/flickr/cc)

In a show of “complete disregard” for privacy, a federal appellate court on Wednesday ruled that the warrantless collection of cell phone location data is constitutional.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in United States v. Carpenter that law enforcement can legally request cell site location information (CSLI) without a warrant on the grounds that routing data, which is not as accurate as GPS coordinates, is not protected under the Fourth Amendment.

But as Jennifer Lynch, senior staff attorney with the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote in a blog post responding to the ruling, “The opinion shows a complete disregard for the sensitive and revealing nature of [CSLI] and a misguided response to the differences between the analog technologies addressed in old cases and the data-rich technologies of today.” Continue reading →

Share Button